EssentialTension

SPL = Sue Pub Landlord

[quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1370804660' post='2105824'] My Precision is strung with JF344 TI Flats, standard tuning. I've recently been listening to Pino Palladino's bass playing with D'Angleo and other 'nu soul' RnB type stuff where apparently he's tuning down to D or C# and using heavy gauge LaBella strings. TI strings are already lower tension than usual and not very thick gauge so they don't really work tuned down. Thomastik don't offer different gauges for some reason, the four string set is only available as 043, 056, 070, 100. Out of curiosity, do you reckon I could put the bottom strings from a Thomastik 5-String set on? This would be 056, 070, 100, 136. Tuned down a whole step or more maybe it would work?? Or would it be TOO thick?! I just wondered if anyone had already tried it. [/quote] I've used the BEAD of a TI Flats 5-string set on a 4 string bass, tuned BEAD. They are low tension just like a 4-string set and you could certainly give them a try at CFGbEb or maybe higher. No guarantee though. I did have to slightly file the nut slots.

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1370787448' post='2105493'] Off topic if for arguing. [/quote] 'Sometimes it isn't really arguing, it's just contradiction.' 'Oh no it's not.' 'Oh yes it is.'

On one bass, I used TI Jazz Flats through-body for a couple of years. I did have an A string break at the bridge but it was once in probably about 50 gigs and associated rehearsals.

Lots of music related and even bass related stuff in Off Topic too. It's been that way for ages.

PS I didn't get either job.

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1370697137' post='2104527'] I answered an ad for a bass player and went along to audition. There was a few numbers for me to learn including some Lenny Kravitz and Foo Fighters stuff. I noticed the guitarist was playing the wrong chords in one song and I made the mistake of correcting him telling him it was E minor not major he needed to play. After the end they said to me "Well done! you really know your stuff, - why are you only playing the bass?" ....................Speechless!............................. [/quote] Ha ha, You haven't been insulted, but you did insult him. This has happened to me twice at auditions in last couple of years. Onetime I merely said that, if I joined the band, we would need to come to an agreement about what the chords were. The other time time I straight out said that the chords were wrong.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1370556118' post='2102830'] to be honest- I just read that thread in the OP - they both come across as right idiots- I'm not sure I blame Mr Hall that much for all that in there. Like the fella's been gigging with a guitar for several months and loses two bits of it.... even our nice EU warranties wouldn't cover that. Easiest thing would just been to look up the part in the american version of maplin (mouser??) and buy some rather than get into a bitching fight with the company who made it. [/quote] You must have read a different thing to me because what I read said customer couldn't find the screws elsewhere and also that he was willing to pay for them.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1370543759' post='2102517'] Surely the whole point of playing live is to put on a performance? Otherwise you might as well just have a DJ instead. [/quote] Yep.

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1370430228' post='2100628'] Have you considered sitting down at practise sessions? [/quote] I love sitting down.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1370541115' post='2102464'] BTW [i]I am not writing in continuous lines for a reason, my post wont let me start a new line or paragraph for some reason!![/i] I thought I had a problem with my computer, as I have the same problem, if I want to start new paragraphs, I have to first write in "notepad" and copy and paste into Basschat. So is this a common problem with Basschat users, or is it my computer? [/quote] I can paragraph fine, no problem.

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1370541016' post='2102463'] ...my Dad's better'n your Dad...he's a Fireman and a Policeman and he could beat your Dad up.... [/quote] Dad's are rubbish, you'd be better off with a Mum.

Any sensible company would have been sending more than the two screws in the first place and without being asked.

[quote name='Jellyfish' timestamp='1370535663' post='2102386'] I think a proper example of what mickster is talking about is some of the crazy 'off-the-shelf' prices of some bass guitars when compared with a custom UK builder. Why would you not go to someone with specifications of exactly what you want for the same money and get a much nicer bass? [/quote] I'd be extremely uncomfortable with the very idea of having a bass custom built. I'd feel the same about having a car or house custom built. It just sounds like something poncey people with more money that sense do. No offence intended here although I'm sure it must be offensive to some people. Anyway I'd probably be saying "hello Mr Custom Builder can you build me one just like this Fender Precision which is already as nice as I want it to be?" Mind you, I also wouldn't pay crazy off-the-shelf prices.

[quote name='mickster' timestamp='1370536639' post='2102405'] The Fender mention was just an example, of course. I think my point is more that I'm surprised at just how much people take someone dissing their preferred bass brand as a personal attack on them...it's this mis-identification with a corporate brand that I find weird. It's a sort of fetish. [/quote] But what I'm saying is that the fetish is very often from the other side, it's a kind of anti-fetish - 'oh no, how can you possibly like Fenders (or Beatles or whatever) when it's so obvious they are sh*t'. People are sensitive about what they don't like just as much as about what they do like.

[quote name='mickster' timestamp='1370532520' post='2102324'] I love my Precisions but I feel no particular need to defend Fender in everything they do... [/quote] I don't recall anyone defending Fender in everything they do. What usually seems to happen is that someone merely says "I like Precisions they do everything I want them to do" - or something similar ... [quote name='mickster' timestamp='1370532520' post='2102324'] People can get really arsey if you criticise any aspect of their brand of bass, and seem to take it as a deep personal insult. [/quote] ... and then what happens next is someone gets arsey because they don't like something about Fenders. You could replace 'Fender' with 'Beatles' and much the same would apply.

I play better and I enjoy myself more if I am not tripping over other people's clutter and messy leads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJPWEdMa43o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgLgUx3QEUk

[quote name='Bloodaxe' timestamp='1370374837' post='2100016'] I also recommend a perusal of this:— [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRkSsapYYsA[/media] P. [/quote] My hand seems to be rather different to his.

You'll look ridiculous, landlords won't thank you, you won't sound any better, and it's totally unnecessary. YMMV.

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1370282716' post='2098618'] Too true. Shocked at how much it is for a set of TI flats. [/quote] TI Flats last for many years and are very good value for money.

That is totally bizarre.

Elixir tensions here: [url="http://www.elixirstrings.com/products/product_bass.html"]http://www.elixirstrings.com/products/product_bass.html[/url] Stringbusters guide to gauge and tension here: [url="http://www.stringbusters.com/stringfaqs.asp"]http://www.stringbusters.com/stringfaqs.asp[/url]

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1370270648' post='2098356'] Most strings are made in a similar manner out of the same materials, so the tensions will be close enough. There is a company called Mapes in the USA that supplies about 90% of the raw wire used by a variety of manufacturers, and there is only so much difference between cores and wraps that can be done to keep consistency, so they are all close enough. [/quote] Well, some may be 'close enough' and I agree there is 'only so much difference', but that's not the same as no difference. There are also some big differences, for example: TI Jazz Flat JF344 Long Scale E string .100, tension = 34.39lbs and commonly considered to be of low tension; D'Addario Chrome ECB81 Long Scale E string .100, tension = 40.29lbs and commonly considered to be of high tension; D'Addario Nylon Tapewound ETB92 Long Scale E string .105, tension = 31.90lbs which sounds low tension to me.

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1370264175' post='2098225'] Is there a way of getting the numbers of other makes? Do others even publish the numbers? [/quote] Like D'Addario, Thomastik publish tensions: [url="http://www.thomastik-infeld.com/guitars/index.html"]http://www.thomastik-infeld.com/guitars/index.html[/url] ... but most manufacturers don't.