EMG456

Many moons ago, someone told me that you should treat a fretless fingerboard as a consumable - like a set of strings. They do wear out eventually, just like frets do but they can be sanded flat again a few times and in the extreme, most wooden basses can relatively easily have the fingerboard replaced. As to your specific question, I have an Antoria Precision bass which I bought new in 1978. It has a lovely maple fingerboard which was gloss lacquered from new. Now it's never been the only bass for me but it was my only fretless for a while. The fingerboard held up well for years but I had to get it refinished about 4 years ago as the finish had worn through in several places. It's actually better now than it was new after the work and I imagine it will last as long as I will need it! Roundwound strings will mark it more than flatwounds but that's the sound and feel I like and that beats any concerns about wear and tear - it's a musical instrument designed to be played so play it and have it maintained as required. The lacquered board will give you a slightly brighter, clearer sound than an unfinished board and more sustain therefore longer mwah if that's your thing. Also can be a bit "clacky" if you're not too consistent with your picking techniques. Unfinished, definitely more subdued, "warmer"? I like both equally well. But always roundwound stainless steel strings for me. Jaco's Jazz Bass of doom always had an epoxy lacquered fingerboard if that's any help - like or loathe seems to be the fashion here! Hope that's useful. Ed

Twincam, I think what you may be missing about the Plek system and also what has not been mentioned by anyone on this thread is the inherent inconsistencies in a wooden neck. In general, whether you like a fingerboard which is perfectly straight or you prefer varying amounts of relief, in both cases it is ideal for every fret to be the same height above the fingerboard. As has been stated, traditionally this has been achieved by levelling the frets with the neck straight. When the strings are then put on and tuned to tension, the neck is pulled into a forward bow which can then be corrected by applying tension to the back of the neck using the truss rod. The problem is that whilst the truss rod can broadly compensate for the tension applied by the strings, it cannot *exactly* compensate due to various factors - the strings exert their pull at a point above the surface of the neck, the truss rod at a point buried inside the neck; the strings pull from the bridge to the headstock at an angle which varies depending on how far the neck has already been pulled forward; the truss rod pulls from usually around the nut to a point usually not as far as the end of the fingerboard etc. etc. Add in the fact that one piece of wood is likely to have varying stiffness, strength and density along its length and you can see that in precise terms, the amount of bend caused by these competing tensions is likely to vary along the length of the neck. Indeed, very few necks can be returned to absolute perfect straightness after all the tensions are applied and many necks tend to take on a mild s-bend shape with the truss rod seeming to apply more back bow down towards the first 7 or so frets and nothing at all at the top end of the fingerboard thus giving the classic "ski jump" at the top five or six frets. And this is of course assuming that the fingerboard was in fact perfectly straight to begin with - many are not. What the Plek machine can do is measure the exact profile of the fingerboard *while* it is under string and truss rod tension. When the strings are then removed for the fret levelling, the machine knows exactly how much material to remove from every fret to make them completely level with each other *when the neck is once again under tension*. On a beautifully constructed neck, using high quality and well chosen woods, carefully fretted and dressed by a master luthier, the end result is likely to be very similar. But all necks are not like that, all woods are not like that and indeed, all luthiers are not like that. I have only one bass which has a Plek setup and I would say that it is equal to the best I have tried. Cheers Ed

My trusty Briefcase is going into "protection" mode - that is it shuts itself down. Could be power transistors, main board fault- any number of obscure things. The tech I asked to fix it has been in touch with a guy from Phil Jones in the states but the outcome of that has not been satisfactory as far as I am concerned, leaving me with a list of possible fixes at may expense, none of which are guaranteed to be successful. Alan at Synergy tells me that they will stand by the product and their guy knows the ins and outs of the amp so he wants to get it right for me. I see that as my best option so I'm going to send it down to them next week. As electronics get more and more sophisticated and specialised, I suspect that this is what we will have to put up with for the future. Keep me posted as to your outcome and I'll do likewise. Cheers Ed

Just noticed this post. I know... I should log in more often but life gets in the way. Am in a similar situation with my Breifcase which has started playing up after about ten years of utter reliability. Did you find anyone closer? My local tech in Hamilton has identified possible strategies for repair but as the fault on mine is intermittent, there are no guarantees so it seems I'll be sending it down to Synergy. Certain fairly well known valve amp builders in Glasgow were worse than useless. Cheers Ed

Excellent, chaps - that's what I needed to know. Ta.

Hi all. I've been involved in home recording on and off since the advent of the first portastudios - I know, i'm that old! I haven't done much for the past 10 years or so but am just about to get moving again. My question for you - is it still standard practise to use a bit of external compression/ limiting before going into the audio interface or do today's 24 bit interfaces have enough headroom that we can avoid that and still get good signal/ noise ratio without any danger of clipping? Up to now I've always recorded stuff into the desk with an old Drawmer compressor inserted on the channel and then sent to the interface input. I've just bought a MOTU Ultralite interface and it looks as if I might be able to just go straight into that and apply dynamics later - is that how most folks work now? I'm sounding like such a relic I'm making myself laugh here! Cheers Ed

Another vote for the Boss LS-2. It will do exactly what you want and lots of other applications too. A very useful little box.

Just bought a virtually brand new Genz Benz Shuttle Max 12.2 from John. Communications were exemplary - candid and honest- and gave me confidence to proceed. Super easy transaction and swift delivery. Highly recommended.

As we get older, our worn out bodies tend to have less 'headroom' to push beyond our normal levels of effort. Happened to me at the weekend. A combination of slightly higher action than I normally use on a recently restored bass, slightly dead strings and the excitement of playing with a good drummer (we are usually a three piece acoustic folky outfit) meant I overcooked it about two thirds of the way through the night. My right hand middle finger decided to snap shut and not come back again. Finished the song using my thumb. Then lots of hydration, up the volume on the amp and lay back in terms of both strength of hits and general busyness of playing got me back on track within a couple of songs. Do not be afraid of lighter strings/ lighter touch- contrary to popular misconceptions, your tone will be every bit as strong as before and possibly even more alive. Also try experimenting with strap height if you are playing standing up. The angles we hold our limbs at can have quite an effect on the circulation and a little adjustment could have a big impact. Hope you find a way.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1459932540' post='3020883'] Original recording of Mustang Sally was probably cut using Pre CBS Fenders by the way [/quote] Which at the time were expensive, aspirational and cutting edge instruments. Oh, and they were generally brand new and very shiny but that's a different thread altogether!

How did I miss this when it happened? I'm in a state of shock. One of my major influences during my formative years as a player. I guess tonight I'll be digging out the Musicman... RIP Louis - one of a kind.

Not that I'm last minute or anything, but just got my ticket! See y'all Sunday.

Amazing that 35 years on all the same old prejudices are still around. For anyone who has never played one, a Steinberger L series bass is probably just about the zenith in bass guitar design. Ned Steinberger took a step back and designed out almost every functional shortcoming that the "traditional" bass guitar had. Poor physical balance, uneven tonal response, dead spots, inaccurate and unstable tuning, sensitivity to climatic changes - all gone in one fell swoop. As a secondary benefit, these are about the most compact full scale basses you will find. Oh, and no shortcomings on the sound either, in fact the Steinberger has the uncanny ability to be heard clearly in a mix even when the actual level is way down. I like all sorts of basses and am in the fortunate position of owning a selection of excellent instruments that I enjoy playing but if the dreaded house fire was to occur and I only had time to save one of them, it would be my trusty old L2. It's been with me for over 35 years and is quite frankly, the only bass I really *need*. Oh, and while I'm at it, the Chapman Stick is a pretty cool instrument as well. Check out some Kevin Keith stuff for bass-centric but also properly funky two handed Stick playing - like this! [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkgoF_orWuI[/media]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1456058101' post='2984889'] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEOlTZGuLKM&list=RDfEOlTZGuLKM#t=10[/media] [/quote]| I will never tire of watching/ listening to that clip. Absolute brilliance!

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1453592502' post='2960963'] I wonder if any decent luthier could perform the same trick and shorten a Steinberger by two frets? [/quote] I'm not sure what the construction would be in there- eg is the neck hollow or solid? If you're lusting after a short scale Steinberger, I would suggest a more cautious and economical approach- a capo at the 2nd fret. Or the first fret if you want a kind of medium scale. If you like it, you could then mask the position dots with black stickers and stick on new white ones in the now correct positions. All easily reversible to put the bass back to stock configuration and as a bonus still able to use standard double ball strings.

[quote name='cybertect' timestamp='1453196264' post='2957208'] Apparently something like that - from [i]Guitar Player[/i] mag 1983 [/quote] Excellent! Thanks for that.

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1453049669' post='2955940'] Certainly the minimalist solution - but even without a head-stock, that tiny body probably means neck-dive. [/quote] L series basses have a strap pivot mounted at the centre of gravity of the bass- no neck dive ever. Wyman's bass must have been a stock L2 with the end of the neck cut off- there were no short scale moulds. After all the jokes I've had to endure over the years, it somewhat amuses me to think that there was a Steiny made which actually was "sawn off" Ed

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1452333252' post='2948886'] a Dynacord BS412 115 combo [/quote] Ah... The amazing Dynacord combo brilliant amp! For me, 70s- early 80s was mainly the Aria SB 1000 through the Acoustic 370/ 301 setup- effortless sound but not effortless carrying up flights of stairs! Replaced mid 80s with the 300w Trace head coupled with two Traynor 15/ horn PA bins- loud, full range hifi, ideal for the Steinberger L2. The rig went early 2000s but of course the Steiny will only leave when I do!!

He was the inventor of re-invention. A sad day but one also to celebrate the legacy of one of the most amazing songwriting back catalogues ever.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1451437969' post='2940546'] Don't be daft, all Gibson basses are awful. Are you new around here? [/quote] Yeah, I'm sorry- quite ridiculous! Don't know what came over me... Won't happen again.

Not an owner but also interested party. Finally played one a couple of weeks ago in GuitarGuitar's acoustic shop in Glasgow. Only through an acoustic guitar amp. Sounded terrific up around E on the G string but got progressively thinner as you dropped down through the pitches - I suspect this could simply be the limitations of the amp and through a full range bass rig it would have been good. Action was very high for an electric player but could be adjusted to suit. Beautifully made and finished and very useable horizontally. Didn't try vertically as they didn't have the end pin handy. Partially why I am interested would be for bowing but I'm lead to believe that the body is not cutaway enough at the waist to allow easy bowing of the E or G strings - perhaps an owner could comment? If you are or could get near one of their other shops I'm sure they would ship it to that branch for you to try. Ed

The RD Artist is a slap monster - actually, a tone monster in general. The "money" bass was nice and would do you fine. And the current EB bass is also nice and versatile, All long scale, I believe.