philw

Sorry guys but family stuff means I'm now going to have to give the bash a miss. Phil

[quote name='Beedster' post='1027443' date='Nov 17 2010, 11:23 PM']And a very happy buyer! Adi is a true gent, and the bass is not only a dream to play, but tonally very different to my current DB, almost in a kind of Jazz with rounds v Precision with flats way. So looking forwards to picking this up. BTW, sorry Phil, looks like I beat you to it mate! Chris[/quote] Yes, you did. Hurrumph! P

[quote name='walbassist' post='1027156' date='Nov 17 2010, 06:26 PM']Hi Phil Presumably you want something that is good for arco [u]and[/u] pizz? Depending on what tension you like, perhaps something by Innovation would be a cost effective experiment, like their Honeys or Super Silvers? Cheers Gareth[/quote] Gareth, Yes, it has to do pizz, but I'd happily compromise the pizz sound for a better arco sound. I'd like something with higher tension than the standard strings too. Phil

All, I know there's been a thread on replacement strings for the NS EUB in the past, but my question is specific to playing with a bow. The standard fit strings, along with being very bright, don't take to a bow particularly well (it's all too easy to get nothing but a nasty scraping sound, even with an ok technique and bow). So does anybody have a suggestion for replacement strings that are particularly good for arco (as well as being less bright generally)? Don't have a mag pickup on my CR4 so don't need to worry about metal cores/windings. Phil

I've gone and sold the Veillette Acoustic Bass I was going to bring (which is a really shame 'cause it's a stunner), so it's just the Wal now (could bring the Steinberger EUB if anybody's interested). Phil

I regularly swap between my Wal and Steinberger EUB during gigs and am getting completely fed-up with plugging and un-pluging (probably doesn't look all that cool either as I bend over to display a flash of builder's bottom to three old deaf blokes and a dog in some godforsaken tavern). So, I need a switching preamp/DI of some description. I'd also like to have separate eq settings for each instrument. So, it seems my choice boils down to either the Sansamp Bass Driver Deluxe or the EMS Microbass II. They's even both the same price (from The Bass Centre). Any preferences or experience here? Phil

All, Just watching Eric Clapton on Later with Jools and his bass player was using a double bass with a cut-away (i.e it had no upper bout on the treble side). Now, I've seen numerous similar instruments on Ebay but the cut-away idea has always stuck me as a bit of a pointless gimmick on a DB. I mean, it's not as if there's much chance of fretting with a conventional "guitar" hand position that high up the neck. You're really still going to have to use thumb position, cut-away or not? Am I missing something? Phil

[quote name='walbassist' post='1004745' date='Oct 29 2010, 08:51 AM']Hi Phil My Brook came in a [url="http://www.jhs.co.uk/kinsman.html"]Kinsman[/url] case from JHS. It does the job. Looks like they're around £55 online. Why do you need to ship your bass? Is it damaged? Cheers Gareth[/quote] Gareth, No, not damaged, it's still as gorgeous as ever. Trouble is, I've been made a tentative offer for it that I can't really refuse and, although I dearly want to keep hold of it, needs must. At least I have a Paris on the way in a month or two. Phil PS. Thanks all for the suggestions.

All, Anybody have experience of hard cases for acoustic basses? I need to find a good, sturdy (and inexpensive) one so I can ship my Veillette acoustic. Any recommendations? Phil

[quote name='mandomicky' post='996282' date='Oct 21 2010, 07:36 PM']-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [size=2]hi check these out it might make you happier about the bass www.LowEndBassShop.com :: View topic - Wal 4 string these have one up for sale now for £1899 and fretless www.bassdirect.co.uk[/size][/quote] Hmm, yeah I'm not sure Bassdirect are really playing that Wal with an entirely straight bat. It's not a Mk1 it's a Pro One (and it's a shame about that ugly thumb rest). Still a lovely instrument, but not quite the same thing. I also wonder if permission was sought and granted for the pictures that appear to have been lifted from the Wal web site. P

Should be coming, along with the trusty Wal Mk 1 Custom Fretless, the gorgeous Veillette Fretless Acoustic Bass and the very small AER Amp One combo. Phil

All A friend of mine in Brighton needs his old double bass fettled and valued. I'm sure I read a thread here recently that described having a new DB set up by a luthier in Brighton, but I can't find it. Did I dream it (which would be weird)? Phil

[quote name='TheGreek' post='995933' date='Oct 21 2010, 01:52 PM']You may be right but since I've been diagnosed with Carpel Tunnel and may need an operation on my hand I'm not gonna get the enjoyment from it for some time. In the worst case scenario it may be that I won't actually get to play it so would end up losing a not unsubstantial amount of money on it. What should have been a pleasant experience may turn out to be something other than... Just out of interest what was the price new??[/quote] Oh that's a bugger. I hope you get over it and get the chance to play that lovely collection of instruments you have. You'll hate this but my Wal new in 1983 was £595. Not such a bad buy as it turned out. Phil

Mick, I'm fortunate enough to own a Mk 1 Fretless Custom that I bought new in 1983 and the enjoyment and fun I've had from it (and still have) is immeasurable. The vast majority of folks will never be lucky enough to own a Wal, so if I were you I'd not worry too much now about how much you paid for it. I'd just get on and enjoy it. Yes, the Pro series pre-dates the Custom series (although their was some crossover and a small batch of Pro's made much later) and was Wal's attempt at a production-line bass (although most I believe were still hand made by Pete and Wal). They are lovely high quality instruments and some would argue more of a purist, "players" bass than the Custom with all its bells and whistles. Think of them as Wal's P-bass. You're a lucky man. Phil

[quote name='walbassist' post='979255' date='Oct 6 2010, 11:27 AM']Funnily enough, I may have just found the answer in the NS Electric Bass Cello Set.[/quote] I was just about to suggest that Gareth. P

I suspected this was going to be a bit of a Marmite™ bass, that's kind of why I posted it. I'm going to sit on the fence. I admire the ingenuity of the construction (clearly the work of a deranged mind that's outrageously good with numerous little bits of wood), and I'd love a go on it, but I don't really see the point – there's many much easier ways of making a chambered/semi-solid bass. Phil PS. The rest of thelowend.net is worth a look. Lots of very nice, and a few very odd, instruments.

[quote name='silddx' post='979301' date='Oct 6 2010, 12:18 PM']I'm sorry too, it looks f***ing vile.[/quote] Awww come on silddx, get off that fence and tell us what you really think P

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='978743' date='Oct 5 2010, 08:11 PM']A Wal is something i need to tick off my list. I'd love to sit with a Mach 1 for a couple of hours... Flea used one throughout BloodSugarSexMagic, and his sound is so thick on that album! I'm led to believe you can get pretty much anything out of them. I won't be ordering/buying anything for at least 18 months, so i've got time to go searching. It'll take some balls (and saving) if i do like them, as £3200 is the [i]starting[/i] price, i can only assume they're well worth it, as they don't stick around long, even at silly money.[/quote] Andy, If you're ever down Brighton way you're welcome come and sit with my old Mk 1 fretless (bought new for £595 in 1984) for at least a couple of hours. Phil

[quote name='Chris2112' post='978689' date='Oct 5 2010, 07:28 PM']Trends are of course trends, no matter how long they last. I think one day Wal basses will be uncool. Remember the Warwick boom at the turn of the millenium? People realised the old ones were the ones to have and their values rose, people bought the new ones by the shedload and they commanded good prices used. Now they're doing extremely badly on the used market. A good Thumb NT will struggle to make £800, Streamer Stage 1's seem to do pretty badly too. Wal were once in this position themselves![/quote] Apart from fashion, surely the biggest factor in the drop in Warwick used prices is one of supply and demand. And there's many, many more used Thumbs out there on the market than there are used Wals. Used Wal prices at the moment do seem a tad over-hyped to me, but I can never imagine a time when you'll be able to pick one up for £800. Even if they go out of fashion, there'll just never be enough of them around. Phil

[quote name='Stacker' post='978212' date='Oct 5 2010, 12:27 PM']Wow. Are these basses for sale, do you know? Or is that just a gear porn page?[/quote] They're very much for sale. Brian Barrett, who runs The Low End, is a well known US dealer of high-end new and used instruments. Phil

One of my favourite work-avoidence, GAS inducing, web sites for occasional browsing is thelowend.net. I spotted this the other day: www.thelowend.net/gallery/viewtopic.php?t=5084 and thought such an extraordinary instrument deserved a basschat audience. Enjoy (but make sure your credit card is well hidden). Phil

[quote name='Clarky' post='976312' date='Oct 3 2010, 07:17 PM']I've no idea whether right or wrong but I would say it sounds logical that greater headstock mass reduces dead spots. My logic is as follows: well known players like Leland Sklar (who knows a thing or two about bass) use the clamp thing on the headstock which adds mass and clearly believe in it, thus a headstock with more mass/weight will replicate this better than a downsized headstock, all else equal. Probably b*llocks but makes sense to me.[/quote] It's an enormously complicated phenomenon, but bead spots in a neck are influenced by not just the mass of the headstock but by at least five other parameters also: the mass of the body, the rigidity of the neck (and truss rod), string tension, the mechanical damping inherent in the neck, and the rigidity of the neck/body join (actually there's other factors, body rigidity for example, but those six are the major ones). The basic requirement for no dead-spots is to get the fundamental headstock-neck-body resonance above any of the resonant fundamentals of the strings (i.e .the notes!) So, what works for one bass in terms of headstock mass may be wrong for another bass. As a general rule however, reducing mass in a resonant system will increase its fundamental resonant frequency, so a lighter headstock (or no headstock) would seem to be preferable. However, it's also possible that a heavier headstock might on some instruments be beneficial through the phenomenon of "mass damping" where a mass compliantly attached to a resonant system can be tuned to act as a mechanical energy "sink" and kill the resonance (which is probably what Leland Sklar discovered). Phil PS. I don't know about Bass Guitar Mag but most magazines use external photography studios. Review samples will usually go to be photographed before they are reviewed too ('cause reviewers are notoriously bad at returning review samples on time). So in the case of the Manson and it's incorrectly installed G string, it's probable that the bass was photographed before anybody from BGM saw it. Some luthiers slacken strings when shipping instruments too, so the G could quite easily have popped out of its saddle. The only crime here is that the picture editor on BGM didn't spot it (or maybe they did and simply didn't have time to re-shoot or re-touch).