Dabbler

On 11/01/2021 at 18:34, Baxlin said:

Fingers almost exclusively, but I also use my index finger as a pick, ie finger and thumb together as if holding a plectrum, and striking the string (with the finger nail side) rather than plucking it.

I first started this years ago when I was playing guitar and dropped my last plectrum through the sound hole while on stage, so just had to go for it, found it worked for me, so continued......

I did that on acoustic guitar a few years back, found that I could use my other fingers to sort of 'assist' with the strum which gave a fuller sound, and stuck with it. It also allows you to seemlessly switch to finger picking and back without having to stash the plectrum somewhere! Curiously though I find it's not precise enough for electric guitar (which I only play occasionally) and so have to use a plectrum for that.

For bass I feel fingers are the more natural method for the instrument and so use those 80% of the time, but a plectrum does give a more attacking tone, and can't be beaten when you want that that driving/palm-damped rock sound!

For guitar my preferred plectrum is quite soft: Jim Dunlop .60mm. For bass I find stiffer gives a fuller tone: Dunlop Tortex 1.14mm.

Hi all,

I've got an old Hohner Jack V headless bass, bought from new in the 1990s but left neglected in the case for the last few years. As a first step to giving it some love the it needs some new strings (I can't remember when I fitted the current ones but it could be a couple of decades ago!).
So I'm after any advice as to good roundwound 5-string double-ball end 34" scale string sets out there? A Google search has found La Bella, Elites, D'Addario, and Rotosounds, and I've also found on the Status website (http://www.status-graphite.com/status/frames/index_home.html) that they sell their own brand DBE strings, which I'm intrigued by? The prices are very reasonable, and I'd like to think that a company selling £3-5k handmade instruments wouldn't put their name on rubbish..?

TIA!

So any offers including new tape measure welcomed..? 😄

On 26/02/2021 at 19:11, owen said:

I have a custom wound set of pickups in one of my 5 strings. Getting them wired in was a nightmare because the artisan had used different coloured cables for the same job on 2 pickups. As we were investigating the whole thing we sprinkled metal filings on the casings. It turns out that the pickups have 4 pole pieces. That was another step in my dissapointment with them.

But there was a happy ending. As it turns out they work just fine and the 4 pole pieces were not an issue.

Turns out person paid to do their job knew what they were doing 😉

More applicable for guitar humbuckers, but I've always wondered what effect metal covers have on the magnetic fields of pickups?

Hi all! Basschat newbie here 🙂

Slightly off topic, but I've got an old Hohner Jack V headless and I'm looking for some new DBE strings for it (it's not been played for ages and the ones on there must be a decade old at least!). I saw that Status sell their own brand strings, at a very reasonable price compared to Rotos etc, and a Google search for reviews brought me to this thread, where I see they've been mentioned a few times. Can anyone tell me are they decent? The price says one thing, the fact that Status sell and presumably use them on £5k basses say another..?