GreeneKing

This may have been discussed before but I recently spotted a for sale thread where the seller said he'd ship but that it would be at the responsibility of the buyer. I always get more than a little nervous when the courier collects a bass for delivery. I'm not sure I sleep soundly until it's delivered and I always take responsibility for this as the seller. If I insure the contents I pay and again I feel that the insurance is for me if things go wrong. I don't see that it benefits the buyer or that they should contribute for my protection. This can easily double the shipping costs and even then it may not be sufficient in the event of a total loss. I had a cab get fairly trashed a few months back and I sought the price of a new driver and tweeter through the insurance and successfully recovered my costs for this. The buyer kindly waited for the bits and fitted them and for that I was thankful. Obviously (?) if a dealer sells an item they have an obligation to see it's safe delivery to the buyer. I'd be interested to see if anyone on BC thinks otherwise for a private seller? And yes, I do have an expensive bass 'in the system' at the moment and as usual, I'm worrying Peter

Ooh, more tea vicar?

Congratulations. Alan is a remarkable bloke and builds fine basses.

Far from your usual Fender P or J harness John helped me to resolve an issue with my Gibson EB 2014. It involved understanding the original electrics and coming up with a better alternative: [url]http://www.dimarzio.com/sites/default/files/diagrams/pj_2ppdualsndv_1pptseries.pdf[/url] Brilliant John, one much improved Gibby. Many thanks for your fine work.

An alternative to laquer on a fingerboard (I notice that some folk are talking about necks and confusing the issue) is acrylic impregnation of the wood. With acrylic impregnated wood you can use a whole host of woods and they remain very tough. It's pretty much invisible too. Alan at ACG uses it on just about all of his instruments. A step on from lacquering methinks. It definitely gives an acrylic like tone. I checked, the OP is talking about necks and not fingerboards

I see from your link that even ESP sell them discounted for under $2,000. Not so keen on the headstock myself. And bolt on? Neck through would be more in keeping

Looking very nice Matt. How do you rate it alongside the Jack Casady, more versatile? Peter

I love Statii and coming from near Colchester originally that's a good thing. My Empathy was great but a Kingbass is the only bass I've played that just didn't work ergonomically. Not true actually, Epi Bird and NT Thumb 6 both had too much neck dive for me, not an issue with the Kingbass.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1390140544' post='2341811'] I've had Mac's for about 7 years, I've never been able to plug straight into one. [/quote] Me too

Passive vs active isn't black and white. It's a voltage signal. It's amplified somewhere. Onboard or outboard the signal ceases to be passive at some point.

Smartphones can be great, but not when you're trying to sort quotes while at work

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1389635862' post='2336388'] No you are right. It's not the B that has the highest tension. That's why a bass with less rigid structure causes problems as low tension plus greater compliance leaves you with a floppy B. The difference is relative and you don't need to dig in to notice it. Do you really mean the B string? Looking at the tension figures (for those manufacturers that actually give them) the highest tension string is usually the D followed by the G and then the others in order of thickness. This IMO is partly why it's difficult to get a decent sounding B string on many 5-string basses as the standard strings used simply aren't heavy enough for the tension to match the E string let alone any of the others. And why none of the manufacturers making "balanced tension" strings are making sets with low B. Therefore the basses with the best sounding and feeling B-strings are using tricks (like through body stringing) to decrease the compliance of the string to make it feel as stiff as the others even though the tension is lower. [/quote]

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1389213590' post='2331543'] Well the physics of it dictate that there is a strict linear relationship between length mass tension and pitch, so I think this idea of "better compliance" is more psychological than real (as it probably is for many things about instruments and gear). [/quote] Just because you don't understand something is no reason to say that it doesn't exist methinks Yes tension is a calcuable constant given a number of factors that are themselves constants (scale length, string mass/unit length, pitch). Is every B string the same on every bass for the same string, pitch and scale length? No it isn't. This is because the structure of the bass itself and it's readiness to move under stress (strain) is a real issue that can't be ignored. I've owned American basses with one piece quartersawn maple necks and bridges made of bent steel and the B string in particular (the highest tension string) has been 'floppy' and unpleasant to use. The same strings and scale length put onto my ACG with a 7 piece wedge and bubinga neck, Hipshot bridge and very rigid neck joint are very different and the string feels much more taught (the tension however is the same). This is compliance, or relative lack of it in the case of the ACG. The force applied to the fixed points of the string when its plucked are considerable and structures, including bridges, necks and joints will move significantly, some more than others. Back on topic, to the subject of stringing through. The tension won't be changed as, as is given above, scale length, string type and pitch are the only things that effect this and they are unchanged. Anchoring the string in the body may provide a more rigid anchor and therefore less compliance. But, as you will discover if you read the above references, added string length between the bridge and the body doesn't effect tension because it doesn't change any of the factors that govern it. Added string length actually increases compliance unless the string is locked at the saddle and that negates the very benefits that through body stringing provides anyway. It's my opinion that through body stringing is only worthwhile if your bridge is not as rigid as it could be. It does look good and it takes the strain off your bridge screws as well but if your bass is well put together and made with decent components it shouldn't matter any. As to how the bass sounds. If a less rigid bass with more compliance produces the tone you like then all power to you. Peter