Dom in Dorset

I've put up abetter demo , I'm still getting used to the fretless and this ones a bit better played. This time I've recorded it with a mic and played through my amp ( Laney RB7 ) , it's ritcher and warmer now.

I've posted a rough demo here: www.myspace.com/dominicallanbagpipes (yes, that's what I do for a living.) Track 5 I'll put up something better when time and tallent allows.

[quote name='Longmayyourun' post='609540' date='Sep 26 2009, 07:59 PM']I think that is truly amazing. Congratulations. I particularly like the soundhole shape (I looked at it for ages deciding it wasn't just a weird perspective) Nice one.[/quote] The ellipse is based on the position of two harmonics, I put pins into to soundboard at those points ( one for G string , one for the E) then put a loop of cotton round them, put a pencil into the loop and drew the sound hole. There is some science behind it, though I'm not sure what difference it makes! It looks good and looks like it's in the right place.

[attachment=33558:007.JPG] I've just got this up and running, it's based on a de-fretted Hohner neck with a fibre glass body. The shape was taken from a Stagg Jag coppy , I just liked the style. This bass has a spine running through it for greater stability, the wood was salvaged from an old piano. The same piano gave up it's spruce soundboard , it's it's about 8mm thick. There is a piezo pick up with pre-amp, the bridge and tail are made from boxwood (dense stuff). I'm still tweeking it at the moment, I used it at a rehursal last night and loved it. The sound is surprisingly double bass like but with more top and less bottom end. At the moment it's strung with brand new cheap medium round wounds and is a tad zingy. I intend to experient with different strings. I learned a lot doing this, ie cut the soundboard so that the grain lines up with the strings! the dark finish is an attempt to hide this! Don't attempt a sunburst finish unless you are prepared to go mad.

Wow! what a lot of tumbleweed!

I abstained on this one! I tend to go for retro but I do like some modern designs, Ibanez SRX series and the Jet King is of course a modern retro. For many years I played a Hohner stick bass. What I don't like are long thin horns (sorry Lemmywinks) basses should be solid creatures.

I would expect the basics to be right for £170!

I got mine from these guys [url="http://www.allinstruments.com/"]http://www.allinstruments.com/[/url] I teach there on thursday afternoons. I'm pretty sure that they've got both items in stock, I can't find them on the website. GAK do them too, just put "stagg acoustic bass gig bag" into google you'll get plenty of hits. I've just noticed that they do an economy one at £19.99 or a padded one for£30, I'm not sure which one mine is , I can find out on thursday. Mine has padding but I'm not sure if the economy has padding too.

I use a Stagg gig bag for my acoustic bass, it's cavernous! My Ibanez has (I think ) a 32" scale and there's about 6" to spare. They are about £20. Stagg also do a hard case it's about £50? I have no problem with gig bags for ABG , it will protect it from nocks and scratches, I dropped mine from about 2' once , no harm done. If it's just you in a car with an amp and a couple of instruments a gig bag is fine, if your on tour with the bands gear loaded into a van each night then get a hard case. Hard cases for ABG are prety huge things to carry around.

42 year old father of three is looking for something to do! Just for fun or slightly more serious. Temporay or long term, acoustic or electric, I'm mostly interested in original music (tall order I know) prog, psychedelic, rock , certain areas of the folk world I'm not averse to covers - you can always ask. I can be contacted here or via [email protected]

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='549834' date='Jul 24 2009, 10:14 AM']I ordered a mighty mite fretless from America on ebay, and it's never shown up! I have a Warmoth, and it's fantastic, but that is to be expected, you can pretty much pick whatever you want, but it's not cheap.[/quote] How long ago did you order it?

I was going to ask almost the same question! I keep seeing the name Warmoth come up, I've looked on their web site , ok looks good. Do you have to order directly from the states or can you get their stuff in the uk? What are they like to deal with? What are the necks like?

When I got my first acoustic bass it opened my eyes (ears) to the part played by your fingers in tone production. It was quite a cheap clanky beast and it took me a couple of months before I learned how to get a strong even tone from it.

I'll have it for the strap button on the back of the head stock. As Nigel Tufnel said "this can never be played, ever!"

[quote name='sturm' post='543886' date='Jul 18 2009, 11:47 AM']depping? is that standing in for someone else?[/quote] As I understood it the term "depping" meant be asked to "deputise" ie if the regular bass player can't make it he sends his deputy. A drummer that I used to play with would occasionaly send one of his trusted students to dep for him. Hence the concern that if you are too good you won't be asked back the next tiime he can't make it.

Ok , strictly speeking I've never depped ( been asked to stand in by the regular bass player ) I've always been asked by other members of the band(s) When I stand in for someone My intension is to be as good as them, if possible better- aim high , settle for a shot somewhere near the target! A couple of years ago I stood in for a local band's bassist for three or four gigs while their usual guy was out of the country. I realy enjoyed it and there was talk of my job becoming permanent. It turned out that the other three weren't talking to each other, we played the last bookings and the band folded!

I love depping! I like the challenge of learning all this new stuff at short notice, without all the politics of being "in" the band. Don't wory about the punters, or the full time band members, just concentrate on being better than their usual bass player! :brow:

It's smaller that a double bass nut. It would take about half an hour to make one from a piece of ebony or delrin ( if you've got a couple of good files and you're not afraid to use them)

It might take a standard double bass nut, it may need some adjustment. I'll be in a shop that has one in stock this afternoon I'll have a look.

I'm in the early stages of building a semi acoustic fretless bass, it will be fitted with a piezo pick up. I'm after an active one with an EQ, what is out there? What's good/bad, Who sell them? I've had a quick look on google but I'm not finding much.