The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[delb0y]

Okay, next in an infrequent series of lock-down videos. The virtual band has now grown to four - only one of whom I've even spoken to! Music, eh? It's like a language all of its own!


View: https://youtu.be/IVBCbjpBWDQ

 

[DCBassman]

Very, very good!

 

[avecReynolds531]

Okay, next in an infrequent series of lock-down videos. The virtual band has now grown to four - only one of whom I've even spoken to! Music, eh? It's like a language all of its own!


View: https://youtu.be/IVBCbjpBWDQ

Lovely & well done! I know this tune from Django firstly, and then Bireli Lagrene's stunning playing. Thanks for posting - a treat for the ears.

 

[MontyVeda]

The ancient Ibanez is back and is now permanently cack'd...

not sure why the wood colour looks so different, as only the saddle slot has been fettled... must the be the lighting.

The intonation is a lot better than it was, but I reckon i can improve it by cutting myself another saddle.

The guy who did the work reckons it needs a new nut, and he's probably right as the one that's on is the old RH nut, filed out to take a LH stringing... but i wasn't prepared to pay for a nut to be cut... I'll fit my own if i decide it needs one.

Just needs a couple of months for the string tone to dull. I've never warmed to the brightness of brand new strings.

 

[ColinJ]

Another guitar competition...

Fancy winning a Gretsch G5410T Electromatic Rat Rod? (See video below...)



Enter HERE before the end of this month (May 2020).

 

[Seevio]

I happened to be watching a youtube video on adjusting truss rods and they demonstrated on an Ibanez guitar. The chose that make because apparently the truss rod covers on Ibanez guitars just swivel open and don't need to be unscrewed. I've had an Ibanez bass (the one with the green strings) for a couple of years and I hadn't noticed this before but when I checked, there it was. You live and learn.

 

[Drago]

One if mine is an Ibanez and is the same. Very neat.

 

[MontyVeda]

Talk to me about nuts


Plastic, bone, brass... prices ranging from a few quid to over a tenner.

What's the difference and will i notice?
Is there any advantage to buying a blank and cutting my own? (It's for an acoustic with electric strings, so only three wound)
Are so-called 'compensated' nuts snake oil?

...and why when looking on Ebay does the choice drop from a couple of thousand to a handful when I specify a left hand nut

 

[Drago]

I don't reckon the make any difference. I reckon the difference is in the quality and precision of the shape and cut. People rant on about nut materials, while missing the fact that a nut made out of dog turd would sound better than the original so long as it was precisely cut. That's my two penneth.

 

[DCBassman]

I don't reckon the make any difference. I reckon the difference is in the quality and precision of the shape and cut. People rant on about nut materials, while missing the fact that a nut made out of dog turd would sound better than the original so long as it was precisely cut. That's my two penneth.

Yeah, pretty much. A well-cut bone nut looks nice, though. Metal nuts are a waste of time.

 

[MontyVeda]

That's what i began to figure, after reading a little too much on guitar specific forums and too many 'experts' were saying things like 'warmth' and 'brightness' and 'tonal qualities' in varying degrees about all the options, contradicting one another.

It started to sound like a vinyl vs CD argument... hence coming back here and doing the decent thing: ask a cyclist

 

[DCBassman]

The argument for metal nuts was touted by Alembic. Basically that the string was always stopped by metal, more consistent. In reality, if you MUST have that argument, a zero fret is more logical.
Excepting in a lab, no-one could ever tell the difference. Least of all in any live setting.

 

[Drago]

Personally I don't buy entirely intomall this talk of tonewoods and different sounds. Certainly not on electric guitars and basses at any rate. The pickups are detecting the vibration of the strings, and couldn't give a sheet what wood they are mounted upon.

 

[Cycleops]

While we’re on the subject of sound and tone what’s this thing for old fender basses. I see thousands being asked for them. Do you think they might sound better/different or is it a case of the Emperor’s new (old) clothes?

 

[Drago]

Some of it is the way the pickups were wound on a machine but controlled by hand. Every now and again you'd get a bit of a variance, and by a fluke it might sound particularly nice.