gjones

I don't know about guitars but I've experimented with a lot of my basses over the years. The first time I realised that the neck makes a big difference to the sound was when I bought a Geddy Lee. I loved it's playability but it was just too toppy and twangy (dare I say weak sounding) for me. I bought an Allparts neck for my Squier Jazz and as an experiment I fitted it to the Geddy. The neck was quite chunky and deep, compared to the ultra shallow Geddy neck, and made a huge difference to the sound. It deepened it out and made it a lot rounder. The affect it had on the sound was as pronounced as if I had fitted different pickups. Recently I bought a mighty mite Jazz neck, which I have fitted to my precision. I then fitted the Precision neck to my Jazz. The result is a much lighter and defined sound to the notes from my Precision and a deeper rounder sound from my Jazz. Which is exactly what I was looking for. I know a lot of people don't like messing around with the necks of their basses but trust me, the neck of a bass ( and presumably a guitar as well) makes a big difference to the overall sound.

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1381443643' post='2239380'] Might as well give up now then. [/quote] I know how you feel. Thankfully the days of playing with crap drummers is behind me now.

I've got a friend who's a great bassist and usually plays a relatively new Fender Precision, with which he gets a really nice deep, punchy sound out of his GK combo. I heard him the other day playing his Warwick Thumb bass and it sounded horrible. He was playing just a bog standard covers gig and the bass sounded horribly thin and weedy - like a Jazz bass with just the bridge pickup turned on. It sounded so wrong for that gig, as it had zero bottom end - just a very nasal, middy, growl. Yuck! Do they all sound like that?

I've hugged a few. Remember (and this is just between me and you,,,,right!), whoever you are and however good you think you may be, you're only as good as your drummer.

I found an old, Silver painted, Squier Precision body up in the loft, that was chucked there by a friend years ago. It was covered in gunk and stickers. Put a mighty mite neck on it, fitted an old mighty mite pickup from the eighties into it, strung it up and plugged it in and it sounded great. I cleaned it up and painted it a classy shade of cream and am awaiting a tortoiseshell scratchplate which will make it look the part. Slowly but surely it's becoming my favourite bass as it's just so no nonsense and sounds good in every situation.

I can see no benefit for any artists to be on Spotify if they get no payment in return. If people want to listen to a specific artists songs for free they can go to youtube. All the major record companies hold shares in Spotify. I have the feeling they are desperate to find a new way to distribute music that can make them money. If Spotify becomes ubiquitous and the first choice for music listeners, by keeping costs low and prices cheap, then I can see them starting to make money as more and more people sign up. Then, possibly, artists will get decent payment for their music. But until then, I can totally sympathise with thom York's point of view.

Wow I didn't realise nitro was so evil? I was planning on spraying a neck with tinted nitro lacquer. I'm not so sure I want to now.

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1381258033' post='2236649'] My nephew plays guitar and fancies buying a cheap bass to try. Im no use to him as Im a lefty. He has a friend selling a jazz bass copy. Ive only seen a photo but it looks like a '70s style sunburst with block inlays. It has a Fender-shaped headstock with the letters MI on it. Ive never heard of this brand. Is it from a while back or has someone just put their initials on the headstock? Couldn't find any info in a search online. Just wondering if its worth his while buying. Any insights would be useful and I'll pass them on. [/quote] I recommend you ask on the Jap crap part of the site. It sounds like an old Japanese Fender 70s copy.

It's not very like a 62 neck, especially with a 70's logo. And that truss rod doesn't look very Fenderish either.

[quote name='flunkie' timestamp='1381071709' post='2233978'] Hey all, So, I want to learn some good, tricky blues rock bass lines, but I don't really know where to start. I play soul and some rock normally and am a pretty reasonable player (I can knock out a few Tower of Power songs), so I'd like to challenge myself, but also learn some cool songs. I wondered if anyone could make a few recommendations. Thanks. Flunkie [/quote] Joe Louis Walker's bassist,[font=arial, sans-serif][size=2][color=#444444][size=4]Henry Oden, is a cool cat and comes up with some great blues basslines. Like this one[/size][/color][/size][/font] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr96I3bRoWU&list=ALBTKoXRg38BAbte-ohUV2GHnii3b_APGg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr96I3bRoWU&list=ALBTKoXRg38BAbte-ohUV2GHnii3b_APGg[/url]

[quote name='Mr Fretbuzz' timestamp='1381086840' post='2234258'] I just bought a Stevie Ray Vaughan Bass book on Amazon and all the blues rock songs are too tricky for me to learn note for note. :-( [/quote] Well don't bother with the books and listen to the songs. They really aren't that difficult. Start with Texas Flood and work your way through them by ear. You'll be amazed by what you can pick up. Tommy Shannon was no Jaco Pastorius. He kept his basslines pretty simple.

I've played with drummers like that. They didn't get asked back. [attachment=145424:youre-hired1.jpg]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1381067645' post='2233923'] so which one on that list does a warwick thumb sound like? [/quote] A Jazz bass with a knackered neck pickup! Edit: to insert smiley.

Gibson EBO basses were popular in the 70s and had a very particular sound. He manages to make it work but personally I think it's a pretty horrible sound.......as bass sounds go. But it's definitely a 'sound'. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpc1EtEODbk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpc1EtEODbk[/url]

I remember depping for some friends of mine and being told They had a list of 70 songs which they circulated around the audience and let the audience members pick the tunes. Oh......and I had to learn them, at the 5 hr band rehearsal, in the afternoon before the gig. Amazingly, with the help of notes, I managed to learn about 30 of them. Then drove 50 miles to the gig. Opened my case and realised I'd left all the notes in the rehearsal room (oops!). I managed to get through the gig with the guitarist shouting the chord changes in my ear all night.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1381002776' post='2233347'] Just like the title suggests. The ageing neck on my bitsa P has developed a rather worrying 'hump' just before the headstock (behind the 2nd/3rd fret). I'm guessing it's probably down to the truss rod being wound up tighter than an NHS worker's pay packet (but that's another, very disappointing story) but without this much tension on the neck it's like a bow and arrow. It seems the wood at the bump has developed a rather worrying crack too - too deep to be just the laquer. Is it time for a new neck? I've kept this one going for a couple of decades, but I'm just too broke to buy anything right now. Any suggestions on how to get another couple of months out of it? [/quote] There's a cheap neck going here on basschat [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/217474-squier-affinity-bass-neck-with-or-without-tuners/page__p__2216968__hl__neck__fromsearch__1#entry2216968"]http://basschat.co.u..._1#entry2216968[/url]

This is a California series bass [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1998-Fender-Precision-Bass-Special-California-Series-Made-in-USA-w-Hard-Case-/181200922610?pt=Guitar&hash=item2a306aa7f2&nma=true&si=%252B5xUEv2TR8r6L8O%252FdyWWX1hTRLM%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=p2047675.l2557[/url] made in USA and Mexico. Serial numbers all started AMX. The writing at the top of the headstock I think says 'American Traditional'. I've heard of them but don't know much about them. Edit : here we go [url="http://www.sputnikmusic.com/forums/showthread.php?t=553918"]http://www.sputnikmu...ad.php?t=553918[/url] looks like it's an early equivalent of a Highway 1.

Yes pickups seem the same size (as did Mex Jazzes before 2000) and it has access to the trussrod at the headstock not the body like a USA one. The California series (which were made around 1997) did have access to the trussrod via the headstock but they had 'California Series' written on the headstock (this one doesn't).

Of course then I tried to actually pick it up and gave myself a hernia.

I played my bass through one at a studio I recorded in recently. Definitely the dogs bollocks!

I played at this place a couple of years ago [url="http://www.scotsman.com/news/is-this-the-city-s-roughest-pub-1-1200639"]http://www.scotsman....t-pub-1-1200639[/url] And recently I played at this place (which interestingly has the worlds tiniest stage and a toilet called 'The Tardis'). [url="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029938/Man-cleared-IRA-killing-71-witnesses-saw-nothing.html"]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1029938/Man-cleared-IRA-killing-71-witnesses-saw-nothing.html[/url] I don't want to play either of them again please.

Just fitted my new wiring harness (Vol, Blend, Tone,) to my Jazz bass. Took 10 mins, it works a treat and sounds great. This is the second harness I've had from John and both were top quality and hassle free. Just like John. Heartily recommended.

The punters can't tell the difference. I have a drummer friend who was paid to turn up at a gig and mime to backing tracks (good work if you can get it). Nobody in the audience noticed and the manager of the venue, who'd specifically asked for a live band, didn't twig to the fact that the (supposedly) live band was miming.

If you expect them all to be sh*te. They'll all be fantastic!