Recent content by joechummer

The only time acoustic strings would leave green gunk on your hands is if the strings are REALLY old and tarnished. Bronze turns green if left to the elements.

That's the kind of flatwounds I have. I'll have to give them a whirl when I get a chance. What was so bad about the bridge design?

Do they make flatwounds specifically for ABGs? I have a set of flatwounds, but they're for electrics. Also, I heard once that flatwounds require a lot higher tension than roundwounds. Would this cause problems on the neck of an ABG, or is the neck and body every bit as strong as an electric bass?

I played one of the $200 Deans and found I couldn't very easily reach half or 1st position because the body is so large compared to a solid-body electric. The Ibanez AEB10E I got has a 32" scale, which is much, much easier to play even though the actual body size isn't that much different from...

I replaced the strings my bass (D'Addario phosphor bronze!), which got rid of both the dull E string and the rattle I was getting when I had batteries in the compartment. It's amazing what new strings (vs. factory strings) will fix.

I got myself a ABG this week, and I'm looking into changing the strings. However, all of my previous experience has been with 34" scale basses, and the bass I got is a 32" scale. Will 34"/Long-Scale ABG strings work, or do I have to use specifically 32" scale strings? If I use 34" scale...

I went ahead and got an Ibanez AEB10E, and I'm loving it so far! The 32" scale makes it much easier to play than all the full-bodied 34" ABGs I tried. However, I have two things I'm wondering about: 1. I've started hearing a rattle from inside the bass when I hit an open string, and I'm...

The average bassist -- and I mean average in the pedestrian/everyday sense rather than the level of skill -- really only NEEDS 4 strings. Unless you really MUST have a low B and/or a high C, a 5th, 6th, or more strings (and other nontraditional bass hardware, for that matter) are simply a...

I do not think that will ever happen. 4-string basses greatly outnumber 5- and 6-string basses. Case in point: I did a search for various bass types offered by a popular music shop site I like to shop from, and these are the results: 4-string basses -- 449 different models 5-string basses --...

My hands aren't big enough for a 5-string, so it's all 4-stringers for me.

I kind of want an acoustic bass for both the acoustic tone and to be able to play unamped. I've enjoyed ABG tone since I first heard it throughout Alice In Chains' Jar of Flies EP. I've just never broke down and bought one. On the other hand, I'd like a bass that I can sling on my back and...

I've been considering getting an acoustic bass, but after playing a few a my local music store, the problem I've encountered most often (after trying three different models: a Dean, a Laguna/Lacuna?, and I forget what the other one was...) was that I have some trouble comfortably reaching half...

I was flirting with the idea of getting an acoustic bass this weekend but decided not to, at least, not until I can figure this out. Part of my ambivalence in the purchase was I played 3 different basses, a $200 one, a $375 one, and a $700 one. The $200 one sounded okay -- if a bit tinny --...

Huh. Here's what wikipedia says (from the Bass Guitar article, under the Pickups section): (Emphasis mine) So, my apologies: I got the tone and volume controls mixed up. But this description pretty much nails it. I like the tone I get with both volumes being the same, so this isn't...

I've got a normal MM Fender J, my first bass with 2 pickups. When I have both tone knobs at the 10 spot, everything sounds great. As soon as I move one of the tone knobs off 10, I start getting a high-pitched hum. However, if I dial the other tone knob back to match (say, they're both on...