EssentialTension

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383691828' post='2267884'] They might have a problem, not least because the, rather wonderful, T-Bone Wolk is dead For those of you who have never heard of him (and have probably already decided they wouldn't like him anyway) he's another of those strange professional musician people with a string of hits to his name and he's credited on over 600 albums [/quote] I'm familiar with Wolk but I didn't know he was dead.

Every key has one each of A B C D E F G with sharps and flats added as appropriate. For example, C major has C D E F G A B with no flats or sharps. E major has E F# G# A B C# D# E - and thats the way to write it - there needs to be an A natural so there can't also be an Ab, and there needs to be a G but it is in fact a G#.

I love the Louvin Brothers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg7plwsh1y4

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383688974' post='2267814'] [media]http://youtu.be/mQZmCJUSC6g[/media] [/quote] Oh dear.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383686699' post='2267775'] OK people, I'm now bored with this. If you genuinely believe an instrument will not change in the way it sounds (for better or worse) after being played for 50 years then I'm not going to convince you... [/quote] I'm bored too because I have not argued that an instrument cannot or even does not change in sound over time but you appear to think that I have claimed exactly that.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383681879' post='2267687'] I don't understand? Are you saying a part time non-professional musician will have the same degree of authority as an acknowledged expert in his field with vast experience? [/quote] No, I'm saying that authority alone can guarantee nothing. [quote name='molan' timestamp='1383681879' post='2267687'] Just to add to his 'authority' this is a guy that people turn to when looking for help and information about 'tone'. It's not like he's just a random player who happens to get featured because he's in a famous band. [/quote] I really have no grasp whatsoever of the meaning of the phrase "help and information about 'tone'". Does 'tone' in inverted commas mean something different to tone not in inverted commas? To me he is a totally random player. I don't need him to tell me about tone or 'tone' and I probably wouldn't even like his tone. [quote name='molan' timestamp='1383681879' post='2267687'] He gets featured on magazine covers, clinics and live events because he's a pretty knowledgeable guy. In fact the last time I saw him at an event I spotted Bootsy Collins, Verdine White, Vic Wooten, Steve Bailey, Brian Bromberg, Divinity Roxx, Anthony Wellington and Jonathan Herrera all watching him. [/quote] So what? Lots of people look up to the Pope or to David Cameron it doesn't make them right. And many people have been on the cover of BassPlayer but they can't all be right. By the way, there are four people in that list I've not knowing heard of and two I would not intentionally listen to.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383679600' post='2267636'] And where is the evidence, other than one person's opinion, that something made 50 years ago sounds identical today? [/quote] The evidence is at least extremely thin and very possibly non-existent. Can you produce any evidence for your claim? You haven't so far, merely claims to authority that beg the question. [quote name='molan' timestamp='1383679600' post='2267636'] I've yet to see even a single authoritative source? [/quote] There is no authoritative source. Your so-called authoritative sources beg the question.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383679406' post='2267634'] No, but it probably gives you slightly more authority than a part time player in a pub band? [/quote] No, because it is the very claim to authority which is in question.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383659620' post='2267175'] [/quote] Appearing on the cover of a magazine doesn't make you correct.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1383673510' post='2267499'] ... There are simply too many highly respected musicians and luthiers who've attested to this for it to be incorrect ... [/quote] You really ought to collect some proper evidence for your claim rather than relying on the supposed authority of others. It sounds like a medieval and non-scientific plea to the knowledge of highly respected priests and scholars. It must be true because they say so. I don't think that's good enough.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1383604659' post='2266607'] [url="http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Other%20music%20related/Selmer%20Catalogue%201963/scan0011-1.jpg.html"][/url] [/quote] 48 gns equals £50.40 in new money. What year was that Jack? My first bass was a second hand Hofner Artist for £30 in 1972, I think.

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1383592183' post='2266367'] Yes Snow Hill - how much did the P bass set you back? [/quote] I can't quite remember for sure but I think it was 1975 and I think it was nearer £300 than £200 but it is a bit vague.

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1383551057' post='2265624'] ... and then told me I should buy it.... [/quote] That's your answer.

[quote name='Tdw' timestamp='1383580856' post='2266139'] The bassiest bass is pretty much the one with a pickup furthest from the bridge, so as far as i know thats the aforementioned ovation magnum, the prs bass pictured earlier and the billy sheehen bass also have a pickup in this area so they may be contenders too, gibson ebo and rickenbacker also getting there. [/quote] You can add Lakland Decade to your list of basses with true neck pickups.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1383579696' post='2266114'] ... George Clay's (I think)in Brum ... [/quote] ... in Broad Street? [quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1383589852' post='2266312'] ... Yardleys in Birmingham [/quote] ... on Snow Hill? I bought my first Fender at Woodruff's ... in Dale End?

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1383578969' post='2266098'] Why do people still talk about how cheap the old Fenders were ... [/quote] In my experience people dont talk about how cheap the old Fenders were. Rather, the opposite, they talk about how a Fender bass cost about ten weeks wages. That's why so many of us wanted a Fender but couldn't possibly afford one. They have got cheaper and cheaper over the years.

[quote name='Greggo' timestamp='1383476632' post='2264751'] I know people say that flats are really good for blues, jazz and all that jazz.. But are they good for other types of music like indie / rock type music? I know Steve Harris uses them and he don't play no jazz! Also if you let roundwounds go dead aren't you basically using poor man's flats anyway? I've recorded plenty of songs with dead rounds and they sounded quite good so thinking I may be a fan of the flats.. [/quote] Well, you will have to try some because there is no substitute for doing that. There is great variation in flatwound strings - just as there is with rounds - so it can be an expensive business but I recommend starting with either some La Bella Deep Talkin' Flats 760FL (available many places on-line) or some Lakland Joe Osborn Flats (made by GHS but available from the Lakland website shop).

[quote name='Mog' timestamp='1383407184' post='2264158'] Cheers Dave. I decided to go down the highly technical route. Stuck some hard foam under the strings at the bridge. [/quote] That's what I do.

[quote name='bh2' timestamp='1383403362' post='2264112'] I took the pickguard off my jazz and fell into a coma. [/quote] I fell into a burning ring of fire.

It's nothing like McCartney's Wal.

[quote name='cytania' timestamp='1383388758' post='2263879'] ... Something beautiful spoilt… [/quote] The main purpose of a Fender pickguard (there's a misnomer) is to hide what is not beautiful in a mass production process.

Will people please stop taking the scratchplate off and wandering around naked. It goes against all common decency. It's like going out without your keks on.

[quote][size=4] [b]Dating 1970s Fender Guitars by the Neck Code[/b] [b]By Greg Gagliano[/b][/size] The strange and mysterious neck codes found on Fenders from 1969 – 80 have been all but ignored by the vintage and collectible guitar community. Perhaps this is due to the fact that 1970s Fenders have, until recently, been all but ignored by the vintage and collectible guitar community. Now that these instruments are hitting the "magical" 25-year mark, they have suddenly gained attention. I won’t get into the pros and cons of 1970s Fenders here, but instead, I hope to shed some new light on those weirdo neck codes. In 1969, CBS-Fender began to implement a new type of neck stamp in place of the usual date stamp consisting of model code, month, year, neck width (e.g. 8 DEC 65 B for a Duo-Sonic II with a 1 5/8 inch neck width). The new code consisted of 6, 7 or 8 digits and was usually stamped in green ink. An example of this type of neck code found on a Precision Bass is 529129B. CBS-Fender used this neck code system concurrently with the standard Month-Year date stamp that had been in use since 1962. Both type of stamps can be found on Fenders made from 1969 through 1971. To clarify, a neck would have one or the other type of stamp… not both. It is not known why Fender used two completely different systems at the same time. Then in 1972, Fender changed to a new type of neck stamp which had 8-digits which was stamped in green or red ink. An example of this is 02033923 found on a Jazz Bass. From 1972 through about March 1973, this new system was used concurrently with the old Month-Year date stamp. Again, a neck was stamped with either the new type of code or the old date stamp, but not both. After March 1973, Fender dropped the old style date stamp and continued to use the new style, 8-digit code until sometime in 1980 when small adhesive labels bearing Month-Day-Year date stamps appeared in the neck pocket, pickup cavity and/or back of the neck. Andre Duchossoir briefly discussed his findings for the 1972-80 codes in his excellent Telecaster and Stratocaster books. He found that part of the codes denoted neck type. I used this information as the starting point for my research. I examined and/or received information regarding stamped codes for about 150 Fenders made between 1967 and 1980. Of these, less than half had useable information. In most cases, the stamp was smudged beyond legibility or the stamps were incomplete. Many guitars had no stamped codes at all. Some guitars simply had the model name, such as "MUSTANG" stamped on the butt end of the neck in green or red ink. This means two things for the owner of a 1969-80 Fender. First, the chances of having an intact stamped code is about 50-50. Second, my data set for making conclusions is relatively small and therefore, subject to change as new information surfaces. However, the interpretation of the two date code systems appears to be relatively straight forward and the conclusions were confirmed by pickup dates and pot dates in most cases. The date from 1969-71 stamped codes can be extracted by working from the outside inward. For example, let’s take Telecaster Thinline (s/n 272207) with the code: 3320119B. Starting a the right we have the letter B. This appears to be the same neck width code that Fender had been using since 1962. The next digit denotes the year, in this case 9 = 1969. The next one or two digits denote the month, in this case 11 = November. The first one or two digits of the code, in this case 3, denotes the model. For Telecasters, Telecaster Thinlines, and Esquires that code is 3. For Stratocasters it is 22 and for Precision Basses it is 5. The other three digits (320) are a mystery and perhaps are some kind of batch or lot number. Let’s practice that again okay? Here’s our P-Bass again (s/n 277983) with the code 529129B. Breaking up the code we get: 5 = code for Precision Bass 291 = batch or lot code? 2 = February 9 = 1969 B = 1 5/8 inch neck width (correct for a ’69 P-Bass). One more time, since you love this stuff… Strat (s/n 279515) with code 22384109B. Break it into pieces: 22 = code for Stratocaster 384 = batch or lot code? 10 = October 9 = 1969 B = 1 5/8 inch neck width Exceptions do exist. A few Telecasters have shown up with neck codes that would indicate a 1967 date and one has been reported with a possible 1968 date, yet the rest of the guitar appears to be from 1969. If Fender used the coding system as early as 1967, then we should see more 1967 and 1968 guitars surfacing with the green stamped code. One plausible explanation is the use of leftover necks – Fender is known to have done this often. If you have a guitar or bass with this first style green code and you would like to submit it to the database I’m compiling, please send the model, serial number, code, and if you have them, the pot dates and pickup dates. Additional information is needed to test the decoding theory and your help will be greatly appreciated. Now that you’re all expert cryptographers let’s dive right into the 1972 – 80 coding system. Example: Music Master (s/n 595121) with code 49002153. We need to break the code up into pieces. The first 6 digits are paired off and the last two digits are taken singly. So that gives us 49 00 21 5 3 where: 49 = model code (Musicmaster, Mustang, Bronco) 00 = neck code (rosewood fingerboard) 21 = week code (week 21) 5 = year code (1975) 3 = day of the week code (Wednesday) Now, how the heck are you supposed to know the model codes and neck codes? Well, I’ll give you the ones that I know so far. For model codes (first pair of digits): 01 = Precision Bass 02 = Jazz Bass 04 = Mustang Bass 08 = Telecaster Deluxe 09 = Stratocaster 13 = Telecaster, Telecaster Custom, Telecaster Thinline 49 = Musicmaster, Mustang, Bronco For neck codes (second pair of digits): 00 = rosewood fingerboard 01 = rosewood fingerboard 03 = fretted maple neck OR skunk stripe neck with rosewood board 10 = fretless maple neck Set up your decoder rings with the info above and try your hand on P-Bass (s/n 647149) with code 01031051. You should get: 01 = P-Bass 03 = fretted maple neck 10 = Week 10 5 = 1975 1 = Monday One more time and we’ll call it a day…. Telecaster (s/n S725092) with rosewood board and code 1303167?. 13 = Telecaster 03 = rosewood fingerboard on skunk stripe neck 16 = Week 16 7 = 1977 ? = day unknown as digit was illegible Again, the decoding hypothesis set forth here need to be tested further and any information that readers wish to submit will be greatly appreciated. The information needed is serial number, model, neck type, green or red stamped code, and any pot or pickup dates. The info can be sent to me c/o the 20[sup]th[/sup] Century Guitar offices at 135 Oser Ave, Hauppauge, NY 11788. Many, many thanks to the folks who contributed data for this research including Jim Werner the Fender Collector Somewhere in Iowa, Hans Moust at Guitarchives, Jim Strahm and Matt Kesler at Midwestern Musical, Jay Keim at Harmonic Arts, and Tim Pershing the Fender Student Model Guru. Tim earned extra credit for suggesting the explanation for the day of the week code. [i][size=1]Greg Gagliano, a researcher devoted to vintage and collectible guitars and amps, clearly has way too much time on his hands since all he seems to do is compile Fender green stamped neck codes and Fender tube amp information. [url="http://www.ggjaguar.com/neckcode.htm"]http://www.ggjaguar.com/neckcode.htm[/url] [/size][/i][size=1][/quote][/size]

Cracking stuff. I had to buy it.