LITTLEWING

I know this has been asked a hundred times but I don’t see a search function any more. I’ve just acquired a 2021 Fender MIM burst P bass with a white pickguard and burst always screams out for a tort guard. Which UK seller supplies a damn near perfect one that just slips on with no problems whatsoever regarding pup sizing and screw holes lining up?

Great band. Had Darren on drums in a band back in 1977 called The Jugglers.  Amazing drummer even then, funny as feck. Good times.

On 19/02/2021 at 22:24, Maude said:

Tomorrow (Saturday) 9pm, The Cure live in Hyde Park, 40th anniversary concert. 

A pleasant way to spend a couple of hours. 

🙂

I used to be in a Cure tribute band. We were called Prevention. 

Some say we were better......

Why would I want to? I’d just be playing someone else’s tune note for note with no individual expression. It’s like painting the colours you’re told to inside the lined shapes that someone has drawn on a piece of art paper.

It makes me sometimes wonder if you took away the music sheets from in front of a violinist and asked them to play something from the heart, could they actually do it with actual feeling from inside?

The E string going dull and muddy so much quicker than the others.

Plus the extortionate price of a new one to keep things sounding sweet. 😤

Just bought a Mex Player P bass. Incredible flawless neck worthy of double the money but it came with the pups so steeply angled  from E to G (which we know Fender says to do so that the volume on each string is equal) that they seemed to be too punchy to my ears, so I’ve backed the E down to nearly 3.5mm and flattened that sharp apex a load to bring that sweet P sound into play. I know we’re all different but holy moley, that nasally honk was way too much for me. 
Anyone else find that out of the box or did a certain music shop it apparently went to first set it up to his taste?

For all of us who’ve been playing it forever but not quite right in places….

Just acquired a very clean and fault free A100 and although familiar with Hartke as I have a 3500 head, the treble on this baby doesn’t seem to have a great range in that it actually sounds more like a tone control on a guitar. I’m not too fussed especially as I only paid 70 vouchers for it, it sounds incredible, the EQ does exactly what it says on the tin and it’s a comfy weight to put in the car. Just wondered if this a normal treble thing on this combo?

Toneriders all day long. Back them off a little to 3mm bass side as they’re wound very slightly hotter. Awesome for the money.

Is the E open string or fretted when it occurs?

I’m not being funny by any means, but why do people automatically swap to more expensive tuners?

if they’re cheap and nasty or if one has broken, fair enough, but in forty years of owning and playing a fair few basses I have never felt the need to change them. They’ve always held their tune and only need a tiny tweak when the strings obviously stretch after two hours of vigorous gigging or the neck has gone out a little either way in the heat or cold. I can also see the possibility of a lighter set to alleviate head dive.

Serious questions - does a more expensive set add more tone etc. to a bass like a decent bridge does?

Are they actually easier to turn than a set on a sub £500 bass?

Does a decent set help to eliminate ‘dead’ spot notes?

Honestly curious, not taking the mick anywhere at all, just wondering what the benefits could possibly be.

I always do this 3rd fret and tap thing. Dead easy, quick and absolutely bang on accurate.

Yep. I can’t get my ears to like that blended sound no matter how high or low I set the pups let alone the horrid bridge on it’s own.

Recently loaded up with a Tonerider P bass pup, disco’d the bridge pup and wound it right down out of the way and wired her up the generic P bass way and it sounds fab. It’s probably all in the mind, who knows.

Love my Jazz bass sound either configuration though. Strange but the sound sits well in my ears. A PJ just should never have been born.

On 16/01/2022 at 10:46, EssentialTension said:

Relax the tension on the string before you set the witness point at the bridge saddle (as above) and let it settle before retuning. This avoids a twist in the string that will prevent it from ringing properly.

I can’t quite see this. I always do the witness point thing in tune and as this will slightly stretch the string it will need retuning a smidge where it went flat. If you relax the tension and do ‘the thing’ surely as you retune it will move the witness point bend away from the saddle? I could well be wrong. Open to learning, every day’s a school day etc.

On 16/01/2022 at 08:56, MuddBass said:

Check that there is a clear / firm bend in the string at the bridge saddle point.

This. ALWAYS. 

On 16/01/2022 at 17:10, naxos10 said:

I have RS77S fitted to two of my shortcsales: on the one they were fitted to first the dead/out of tune sound is a lot less now than before so I think they may have a longer 'break in' period. Those fitted to my other bass are also starting to sound better over time although they have been on for a shorter period and not played for as long.

 

The Rotosound strings are made of Monel (Nickel/Copper + a few other components) which is a very different material from steel or nickel so if you take into account the comments from fretmeister:

 

 

I would expect to hear a least a tonal difference anyway.

I don’t even know where mine is, let alone if it still works. I was so disgusted with it the way it ‘rattled’ every time I moved around being microphonic I lobbed it in a drawer ages ago. Bought a curly Vox cable and it was everything the Fender wasn’t. Superb upgrade.

It is a strange thing and I can’t get in to any other bass than a Fender or a Squier either. I’ve had Yamaha, Ibanez, Westone, LTD, Epiphone, OLP and a Danelectro since the ‘70s but for some reason just can’t ‘become one’ with any of them. They all (mostly) sounded good and played just fine but Leo’s stuff always feels and sounds just right.

I have a theory it’s a lot to do with subconsciously hearing a P or J on nearly every track on the radio for years and it’s such a comfortable tone that simply ‘sits right’ our heads and nothing else will do.

Believe it or not, right now I’m gigging with a 2000 Squier Standard PJ with all original pups (turns out the split jobbies are actually Alnico which they fitted at one time) and it’s honestly like and extension of me and feels so damn right in my hands and ears.

The mind is a weird thing but once you can get around brand snobbery life’s a sunny day.

First thing to check is the nut isn’t cut or worn out too low allowing the first frets to foul each string. Second, you’re going the wrong way with the rod nut. Turning towards the G is tightening it making the neck flatter. (Righty tighty, lefty loosy).

Check out one of a few hundred vids on YouTube about nut height, neck relief and string height and go from there.

Update - bought some Isopropyl wipes as some people suggest. Seemed to remove a bit of poo from all four strings.

Killed (to my ears anyway) a previously clear sounding newish set of Rotosounds stone dead in 5 minutes.

NEVER putting ANYTHING on my strings again apart from my fingers and a small hand towel after each play.

Boo. 

Play slowly and from the heart. You might just surprise yourself and learn for the next time.

Looking at pulling the trigger on a brand new MIM P bass Player series. Everything all basically 100% straight out of the cardboard delivery box?

Anybody else feel their strings sound worse after cleaning them with a dedicated string cleaning product? I’m coming to the conclusion that maybe you should just leave them alone except for a wipe over after a sweaty session. (Oo-er missus!)

I’m starting to wonder if all the wiping with cloths and ‘cleaner’ is making things worse by the simple virtue that you’re pushing more and more sh*t into the windings.

On this note, anyone got any surefire ideas they use to keep them nicer longer? Maybe someone could invent a kind of spinning toothbrush type gadget to move up and down to get all the crud out effectively. 

Or is that like making a car that would do 800 miles to the gallon so that, like nobody would buy petrol every week, that nobody would buy new strings for ages?

On 19 March 2021 at 18:34, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Yeah, sell it and put the BBOT back on. Full contact = Emperor's New Clothes.

Totally this.

On 18 February 2021 at 19:48, shoulderpet said:

Funny to hear all the love for Prosteels, I tried them and couldn't get them off fast enough, I love Roto steels though

Yep. My 'steels died after one rehearsal and two gigs. Never again.

On 27 September 2020 at 18:37, hooky_lowdown said:

Wilkinson alnico if you want a vintage tone. Entwhistle if you want a more modern sound.

I tried Entwistles once. Very good, huge powerful sound but unfortunately nothing like a classic P bass sound we all know and love. Totally up to you.