mike257

This is absolutely stunning. I've always ponedered over G&L's, but this one makes me go all wobbly and want to reach for my cheque-book. If only I didn't have all my xmas shopping to do, I'd have been all over it.

Good luck with the sale though, it's a stunner!

Saw [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Custom-Fender-Squier-Jazz-Bass-Guitar-Neck_W0QQitemZ130268024611QQihZ003QQcategoryZ42455QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262"]this[/url] on the 'bay, the seller has two of them listed.

The description he gives is very vague, but I reckon it's a Squier VMJ neck with a Fender decal thrown on. I've emailed him a question to this effect, saying I might be interested in buying one (which is true), but could he just confirm that's what it is for me. I've had no response, and was wondering if any VMJ owners want to confirm my suspicions. I am after an inexpensive maple/black blocks neck for a project, but I'd like to know what I'm getting. The price looks like it may go a bit steep for a re-badged Squier neck with no tuners, it's around the £50 mark already.

Thoughts, anyone?

Has your teacher talked about the role of bass in relation to other instruments, particularly the drums? Probably stating the obvious to you, but the link between you and the drums is one of the most crucial things to understand.

I came to bass in my early teens, after dabbling with guitar. I found my way around it from guitar perspective, and didn't conciously consider the implications of being part of the rhythm section until much later on. Shockingly, when I attended bass lessons as part of my short-lived stint at uni, I found myself in your situation of being taught by a guitar teacher, and in 3 months of supposed degree level bass tuition, he didn't even utter the words 'kick drum' once, let alone discuss the concept.

If you're picking songs out to learn with your teacher, try taking a closer look at how the bass complements or emphasises different elements of the drum rhythm, and the effect that has on the dynamics and 'feel' of the song. Do the same with guitar parts too. In my opinion, the more you can understand about interacting with other musicians, the better you will become as a player.

Oh, and enjoy it!

Just bought a set of flats off Rich, he's a top gent. Kept in touch right through, posted them nicely packed, quick as a flash. My postie even turned up [i]in the morning[/i] for the first time in god knows how long, which I can only assume was down to Rich as well - there's certainly no other logical explanation!!

Seriously though, top fella, would have no hesitation in dealing with him again, cheers pal!

Mike

Just seen this over on Talkbass. Chi Cheng, bassist of Deftones, was in a car accident and is now in hospital in a coma.

Story is here: [url="http://sacbee.com/latest/story/1370452.html"]http://sacbee.com/latest/story/1370452.html[/url]

I'm a big fan of Deftones, and Chi's playing definitely influenced me early on when I was a noisy teenager. My first band used to cover a few of their songs.

Hope things work out ok for him

Although I'm starting to sound like a stuck record every time some talks about a jazz....... Sandbergs are absolutely the mutts nuts. I'm not sure I'll ever find a bass I'll be happier with. If you get the chance to play one, go for it, I'm sure you'll be blown away.

Never been a fan of Jazz's without a plate, but that looks ace with just the pickup cover on, I'm digging it!

Just get grills on them, leave the drivers out. Take all of them to [b]every[/b] gig, you'll look ace on stage with all that behind you.

Now where did I leave that dry ice machine?

[quote name='OldGit' post='322259' date='Nov 4 2008, 10:10 PM']Ha ha yeah well .. They are for serious snappers but there are some general points that work snapping you in the pub..
[b]Especially to turn off the flash[/b]. So many websites have nicely flashed pictures of the back of the audience members' heads with some dark band member shapes in the distance, or there's no stage lights .. hummm[/quote]

It never ceases to amaze me how many people completely ignore this!! Surely they can tell I look much better in the dark

Great advice as always OG, you're a goldmine of usefulness, nice one!

That's gorgeous! I'm plotting my perfect J-type for when the lottery win comes, and it's not far off that - but I fancy black blocks/binding/scratchplate against the white body/maple neck, think it'd be lovely!! Oh, and one less string

[quote name='chris_b' post='320749' date='Nov 3 2008, 10:40 AM']On this vid the band is Trevor Horn's (Buggles) mates, with the great Paul Robinson on drums. If TH had anything to do with the sound, and he probably did, there will either be a couple of engineers sitting at a [b]portable SSL desk [/b]behind the scenes or it would have been post engineered through TH's studio. It's a great sound but with that equipment you can make anything sound great.[/quote]


Is that even possible?? My old boss knocked a wall down at the BBC Television Centre to get his out of there!!!

That's exactly the same as my 'ray!!! All that's missing is the grimy filthy neck that I really should clean. A cracking price for a mike257 signature model

Woohooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! I never normally win [i]anything[/i], I'm stunned!!! Sent you a PM with my details Nik, I'm off to crack open the bubbly

I'm going to throw in a big +1 for the DIY route. With the wonders of t'interweb, and a bit of graft, you can achieve enormous amounts on your own.

My last decent crack at a band managed ourselves, basically between the guitarist and me, and despite being an originals band on the toilet circuit, with all that it entails, we never operated at a loss. We didn't rough it either - we stayed in Travelodges for near every away gig

If you put the work in with the promotion - and it's time consuming more than anything else - you can generate enough support and interest to be asking for enough money to gig your way round the country. We managed to build a sizeable fanbase in our home town, and would hire out the Barfly/Carling Academy, run our own shows and pocket a wedge (instead of letting a promoter take it) and that more than made up for any financial defecit from gigging elsewhere. Reached the point that we were drawing respectable crowds (and fees) in a number of cities, and talked our way into a Carling Academy headline tour. If you stock up on merch, you only need to sell a few t-shirts at each show to get your petrol/breakfast/hooker money, and Bob's your father's brother.

We spoke to a couple of managers at the time, but none of them were offering anything enticing. I'm very much of the opinion that you shouldn't pay somebody to do something you can do yourself. Only work with managers/labels/whoever if they are able to do things that you [b]cannot possibly do[/b] under your own steam.

Saying that, we split up. So that might all be uselss really

I'm allegefly more Wooten than anything else. If I'd picked one off that list I'm least like, it'd be him.

Where's Tim Commerford when you need him. I'd settle for that to be honest

I can't get on with the smaller body size of the deluxe. I'm a tall bloke, and I always struggle to get comfortable with smaller-bodied instruments - hence the Stingray fetish. Might seem like a minor detail, but worth considering nonetheless.

Would you be happy buying second hand? You'd get some cracking stuff in that price range at the moment.

How about saving an extra £50 and shopping for a second-hand Stingray, there's a lot of them about at that kind of price lately. If the Jazz bass is more your style, I've seen a couple of second-hand Sandbergs around £650 too, and you can't go far wrong with that.

A second hand USA Jazz (as Markytbass suggested) could be a winner too. I'd have a mooch round ebay, and the for sale forum here, and see what takes your fancy.

I stopped letting people use my rig, after my old Trace Elliot stack came back broke on 3 separate occasions. Since I got the Ampeg, I've barely let anybody touch it. I'll let bands run through the cabs, but the rack gets the lid on after I soundcheck, and doesn't get opened until I'm on stage.

It upsets people sometimes, but I worked hard to save for that gear, and based on past experience, I can't afford to be getting it fixed all the time. If you've paid a significant amount of money for a professional standard piece of equipment, then other people should respect that. I'd never turn up to a gig without everything I needed to play the show, I don't see why other people think it's ok.

You're not there as a charity. If it's a favour for a mate every once in a while, it's different, but I wouldn't let people I've never met go running off with my expensive gear every weekend.

Just my tuppence worth mind. I'm probably ranting because I've just got in from the pub.

Cheers Rich! I thought as much, but I just wanted to check before I went blundering in there

Valve shopping next payday, then!

Found [url="http://www.ripngrip.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/hook-loop-100mm.html"]this[/url] too, 2 metres of the 100mm for £6.20.

It's white though, so it's not rock and roll enough for my board!

When I'm gigging regularly (which I'm sadly not at the moment), I change mine about once a month. I like the sound of new strings though, whereas some people like 'em old and battered, and some great records have been made with clunky dead old bass strings.

I guess it's a matter of taste really, of what kind of sound you like. And how skint you are. That's why I haven't done mine for ages If you're not out and about gigging or recording, it's probably not crucial to do them all the time anyway.

As an idiot question (I've never dabbled with the insides of my amp) do I need to be concerned with biasing if I do this, or can I just throw the new ones in? I think my SVT3 would benefit from this, it's sounding a bit lifeless lately.

If for some reason Ou7shined doesn't have them, can I be next in the queue?

Cheers!

I've got a Delano J type and MM type in my Sandberg, and they can do the vintage fat tone pretty well, to my untutored ears at least. Can't comment on the Nordstrand, as I've no experience of them, but I've got nothing but praise for the Delano.

Sounds like a good night Jake, and a good cause, nice one! I've seen Graham Gouldman before, he's ace live. Does he still have that multi-instrumentalist fella hiding behind all the percussion singing the falsetto bits?

My outing last night was a chuckle. An acoustic gig with my singer, just guitar and bass, which is a world away from my comfort zone of stacks and drum kits

Went pretty well, although the highlight of the evening was a completely impromptu and unrehearsed rendition of Jovi's Wanted Dead Or Alive, that we dragged the drummer (wielding a Djembe!!) and guitarist of the headline band up to play with us. It could've been a disaster, but I think we pulled it off! A good time was had by all, anyway, and I got offered some dep work afterwards too.... paying gigs, whoopee!!!!!