LITTLEWING

I have to admit I've never felt happier with my strings and the whole sweet tone thing since I dropped from 45-105's to 40-100's. If you're not over the moon with the change, then go halfway with 45-65-80-100 to keep the thin side balanced.

I'm not at all sure about hanging my basses on wall hangers or best storing them in cases any more. I have kept two cheapie 'go to' guitars on the wall for a couple of years and my other two giggers in their cases. Lately, the two on the wall have both developed the dreaded 'ski jump' at the last frets above the neck joint even though they're never in direct sunlight or near a radiator. The radiator in the 'music room' is only half on at this time of year to keep all the gear from getting cold and tarnished or damp.  My case bound basses are still absolutely bang on despite varying temperatures over the year and only require the usual rod tweak as they move a little in summer and winter.

Anybody else come across this wall hanging thing or Is it coincidence or is there some scientific gravity reason?

I can only add to weird sounds by saying a cheapy old combo ( I bought for quieter rehearsals) speaker was buzzing/rattling on low notes. I removed the 12" speaker and after a bit of detective work discovered the yellow concertina bit that surrounds the voice coil should have a nice continuous bead of glue around around it and one small section wasn't stuck fast and was vibrating. A squirt of gorilla glue and for good measure a bead of wood glue around the rest of the 360 degrees sorted it completely. 

Okay, I've got a feeling I'm going to answer my own question as I write this, but I've always played with the guitar's volume right up full. I've been buying and selling amps and combo's for yonks (what the hell are yonks anyway?) in pursuit of that 'live gig' d.i. clear vibe as all my ears hear from my backline rig, big or small, when in full flight is a burpy farty sound and not the nice clear fat notes I'm after. (Although it mysteriously sounds quite good again without the rest of band in the sound waves).

I'm quite aware of the potential of the volume control as I also play lead and rhythm guitar and am perfectly aware of the dramatic difference between clean-ish chords turned down a quarter and whacking it up full to crunch to take a solo.

So, what SHOULD I be doing with a bass guitar's volume control? Does anybody play anything less than full up? I've never actually tried it out as rehearsal time is precious and live is too dodgy to fart about.

I'm starting with this one....

I imagine I might have changed my mind if I had an active 'Ray and got an incredible sound but I'm just saying take a look at how many people USED to play one and moved on to other fine marques. Apart from the one or two mentioned, I haven't seen one being played on telly or live for ages. There must be a reason. Flea only used one because he once got them for free and The Chillies wouldn't be the same without that growl. Bernard Edwards started with one but moved on, John Deacon had one but moved on. Gail Ann Dorsey made Bowie's band sound phenomenal but then slipped into a Jazz. 

They really are great basses and sound brilliant but dare I say they somehow get a tad boring. Bit like a Telecaster guitar. Great, but they only do the one thing.

Just sayin'.

None. Who's the last one you saw anywhere with one? Get an active Jazz. Can't go wrong.

I had a passive 'Ray and it simply didn't fit sonically anywhere in our varied 50 odd covers sets except maybe two funk numbers.

Brasso and kitchen roll.

Go for a set of Roto's 40-125's for a cheap trial. I only play fours nowadays but after playing 40-100's for a while, I picked up a spare indoors with 45-105's and hated it!

I recently took my jazz knobs off for a good old polish up and wondered where, when refitting, would be best to reposition the white pointers to look the most aesthetically pleasing. I ended up pointing them all full on at the 'V' at the top of the chrome plate where it meets the pickguard.

42 minutes ago, DiceSociety said:

Do you have any before and after sound files?

Ah, now that is one of the things I don't have any software to do. Wish I could. All I can tell you is that in humbucker mode it's bigger, fatter and a smidge louder. Imagine both jazz pups up full on a standard jazz and someone goes up a notch on the bass and middle on your amp?

Just thought I'd share this - if you think (like me) a Jazz is a little tame compared to a thumpy Precision, provided you're reasonably handy with a soldering iron, do this mod. You REALLY want to do this mod. One mini toggle switch and a quiet calm half hour alone and you will have a powerhouse of a bass in humbucker mode. Jeez, I didn't know what to expect but this I'm ashamed to say gave me an actual semi. 

There are loads of simple wiring diagrams on the wonderweb. If I can do it, anyone can. One way it's normal standard volume/volume/tone, the other is one volume, one redundant knob and then tone along with an incredible kickass earthquake. 

A 6mm drill will see the switch nicely between the socket and tone knob. The only fiddly bit was realigning the three pots so everything went back into the pit. Unless you want to swap the pots for mini pots while you're at it.

Those pickups have a VERY strong magnetic pull. Anything less than 3/32" from pole to underside of string and it's already tugging it down. 

On 29 July 2018 at 21:26, discreet said:

Heh. Seriously though, its fine to replace a bridge if you like the look of a different one, or your current bridge is uncomfortable in some way. But if you're expecting any major improvement in tone, I think you may be disappointed. Lot of placebo effect involved in this kind of thing.

Strings are something else. Different strings can change the sound and playability of a bass out of all proportion to their cost. Whether or not it's an improvement is moot, of course...

Isn't that a piece of foam you put under the strings near the bridge?......

I'm definitely going to try these bad boys out. I used to have Legacys (actually somehow Rotosounds) but jumping up from £9.99 to £13.99 when even real Roto's are only £12.89 (what??) they can go whistle now.

I just wish Elixir Nano's weren't so ridiculously expensive for a bit of plastic coating. 

Some great ideas there so far, well done!! The main reason I put this out there is that my E string is always the first to dull down and I'd really love to keep it reasonably fresh for longer and not contemplate buying single strings.

I can definitely say from experience that boiling strings for about 15 minutes brings a good bit of life back into them, but has anyone found a sure solution, home made or otherwise that just sprays or wipes on and gets all the crud out and makes them sound reasonably clear again for a while?

I've tried just about everything out there on the market over the years and all they do without fail is kill the string dead rather than actually breathing a little bit of life back into them.

The only thing I haven't tried yet is suspending one fairly taut on some sort of frame and using a pressure washer on them on the hottest setting.  Hmmmmm........

8 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Is that based on replacing the bridge on one of your basses, or two different basses with different bridges?

That's a BBOT on an Aria 'Legend' Jazz I picked up cheap for a project and even found five flat shouldered screws instead of the proper bevelled type. A spare Squier item plus said proper screws and brass saddles changed things dramatically!

There's definitely a whole lot of difference between a cheap and nasty Chinese tin cheapy and a half decent Squier type jobby, but there's 100% massive jump in clarity and sweet tone with brass saddles for instance on a Wilkinson. I don't think there's such a leap in a £150 fancy looking chrome lump to be honest. Personally I think a lot of it is in the mind. So many people on here have swapped out for a hyped up engineer's dream and to their dismay have found no discernible difference in things except for a whole lot of beer vouchers gone west.

I keep seeing posts about people having one string dead in a new packet and wondered, I've personally (maybe just lucky) never had a duff string in my life. But then, I always tune to pitch, do the pull up/stretch, retune and then push each string down hard immediately after the saddle to put effectively a tight bend on the string which gives it life and dynamics which just does not happen if you simply leave it laying on the saddle and tune up. 

If you want to hear for yourself, go grab your bass now and do the press thing. I guarantee the whole set will sound amazing again and actually ring like they were made to. Might want to check the action after as they've gone down a smidge.

I've definitely moved up a step since I started a side band with our keys player. A new (bloody incredible) drummer, guitarist and female vocals have brought to the table a whole new plethora of songs and somehow I've found myself playing tighter grooves and relaxing more but at the same time actually amazing myself when it all sounds like some house bands on the telly box. 

Cheers, G. First time's always full of nerves. 

Going to put my first ever water slide decal on a headstock. I've sanded the old name off down to bare wood and stained it back to near original colour. Once the decal is on and dry, what's best to use to seal it? Brush varnish, spray lacquer, water based stuff?

Nice looker. 

My problem is that although they're excellent in their own right, I just can't get used to the 'nearly but not quite' thin bodies. If they came usual Fender thickness, I'd have half a dozen.

And.....is it Hart-kee?