Paddy Morris

Ha ha. I don't think I'm nuts. Would love to hear your thoughts though

Yes, it certainly is. If it's a high value instrument then get a luthier on the case. My first bass wasn't expensive, and still isn't. And I think that J-Tone was my first pick-up too. I used a very small file and some sand paper to enlarge the bridge wing. The sound of those J-Tones (and probably all piezo's) is very dependent on the tightness of the fit. Too tight and they tend to be a bit bright, and lacking in tone. Too loose and they're a bit quiet. So it will require a bit of trial and error.

Same here. I got an Eastman for jazz and swing. It's a lovely, warm instrument and Neil Heppleston set it up with a lovely action for me. But the difference in the string length between the 2 basses means my intonation is screwed when I switch between them.

Agree with Nick D. Superglue is the answer. Tape is fine but it's very difficult to feel the strings through it, so it affects your technique. Superglue, maybe a few coats, and you can still feel the sensation of the strings through your fingertips.

I've got a Zeller. A tiny 1/4 scale one, just for a laugh. It's fully carved. It sounds like yours is too. So not a hybrid. It has takes a lot of playing to wake up the tone though.

Hi Does anyone own a 3/4 1950 Stentor, and can they tell me if it has an Eb or D neck? I currently have an Eb for rockabilly and a D for jazz and swing. And frankly it's doing my head in.

Has anyone tried one of these? Or better still does anyone own one. The sound, from Yamaha's own marketing video, is extraordinary. But the price makes it difficult to justify taking a punt on one, and I can't find a dealer who will demo one for me. I was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience of this new version?

Eastman hybrid, as someone has said. And be prepared to get the sound post tweaked and to play the living hell out of it every day for 6 months to 'wake up' the top. Once you've done that they're lovely basses. Comfortable to play, robust and project well. If you can get hold of an ex-demo or used one then the playing-in will have been done for you already.

It's a bit of a feedback hazard in my experience.

Thanks for all this advice. It's very interesting. Yes I first started playing as a kid about 40 years ago, but have mostly played jazz and swing, and I hardly played at all for many years. The cramps have only really started in the last 5 or so years, since I started doing Rockabily. String tension is very low as I'm on gut D, G and wrapped synthetic E, A. But the action is quite high, much higher that one jaxx set-up bass. If I'm slapping them I tend to get entangled in the strings if the action is too low Also as a jazz player, I have found the technique pretty unnatural. I like it, but haven't found it that easy. Maybe I should look at my action in a bit more detail. Thanks again.

Thanks very much, it looks interesting. My warm-up usually involves just playing. I'll give this a try.

Does anyone have a remedy for hand cramps? I used to sometimes get cramps after a gig, but it's been getting steadily worse over the last couple of years. It's now at the stage where I can't make it through a set of more than about an hour and a half without a hand spasm that stops me playing. I've tried regulating my salt intake, taking potassium supplements, drinking more water (even when playing a beer festival FFS!) I need a fix or I may just have to stop playing - or worse I may even have to swap to bass guitar.

But they need to be played-in. Give them a good bit of abusive bowing for a week or so.

Absolutely brilliant strings. Got an A and E on my slapper, with natural gut D and G. Got a full set of synthetic EP slaps on my jazz bass and they sound warm and beautiful. At £200 from String Zone they are an incredible bargain and they will last you.

Thanks for the responses. I'm very happy with EP slaps on E and A, but you know. Always wondering if there's something better out there.

Hi. Has anyone tried Oliv E and A for slap bass? I'm sure someone has. I'm using EP slaps at the mo, and getting a good click from them, but they don't quite match the tone and volume of the natural guts I've got on D,G. But I've heard that Olivs are a bit fragile. And they aren't exactly a bargain either.

Superglue! Works every time. Recommended by my guitarist friend who is also a GP. Apparently its very commonly used in surgical procedures now. Or at least an expensive medical version probably. But I'm talking about Superglue from a corner shop. Get it on your fingertips and let it set. You might want to do a couple of coats. It affects your piz tone somewhat. Makes it slightly more clicky, but you gain a bit in volume too. You'll probably need to re-do it a few times, maybe between sets. I played 24 hours of upright bass over a 3 day weekend, by being greedy and over-committing myself. Superglue got me through it.

Are the little tube humidifiers no good then? I didn't realise. If you go to any classical concert with a big bass section, 4 or 5 seats, every instrument seems to have one. Maybe that's just for when you're putting an instrument into an air conditioned concert hall.

I had exactly this issue recently when swapping from silver slaps (for which my bridge had been set up) to EP slaps. I tried everything I could think of, and asked for help from all sorts of people. I think it is down to the profile of the feet on the top. Also apply some pencil graphite around where the string notches on the bridge to lubricate the strings when you're tuning, so that they're not tending to pull the bridge forwards towards the nut. In the end, for me at least, it required a new bridge, without adjusters. It's really solid now and I don't miss the adjusters one bit.

Yes, it could very likely be my technique, which is far from subtle 😉 In fact the Shadow clicky pick-up was way better than my original one and once I found a sweet spot, and the right pressure the problem went away. Thanks everyone.

Can anyone give me a bit of advice on this one. I've got a under fingerboard pick-up rigged. It's a J-tone, but I'm just about to fit a Shadow. But I'm getting a real issue with the amount of low frequency ringing on the fingerboard when I'm slapping. The Shadow preamp does a brilliant job of filtering it all off, but I can still hear that the LF booming from the fingerboard is overloading the front end of the preamp and causing it to clip (presumably because the input stage is getting overloaded before the signal gets as far as the LPF) I guess I could damp down the fingerboard but I don't want to kill any contribution that might be making to the tone on the bridge pick-up. Or maybe I just need to put a passive attenuator in line with the fingerboard pick-up so that it doesn't overload the preamp. I would just be very interested to hear of this is a common problem or whether I'm unlucky. Cheers Paddy

So I picked up an EP Slap E on eBay - damaged packaging, brand new string for half price. After snooping about and hoping for a similar incredible bargain on the A I finally caved and paid regular price for one. My reaction has been very like many other I've seen posted here. First impressions, yuck. Flappy, incredibly quiet compare with my Innovations, though clearly really well made strings. Just very strange. So I left them at pitch tension for a few days and jacked the bridge up to 15mm at the A. And boom! I love them. At a high action they are very playable, and project very well. As well as the Silvers? Impossible to say as with the bridge tweak there are too many variables. Really good even volume and even tension across the set too. You can just concentrate on intonation and feel. Great click characteristic and elastic bounce for slap, but really great for jazz piz as well. I haven't tried yet as COVID = no gigs, but my sense is that in a loud band situation I might have to work harder to keep feedback under control as the whole bass feels a bit more lively and resonant than it did. But I'll gladly deal with that.

Well that sounds like a consensus then. Thanks for the advice guys, I'll give the EPs a look.