hubrad

Same with alot of country and blues grooves.. not hard to get the notes, but you can spend a lifetime really getting the groove right. Splendid, innit?

As you say, not deadly complex, but this was the song that sold the album to me on first hearing it. An elusively beautiful sleazy groove!

It's one of the classic examples of Jaco Pastorius' fretless playing behind a song, and I've heard it cited as one of those tracks which were influential in people deciding to take up fretless bass. Fretless (he supposedly did the job himself) Jazz bass with distinct leaning to the bridge pickup. Classic tone, although some folks these days really don't go for it. Deffo go for the headphones, though.. I love this track!

You *are* joking, right?

We sold one 4/4 1950 all laminate - the blonde rockabilly model. Tbh, my own double bass, which I bought from a mate as a 'larger-than-average' 3/4, was larger than the Stentor 4/4! Mwahahaaa!

+1 for the Stentor 1950. I sold a few when I worked in a shop. They crop up second hand from time to time. Excellent starter bass but good enough to keep you going a fair while. Eminently giggable, as said above.

Cruiser/Cruzer by Crafter were well in your budget when they were available new, and second hand they're great value.. I have a couple myself! Pickups are ok, but the basses themselves justify upgrading those.. I put Japanese J in one and Fender and Ibanez in another.

Good spot, PTP.. one to file away for those little emergencies!

Sounds fine.. onwards and upwards!

Mwahahaaah.. welcome to our world! 😄

Not heard of Nova. I had a headless 5 string bridge by ABM a while back, excellent German engineering! Iirc ABM was a step up from Schaller at the time.

Did you ever get any further with this? Depending on the dimensions of those soapbars, you may well be able to use one of the readily available replacements with an internal P configuration. I know you said you want to go passive, but certainly EMG do such a pickup cos I've got one in one of mine. Other brands are available.. https://www.emgpickups.com/40p.html

Saw them a couple of years back; excellent stuff!

That's more than a year's Spotify payout for most folks these days!

I've had my bass Realist for almost 20 years, hitch-free, but had to repair the one on my mandolin after a few months of incautious handling.. soldered some bare braid to bridge the torn copper foil. It lives to this day. Glad you got yours sorted, Gareth.

That's the business section, i.e. for resellers. From the same site, in the pages for private citizens: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/vat/index_en.htm "Pay VAT in the country where you shop As a private individual shopping in the EU, you should only pay VAT once, in the country where you make your purchase." Although, just to confuse matters: "Special rules may apply when you buy goods from another EU country for delivery to your country of residence. If the company you buy from sells goods over a certain value to your country, where the goods are delivered, they cannot charge VAT in the country where you make your purchase. Instead, they have to apply VAT in the country where the goods are delivered – VAT of destination. The maximum amount for these cross-border sales is set by each EU country at either €35,000 or €100,000. This means that most major online retailers delivering within the EU will have to apply the VAT of destination rule." So it seems to depend how you buy something and whether you're there in person or buying online. Edit: looking at Thomann, as one who definitely sends more than E100,000 from Germany to UK (other retailers are available) : "Deliveries to EU countries will be charged at their local VAT rate (where applicable). Due to the turnover of our company, EU law requires Musikhaus Thomann to charge the local VAT rate of all EU countries."

Early 80s.. the Polar Bear was sometimes welcoming to a group of us playing Irish music. Good Times!

Further to neilp's post, Knut Guettler, in his (sadly out of print) book A Guide To Modern Double Bass Technique, put this graphic up regarding movements of the whole arm system on reversal from down to up bow. Same thing applies for up to down bow. As he says, "The foundation of all bowing technique is the change of bow." Reverse the big bits first, i.e. torso, shoulder, then on down to the fingers. Think of your arm system as similar to the con rods and piston on a steam locomotive, one whole smooth system made up of its component parts.

.. and closer to home, check out Liane Carroll.. ive heard her with some corking bassists, not least husband Roger Carey, whose vibe of playing I find really grabs me. If and when there's the chance I'd really recommend getting to see them live, or at least buy this dvd! This clip from Brecon Jazz 2006 live dvd is, to this day, one of the most joyous YouTube clips I know:

Another more mainstream favourite.. Chucho Merchan with Eurythmics, live in Sydney 1987. What a band, from front to back!

John Glascock with Jethro Tull. I was picking up on some bits of his bass lines long before I even thought of playing bass myself.

Roddy, Mr.Pinegrove, is also a fine musician himself! ☺️

One of the reasons I first got into EMG s.. with that built in swappability they definitely appealed to my sense of gadgetry!

The term Soapbar covers several different sizes.. what dimensions are the current pickups, what's the string spacing, and are you looking for passive pickups only or also considering active? Also is your bbg completely passive or does it have an active (battery powered) preamp? Some people find its the preamp they don't like and the pickups are fine.