Baloney Balderdash

My battered main Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass :

To fix the string action you would need to shim the neck pocket, take off the strings and then screw off the neck, then cut an old credit card or something similar to size to fit in the neck pocket (something not too thick that won't compress over time, a little thickness goes a much longer way than you'd properly expect), slide it in there and attach the neck again, that will bring the fretboard closer to the string's minimum position. As far as goes the trussrod when you start to feel resistance, and certainly if the wood begins to creak, you should stop tightening it, otherwise you might strip the trussrod and possibly damage the neck as well, in case of the neck still having too much relief with the trussrod maxed out all you can do is putting on a set of strings of a lighter gauge than those currently fitted on the bass, to ease the string tension pull on the neck, which, depending on how bad the bow is, ought to allow you to straighten the neck up to the desired amount of relief.

It is of course your bass build and your son, so up to you entirely, but I would think your son might feel a 24" or 25" scale length would be more of a real bass, though if you know he will be just as happy with the 17.5" scale bass then absolutely go for it, I just took a look at the videos you mention, and they definitely look like cool unique instruments, and they sound good with an octaver, so the build in Sub'N'Up Mini would be a great idea. I just can't help but being a bit concerned about your son possibly ending up being disappointed about it not really looking quite like a real bass, and I would think at 6 years a 24" or 25" scale bass would be about a perfect fit as a practice bass, in case he actually end up deciding to start learning how to play it properly.

Best version of Comfortably Numb ever! This band really mange to add a whole new meaning to that song :

Are You Shivering? (by Coil)

Seems to me like nickle roundwounds would be your ticket then, I think that is what most of the bands you listed use/used. Flatwounds would properly be good for coping that thumpy Höfner Violin/Beatles bass of McCartney's though, but pretty much everything else you listed I'd say nickle roundwounds would probably get you closest (and as I mentioned in my last reply there are relatively simple ways to get that thumpy flatwound tone with rounds too, but hard to do the other way around). Also please read my last reply again as I edited it a bit, clarifying and elaborating on what I originally wrote.

Favorite genre(s) might help guiding you to the right strings for you, as different string types are more commonly used in different genres? For example if it was punk I would properly recommend steel roundwounds, if it was motown I might recommend flatwounds, and for rock properly nickle roundwounds, though those are nowhere the only string types used by bass players of those respective genres, but as said some string types are more commonly used in certain genres than others. I'd say that even though flatwounds is no doubt a classic P tone, it is just as associated with rock and roundwounds, but nickle roundwounds would properly be the best all round choice for you, as it kind of provides a less specialized sort of tone, somewhat being a more versatile string choice, in many ways a middle ground between the two extremes of the deep mellow thump of flatwounds and the bright aggressive snappy zing of steel roundwounds. In that it is not too hard to make nickle roundwounds sound pretty close to flatwounds, by rolling off the tone of the bass and eventual installing a simple foam mute under the strings down by the bridge, while on the other hand, with a bit of EQ'ing, boosting some upper mids and high end frequencies, with the tone wide open and using a pick, nickle roundwounds also got enough zing and snap in them to being capable of sounding nearly as agressive as steel roundwounds. The other way around would get considerably more problematic, this especially being true for flatwound strings.

You are perfectly right about that. I somehow managed to merge two replies by two different people in my mind, you being unlucky to be the wrong one, but seems it doesn't really add up to actual reality... Doh!

Sometimes myself.... But I suppose we all can't be right all of the time... Guess we all sooner or later have to come to terms with that sometimes is as good as it'll ever get. Back on track... please...

Well, honestly you were the one who insinuated you'd read the whole thread, by complaining about no one posting in the thread considering what would actually be useful to OP, and my reply to OP wasn't even the only post that didn't apply to. I am personally of the opinion that there's absolutely nothing wrong with posting in a thread without having read every single reply in it, but if you haven't posting a general statement about everything that has been posted in the thread at least seems quite odd to me.

Agree.... However I actually did name my main Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass "Dud Bottomfeeder", and my Epiphone SG Special, main electric guitar, "Epicphoneya". Those names are pretty tongue in cheek though, and I would never call them by gender. But I do perfectly understand, and am first hand familiar with, the concept of getting attached to an instrument on a level where they take on an actual personality.

Bangs (by They Might Be Giants)

I didn't literally ask OP that specific question, no, but I did in fact actually explain what type of strings they should get according to what kind of tone they was looking for, in my reply right above your post (well, at least explaining what to expect tone wise from respectively flatwounds, nickle rounwounds and steel roundwounds). I did then proceed with a recommendation based on my personal preferences, yes, but that was after guiding OP in the general direction of what type of strings to get depending on the tone they was looking for.

Fire of the Mind (by Coil)

If you want a thumpy deep tone with not a whole lot of high end zing going on, and I guess more mellow tone, then some kind of flatwounds, but if you want a more lively bright tone with a good amount of zing and snap, and I guess more aggressive tone, then go for nickle roundwounds, or steel roundwounds if you want even more snap, zing and aggression. I can warmly recommend the D'Addario NYXL nickle roundwound strings, they are not coated but will last longer than regular roundwounds (2 to 3 times as long seems to be the general consensus), due to the tighter rap, which will also make the string feel slightly smother, and the special formula carbon steel alloy core, and in my opinion they also sounds much better than regular strings, they are slightly more expensive than standard strings though, but that pretty much will equal up to them staying fresh longer, so you don't have to change strings nearly as often. As for roundwounds in E standard tuning I would properly go for a gauge .100 to .045 set.

Ah, right, I misunderstood that, cause I am quite sure it wasn't actually what Leonidaslost that you quoted meant.

@Leonidaslost Or a compressor with a really short attack time and a relatively fast release time, with a medium kind of ratio setting, a hard knee, and just the right threshold level, for the same effect (I would think at least, but I am not exactly a compression expert, so might have gotten something wrong regarding the details of the specific settings needed, no doubt a compressor with controls of the parameters mentioned would be able to do it though). A multiband compressor with the option of customizing the frequency reach of the different bands and the compression of each individual band would be ideal, like for instance the 3 band TC Electronic SpectraComp bass compressor, to have the above mentioned compression mainly affect the treble and high mid frequency spectrum, like everything above about 600 or 700 Hz or so, to allow for the thudy kind of attack of a double bass to come through. Then add a fairly subtle detune effect blended with the clean signal to that, finish off with a subtle touch of room reverb, and I would think it's about as close as you can get using common effects to emulate it. Though this digital NUX Optima Air pedal can load impulse response files from acoustic guitars, that way emulating the characteristics of different acoustic guitar models, and there's a chance that it might work with a double bass as well if you can just find a double bass IR and load into it, or know how to capture it yourself (Thomann lists it at 166£.) : Another option would be to get the fretless Harley Benton Beatbass FL VS Vintage Series (Violin/Beatles bass) that Thomann offers for just 152£ : https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_beatbass_fl_vs_vintage_series.htm?ref=intl&shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6IjQiLCJsYW5ndWFnZSI6ImVuIn0%3D I bet that fretless violin bass would be capable of getting you pretty close to a double bass kind of tone even without use of additional effects.

...Deleted...

My 50 Cent on bass compression is that despite the fact that I really rather use compression as a means to subtly adjust fairly minor details of the tonal character of my signal, than as a way to control or uniform the dynamic range of it, and the fact that the TC Electronic fully programable digital 3 band SpeactraComp bass compressor that I own really allows for some very detailed customized adjustments of the compression going on, I found that I actually preferred the tone that I got from using 2 single band compressors with fairly limited controls over the compression parameters, which are a quite subtle compression from the digital model of the DBX 160A compressor in my lowly Zoom G1Xon multi effect, using a high threshold and a relatively low 2.5:1 ratio, going into my very much analog tube driven optical compressor, the EHX Black Finger, also set to a very subtle compression with a high threshold and a relatively slow attack time and low ratio, actually having a quite negligible effect on my playing dynamics, but just adding a bit of extra snap and punch, as well as making my tone sound slightly more defined, focused and tight.

I Want to Be Alone (by Jackson Frank)

Might not be the best, but damn I am in love with this deep dark purple patterned one, and I think I might need to buy it (It's an Ernie Ball Jacquard Guitar Strap - Purple Paisley, and it's even quite cheap, just about 22£/24 Euro) :

I prefer my nuts to be of flesh and blood. To each their own, just be aware that it'll affect your ability to reproduce if you go through with this.

Did You See Me? (by Ween)