meterman

Hiya folks, hope you’re all warm and well and lockdown isn’t driving you all nuts. I need to ask the Basschat collective mind some advice about lightweight basses.

My left shoulder is knackered through a combination of old rotator cuff tear / weakness after a biking injury. It’s bad enough at the moment that if I pick up my bass with my right hand it’s painful in my left shoulder straight away. Even sitting down to play is painful. Reaching for a low F on the E string hurts, for instance. 

I’ve had recurring trouble with this shoulder for years and sometimes I can’t play bass at all. Just wondering if I’m destined to only play a Kala U-bass for the rest of my days or if something like a Hofner Violin bass might work for me? Anybody here had a similar problem? Or do I just man the flip up and hammer the co-codamols any play through it? 😆

A mate of mine switched from Jazz bass to a Violin bass after his back and shoulder problems got serious, and I’m wondering if I might have to make that decision too. I remember seeing old pics of Robbie Shakespeare playing a violin bass so I know they’re not just for Macca fans. Anyone else here gone through the same kind of thing? Thanks in advance 🙏 - Lee

17 hours ago, owen said:

You say it is very blingy like that is a bad thing. That is going STRAIGHT onto my Ebay watchlist.

Haha, I liked the silver sparkle but thought the black stripes ruined it. 

Listened to Incredible String Band this morning for the first time in ages. Old school freaky hippie business 😆 and I love it 

On 27/09/2020 at 14:03, subdude said:

I have the burst version of this model, it is indeed a great bass despite some drawbacks. The neck dives, but there is no T-bird shaped bass that doesn''t. The bridge on mine went straight to the bin while I was doing a refin, loved the looks but wouldn't live with the way it adjusts, what where they thinking!? The neck is set so no swapping with a lefty model.                                              This is what it looks like now.

 

 

That blue is a great colour for a 'bird, mind 👍  Reminds me of Fender's old 'Maui Blue' a bit. 

Can vouch for the little Tanglewood Elf. I got mine from a charity shop, and for a couple of years it was the only bass I owned. I still play it now, it's a fun little thing. 25.5" scale so perfect size for a 5 year old, and not always expensive on ebay, Gumtree etc.

32 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

I’m selling some bits so I can see about buying Gareth’s other one of those!  I thought the slightly off-white controls and pickup covers would contrast nicely with a black scratchplate.

If you do manage to get a Bullet bass then please do the full NBD with pics etc. 👍

1 minute ago, Pea Turgh said:

I’m selling some bits so I can see about buying Gareth’s other one of those!  I thought the slightly off-white controls and pickup covers would contrast nicely with a black scratchplate.

I did have the original off-white controls and pickup covers on for 24 hours but changed them out. It is a strong look though.

If the neck had been rosewood I'd have fitted a tort scratchplate. But black / black / maple is fine for me

3 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

@metermanThat looks lush!

Thank you! I tried but could not find any black pickup covers to fit the pickups so I had to Sharpie them. I'll spray them black at some point.

I do love how Fender somehow ended up making basses that looked like the slightly wonky MIJ lawsuit era instruments that were trying to copy Fender in the first place. 

Am I the only weirdo who doesn't have any bass OCD triggers? Maybe I'm just a basic simpleton.

I own a bass, it has strings on it, it works, I play it. That's about it really. (Probably get chucked off the board for admitting it, right?) 😂

Serge Gainsbourg.

I guess my MIJ Squier Bullet can join the club.

That is a seriously handsome Mustang! Good luck with sale 👍

I would absolutely love one of these. The styling is quirky af and it just really appeals to me.

I’ll probably have to wait until there’s a Squier Affinity version of it though, finances being what they are right now.

The pickup looks the business. If I could get one, or the Guild version, I’d put one on my Bullet bass today. A mate has a Starfire bass with the similar pickup and it sounds immense.

Very much would like to see a run of these basses 👍

Finally got my Bullet bass pickguard on. B/W/B looks better on this bass than the original 3-ply white. The original guard was thicker material and heavier, but the new one is still great quality and cut to fit perfectly. All screw holes lined up 100%. Can fully recommend Brian / earlpillanz if you're needing a custom replacement pickguard  👍

And now he's got a template for the 1984 MIJ Bullet pickguard so if anyone wants to change theirs, he's the man to go to.

Hopefully tomorrow my new 3-ply b/w/b Bullet bass pickguard is arriving. Can't imagine there will be many 1984 MIJ Squier Bullet basses around in a black / black / maple configuration. Brian's been spot on when I've had pickguards from him before, really fast turnaround, can't wait to get my bass back in action  

On 26/09/2020 at 19:12, Marvin said:

I don't own a guitar as such, on account that I can't really play one. (I know a lot of bass players say that and they only can strum along to stuff, but I can't enough do that, I've never learnt to play guitar). I do have a Westfield Strat Clone hanging around the house, I bought it for the kids. It's ok, I think. My middle son started to learn playing on it.

Roll forward to lockdown and because my 3 boys got very good reports/praise from the school for their hard work during the lockdown I gave them £100 each. The middle son does the right thing and puts it towards a new guitar. He bought this:

It's a Squier FSR Bullet Mustang Competition. It's short scale, quite a thin body...and I have to be honest, I'm quite envious. It feels really rather nice, and sounds pretty good as well. For £140 it's an absolute steal. I will say, he bought this particular one for the right reasons. Not because of the pick up config, or the shorter scale, or that it's a hardtail. He bought it because it's his favorite colour, orange. I pinched it earlier and strummed G and D, the only 2 chords I can play and it made me sound awesome.

With a decent setup, the Squier Bullet Mustangs are brilliant little guitars. I bought a s/h one cheap that had been modded and I modded it further. Loads of fun to play, and not get too worried about dinging a £100 instrument up. I did have to change the bridge, but that was the only real expense. I'd have bought an orange one if they'd been available then, they look superb. 👍

22 minutes ago, Nail Soup said:

Made me think of this...... a song featuring the word 'mastodon' (I guess there are not many)... and it has two basses so ideal for basschat 😀

The Stranglers "Dead Los Angeles"

 

 

"The Raven" 🖤👍

1 hour ago, Nail Soup said:

Like it, definitely my bag.... any idea if he's a dubbing up existing songs or recording from scratch or what?

He's got a band and some session players, I've seen videos of him in the studio, he's defo the real deal. He had an album out last year that was a little too authentically lo-fi fo my ears but it's all really good stuff 👍

Yes I know it's Monday, but listen to "Friday" 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLAN6NOPCxA

- from "Pachyman At The Control" a great recent reggae record.

Not sure why the video won't embed?? Anyway, it's ace 😎

@TheMaartian they are a great live band too (if garagey rock and roll is your thing)

Very handsome bass! Good luck with the sale 👍

Perpignan's finest, The Limiñanas - "Calentita".

It grooves along like Serge Gainsbourg atop the Velvet Underground on half a microdot. And the phoned-in Spanish lady on lead vocals has the best lines: "Beba Fanta / Chupa Chups / Marijuana / Marijuana / Marijuana".

And the guy with the matching suit and record player combo? I want a job like that, please. 👍

On 17/09/2020 at 16:42, Nail Soup said:

(inspired by the 1/4 inch tape thread)

I have a drawer full of 4 track cassettes from way back when that was the main way to do home recording.

The 4 track machine doesn't work any more. I may or may not be able to fix it.

Any tips/comments/experince on getting them transferred to WAV files (Including how to sync them up in DAW.)? With and without a 4-track machine?

They are recorded (as most are I think) at double speed.

 

Could you not get your 4-track repaired? Or maybe do what I did and buy a restored vintage Tascam 244 off ebay to transfer my old tapes. I planned to sell the 244 after doing the transfers, but I couldn't resist having a dabble with recording some new tunes on it and I was hooked again. D'oh! For recording certain things (drums for instance) it's great. But buying a refurbed one, doing your transfers, then punting it back on afterwards wouldn't be so bad, no?

2 hours ago, grenadillabama said:

I got this Fender Malibu Player to maybe use in a gig . It reminds me of surfing and now I need to learn surfing as well as a single act. Surfing might be more reasonable though !

That is beautiful! I used to have a 1970s Fender Palomino acoustic with the same Strat style headstock. But mine was only a natural finish, and that Malibu is a stunner 😎

I've been recording with my Danelectro a fair bit lately, I love how a cheap instrument can sometimes just be the best one you have. Here's a clip of me and it doing "Funky Dollar Bill" by Funkadelic. My facial expression of utter struggle is real, I'm a percussion player originally. Plus the obligatory psychedelic living room pic: 

"Piper At The Gates Of Danelectro" haha...