Sticking to a Single Bass Syndrome (SSBS)

and street-shooting

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I agree to this analogy only if you are talking about taking photos only at your studio…

Since it would be almost never more convenient for “casual players” to take a second bass wherever they go just incase “they need a different tone” :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

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Ah yes, like shooting straight up a skyscraper just for the love of converging lines :joy:

Sounds to me you prefer the C shaped neck profile of a Vintera. I thought the Vintera had the U shaped (baseball bat) neck but it seems to be a lot thinner. The Vintera is such a great “vintage” P bass to play.

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That’s true!

Also another thing I noticed was with Cort I was starting to have cramps after playing fast stuff at the time (like Billy Jean) because I had to fold my fingers a lot while keeping my thumb touching the neck…

Cramps haven’t been a problem with vintera unless I am pushing 240 bpm jazz standards like Impressions!

Cort has a very wide radius on the fretboard something like 16" while Vintera has it 7.5" which I think is a huge difference as well.

That might be another thing about it actually. Cort Artisan A series have also 5 and 6 string options which explains why they push on the flatter fretboard…

Many people buy those actually…

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7.5" is the old Fender standard and is quite a bit more rounded than most other basses, even other Fenders.

Both of my Yamahas are 10", which is slightly flatter than the Fender modern standard (9.5").

5 strings, on the other hand, are much flatter usually, I think. Yamahas 5’s are almost 24".

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My Cort Action has a 16" (almost) radius fretboard; my Squier Jazz is a 9,5" radius. I’ve often wondered what the difference is and why there are different radiuses in the first place. They don’t really feel that different to me…

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Stolen from reddit:

image

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Oh, I know what it means; I just don’t get what the advantages or disadvantages of a flatter or a rounder fretboard would be.

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If you set your action quite low and your fretboard is flatter potentially you can move faster between strings with less movement pretty much how guitarists do… Assuming your bass is setup with strings following the radius

I like really low action and playing well amplified but I still look for some clankiness for example… Which my Vintera provided me with the 7.5"

The method in this video gave me what I needed… I had to translate some stuff to bass obviously…

Sheesh, 7.25" is really round. Most of my basses are 9.5" and my Sandberg is 14". I do feel the difference but the neck of the Sandberg is also thinner compared to the other C shaped necks. Bit similar to my J bass.

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Words of wisdom Howard! Just like buying a new car its value plummets once you drive it off the car lot. Wish I had thought of this before I went on a spending spree a few years back. With all the money that I have lost, I could have bought one amazing bass by now.

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Regarding not selling used gear, you haven’t met my wife then! :joy: Just joking dear… Given how often I change my mind and see a new guitar on YouTube, that I just have to have, I worked out that buying used and getting cash payment, avoids questions when the credit card statement turns up. It also means that I lose less money than buying new all the time.
Last night I saw a used Line 6 Variax 4 string bass for sale. Its a modelling bass which has the tone of several basses built in. So you can have a Jazz, P, or a Hofner tone. It even has a Kay upright tone. Video link below.
Line 6 Variax Bass Demo - YouTube

Yeah this is a feeling I get a lot recently. “Only if I have known better at that time… Only if I had better understanding of my real needs and priorities…”

Which is actually something we all learn …and even then they tend to change! Today I have 4 different configuration of gears I could make to have an ampless mobile setup which is totally unnecessary to have them all together obviously. GAS hit me hard…

For me the most annoying has been so far trying out different sets of Nylon Tapewound strings… I had to try two sets because different lengths of D and G were necessary for my new bass and wanted to give La Bella a chance which was a mistake!

Sadly new set of strings is something you can never try out at the shop or return it if you don’t like it. Those nylon tapewounds costed me 50€ each and in the end it was money down the drain for me…

For the gear I don’t feel so sad because I keep finding other uses for them but I don’t have the heart to keep a bass around that I am not even playing anymore…

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The thing with used gear is that it’s not always exactly what you want. I had a hard time finding the perfect bass on the used market. Sometimes I like the colour but the bass was 5 string and vice versa. The resell value on some guitars are quite high too… I usually try to look for b-stock deals from local music shops which also saved me a couple of hundreds. It’s also nice to get a refund if I don’t want to keep the product. :slight_smile:

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Yeah B-stock and floor models are great and depending on the discount can be better than used. I made out like a bandit with one, actually turned a profit when I sold it used, and got warranty work done on it. No complaints there.

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The great thing about bass playing, there is always something else to spend money on, that you don’t actually need! Pedals, leads, amps, strings… Nylon tape wound strings do feel strange at first, I tried La-Bella Black Beauty’s. They take some getting used to, flatwounds do feel nicer straight out of the packet. One thing that I noticed by having too many basses, is that when I played round wounds after using the flats, is that the flats are very forgiving of poor finger playing technique. So I now stick to rounds until I can play better ( less badly), even though I don’t like them. If I keep the same set on long enough they will become as dead as flats anyway.

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All depends on what you are after.
Jamerson famously never changed strings, he said the funk was in the gunk.
There are others who don’t change flats.
New strings = brighter, so for slap, new stings are important.
If you don’t want brighter, you don’t need new stings.
I have some of both depending on the bass and what sound/feel I am going for with it.

I agree flats seem to be more forgiving to a new player.
Not sure this is a bad thing as long as you understand it.
Whatever makes you play more is to me what is good.

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I don’t know about you but I nearly always want brighter vs duller. Nothing to do with slap. Mostly due to the styles I like; I’m not really a motown or modern Jazz player.

I have a couple of questions.

Why did you replace the bridge?
What new bridge did you use?
What difference in tone did you notice?

The main reason that I purchased the TRBX504 is that I noticed, just by adding an active/passive switch and alnico pickups, that the 504 has, I could shape the tone(s) to my liking.

Since getting back into using the Reaper DAW, I wonder often if I can get the tone I want out of the TRBX304 with one of the plug ins. This would still not have been an option over purchasing the 504 because I jam about 3 times a week, or did prior to Covid, and do not want to add a laptop to the equipment I use at the jams.

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