Rocking a Rainy Festival...

ishouldbeking · #1 10-07-2008, 04:45 PM

This past weekend at the Eagle Rock Music Fest the rain held out almost all day... until about 5 minutes before our set. Luckily there was a tarp keeping us and the backline dry (for the most part). But something I didn't expect really screwed me up... having all that moisture in the air, the neck of my Peavey T-40 got impossibly sticky. Given, it's a glossy neck to begin with, but I've never had any trouble moving around on it, and I typically hate the typical Fender gloss you find on MIM's and the like. But the T-40 neck was really difficult to work with. I wiped it down half a dozen times with a dry towel, but nothing seemed to help.

Due to the weird stage setup -- the 70s SVT I had for backline was on the far side of the stage, they gave me a 20 foot cable since the only place to stand was by our lead singer/rhythm guitarist and his absolutely cranked Fender Twin -- I couldn't hear any bass at all, and with the sticky fingers, it was flub central in no time. I had to literally stare at the fretboard to make sure I was playing the right notes.

In a situation like this, when you're playing under high humidity, is there any way to fix a sticky neck?

lowendgenerator · #2 10-07-2008, 04:51 PM

Maybe a little baby powder, or a matte finished neck. When the humidity gets way up there, it's hard even with a really fast neck.

I bet the T-40 and SVT sounded great together!

ishouldbeking · #3 10-07-2008, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lowendgenerator

Maybe a little baby powder, or a matte finished neck. When the humidity gets way up there, it's hard even with a really fast neck.

I bet the T-40 and SVT sounded great together!

Ya know... I really wish I had time to EQ it better. Before the gig we got an email from the sound guy mentioning the backline; he mentioned Fender Twin Reverb, Super Reverb, 4 piece Ludwig drum kit, and a "bass rig (Ampeg?)", was how we worded it. Needless to say I had low expectations. So we get there... both Fenders were pristine, the drums were not Ludwig, but some godawful acrylic things that sounded tremendously bad outdoors, and I get a beautifully maintained 70s blueline SVT into a newer Ampeg 410.

It had a really nice overdriven sound to it (which is exactly how I normally run my Ashdown), but I'm not all that familiar with these heads and I didn't wanna mess with all the switches. And the midrange control seemed confusing. I set the EQ mostly flat, bumped up the treble a hair and it sounded decent. Tiny bit clacky for my tastes after the first two songs so i lowered the treble a hair and it was pretty good, but to be honest... i couldn't hear ANYTHING over the roaring twin directly behind me. I mean, I could barely hear the drums.

RE: sticky fingers. I'll have to buy a travel sized baby powder for the next festival we play. I'm normally a big proponent of matte finish necks, and on my SX P-bass I wasn't shy with the ultra fine steel wool and high-grit sandpaper. But despite the fact that my T-40 was purchased pretty beaten and scarred, I can't bring myself to alter any of its core characteristics, including the gloss neck. I guess I just have a crush on it the way it is. So much so that I actually scored a 2nd T-40 yesterday off the 'bay (this one's black and maple, vs my existing natural finish one). And 95% of the time the neck feels great in my hands...

fenderhutz · #4 10-07-2008, 06:56 PM

Ludwig Vistalites?

ishouldbeking · #5 10-07-2008, 07:04 PM

It's possible. I don't know much about drums... but my drummer who does was miserable when the "sweet vintage ludwig kit" turned out to be a green acrylic thing with nasty dead heads (is that the right word for the part you hit?) and some hairline cracks in the drums themselves. All i know is that it sounded like butt. At one point he rampaged through a long fill that somehow sounded like a series of trash cans tipping over... both our singers exchanged a knowing glance and couldn't help but laugh. Personally i'd rather him playing on a crappy kit than me playing through a crappy amp, but maybe I'm just mean that way.

EDIT: after a quick googling I see that they definitely could have been vistalites. They looked a good deal like the ones i just saw pictures of.

fenderhutz · #6 10-07-2008, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ishouldbeking

It's possible. I don't know much about drums... but my drummer who does was miserable when the "sweet vintage ludwig kit" turned out to be a green acrylic thing with nasty dead heads (is that the right word for the part you hit?) and some hairline cracks in the drums themselves. All i know is that it sounded like butt. At one point he rampaged through a long fill that somehow sounded like a series of trash cans tipping over... both our singers exchanged a knowing glance and couldn't help but laugh. Personally i'd rather him playing on a crappy kit than me playing through a crappy amp, but maybe I'm just mean that way.

Sounds like the tom fills in Edgar Winters "Frankenstein". Some people liked those Vistalites and Ludwig re-released them for a pretty penny. I thought they sounded like garbage myself.

ishouldbeking · #7 10-07-2008, 07:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderhutz

Sounds like the tom fills in Edgar Winters "Frankenstein". Some people liked those Vistalites and Ludwig re-released them for a pretty penny. I thought they sounded like garbage myself.

Ha! That is what it sounded like! Not really a great tone to begin with, but one that definitely didn't sound great outdoors.