Joe Nation

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?

Looks like a scene from Take On Me

Oh ok, clearly my ears need adjusting 🙄

🤯

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

Very true. Which brings about a whole other conversation about the mathematics of intonation, and whether frets should be in slightly different positions for each string...

It's the length that the string vibrates over, so between the face of the nut and the apex of the saddle.

I've had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, but I was about 12 when I realised it wasn't just normal. It's a constant high squeal or ringing, mostly I can block it out and it only bothers me when I'm in complete silence. I've never had any treatment or anything, and weirdly when I've had hearing tests for work I've always done really well with high frequencies.

Check out this video about Sade's Sweetest Taboo bassline. Only two notes in the whole song, but played with such style and groove. Reeling back round to the original point, I doubt Paul Denman was held back by the rest of the band on this one. But if the guitarist had insisted on a follow-my-lead-and-KISS approach it would've ruined the song. So it goes both ways.