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Everything posted by Obrienp
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@Mickyk The advice above is for FRFR cabs. If you are going down that route, checkout the offerings from LFSys. There are threads on BC about them. They will give you a very tight bottom end with all the mids and highs you could want. They just reproduce what you put into them without any colouration. Also the compression driver doesn’t give you that brittle, quacky sound that you get from some tweeters.
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The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!
Obrienp replied to Baloney Balderdash's topic in Bass Guitars
I’ve got that left thumb arthritis thing too: a right pain (literally). At the risk of teaching you to suck eggs: another thing to look at is the nut height. Quite a few basses seem to come with it set far higher than necessary, making the first few frets require quite a lot of squeeze, especially with heavier strings. It also affects intonation. -
The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!
Obrienp replied to Baloney Balderdash's topic in Bass Guitars
You are welcome. You might also want to look on Talk Bass, as there are masses of posts on modding Broncos on that forum. However, some of the parts mentioned are hard to find outside the USA. WRT changing the pickups: you don’t have to solder if you keep the original pots etc. You can drop a Stratocaster rail pickup in. To wire it, cut the original lead close to the pots (leave enough length to be able to work with it while avoiding breaking the original solder connections).There should be a white (hot) wire and black (ground) wire. Colours can vary but ground is generally black; it will go to the back of the volume pot normally. Strip a bit of the shielding off the original wires and do the same for the new pickup wires (if not already done). Get a small screw type electrical connector block with two connectors (you normally buy them in a strip and cut off the number of connectors you need). Then just use it to connect white (hot) pickup wire to white original wire and black (ground) pickup wire to black original wire. It should work fine and you can change pickup again without soldering. -
Nothing like as glamorous as some of the gigs you folks have been doing over your weekend: I did two dep gigs with a covers band (Backtracking). It was at a local fete (worse than death); both days playing two one hour sets 12-13:00, 14-15:00. We had one end of a massive marquee, so much more space than I am used to but directly on the grass (except for the drummer, who got a little platform made of pallets). Gates opened to the public at 10:00, so we had to unload before then and couldn’t get out until about 15:30, which made it a longish day for me with a 40 minute drive each way. Pics show set up on first day (still waiting for action shots). Day 2 I brought a ground sheet and a sheet of ply to keep the damp and grass mulch off my gear. We originally set up to stand just out side the tent but British summer weather intervened and we had to drag everything inside just before the first set. We were running off a very noisy generator (located just the other side of the tent from me), which struggled a bit: every so often my amp started to fade. Gear: Blackstar U700 head (recently acquired from BC), back up Warwick Gnome iPro, Barefaced Two10S, Boss wireless, Maruszczyk Elwood 4a medium scale and Nordstrand Acinonyx V1 (back-up). DI into the desk. I was really pleased with the Blackstar /Two10 combination for this kind of 60s-80s cover work. The ability to change the amp voices at a flick of a switch, or press of a button on the pedal, is fantastic. The drive settings are useful as well: overdrive/distortion/fuzz. I don’t know how accurate the voicing is but it sounds really good to my ears and the band’s sound man as well. I can’t wait to use it on a gig with my LFSys Monza. Despite the weather we had a group of people watching us and got a lot of positive comments afterwards. Some brave souls even danced for a while. The band picked up about a dozen potential bookings. The sax player had to cry off because of a lurgie, so there was some hasty rearranging of songs and some had to be dropped. They also brought one in that I hadn’t played before but I think I did OK given only one rehearsal before the gig. I had chord sheets on my iPad on a stand to compensate for my aging memory. Weirdly we were tighter on day one, then on day two but it was only about 13C most of the time on Sunday. I was glad I didn’t get the memo about wearing Hawaiian shirts: four of them freezing and me in a sweatshirt and padded jacket, and I was still cold! Lol.
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The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!
Obrienp replied to Baloney Balderdash's topic in Bass Guitars
There is a thread here: it is one of many on the subject. I was looking for a load of posts I did on modifying a Bronco but couldn’t find it. Maybe you will have better luck. The string spacing on your Bronco will be narrower than the “standard” Fender 19mm. I think it is 17.5mm, maybe even less; memory fails me. Someone here will know. The other hassle with changing the bridge is that it doesn’t have the usual Fender style 5 screws in a row fixing. Finding one that is a direct replacement may be tricky. You may have to drill some holes. TBH I would change the pickup before anything else and there are plenty of threads on that. I gave up on drop in replacements and replaced bridge, pickups, pickguard, electronics and machine heads. This involved quite a lot of woodworking but in the end I had a nice little bass with a Tone Rider P bass pickup in it. -
Sandberg 32”? Which model is that? I’ve only seen full scale and 30” advertised.
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Guinness Zero is actually pretty potable IMO. Ditto Punk AF and Adnams Ghost Ship low alcohol. Nothing like the horrendous offerings of the past.
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The medium scale ones have 42mm nut width and 2x2 headstocks, neither of which suit me. I have to say the shapes don’t float my boat either. I like the look of the P/MM model but it is full scale only. If he came up with a medium scale P with a Jazz style neck, I would be right there with my wallet open; ditto the P/MM model. Actually, if somebody marketed reasonably priced medium scale Jazz style necks in the UK, I would snap up a couple immediately. They can be bought from China and the USA but you have all the import duty/VAT hassles to deal with. I guess there just isn’t a market here for anything other than full scale offerings and some of those are seriously expensive. I have considered buying a Squier Jaguar H bass just to get the neck and marry it up to a P bass body.
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Any folks aware of this offering from Gordon Smith. https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/shop/guitars/gs-bass/#reviews. Pricey I think and vaguely reminiscent of the Orange O bass, especially if you opt for a single cutaway. I wonder if it is actually made in the UK, or just tweaked here, like the Auden offerings. Still there aren’t many medium scale basses available in this country, so it adds to the range of choice. I still can’t understand why Fender/Squier aren’t offering a medium scale P bass. I think it would sell really well.
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The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!
Obrienp replied to Baloney Balderdash's topic in Bass Guitars
Yes, those are the main merits. It’s a bit disappointing to hear that the finish isn’t that well executed, given how much Sereks sell for and I think the looks are a bit marmite. However, if it plays well and sounds good the rest is superficial. -
I think a lot of people are as excited about your Three10 arriving as you are! I suspect there are quite a few fingers hovering near triggers, just waiting for a positive review from you! No pressure then! I decided it was just a bit too big and heavy for me to manage in my old age and went down the LFSys route, which I don’t regret. You can’t really compare BF 10CR based cabs to the LFSys Monza. They have completely different design objectives. I’m sure the Three10 will be amazing. If I need the extra grunt of a 3 x 10, I’m going to stack my Monza on top of my BF Two10 and I now have an amp that can handle the 2.7 ohm combined load. Each cab is compact and under 13 Kg which I can manage. Not as good as having a purpose designed 3 x 10 but I think I would struggle to manage the 21/22Kg and size of a Three10 with tweeter. Great if you can handle it and I’m very interested to hear what you think of yours when it arrives.
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Just finished second of two gigs with Bandwidth (not my idea) at Cromer Folk on the Peer fringe. Both at a small pub with no parking and trickyish access, although load in is through back door right where the band area is. Day one we only had a one hour slot that the previous act (shanty men of some description) kindly ate into and then stood around while we loaded in, left their gear in our space and generally impeded progress. We didn’t even bother with a PA, the area being so small but fortunately both guitarists had brought acoustic amps with second XLR channels, so they sang through their amps. We eventually got going half an hour late, which meant we set up in about 10 minutes, once the previous act had been shepherded out of the way. They promptly left, taking half the crowd with them who were their friends and relatives, leaving behind a completely unresponsive audience, except for some late entrant drunk. We did our hour, not seeing anybody from the next band around but when I opened the back door, I was greeted by their drummer, looking quite annoyed with us and wanting to load in asap. I explained what had happened to us but he didn’t either look at me, or respond during my explanation. I cleared out asap, loaded my gear onto a hand cart and dragged it about a mile up hill to the car park, which cost £5.10 for 4 hours parking. Also Cromer was around 10C colder than the rest of Norfolk, so I shivered through the whole experience having not bothered with a coat.. Now, I know this is pretty standard pub gigging stuff but we had to pay for our drinks and we did the gig for free. One of our guitarists is involved with the committee running the festival. I said I didn’t fancy returning today for our two hour slot but got pressured into it. Return bout today went a bit better. I still had to park miles away and drag my gear on a sack cart but the previous act had cleared out. This time drinks were on the house and the audience much more appreciative. Fortunately, they switched off the TV behind where we’re standing after the Norwich match finished. We got the obligatory drunk lads who lingered after the match had finished and took umbrage at our lead guitarist turning down a request for a song none of us had heard of. They then started football chants and taking the piss, so we turned up as loud as we could and rocked our way through the rest of the gig. I then had to sprint back to the car park before the traffic gestapo gave me a ticket. I don’t think I will do this again next year unless we are paid. All in all, I’m about £80 out of pocket from the experience and it was pretty thankless.
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I just bought a Blackstar U700 amp from Paddy. It was a very smooth transaction. The amp is in great condition, just as described. It came perfectly packaged and was despatched quickly. Everything about the transaction was spot on and I wouldn’t hesitate to deal with Paddy again. Buy with confidence. Patrick
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Wait for @bassist_lewis to post impressions soon. 3x10 due this week according to earlier post.
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Thanks Keith. I’ll take flattery all day. Seriously, I have always been in awe of jazz musicians. At the risk of upsetting loads of fellow Bass Chatters, I see accomplished jazz musicians as the “true musicians” of the non-classical music world (I just opened a can of worms I’m sure). This is partly because I can’t do jazz, either on guitar, or bass. I love it but I just don’t get how to play it. Hence I always see blues and pub-rock as easier and not requiring the same level of musicianship. That’s not to say there aren’t loads of accomplished musicians who play these genres and (IMO) prog rock came close to matching jazz for musicianship. Getting back to the point; there are some serious musicians around in our area who would like to do what you want to. I think you need a new band.
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Sorry to hear you feel like that Keith. There are some similarly minded musicians around in the area though. I’ve come across a few of them. Unfortunately, I haven’t kept up with them because I am not in that league as a musician. That’s why I am still doing blues and covers bands 😀. I am sure if you keep looking you are going to find them. I’ll keep my ear to the ground and pass on the details of any that I come across.
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This was a problem with the Hipshot bridge on the first batch of Nordstrand Acinonyx. The official Nordstrand response on TB was to use Loctite medium (It comes in various strengths of lock). Other thread lock products are available! It could be a problem with how well cut the thread is on either the grub screw, or saddle. Replacements for both are available from various sellers on fleaBay for various types of bridge and outlets like Northwest Guitars.
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Billy Sheehan tribute bitsa *final listing* - *SOLD*
Obrienp replied to BaggyMan's topic in Basses For Sale
Great pickups. Made in collaboration with Mr Sheehan. I put one in the neck position on a 51 bitsa I made. It isn’t as muddy as the classic mudbucker and has quite a nice growl to it. By which I mean it has a bit of definition to it when solo. Also comes with a 4 conductor cable so you can switch it series/parallel/single coil, if that floats your boat. Unfortunately, Dimarzio chose to discontinue it. GLWTS -
Great review @Chienmortbb. The Monza, plus neutral amp, makes a great platform for pedals/effects. I guess the clue is in the FRFR label but it took me a while to really notice just how transparent it is.
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Hadn’t heard of that one before but it’s probably happened to me without me realising. New set of D’Addarios too. I got to use it at a blues jam last night. People said it sounded pretty good through the provided backline (Ashdown EVO head and a 2 x 10). Lots of compliments on its appearance but amazement at the weight. Heavier than a 70s P bass according to some. A couple of fellow bassists suggested I drill out some of the wood, like Gibson do on the so called weight relieved Les Pauls. If I did this, I guess I would have to do it from the back and cover the holes with a veneer. I also wonder how it might affect tone and balance. Strikes me it might be easier just to look for an alternative body in swamp ash, or similar, without going as light as the Obeche.
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True but I think the pickup alignment is pretty accurate under the G string.
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OK, so I have finally, pretty well finished. Not entirely straightforward but not too bad as these sort of builds, or I should probably say, assemblies, go. Fortunately, I got the bridge in the right place, judging by the string alignment on the neck. Strings 1 and 4 both have a good amount of clearance all the way down the neck, so they are not going to slip over the edge if my fretting is a bit wild. Pickup alignment is not so good but I am blaming the pickguard I got hold of. I originally lined the pickups up so that the strings were dead in the middle of the pairs of poles. Unfortunately, when I came to fit the scratchplate, the cut outs didn’t line up at all. It would have required too much to be cut off to get the pickups in the ideal place: it would have left huge gaps, so I moved the pickups. I have seen worse alignment and it works fine but it upsets my sense of symmetry. This wasn’t the only issue with the scratchplate and it is a lesson not to buy the cheapest available on FleaBay. It is cut so tight that it barely covers the control cavity route and in its original position the jack socket would have made contact with the side wall of the cavity. I had trimmed a little off the neck cut to make it match the squared off neck heel (thus covering the gap between neck and body) and these few millimetres north gave enough clearance for the jack socket. Then I didn’t have a gap to get at the heel truss rod adjustment, so had to make a notch to get the tool in (not as neat as I would have liked). Final gripe about the scratchplate is that it is meant to be brown tortoiseshell but definitely looks red to me. My fault for going cheap! I have levered open my wallet and bought a Stew Mac Telecaster Truss Rod Adjustment Tool from a UK supplier on FleaBay at a reasonable price. I am really glad I did. It works a treat and only requires the smallest gap to get it located in the truss rod slot. It doesn’t look as professional as the much more expensive Hosco tool but it works. The important bit is that the bass sounds much more like what I expect from a Precision. Nothing like as bright as the SD ‘51 in the Obeche body but still with some growl. The G perhaps sounds a bit muted but I guess that is the Tone Rider pickup. I am happy with the action I have obtained as well. I did pop a bit of credit card in at the heel to shim it a bit, to compensate for the thicker baseplate on the Fender high mass bridge. That seems to have done the trick, so I now have a bit less than 3.5mm at the 12th fret on the bass side and it is rattle free. The only drawback to the overall package is that, if I ever decide to buy a boat, I have the anchor covered right here. A quick weighing session on the bathroom scales puts it at 5 Kg on the nose! That’s 11 whole Imperial pounds! That is at least 1.5 Kg more than my other basses. This is definitely going to be a bass for short jam sessions and back up at gigs. No way I can use this as a primary instrument for gigging, or even rehearsing.
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My Mum made me have piano lessons: I wanted to play clarinet (it was the time of Stranger on the Shore). I hated it. Couldn’t get it. The piano teacher was called Mr Bassman: must have been a sign😀! He got so frustrated with me that he used to poke me in the ribs with his long bony fingers (probably be arrested these days). Anyway, my Mum eventually gave up and decided to save her money. I don’t know who begged more for the lessons to stop: me or Mr Bassman. The experience completely put me off playing music until I was about 13, when a confluence of a friends guitar and hearing the Stones, Led Zeppelin, etc, persuaded me that maybe it was worth having a go. I still expect everything that goes wrong to be my fault and I drive my band mates crazy by constantly apologising for my perceived imperfections! 🤣
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What is the band called Keith? I’ll look out for you. Are you playing at the Necton Festival? I’m impressed that you have the capacity to notice what the rest of the band are doing and the overall sound. I’m normally too busy trying to keep from making mistakes myself but I do find it disconcerting on the occasions when I do notice other’s mess ups. Normally starts and finishes, which I think can make a band look really amateur. Although, as others have said, the punters rarely notice. Listening back to recordings can be painful though!
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@Longwheelbass Can’t see the pics: says access denied.