New Bass

[VikingBlues]

Just to introduce "Annie" my new bass to you all. Has to be called Annie - it's an anniversary bass after all.

Felt I had to try short scale - what I had was full scale - good sound, well made guitar, but too much of a stretch for my poor fingers and I lost fluency of playing because of that. So - short scale from now instead of recording a guitar and using the DAW to get the sound an octave down as I've done a few times recently.

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Oooh .... nice and shiny.

And no .... it'd not a made in Germany Hofner, not even China - it's Indonesia (yep - cheap). The Ignition Violin Bass (similar to what used to be the Icon series). I find it great to play - nice thin narrow neck and 30" scale - twin coil pups so no buzz. Maple body, spruce top, maple neck Different style of controls to usual - control plate with 2 volume controls, 2 x pickup on/off switches, rhythm/solo switch for volume boost. Tone is varied by using both volume controls and mixing the two pickups. The sound is fine for me - quite a musical sound - but I like hollow body sounds I suppose.

EDIT: One small soundfile - two short section seperated by a small gap - testing the Bass with Born Under a Bad Sign - one of the CD tracks on my Blues Bass instruction book. The CD has bass panned one side and guitar, drums etc panned the other side so I've messed around with the DAW track a bit to try to get the CD excluding most of its bass more central in the mix. PS - if it's not obvious from this - I am not a bass player - but I like the tones I'm getting.
download/file.php?id=993

[12bar]

Welcome Annie!

Yes, shiny and doesn't sound cheap (from what my PC speakers can tell)
First idea was Paul McCartney, sure.

[weelie]

Sounds good on my cheap headphones!

I've been thinking of a short scale bass myself. As I had a Epi Rumblekat "Allen Woody". Didn't like the tone, as it was too fat. Tried flatwounds on it too, and still have them, almost unused (Thomastik Infeld, a very nice sounding and loose feeling set). So need a bass for them.

I like the idea of the violin bass copies, as I know Macca bought his for like $150 and you can get a knockoff of those for the same price now. Harley Benton, was the one I was thinking, or the Epi. Macca said his was crap, so...

But there's the Kala U-bass, that I'd like to try too... as it's ukulele size...

(just an hour ago I was asked to play ukulele at a July gig of a Beatles tribute band, by the way)

[Blackhorse]

VERY nice VB

So you're finding the short scale easier to manage? A new bass is not high on my list of priorities, but when I get around to it I will certainly be considering a short scale. Although I love the Fender Jazz, I always find it very awkward when I haven't played one for a while, it's such a beast, but I get used to it after a while.

Good luck with your new purchase! It looks fantastic!

[Golfxzq]

That's a great looking bass, VB. Aren't all guitars beautiful? There's something about them that makes them attractive even before hearing them... and then that is a whole new attraction.

Great sound too, I'm sure you will enjoy her.

[2WheelsOfBlues]

Annie, nice to meet you.

Nice and shiny in deed.

If you make the music VB as she looks like?, then..... it's very OK.

And she sounds very OK.

[VikingBlues]

Thanks for all the "Welcomes". Annie's settling in fine.

doesn't sound cheap (from what my PC speakers can tell)

Sounds good on my cheap headphones!

Sounds really good out of the amp too thankfully! It is a bit different to the usual bass sounds - I guess it would have difficulty barging it's way through the mix on heavier stuff, but I think she'll do fine for my lightweight styles.

A new bass is not high on my list of priorities, but when I get around to it I will certainly be considering a short scale. Although I love the Fender Jazz, I always find it very awkward when I haven't played one for a while, it's such a beast, but I get used to it after a while.

It was essentially a Jazz copy I had been using - sounded good - well made guitar, but ... RSI beckoned when using it much. The Hofner is a breeze to play by comparison and with quite a narrow fretboard too I'm finding no real strain at all. I guess a short scale bass of 30" v the normal 34" would be similar to having a 22 1/2" scale instead of Fenders 25 1/2" - that gives a good impression of how huge the difference is.

That's a great looking bass, VB. Aren't all guitars beautiful?

If you make the music VB as she looks like?, then..... it's very OK.

It looks fantastic!

The looks of the bass are a bonus - i did try a short scale Hofner Galaxie bass - sounded good too, but more your usual solid body electric bass. I might have been swayed by the looks of the Violin I'll admit, though it was mainly the neck and unique sound that were the main attractions - honest!!!

[VikingBlues]

Oh .... and that'll be interesting - you'll see from the pictures that the padding under the bridge shows that it's a floating bridge - that'll make the next string change interesting.

Any thoughts on this - masking tape to keep it in place and changing one string at a time?

Hope it's not a bridge too far.

[Blackhorse]

Are you sure that's a floating bridge? I'd assume the padding is just there to prevent scratches during transport. Just loosen the strings, loosen the bridge, remove the padding, and tighten everything up. AFAIK there is no need for a floating bridge on a bass, or any guitar without a tremolo system

Even if it is a floating bridge, that won't be a problem as long as you stick to the same string gauge that's on it now. When you put on new strings of the same gauge the tension will be the same, so the bridge won't need to be adjusted. Are there springs in the back of the bass to balance the string tension? I've never had a problem with the floating bridge on my strat, apart from taking a little longer to tune up. But the Floyd Rose on one of my other guitars is a different story

[HalfBlindLefty]

Are you sure that's a floating bridge? I'd assume the padding is just there to prevent scratches during transport. Just loosen the strings, loosen the bridge, remove the padding, and tighten everything up. AFAIK there is no need for a floating bridge on a bass, or any guitar without a tremolo system

VB, congrats on the beauty my friend. Mhh by now it's time to get rid of the padding/foam piece... april's fool is more the 11 months ahead of us
The padding is just there to protect the surface and to get an even better sound, it must ! be removed. (to let more good vibrations pass through

[VikingBlues]

Sorry Blackhorse, HBL (and everyone) - I guess I used the wrong term when I said floating.

The baseplate of the bridge is actually wooden and the bridge as I understand it is effectively loose and not fixed to the body in any way (similar to some hollow body jazz guitars I think) - it's the tension of the strings holding the bridge in place - the padding is to avoid scratches to the body if the bridge slides about when the strings are being put on. Though I believe some players will remove such padding if they think it's detrimental to tone.

Though possibly not - I'm not 100% sure any more whether I understood the shop manager when he explained it to me!

EDIT : Errrm ---- sort of like this - see just above the bottom of the linked page - the section headed bridge:-
http://www.acousticfingerstyle.com/ArchtopGuitars.htm

AH HAAA - EDIT AGAIN
I must have been distracted when I was talking to the man in the shop - either that or my brain's seizing up again. Just spoke to them on the phone, and as I would expect - HBL thankyou - you're quite right to advise the removal of the padding for best tone. Hmmm - I guess some accurate measurements first and maybe some masking tape or something will be in order to try to make sure the bridge doesn't slide about when I slacken the strings and remove the padding. Rats!!!! - I really like the way it sounds already and I worry I'll mess up the intonation.

[weelie]

actually another shortscale i have contemplated buying is the 63 danelectro. But then read online it is like the worst bass ever so i haven't bought one... Too bad, i liked it!

Macca had flatwounds and played with a pick and sometimes had a foam piece in front of the bridge to get an "upright bass" tone. But tonewise i think his rickenbacker sounded better.

[VikingBlues]

actually another shortscale i have contemplated buying is the 63 danelectro. But then read online it is like the worst bass ever so i haven't bought one... Too bad, i liked it!

Macca had flatwounds and played with a pick and sometimes had a foam piece in front of the bridge to get an "upright bass" tone. But tonewise i think his rickenbacker sounded better.

A lot of comment online seems to be from players that reject the idea of a short scale bass regardless of what it sounds like, and if it's made in China they can get really worked up about it. Some of the online opinions I saw of this Violin Bass were very disparaging - I'm glad I tried it out despite that or I'd have missed out big time!

I don't know what the relative price levels were of Maccas basses but if I'd had 5 times the budget I might have looked at a Rickenbacker!