I haven't played in too long...

[dbhost]

Well, LOML is on the phone, the most pressing project is on the bench drying up the first coat of poly, and I decided to take the bass out of the case...

I got the stupid idea that even though I haven't played in about a year, I should try playing along with some classic rock... KISS, I was made for loving you has a nice, LOUD funky bass groove...

I now recall which is harder on my fingertips, playing bass, or woodworking? Playing bass... My fingers are RAW!

BTW, for those interested, I have 2 axes,

My primary, a nearly stock Ibanez SR-480 Mahogany body with the SR5 neck (Bubinga, Wenge, and I think maple with a rosewood fretboard). The body is a Danish oil / wax finish... This has Ibanez active pickups.

My down & dirty crunchy bass is an early vintage Ibanez SR500. The body and neck are Maple with 3 coats of clear poly with a rosewood fretboard. The pickups are a set of EMG's that I got on a clearance at Guitar Center. I had to cutom route the slots for them as they are bigger than the stock Ibanez pickups (which were shot to heck when I got it...).

Both axes are strung with GHS Bass Boomers, and feature deerskin leather straps. I have some custom artwork on the SR500's strap... A 3-D cross, and the tomb scene... (I used to sit in with the church band from time to time...).

So what do you guys do other than woodworking?

[TheChief]

Fellow bass player here. I know what you mean about the fingers - especially the tips, both hands. If I go more than a week the difference is telling. I play mostly on a 3-week rotating schedule at a fairly progressive church, so the set lists have included everything from Johnny Cash to Kirk Douglas to Rage Against the Machine to TobyMac.

There have been a few axes over the years - a no-name pawn shop special to start, GuitarYo Tobias knock-off, several Deans (LOVE the Rhapsody's but they're just too blasted heavy!), Cort C5P (for a long while) and Curbow 5 (not so long). Finally settled on three, all five-string: a Traben Neo Custom flame maple in transparent black with BassLines pups, Traben Array Premium flame natural, and a Dean Edge 5 fretless trans blue with EMGs and Bartolini preamp. Elixir strings on all, big finger-savers.

Oh, and that doesn't include the Palatino electric upright, or the Kay Bass S-9 rescued from a high-school trash heap (!). Had to glue her neck back on but fortunately it had somehow been snapped off with dovetail still intact so the repair was actually quite easy.

In the interest of keeping this not much longer than it already is I won't go into the other guitars in my life... yet...

[RyFitz13]

I know what you mean... I've got 5 guitars and a bass up in "my" room, but with all the joys of home ownership, I play them much more rarely than I did just a few years ago.

Not long ago, a guy at work asked me to audition for his band. I took 5 days to shake the rust off and learn 5 or 6 songs for an audition. And my hands were on fire for all 5 days! At least, playing guitar, my right hand is mostly spared since I use a pick FAR more often than play finger-style.

But if we're talking gear specifics:
I've got a frankenstrat - it started life as a Mexican Fender Strat Special, sold in the mid-90's. I've since ripped out the electronics and replaced - a Seymour Duncan 57 Special (I think) in the bridge, and a couple Seymour Duncan hot rails (single-coil sized humbuckers) in the neck and middle position. One toggle switch, when in the right position on the 5-way pickup selector, plays the middle and bridge pickups out-of-phase - it's actually a perfect tone for a lot of older Beatles tunes.

Then there's a 2000-ish American Texas Special Strat, a Takamine 12-string acoustic-electric, an Ovation Viper electric-acoustic, and a no name 6-string acoustic "beater" and a no-name pawn shop acquired bass.

All of them, as LOML likes to remind me, spend more time collecting dust than making tunes these days...

[Kristofor]

I play mostly on a 3-week rotating schedule at a fairly progressive church, so the set lists have included everything from Johnny Cash to Kirk Douglas to Rage Against the Machine to TobyMac.

Really, Rage Against the Machine, lol. I think Bulls on Parade would have worked for the processional of the officiating crew at my cousin's wedding a few months ago. Four of the participants were at least 6'4" and 280#.

[TheChief]

Really, Rage Against the Machine, lol. I think Bulls on Parade would have worked for the processional of the officiating crew at my cousin's wedding a few months ago. Four of the participants were at least 6'4" and 280#.

Yeah. It's amazing sometimes how music/arts that one wouldn't think would fit in that kind of environment can speak to what folks are going through. That kind of thing is different enough to catch folks "off guard" and maybe hear something that might have slid past them otherwise, which is cool.

Cool for me, is that fact that here I am as a 43-year-old who's never been in an actual "band", getting to have a ball playing just about every musical genre there is.

Especially fun was a little side project we've done a couple of times as a calypso band, and another where we played several rock 'n roll classics the way they were intended to be played: Bluegrass style!

[Shep]

I've played Acustic Guitar for about 12 years now. I really like the sound of acustic over the electric guitar. My fingers get the same way if I don't play too often. I haven't played in a week and I can really tell the difference. If I were to pick up the guitar right now and played a little harder, I'm sure I would be feeling the effects. I don't play on anything special just an Epiphone Cut-away.

I've also played Trumpet for many years. Not exactly something to take out and woo the LOML with. It is still fun to play from time to time.

[dbhost]

I've played Acustic Guitar for about 12 years now. I really like the sound of acustic over the electric guitar. My fingers get the same way if I don't play too often. I haven't played in a week and I can really tell the difference. If I were to pick up the guitar right now and played a little harder, I'm sure I would be feeling the effects. I don't play on anything special just an Epiphone Cut-away.

I've also played Trumpet for many years. Not exactly something to take out and woo the LOML with. It is still fun to play from time to time.

I guess I am an odd bird. I love good guitar playing, but have no interest in it myself... I guess bass lines are in my blood or something... I would LOVE to try an upright bass though... Those things are sweet...

[germdoc]

Speaking of basses, I found a thrown-away bass guitar in my neighbor's garbage and "appropriated it". It's a no-name Japanese job from the 70's, will need extensive rehab, but hey, it was FREE.

I have an Epiphone Joe Pass that I love, and I will be trading in my Alvarez RC20SC classical acoustic/electric for an AC60SC that I just got on Ebay. Like the RC20, but the neck is so darn narrow my fat finger won't all fit, so I need a more traditional classical neck.



I have already been through a 12-step program for T.A.S., and I gotta be careful I don't get involved with G.A.S. I hear it's darn near incurable except through bankruptcy...

[Rand]

I've been playing guitar since 1979.

Here is my baby: 1986 Paul Reed Smith

My current rig is a Boss GT-10 Multi-effects unit running stereo into the returns of Seymour Duncan Convertible 100 (tube amp) and a Hughes and Kettner Warp 7 2x12 combo.

[gsmittle]

I"m not a musician, I play the drums!

#1 Son as well as one of my students (a guitar fanatic) each want me to craft them an electric guitar. I've never built any kind of instrument before, but I've taken apart enough wind instruments to know that precision is paramount. #1 Son wants his shaped like a peace sign, complete with cutouts. That should be fun...

My grandfather made fiddles (they weren't expensive enough to be violins). I have one he made in 1916 with a cracked top and no bridge. I guess I should take it to a shop and have it made playable again.

Other than woodworking, in the summer I eat, sleep, breathe, and bleed baseball. Otherwise, it's live theatre (especially history) and fishing.

I should get a life, I guess.

[Wood_workur]

building guitars isn't the hardest thing, you can buy the neck and fretboard pre shaped and precisly cut so they will play nicely.


I too play the drums. Here is a picture of my kit.

[dbhost]

Been running like crazy this weekend. As soon as I get a chance I will post up some pics of the axes...

I started out with a 1984 vintage Ibanez Roadstar II, went to a Squier P Bass Deluxe, then a Fender Geddy Lee Jazz. I sold the Roadstar II to buy the Squier, sold the Squier to buy the Geddy Lee Jazz, sold the GL Jazz to buy the SR-480 and an amp. (Crate BX-100).

I got a smoking deal on the SR-480 when Danny D's music shop moved from Webster, Texas to their current digs in League City.

I got a nearly free deal on an SR-505 5 stringer on Ebay that I never could get used to. I kept trying to play that low B string instead of the E, so I sold it, traded more like for the SR-500, and a Crate practice amp. The BX100 is a bit LOUD for just noodling late at night. I play through an MBX-15 with a set of Memorex headphones. The pickups were a guitar center clearance...

I wish I had enough time and money for all my hobbies... Oh well...