Joe Nation

What is your other bass, that you'd keep ahead of this one?!

13 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

Oh, and IMO the OP is not overthinking it, discussion is the reason we come to a discussion (or 'chat' as the site name styles it) forum.

I'm looking forward to more bass-centric philosophical discussion points from the OP.

Oh no, I'm completely overthinking it, like I do pretty much everything (unless it's actually important!). Of course, the answer is all of the above points and more. But the point of the discussion is to get people thinking about what their instrument is, what it can do (and can't do), and what they want to get out of it.

Seriously tempting...

I've been pondering a bit in recent days about ultra-short scale basses (eg Wingbass), uke-basses, Bass VIs, baritones etc. It got me thinking, is there a general agreement of what exactly makes a bass, a bass? I guess having 4 strings and a 34" scale is the most common variant, but there are plenty of things with more strings (or fewer?) and both longer and shorter scale lengths, that are most definitely a bass. But to me a Bass VI seems more like a guitar that just plays lower notes than standard tuning (to be fair I don't really know how you play one or what it sounds like!).

Is it purely about the frequency of the notes an instrument can play - in which case do you measure the lowest note, the lowest C, the highest note, an octave above the lowest, the average? Is it more to do with what instruments you're playing alongside, with the bass being whatever is lowest in the group? Do we define it by the part it plays in the band - that magical link between rhythm and melody? Or is it simply some unquantifiable, unmeasurable property - this is a bass because we call it is a bass?

Furthermore, with a Wingbass being effectively the upper half of a conventional 4-string 34" bass, could you fit a thicker gauge of string to lower the frequency of the notes and go a whole octave lower (ie the same pitch as an open string on a 34" scale)? The gauge required may be far too thick to fit in the bridge or tuners, and may be unplayable, I'm curious if it's possible though. Is there a formula linking string length, gauge and resultant frequency (assuming the same material of course)?

Yeah I wasn't sure where to put it, as it's about whole builds but not specifically a build diary. Consensus?

As for basses, they've always accepted them AFAIK, and the launch video does refer to "guitar or bass" a lot. No specific bass category, but I don't know if that's a bad thing or not. There's also a new "freestyle" category for acoustics, ukes, banjos, hurdy gurdies, and pretty much anything else with strings, as well as random new inventions and awkward hybrid monsters.

The 2022 edition of the Great Guitar Build-Off has just launched today.

Anyone planning to enter? I'd love to but I just haven't got the time or space to start another pointless hobby! Maybe next year, if we can find a house to buy with a garage or a decent shed.

Mumbo number 5 - Lou Bega (nearly went with Tiny Dancer but no dice).

Proper lefty versions of any and every bass ever.

A Parker MaxxFly bass...

As a lefty who plays right-handed (don't tell anyone!), I can assure you that it is possible to learn something the "wrong" way around. At school I played hockey right-handed, because there's no such thing as a left-handed hockey stick*), so I then started to play cricket righty as well. But when I took up baseball at uni, I hit lefty - until I tried it righty and was actually better (though still rubbish). I use a knife left handed on it's own, but right-handed with a fork, and there's no way I could do either task with the other hand! I too started playing bass righty because the choice of instruments is so much better, and my mate who was teaching me told me to.

Any dexterous skill can be learned, and we only think it's impossible to switch sides because we've gotten used to doing it a certain way. Think about how bad your handwriting is if you write with the wrong hand. But then look back at your writing when you were 3/4/5 years old and first learning to write - probably not much difference. If you try to learn a known skill with the opposite hand, you will assume you should be better than you are because you know you can already do it with the dominant hand, so you get disheartened. Only practice and patience will solve this.

*but weirdly, one of my friends who was 100% right-handed otherwise, player hockey left-handed with the stick upside-down.

How are you going to deal with the tuner holes? Fill them and veneer the headstock?

Jive Talkin' - Bee Gees

They're all over the place on youtube and instagram. Matt Estlea is my new youtube rabbit hole though...

You should call it Trigger's Broom! New body, extra string, different headstock...

Just discovered this thread, any updates?

On 09/01/2021 at 14:10, Fishman said:

It's time to make a pick guard – I've ordered a few different sheets of A4 veneer to make something laminated – each sheet is 0.6mm, so 4 sheets should do the trick

The next step will be to scan this and make a paper template, fine tune that, then make something out of thin MDF, then onto the veneer

Looks like a scene from Take On Me

Oh ok, clearly my ears need adjusting 🙄

🤯

3 hours ago, Doctor J said:

A long time ago, this started in a wardrobe. Two wardrobes, actually, with some MDF and an old curtain. Then I realised I could save space by making a free-standing unit with two tiers, given the ceiling clearance of your average gaff. They're safe, they're secure, but they're also close to hand and there's no faffing around with cases, all for the price of a couple of sheets of MDF and chipboard from your local DIY shop.

 

 

Well that's no use at all, you can only get 20 instruments in it 🤣

One thing that a twin strap or harness can resolve is the asymmetry caused by a conventional strap. It puts all the load on one shoulder, which causes your spine to bend sideways. This can trigger an S-shaped curve lower down the spine, and if your lumbar area is weak or vulnerable it doesn't take much to mess it up.

As for building up core strength, for the love of Dog go to someone to teach you how to do it properly. Doesn't matter if it's yoga, pilates, swimming, gym, physio, whatever it is make sure there is a trained person to a) tell you what to do (and not do), and b) watch you do it so they can fix any technique issues. Doing the perfect exercises in the wrong way can be worse than doing nothing.

OK that's pretty impressive, but also pointless if there's just four lots of the same 9 strings. Why not make it multiscale, part-fretless, have different strings/pick-ups, different tunings. Plus he's a bit of a douche.

They could've taken the film of the scratchplate for the fancy studio shoot.

Earthed US outlets look like this: 

Those are clearly UK ones, which are definitely the best type (Tom Scott will tell you why).

I have considered that as well, time constraints make it tricky but not impossible. Anyone know any good courses in Suffolk/Norfolk/Essex?

Does anyone know a good website/book/video for first-time fret levelling/dressing/crowning/polishing? My Rockbass Fortress badly needs some work, and I'm all up for DIYing it but I'd rather not make a hash of it. I've been watching plenty of videos lately on guitar building and picked up the basic principles, but I'd like to make sure I know what to do, in what order, and hopefully what not to do.

TIA