I've never tried them Tony... I can't even imagine a circumstance where I would.
My good friends and musical partners the McAllisters gave them to me as a house-warming gift after moving here some years ago, I assume as some inside-Scottish prank on my English lineage. I've thought many times about how to properly return the 'gag'.
I cut a new bridge and soundpost for the bass last night, and re-strung it with some LaBella 'Super-Nil' Nylons. (per the customer request... I
despise those things)
The good news is, it plays great, and the thing actually sounds darn good too, nice and boomy. But I ran into some problems... it has a rattle that sounds internal. I swear it sounds like the bass bar is loose, but I can see with a mirror that it isn't. Must be a seam separation or something. I was too frustrated to fool with it anymore, so I quit for the night.
Here's pictures of the repaired pegbox, and the brown Sharpie pen that covers a multitude of sins.
And the polished-up tuning machines looked nice re-mounted. They actually cover most of the repair anyway.
I've posted how a bridge and soundpost are cut before, but here's another look at that. Don't remember if I mentioned before, I like to pencil-in some graphite to the bridge slots. It helps burnish the wood a bit, and keeps the strings from binding up. (I do the same thing at the nut, for the same reason)
And the aforementioned strings that might as well be weed-eater twine... I can't stand seeing a sloppy pegbox, so I take a few extra minutes to trim, singe, and wax the silks before winding them over the rollers. Hot candle wax is the ticket.
Almost forgot - the foot-rest/endpin... fitted with a new rubber chair tip. Best quarter you ever spent to keep your bass from sticking in the mud.
More later, when I figure out what in the world is rattling in this thing.
