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The Glamor of Being a World-Class Bassist

I can identify with that story as a once unenlightened bass player. When I was touring and a working pro in several guises I met and got to hang with a few legendary bass players that I was not aware enough of their contributions to be in awe. In more than one case it was much later that I became awakened of just how imcredibly important they are and will ever be. I just thought they were interesting people. Phil Chen, Scott Thunes and Bob Babbitt for example.

Danelectro longhorn bridge and peg replacement.

I have a Red hot Dano LH and would like to change the pegs with standard "Ibanez" 2x2 or the recommended Gotoh gb707's, and use a 3/4 mustang or bronco / like bridge. I would also like to install string thru ferrules if possible. Is the headstock worthy of a beefier peg ? and, any string thru bridge mod suggestions welcomed. I am told I will sacrifice some of the "woody" tone with an all steel bridge change. True? There should however be some advantages to making it string thru if there's a beefy enough block in there. Thanks for any straight ahead advice.

Jack Bruce, Live Cream, 1968

Nice to have ears. Think about orchestras. One person hits a reference note, everybody tunes at the same time.

Far as I'm concerned, if you can't hear when it's out of tune, you shouldn't be playing.
The oboist because they are known to be responsible. Then the 1st violinist concertmaster if the oboist is indispose (fiddling with his or her reed).

For meeeee, the trinity was that Bruce live sound, Mel Schacter on their (you know who) live record (he had a mudbucker added to his Fender)
and Live At Leeds, but you can add Felix Pappalardi's live Mountain sound too, another EB1 overdrive tubes thing. I think he knew Jack.

Getting this sound is the whole Reason I started buying effects for bass. Them old stacks were inefficient and they had Rodies to transport enough of them to fill a hall (sometimes a line of them) which seems like an effect to me, from back when you did what it took.
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My Fuchs arrived today

Is there any way of getting the fan quieter?
Got a FBS700 today to use with a double bass and using a mic in a little studio as I do would not be possible

Just noticed this post. It's not "fan noise", but rather venturi noise (the air passing around the vent slot and fan body) causing the rushing sound.

There is a fan gasket we now use. If you e-mail tech support we can mail you one. Takes ten minutes with a screwdriver to install. It's in all the new production amps now.
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Winter Build Off 2026 - 5 String Fenderbacker

I'd be interested in the how and why of that; "single pickup" more than "sans controls".
Sorry, a little late in replying to this. The "how and why" of a single pickup preference is a direct consequence of sans controls. I really hated to cover up the beautiful wood with that control panel. Of course, it was all part of the original plan, and I had already routed out the wood for both of the pickups and the control panel before I saw how nice the wood came out once I applied the finish.

'77 Jazz Bass finish issue - opinions sought

Ok, I ended up doing a clear nitro refinish on the body. Here are some pics of the process. The only thing I'm slightly unhappy about is that the difference in grain between the three pieces of the body is much more apparent without the degree of opacity that the original finish had. If I would have known that I might have opted for a solid color instead. There are also some areas that weren't exposed (for many years I imagine) - under the pickguard and where the bridge ashtray was left on. The wood in those areas is a lighter color, and sanding didn't even it out. Not a big deal where the pickguard went back on, but you can see it around the bridge. Pro finishers probably have a way of dealing with that but I just left it as is.

I used a heat gun and scraper to remove the poly, and as you can see it came off pretty easily in sheets. It was interesting that nearly all of the dings and scratches were only in the poly and not in the wood, which is a testament to the durability of the poly. After the poly was removed there wasn't much sanding needed to get it ready to finish.

I started with a couple of applications of Stew Mac grain filler and then about 4 coats of Stew Mac sanding sealer. Next were a few coats of amber tinted nitro and finally about 6 coats of clear gloss nitro from Ohio Valley Nitro. I sanded in between each step with 600 grit and 400 for some of the tougher spots. After the clear coats I wet sanded with 1000, 1200 and 2000 and then did progressive levels of polishing compound to buff it out. There wasn't much of the latter needed because there was already a lot of gloss after the wet sanding.

There might be some confirmation bias involved, but I think the bass does sound more open with the thinner finish. The G string in particular had a kind of muted quality before, and I don't hear that now. After seeing the thickness of the poly when I removed it I can understand how it might act as a tone-choking device. After the body was stripped, knocking on it produced a noticeably more resonant sound than before.

The bass is stock except for the following mods: Hipshot D-tuner, vintage style threaded saddle bridge (I don't like how the saddles on the '70's bridges move around so much from side to side), Dunlop Straplocks and a .047mF orange drop cap on the tone control. I find it much easier to play without the tugbar and the ashtray pickup and bridge covers, so those are removed and stashed away.

I took the bass on a rehearsal and gig late last week and it sounded great! It is definitely one of the best late '70's JB's I've ever played and well worth all the effort to get it looking good.

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Robert Trujillo's work in Metallica

Two decades later, Trujillo is arguably the most suitable bassist for Metallica, given his gentle and mild-mannered personality. In an established band, it’s not just an individual’s musicianship that matters, but also their personality and how well they fit within the group dynamic. There have been multiple instances of Trujillo taking crap from Hetfield & Lars without allowing it to undermine his position as a musician. There was this incident where Trujillo played a Newsted riff with a pick and got called out by Hetfield over it, for absolute nothing. I think Trujillo is one of the few people who could handle that kind of treatment while still maintaining his confidence and standing in the band, without escalating to the kind of hazing Newsted experienced.

Drilling precise, repeatable holes.

Haven't read thru this entire post so please excuse if already suggested but ...

Can you 3D print a solid template like your paper version, say 1/4" thick? Using it as a "drill guide" for a thin drill (say 1mm), you could hand drill the holes with a pin vise. This plastic drill guide is certainly durable enough for single use and doesn't need access to a machine shop to make.

I had to whip up similar to place tinly holes at precise locations along the length of a brass tube. Good luck centerpunching that! My positioning print worked fine.

3D printers aren't just for kids but make fantastic tools!

Good luck!

Genzler Magellan 800 Contour

(deleted.... drummer was home so I went and picked up my Magellan head)... Speaking of the MG800, mine is at rehearsal space. I'm wondering what the rubber feet mounting dimensions are (distance between centers from left to right side feet... distance between centers from front to back feet)?

Thanks, Chris

I can answer this ----- Left-right 8", center to center; front-back 7.75", center to center.

Hope this helps.
Thanks Jeff... wanted to see if Streamliner would sit on top of it, and it does.

The Official 8-String (Octave Courses) Bass Club

picked up a Hagstrom H8-II just for fun. pretty cool beast, wil take some getting used to but i kinda like it.
I know nothing about strings for this though. I understand it's basically a 32" scale because of the string-through body and kinda long headstock?
In general, have y'all had better success with 8-string sets or making custom sets out of bass string of choice + guitar or baritone sets? Also may be dropped a step to DGCFView attachment 7530848
Strings that were on there were the Hagstrom recommended strings (Seller had a photocopy of the package/specs in the case) and i DID NOT like them at all. Very light gauge, bland sound and terrible intonation. the E string especially sounded terrible. Tried a set of DR HIgh beam short scale, no go - too short for the body-through design. In desperation i got a set of standard gauge Ernie Ball Slinky's overnighted before a gig and they sound Sooo much better than what was on there.
I used this for a set of rocksteady reggae tunes, lots of early 60's recorded songs that used that tic-tac bass sound with the muted guitar echoing the bass line. This worked out so well to fill out the sound for that style! Ii shoved some foam by the bridge and used a light pick with a heavy palm mute and the sound was percussive and defined but deep and boomy enough to carry everything.

Next i'm thinking about trying some flats on there

ZeroFive Audio Lowrider

I just bought a used one on Reverb and noticed that someone in the Netherlands is selling a clone for significantly cheaper. Has anybody checked that one out?

I'm still going with the original because I've been jonesing for one for a while, but I might snag one of the clones for a second board sometime down the line.

I'm going to run this in between a Brougton Fliptop and a Warm Audio PEDAL76 compressor on my ampless board. I use the balanced out on the comp as my DI, so I'm not able to put it after. I generally use pretty mild comp settings and don't plan on blowing it up with the Low Rider, so I'm hoping I'll be good and not shopping for a separate DI.
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Double Bass Tonedexter 2 Initial Thoughts and Reviews

How is the audio quality of this thing? how does it compares to the Grace ALIX for example? I Stop trying digital devices on stage (specially on the floor), as my experience with them (including, IR, Cabinet & Amp simulators, DSP, digital fxs, etc) have been bad, (electric or upright) sound wise and use wise. Is there anything out there that also does the "training" and allows you yo use your own preamp?
Very good. In case you are interested I have a Tonedexter 2 for sale in the Classifieds.

Seymour Duncan preamp low output

If it's an stc 3p it would normally have a push/pull slap setting and two trim pots on the board to set the frequency and boost for that mode. I've had that preamp in a Warwick and a Kauer.

Each pickup has its own preamp? Sounds like someone had some fun playing with electronics. Or was trying to do an alembic style setup.

What are the pickups? Thinking Alembic made me think of low gain pickups that need buffers.

The SD preamps are not hot, I think my Warwick with that preamp I never had to switch my amp to active bass pad on my amp.
There is no push pull pot. There are switches on the boards, but no trim pots that I see. I may be incorrect about the preamp model. I know it's Seymour Duncan but I'm not the original owner so I don't know what it is. I'm just going by what I can find online. I tried to take pictures but I couldn't get a great one without removing them from the bass. I didn't have time to do that last night. I'm not sure if this photo tells you anything or not.

The bass in question is a Spector Legend 5. The pickups are (I assume) the EMG pickups that came in it. They look original.

I'm wondering if I'm just expecting it to be as loud as my Stingrays but I know they have a somewhat hot preamp and pickup. So maybe they are the odd man out being so loud, and this one is just acting normally.

I don't have a good way to really test the output volume except for my ears. I play through a Helix, and in order to make the Spector sound like it was as loud as my Stingray, I had to add about 9db of gain to it.

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Double Bass Amplifying a Silent Bass

Man! That petite DB seems super neat. Please give us the full tour when it comes in! My experience trying to amplify a 1/4 ply Engle DB is similar - Realist is right where you want to be, plenty of low end, very balanced.
I will.. but at least it'll still take a time...estimated date of delivery is end of October....:P
But I'm really curious about it...I went for flamed birch as body wood... :) and I can hardly wait for seeing and playing the instrument...;)
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Winter Build Off 2026 - Unfinished Business - English Walnut Nerdy Revival

The bass is ready for final sanding!

I don't remember what all I haven't shown, but I got the heel shaping done.

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Drilled more holes

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Started a truss rod cover (this is still rough)

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Magnets and shielded the cavities (probably should've masked it off, but I figured I need to sand anyway)

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And some refining of carving, cleaning up glue, etc.

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I'm looking forward to getting finish on this! I'm on the road for a few days, so I'll finish sanding and get going with the finish when I get back.

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