finally some bass TLC

we dunno if it was the change in weather or “whether” it was finally just the wear and tear on our 2 main basses BUT mid month they both went out of whack and need some TLC. actually the SG needed a setup in March but we’ve been “making due” with her when she was needed. but once we gigged with our Epi EB-3 mid May and it went out of whack too we knew then and there a trip to the bass doctor was in order.

now we thought about trying it ourselves but we aren’t just quite that confident yet in our own abilities and its been the first time these 2 basses have needed any work in over 2 years (first time for both as far as we know). then next question was where to take them…. we had been to steve’s music before to get our first ever bass done (music man ray 34) but that was just because we had bought it there. after some research, we decided to go with whom we know and let them do the deed.

much to our shock, they were due to be in the shop for a week. we thought it might be an overnight thing. still no biggie, we had no gigs for 10 days anywho. they called us back within 6 days to say they were ready and when we showed up, both techs that worked on them were there and answered all our questions and then some.

we got flat wounds put on both so both start to feel the same to us. we’ve used the SG at a gig already and it has settled quite nicely. we couldn’t be happier with the sound and feel it has now. with the EB-3, we’ve only practiced with it once. it feels like a new bass (which being the older of the 2 is great!) and its great to have her back in the fold.

all in all, a great experience with Steve’s and the new setups on the basses. well worth the 45 bux on each and the results only makes us want to play them more!

now onto finding a deal on a bass cab… we have needs!

waiting for the bus with new again basses & much needed java!

 

sorry we missed yer jam

our gibson sg takes a break at polson

its a comment u hear often in this digital age.  not only have we said a few times but we’ve also fallen victim to it many more.

“sorry we missed yer jam“

yer band needs a member so u post online & get a few emails.  u write back &  forth for a bit(vetting the emails along the way) & firm up a jam & then that person doesn’t show.  most times there is no reason given & u never hear from that person again.  if u are lucky the noshow writes u to either resked or say not interested.  its a painful & sometimes frustrating process.

one group of guys we love to jam with fell victim to this very thing this past week.  its not our first time having this happen to this particular group so we were prepared to jam either way & had a helluva great time regardless.  that speaks volumes to how many times this has happened to us that we are ready to rock out a good time even if the singer is a noshow.  its just that this incident in particular was soooo disappointing to us personally.  usually the cloak of the internet can give the noshow a bit of a cover & we have no recourse.  this time though, the noshow is best buddies of a longtime jam buddy of ours.  on this count alone we won’t be letting this one in particular “noshow with no contact” just slip away.  we will be letting this dood know(using various methods hehe) that his good life long buddy is a major doofus & then some.  getting the hopes up (even though we do not keep them not that high) of bandmates/fellow musicians is just plain wrong.  to do that to fellow musicians is just not fair to every1 out there trying to make good things happen.

that is why on the times we’ve had to miss meetup jams, we write back or get in contact the day of.  there are indeed so many great ideas & great bands out there but only so much time.  if only we didn’t have to work for a living & could concentrate on just music, life would a grand.  we get that & we are sure we are not the only ones out there with that same feeling.  just be respectful & get in touch the day of.  trust us, the feeling of not knowing a “noshow” is happening is better than wondering if noshow will show at any point during a jam & just leaves a bitter taste afterwards.

having said all that, we’ll put out there that our mates that love to casually jam are still looking for a singer/2nd guitarist.  here’s what we write to prospects.  if u read this & it speaks to you or someone u know in the gta, apply within.

BAND COULD USE A SINGER/GUITARIST

we get together with a few guys every so often for a jam.  we effort once a month. sometimes its less, sometimes its more depending on our skeds.  anywho, we just play and have fun while doing it.  we don’t have a singer/2nd guitarist nor do we have any great plans for world domination.  its just a fun thing that might lead to something one day.

here’s the setlist. if you wanna come out, you can suggest some songs as well. we are easy going that way too.

Weezer – Say it ain’t so, El Scorcho, Hash Pipe
Pixies: Wave of Mutilation, Monkey Gone to Heaven, Gauge Away, Subbacultcha, UMass, Where is my Mind, Here Comes Your Man, Cactus
David Bowie: Suffragate City
Joy Division: Transmission, Love will tear us apart, She’s Lost Control
Rolling Stones: Brown Sugar
The Cure: Boys Dont Cry, Just like Heaven
Neil Young: Like a Hurricane
Sublime: Badfish, Santeria, Smoke 2 Joints
Police: Message in a bottle
CCR: Fortunate Son
Kings of Leon: Red Morning Light

Clash: Brand New Cadillac

Various Nirvana songs

Various medleys of classic rock songs

No Strings Attached

so when we got the new(to us) gibson sg bass, it came with the strings from the store on it.  who knows what they were?  most likely some nickel something somethings. we’re diggin the flatwounds anway so a change in strings was inevitable.  so here’s a pic of what the bass looked like before the string change.

you can see that the part of the strings where the winding at the end is actually going over the bridge.  this can’t be good we thought.  so sure enough when we put the new flats on the same thing happened.  the G string actually cleared the bridge on its own.  and we could clearly hear the tone difference between it and the 3 other strings that had the winding on and over the bridge.

so what do we have handy that could extend the winding part of the strings over the bridge?  well, we have just taken off some useless strings… could the ends of those slip over the string and add to the length?  why not reuse what we just took off the instrument?  lets try the ball ends of the old strings!

so we did and in the end we got it to work.  it took some time, patience, and some fiddlin’…  especially with the E string since the winding was thicker and the string ball end couldn’t quite get over it.  we had to take some wire cover trimmers to it to shave it down a bit.  no harm done to the string, u just needed to be gentle doing it.  as u can see, some strings needed more than one ball end.  the tone of each of the 3 strings we did sounded so much better once we had done this that it made the time and effort all worthwhile.  the bass stays in tune and we get great comments on its sound.  now only if we could figure out the sweet spot for that “tone” knob…. more on that in another post!

ps: here are the results in picture form.  hopefully, they help explain and show u what we did.  the blue part was going over the bridge before we added the ball ends of the strings.

Baby Bass Steps!

Just a quick post to say we put the new bass thru its first onstage performance last night and things went way better than expected.  still adjusting to its smaller scale and the tones it puts out.  but all in all, we couldn’t be happier!

the promoters of toonights TOONICE show did this awesome preview post for all the artists!  heaps of props and well worth checkin’ it out!

Preview of TOONIGHTS SHOW!