EssentialTension

Boil them or soak in meths - there are several threads about it if you search. I use flats and so they last for as long as I want them to.

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/175183-john-peels-record-collection-online-but-not-streamed

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1336075592' post='1640636'] Same here - about September 2014 instead of next January... [/quote] I did get a free eye test though and concessionary rates at Brighton Dome.

[quote name='Gordon 'Thudmaster' May' timestamp='1336051885' post='1640090'] [b]So the free bus pass turns up soon ...[/b] [/quote] You might want to check that. I was expecting mine at sixty but I've got to wait until sixty-one and three quarters.

TLA = Three Letter Acronym

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1336047744' post='1639981'] Is the JO radically different to the DJ? [/quote] Maybe not radically, and I've never played a DJ, but originally the JO had Fralin pickups in the 60s position and DJ had Aero pickups in the 70s position. The DJ is also a smaller and different body shape.

My son has got a set of flatwound D'Addario Chromes 13-56 on his Epiphone Casino. It's almost like playing bass. The tone is nearly as thick as his strings.

There's nothing new about this. I've always done it. Decide what you're willing to pay and, with a small amount of time to go, bid your highest figure. you either win it or you don't. Bidding early just pushes the price up.

[quote name='wingnutkj' timestamp='1335948005' post='1638336'] FWIW I've found there to be a lot of variance in the weights of the Lakland Skyline basses I've tried. The Lakland Decade I tried in Guitar Guitar in Newcastle was very heavy indeed, but the one I ended up buying (Kenny's Music in Dumfermline) was fine. The one that's currently in the Glasgow Guitar Guitar is about the same weight as mine. [/quote] My Decade is just on 9 lbs which is fine by me.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uLxR_pRb0U[/media] He says it blew them away through an 800 watt rig but when you're travelling you probably won't have 800 watts in your suitcase.

[url="http://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/acoustic-bass/sojourn-4-travel-bass"]Michael Kelly Sojourn Travel Acoustic Bass with 24.5" scale[/url]: Cute but 24.5"?

[u]Fender Precision AV62 (La Bella 760FS)[/u]: it sounds and feels like a ‘60s Precision. [u]Lakland Skyline Decade (Lakland JO Flats)[/u]: it does a range of sounds from dubby Gibsonesque to growly Jazz and manages to look both modern and retro at the same time. [u]Takamine B10 (La Bella 760N)[/u]: Completely different animal, not an upright but probably the nearest you’re going to get; looks cool and is cool. [u]Michael Kelly Dragonfly Acoustic (TI JF344)[/u]: great for noodling, general practice, and working out stuff and, in between times, hangs nicely on the wall. [u]Thomann (Hora) 22 ¾ Upright (Thomastik Spirocore Weich)[/u]: Right price, sounds good, in fact sounds better than I do, I must learn to play it better.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1335916986' post='1638174'] would make sense. (except the bridge!) I think if it had been 1kg lighter it would have been the best [/quote] Sounds like it was a Skyline not a US then.

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1335916836' post='1638173'] I don't know if they changed anything else when they changed the name, but the Lakland JO was an exact copy of Joe Osborne's 1960 Fender Jazz. [/quote] US models have stack knobs as standard, like Osborn's 1960. Skylines have V/V/T. Originally, both had Lindy Fralin pickups but these were changed to Lakland's own Hanson pickups before the change of name.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1335898452' post='1637780'] Lakland Jazz (does it have a real name?) [/quote] Formerly Lakland Joe Osborn, now Lakland 44-60.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1335878402' post='1637389'] It's usually the other way round, isn't it? 'You're not putting that through [i]my [/i]PA...' [/quote] I was surprised at the PA suggestion.

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1335878315' post='1637385'] Maybe but did you really want to be in a band with people who think that sort of thing is OK? worse still, hold it against you for not wanting to blow their PA? [/quote] No, you're quite right and I didn't want the gig anyway as it turned out. However I would have preferred to be offered it so I could have turned it down.

Didn't do it for me.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1335816211' post='1636574'] I read somewhere that people have the bridge ashtray this way round to negate the effects of the integral rubber mute, but I don't know if it's true. [/quote] That could be true, I guess. When I say the right way around, I mean how they left the factory.

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1335791866' post='1636048'] Also, its a big thing to show a bit of initiative. I once had a gig, depping for someone. I had been told there was a bass amp at the venue. When i walked in the place with just my bass and leads the first thing the bandleader said to me was "where is your amp?" to which i replied, "I was told there was one here, but it's in the car if you need me to get it" - he said "nah its ok, you're good" apparently other deps had been through the same 'test' in the past and told to go home and get their amp. They were never booked again. I was. [/quote] I auditioned for an originals band. I walked in with my bass and bag of bits, put them down and said, 'I'll just go and get my combo from the car'. They said 'Why don't you just go through the PA?' I didn't accept the PA offer and quickly got my combo. While there were other reasons I didn't get the gig, I felt sure that wanting to use my own gear rather than their PA was held against me.

[quote name='rednose200' timestamp='1325288201' post='1481917'] I absolutely hate signature guitars. Its only a sales gimmick for dummies who think that by buying a sig bass will make them play like the person its named after. Funny old world [/quote] This is ridiculous. If that's the only reason you can think of that someone would buy a signature bass then you're hanging aorund with some very sad people and missing some great basses. As already mentioned, the Geddy Lee Jazz is an excellent example of a great and good value bass. The recently renamed Laklands Glaub, Osborne, and Dunn and their discontinued Scheff were and are all excellent basses. The Fender Tony Franklin Fretless Precision is a fantastic fretless even if, like me, you've never knowingly heard or even heard of Tony Franklin. Funny old world.

[quote name='Jazzneck' timestamp='1335813889' post='1636529'] Yes, it's that red-burst colouration that I like and hence wondered about the "year". Although, thinking about it for a bit, I've seen this picture a lot of times before as a black + white so I wonder if the colour could be due to the photo being "colour tinted" a bit later in it's life and thus the "wrong" colour sunburst? Re the ashtray, I've seen them mounted both ways round and I asked the question of a guy who had one "the wrong way round". His answer was that it was easier to re- string without taking off the ashtray - I thinking he might have been telling porkies to a young'n. [/quote] I think you might be correct about the colouring (the suits too). The bridge cover is the wrong way round because it's easier to restring with it the right way round.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1335811318' post='1636457'] ... Make sure the seller insures the instrument properly and don't try to avoid import duties by getting them to mark down the value. If anything goes wrong with the delivery you'll find yourself far more out of pocket then any potential saving you might have made. [/quote] This is good advice. Particularly so when you realise that HMRC are not stupid and know the value of items and that an attempt to falsify the value in order to avoid paying duty can, in the extreme case, lead to full duty being charged and/or the item being confiscated.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1335810630' post='1636440'] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI844RAJo58[/media] [/quote] Excellent.