Delberthot

I've owned probably upwards of 150 basses over the past 32 years and I would say that you can pretty much play any genre on any bass. I've done rock and wedding gigs on 12 string bass which is possibly as extreme as it gets. I've also gigged 4, 5, 6 & 8 strings, fretted, fretless, acoustic, semi-acoustic which were all chosen purely on what I fancied playing at the time

I'm using a QSC K12.2 via a Radial Bassbone currently and have been for the past 3 years. Our guitarist is using A Helix into a Headrush cab. We are about to make the jump to IEMs. At first I was hesitant as for the past 30 years the choice of rig whether GK1001RB, Trace 4x12" & 2x15" or BF One10 and GK MB500 has been mine and mine alone based on what I wanted to play through but IEMs are a group decision made by the whole band so we all have to agree. I have to admit that I am now excited at the prospect. I've just bought a set of KZ AS10 earphones and a Behringer P1. I've figured out a way to have this mounted on my current pedal board rather than having the smaller P2 clipped onto by trousers. I have to admit that I was tempted to go down the Roger Waters route of the big headphones using my Audio Technica ATX-M50 but I didn't think that they would work as well

They're worthwhile going to see at least once but they can be a bit hit or miss. SECC in Glasgow in 2002 they were fantastic (sound was usualy SECC garbage though), Hampden a few years later they were terrible, it was almost like they were killing time as I think they were playing the Reading festival the next day and I ended up leaving early - Biffy Clyro were supporting and blew them away in every respect Saw them again a few years ago with Josh Von Klinkerhoffen and they were amazing and even played Freakey Styley which I've never heard them play live

The best thing to do it to take one of them off and measure the diameter of the hole then check out the Hipshot website for the Ultralite that corresponds to the closest in terms of size. There are pdfs showing the dimensions on their website. If they are slightly small then what I do is tape a piece of paper to the outside of the part that screws into the tuner at the rear and wrap paper around it until it it fits snugly in the hole. once I get to that stage I then stick a small piece of tape to the paper to stop it unravelling. There are sleeves available from Hipshot apparently which do the same job but the paper is the best solution that I have found. The only thing is that the footprint of the Ultralite will be smaller than the existing tuner so you will be left with whatever is underneath these tuners. Not as bad as the traditional Fender type tuners where you're left with 4 holes but I think that there are indentations behind your ones that hold the tuner in position at the rear. The picture below shows what was behind the Rickenbacker tuners when I had them on my 4003

I remember when this was all fields

Oh and I used brand new drill bits. In fact I've bought loads of new stuff specifically for this including the countersink bits, digital callipers and so on. I am taking no chances with anything

I did email Rob at Status for advice, he suggested I use one of these:

Thanks for the replies and sorry for not responding sooner. Well that was terrifying! When I looked at the neck again in the light it looks like the holes had originally been drilled slightly smaller then enlarged but when they had been enlarged the drill hadn't done all the way through so there was a ridge all the way around the hole nearest the back of the headstock. This was why the top part of the ultralite hadn't been able to get all of the way through I tried to use a small round file but it was going to take forever so decided to use a large drill bit wrapped in sandpaper. I had my cordless drill set to screwdriver on it's slowest setting and carefully, after applying frog tape front an rear, went around the hole checking frequently. I had taken sufficient amounts off fairly quickly to allow me to get the tuners on properly. Then came the fun part - drilling 4 small holes for the screws for the tuners. I was terrified that I would end up going all the way through to the front of the peghead as with wood you get a uniform pressure of the drill against the wood but with graphite there's loads of pressure then nothing. Using digital callipers, the screws were 2.2mm. my drill bits were 1.4 and 1.9 going by the callipers (stated to be 1.5 and 2.0). I got away with the 1.4 by lightly moving it around after driling the initial hole to enlarge it slightly but for the xtender for the E I had to use the large one. I used a countersink bit to go around the holes by hand (not using a drill just turning it back and forth using my hand) to avoid the lacquer cracking That's all for tonight - tomorrow night will be drilling the holes in the heel of the neck

I ordered a Status Graphite neck and asked for the tuner holes to fit 1/2" Hipshot Ultralites. When I insert the top nut thingy that goes through the front to screw into the tuner itself it gets so far down before getting really stiff and not going the last 3-4mm. I don't want to force it for fear of cracking the lacquer. I've increased loads of tuner holes in the past but they have all been on wooden necks - is there anything special that I need to watch out for when increasing the holes on a graphite neck?

I'm glad I read this thread as I've just gone over to my parts box and have no new sets of strings and a really busy spell coming up. New D'addario EXL165TP pack ordered

He looked better, as did Rick, when they did the second round of Frantic Four gigs but I believe that he had to superglue the plectrum to his fingers so it didn't slip out of his fingers. I had the pleasure of being able to play one of my favourite Quo songs a few years ago while depping with a rock band - Big Fat Mamma, so here it is complete with Travis Bean Bass

I made the switch about 5 or 6 years ago. My reasoning at the time as that I had a fantastic but really heavy Stingray 5 string with the ceramic pickup so decided to get a 4 string Sterling (also with a ceramic pickup) as I thought that it would be lighter. Ultimately it weighed about the same but hey ho. I initially used a Hipshot with a double stop lever tuned to D and B. The B was mainly for playing Get Lucky which we don't do any more so I've reverted back to the standard lever tuned to D. I also used to use it for Uptown Funk but prefer using an octave pedal Most of the time I use it mid-song. a couple of examples would be at the end of the sax solo in I've Had the Time of My Life where if goes to the low D. I flip it down during the solo, use it for that part then flip it up when the vocals come back in as the first 2 notes sung are D & E. The other one would be the live version of Crazy In Love where it goes into Crazy by Gnarls Barklay so I need a low D for that. I do have a 5 string for times when nothing else will do but I don't think I've actually needed it yet. I'm using Ultralites for the other tuners and I imagine it would only be a few grams of a difference for the Xtender over the standard tuner As a young fan of Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton I learned how to play in drop D when I was about 14 to Eric Clapton's Bad Love and Another Brick in the Wall Part 2. They're slow enough that you can work out where everything is in relation to the new tuning The important thing is to set it up properly as per the aforementioned video. Tuning the E slightly flat, drop the lever then raise it up. Tuning up slightly and repeating this process until the E is in tune when you bring it back up. Vasoline where the lever makes contact with the tuner and graphite etc on the nut under the E string keeps everything flowing smoothly

That sounds like a Japanese version of By The Way and I like it. Plus I'd rather eat my own feet than have that bass but we do like to moan about the same old faces being churned out from Fender don't we then complain when they try something new, or old in this case. When they say the original Squier Katana I'm convinced that there was a Fender Katana and someone on this forum either had one or they were trying to find one

They come up on ebay from time to time. In fact I nearly bought one that was listed a few weeks ago despite not actually having a suitable bass to put it in

The shape bothered me as the edges can be uncomfortable after a while so I've had two built by Warmoth in the past in the '54 style shape like the Fender Sting model As far as pickups go, my favourite two have been the Lollar one and the Seymour Duncan Stack that is/was used by Sting and Dusty Hill

I had already emailed the main email address and Dawn but hadn't heard anything and that was why I started getting concerned but a message through Facebook and I got a response right away. They are going to check when they are back next week and let me know.

They've responded to the message I sent on messenger and are going to check for me. I have aspergers so the phone thing is outwith my control plus I have to avoid confrontational situations for the same reason. The written message is far safer for everyone involved 😬

I have a bit of a phobia when it comes to using the phone plus having something in writing keeps everyone right should things change. I can understand if they're busy but to completely ignore me is pretty poor

I'd heard that as well but 2 weeks with no reply isn't very reassuring plus they're still quoting 6-7 weeks on the website for new orders and it's currently 10.

I ordered a neck about 10 weeks ago and emailed Dawn a couple of weeks ago to find out when it would be ready. I've since emailed Dawn and the [email protected] address but haven't heard anything and now I'm getting concerned. I haven't been able to see anything online to suggest that there's any issues at present. Has anyone spoken to or emailed them recently?

Cool. They're really cool and look to be well made and want one so that's good news 👍

Does anyone here who owns one keep their strap attached to their bass in it's gig bag? I'm thinking that the metal length adjustment thingies might scratch the body.

Coincidentally looking at the description of the bass in your sig it will be turquoise

I really want this one but I'll probably have to spend every Sunday cleaning it as it'll show every tiny bit of dirt

Bicycle race is on YouTube and it is thoroughly mental. I was actually laughing listening to it because it is such a crazy and incredible bassline