Velarian

Sounds more like the original A string broke and whoever replaced it didn’t have one to hand so just put whatever they could find on it. If they didn’t care enough about the bass to chuck it in the skip they probably wouldn’t care about correct string gauge.

I had a quick go this afternoon playing only using 3 fingers. Not a problem at all. Way easier than playing left handed I reckon.

I just had a quick look at Fender basses listed on Thomann’s website and of the 169 advertised, only 23 are in stock and they all seem to be Mexican player series instruments. The availability of the American ones is quoted as “several months”. That doesn’t suggest there are warehouses are full of them. Perhaps it supports the theory that they’re moving to a more custom/built to order model?

Bruce and Sheila will love it. 😉

Superb! What a voice. 😎

Did the bloke also used to run the joke shop that was down Tib Street? I wouldn’t be at all surprised. 😂

I’m still waiting for a veritable plethora to come along. 🤠

She’s also a great songwriter too. This is one of my favourites.

Love this!

Why not ask them when they’re going to be out? i.e. if they visit the derby and Joan club every Thursday for a couple of hours for example, then try and coordinate your rehearsals with their schedule.

Also population growth creates a growing (probably unsustainable) market for all goods. When I was born in 1962 the global population was just over 3 billion and is now rapidly approaching 8 billion! It’s scary to think of the consequences of this. Probably a good time to invest in vintage instruments though. 😉

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_notched_straightedge_bass.htm

I’m pretty sure Midge Ure didn’t feel like that when Shaddap You Face stopped Vienna from getting to number 1 in 1980.

Let the mojo begin 😉

Julia Hofer, everybody’s favourite cellist turned bass player, hasn’t tuned her bass like a cello because it would make playing disco harder. 😉 Edit: this was supposed to be a link to the place in the video where she mentions it but it didn’t work. It’s at 8:53

I sold my Peterson StroboClip to Kevin. Goods comms and quick payment. A pleasure to deal with. 👍

I bought a bridge from Ash. He responded quickly and kept me informed. A hassle-free transaction. Cheers.

Next time I’m at my mum’s I’ll dig my old records out of the attic and have a closer look at them.

I always wondered what that meant! Another piece of the jigsaw falls into place. 🙂

Without knowing anything about it, I did wonder if an exciter might offer a solution. Something to investigate. However your other point about the perception is interesting and I think is valid.

Thanks, all good advice, especially the knowing when to stop and backup points.

Unlike @skankdelvar I'm only at the threshold of moving from unconsciously incompetent to the conscious stage so please feel free to disregard everything I have to say. However, in my so far limited acquisition of knowledge I've learned a little which might be useful to consider. I'm currently in the process of trying to figure out the best way to remaster some old band recordings from the early 80s. The original 1/4" masters are long gone and I only have cassette copies to work from so the quality isn't great. Obviously I'm only able to tweak the whole mix rather than having the luxury of working at individual track level. First of all I'd echo all the comments above regarding listening to a reference track for comparison. Our original recording were specifically influenced by what we were listening to at the time and comparing similar music from that time (albeit professionally and expensively recorded) was useful in revealing where our recordings were lacking. The pro recordings were clearer and more open soundings with deeper, more solid bass. Obviously a cassette with dolby noise reduction is never going to sound as clear as a modern/professional recording. However, I felt that it ought to be possible to improve the bass end of things which, on our recordings, sounded muddy. In my search for information I came across a YouTube channel called "In The Mix" which has loads of information about mixing and mastering and in particular I found the tutorial below on using a free plugin called SPAN which is a frequency analyser. This can be used at an individual track level and across a whole mix so it was relevant for me. Comparing the frequency graph of the reference track and the recording gives a visual reference to what's different. I could hear that the bass sounded muddy and this plugin enabled me to identify that there was a pronounced hump at 137Hz and a corresponding drop-off below that. I've been playing with EQ and reducing that hump and adding a little boost to lower frequencies to improve the depth has made a useful difference. Now I need to figure out if there is a way to make it sound clearer at the top end when there isn't much substance to work with. Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

I found this video useful as no-frills introduction to bass set up.

My first thought was a bassist with a low B five string bass (as opposed to a high C). Completely wrong of course but everything is open to misinterpretation. 😉