The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-387-Vol-3of3.iso/b/bl282.zip/BL282.TXT

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                                                    Issue #282
                                                    January 23, 1993

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Today's topics:
                  Broken Bass
                  OVER rated Bass Players
                  yaub (Yet Another Underrrrrated Bassist)
                  Ron Carter plays Bach
                  punch, etc.
                  More On Warmoth Necks; Entwhistle w/ Stones;
                       Michael Stebbins⌐ String Rattle
                  Warmoth Finishes..
                  Under- rated bassists
                  Hipshot D-tuner
                  a little late, but....
                  RE: Fretless Questions
                  Joe Barden pickups - recommendations?
                  Lessons in tapping and slapping and other news
                  New Posts
                  PV & Oz \ Joni & Jaco \ Ovation \ side pull vs center pull

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Administrative notes:

Just a friendly reminder: It makes looking up a particular topic
in the indexes *much* easier if you make your subject lines very
descriptive. The key word here is "keywords"... use terms that
people are likely to search for. Please try to avoid simply replying
to a particular digest, since the subject line
"RE: The Bottom Line #xxx" really doesn't help anyone.

Thanks for the tirade,
Kevin

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Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 00:26:10 -0500 (EST)
From: Peter C Norton <[e-mail]>
Subject: Broken Bass


From what little I know, the Ibanez Bass I bought (a CTB-1) is relatively
new.  That may be the problem.  I got my bass this summer, at Sam Ash, and
it worked fine for a while.  For $300 it's a good buy.  But while I was home
for thanksgiving, the plug died.  Freak accident, I thought.  So I got it
repaired, and brought it back to school (making sure that it wasn't hurt on
the ride up), and I plugged it in.  The rear pickup was blown.  Not even
static.  no loose or disconnected wires when you open up the bass, and the
pickup is one solid plastic piece.  In other words, I've gotta go to the
house of guitars and get it sent back, to be repaired again.

If anyone out there with the same budgetary constraints as me has had to
have one sent back for repairs, I'd like to compare notes.  I've seen other
insturments suffer far more casual abuse travelling to and from gigs, and
don't understand what the hell happened.  Oh, well, you get what you paid
for, but it's all I've got.  The worst thing is I love this bass... It
sounds nice and punchy,, just right for slapping (when both pickups work,
that is) and it feels good too.  Oh, well.

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 14:43 GMT
From: Stuart Mawby <[e-mail]>
Subject: OVER rated Bass Players

Hi everyone!,

With all the talk about under rated bass players recently, I was sort of
curious who some of you think is OVER rated.  Who out there in pro bass land
is good but not as good as the critics would have us think?  Some of you have
met these people personally and can judge a bit more accurately, so let's hear
the dirt!....

[ Please be careful in this area. The idea of "slamming" other players
  doesn't sit well with me, ever since I got negative mail about including
  the category "most overrated player" in a survey a couple of years ago.
  I'd really like to avoid possible flamewars, etc.   Bass Mgr. ]

As for the UNDER rated.... my only thought is a person who is not generally
considered for this category: Tony Levin (correct me if I'm wrong here), Peter
Gabriel's bass player.  He is very Very tasteful.  I suppose that I would also
include the bass player for Susan Vega's previous album 'Days of Open Hand'.
He has a style similar to that of Levin, but a little more active and dis-
jointed at the same time.

        - Stuart

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Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 10:24:14 EST
From: Mark Crimson Friedman <[e-mail]>
Subject: yaub (Yet Another Underrrrrated Bassist)

My offering for the underrated bassist list is none other than:

        Art Liboon of Mordred!

This guy is one funky player.  He can slap with the best of them, and
his fingerstyle stuff is great too (listen to the intro to their "In
This Life" release: wacky arpeggios!).  A's sense of rhythm is
certainly skewed, yet solid: the accents of his lines often fall on
odd beats of a measure, but always remain consistent.  In this
department, he's been a tremendous influence on me.

Then there's the one song where they yell "Gimmie a funky-ass bass
line!"  and he takes off like a rocket!  Reminicent of Fishbone's
"Bonin'", methinks!

BTW, Mordred plays a mix of metal and funk, shifting gears in
midstream.  If you like Faith No More, Fungo Mungo, 24-7 Spyz, Primus,
Chilli Peppers, Fishbone, Infectious Grooves, and other such
aggressive bands (like I do! ;-), then "In This Life" is the CD to
check out!

                                                        - Mark

[end of plug :-]


Mark "Klone Crimson" Friedman is [e-mail] .................
"There is nothing former  "Beat poets,    "Bite me,   "My jacket! I killed
 about King Crimson."      not children."  it's fun!"  Kennedy in this jacket!"
 - Robert Fripp, 5/11/90   - anonymous     - MST3K     - Ron Post

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Date: 22 Jan 1993 10:48:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Ron Carter plays Bach

I recently received the new Ron Carter CD in which he plays both
on Bach pieces he has arranged. I had high expectations in that Ron
Carter is one of the best jazz players around, but when I listed to
(listened) the recording, I was surprised to hear that throughout
the piccolo bass sounded flat and was slightly irritating to my ears.
Am I missing something? Has anyone else listened to this recording
and had the same response? I am aware that the piccolo bass is tuned
differently, but that should make no difference as to whether the
notes are in tune.

--pmb.

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Date: 22 Jan 93 11:50:02 U
From: Paul Desjarlais <[e-mail]>
Subject: punch, etc.

REGARDING                punch, etc.

Firstly my $0.02 on the being-able-to-read question--it all depends on what
you're doing!  In all my ten+ years of playing in rock bands, I've never  had
to read, or seen anyone read music.  I ain't proud, or ashamed or anything,
that's just the way it is.  And when I first stared playing bass, I had been in
school bands for like a bazillion years (on trumpet) so I knew what the
notation looked like.  I just never needed it.  Nobody writes down rock songs.
It's like, if you have to write it down, it's too complicated.... (smiley
face!)

Regarding the Waitresses--yeah, I like that bass line too; I actually bought
the album when it came out.  I meant to check the sleeve to see if it mentioned
the name of the bass player but I forgot to; perhaps I'll remember this
weekend.

Regarding the T-shirts--has ANYONE seen the drawing?  It's pretty much a
straightforward line-drawing rendition of the ASCII logo.  (I'm the one who did
it, by the way, so please be kind...)

Regarding "punch"--I think the definition of punch has to do with the reason
that TBLer Preston Carter bought the SWR instead of the Peavey cab.  It's the
midrange-y stuff (or high end for bass) that occurs mostly in the attack that
allows your notes to be heard in the mix.  As opposed to the low rumble which
is often like mud by itself.

This leads me to some questions on recording; I'd love to see more discussion
of bass recording techniques in TBL, if anyone has some tips, because getting a
good bass sound in a mix on tape still manages to elude me and my band.  After
years of making inferior, low budget 4-track and 8-track recordings, we finally
agreed to cough up the dough for a 24-track studio to do an album.  Still
self-produced, but with a good engineer.  This project has been going on for
over a year....anyway, I thought FINALLY, I'll be able to get the bass sound I
always imagined.  We recorded at least 3 bass tracks on every song: a direct
signal, a near mic, and a far mic.  Plus, on some songs there are FIVE tracks,
with a second take being recorded via the near and far mics.  This was not done
with the intention of using all the tracks, but to have the flexibility to
choose the best tracks.  The engineer was very happy with the sounds he got; he
said seldom had he been able to acheive such a good range of frequencies on the
bass.

Problem?  After doing a couple of mixes, it seems we're still stuck with the
problem we've always had: we have a choice between the low rumble and the
"punch".  If you use both, the bass takes over the mix.  But if you only use
one or the other, the mix seems to be missing something.  We've tried thowing
graphic EQ's at it, or other effects.  A "sonic maximizer" will make the notes
more distinct (I have no clue how this works).  Another interesting thing we've
used is distortion--we'll put fuzz on one of the tracks using a SansAmp, which
tends to add a good warmth to the sound.  But still...

Any suggestions would be most appreciated!  I'm all ears!  Literally.  I mean,
I am made only of ears.  My hearing is incredible!  Just kidding.

-pd

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Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 09:41:25 PST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: More On Warmoth Necks; Entwhistle w/ Stones; Michael Stebbins⌐ String
 Rattle

Hello All,
I've used Warmoth necks on two basses and am absolutely sure they were the best
choices for me.  The first neck was a 5-string neck.  Now that sucker is HEAVY
- TWO truss rods and alot of wood (it's as wide as an interstate).  Using a
mahogany body and small Gotoh tuning machines helped counter act the neck
heaviness of the bass.  Needless to say it's a Chiropractor's dream.  The
second neck was was a fretless 4-string which replaced a stock fretted neck.
Sound familiar to anyone?  Again, the body and electronics offset the neck
weight, so no problem.  If I'm not mistaken, Fender (and probably others) is
using fairly light woods like ash in their production instruments.  This would
account for the problem with matching a heavier Warmoth neck to a stock Fender
body.  The answer? - hang a dumb bell weight from your lower strap lock and
find a good Chiropractor.

I've gotta agree with Arte Kenyon's accessment of John Entwhistle joining the
Stones.  A laid back grove player would seem to make the most sense for the
Stones.  Entwhistle just plain plays too much for their style.  Anyone who uses
a cabinet with 20 five inch drivers in it as part of his touring rig
(Entwhistle) wants to be a dominant player, not strictly a "hold down the
bottom" guy.  I'm also a big Entwhistle fan, but in a different forum than the
Stones would provide.  Would Geddy Lee fit in with Little Village? - Not quite!

Re: Michael Stebbins` string rattle problem - I'd say your rattle is being
caused by your "recently homemade steel nut".  If the diameter of your Boomers
doesn't match the width of the new nut slots, you gonna get rattling.  That's
one of the downers of using metal string nuts.  The nut has to fit the strings
like a glove.  If you change string guages with a metal string nut you should
really change the the nut too.  It's a drag - I've had to replace the nuts on
my basses because I use brass string nuts and have a tendancy to become fickle
about my string guages.  Each bass now has two different string nuts.  Just
another quirk...

Happy Trails...

Graham
[e-mail]

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Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 13:24:44 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Warmoth Finishes..

Hello,
        This is directed to the Bass Manager who raised an interesting
point and all those who are interested. My Warmoth neck only has the
Warmoth insignia burned into the heel. I didn't specify any finish
and assumed it has a satin finish. I will call them up and clear up this
confusion. Maybe they changed their policy or I missed something when ordering.
Maybe my neck has no finish. Is there a sure fire way to detect a satin finish?
I'll post again when I find out exactly what is going on. I know for sure
you can specify finishes when ordering. I not so sure if they have a "default"
finish. Thew catalog is quite descriptive but doesn't speak much about finishes
att all. I'll be back!

_ROB_

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Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 14:50:00 +0000
From: "Oliver (O.R.) Sampson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Under- rated bassists

As for under-rated bass players, how about Joe Bouchard of Blue
Oyster Cult.  My vote for soon-to-be highly-rated bass players,
goes to John Myung (sp?) of Dream Theater.  There's a bass player
who used to be with a jazz band from Richmond called Secrets.
His name is Keith Horne.  He is absolutly unbelievaphenomenable.
Last I heard was that he was in Nashville working with Tanya
Tucker.....Go figure.  I think the record stores in Richmond
(Plan 9 in particular) may still have some of the Secrets stuff.

Hip shots:  They're fantastic.

Later


************************************************************************
Oliver R. Sampson              "Mongo only pawn in game of life."
Member Scientific Staff           -- Mongo, Blazing Saddles
Internet:  [e-mail]
"All opinions expressed here are the opinions solely of the author,
and they are in no way a reflection of opinions or policies of BNR, Inc.
or Northern Telecom." -- The boss says I have to put this in here.
************************************************************************

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 11:28 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Hipshot D-tuner


Yeah, the Hipshot extender key is great! I ordered one in black
     ('cause the local store only had chrome...and they made me
     pay $10 more for black!) and had it in a week or two.
     Installation was a cinch -- the hardest thing about it was
     loosening the E-string so I could take out the stock tuner.
     It's a drop-in replacement.

The Hipshot key apparently comes in two types for bass: a Fender
     key and a Music Man key.  I could be wrong here, and most
     tuning keys look kinda generic anyway. My bass is a mid-80's
     Fender Jazz Bass Special.

I've used the D-tuner for about 4 months and I have to say it
     has given me no trouble at all.  I was afraid before I got
     it that the string would "hang up" at the nut (like they
     do for guitarists) and I'd have tuning problems, but I have
     NEVER had it go out of tune.


What's the deal on "Henry the 8 by 8???"



Underrated bassists: Well, Steely Dan is the most underrated band
      in history, and Pearl Jam is riding the alternative=>mainstream
      wave, but TBL-ers still don't talk about either of 'em much...

      (just a comment)

Later,

--  Gregg S

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 09:08:40 PST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: a little late, but....


I've never been too into their style of music, but ABC has an album
(Lexicon of Love, 1982, produced by Trevor Horn, you all know who he
is right?  The only other person to ever play bass on a Yes tune!)
and the two cats playing bass on it (Brad Lang and Mark Lickley) are
pretty impressive.  Anyone know anything more about them, what else
they've done, are doing now?  Big influence in my early years.

Another big influence in my beginning days was Ralphe Armstrong, who
played on Jean Luc-Ponty's live album (early 80's?? late 70's??).  He
was the first bass player I ever heard solo (hey i was quite young and
just starting my bass quest), and use lots of effects.

And of course, I can't leave out my teacher, Kai Eckhardt.  You can hear
him to great effect on John McLaughlin's "Live at the Royal Festival Hall"
disc, and also at the Kanzaki Lounge in Japan Town, SF on alternate Tuesday
nights with the Frank Martin Band.

it's all a little strange, isn't it?

kk

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 16:05:21 PST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: RE: Fretless Questions



Thanks to everyone who responded to my fretless neck questions, both in TBL
and directly.  It's great to have a resource like this.  To quote the Burger
King commercials, "I love this place!".  (And yes, I have been watching too
much TV lately.) Here's how it all turned out.

I went with the Warmouth neck (rosewood, lined, side-dots only).  For one
thing, Warmouth has a great reputation for making a quality product.  The
last thing I wanted to do was go through all this and be disappointed with
the outcome.  Secondly, I was looking specifically for a solid, heavy neck
because the body of this bass is ash and quite heavy.  (The current neck
is a log, too.  I definitely will not have any problems with the neck being
too heavy.)  The Chandler necks I played all seemed to be matched up with
light weight basses.  Going with a light neck and a heavy body just seemed
to be asking for trouble.

I also learned a couple of things I wanted to pass along.  When Warmouth
makes a lined fretless neck,  they pull from their stock of ready to be
fretted necks and inlay the grooves with holly (or something similar).  The
problem is that the necks they inlay already have dots on the fretboard.
If you don't want the dots, (which I don't),  they charge you more for the
special handling involved in specifically lining a neck without dots.  To get
around that, the repair shop said they would order a ready to be fretted neck
without face dots and do the inlay for me.

Of course, the biggest hang up right now is that California is experiencing
rains of bibilical proportions.  Since I want a hard finish (I play too often
in wet climates not to have one), they won't be able to finish the neck until
we have more than a few days of dry whether.

Lastly, I just wanted to echo Rob's comment about lined vs. unlined.  Lined
is the way to go if you're just a beginning fretless player.  I tryed both
when I was doing my research.  My intonation was a billion percent better
with lines.  (Although I do like the unlined look better.  I remember someone
telling me in the past that some fretless players (like Sting) actually use
a lined fretless, but the inlays are only a shade darker or lighter than the
fingerboard so that only they can see them!  Hmmm... maybe I should consider
that?)

Thank you all.

Alan Henley

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 22:29:43 -0500 (EST)
From: Geff King <[e-mail]>
Subject: Joe Barden pickups - recommendations?

I'm considering a new set of pickups for my Jazz Bass, and the pickups I'm
interested in are made by a guy named Joe Barden here in the DC area.
I've recently talked to Joe, and the way he tells it to me, these pickups
are humbuckers with side-by-side coils which fit in a standard-sized J-Bass
pickup cover. They supposedly give all the tonal range and no noise.
He's making some upgrades to his old design, and the new ones should be
ready to go by spring.

I only ever played one bass with Barden pickups, and I didn't like it,
but I suspect that was more the neck and the amps than the pickups.
At least two guitarists (both Telecaster players) hav ehis pickups and
swear by them. Can anyone on TBL provide any more input on Barden bass
pickups? Email if you can, 'cos I don't get to read TBL all the time. If I
end up going with 'em anyway, I'll be glad to post a review.

--
   + ----------------------------------------------------------- +
   | Geff King, EPA Contractor by Day - C&W Bass Player by Night |
   | Mail [e-mail] or [e-mail]  |
   + --- "If you're in tune, you're fired" --Ira Louvin, 1956 -- +

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: 23 Jan 1993 00:27:05 -0700 (MST)
From: Doug Wellington USGS <[e-mail]>
Subject: Lessons in tapping and slapping and other news

Hi folks,

It's been quite a while since I posted.  Sheesh, the holidays do make
time fly!  I recently picked up a bass that I had on layaway.  It is
a natural color Yamaha TRB five string.  I've hardly put it down since
I got it!  A couple days before I picked up the TRB, I came home with
a Fender BXR combo (15").  This is a great amp!  I actually like the
Fender better than my GK/Hartke setup for some things.  (Especially
since the Fender has wheels!)  I had test driven three Peavey combos,
an SWR Bassic Black, and a Crate combo.  Of all of them, I liked the
Fender best.  And it wasn't even the most expensive!  (Came in second
though.  :-(  Oh well, it is definitely worth it.)  At first, it came
in about even with the SWR and slightly better than the Peavey 300.
Then I found the bass and treble boost switches!  (GRIN)  Now that I
have it at home, I'm only using the GK/Hartke for a rental unit...
(Gotta make the gear earn its keep!)  Anyway, the combination of the
TRB and the BXR is absolutely killer!  I think I may sell my P-bass
and my Jazz fretless...

I don't know how many TBLers are also able to read Netnews, but there
has been discussion there on publishing weekly lessons on different
aspects of bass playing.  I have taken it upon myself to not only add
my two cents to the lessons, but to also coordinate posts between TBL
and Netnews.  (For those interested, the news group is called
REC.MUSIC.MAKERS.BASS)  So far, two lessons have been written, one on
tapping and one on slapping.  I will post those two lessons right after
this message.  Ian is planning the second tapping lesson for sometime
next week, and I will be putting out the first modes lesson next week
as well, with a second slapping lesson at the end of next week. If
anyone has any comments, suggestions or requests, please email them to
me at "[e-mail]".

Cheers!
-Doug

[ I'll be sending these lessons out as separate digests for easy
  reference. They'll also be available at the ftp site shortly. Let us
  know what you think of them.   Bass Mgr. ]

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 09:01:22 EST
From: Dave Rule <[e-mail]>
Subject: New Posts


Greetings TBLers!

   I've been kind of busy the past week or so (Marist College started
its spring semester this past Thursday -- been busy with syllabi and
stuff) and I just got caught up with my e-mail.  Some good conversations
and I think I'll respond to a few.

   Chris (& others) have been conversing on the topic of reading
music.  Well, I have to admit my bias, so here goes.  Having been
trained as a classical trumpet player my reading skills are quite
develop -- albeit in the "wrong" clef.  When I started playing bass
(about four years ago) it was this reading ability that really
allowed me to get going quickly.  After a couple short lessons from
friends on bass technique (e.g., hand positions), I was able to
begin practicing by playing the bass lines from my church's hymnal.
This had two positive effects: 1) it forced me to become comfortable
note placement on the neck and how to get around and 2) it was a
wonderful lesson in harmony.  Those old hymns (some of which can be
traced to Bach) are a wonderful source of ideas of how to get from
chord to chord in both a functional and melodic fashion.  Also, the
changes COME FAST!  That is, with some of the hymns the chords change
every beat!
   To address some of the other questions . . . Yes, I still do a large
amount of reading and have found in invaluable to my advancement on the
bass.  For example, I have John Patitucci (spelling?) Electric Bass
video.  In the accompanying book John writes out (in notation, NOT TAB!)
most of what's covered in the video.  This allows me to both follow him
as he plays and work on the lines myself.  (NOTE: No flame intended, but
the only use for TAB that I can see -- for me -- is the ability to
send it via e-mail.  Otherwise, musical notation is FAR more flexible
and expressive than TAB ever will be.)  And yes . . . when I'm reading
charts I do modifying them when I feel it adds to its sound or doesn't
conflict with the keyboard player.  (It's essential to be sensitive
to this.  That is, if the keyboard player is reading the chart note
for note -- including the bass line -- it really restricts the bass
lines!)  Although I don't do alot of reading the band, "Manna", when
its a great skill when needed (e.g., need to learn a song fast!).

  In _TBL_ 281 and prior, Larry and Wotton were discussing Ibanez
SoundGear basses.  I own an SR 1500 and love it!  I checked out
alot (and I mean ALOT) of basses before buying the Ibanez.  However,
when it comes down to sound and quality construction for the dollar,
the Ibanez basses are a great value.  Yes, they are not a Warwick,
Pedulla, Zon, etc. but, theses basses are often twice the price of
more.  Personnally, at least with the basses I tried out, I didn't think
these basses were worth the additional money, given the sound and
construction of the my SR 1500.

    Finally, William asks some questions concerning playing fretless.
I play a 4 string Fender Jazz Bass Special (modified with EMG pickups).
The fret board doesn't have lines (I prefer it that way, even though
it did add learning time).  To answer some of his questions . . .
   Intonation:  I own a Korg DT-1 tuner.  When practicing the fretless
at home, I often plug the tuner in line before the amp.  By placing the
tuner on a music stand in front of me I'm able to quickly glace at it
to check myself.  It also really helps in the development of vibrato
technique -- a MUST with the fretless.
   Exercises:  That's a tough and easy one.  Easy in the obvious
answers like scales, arpeggios, etc.  I often do these exercises
and stop at expected and unexpect points to check intonations (see
above).  Tough -- "Manna" does several originals where I use the
fretless.  These are tougher to practice because of the absence of
the rest of the band.  That is, without the other musicians, especially
the keyboardist, it's hard to really work on the lines.  I also practice
by playing my fretted lines on the fretless.  Again, good, but tough
because lack of "band reference."
  Learning:  That's easy --- PRACTICE.  No way around it!  (My music
training made this extremely clear.)

  Well, sorry for the length of the post, but, like I said, I got
behind on the e-mail.  Hope some of the above helps or is of
interest!

                                                          God Bless

==========================================================================
David L. Rule        [phone] ext. 2979
Assist. Prof. of Educational Psychology
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY 12601     [e-mail]
==========================================================================

----------------------------------------------------------

Date: Sat, 23 Jan 93 12:27:36 EST
From: john010000schiesser <[e-mail]>
Subject: PV & Oz \ Joni & Jaco \ Ovation \ side pull vs center pull

Hi,

Oz liked the Peavey 2x10tx and the Hartke 2x10.  I run both of these out of
a biamp Galien Krueger 800RB - the Hartke is the top and the PV is the bottom.
It is portable and like Preston Carter says, the PV has an outstanding
bottom.  The Hartke really takes up where the PV leaves off.  I love the
two of them together.

I just to write cause I just listened to one of my all time favorite
songs - Joni Mitchell's "Cotton Avenue" with Jaco playing.  It is on
her album called "Don Juan's Reckless Daughter."  Give it a listen if
you can and let me know what you think.

I have an Ovation 4 string acoustic bass that I just started playing
in my band with.  I used to to just use it for home practice (which
it is wonderful for - no amping up time).  Well the people in the
band love it!  They say it really comes through, and really adds
another dimension.  I have always used the finger style, but with
this bass, I have started using a pick often, and I really like the
sound.  Trouble is, I cannot really use it for the louder rock songs
as it has a limited bottom end - the volume from the fourth string is
pretty low, even when I boost it at the amp side - and it starts to
feed back!  I want a solid body bass that approaches this nice
acoustic tone and has great bottom, under 1000.  Any recs?

Oh - one more thing - I have noticed a funny trend in basses that mimics
my childhood bicycle experiences.  Years ago, you bought a bike, and it
had side pull brakes, your friends had center pull brakes and they were
better.  Then, when you bought your next bike, with center pull brakes,
all of a sudden, side pull breaks were better.  Now, I thought that
neck-through basses were the thing, but now that I have one, it seems that
the thing to have is a bolt-on-neck.  Sheesh!

Could the neck-though on my solid have something to do with the
tone being better on the acoustic Ovation?  In other words, are
bolt-ons better for tone?

rock on,
john

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_The Bottom Line_ is a digest dedicated to the art of playing
electric and acoustic bass. It is distributed on a basis that
coincides with the amount of material received, from the
University of Wisconsin - Platteville, USA;
Kevin Tipple, Erik Habbinga, editors

Copyright _The Bottom Line_, 1993

The contents of _The Bottom Line_ are solely the opinions
and comments of the individual authors, and do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the authors' managements or the digest
management. The editors do not assume responsibility for
copyright infringement of submitted material.

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End of The Bottom Line #282
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