4 Strings

[quote name='AndyMartin' post='557404' date='Jul 31 2009, 07:23 PM']James Jamerson's style, technique and creativity might might have come from his brain and his fingers but his tone was all '62 Precision with sky high action, never changed flatwounds and Ampeg Portabass.[/quote] Let's not forget the Tamla recordings were all DI (the Ampeg came out for his live performances) and he went through more than one 'Funk Machine', although I understand there was one which was around for by far the longest. Those dead strings and high action would have sounded absolutely dreadful under my fingers.

Love the 'wall of death' tom positions from those heady days!

But these two guitars aren't the same. The one on its own has lost more finish than the one Jaco is playing and so could be a later photo. However, if you look at the top of the body, underneath the divine forearm, you see that there is more wear on guitar His Jolly Self is playing. Can't be both.

Interesting question, Bruce's sound was distinctive in the earlier days. Lots of treble, but then Ricky's do that. You'll also get that from your Precision with nice new Swing Bass strings. Try this: [url="http://www.thejam.org.uk/equipment.html"]http://www.thejam.org.uk/equipment.html[/url] Seems Marshalls and 4x12s are the order of the day.

For my tuppence worth try Rotosound Swing bass strings, as heavy as you feel comfortable. These were used on Live at Leeds (along with Hiwatt valve amps and 4x12s) to give, perhaps, the benchmark for Precision growl. While I love progress in bass amplification if you want an old fashioned sound its best to use old fashioned equipment. I don't have that old equipment but, to me, Swing Bass strings seem to be made for Fender Precisions and make a big step to that sound. I don't know the gauges preferred by JE but the heavier gauges add weight to the sound.

A paltry list compared to some. Had one bass for years and years until very recently. [b]Avon EB0 copy[/b] - owned for ~6 months - 1st bass, terrible in every way, the only bass I destroyed [b]Hondo P copy in natural with maple neck[/b] ~ 1 year, bought new for £70 in late 70s. Looked great, played well but was so heavy [b]1973 Fender Precision, all black, maple neck[/b] ~ 2 years, second hand with 18 monthly payments. Neck wasn't flat, cost me around £50 to dress the actual wood, refinish and replace frets. Thereafter wonderful, why didn't I keep it? Traded it in for [b]Aria SB600[/b] ~3 years, bought for its amazing looks and also played brilliantly, sounded fine, couldn't afford the 1000. Sold to a friend to buy; [b]Jaydee Roadie 1A*[/b] ~26 years, my bass for most of my playing life. Bought brand new for £500, still got it, still my no.1. SO easy to play and very much mine. [b]Fender Frankestein P*[/b] ~1 1/2 years, very worn 1978 maple neck, black body from who knows where, old Squire hardware, Fender black scratch. To be knocked about, plays very nicely with bright P sound. [b]1977 Fender Precision*[/b], black maple neck (theme going on here) <1 year; one previous owner, played in a big band. Flats, virtually as new, ash trays, shop tags, owners manual. Beeyootiful it is, like a museum piece, cannot get more original but scared to take it out of the house. [b]J&D Precision Funk Machine copy*[/b] ~ 2 months. Bought from ebay as a present but I kept it! It plays and sounds fabulously! Cost almost nothing and in perfect condition. * - still have

[quote name='urb' post='715000' date='Jan 16 2010, 05:09 PM']I think this is what you might be lookng for... - er, don't try this at home or on stage: Epic fail...[/quote] Thanks for that, bit like the ski jump, how do you practice that kind of thing?

If it affects his radios then it must be something to do with radio waves rather than conducted signal. Starting at the source I wonder if a better guitar lead may help. This may be acting as a weak transmitter if the screening is poor. Also, the lead that takes the amplified signal to the speaker will be handling a greater signal and may not be screened, perhaps surrounding this in foil (I know, you'll need to take the lid off your amp) may help. Would he bring his radio into your house while you give him a nice cuppa and experiment (or take your amp into his)? You may here exactly what it is and find its just a buzzing or something which may be down to the house wiring. If your house has different circuits try plugging the amp into a different circuit (the kitchen for example), a link to his house may be effective. Does it happen on your radio? Lastly (as someone who enjoys the radio!), although your playing may be disturbing his radio listening, his radio listening is also disturbing your bass playing. He should be able to accept a compromise (certain times etc).

Yep, this is all true (including, I'm sure, the comments about a certain member's playing). I must say that, in the thick of a gig, or even a recording, there can't be many who could point out a change in bridge, the type of finish material, the 'tone' wood used, even the type of strings. The subtleties of painstaking and expensive choices such as these are rather lost in a cheap curly lead let alone a mix. Whilst I am only happy when playing with a sound I like, this will be despite the bridge type, which, so long as its strong enough and doesn't buzz, rattle or cause breakages, will be judged on how easy it is to get the strings through and adjust. Bit like a football ref, the best ones aren't noticed.

This is great stuff, keep 'em coming. Apologies for the 'small time' reference, but I think you've caught the idea. I'm gonna search out Mick Hawksworth and the Union look interesting too, any more?

[quote name='grimbeaver' post='711995' date='Jan 13 2010, 10:16 PM']I have a great trick where I go for a walk around, stand on my lead that rips out and walk a few paces wondering what has gone wrong then sheepishly go and plug back in again, cant count the number of times I have done this[/quote] Can always tuck the lead in a loop under your strap. Stops a great trick but you then only do it when you want to.

[quote name='chris_b' post='710811' date='Jan 13 2010, 12:50 AM']How about playing the bass with your fretting hand [i]over[/i] the neck?[/quote] Keyboard player at my church sometimes stands in on bass, he plays like that on occasion. Very clear thinking chap, I think he finds it easier rather than doing a trick. It'd certainly be a trick if I did it.

We all know that some of our heroes play for the top bands and so getting to actually see them is an occasional and costly excercise. However, as we all know, it about who you know etc not how good you are. There are some fabulous bass players playing in pubs near you and I wondered that we could have a list of recommendations. Not you, or your mate etc but bass players who are currently playing in easily (and cheaply) accessible places from whom you think your brothers on this forum would benefit. I can start off: An obvious one is Blockhead legend Norman Watt-Roy, who has been playing regularly with Wilko Johnson ( [url="http://www.myspace.com/wilkojohnson"]http://www.myspace.com/wilkojohnson[/url] ) for some years now. He's fantastic, so much energy, innovation, sweat, commitment, talent, all for a tenner! A second nomination is Sam Bunting who plays with Zalinski ( [url="http://www.myspace.com/zalinskiband"]http://www.myspace.com/zalinskiband[/url] ) sometimes use a Warwick, sometimes MM, intricate bass lines, lots of detail and interpretation but accurate and appropriate. Very good to watch and pinch ideas from. Get out there and learn, for the price of a beer or two what could be better? Any others?

The original Precisions had the strings through the body and so all the bridge had to do was, just that, bridge the strings. The tension of the string was directly relayed to the body by the metal string eyelets at the back. Vibration went through the saddles, the adjusting screws to the base plate which spread it through the body. Increasing the mass of the plate would have little effect other than providing some resistance to the vibration path. Only compression loads were required to be met by the bridge and string anchoring components and so light materials are entirely suitable, slight flexibility being beneficial to ensure even contact with the body. The later bridges have much more work to do to hold the tension of the strings as well as providing a path to the body. The screws that hold the bridge down are now dealing with shear loads and the bent bit with holes at the end being further bent by a bending moment. The tendancy is for the string tension to rip the bridge to be ripped off the surface of the body, and so strong fixing is required meaning a heavier base would help. The bent end is now required to anchor the string and the tension on it varies with the vibration. If this is flexible it will absorb energy from the string and so sustain will be lost. I would therefore suggest that for the string-through-body types a lightweight bridge is beneficial, for the top loading type a heavier bridge will be the better compromise (losing the benefits of the string-through-body design).

It's quite a bad buzz, almost making the notes unplayable. Good thought, I've had a listen towards the nut and all is ok there. It seems as thought there is a dip in the fret board around the 6/7th frets on the G side, but my straight edges appear to tell me differently. The 8th fret was definitely as little high and the stoing has helped, but it still buzzes quite badly. (It had quite a high action when I bought it - the action is quite low now, except for the G string!) If it was a Fender I'd take it to the experts, it just that for such a cheap guitar and its intended use I hadn't budgetted to pay for professional services. Any ideas gratefully received.

I bought a 'J&D Brothers' Precision copy for very little on the dreaded ebay. The body is made from solid alder, the neck from a very nice piece of maple, lovely rosewood fingerboard and a great sound from J and P pickups. Plays beautifully and I have really enjoyed using it. Not a Fender, but could easily be comparable for such little money. The plan is to leave it my church as a cheap bass for general (and my) use. However, it buzzes badly on the 6th and 7th fret on the G string and nowhere else. The neck appears to be straight (did the holding the string against the 1st and last fret and there is a bow of about 1-1.5mm in the middle on all strings. I have gone over the frets with a long straight edge and all looked perfect. I then used a short straight edge, to compare individual frets and, sure enough, the 8th fret stood a little high owards the G edge of the neck. I carefully dressed it down with a fine stone until the straight edge (across 3 frets) didn't rock. Took a couple of hours on this. I have also slackened the truss rod a little (tightening has the effect of raising the middle of the neck and made matters worse). Slackening helped but means the A string in particular is beginning to buzz on the very top frets. This has all helped but not solved the issue. Any ideas, anyone, would be greatly appreciated as this is all that is stopping what appears to be a great effort from the Chinese manufacturer being a very nice guitar. Many thanks for reading this far!

Warm, soapy water. Why use anything else on a plastic? Definitely no abrasives though.

The bass player with Paolo Nutini (Michael McDaid) uses a white semi (White Falcon?) , saw him on Jools. (also here - [url="http://www.life.com/image/93237588"]http://www.life.com/image/93237588[/url] ) A rathre strange choice in my mind, but nonetheless, very cool indeed, although I'd have to worry about what sound they (semi basses) make, rather dull I would expect, although McDaid makes it sound brilliant to me. Singer in my lad's band - The Fiftyfours - often uses an Electromatic [url="http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=416742115&albumID=1417586&imageID=19612713"]http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?...mageID=19612713[/url] . Great image etc but, to be honest, not the best sounding guitar although a good foil for his mate who mostly uses a tele.

I looked to see how I could buy this one, [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=55420&hl=sandberg"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...amp;hl=sandberg[/url] might still be for sale. Its beautiful.

Yep, nice 'woody' tone. Pickup output would have been boosted by the active circuit. Be good if you could rewire it through the circuit and get it working properly, be worth it in my opinion. Lad still plays it daily - I'm getting worried!

As I understand it, the parallel/series switch operates on both pickups and places the coil windings for the pickups either one after the other in line (series) or both together (parallel). This has a phasing sort of effect on the series setting.

Why would it be wierd to ask that? People ask what's best for other uses.

How frustrating, especially to get it back from an 'expert' not working! The jack is a little strange in that I had made up some leads using stereo jack plugs (all they had) and soldering the two 'stem' tags together. They work perfectly on all our guitars, except the Canyon. No idea why. It works fine with all the other leads are fine so must be something different about the jack socket. Hope you can sort it out without too much hassle, Its still being played everyday and the lad is becoming more enthused as time goes by. The lighter strings part will be solved on Christmas morning(!)