Count Bassy

Another vote for the Yamaha. Don't know how it compares to other offerings, but it works well enough for me.

I don't know what BassBus's point was, but it does make the point that many highly respected fretless players choose to play lined models. i.e. that lined fretless basses are not purely for beginners. I'm sure that a similar list of unlined players could be put together. At the end of the day play what you want - After all, very few people in the outside world will give a toss.

Ignoring tone altogether, I love the way Normal Watt-Roy attacks his bass. May not help the sound at all, but looks great.

Where the Kramer aluminium necks solid or hollow?

I actually have quite a good ear, and can tell when I'm not in tune. The problem is (for me) is that having played very little fretless, and for big jumps (e.g. the All Right Now solo part), I can very easily end up out of tune. Of course my ears tell me its out of tune, but by then it's too late. I imagine that having lines would help in this situation.

Apologies if I upset anyone. I didn't mean to. My own view is that people can play whatever they like, so I guess that people holding the opposite view must be the ones who like to dictate what other people play. To expand my point I can quite understand that people who like lines preferring or needing lines. I can also understand that people who can play unlined might be quite happy without, but I can't see why the presence of lines would be a problem to them. i.e., as per my first post, a lined one has all the options covered. Therefore for a first timer I'd have thought lined would be best. Aesthetics is a different question of course. I quite like the look of fretted basses, and an unlined fretless just looks a bit uninteresting to me, but can perfectly understand that other people prefer the unlined look.

Surely a lined fretless covers all options. The lines are there if you want them and if you don't want the lines then don't look at them. - or is it to do with the kudos of the audience going Wow - he's playing without lines.

No of heard (or heard of) Nick Fyfe, but it strikes me that playing lightly and playing heavily produce quite different sounds. Both are equally valid. If this Nick Fyfe can get that range with just plying lightly then good for him. Out of interest, how do you know how hard he's playing? - it is possibly to play heavily without fingers flailing all over the place.

That baking powder thing sounds a useful trick. In the past I've stuck a tiny bit of plastic (e.g. broken CD case) in the the slot and then refiled it - which also worked (for me at least).

Does the lack of air resistance improve the sustain at all?

It could just be that there are many more of them out there than some of the other brands.

Bizarre gardening accident? Spontaneous combustion?

Blockheads on Friday

Perhaps she was told that by Penny what's her name.

I've got a GWB35 which has the same tuners (same idea anyway) Easy to use, and much less prone to moving if knocked on something. My own thorought on tuners is that they should have higher ratios on the lower strings. B strings can be a pig to tune because it's so sensitive, and if you should knock it it can easily go out by over a semitone. Would there be a case for standard tuners and then micro ajusters, a bit like violins can have?

I think it looks like quite a nicely made bass, though not enough strings and too shiny for me.

Cut the neck off at the first or second fret and convert it to a headless short/medium scale 'Warwick'? - but not at that price!!

Not taken umbrage at all, but you did say 'but the prices are a bit out there for a bass I haven't heard of' which is sort of judging it a bit, which seems slighty unfair if you didn't follow the provided link to find out any more about it. However, my apologies if I upset you. Perhaps I was having a bad day.

Brilliant amps, but: The amp is class H, not class D. - AFAIK Class H is a conventional amp but with a dual voltage supply, only uses the higher voltage supply when it needs it so when it doesn't the heat dissipation is reduced. It's 400 Watts into 2 ohm, but (due to the class H) 4000W peak. However £1800 for that set up is ridiculous. I bought a DBS7400 amp 4 or 5 years ago and paid around £350.

Ah you've got me there! I hadn't noticed that. In which case please ignore all my posts in this thread!!!!!

Perhaps arrogant was the wrong word. Presumptuous may have been better. However the point was that this is a bass instrument and aclling it a bass does not imply a 'bass guitar'.

In which case should you be judging them?

It's a bass banjo. As much right to be called a 'bass' as a bass guitar as far as I can see. Is actually a bit arrogant of bass chat to call itself that without having a section for Banjos, brass bass etc. which could just as easily lay claim to the site name?

Shame about the grill cloth. Give me a metal grill any day.

Ahem. The weight of a pendulum has no affect on it's period. It's all to do with the centre of gravity. Mind you you could measure the period with just the bass, than add a known weight at a known distance from the fulcrum. Measure the change in period, which would tell you how far the centre of gravity had moved, from which you could calculate the weight of the bass. All ignoring the weight of the string of course, and it has to be a small swing or it's not simple harmonic motion anymore (well actually it never is but at small angles the errors are literally negligible). PS TO MODS: Why can't we have an English rather than American spell checker?