bigjohn

[quote name='budget bassist' post='176351' date='Apr 14 2008, 03:48 PM']Last night i was tightening the screws on the bridge on my tobias because i noticed the end of it doesn't actually touch the body, not sure if that's right or not, but one of the screws sheared off. It's a 5 string bass and a 6 screw bridge, will it be fine with only 5 screws or am i going to have to get the end of the screw out and replace it? and if so how? as it's still in the body.

I can post pictures if need be[/quote]


I got a sheared screw from of a thumb rest out of a bass once. I just used a pair of pliers and patience. Depends where it's sheared - and how much of screw is there for purchase.

Horrible breaking basses.

I've got no pictures of mine. But I've got a bad story.

My first "real bass" - a late 70's US Epiphone "rock bass". Luckily it's not my 1st / only bass anymore. It's always had a bow in the neck. My mate came around - he works in a guitar shop (I shall name no names!) we we're giving it a bit of a set up when we decided to try and get the bow out. The truss was fully tightened - thus why I thought it wouldn't go more straight. His idea was to put washers on the rod to get more turn on it. We made the washers out of bits of a picture hanging set I found in my tool box. We got them on the rod and turned it. It was very nearly straight when a creaking noise started - then the truss rod came right out of the back of the neck!

We glued it - and did the same thing a week or so later. "the glue's stronger than the wood" we thought. No - It split again.

He took the neck away with him re-glued it - built a jig - submerged it in a bath for 3 days. It's now straight - only thing is, the fretboard had warped a bit - so we had to remove some frets - and sand the fretboard down an bit. It took hours. Eventually it was ready - looking good - when one of the tuners, those sealed jobbies, went "ping" and now doesn't work. She's currently sat in my spare room feeling sorry for herself. Any one got any spare tuners lying around?

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=15498&hl=tuners"]tuners wanted[/url]

I'm not that concious of using it. Although it has a callous - and had a big string indentation on it last night so I guess I do.

Power to the subconscious pinky.

[quote name='Mrs Tinman' post='170059' date='Apr 4 2008, 11:06 PM']PS: this inane bump was brought to you courtesy of Tesco's Valpolicella [/quote]

At least you could still spell it.

If you had some nuts would you measure em?

[quote name='Muppet' post='170224' date='Apr 5 2008, 12:57 PM']I measured these with a micrometer. Hope that helps.[/quote]

Like your style!

Thanks for all the replies. Nice one.


The precision I'm looking at has a 40mm nut width apparently - which is 1.574803149608 inches. :wacko: IT's probably 1.65 I think, but the fella needs to borrow Muppet's micrometer.

Unless anyone know about MIM precisions having thinner necks?

There is some peculiar "logic" going on around here.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='167609' date='Apr 1 2008, 01:36 PM']Ah - so thats why Cream were such a crap band, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. They were all 3 piece bands that did not have a bass player chording on a C string.[/quote]

That's where I've been going wrong

I'm not sure I like the sound of these "C strings" though. If I thought my 3 piece sounded thin I'd find another guitarist and play in a four.

I might be tempted one day with a B string - maybe. Sometimes I wish my bass went down another note or two but it's very rare, most of the time I'd naturally play around "wanting" to go deeper than E and not even notice until I thought about it. I'm not really fan of tuning up or down, I'm used to my bass being EADG, and play mostly by ear. I find it harder to do that if I tune down sometimes, although I get used to it relatively quickly. I think I'd need another bass that I kept constantly tuned down if I were to do that.

For me the best bass lines are relatively simple - and 99.9% they don't need anything lower than an open E. But then - I'm a rocker

[quote name='chris_b' post='169357' date='Apr 3 2008, 07:27 PM']You might feel comfortable with this, but I wouldn't touch anything electrical that has been modified by someone I didn't know.[/quote]

That approach does have some merit though! (although most of the people I know, I wouldn't let near anything electrical)

[quote name='artisan' post='169348' date='Apr 3 2008, 06:58 PM']thanks for the replies guys,looks like an SVT3PRO then

what do you rekon to this one on the bay
[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMPEG-SVT-3-PRO-Bass-Amplifier-Head-under-1-year-old_W0QQitemZ290217685127QQihZ019QQcategoryZ58719QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AMPEG-SVT-3-PRO-Bass...1QQcmdZViewItem[/url]

i'm a tad concerned about the modification its had.
also what's it worth-i know whenever i've sold amps before i,ve struggled to get even half the price i paid new.so it seems it might be a bit dear to me.
cheers.[/quote]

I was looking into svt3pros a while back - they go for about £350-£400. If you're concerned about the resale value, I'd seek out a US made one.

I wouldn't be too concerned about the mod that one has had - so long as it's been done properly it'll be fine - it's just a transformer swap out I think. Better that's done rather that having to lug about an extra transformer on top.

Hiya,

I'm thinking about getting a "cheap" - maybe a MIJ, but probably a MIM precision - I want one with a relatively wide neck.

Warmoth replacment P bass necks are 1+11/16" at the nut. Is that how wide they [i]should[/i] be - or do they vary?

[quote name='alexclaber' post='168167' date='Apr 2 2008, 09:22 AM']The Only Ones' vocals were hilariously bad and until I googled them I thought it was Ronnie Wood fronting them - stick to playing guitar, I said!
Alex[/quote]

Just watched that. Wow. One of my favourite bands reduced to that! Peter and His Friends really have fried themselves up. I remember thinking about making an effort to go and see them - that's just saved me the bother

The band I was in at school 15 years ago did a better version of "Another Girl Another Planet".

[quote name='Tee' post='169104' date='Apr 3 2008, 01:53 PM']I reckon go for the SVT3PRO. I'd say the 450 was more like a B2RE trying to look like a Classic.[/quote]

I reckon that's spot on. Both are 450W solid state amps. At least the svt has a tube pre.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='168444' date='Apr 2 2008, 01:26 PM']Have you got an Elvis towel? Or one of those Elvis plates that get sold on the back of tv papers? Fantastic (not)![/quote]

If I did I would be a proud. Any man who can be proclaimed as the King of Rock & Roll, live on meatloaf and hamburgers, and have 18 TVs in his house is OK in my book.

[quote name='Marcus' post='167057' date='Mar 31 2008, 06:14 PM']I'm not sure elementary A level Economics applies to Bass Guitars, firstly we're all nuts here ! and secondly we buy on emotion and try to justify with logic - not the other way around ![/quote]


Well, in fact, it does! And it's the same elementary economics that every economist will use in some shape or form for everything in the world ever™. Demand and supply curves can been used to show what's behind every market transaction I can think of.

"Buying on emotion" as you describe it just means that sometimes you're willing to pay more for an instrument than you perhaps your brain tells you it might be worth - which pushes your demand curve further from the origin - resulting in a higher price being paid.

I would argue though that it's the inelasticity of supply which is the main factor in determining most prices. If vintage basses weren't rare or difficult to find, they wouldn't be worth much anymore. This also explains why trends in desirability of certain vintage basses causes such huge fluctuations in their prices over time. In some ways, "how much you're willing to pay" is irrelevant - it becomes more like "if you can afford to buy the one you find".

I've posted this before. If you're interested in understanding why things cost what they do you should learn some basic economics...



[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand"]wikipedia supply and demand[/url]


What is important with second instruments is how rare they are, which makes the supply curve steeper (inelastic) and therefore the price becomes more sensitive to changes in demand. And how desirable the instrument is - which pushes the demand curve further from the origin on the graph, because more people demand the instrument at every theoretical price. The transaction price occurs where the demand curve crosses the supply curve. The price someone is willing to supply something for, is equal to the price someone is willing to pay.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='164873' date='Mar 27 2008, 10:32 PM']Beat me to it there! Yes, the natural satin maple neck on the Squier Pete Wenz Precision / Vintage Modified Jazz (same neck) is excellent. Next up in the price range is the Fender 50's Precision at around £500, then the mexican made active Fender deluxe P-bass special, followed by the Japanese Fender Geddy Lee signature jazz. That one's glossed as well, which gives the GL a highly three-dimensional sound.

Oh, forgot the telebass shape Precisions as well... The 51 Precision, Sting Signature & the cheaper Vintage Modified TeleBass Squier all have maple necks, too.[/quote]


That's a pretty comprehensive list there

They're all far east made then? Apart from the active p bass special deluxe (which I don't think they make any more)

[quote name='spree' post='164793' date='Mar 27 2008, 09:02 PM']As for the control plate, i dont like the aesthetic of rear routed jazzes.[/quote]

With you on that. I don't like the rear plate.

[quote name='chumba' post='164880' date='Mar 27 2008, 10:37 PM']you know what ? I think it's just poor technique ...must keep practicing!!![/quote]

Could be Try another bass and see if it's the same.

[quote name='kevbass' post='164822' date='Mar 27 2008, 09:25 PM']This is a point I raised in the current sx thread going on. Im now convinced it doesnt really matter where your bass is made or what it says on the headstock, there are some models of some cheap basses that play great and more expensive basses that play like sh*te[/quote]

I certainly agree to an extent. I've said for ages Fenders are Fenders. If you taped over the "Made in " and homogenised the hardware, 99% of people would be unable to tell MIMs from MIAs.

That is quite a surprise. I knew they were good - but not that good.

Is it Korean?

I've heard those Lite Ash guitars (esp. telecasters) are supposed to be excellent as well.

Is everything screwed together properly?

Does the ringing occur on every string, on every note?

There are some knocking about - I've seen some standard MIMs with maple boards on ebay. I was thinking about one myself for a while. Also all of the [u]active[/u] P Special Deluxe models I've seen have had maple boards.

Currently they don't make em in Mexico though - remember Fender mexico use the same neck supplies as Fender US - and they don't even make Highway Ones with maple boards.

You're right - Jap maples are far more common - but they're from different wood stocks.

Good lad. 30 songs in 3 weeks is some going. Depends how "perfect" you want em to be though.

I could take 6 months learning to play those 30 songs exactly the way I wanted. Although I could probably wing it by running through em a few times on the stereo 3 weeks is plenty of time to get somewhere in the middle!

I find learning one at time, then putting them together one after the other is a good one. Have they given you a set list rather than a list of songs to know and learn?

[quote name='lwtait' post='164699' date='Mar 27 2008, 06:49 PM']oooh... thats nice. am i the only one thinking that'd look even better with a black pickguard?[/quote]


I'd put one on two. And I'd have put chrome stack knobs on it. Each to their own innit. Beautiful bass though. Lovely neck. I want one.

[quote name='Astronomer' post='164637' date='Mar 27 2008, 05:21 PM']As a rule, I don't like the look/shape of Fenders generally, but that matt black beastie really cooks my noodle! It's gorgeous!
Isn't the finish a bggr to keep clean though?[/quote]

Only if you cook your noodle too close

In reality... surprisingly not... in fact it's easier than lacquer as it doesn't show my paw marks! It's also a bit more hard wearing in a way too - small dings and scratches disappear with a bit of fairy liquid.

Thanks - yes, she's a beauty aright. What usually does it for you then?

[quote name='sixshooter' post='164609' date='Mar 27 2008, 04:48 PM']my Brian Moore, (which is very rare), as that plugs into the back of the guitar, which is a very bad design cause it has fallen out of there before because I did not have it around the strap because it plugs in the back!!!!!

Great idea, stupid design. Sorry Brian :ph34r:[/quote]

He only did it cos everyone was watching the Cup Final on BBC anyway. It was revenge I tells ya. Revenge.