Count Bassy

I always thought that Active bases should (at the cost of an extra pound or two) have headphone amps built in. You'd probably want a separate socket and a discrete switch to turn it on.

If it's a passive bass and you have a stereo jack then I would personally wire the 'ring' to the earth contact. That way you get a spring contact on the earth rather than relying on the the unsprung contact between the plug sleeve and the outer ring of the socket.

Fair comment on the neck length, I get around that by playing a 32". On the fret spacing I wouldn't have thought it mattered if you weren't going to use them anyway.

[quote name='Doctor J' post='276003' date='Sep 3 2008, 08:26 AM']A lot of players like to play their J bass with the scratchplate removed. Could you imagine Jaco's 62 with that? It may not make a difference to the sound but I don't think that's the point. It's misguided penny pinching, and basses that expensive shouldn't have such blatant penny pinching. If they've cut corners there, what else are they skimping and compromising on?[/quote] On point 1: Then why not buy a Jazz copy that isn't factory fitted with a scratch plate? On point 2: Hopefully they've saved money here because it doesn't make any difference! I've heard a rumour that if you take the truss rod out of an Alembic, and then put a tiny camera down the hole, it looks terrible, not sanded or varnished or anything! Disgraceful I call it.

Out of interest, why do you hate 24 frets. From your description of what you do I'd have thought 24 frets would be ideal. After all you don't have to use the last 4 frets ifyou don't want to!

You can't really (IMHO) slag off Fender (or anyone else) for the quality of a route that is covered by the scratch plate, which, after all, is a standard part of the instrument. It's a bit like buying a car, taking the bonnet off and then complaining thet the engine isn't very pretty.

I used to live in Walcot but that was about 40 years ago. Rumour had it in those days that they kept 'the bomb' at Digby.

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Stay with me (The Faces). What a cracking song.

My teacher has has got me doing the major scale, but doing all the modes which you run up and down in sequence. Ie you start with the normal C major scale (ionian mode) going up, then move up to C major dorian mode (ie starting on D) -coming down, then up on the phrygian (E start), and so on all the way up to the Ionian mode an octave higher.etc then down all the way doing each scale in the different direction. When I started this it looks pretty daunting, but its actually a lot easier than it looks, certainly teaches you the patterns for each mode, and gets the left hand fingers moving. Mind you, I find that knowing it as an exercise is not the same as being able to use it in a tune! And as others have said the beauty is that on a bass you can start at any fret and it gives you a different key. Also, for one octave scale, you can start on the E, A, (or string to give you different scales. Edit: I tried to say, or B, but it put a smiley in

I have a small problem with with my Ibanez GWB35 that I bought second hand a few months ago. Specifically one of the saddle height adjusting grub screws on the G string unscrews itself over a couple of weeks playing, so the action keeps lowering itself. Has anyone else had this problem, and how did thay solve it? I've thought of using one of the proprietry thread locking fluids (loctite etc), but there's such a range I don't know which to go for. Its still got to be adjustable with the allen key when I want to it to move, but not to move on its own. I've also thought of deliberately damaging the thread a bit to make it stiffer, but I don't want the damage to transfer to the saddle itself. Any ideas anyone?

As he's had the neck off at least once (for the photos) is it possible that the neck hasn't gone back on quite square, hence the string alignment?

[quote name='Oscar South' post='252003' date='Jul 31 2008, 01:02 PM']Another thing is that this 'X player has accomplished so much more than you so you can't critisise him/her' thing has to stop, anyone can have an opinion and voice it about anyone, theres no pre-requisite requirement to meet.[/quote] Spot on! To suggest that someone has to be proficient, or be better at something, in order to hold and express an opinion is ridiculous and ultimately dangerous. before long we would not be able to: Dislike a particular beer (as we couldn't brew it ourself) Express a preference for a football team (unless you could do better yourself) Make a choice about which restaurant to go to Fancy a member of the opposite sex (i'm not a woman, so how could I possibly have an opinion about one) " " " " " Vote!

[quote name='thebeat' post='249034' date='Jul 27 2008, 06:31 PM']I do prefer arse though.[/quote] Careful!

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='251642' date='Jul 30 2008, 08:58 PM']This is why people like Victor Wooten & Jeff Berlin are so important. They inspire us to be better bass players. Period.[/quote] Well, that particular example didn't inspire me to do anything other than turn it off. After thought: Perhaps it did inspire me never to try to play like that, so that probably will make me a better bass player! As they say 'no-one is useless, even the worse of us can act as a bad example' Ducking quickly as I press the 'add reply' button.

[quote name='Clarky' post='247112' date='Jul 24 2008, 06:24 PM']don't fancy yours much[/quote] I don't fancy yours or mine!

[quote name='martthebass' post='247095' date='Jul 24 2008, 06:13 PM']Thought that was William Hague. ......... Despite his comment, he'd never touched a pint of John Smiths in his life [/quote] Well at least he's got some taste then!

[quote name='Delberthot' post='246156' date='Jul 23 2008, 02:47 PM']Unfortunately, finding the right string for you can be very time consuming and expensive. Even if you find the right sounding one, it may not be the ideal gauge for you.[/quote] And even if you find the 'perfect string' you'll probably find that 6 months laetr you want something slightly different again.

On my Urge Mk 1 (32") I currently have D'addario nickel half flats (ground wound) - the ERN71 set (100 - 45). This was an attempt to mellow my sound out a bit as I found that with round wounds I was constantly playing with the treble backed right off, and it worked treat. I love the sound of them, and although they felt a bit odd at first (sort of sticky) that either went away within a few days, or I've got so used to it that I don't even notice anymore. I had previously tried some heavier strings (Elites), but I didn't get on with the heavier gauge tension-wise, and it still didn't give the sound I was after. On my other Urge Mk1 (Mex) I think it still has the original Fender strings on, though I don't know as it was bought second hand. These are round wound, but seem to be quite mellow, and I'm fairly happy with those sound and tension wise. Are Fender strings known for being fairly mellow, and lowish tension for the guage?

[quote name='Ray' post='245329' date='Jul 22 2008, 01:20 PM']Customer service at PMT is non-existant in my experience. They are complete tw@ts, IMO of course.[/quote] On the other hand I used PMT in Northampton to get my lad his electic drum kit and I was very impressed with their service (and the price was OK too).

Perhaps Peter Jones wants to be 'in the music business'.

[quote name='gilmour' post='244998' date='Jul 22 2008, 01:39 AM']My favourite daft question used to happen to me once a week, every week, when i went into my local post office, with my bass ... Shop "So, catch anything interesting..." Me "hmm?" Shop "been fishing haven't you?" Me "erm, no, no, it's bass guitar" Shop "ahh" Every effing week, for two years! To top it of, I have seen a fishing rod before, they are a lot longer and thinner than bass guitars, and only have one string [/quote] I don't believe that they are that daft. They probably view it as a running joke, and enjoy seeing your reaction. Try changing you're response to play along with it! Some sort of pun on Bass (the instrument) and Bass (the fish) perhaps?

There's a steinberger Sprit on t'bay as we speak Item no: 180266980529 Currently £100, no bids + a hohner Jack Item No. 290247155575 Also currently £100, no bids

Ashley Hutchins? A bit of a Tw@ from what I've heard, but a very influential folk bass player in his day all the same.

Actually OG, you raise a further point there. Do current classical composers get peed off because the orchestras/audiences insist on playing/hearing Beethoven/Bach/Mozart & such? Paul, that's a fair point you raise there, although the fact that royalties go to the author is probably no consolation to the actors in the professional production. I have absolutely no problem paying royalties to the author's of songs, and I'm sure it's just the practicalities that result in the different methods of collecting. After all most ametuer dramatic productions last a couple of hours and go on for several nights, so you can cover 6-8 hours of entertainment in one payment. If you're doing 20 songs for one night only then it gets rather messy and inefficent. Some of the restrictions that are put on theatrical production are (IMHO) really ridiculous. Our local primary school put on joseph & the coat thing, and one of the license restrictions was that no-one was allowed to video it - how petty can you get. So if things went really wrong with a song how far out of time would the guitarist (we all know that bassists don't go out of time) be allowed to go before it counted as a separate (but simultaneous) performance of the song, and thus incurr double the royalties?