TheLowDown

Nice! I was considering the MM M2 when I was looking out for a replacement for my main 4 string, but opted for the HB B-450 instead. The Sire M2 are good value for money and really lightweight

I prefer to add essence of TLD. I don't really like to copy word for word and note for note because it's worthless if it's the same, but has value if it's given a slant. The whole point of me playing someone else's track is to learn from it in some way, so if I play it exactly then I'm no better than a robot doing a perfect rendition.

That was addressed in the first post: both camps are each half right. It's nuanced, not one or the other.

I'm not getting ads, but when I enable javascript I see ads for Elixir "bass arpeggios".

Yes.

I'm surprised the serial number is shown.

I thought about that, but I came to the conclusion that I didn't. I have a 4 string fretless and a 6 string fretless, so a 5 string fretless is a waste because it adds nothing of value. I can't think of even one situation where I would ever need to choose a 5 string fretless above a 4 or 6 string. Money saved 🏧🚫

I don't need any more basses. I have 2 six strings (fretted and fretless), 1 five string fretted, now 4 four strings (1 fretted, 1 fretless, 1 long in the tooth and the other, a boat anchor to be sold after covid). I may buy an inexpensive HB or Gear4Music short scale for experimental purposes sometime. Other than that, no potential GAS. There could still be some purchases on the horizon, such as some recording equipment.

Some people in the street behind me having it out

I briefly used those Olympia flatwounds for around £15, but while the G, D, and A were consistent in tone, the E was decidedly off and dead in tone. May have just been some QC with my set.

I didn't know that talent is equated with speed.

I guess for the same reason why some couples divorce rather than having a temporary separation. Lots of musicians want to go and do their own thing or they've got other irons in the fire.

Best way to be. 4 strings are standard and are used for almost all songs but 5 strings are very occasionally used, such as in in theatre work. It's good to regularly play both though because it gives your playing and way of thinking about the fretboard some flexibility. One of my rules of thumb is to only use the best tool for the job. Using a 5 or 6 string when a 4 string will do is like using the proverbial sledgehammer. For the CEADG tuning, it would mean that I would have to reconfigure many of the patterns I have in my head. For example when I want to find a major 3rd, two of the places that I look would be one string down and 3 frets down as well as 2 strings down 2 frets up. With the CEADG tuning that would now find me playing a 4th and a tritone, respectively. I would have to set up a special IF...THEN...ELSE condition in my head to get around it. I don't go in for alt tuning for that reason.

That would really mess with my OCD! The 5 string is asymmetrical as it is.

Ah yes, plated 👍

I use nickel coated roundwound strings on mine. I think the old adage about roundwounds carving up your fretboard is very overstated, and even on something like a black walnut fretboard it would take many years to have any noticeable effect. The nickel coated plated ones are quite smooth and are good and practical balance between really expensive flatwounds and steel roundwounds. The ones I use are D'addario EXL170-6. I paid £23 for mine on Amazon.

Buy cheap basses like I do, then nobody will want to nick them. But seriously, I would be highly dubious about that idea because peace of mind would be a priority for me. I wouldn't dare go away on holiday without taking every steal-worthy item indoors. I would have to have a big sign outside saying "Snake sanctuary"

That's not an issue. it should happen because of the way that the nerves are connected between the fingers. I use OFPF all the time even though I probably should ideally use Simandl when appropriate if I was going for 100% effectiveness. I don't have a problem with OFPF even on the first 4 frets because I make good use of shifting. Every day I practise shifting as part of my current daily exercises so that's probably why.

I think a lot of it should depend on if it's going to be your main/primary bass. If not, would the Sandberg provide value?

I thought it was usually just root notes in punk. Because punk is so busy for the bass to be audible, it doesn't benefit from having anything more than that, and could probably do away with the bass altogether and just have down tuned guitars.

Velvet Underground were toying with distortion and feedback in 1964/65, but their album wasn't released until 67 due to legal issues. Arguably, they could have been the first. For "Equipment shaping music, or music shaping equipment?", it's very much a 2 way process feeding into each other. I don't think either can be claimed to be the major driver.

That's why I mentioned that "elsewhere it's been reported....". I've always found that there's often a large range of weights reported even for the same bass.

An inexpensive comfortable to hold lightweight bass with no neck dive and where the neck is joined firmly to the body.

I've just Googled the alder version and it's 4kg (8.8lbs). Elsewhere it's been reported at 4.3 - 4.5kg (9.5 - 9.9lbs). That's the Harley Benton Enhanced MP-5EB alder version.

I would have the HB without doubt. As mentioned by ribbetingfrog, the neck and body are good, and that's all that matters because I consider them to be the chassis and the framework of the bass. A bass is after all a collection of parts put together such as the neck, body, bridge, tuners, pickup, preamp and so forth. The electronics are just bolt ons, and you can change them out like replacing the sound card in a PC. As long as the motherboard(ahem, body and neck) is good and you're getting it for a great price, just add the bits you want to improve and save some money. I would much rather have that than paying 3 times the price for a PC with a graphics card, sound card, and slow RAM, none of which I would have wanted. In this case, the Sandberg but it could be a Fender or some other bass whose pickups or tuners I wouldn't have wanted.