franzbassist

I've visited Sweden many times. My aunt married a Swede back in the 60s and lived in Ystad and then Höör until moving back to the UK about ten years ago. Fabulous place, wonderful people. Many happy summer and winter holidays there.

It was £160 delivered.

I picked up a used but mint Epiphone Archtop bass in the summer for an acoustic blues project I'm working with. It looked and sounded fantastic, with the typical modern Epi build quality. However, the stock piezo pickup by Shadow was an absolute piece of crap, scratchy sounding and feeding back at the slightest hint of volume, so knowing Jason Krivo's reputation for making pickups for archtop guitars and double basses I dropped him a line to see if he was up to the challenge: he was. It sounds fantastic: warm, rich and true to the acoustic tone of the instrument. Jason took various measurements from me and used a smaller gauge of cable than usual so I didn't need to drill a biggger hole than the one I had already put in the bass for a previous (failed) install. The pickup arrived with a piece of double-sided adhesive foam, which I cut to fit and the rest was an easy install, although I did do a dry install first to make sure everything fitted. I even modified the pickguard to ensure a snug fit (didn't get the shape quite right on one side, but no biggie). It wasn't cheap, but it really is a fantastic pickup that means I can gig without worrying about feedback, while still retaining the true acoustic tone of my bass. Jason is planning to add it to his line of products.

I love he could go from this to this....

I love playing live: when you're playing well and the audience get it too it's one of the best feelings there is. My 18yo daughter (vocals and guitar) and 16yo son (drums) joined the band I have been in since 1989(!) last year, and that's a whole load of new reasons to play

I only really discovered Ronnie's solo material about five years ago, but I was totally seduced by it: such genuine, organic, and nostalgic music I hadn't heard in a long time. I think I now own pretty much every piece of recorded music he produced as a solo artist. My band play Ooh La La, How Come, Annie and Debris on a regular basis, and audiences love them. The documentary about the man himself is worth a watch here.

I like that. Cool name too.

I sold an amp to Carl. Really easy transaction with great communication and fast payment. Cheers Carl!

I sold a cable to Orbs. Smoothest of smooth transactions. Many thanks!

I don't think they're making flats since the buyout are they?

If you play a bass that has a thru-body bridge, what is the best way to minimise the string twisting when it's fitted? For a top loaded bridge I have always strung the bass up and then just released the tension and allowed the string to resettle, but you can't do that on a thru-body bridge. Any tips, BC collective?

I've heard Markbass cabs used in a rock setting many a time and they always sound great. The 2x12 should be plenty loud enough.

Don't forget nylon flats. La Bella's standard gauge nylon flats are pretty meaty, but the tension of pretty low (lower than their LTF) and they sound fab.

Yep, totally get that, but surely some are smoother/quieter than others? They are normally roundwound strings clad in a nylon flatwound tape. I love them on my fretless, but I want something with a litle more tension hence the question about rounds.