Are you a Goldilocks bass player?

[Awesome Sauce]

Augggggh! Me, too!


So...is the OCD Club giving out numbers yet?

They were going to, but the font was wrong, and the numbers looked crooked and unevenly spaced.

 

[Woolber]

Augggggh! Me, too!


So...is the OCD Club giving out numbers yet?

That's the CDO club...in alphabetical order.....as it should be!

 

[Spectrum]

I always wear pants on stage. Well, almost always, anyway...

 

[2.6kHz]

Guaranteed that within 10 minutes of me getting my new piece of gear home, either the oscilloscope or spectrum analyzer is getting fired up. If I don't like what either one is telling me, out comes the soldering iron. Yes, I have a problem.

 

[Feral Feline]

This thread is hilarious! I wonder if this translates to other instruments too (I can't even imagine some of us behind a drum kit with these compulsions).

What about extra gear besides the bass set up? I always have a primary set of percussionist ear plugs in my pocket, then a secondary backup set of percussionist ear plugs in my case, then another backup-backup set of foam plugs *just in case*... with reason though, my drummer is Conan...

I also had my guitarists girlfriend say to me once "you're one of those guys where every single thing has it's own little place, aren't you"... it was definitely a jab at me but I took it as a compliment... I'm not the one borrowing straps from the engineer at the studio hahaha!

Wow! I thought he just played guitar...



Is it tough having a celeb like him in your band, ie is he a prima donna or is he a cool hang?


I just tune a lot, cause the strings drift tuning due to heat of hands vs aircon affecting the 42" mensur of synthetic string – guts would drive me nuts!

 

[Spectrum]

Guaranteed that within 10 minutes of me getting my new piece of gear home, either the oscilloscope or spectrum analyzer is getting fired up. If I don't like what either one is telling me, out comes the soldering iron. Yes, I have a problem.

You sound like that kid in A Toy Story who abuses and tortures all his toys as soon as he gets them home.

 

[PortlandBass77]

I like it when there are strings on my basses that aren't broken and the electronics don't cut out, does that count

 

[hintz]

I must at all times wear shirts that are not tucked into my pants, so that I may avoid the dreaded buckle rash.

A trick I learned from a guitarist is to move the belt buckle completely to my left side to avoid buckle rash...

 

[the harp unstrung]

I hate when there's too much spare string on the tuning head. There should be enough for one layer of string winding

...and the string comes off the INSIDE of the post. Just recently, I saw a picture of me playing my original Univox copy of the Gibson EB-1...and there must have been a FOOT...(how many milliliters is that???) of spare string flying around the headstock! I must have been 17 or 18 years old. I thought long and hard about how and when I finally learned how to string my guitar...and who taught me how to do it properly...and I came up with nothing. Let's be frank, we aren't born knowing how to do things like that 'properly'. By the time I purchased the Ric, or shortly thereafter, (1975/76) I apparently knew what I was doing...I've got a picture where things look 'acceptable'. These days I take the end of the string and hold the tips of my thumbs together and clip the string the distance between my thumb knuckles after the post. That makes for a nice, clean single-layer wind, starting at the top of the post and rolling down toward the headstock. But I never do that until after I have boiled the previous set ONCE...not twice. If I've got a new set of Dean Markley Blue Steels on my Ric, you can be sure that the ones that I just took off had been boiled...ONCE (Signed, The Pea Princess...)

 

[higain617]

I must at all times wear shirts that are not tucked into my pants, so that I may avoid the dreaded buckle rash.

I just buckle my belt sideways. It also prevents holes in my shirts.

edit: hintz beat me to it.

 

[Mike Sorr]

I DESPISE fret buzz of any kind. It's like fingernails down a blackboard to me. If I pick up a bass that I haven't had out of the case for a while and it needs the slightest neck adjustment it goes to the local luthier for a full setup, even if it doesn't really need one.

This video made me cringe:

 

[ONYX]

Strap length. I spend an inordinate amount of time getting the adjustment perfect. 5mm either way can ruin the entire gig.

 

[kcole4001]

............ If I pick up a bass that I haven't had out of the case for a while and it needs the slightest neck adjustment it goes to the local luthier for a full setup, even if it doesn't really need one.....

I guess that's one of my 'things'.
I couldn't bring myself to pay someone else to do that (other than fret leveling).

 

[Scooberto]

Action, intonation, and strap height are the things I am particular about. Other that, I change my sound according to the venue, my amp looks like hell-hammered s**t, and my bass gets cleaned when I change strings at least once a month. But I have seen some pretty obsessive musicians out there.

 

[Quilbert]

I use plecs about 20% of the time. So I usually stick it under the edge of the pickguard. It annoys my that there's a 'gap' there now. Oh well, 1st world problems

 

[Jigsawjaybus]

Ya know, I've been battling strap length for a while. For many moons I've been doing the gunslinger routine but now I think I'm coming up, across the chest a little more like David Wm Sims from the jesus lizard....problem is that my precision bass doesn't fit my enormous monkey chest and beer gut quite so well like that.

 

[Quilbert]

I'm about the biggest slob in everything except my bass. Every aspect of the setup must be spot on in order to get the best out of the instrument and to maximize 'playability' I've played some very expensive basses belong to other bassists and I'm often appalled at how badly set up they are. My biggest bugbear is high action. People are terrified of making a truss rod adjustment in case the neck snaps off ?

 

[Quilbert]

Ya know, I've been battling strap length for a while. For many moons I've been doing the gunslinger routine but now I think I'm coming up, across the chest a little more like David Wm Sims from the jesus lizard....problem is that my precision bass doesn't fit my enormous monkey chest and beer gut quite so well like that.

I find a musicman stingray is better with a beer gut? Just the way it hangs I guess.

 

[Quilbert]

every single logo on my rig is covered with black gaff tape
does that count?

That's OK, it's the silvery ducting tape that drives me nuts, especially when it's been partially removed and the sticky bit remains. That deserves 40 lashes

 

[Feral Feline]

I DESPISE fret buzz of any kind. It's like fingernails down a blackboard to me...

Fretless candidate?

I'm about the biggest slob in everything except my bass. Every aspect of the setup must be spot on in order to get the best out of the instrument and to maximize 'playability' I've played some very expensive basses belong to other bassists and I'm often appalled at how badly set up they are. My biggest bugbear is high action. People are terrified of making a truss rod adjustment in case the neck snaps off ?

My biggest bugbear is hyper-low action. People are terrified of having to dig in a little and build up some calluses and muscles?

I love high action, it helps me adjust to slab from my upright. I recently "played" some very expensive instruments at a shop and every single one was set up so low it made me wonder how they didn't suffer from what makes Mike Sorr sore. Yet there was no fret buzz. Impeccably setup. Completely unplayable for me, couldn't dig in at all.