Gamble

SteveO: The book is "Building Electric Guitars" by Martin Koch (hehehehehehe............ I said I've been drinking, right?) I've only got as far as the general info on bits and bobs so far and I haven't been reading it in page to page order (only got it a couple of days ago and was going to a sawmill for a scout mission today so was mostly brushing up on the woody side of things (hehehehehe....... woody)) so it might make a bit more sense when I get more stuck-in. So far it hasn't stated any dim's whatsoever for action height etc, just that longer scale would need a higher action. Check out how many brackets I'm using............... This must be why I never get to finish any of my stories when I'm down the pub! Also, someone remind me about comparing my short scale to regular scale basses - I'd forgotten about it in the time it took me to write this post!

In fairness, bridge height can be altered by a few variables (fretboard height from body, sinking the bridge into the body, etc) but I see your point. You've actually reminded me that I own a Gibson EB lookalike with a 30" scale, so once I've sobered up (it is 10 past midnight on Saturday, I mean, c'mon!!?) and I've remembered to bring my digital vernier calipers home from work (not joking, I work in QA at an engineering comapany) I'll try and find a pair of similar gauge strings and comapare the string excursion on 30" and 34" scale basses, although I'm not sure holding a steel rule up to a vibrating string will yeild very accurate results! When I say it like that it kinda puts things in perspective..... You boys need to chillllllllllll.................... Honestly tho, I really appreciate you getting involved in my query. It's shed a lot of light for me, so cheers!

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='314775' date='Oct 25 2008, 10:26 PM']OK, fair enough. FWIW I'm deliberately a bit coy about the number I own because even at 10 I get funny looks from people if I tell them![/quote] I have 10 or 11 now (not many worth much wedge tho) and not many people get it, although I've never had a salesman say anything other than "You should buy another" on the subject. What the hell does FWIW stand for anyways? 'Scuse the n00bness please

[quote name='SteveO' post='314529' date='Oct 25 2008, 02:47 PM']I would say that when building a bass guitar with a longer scale length you should assume that the bassist will use 'normal' gauge strings, and so you should build it with a higher action than a shorter scale bass with the same 'normal' gauge strings. How much higher? I dunno. [b]probably easier to build it and see rather than spend ages messing with a calculator[/b], but i'd guess that increasing the length by 10% from 32" to 36" is gonna increase the action by 10% from 2-3mm to 2.2 - 3.3mm [/quote] Easier to build a bass than use a calculator? You should read the manual mate! Seriously though, thanks for all your input fellas! It's making an interesting read! Plenty of stuff I hadn't considered so far, good stuff!

A longer scale length will inrease string tension, therefore strings will flap about less, am I right? This is what I've always believed, but a book about guitar building that I've been reading tells me that a longer scale means the string will vibrate more and therefore needs a higher action. Now that's pretty much contradictory to how I've always thought of it, so I was wondering if anyone here can tell me definitively which is correct. I don't usually question the written word, but this book also says that a shorter scale length with give a brighter sound which I'm not sure I understand either. Any views on this are welcome so we an find a conensus, and if anyone knows for definate then all the better! Cheers guys!

I went and played paintball (my other hobby) today so that I couldn't get down the shop, and I think it's working. Looks like I'm going to take the advice of my learned friend Peted and see if it's still there in a couple of weeks and think about it in the meantime. That's actually what I said I'd do when i left the shop so I'm going to stick to it! Must be strong. Must be strong. Must be strong.

[quote name='agoulding' post='309748' date='Oct 19 2008, 11:48 AM']i think its just some delay in the recording[/quote] Sounded to me like he was just playing over a cd, he stopped but the bass on the original track kept going.

I can lay my hands on a very nice Spector USA 5 string for a very reasonable price (+ interest free credit if I want it) and I'm trying very hard to stop myself. The long and the short of it is that it's not something I've been majorly lusting after, and although it's a very reasonable price (list is something daft like £2900) it's still a lot of cash for a bass I don't necessarily need, and should probably keep the money for now. I'd be scared of getting it dinged playing with one of my bands, and the other band I'm in are currently in a bit of a slow period that I'm not sure we'll recover from. I consider myself a bit of a collector, but most of my basses are dirt cheap so it's not like there's that much cash tied up in them. I'm reminding myself that the higher frets on this Spector actually stick out from the fretboard leaving a rough edge and it comes with plastic knobs (a real petty hate of mine for high-end basses), but I've still got a horrible feeling that if it's still in the shop in about a week or 2 I'll be coming home with it. Any advice?

I spoke to Andy at Wizard a couple of weeks ago about p'ups for my Jazz 5 and he couldn't help. I'll be giving Villex a look then!

"Good evening Norfolk County Counil social club..... ARE YOU READY TO ROCK??!!" No, they were not. £130 in the kitty for recording in a fortnight tho. Playing a really uncomfortable gig actually took me back a few years and reminded me that most of the gigs I play now are actually not that bad. Gotta keep things in perspective!

In that top pic, it looks like soemone's trying to climb out of Phils monster Hartke rig!

[quote name='Herr Fixxxer' post='307908' date='Oct 16 2008, 02:36 PM']Why, why, why do I only see this today? [/quote] +1

I'm glad someone re-posted the vid (and another!) 'cos I really quite wanted to see it again. You don't see many guitards shredding who look like they're having as much fun as he is there, on making it look so easy!

[quote name='Jake_M' post='300651' date='Oct 6 2008, 05:05 PM']Right, i'll admit i was playing devil's advocate in posting this vid. I sometimes forget that an "ironic" sense of humour doesn't always come across as intended, especially when written down. Personally, i think its fair game. He was playing in a public place, the vid was posted publicly on YouTube, and this is a public discussion forum. I knew not everybody would see it the same way, believe me. However, i didn't realise the guy was actually a friend of the forum, and i wouldn't have posted it if i had, so i'm going to take the vid down forthwith. Cheers, Jake M[/quote] I don't think you need to do that Jake, I think we all know now what you meant and that you didn't intend to cause any offence. Like you said yourself, it's hard to convey the mood of a statement in a couple of lines on a forum so some of the snarlier responses probably weren't meant to be as such. I think I might have sounded a bit like I was up on my high-horse when I didn't intend to, just wanted to say my piece and defend fret-w*nkery! EVERYBODY JUST CHILL!

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='299990' date='Oct 5 2008, 05:17 PM']My mockingbird shows signs of various button placement experiments, currently its on the end of the neck pocket end: Balances fine, got a suedy sticky strap though, although to be honest, [b]when I'm actually playing it is mostly being waved about in front of my cabs and feeding back.[/b][/quote] Good man.

Don't you hate it when someone posts the exact same thing as you at the same time you're typing?!

Looks like I might have missed the most appropriate point to make my comment, but here it is anyway. I really quite enjoyed that. He holds a groove more than most people who play like that and I AM impressed at how fast it all is. That probably is actually the fastest bass playing (although it is 95% percussive) I've ever seen. I actually met Nigel once when he way demo-ing Line 6 gear at a new Academy of Sound shop and he's a really nice guy, really happy to chat about his techniques etc when he's getting payed to talk about the equipment. I don't remember him playing quite that fast when I met him, but I do remember there being a lot more notes involved. A lot of the right hand fingers to the fretboard stuff actually produced audible notes (all be it very briefly!) when I saw him so maybe the audio just isn't coming through on that clip and not really doing his playing justice. I know most of the negative stuff said on the subject is against the showy technique that's 99% useless in songs and not the players themselves, but I don't think there's any reason to slate those who chose to do it. I like it, and as long as people are prepared to practice hard enough to do it, and inventive enough to come up with new ways of doing it I'll applaud them. We all know it's w*nky, some of us just don't care! Just my 2p's worth!

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='298550' date='Oct 3 2008, 01:13 PM']I really want a new job. then I will have evenings free and can get a chance to form a band again and play my wick propperly. Having said that its going to be a shock going from 2 controls, one of which i never touch and the other i sometimes use to a whole two band active and pup blend system. Will be confusing.[/quote] There's an active 3 band in my Thumb 5 and I almost never touch it - just a bit of low boost when I really want to rattle my trousers on stage! Just because it's there doesn't mean you need it IMO.

I guess that's probably down to the Bubinga body. I've got an Ovangkol bodied Thumb 5 NT and I've never though of it as being overly weighty.

[quote name='rjb' post='298384' date='Oct 3 2008, 10:28 AM']Here's my two Thumbs. Guess that makes me some kind of masochist. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=13374"]Pic here.[/url] (P.S. Is there any way to properly re-use attached images? They're in my control panel but I can't get at them with the "img" or "attachment" tags.)[/quote] Is it me, or is the NT a smaller body than the BO? Interesting.....

That'd be grand, cheers Lee! Had a bit of a read up on Nordstrands but I'm none the wiser on how they sound really so a bit of a review would be super helpful! I gave Wizard pickups a call earlier today as I found a thread on here about them and everyone was nearly wetting themselves about how great they are, but unfortunately they're smaller than my standard Fender p'ups so I can't drop them straight in. They certainly sound like a bargain though incase anyone else is interested. www.wizardpickups.co.uk

[quote name='alexclaber' post='296482' date='Oct 1 2008, 12:45 PM']I'd be more interested to see the fastest tuba player in the world... Alex[/quote] [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2-NVMsj6lXA&feature=related"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2-NVMsj6lXA&...feature=related[/url] Best i could do.

I know it's a different ball game altogether, but Wesley Guitars do plexi basses on Evilbay, I got a 5 string to my door for under a ton! Just fancied a see-thru bass, and it sounds alright too!

I've been looking at the 5 Stack and the passive single in SD's "Pickup Sourcebook", it says the stick isn't a direct retrofit but the singlecoil might be, I'll need to check their website for dims. I don't really know what else is out there as far as other brands go, that's kinda what I was hoping to find out about on here. And suggestions on where to startd brushing up?