Kongo

As well as strings let your other fingers help. Bending with your ring finger let your middle and index push as well behind it. Mammoth bends there even on .55 G-strings. Smallest guage I ever used was 35 - 95 Elites Player series...When I used Elites. I was playing alot of Level 42...

Welcome friend.

[quote name='WinterMute' post='484318' date='May 10 2009, 02:13 PM']FWIW I've gone back to 4 strings after 20 odd years of a Warwick thumb 5, I found the extra extension for my small hands was causing tendon and carpal tunnel problems, (not massively, but after a couple of hours, it definitely hurt) I'm back with Jazz's now, and the only pain is in the fingers from all the extra playing I'm doing. However, I'd definitely recommend a 5 string and not a re-jigged 4, it's just easier, and a good 5 will end up replacing your 4 live if you need the extra extension.[/quote] +1 Then you have the option of two basses. How did you injur yourself playing one? Was it your hands or techneque? I play a very broad 6-string and my hands cramp up on 4-string with thin necks.

[quote name='BOD2' post='480762' date='May 6 2009, 11:12 AM']There was a short craze for double neck guitars in the mid/late seventies so they probably saw a market opportunity. But then punk came along and a double neck guitar was the epitome of everything punk was against - so they quickly disappeared.[/quote] I would imagine they could come back. Now (at least where I am) Punk is going and Prog is returning...I could well see a twin neck SG soon! One neck is enough for me though LOL!

[quote name='fragility' post='483905' date='May 9 2009, 06:31 PM']Hi, I'm currently GASing for a Warwick thumb bolt on and looking to demo one. I phoned GAK today but they said they didn't have any in stock, but I'm just a bit conufsed as to whether that applies to both the mail order and shop, or just the mail order. Does anyone have any ideas...or has anyone been into the GAK store lately who might have seen a Thumb BO there (or anywhere else in the south) ? Thanks![/quote] I deal with these a lot...unfortunatly they seem a little dumb in the fact that other online shops actually put stock count for you to see. They do however get stuff in quickly but it depends. They never did get back to me about the Fender Urge II I wanted though...

[quote name='Faithless' post='484119' date='May 10 2009, 01:05 AM']... Matey, I thought, that you know the Rule: No pics - it doesn't even exist then, eh! [/quote] I'm not in possesion of a camera myself but I got an old pic of my BTB556 the day I got it (standing next to some of my older gear). It's not much but well...it's there. It's about 1 1/2 years old so mind the mess...I'll have a look for others and badger getting a camera to show my beaut of a BTB405QM...Red trans sooks the biz! I also have no clue why I used to use 2" straps for such a big bass... I have a 4" leather one for it now.

I'd go 5-string over BEAD any day. Not only because I use all 5-strings but it's still a standard bass...Say your son (not sure how longs he's played so apologies) wants to play RATM. With a 5-string he can leave the Low-B alone and de-tune the E-string to D and play a RATM song and the same for their E-standard tuning...But no way with a BEAD tuning. Having a 5-string with you will mean one bass can do more. BEAD is very limited and chances are songs he will learn that a 5-string bassists used, he would have used the G-string too. 5-strings can be had for little money. For sake of versatility I'm sure one more bass wouldn't hurt LOL! [quote name='liamcapleton' post='484141' date='May 10 2009, 04:01 AM']Shop around, not all 5 stringers will have the same neck profile and string spacing, and also it might be a case of getting used to the transition between the two as well. Personally I would go for the 5 string, I think (though some might disagree) that the G string is really worth keeping, and probably not worth sacrificing. [/quote] +1! BEAD can't compare to 5-string. I'd rather have a 7-string guitar than tune B-standard too! Don't worry about techneque. After 3 years of playing I went from a Yamaha RBX170 4-string 34" scale to a Peavey Grind 6-string 35" scale...and that moves was fine once I got used to looking at 2 more strings. The move to 5-string is easy.

I went off Wooten after seeing one of his clinics. Obviously people only came to learn...well he's very standoffish on his techneque now. He got people to come up and "Groove" and then went on to spout saying: "Bassists should only groove and play as less notes as need be." And completely contradicted himself. The people that came up were obviously not playing what they normally would as you could tell it was improv. I don't hear many metal bassists play a walking arpeggio line for instance. It's like he was saying "I do this but you shoudln't, I don't want any competition". I learned 2 songs from him: Classical Thump and The Vision and I do enjoy his music but why is he acting like this now? Nah, I went off him to go to my more true, down to earth inspirations. And I also thought he was very Zen till I saw em. For solo stuff Stuart Hamm speaks to me most. Billy Sheehan's solo stuff is solo song writing in a band situation, not instrumental so I cannot put him in the same place but he too is a bigger inspiration than Wooten now. Maybe if I was a Jazz-Funk bassists...But as I'm not I cannot relate to Wooten anymore.

[quote name='Sibob' post='484266' date='May 10 2009, 12:43 PM']In my orignals band, I have two basses setup in drop C standard, so: C, F, Bb, Eb I use custom wound 45 - 105 high tension Newtone strings. The trick isn't always in the guage, its also a lot to do with the core size. Make the core bigger and you can have almost any guage you want whilst retaining a higher tension, therefore allowing a lower action without buzzing. My drop C basses don't have an action as low as my standard tuned basses obviously, but it's pretty damned close, considering I'm using such a relatively thin guage for the tuning Si p.s. Oh and they cost the same as a set of Elites/Rotos [/quote] That's an interesting concept. What bigger core Low-B's are out there? I prefere .130 so I can actually have long sustaining notes instead of just a clunk here and there. I used .130 on my 35" scale basses but my 34" respond to .135 better.

[quote name='chargrilled' post='483047' date='May 8 2009, 04:18 PM']Ok cool - are more/ less spaced out strings an advantage or disadvantage in any way? I haven't got small fingers or anything - by the way my old bass was an Ibanez SRX 505. I've been looking seriously at the BB415 but it's price has jumped £70 in like 4 months bringing it into a bracket occupied by other basses. At £300 I would definately have bought it Thanks for all the replies so far by the way[/quote] Ibanez SRX have 16.5mm String spacing...That's narrow so if you got on with that then the Corvette will feel the same. The difference with the Yamaha is that the strings are spaced further appart. Slap bassists worry about spacing more than any and I used to too but after buying so many basses I found that you can addapt to slapping on any width. It's just the case of how accurate your are and which width feels more comfortable with your hands.

[quote name='4000' post='483975' date='May 9 2009, 07:57 PM']Musicman - [b]Attack[/b][/quote] LOL Y'know I could imagine the SAS would use Musicman Stingrays if they played bass haha!

[quote name='Clarky' post='483963' date='May 9 2009, 07:40 PM']Ritter - make Warwicks look sexy [attachment=24985:ritter_bass_body2.jpg][attachment=24986:ugly_dog_pic.jpg][/quote] Bass looks similar to CT basses. [b]OH YEAH!!! Carl Thompson[/b] - Awesome and HEAVILY priced custom handbuilt basses. The STAPLE Of Les Claypools sound, of which he owns way over 10 now. $10,000 for a Rainbow Bass replica? Think I'll pass...

[quote name='maxrossell' post='483866' date='May 9 2009, 05:38 PM']I guess you just can't make a decent amp for under a certain price. My guitar player once bought a full Ibanez Toneblaster stack new for a shade under £400. Two 4x12s and a 100w head, for that kind of money, there's no way it's not gonna suck. I mean, you could arguably make a guitar out of ply, stick a basic maple neck on it, jam on some budget hardware and budget electronics and still make it playable, even make it sound okay. I've played a few guitars that retail under £100 and they weren't what I'd call "bad", just not particularly good in any way. Really cheap amps, on the other hand, just sound like hunks of crap.[/quote] You said it right there. Plus amps have more in them that are noticable when cheap. Cheap wood is only usually cheap because it's common or doesn't have a nice grain. Basswood doesn't have a bad tone...but you'd never put it on a Warwick because no stain is gonna look good on it...It has no grain! But cheap magnets running a cheap speaker and cheap wiring / solder can only lead to disaster. You can tell a cheap Hi-Fi appart more than a Cheap guitar is another example on similar principles.

[quote name='4000' post='483952' date='May 9 2009, 07:26 PM']You ask a guitarist if he can tell the weight difference between and 8lb Les Paul and a 10lb one and I'm sure that 99% of them would [i]definitely[/i] be able to tell the difference.[/quote] LOL guitarists think Strat's are heavy! Ok maybe we are getting that confusion you get when you try to explain something with text. That said, a wider strap helps me no end. I can't stand for too long with a Jazz bass / BTB with a 2" strap but my 4" leather strap makes my bass feel weightless. It doesn;t reduce weight it just displaces it on a wider surfacr area. Much like walking in snow with shoes vs those tennis raquet things (can't remember the real name). You sink in much less with a larger surface area and so the weight of a bass sinks into your shoulder region less with a wider strap. Maybe it's not true for everyone but I'm never using 2" again. And yeah, I too will end there as the thread seems to have been hi-jacked so lemmie help rectify: [b]Lakland[/b] - Interesting modern approach to Fender designs. ALso work in 35" scale and have a Skyline series offering great quality for a lesser price.

[quote name='mcc' post='483919' date='May 9 2009, 06:47 PM']Yet again I come here to seek advice, Even when I spent considerable time trying to convince myself that the aluminium pickguard on my Musicman SUB looked cool, I have accepted it and will be replacing it with a decent one. I have narrowed down my set of choices, but would still like to see them for real before ordering. As I know you all like showing off your basses (and with reason) I would appreciate anyone that has a blue SUB with a scratchplate different from the original to post a pic of it. Also anyone that has any dark blue bass with a pickguard on is welcome. Suggestions are also welcome. My favorite at the moment are black, white or cream perloid. Here is the bass presently with an imaginary scratchplate, but I think I prefer a visible one. [attachment=24984:MMSub5.JPG][/quote] Pearliod for the win on ANY bass with ANY colour. I put a white one on my black P-bass...made it look 1000x better! Plus being so heavy on the pattern scratches show less for those whom like a bass to look good as well as play. Black on Blue looks...bland...They mix but they make it VERY dark. White on Blue? That's worse if it's plain. Brightens up but doesn't match IMO.

[quote name='Sugden' post='483940' date='May 9 2009, 07:11 PM']As an addtion if you have no want or desire to do any wood work I'm sure a local carpenture would charge you a few hours work for a small job as such or a local luthier.[/quote] Just so happens my Grandad is a carpenter. I'd need help with this cause I had a hard time rounding the end of a neck I bought to the same shape as the stock one. I use double sided tape at work and yeah, it's strong alright! Surely you'd only want to go round the edges of the ramp but then it'd be even harder to lift. I shall keep on listening here and figure out if I want to and how to do so. Can one be fitted on a Jazz? In between the pickups you'd have a bit of difference height wise as the scratchplate ends half way. But there are other basses I could fit this too too. It certainly is a good idea I think all companies should offer it.

[quote name='YouMa' post='483883' date='May 9 2009, 06:06 PM']You can make em,with a radius sanding block its not hard,you use double sided tape to stick them on.[/quote] LOL really!? I take it it only needs chopping to fit length then? Hmmm and of course, finished to go with your bass.

[quote name='Paul_C' post='483911' date='May 9 2009, 06:39 PM']I made and fitted one to a guitar .. I'm responsible for the knobs too [/quote] Nice! How'd you do it?

[quote name='PURPOLARIS' post='483869' date='May 9 2009, 05:47 PM']I've never even had a hint of neck dive on my J-Bass, I don't know where you get that from. [/quote] LOL +1 on that. PLus...wouldn't a fat body and skinny neck make uhm...more body heavy? The Jazz Body is quite big so even putting heavy tuners on it won't make it dive. The P-bass is easy to top though unfortunatly.

[quote name='Eight' post='483862' date='May 9 2009, 05:31 PM']Germaine Greer?!?!?! I'd laugh, but since I own one this is quite annoying. Paris Hilton for Ibanez is inspired though. Cheap, bit simple - but you still would.[/quote] Not sure I'd call an Ibanez SR Prestige cheap @ £1,598.98. Not all Ibanez are cheap you know...Though the comparison is quite good LOL! Madonna being a Jazz bass... does this mean this bass is past it's sell by date then? LOOOOOOL!!!

[quote name='4000' post='483856' date='May 9 2009, 05:23 PM']But you made a blanket statement......which is why I posted. Many players have back problems so they will probably feel the difference too.[/quote] Maybe but all I said was that 1lb is very small in weight, as is 2lb so I stand by what I said. Have you tried a 4" or 4 1/2" strap? That'll make everything in weight un noticable. I don't have a great back either and until using that width strap found my BTB's to be too heavy but they are heavy. But my other basses are hardly noticable...maybe it's a shape / counter balance thing? Being neck heavy is more noticable than body heavy to me.

[quote name='4000' post='483851' date='May 9 2009, 05:18 PM']That's nonsense. I have chronic back & neck problems and half a pound can make a difference.[/quote] Well you just said it all there "Chronic back and neck problems". Of course you can feel the difference your adding disability and pain barrier into the equation......