Baloney Balderdash

Pretty amazing traditional folk (ikke lige 100% klar over fra hvor dog):

Where Are You? - Coil

It's a pretty amazing live album for sure.

Yes, and I do know for a fact that some manufactures will correct neck angle this way as well, even sometimes just using whatever is at hand, for example a piece of folded sandpaper. But I didn't want to change the neck angle, actually it is pretty minimal as it is, and I prefer it this way. Also if it does have any effect on the tone, for what it is worth the contact area between the neck and neck pocket will be greater with a full shim (you can actually buy slightly angled full shims as well, or even make your own if you know how to). All in all though it seems like the consensus is that it is unlikely to have any negative effect on tone or sustain, which was what I was looking for getting resolved. Thanks to everyone who came with their genuine input to this matter so far.

Well, I didn't use an actual credit card, but a traveling card for public transport, which though is the exact same material and has the exact same dimensions as a credit card, but without any recessed/risen letters or signs, so similar to a credit card in every other aspect except but for its surface being completely plane. And yes, very tight neck joint. Good point though. And thanks for you input, guess I should be good then.

Did You See Me? - Ween

Well, thing is that it seemingly works, but had I thought it through better and not just found an immediate haphazard solution like this, and I was doing it now, I would definitely had gone for a wood shim instead. I also don't think that my acoustic experiment really conclude anything with certainty, as a table pressed against the headstock doesn't exactly amplifies much. As said it seemingly seems, seemingly and seems being the keywords here, to work just fine, but do people who actually know something about this find it likely that the plastic might very well have a negative influence and that replacing it for something else likely would bring an improvement? Put it simpler, disregarding everything else, basically what I really want to know is, does a thin layer of hard plastic, like that of a credit card dampen vibrations?

What the...

What? Your reply doesn't really answer my actual question at all. And I am pretty certain you have misunderstood what I wrote in my OP, try reading it again. The whole point with this shim to start with is that it is supposed to be a spacer, raising the neck to get more sensible action adjustment at the bridge, and it got absolutely nothing to do with the neck plate, there isn't even one on this bass, the shim sits in the neck pocket between the bottom of pocket and neck.

A while ago I couldn't get the saddles low enough for proper action unless basically sitting on the base plate without any grub screws to support them, so in usual haphazardly way I fitted an old credit card in the neck pocket to shim it. Now it sits pretty much perfectly, the action is great all along the neck, and as a bonus at the desired action the grub screws are more or less flush with the saddles, making resting on it and palm muting pleasant and easy. But, while I can't really complain about the tone of said bass, I came to think if perhaps the hard plastic sitting in between the neck and body in the neck pocket perhaps could have a bad influence on tone and sustain anyway, and that I perhaps would be better off replacing it for a hardwood or metal plate of the same thickness? Now I have experimented unplugged with pressing the headstock against a wooden table to amplify the bass acoustically, then do the same, but with a credit card between the headstock and the table, but without any audible deterioration of neither acoustic tone or sustain. Now that experiment seems to suggest that there is probably nothing to worry about, but what does people here say?

Well, that would technically make it a baritone guitar (baritone guitars pretty much being defined by usually 27" to 30" scale length guitars, typically tuned in either B or A standard tuning, though 27" or 28" scale length tuned in B standard tuning is the most common). Also it is not just me who call it standard tuning, it is pretty much a standardized (no pun intended) term.

A - D - G - C, yes. String gauge and tension is completely up to personal preferences, you can buy separate single stings and compose your own set, using something like this string tension calculator as a guide: https://wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_guitar_tension_from_size.htm I personally prefer an approximate close to perfectly balanced and relatively low tension set of strings. Though several string manufactures does actually sell specific piccolo tuning string sets, a few even specific tenor bass tuning string sets. Also a 5 string E to C tuning is categorized as tenor bass tuning as well.

I made a thread a while ago for discussing alternate up-tunings of bass guitars, including piccolo and tenor bass tuning that didn't went that far and kind of died out early, but I am hoping being a bit more specific and having this thread being specifically of the two most common up-tunings might fare a little better. Just to be sure people know what I am talking about: Piccolo bass tuning, is a bass that is tuned an octave higher than a normal bass, that is as the four lower strings of a guitar tuned in regular E standard tuning. And tenor bass tuning, which among others Victor Wooten, but especially Stanley Clarke is making wide use of, is a bass tuned like the 4 upper string of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, that is A standard tuning. And of course strung accordingly. Personally I have grown really fond of tenor bass tuning, and currently my just 28.6" scale Ibanez Mikro Bass, which is my main bass, is strung up with Elixir Nanoweb guitar strings of the gauges .068 - .052 - .038 - .028, and tuned this way, in A standard tuning. Here it is, "Dud Bottomfeeder" : And for those who think piccolo and tenor bass are oxymorons, well, technically they are of course, but non the less first of all these are actually well established terms, and also rather than being named after their tonal frequency range, think of it as named after the respective instruments instead, that is a bass guitar tuned to piccolo tuning, and as a bass guitar tuned as a bass tenor guitar, or as a combination of a tenor guitar (that is the 4 string guitars, usually tuned in 5th, and higher than a regular guitar) and a bass guitar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bass_guitar_tuning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenor_guitar A bass in these tunings works best approached like a hybrid of a bass and a guitar, opening up for new perspectives of thinking and playing bass guitar, and obviously a whole new tonal range. A piccolo bass doesn't sound like a 4 string guitar, and a tenor bass doesn't sound like a 4 string baritone guitar, they got their own flavor, and works best played as their respectively entirely own individual instruments. In many ways though a piccolo bass and a tenor bass have more in common with a tenor guitar than a regular guitar or a regular baritone guitar.

I have started working on incorporating proper 3 finger plucking technique into my finger play, but as it is now I exclusively use it for galloping. Other than traditional 2 finger plucking technique, though I more so stroke the strings, in a slightly inwards slapping motion, with the outmost tip of my finger/nails, rather than really striking or plucking them, I also frequently incorporate double thumbing, classical acoustic guitar finger picking technique (again currently I only use thumb+index+middle finger, but am also currently started working on making including the ring finger feel natural), as well as flamenco guitar style index and/or middle finger flicking technique, depending. Sometimes though I will just use 1 finger plucking technique, more akin to James Jamerson, either index or middle finger, depending. Beside that I also sometimes utilize a pick, my preferred ones being either a Dunlop Tortex .60mm, or a Wedgie Soft 3.1mm rubber pick, depending. Really it's a matter of what feels and sounds best depending on the musical context. And regarding on whether using 3 fingers is faster than 2, I don't find this to be true, but it is definitely less straining to play fast using 3 fingers compared to just 2, I found though that fastest of all, at least when we are talking about single string picking, actually even faster than using a pick, is the flamenco guitar style index and/or middle finger flicking technique.

As far as the BAM200, unlike the ELF and Gnome, not before on the lower side of 30Hz, at very least: And everything bellow that (30Hz) is pretty much irrelevant in terms of reproducing the notes of a bass guitar. The graph for the BAM200 is in a reply further down that thread I linked to, all the graphs in the first couple of replies are for the ELF and Gnome (as it actually does say). This reply:

No, bass is cut, otherwise you are right. And of course it is subjective, but those graphs, if you know how to read them, can tell you something about which will suit your subjective taste/setup best.

Thanks for the replies, regarding build in compressor. But I did some research, and someone did a spectrum analysis of the ELF, GNOME and BAM200, turns out bot the ELF and Gnome got some rather serious HPF'ering going on, whereas the BAM200 got flat bass response. And as I already utilizes a HPF I personally would prefer that the amp processed my low end unchanged. So think I got my answer there, as to which of those 3 micro amps I should get. On the other hand the BAM200 seems to have some subtle LPF'ering going on, whereas the other two got a rising high frequency response. They all got a slight mid scoop around 400Hz, but as they all have their Mid control centered there that can pretty much be countered by turning the Mid control up a bit.

Please have another look at my reply and what it was a reply to again. What I basically was saying was just that if the pickup ground wire is swapped and used as the hot wire instead, but elsewhere is grounded, there will either be a somewhat reduced output or no output at all. And what I was talking about more specifically was if it was fused already where the wire is attached to the pickup. In that case you should also hear a really loud hum if touching the pickup poles with your fingers. If not the pickup will work just as well.

I see what you did there... On a more serious note, as far as I gathered the Gnome does have a build in compressor that will kick in when input gain is cranked, though supposedly a lot less heavy handed than the ELF's build in compressor. I really don't like what a compressor does to my tone and especially not my dynamics, so my question is: Does the TC Electronic BAM200 also have a build in compressor that will kick in when input gain is cranked?

It's a general issue with all barrel type jack sockets, they will eventually fail, and they are as good as impossible to fix again, though it is a more prominent issue with the cheapest of them. Regular jack sockets will last much longer, and usually if they eventually do fail it is an easy fix.

That depends, if for example a pickup pole grounding wire has been fused with the pickup coil ground, then it most definitely will.

Are D'Addario XL the same also though?

I stand corrected...