Afternoon,…Again,
The other day I asked about reusing old strings, well while removing them the end of the D string broke at the end where it goes in the tuner. Didn’t leave enough string to use and I was so bummed out. I fixed the problem with the ground wire going to the bridge, and cleaned the bass itself up. Something I learned from being a mechanic all these years, make sure nuts and bolts are tight, or, in this case, screws and nuts. On the tuners I had two where the screws needed to be tightened just a little, and the nuts on the top side of the tuners were all loose. So, always check these things out!!
Anyways, I was bummed because I would have to wait til next weekend to get new strings, or so I thought. I finally saw a pack, that I thought were ones for my Silvertone, but surprise!!..they are long scale flatwounds. I don’t remember buying them,(hence the growing old heading) but was glad now I did. I’ve never used flatwounds and so this is gonna be a new experience…and growing old is still a bitch…heh heh
Always keep a spare set around 
But… remember where you put it 
Glad you got it sorted out, @Redneck . . . 
And yes, as @joergkutter said, always keep a spare set around!
@joergkutter…heh…that’s why I first thought they were for my Silvertone…it’s hard to find strings for it that will work.
@Jazzbass19…yeah, just had to add a piece of wire to the original ground to make it thicker, would have been hard to wrap it around a screw, but it worked. Now I gotta work on the other bass tomorrow, but I’m not good at soldering…yet…heh
You are NOT old! You are a Classic!
Vintage even
Downright retro!
I keep them on my other bass. 
Ouch
Still didn’t work for me…heh…GSR is long scale and the Silvertone is a short scale…oh well…
With Christmas coming up, strings for all my instruments are always on my Christmas list that my kids for my grandkids to get me.
- Guitar & Bass strings (I DO specify brand, etc)
- Duct Tape - can fix anything with it
- WD-40 (goes hand-in-hand with duct tape)
- Socks (I’m a Vietnam Vet - can’t have enough)
You are hilarious Lanny. Great ideas for my Christmas presents.
I’m confused. What does being a Vietnam vet have to do with needing socks for Christmas? 
I’m a Vietnam vet (in country 68-69), and I have been busting my noodle trying to figure this one out. What did I miss? Help me 
Two reasons @PamPurrs…
- Dry socks always helped with foot rot… However, since my feet (especially in my younger years) were so bad no one wanted me to take my boots off for fear of passing out, I typically always slept with my boots on - even when we weren’t on ops…
- The “thirteenth” sock (everyone had a thirteenth sock) was everyones girlfriend… if you get my drift…
So, everyone just couldn’t have enough socks - whether for dry feet or just a good time - you just couldn’t have enough.
Yeah, I understand the need for dry socks 50 years ago when I was in country, especially during monsoon (not sure why you would need them on a sub). But what I’m asking is, what is the significance of being a Vietnam veteran and therefore needing lots of socks today back here in the USA. Should I be stocking up on socks because I’m a Vietnam veteran? That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Is there some hidden meaning here that I don’t know about?
@PamPurrs, no significance at all for sxome I guess… A lot of what some of us experienced back then has stuck with those of us who went through some of the same shit together. Much is also mentioned in humor in such a way that even though we want to forget, we really can’t so we make fun of it all and move on. You don’t need to stock up on socks if you don’t want to - for me it’s just simple humor that I use to overshadow other things that the guys I served with can always understand - maybe I should have just mentioned “Neckties” in my list instead of socks - might have made more sense to everyone else - 
sorry…
We had no fresh water to spare on an old diesel electric sub. No one took showers for weeks on end, what little water you were allowed to have for personal use (about a cup a day) was to be used on the body from top down - teeth, testicles, toes - pretty much in that order. Bottom line was that we had NO fresh water available for personal use on the old smoke-boats. No showers, washing machines, saunas, water drinking fountains, eye wash stations, and the list goes on and on… Guess that’s why we were always referred to as “Pig Boat” sailors…
Sorry if I went on a rant, and sorry if I didn’t stick to bass related shit - so …
Socks can be used to help muffle string buzz and can also be pulled under the strings of your bass and smashed tightly against the nut in order to help make your bass sound more muffled in order to give it that “Double Bass” sound… There, I kept this post Bass related…
I guess I’ll cancel my order for bass strings for your Xmas gift and get you socks instead 
My Pop was there twice…Nam didn’t kill him until the mid 90’s. You rant all ya want to…people need to know this shit. I only missed it by a year…Pop never talked a lot about it, and as I got older I understood why. People need to be glad that got to spend their late teens and early 20’s safe here at home and not over in some jungle watching their buddies get killed right in front of them, and worse…
@Lanny Sorry, I didn’t realize you were trying to be humorous, I thought you were serious, that’s why I asked about it.
I’m a Vietnam vet, and I hang with lots of other Vietnam vets at the American Legion, and have never heard anyone say “Since I’m a Vietnam vet, I need lots of socks”. LOL
It was something that I experienced 50 years ago when I was 20 years old. I still have the memories, but try to only think of the good memories and have shoved the bad stuff to the back of my subconsciousness. I don’t dwell on it, and have managed to just move on. I rarely even mention that I was over there, unless it comes up in a conversation.
. Foe a Badass Bass Gal, you’re really pretty sweet!