SOUND ON SOUND

[Stratman57]

Of course once you'd got your fretless bass, you had to get one of these for the ultimate sound.



Rate set around 7 o'clock, Depth set to 3 o'clock. Wonderful on slower songs.

Regards, Simon.

[Sam Spoons]

Not Yorkshire (quite) but Brian Eastwood and his son Michael in Bacup are very good and extremely helpful.

Thanks Sam. He seems to be a bit more than a ‘tech’... I would be worried about insulting him with a ’sand and setup’ request.

Brian and Michael are extremely nice guys and very accommodating. Neither would be insulted by your request, setups and repairs are, like many luthiers, their bread and butter.

My name is Chas BTW, by all means mention that I suggested you speak to them.

[BillB]

Of course once you'd got your fretless bass, you had to get one of these for the ultimate sound.
Rate set around 7 o'clock, Depth set to 3 o'clock. Wonderful on slower songs.
Regards, Simon.

Hell, yes. I was just having a little Brand-X listening-fest yesterday, inspired by this thread - and thought exactly the same thing.

[BillB]

Not Yorkshire (quite) but Brian Eastwood and his son Michael in Bacup are very good and extremely helpful.

Thanks Sam. He seems to be a bit more than a ‘tech’... I would be worried about insulting him with a ’sand and setup’ request.

Brian and Michael are extremely nice guys and very accommodating. Neither would be insulted by your request, setups and repairs are, like many luthiers, their bread and butter.

My name is Chas BTW, by all means mention that I suggested you speak to them.

Thanks Chas - a little trip over to Bacup is looking increasingly attractive :D

[Wonks]

You don't need to drive in reverse all the way. ;)

[BillB]

I can't decide if you are insulting Yorkshire or Lancashire :headbang:

[Wonks]

I've just remembered I had a fretless bass (conversion). It was a Wilson Mercury 4, that had belonged to my first ever band's bass player before he bought a decent Aria. Ugly looking thing with a very thin neck. Very woolly sounding. Short scale as well. Wal style headstock IIRC (but was made before Wal existed).

This is the only picture I could find of one. Mine was just a natural mahogany finish.



The frets were pretty worn so I tried replacing the frets myself, which didn't go well. So a mate took it to have a go and when it came back he'd given up on fretting it, ripped all the frets out, filled the slots and put epoxy rather unevenly all over the board. (Sam Spoons will probably recognise the name Jim Champ from various FB sailing groups). It had also somehow been fitted with two sets of Mighty Mite P-bass pickups, but due to the very thin neck/small string spacing, these severely crossed over and the two middle strings were sensed by about 4 poles each!

It sounded awful and played badly, so it generally just got put to one side and forgotten about. String to string volume all over the place. Eventually it got binned.

I will get a fretless bass one day, as I too was rather taken with the Percy Jones Wal bass sound.

[Sam Spoons]

(Sam Spoons will probably recognise the name Jim Champ from various FB sailing groups).

I do indeed, does he also frequent the Y&Y sailing forum (a place almost as civilised as here)?

[Dr Huge Longjohns]

I write a truck load of stuff about monitors in the magazine and hardly anybody bats an eyelid

You can't fall in love with a monitor.

[Wonks]

I write a truck load of stuff about monitors in the magazine and hardly anybody bats an eyelid

You can't fall in love with a monitor.

How dare you say that about me and Goldy! :D

[FrankF]

The magisterial Mick Karn, with Angie Bowie: I believe he's playing a de-fretted Wal, n'est-ce pas ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W14YmRABFFg

[Phil Ward]

Yes that's Mick Karn's usual de-fretted, "transition period" cherry wood faced Mk 1 Custom. It's the instrument he played on all the later Japan track and is known as a "transition period" instrument 'cause it has the "paddle" style headstock from the earlier Wal Pro series. The somewhat more elegant Custom headstock shape was introduced in '82 I think.

Love that video and remember it from the time. I kind of try and blot out Angie Bowie's "poetry" though and just listen to the extraordinary bass playing. Shame about the fuzz though.

P