EssentialTension

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1386862920' post='2305600'] ... No one who had any interest in music during the 70s can possible have forgotten Machine Head. [/quote] I forgot it - not that I can actually remember ever hearing it because I was never interested in that heavy metal rock stuff at all.

[quote name='still-young' timestamp='1386709987' post='2303558'] Ill most likely play with a pick so kinda in the middle/towards the neck [/quote] ... in the middle towards the neck I think your wrist is possibly going to be sitting on the vol/tone controls or worse on the four switches. You need to go in a shop that has one and see how it feels when you flip it.

I didn't realise Gregg's did vouchers.

My assessment, as a right hander turning it over just to see where things go, is that the tremolo arm would be no problem - it's removable anyway - but depending on whether you are going to play with fingers or a pick, the volume and tone controls and, more so, the pickup on/off switches amd the strangle switch are going to be uncomfortable. Where is your left wrist and left hand going to be when you play?

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1386609549' post='2302135'] I can't accurately recall what I did last week, never mind 55 years ago... [/quote] So, you think it might have been 1958?

I don't think it would be impossible but I don't think it would be very comfortable.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1386537712' post='2301279'] Ah but they're not equal! ... [/quote] True, that's why I had to imagine they were.

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1386536531' post='2301255'] As above. It works because it sounds right to our ears. At this point we get into the debate - did we make music theory to fit what we hear or was the theory in place and we found it. That is not my take by the way, it is the debate of Popper, Kuhn, Dewey et al in Science. [/quote] That invented versus discovery debate is ancient and goes back to the likes of Pythagoras and Plato.

All other things being equal, I'd buy the Musicmaster.

[quote name='BurritoBass' timestamp='1386519431' post='2300947'] Well I bought one to use as a back up bass and it now appears to be replacing my main Fender. Yeah, bassy sounding but I wanted that old school tone. Killer neck, well balanced, a good player. I was planning to upgrade the pickup but this was before I heard it - and it doesn't need any mods. As you can see I added the ashtrays, flipped the thumbrest and pickguard but all purely cosmetic changes. Just a really cool bass. [url="http://s38.photobucket.com/user/Tim_73/media/Squier2_zps383a17ce.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] Very nice, including the case.

[quote name='jakenewmanbass' timestamp='1386498416' post='2300616'] It stems from the voice... 'blue' notes are actually between semitones, so bending on the guitar is a natural way to achieve them. On tempered instruments like piano and to a certain extent bass (as we tend to bend less) we play both major and minor third in quick succession to give the illusion of the note in between. Try it, play C then Eb slide to E... then C again Most blues will take major, dominant or minor sounds. The dominant chords over which many blues sequences are played will handle a variety of notes that don't belong to the parent scale because they are in their nature less settled than major and some minor chords, they are traveling chords, there is a tension suggesting movement created by the relationship between the 3rd and the 7th wanting to resolve (up and down respectively), which is why you can play dominant chords ad infinitum; they will always lead you to another one or back to the one from which you came... [/quote] I'm guessing this is an explanation of why, in my experience, when I play fretless or upright, hitting the 'correct' intonation seems to to be much more important on some notes than others, e.g. the octave needs to be correct, and the fifth, but the third can be out and just sound spicy.

In my experience, on average, expect a Precision bass to be 9lbs and a Jazz bass to be nearer to 10lbs - YWMV.

The Classic Vibes are all excellent value for money.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1386376112' post='2299593'] I think it's more about the amplification than the PUP to be honest. I've owned every P-PUP out there and the differences between all of them are tiny as compared to the differences between amps and cabs C [/quote] This is about correct. Pickup may make a difference but fingers/pick etc plus amp/cab and eq will make more difference.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1386375240' post='2299584'] Please do so! I would LOVE to see the examples given. [/quote] Er ... 'hello big boy!'.

I was out with the female singer-guitarist in my then band some years ago. She was looking for a Telecaster. Shop assistant had to keep saying things like 'I bet you're just like PJ Harvey.'

[quote name='waynepunkdude' timestamp='1386343272' post='2299056'] I'm 30 now, I'm never going to make pro, I play gigs with no problems, couldn't give a f*** from there on. [/quote] This. Except I'm 61 not 30.

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1386277157' post='2298268'] Another slight concern - the HT fuse had previously blown, and been bypassed by some fine wire (fuse wire?) wrapped around the fuse. Bonkers! [/quote] In the old days you'd be lucky if it was fuse wire because often it would be the silver paper of a sweet wrapper or a fag packet or similar.

I haven't got one but I did have one between 1974 and 1975

1937: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoTyDD0C93U