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
In the bass community you have one of three opinions for Gene Simmons (real name: Chaim Weitz). You either: a) love him, b) hate him or c) hate him but respect him as an entertainer. For most players, the answer is C. They hate the man, but respect the entertainer. Note that I said entertainer … Read more
While Max was at NAMM he took a bunch of photos (with more coming on the way), and when he saw the above little 15-watt offering from Ashdown Engineering, he snapped a photo and purposely put his sunglasses on top of it just to give you an idea of how small this thing is. The … Read more
The BotW for this week is what happens when a luthier has some time on his hands but no fretting tools to work with at the location he’s working in, so… he goes fretless! This bass guitar technically has no official model name to it (none was mentioned); “Tasmanian Blackwood” is in fact what the … 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
Chances are if you read this blog you’re either in a band or know people in bands. And whether the band is a “working musician” cover act or all-original, promotion is part of doing the whole band thing. One of the best ways to promo a band is to make your fans walking advertisements; that … Read more
[youtube]https://youtu.be/9KhbM2mqhCQ[/youtube] Motown Records had a few regular session bass players in their stable (such as Wilton Felder, heard prominently on the studio recording of I Want You Back by the Jackson 5), but the one you heard often but never knew his name was James Jamerson. Why? Because for anything Motown released prior to 1971, … Read more
This instrument was specifically designed with a goal other than music; it was made to send a message not to give up when faced with a life-threatening disease and to “fight back”, hence the name given to this particular instrument. The description below is really long, but really good and well worth the read because … 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
Fret wire is something where you have a few choices concerning how the ends look and feel like. One of the more interesting fret end shapes is what’s affectionately known as the “hot dog”. Here is an example of this type of fret end (from Skjold Design Guitars): Notice above that the fret ends have … Read more
