Musicians check in here. If you play, tell us about it!

[DaveP]

Tonight should be heavy gigs for most bands. We usually booked our biggest crowd and the best night's pay on New Year's Eve. Bands are booked heavy on that night and It's easy to get 2 or 3 times the money for a New Year's Eve party.

Oh, to be young again! I'll be watching the new year arrive on Dish Network and happy with that. We've been off for two weeks with Christmas and New Year's hitting on Sunday. There were combined traditional services and no Contemporary services again until the 8th.

 

[DaveP]

I recorded last night with the Gold Tone M bass. Those rubber strings are just so easy to play

I need to start back playing around with my studio stuff. It's been sitting idle for too long.

 

[BreSha6869]

I use super light stainless rounds on most my basses (Kalium Balanced String sets with .090 E strings on everything from 4 to 7 strings), but I keep one with 12 year old heavy LaBella flats (James Jamerson edition). What *KILLS* my hands is my Upright (set up with Dolce gauge Jargar strings)! I can play hours a day on an electric but 30 minutes on the upright has my fingers feeling like bloody stumps of macaroni! My 3 guitars wear Dean Markley Light Top Heavy Bottom, been using them since the 80s... though I'm not sold on them since they changed from round to hex core. I haven't switched yet since I had a few sets on hand... I might get a Kalium set to match the .052 - .010 gauge next time I order bass strings.

Have you tried Dunlop Super Bright Nickels? I generally hate Dunlop strings and lean towards SS but these are amazing. I buy them by the 10 pack now and use them on all of my basses except my P bass as the frets are almost toast so I use tapewounds on it. I like them better than Fodera strings on my Foderas even.

 

[James Hart]

Have you tried Dunlop Super Bright Nickels?

No I haven't... tapes either. I played a LOT of nickel rounds early on and never met one I liked. I *LOVE* the feel and tone of stainless rounds (grew up listening to The Who, Rush, and Yes... used Rotosounds into the early 90s). Nickels generally feel slimy and sound dead to me.

All basses besides my fretted 5 with the flats and upright wear sets based off what my fretted 7 wears. 118-090-067-049-035-022-015 to be specific.

Here is a new shot of my main crew minus my 7 string and upright.

 

[DaveP]

I used Dean Markley SS strings on my Strat for a while back in the 80s and liked the bright tone a lot, but changed back after hearing stories of premature fret wear.

I'm happy these days with nickel plated strings with a hexagonal steel core on my six string guitars. My old Peavey bass still has the strings it had on it when I bought it from a friend! I don't play bass that much.

 

[James Hart]

changed back after hearing stories of premature fret wear.

technique leads to premature fret wear... in time, everything wears. Even gut strings on ebony board will eventually need replacing I use nickel guitar strings, but bass I prefer stainless. I even use stainless rounds on my fretless basses.

still has the strings it had on it when I bought it from a friend!

When I was gigging and recording regular, I changed strings at least every month. As I got older, lost a little of my highs, and my hands became less young and soft... I found if I give them a quick wipe down with a little rubbing alcohol ever week or so, I get at least a year per set now.

I've owned a couple Peavey basses over the years... solid, American made workhorses! Great choice for an occasional bassist.

 

[Pipeous]

I just had a young fella stop by. He is a student and was looking for a mandolin. I have (or had now) 4 mandolins. He offered me a trade. He brought over a 12 string and en electric. I passed on the 12 string but took this Epiphone ES-339. Pretty sweet guitar. It's like brand new. Has a split coil tap pickup, neck through body... it's Dave's kind of guitar... now I have a second o my strat

so the mandolin in my avatar, which is a blond now, is gone

Epiphone - ES-339 Semi Hollow Electric - Vintage Sunburst

 

[DaveP]

I've owned a couple Peavey basses over the years... solid, American made workhorses! Great choice for an occasional bassist.

My Peavey bass is a Foundation model. I thought it would be nice to have around the home studio and my friend wanted to buy a Fender Precision. Since money was tight for him at the time I bought the Peavey to give him some relief from buying the Fender.

-----

Funny story ... Our bass player back in the 80s was talking about leaving the group for various issues he had about song choices and gigs. I think it was mostly about wanting to control things. He was just one of those people who's not happy unless they are in control. We were all happy with the drummer doing the booking. He kept us working for good money.

I had always wanted a bass just for the heck of it and bought a natural blonde Peavy that I had my eyes on. Our bass player worked at the music store, so I bought it from him in person. The whole time he was writing it up he wanted to know why I was buying a bass. I told him, "Because you are always threatening to quit the band. Someone has to play bass and it might be me until we find another bass player!".

He couldn't stand the fact that I bought a bass and started asking me to sell it to him. I finally did and he was satisfied, but he did leave about a year later. Sometimes, you just can't satisfy some people. I think his problem was that he had always been the leader in other groups he played with and in this one he wasn't. When I bought the bass it took away his threat about leaving us without someone to play bass.

 

[BreSha6869]

technique leads to premature fret wear... in time, everything wears. Even gut strings on ebony board will eventually need replacing I use nickel guitar strings, but bass I prefer stainless. I even use stainless rounds on my fretless basses.



When I was gigging and recording regular, I changed strings at least every month. As I got older, lost a little of my highs, and my hands became less young and soft... I found if I give them a quick wipe down with a little rubbing alcohol ever week or so, I get at least a year per set now.

I've owned a couple Peavey basses over the years... solid, American made workhorses! Great choice for an occasional bassist.

I'm the same. Used to change strings every month, now maybe every 6 months. And I still rehearse every week and gig 2-3 times a month.

The American made Peavey basses are killer and very underrated IMO. They are starting to creep up in price, but still worth the $$$.

Your 5 and 6 strings look familiar. What make are they? Stambaugh?

 

[James Hart]

Your 5 and 6 strings look familiar. What make are they? Stambaugh?

Benavente! I had the the white one built in 2002-3 and the burst about a year later.

Here is my main bass for the last 10 years... all 3 are standard models but custom configured with a common aspect of 34" scale and 19mm string spacing. The Bee is all made from Acrylized woods except the swamp ash core. Top, Back, Neck are all dyed and Acrylized maple, board is Acrylized wenge with Acrylized silver vine block inlays.

and all 3 together

 

[BreSha6869]

Benavente! I had the the white one built in 2002-3 and the burst about a year later.

Here is my main bass for the last 10 years... all 3 are standard models but custom configured with a common aspect of 34" scale and 19mm string spacing. The Bee is all made from Acrylized woods except the swamp ash core. Top, Back, Neck are all dyed and Acrylized maple, board is Acrylized wenge with Acrylized silver vine block inlays.

and all 3 together

Cool! Do I recognize them from Talkbass?

I had a fretless Benavente a few years ago and miss everything about it except the weight. It was a heavy bugger.

My main basses are these two... a Fodera and a Valenti. Both are amazing and cover everything I will ever need to play....

 

[James Hart]

Cool! Do I recognize them from Talkbass?

YUP! Been there forever, I used to mod the 'Bassists' section. I'm still there, but I barely post any more.

I had a fretless Benavente a few years ago and miss everything about it except the weight. It was a heavy bugger.

the white one is fairly average weight wise, the burst is an anchor... but I told him not to worry about weight, I wanted a solid, substantial bass.

My main basses are these two... a Fodera and a Valenti. Both are amazing and cover everything I will ever need to play....

Both are beautiful! I've never played a Fodera I didn't fall in love with... just out of my budget! Nino makes a KILLER bass, I had an early blue one in my house for a bit, he asked me to use and review it for him. I've almost had him build me a 4 string PJ, but my Ibanez came up in the TB classifieds and I had a piece of gear the seller was looking for. So that need was fulfilled

The Ibanez was one of my earliest dream basses... as was the guitar. I had the 1983 catalog that I looked at daily for almost a year (I was 15 and been playing a couple years already). With the guitar, it came with a single humbucker... early version of the typical Hair Band shredder guitars. I am all about the single pick up, single coil guitars... so I turned it into an Esquire in Hair Band suit

 

[BreSha6869]

YUP! Been there forever, I used to mod the 'Bassists' section. I'm still there, but I barely post any more.



the white one is fairly average weight wise, the burst is an anchor... but I told him not to worry about weight, I wanted a solid, substantial bass.



Both are beautiful! I've never played a Fodera I didn't fall in love with... just out of my budget! Nino makes a KILLER bass, I had an early blue one in my house for a bit, he asked me to use and review it for him. I've almost had him build me a 4 string PJ, but my Ibanez came up in the TB classifieds and I had a piece of gear the seller was looking for. So that need was fulfilled

The Ibanez was one of my earliest dream basses... as was the guitar. I had the 1983 catalog that I looked at daily for almost a year (I was 15 and been playing a couple years already). With the guitar, it came with a single humbucker... early version of the typical Hair Band shredder guitars. I am all about the single pick up, single coil guitars... so I turned it into an Esquire in Hair Band suit

I used to be very active there but just got bored of flipping gear and reading the same old Squier vs Fender threads. I have what works for me and havent changed a single thing in a couple
years.

My first "real" guitar was a Roadstar like yours but with dual coils and that crappy Ibanez locking bridge. Worst bridge ever! I saved for that damned guitar for over a year too...

 

[James Hart]

I used to be very active there but just got bored of flipping gear and reading the same old Squier vs Fender threads. I have what works for me and havent changed a single thing in a couple
years.

Yeah, same here... the last straw for me was the latest format change. I haven't left, but barely read a dozen threads a week. Actually, most of my time there is on the DB side of things now.

My first "real" guitar was a Roadstar like yours but with dual coils and that crappy Ibanez locking bridge. Worst bridge ever! I saved for that damned guitar for over a year too...

my first real bass was an Ibanez Destroyer (I have another one of those in pieces waiting for the time and energy to rebuild it). I don't even have a bar for the bridge. I wish I could replace it with a fixed bridge, but nothing I know of would fit.

 

[Pipeous]

My first bass was a 71 Fender Jazz. Then I got a Hoffman like Sir Paul played. I had a badass bridge put on the jazz and not knowing the value off the hoffman, I put the stock fender bridge on it to replace that wooden thing... hindsight.

you guys ever go to bandhub? I just started joining in on recordings there. it's kind of fun. maybe we could do some ecf crew videos together?

 

[James Hart]

My first bass was a 71 Fender Jazz. Then I got a Hoffman like Sir Paul played. I had a badass bridge put on the jazz and not knowing the value off the hoffman, I put the stock fender bridge on it to replace that wooden thing... hindsight.

Nice! Hindsight... I know it well

here was my first guitar, 1960 Fender Jazzmaster (was my Grandfather's beater guitar), I sold it in 1995 for $1600. Pictured in 1983 at 15 years old, scanned from my High School yearbook. At least I still have his 1965 Guild Starfire V

That is my Ibanez Destroyer headstock in the background. My strap was set short on the Jazzmaster because a buddy was sitting in on guitar for most of the show. I had to step in on guitar for 2 songs because he couldn't handle them I've always been a bassist, even before I played... I had to take guitar lessons to teach myself the prog bass stuff I wanted to play.

you guys ever go to bandhub? I just started joining in on recordings there. it's kind of fun. maybe we could do some ecf crew videos together?

Once I get my new recording interface and a webcam... I just might join in on the fun!

 

[Pipeous]

My name on band hub is my real name BarryWilson to make it easier to find. I did some stuff with just a webcam but found my zoom guitar pedal will connect via usb. My voicelive touch 1 and 2 aren't recognized... still have to try the zoom r24 but I am going to go get some 1/8" cables today and just use headphone out to the computer in. I know that works. When I get some cables I will grab some new strings for the 339 and do a setup. Intonation is out a bit and I think that maybe why the lad didn't like it. I will check the truss too. Machine heads aren't bad.... better than the squire I had...

the video thing on bandhub is fun because I don't get to play with people much anymore. I refuse to go to open mics anymore. I feel the pubs doing that are just exploiting the musicians for free music. If they gave us beer and some food it wouldn't be bad but that is rarely the case

 

[James Hart]

I have a PCI based soundcard for recording, but I chose to not install it on my new Windows 10 recording PC due to a lot of chatter about instability above Win XP. I have 2 USB interfaces I'm looking at in the $500 range that will have to wait until summer at least (unless I get enough hints dropped for my birthday in March!). Maybe this weekend I'll dust off the PCI card and see how bad it is. I'll see if I can swing a few bucks for a camera too

Just thinking of it now... I have a Zoom H2 recorder, I think I can tether that for audio.

Hmmmm....

Oh and I keep looking at that new limited edition Epiphone Firebird 1. No need, just want... so I doubt I'll end up with one, but the gold is purdy!

 

[Pipeous]

Haha. I didn't plan on getting another guitar. And I had just done a bunch of work on that mandolin so I could record with it...

I need to go out to the music store but this Junior hockey is keeping me glued to my seat. USA vs Switzerland is a super exciting game. I picked the Swiss as my cinderella team. They are giving USA a game... better than Canada did LOL

 

[James Hart]

And I had just done a bunch of work on that mandolin so I could record with it...

I'm thinking I need to take my upright for work... I'm real handy with the electric, but the big bass scares me. The adjustable bridge is bottomed out and it is to the high side of arco height. I'd like to drop them down a couple mm for more comfortable pizzicato.