4 Strings

I wouldn't buy a pint of milk from Tescos. I hate their aggressive expansion at the cost of local shops, I hate their deception and running roughshod over planners and councils and I certainly will not encourage them to sell musical instruments at the cost of local music shops. (They often come out 2nd most expensive to Waitrose - who sell nice food - if you do the on-line receipt comparison thing too.)

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1354011921' post='1880691'] Yes, I would buy gear from/via Tesco if it was financially advantageous for me to do so. In the traditional music shops up here bass is treated at best as an afterthought and at worst like the guitar's big, inept cousin and because of this it wouldn't negatively impact my life if they went belly up. [/quote] So you think a bass will be one of the major things on sale at Tescos?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1354010072' post='1880649'] I wonder if we can persuade him to go into partnership with this chap: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hand-Made-Bass-Guitar-/221156570287?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item337df574af [/quote] Looks great, but neck dive?

Ok, I'm getting silly with this. If you look at his feedback you'll see they look like adverts, especially the several by 'pelevincat' who tells you there is no-one better etc. And yet, when you go to the feedback by 'pelevincat' it doesn't mention anything from mdphillips1956. Could be, of course, that our hero doesn't give feedback.

[quote name='simes' timestamp='1353614613' post='1876675'] Easy - Commodores Teen Town - Jaco.....well the first 4 bars and only at half the speed it's supposed to be but it's my long term practice piece to work on at lessons. Not my usual musical fare but good for improving and learning. How the hell do you play that fast and maintain accuracy . [/quote] Or even make it up in the first place

I have to learn Jocelyn Brown's 'Someone Else's Guy' for a rehearsal tonight and gig tomorrow. Good slap line all the way through. A bit irksome I wouldn't classify my playing with the words 'good' and 'slap' near each other, but I'll be better at it after tomorrow night! Got a bv to go with it too. <gulp>

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1353665050' post='1877064'] Slade - Mama we're All Crazy Now. Quiet good actually, its not the root note plodder I expected it to be, [/quote] Underestimated bass player (assuming he made up the bass lines) I think they're remarkably tuneful and showed a pride in his work.

With it going sharp, I'm wondering if the string is not of sufficient gauge, perhaps an E string tuned down and so is rather flappy. This would give these symptoms. Do you know what the gauge of that string is? It's certainly unlikely to be the actual bass.

If you dig about on the La Bella site they have the tension of all their strings. Not sure if other manufacturers do this but its the only real way to find out. Newtone produce specifically 'balanced' sets of strings but flats are in the planning stages only, at the moment, I understand

Do you think with his constant reference to 'Paul' guitars he pronounces them 'Lay Paul' as in french?

oh him! Ok, thanks, feel involved now.

Being a Christian band we have rather a holy arrangement. Pa belongs to the band and if the band splits we'll pass it on to another band. To be fair it was paid for originally by grant money rather than band members so that's quite easy to do. Our issue is in replacing the mics, who pays for those? The singers are my favourite as the rest of us have our gear. In the end though my bass will always be more useful to me than a mic will be to a singer. Tricky one.

[quote name='Angel' timestamp='1353100535' post='1871733'] I use them ones there [[i]points to bass[/i]]. They came with it. I'm not one for swapping strings much. I don't play bass anywhere other than at home. My hohner Jack V is wearing the strings that came with it when I bought it 16 years ago! [/quote] You're in good company, when 'Nard Edwards was asked about his strings he turned to Nile Rogers to ask 'What strings come with a Musicman?' I'm still trying to emulate Edwards' sound, but in the end, KevB has hit it on the nail.

Ohhh! Let me in!

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' timestamp='1353190963' post='1872686'] [/quote] Bugger, I'm in that position aren't I? Because I don't know who Mark Phillips is. I'll go for the naive!

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1353167628' post='1872340'] Well folks, I went and bought it. Really nice instrument, but the action was just slightly high for me. So I sent it to a luthier who comes highly recommended. Chap by the name of Mark Phillips. CB [/quote] Really? Or am I being naive?

[quote name='martthebass' timestamp='1353146619' post='1871999'] The 2 vs 3 eq is a personal taste thing. [/quote] Definitely. 2 band man here, but having played my 3 band consistently for a good while now I find upping the mid useful on occasion when definition is needed. The treble isn't the same as the 2 band though, its far more reasonable, regrettably. The red/maple looks sweet. But, £1100 is still not a cheapy. Can buy my black/maple Pre-EB for not much more!

[quote name='gsgbass' timestamp='1353118610' post='1871906'] [/quote] Would a valve top make this perfection (if horrible to transport around)? Tape wounds on a Ric - Very Maccaesque!

Pre-EB is cheaper too!

Am I allowed to comment on the poor singing technique of the young girl in the white top (Ellie Goulding)

Congrats, and regret not doing this myself - my two boys do too! Both play bass (on primarily a drummer) and would really appreciate a 20 year old Fender! Choice of bass, yes, got to be timeless, US Precision all the way. If they don't want it its little nest egg they can flog for what they do want. Might even be interested yourself!

Fabulously tight band. I always think the glittery bass sound as being a little cheap, but his isn't a typical bassman's role. Americans know how to breed drummers, don't they.

Cars come and go, inanimate objects of necessity. Basses on the other hand...

The half dozen (no. 1-6) made after this one were given to reps to go and sell Stingrays. These (and the subsequent thousand or so) had the radio knobs, this bass may have a few other differences too. No.8 was, apparently, given as a gift to someone by Eric Clapton and is now in Japan. (Personal opinion from a regular user of a Ray and a Precision, they are about as different as any other bolt-on bass. Clearly have Leo's stamp on the designs and you can see how his developing ideas were now free to be implemented.)

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1353079360' post='1871415'] Used all sorts over the years, Rotos, Fender's own brand, obscure non-name sets, Elites, Rickenbacker. Whatever i use I still sound like [i]me. [/i] [/quote] Ha, nice one. Exactly the same here. Even if a bright new set sounds like someone who can do slap better than I!