WHUFC BASS

Thanks for the link ! I'd never actually heard him play in that quartet. He always remarked how good the musicians he was playing with were though.

There were some very good players there when I was there, and I recall the jazz pianist Howard Riley (who I've just learned died this year too) had a jazz workshop in the afternoon. I used to sit in and occasionally attempt to play (yeah I was crap )

Apologies for being almost a year late on this thread. I googled Lawrence Canty today and found out he'd passed away. Very sad news and I'd like to add with my condolences to his family and friends. I first met Lawrence in the early 90s at Goldsmiths college. I did his weekly course there and turned up thinking I knew a fair bit about playing. Lawrence soon dispelled that myth for me when he presented me with the notes for the course. He was talking about chords, their structure, their relevance in a progression, what would work and what wouldn't work ... Why would I need to know about chords I thought ? I don't play chords on bass! I stuck the course out right to the end (I think it lasted 6months or so) and I turned up religiously every Saturday. I left with so much more knowledge of the fretboard, harmony, chord structures, progressions and just a huge understanding of music in general. Lawrence was a superb teacher and for someone with my limited learning capacity he made it easy for even me to understand. I will always be in debt to him for teaching me what no amount of reading or self teaching ever could. I was also supremely impressed with his playing and even to this day, his tone from his finger style playing has never been equalled. It was just perfect. At that time I recall he had a residency gig at a hotel in London and he would always give me a lift over the water to a tube station near his gig. We'd always talk bass and music and also about life in general. He put me onto Joe Meek, James Jameson and many other players who I'd never heard of. I can honestly say he was a huge influence on my playing and I'd always quote his name if anybody asked me who I respected as a player. R. I. P. Lawrence. 😢

Unreal...

IMO the Bogen guitar plugins are superb if you're into Hi-gain metal. They're always having deals so worth checking out regularly for deals.

The free MODO drums are pretty decent too. Very customisable with some great snare sounds

Same here. He's not a great drummer to start off with but that horrible plastic sound he consistantly gets on recordings just grates on me.

I actually like the St Anger drum sound. Better than that boring sound he used on the latter albums.

Still going strong mate. No noise issues whatsoever. Still trying to get a drum kit in there but have resigned myself to the fact an electronic drum kit is the only viable option.

Agreed but it's not just Dingwall who've done this. Spector's fanfret Dimension bass, which is a similar price has similar individual bridge mounts which although not as extreme as the Dingwall offering, aren't as high quality as the Payson or even their own standard bridges.

I did look at the Bass Direct Payson bridges and I must admit that it is tempting.

Has anybody done a Payson bridge conversion on a Chinese Dingwall bass? These bridges are standard fitment on the Canadian build basses but on the Chinese basses the individual saddles tend to be sharp and obtrusive for some playing styles. Is it a straight swap? Is there any drilling required at all and was it worth the money? (they ain't cheap!)

The tailift is a biggie if you want it kept all original. Any heavy gauge strings will make that worse. Other things to check are the frets, they were notoriously soft and roundwound strings would just eat them up. Also, check the fretboard and binding near the body. Occasionally this would separate or the truss rod would poke through on the older 4001s. The 4003 had a much more substantial neck to address this issue. Then you have the dreaded double truss rod which can be a real pain for those not experienced in using them. Special wrenches are needed for them too due to the lack of space in the headstock. There's also that unbelievable crap bridge system which belongs in the stone age imo. The strings need to be loosened to intonate them and it's trial and error for the best part. The strap pins are another thing. Rickenbacker in their wisdom decided to use pins with a thread designed for metal and not wood. The result is that they would occasionally come loose and would need to have all manner of bodges to fix them, although the previous owner appears to have replaced them with straplock pins on this one. I get that it's a lovely colour but imo the latest Rics are a whole lot better. All these issues that plagued the early 4001s have now been addressed with a much better bridge, more tonal options and better hardware all round. I love mine and it cost less than the one you have your eye on too.