Bridges, Tuners & Knobs
I call this weird-but-true because bass players who encounter this issue usually have no idea they’re allergic to nickel at all and just “tough it out” when in reality there’s no reason to do that. Being allergic to nickel is in fact a real thing and is normally associated with jewelry, such as having to … Read more
Yeah, I know, there are a whole crop of bass players out there who are very anti-pick (or plectrum, if you prefer). If you’re one of those, don’t do one of those “real bass players don’t use picks” things. Some players use picks and it’s not a sin to do so. Picks are made from … Read more
Stellartone’s ToneStyler for bass is something that at first glance may confuse you as to why anyone would want one. But once you understand the principles of how it works, you’ll understand quickly why many bass players swear by it. First and foremost, a ToneStyler is for all intents and purposes a passive EQ knob … Read more
You may have noticed lately that a few model names for strings from the D’Addario brand have “BT” at the end of it, such as EXL160BT. What does BT mean? It means Balanced Tension. In a nutshell, what this is supposed to do is provide greater control and better playing comfort. And what does that … Read more
First thought by most people upon seeing the title of this article: “Dear God, man… WHY would you do that?” Good question, and I have a good answer. Certain players have cheap bass guitars that they don’t feel like putting money into and want to do the “blackout” hardware thing, so they get the bright … Read more
I caught this article over at Guitar World about the Jenz replacement tuners for Fender Bass guitars. Sometimes a product comes along that totally makes sense, and the Jenz Precision Bass Machine Heads is one of them. Any product that is direct drop-in is good, and the Jenz tuners is one of them because they … Read more
With bass guitar strings, there is no question that roundwound is always the most-available. No matter where you shop for strings, roundwound will always be there and always outnumber any other string type you could buy… …but that’s not to say you couldn’t experiment with a different type of string such as flatwound or halfround. … Read more
Mudbucker is to the best of my knowledge not a brand but just a nickname given to a very particular type of pickup. The mudbucker originally gets its name from the early-1960s Gibson EB series; a bass usually with only one pickup, being this absolutely gigantic thing in the neck position and absolutely slammed right … Read more
Ray-Lin asked on Facebook: I was wondering if you could talk about the difference between standard strings, taper core strings and exposed core strings? “Standard” means “conventional construction”, which means “roundwound” (or “full contact”) string. Taper-Core is where the outer wrap ends at the bridge, leaving only the inner wrap left, and that inner wrap … Read more
The main reason why any player carries around batteries in his or her gig bag is for pedals and/or for an active pickup system. For pedals in particular, when you want the least signal noise, you use 9-volt batteries instead of an external power source for the reason that it skirts around any wonky stage … Read more
