THINK AGAIN BEFORE GOING INTO FRANCHISE

just thinking out loud.
the shop in s.perai not doing that well. not sure how the Aeon people do  the feasibility study of setting up shop there.

the opening day was great (august 2007). turnover was encouraging. but after the opening week, the crowd just start dwindling. save for the weekend, public holidays and school holidays turnover not enough to sustain the business.

we only found out later about the additional monthly cost (fees and charges) that ballooned up the rental from an acceptable amount to additional $1500 monthly, which no longer suit to our business model if we’re unable secure credible sales monthly.

hence the current dilemma. We’re opting out to cut our ties with the franchise thingy. They bleeding us dry. As of now owing sizeable amount on monthly fee alone. Their attitude are not encouraging either.

now the only way out is to get out, close shop. we hope to find a way out of this and not incur so huge of a loss. i pray and hope it will work out to something. let there be light.

To all people I just like to advise you:

“STAY AWAY FROM FRANCHISE BUSINESS IN MALAYSIA, UNLESS YOU’RE THE FRANCHISER. DON’T EVEN SNIFF AT IT. SO FATAL YOU’LL DIE STANDING (OR EVEN BEFORE OPENING BUSINESS).”

so many clauses in the agreement are to their advantage that you’ll just cry tears of blood! we’ve made our mistake but just have to go through with it and minimise the loss. we just paid a very high price for an education in doing buisness.

what we learned?

gross profit margin has to be minimum 60%. THIS is most important. if any lesser just leave.
start up cost as low as possible. renovation cost: try to minimise as much as you can. you have to have control and say on this. check if the franchiser mark up on the equipment, fittings and renovation cost.

this is the first two major thing you should look first. the rest you have to scrutinise and get advise from somebody that know the business before you commit. Talk to other franchisee (get them to tell the real story about the franchise). Read between the lines, and get the real picture from them, honestly.

Will save you from headache and heartbreak later.

when feeling hungry but don’t know for what…..

usually i go for this.

Place the pot on the stove and turn the burner to High.Wait for the water to boil. Turn off burner. Place 1 raw egg in the pot. Put in instant noodle in pot. Cover the pot for 4 minutes. Drained water from pot. Put noodle in a bowl. Empty the seasoning pack and mixed well with the noodle. Crack the soft boiled egg on top of the noodles. Enjoy. Maggi Tom yam flavour’s the best accompanied w/ ice cold water.

Thoughts on Bass Sound Shaping

by bassbacke (2002-10-19), last update 2004-04-19 Constructive feedback is always welcome.

What’s all this about? These are my thoughts on bass sound shaping. You may ask yourself what the heck is that supposed to be and why is the guy so full of it that he creates this page about it? It’s supposed to be a kind of a brain dump. A summary of what I’ve learned about bass sound shaping over the years so I can share it and discuss it with others interested in bass sound shaping. Bass sound shaping is the attempt to keep in mind as many factors that affect your bass sound as you can in order to control and shape the sound the way you want by minimizing the number of variables where possible. Since I am a rather technical guy, please bear with me. Statements like “it sounds killer”, “kicks ass” or “is way better than…” without any explanation make me smile at best.

Where does bass sound shaping start? It may not be so apparent, but there are quite a few things shaping bass sound and only some of them have to do with electronics. Factors affecting your bass sound before any amplifiers are involved:

* bass instrument (materials used, mechanical features, fret board (length), no frets, etc.)

* strings (steel, nickel, old vs. new, gauge, flat wound, etc.)

* bass setup (action, octave, frets worn or OK (if any))

* playing technique (finger style, hard vs. soft, plectrum, thumb, slap, tapping, etc.)

Two basses from one vendor will often not sound the same since materials like wood come from mother nature and there is some inherent variation coming from that alone. Two sets of strings from the same vendor also may not sound exactly the same and over time their sound changes dramatically. You can either replace them regularly or wait till they are completely dead and won’t change their sound at all. Great soul bassists did that, but it may not be everybody’s cup of tea. It’s not mine. One reason not to do that is dead strings don’t tune well. Another factor is that we don’t play exactly the same every moment in our lives. Some days are better than others, some are not. After all we’re humans, not robots. At least at the time of this writing this is a valid assumption.

Of course your bass pickups and electronics will also shape the sound of your bass. The “wars” on “passive vs. active” are not over and probably will never be. Permutations:

* passive pickups and passive electronics

* passive pickups and active electronics

* active pickups and passive electronics

* active pickups and active electronics.  I’ve never seen active pickups combined with passive electronics before I purchased a Zerberus Red-Shark on 2002-09-09.

There are differences between single coil, double coil, humbucker and piezo pickups and what not but even within those categories sounds differ a lot. Since different people have very different tastes, we should consider us lucky that there is such a variety of basses, pickups, electronics, strings, etc. I do. Generally as soon as active components are built into your bass, you’ll need at least a battery (some use two batteries or some alternative power supply). If you are too “challenged” to keep replacing them and removing the cable while you don’t play, active basses are not for you. In this case I personally I think basses are not for you since it’s folks like you who give us bass players a bad reputation. Just kidding. Why active electronics? The only real drawback using active electronics in a bass I can think of is that your battery can go dead when you need it most, but many basses with active electronics allow some sort of a bypass in that event so you’re not dead in the water even then. You can easily prevent this by always having a spare battery in your bass case or gig bag. We have to play by some rules…

Here are some advantages using active electronics, which I’ll explain below:

* low output impedance

* high level output (at least in theory)

* cable quality has far less effect on sound

* bass and treble can be both attenuated and boosted (active sound controls), some active sound controls allow for even more sound tweaking

I don’t really want to go into details as to why. Those people who are technically oriented already know those details and those who aren’t most likely won’t want to know or understand. Sorry, that’s my experience. However both parties may be interested in knowing the effects rather than why that is so. After all you don’t need to be able to construct and build a car to drive one. From time to time I may not be able to refrain from giving some technical background. I hope you won’t mind.

Low output impedance means you can feed your bass signal into a broader variety of inputs. Passive basses will always need a high impedance input like those in bass amps. An active bass however can be directly plugged into a mixing board without any pre-amp still sounding OK. And that’s just for starters. If your bass needs a very high impedance input and is fed into a rather low impedance input it will affect your sound. Also cables will have more effect on your sound. It’s better to have as few variables (components that can modify your sound) as possible in order to make your sound reproducible. If such trivial things like a cable can have a great impact on your sound it is not very likely you will ever have control over your sound.

A high output level helps to get high volumes and high signal/noise ratios. In other words less annoying noise.

Cables have some properties which you can more or less ignore when active electronics are involved, but when everything is passive the choice of your cable between your bass and your amp may have a real great impact on your sound. Cheap/bad cables will kill your treble among other possible problems. Invest in quality cables in any case, especially with passive basses. I personally prefer active basses since I don’t want to have to worry about this.

Last but not least it’s of great help if you can effectively control your bass sound on your bass and not only on your amp. You don’t really want to step back to your amp in a live environment to add or lower some bass or treble. On passive basses usually all you can do is to attenuate treble. Often that’s just not enough. That’s my opinion. Play your passive basses if you like. I won’t talk you out of it. They can also sound just great. It’s just more variables with those making it harder to keep the same sound. Then again this may not be your goal, anyway. However, some active electronics are better than others. Some make a lot of noise, some change the sound in undesirable ways. Make sure that you get proper active electronics in order to really enjoy them. Once you’re settled on a type of bass and pickups, setup, type of strings and playing techniques, you got some level of control over your basic sound – hopefully.

What other factors are there?

Bass amplification systems in general are comprised of:

* pre-amp (impedance matching, boosting, sound control, sound processing)

* power amp (drive speaker cabinets)

* speaker cabinet

Note: there can be more than one power amp and more than one speaker cabinet.

Most pre-amps do more than impedance matching and boosting such as sound controls, compressor/limiter and probably other sound processing. The components mentioned above can be combined in one box. Most so called “heads” or “tops” are pre-amps combined with power amps, e. g. the Hartke 3500. Sometimes these tops are built into speaker cabinets which most people will call a combo such as the SWR Super Redhead. While they are rather compact, the tend to be very heavy. Having components in separate boxex allows for the greatest flexibility but you have to move around more boxes. Sometimes they are also more expensive. I personally think it’s worth it.

We’re plugged in. What next?

In order to describe my ideas about bass sound shaping I use a setup I used for quite a while as a reference starting with my pre-amp. My setup did the trick for me. It may not work for you. In any case it can help deliver my ideas which in turn hopefully inspires you. I’d love to hear from you if it does. The idea behind my approach to bass sound shaping is that I try to keep the parts “power amp” and “speaker cabinet” as transparent/neutral/HiFi as possible. If I have to factor in amp and speaker sound coloration my experience is I will never get a reliable bass sound. My idea is to feed the PA through my DI a sound that could be recorded without having to process it much. Again I’m trying to keep the number of variables as low as possible. You may not like my sound but I don’t get my sound by chance and if I wanted a different sound I have a good chance to “dial it in”. Choose a different sound if you will, but believe me it’s good to be able to reproduce it.

Very low frequencies

Let’s hope you’re plugged into a high impedance input, especially if your bass has passive electronics. Now there are some amps that are supposed to go really, really low, such as 5 Hz. This sounds great at first but it’s not really. How comes? The problem with that is, that’s way below what humans can hear, what a bass should produce and bass speaker cabinets can reproduce. You will end up wasting a lot of amplifier power trying to reproduce something nobody can hear which leaves less headroom for your bass sound. We’re talking live instrument amplification. Every bit of power counts. Generally all frequencies below your lowest note on your bass should be cut off since it will not help your sound and will only lower the maximum volume and sound quality you can achieve. How low are we talking about, then? Well, it depends on how your bass is tuned. Let’s check out a number of rather popular tunings and see the lowest note they can produce:

Tuning and lowest notes

# of strings                              tuning lowest frequency

4         E-A-D-G                                      41.2 Hz

5(6)    B-E-A-D-G (-C)                         30.9 Hz

Some people even go down to the A below that be which results in 27.5 Hz. Let’s assume standard 5-String tuning. In that case all frequencies below 30.9 Hz will only eat up your amp’s power and headroom, produce nothing but heat in your amps, speaker cables and speaker coils, not adding anything to your sound and lowering your maximum sound pressure. That is assuming you don’t use octavers and such which can make your bass signal go even lower. In any case humans don’t usually hear anything below 20 Hz. We hear that barely, some people notice frequencies down to 16 Hz. Most bass speaker cabs won’t go much lower than 35 Hz (if your lucky). Many 4×10″ will not get even near that. Check out my bass speaker cabs overview to learn more about that (and cry?).

First job for my pre-amp

The first thing a bass pre-amp should do is match the impedance from high to low. My pre-amp boosts the signal by factor 11 and cuts lows by 6 dB/octave using a 6.8 nF capacitor and a 1 M Ohm resistor. Usual RC rules apply which make this cut off frequency ca. 24 Hz (-6 dB). Since RF can be a problem, I’ve added some high frequency roll off as well using a 1 kOhm resistor and a 100 pF capacitor (not in the scheamtics, yet). So I have four functions in one little circuit: very high impedance input, low cut, RF protection and factor 11 boost with low output impedance. The output of this pre-amp is directly connected to a Behringer Ultra-Q PEQ 2200 mentioned below for sound control using 6.3 mm plugs. I might replace that with a simple sound control (three or four band) some time in the future.

If you don’t want to mess with electronics yourself you can use ready to use devices such as BOSS CS-3, equalizers etc. Plain simple anything “active” that allows for direct connection to your bass and tolerates a low output impedance.

Isn’t treble good?

The instrument is called bass, not treble. Of course this depends on the style you play and the sound you want, but the more treble is in your bass sound the less you will hear real lows. It’s basically because we can hear higher frequencies better than lower ones. If you listen carefully to great recordings of basses, treble often is not the most dominant part. It may sound great alone but together with a band you may want to have rather little treble.

Sound Control

The Behringer Ultra-Q Pro PEQ2200 can cut off highs with a low pass filter at 12 dB/octave if you want to. Which frequency? Well, it can be tuned from ca. 2.5 kHz to 30 kHz (off). In addition to that it has a high pass filter which can be tuned from 10 Hz to 400 Hz which I have dialed into 25 Hz. Last but not least it offers a five band parametric EQ. Not just frequency and amount but also bandwidth can be tuned. Using this I can get many different sounds out of my basses. The output of the PEQ 2200 goes directly to a Behringer MDX 2200 Gate/Compressor/Limiter shown below using an XLR cable. The Behringer PEQ 2200 fits nicely into 19″ racks and is rather affordable. If you don’t like parametric EQs you can substitute it by a graphic EQ. Try to get one that has a low pass/high pass filter as well. Why not build my own sound control? Well, I can’t build this as cheap as the Chinese. Too much work (for me that is – you can try your luck). Then again I did some research. I might end up experimenting with a three or four band sound control. If it is any good, I’ll let you know.

Compression

The Behringer Composer Pro MDX2200 offers a gate/expander, compressor and limiter function (two channels – I use only one). This device is great sounding and very flexible considering the price. It also fits nicely into 19″ racks. So far I have not found usable schematics for compressors, so bear with me. Output signal levels at this stage are at +4 dB. One has to set threshold levels on the compressor accordingly. The XLR output of the Behringer MDX 2200 is directly connected to my Samson S1000 power amp using an XLR cable. Of course any good power amp can be used, you’re not limited to any brand.

Pre-Amp OK, but when will I hear anything?

After the compressor output levels are setup to be between +4 dB and +10 dB (using a limiter) which is great to feed into a power amp as long as I run the amp’s volume below -10 dB. Since the Behringer MDX 2200 also has a 6.3 mm output I can use that to go directly into another OP amp with 1:1 amplification driving a 10:1 transformer which I use for my DI. The signal is low enough again since it’s divided by factor 10 to avoid sound people from going crazy because of input overload and unwanted distortion. Also the signal is galvanically separated from the rest of your electronics (no hum and such). This is not a must, it just saves you from dragging around some DI box. However, I’ve never heared of a PA company not having a spare DI to connect you, so you may be very OK without that little gadget. I just can’t imagine it.

Tun Tuah by “Jebat”

As i find this writing to be inspiring, I had lifted w/o permission entirely from the original posting by Jebatmustdie. Original link http://jebatmustdie.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/tales-of-hang-tuah/

Tales of Hang Tuah

by Maharaja Setia Tun Kasturi.

Related to Tun Sri Lanang through the writings of Laksamana Khoja Hassan. Translated to Old English for HRH King James I of England in 1616 by Sultan Iskandar Muda of Acheh. Compiled and edited by Abdullah Abdul Kadir in 1819 for the benefit of Sir Stamford Raffles.

(note : All dates which were once depicted in Hijrah years, had been changed to Gregorian calender)

————————————————————————————-

Gempak gempita bumi Melaka

Guruh berdentum tanah bergegar

Jaguh tersanjung bertarung nyawa

Rasuk ajal teman pendekar

– pantun from ‘Hikayat Raja Raja’

This is the story of a person whom I respect the most. His name was Tuah bin Mahmud. I am pleased to tell the story about this young Malay who had shaped the history of the Melaka Sultanate and became the source of inspiration to millions of people.

Hang Tuah was a Malay. An ‘Orang Laut’ to be exact. Son of Hang Mahmud and Dang Merdu Wati. Born in Bentan, his family migrated to Sungai Duyung, Melaka when Tuah was still a toddler. He had lived through the reigns of 6 Sultans – Sultan Muhammad Shah, Raja Ibrahim, Sultan Muzaffar Shah, Sultan Mansur Shah, Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah and died during the reign of Sultan Mahmud Shah.

He was born in the mid 1430’s. We first met him at a wedding of Jebat’s eldest sister right after the coronation of Raja Kassim (Sultan Muzaffar Shah). He was older than the 7 of us although I suspect Jebat was slightly older than him because his voice broke much earlier than Tuah. Jebat was our group leader then. The rest of us were myself, Lekir, Lekiu, Hassan, Hussain and Iskandar. Jebat’s sister had just married Bentara Hamzah Datuk Bongkok. Hamzah was recently appointed as Bentara in the new Sultan’s court and we all wanted to be just like him.

During the day, we imagined ourselves as the young Melaka heroes who would vanquish the armies of Siam or fight the Javanese pirates singlehandedly and save Melaka from any invaders forever. And at night, all 8 of us would gather at Hamzah’s house and listen to his adventures in the palace.

Through the advice of Hamzah, we were sent to Gunung Ledang to learn martial arts from his former mentor, Sang Adiputra. We stayed there for 2 years. Hassan, Hussain and Iskandar did not come with us as their parents moved to Inderapura (now Pahang).

I remember Sang Adiputra once foretold that Jebat would have been a greater warrior than Tuah but his own recklessness will be his downfall. Jebat was clearly a stronger warrior than Tuah. But he was impatient at times and where Tuah lack in strength, he made it up with tremendous agility and cunning. Thus, a stronger warrior does not mean a better one. It was there in one of the caves in Gunung Ledang that Tuah was made our leader. Sang Adiputra told Jebat to listen to Tuah and never doubt his actions. To Tuah, he adviced him to be sincere and serve Melaka as he sees fit. Above all, he wanted all of us to take care of each other.

Upon our return, Melaka had a new Bendahara whom everyone had proclaimed a hero upon his victory over the Siamese armies up north. Tun Perak was indeed a charismatic Bendahara. He was in his 30’s when he became a Bendahara. Tall and almost regal in nature, he inherited the qualites of his late father, the old bendahara during Sultan Muhammad Shah’s reign.

When a group of ’orang laut’ ran amok in the main market near the docks, Bendahara Tun Perak had just came out from the Syahbandar’s meeting hall. It was unfortunate that he brought only 3 guards with him. Eventhough Tun Perak could easily strike down a few of them, the overwhelming numbers of the orang laut had joined in and started to encircle the helpless Bendahara. All five of us, not more than 16 years old, fought along beside the Bendahara and his guards while waiting for help.

In the end, nearly 20 of the orang laut had been killed while Jebat and myself were slightly wounded in the legs. Lekir lost his little finger in the process. Only Tuah was left unscratched. Tun Perak was so impressed that he appointed all of us as Biduanda and we worked as Tun Perak’s special retinue from henceforth.

We were living in an exciting times as Sultan Muzaffar Shah was the first of the warrior sultan in the dynasty. All his previous ancestors were more of a merchant than a warrior. Melaka was in the midst of expansion and we were swept along with it. We travelled a lot during those days. All of us even followed the younger brother of Tun Perak (Tun Perpatih Putih) to Beijing as part of an envoy to help bolster the diplomatic relations between Melaka and China. Emperor Zheng Tong was so pleased with the eloquent speech of Tun Perpatih Putih and the gifts by Sultan Mansur Shah that he gave one of his niece, Li Poh to become a wife to the Sultan.

At first Princess Li Poh was not pleased and would show her sadness openly during our voyage home. But during the journey, Jebat would use his charm and tell funny stories to soothe her worry. We even call her ’Hang’ Li Poh just to make herself feel accepted as one of us. In later years, her son Paduka Mimat would help Tuah in his adventures of finding the elusive Puteri Gunung Ledang.

One of the best adventures to have been taken place was when we went to Majapahit two years after Sultan Mansur Shah was coronated in 1459. Tuah was already a Laksamana replacing Tun Hamzah Datuk Bongkok who was sent by the Sultan as the Governor of Inderapura. Sultan Mansur wanted an ally to fight off the repeated threats from Siam. He offered to marry one of King of Majapahit’s daughters in exchange of safe trading routes for Majapahit’s vassals. Not pleased with the apparent blackmail, Raja Girisawardhana  wanted to test the strength of Melaka warriors first. If our warrior loses, then Majapahit will not need the Sultan’s protection. If we win, then he will bestow his daughter, Raden Galuh Chandera Kirana to Sultan Mansur as wife.

Back from the borders of Majapahit, fresh from the rest after the battles with neighbouring kingdoms, Taming Sari, the greatest of all Majapahit warriors, stood face to face with Tun Tuah in the crowded palatial courtyard. It was mid morning. The sun was shining brightly. Tuah hated the weather in Majapahit. It was too hot, too soon. Some say Taming Sari’s keris had magical properties. As first glance, it was nothing more than a simple keris, with wooden hilt, and almost rustic looking. But the blade was gleaming menacingly. It was longer than any common keris. It curves 7 times before it reaches the tip.

The preferred weapon in the region at the time was the ‘golok’, a long curvy sword. But since both men wanted the fight to be more intimate, they opted the keris as the weapon of choice.

Eventually, Taming Sari was slain by Tuah near twilight that same evening by his own blade. Raja Girisawardhana was in awe with Tuah’s prowess. Taming Sari’s keris was broken at the hilt during the fight. The Majapahit King decreed that a new hilt of gold and pink rubies be made. But the blood of Taming Sari that had stained upon its blade was very difficult to disappear. It gave the blade an eery dark brown and deep red hue. It was said that the blood of Taming Sari was the reason that gave the keris its magical powers.

The keris was presented to Laksamana Tun Tuah in a highly decorated manner. With so much grandeur and dignity. We were so proud of him. Tuah then gave his own keris, Pamung Sari to Jebat. Upon our return to Melaka, Jebat was promoted to the rank Temenggung while I was promoted as Bentara Kanan. The vile Patih Kerma Wijaya came into existence as an envoy of Majapahit and chief adviser to the new bride from thereon.

Tun Perak tolerated Patih Kerma Wijaya but we hated him. His opium smelled breath made me nauseous sometimes.

In the 15th year of his majesty’s rule, Tun Tuah was sentenced to death for treason. Patih Kerma Wijaya had skillfully wedged himself into the inner circle of the Sultan and planted the seeds of his treachery while the 3 of us were away on duty in Riau. Upon our return, Tuah was about to be executed in Sungai Ujung. Only Jebat managed to secretly  see him in his confinement. The rest of us had to protect the Sultan from the angry mobs that had surrounded the palace.

I know the minute I saw Jebat’s face after his rendezvous with Tuah that morning that Jebat will plot vengeance. When Tuah was about to be executed by the orders of the Sultan, his last words to Jebat was – ‘buat baik berpada pada (do a lot of good), but before he could finish the sentence, Jebat furiously screamed at him with words - ‘buat jahat biar kepalang!’ (yet do a lot of evil) and then left him abruptly. Jebat had always been the brooding type. He was more temperemental and sarcastic in nature as compared to the mild mannered Tuah.

I disagreed with Jebat’s plan but chose to remain quiet. Jebat pacified the angry mob outside the palace and met with the Sultan and his family within. The Sultan was grateful that Jebat had understood why Tuah had to be killed. The law is the law and no one is above it, so said the Sultan. At that juncture, Jebat grabbed Taming Sari and killed the Sultan’s youngest son, Raden Kelang (son of Raden Galuh) in one swift motion. His voiced had turned cold when he whispered menacingly to the Sultan;

“Engkau yang dilaknati, minta ampun pada Tuhan!” (You who are damned by God, ask for his forgiveness!)

But before his blade touches the Sultan’s chest, Lekir managed to sidestepped Jebat and they both fell awkwardly. I quickly rounded up the Sultan and his family to the exit and herded them to a safe place. By then, Jebat managed to kill a few Royal Guards. Lekir was injured and had to be taken out of the palace. Jebat looked at me one last time before screaming;

“Raja adil raja ku sembah, raja zalim kita sanggah!” (I submit to a fair King, but we fight against a cruel King!)

Jebat wanted Patih Kerma Wijaya’s blood in exchange for the palace. Most of the Sultan’s concubines decided to stay with Jebat for reasons I do not know. Jebat was indeed good looking and was popular with the ladies in the court. Pateh Kerma Wijaya was holed up in Bendahara’s house for a couple of weeks. Although Tun Perak despised him, he was still a diplomatic ambassador from an allied nation.

At the end of 1464, Pateh Kerma Wijaya was killed in an ambush by Jebat two days before the harvesting season. Running scared, the Sultan asked the 3 of us to confront Jebat. Relunctantly, we obeyed the orders. But Jebat would not fight us or even listen to us. The palace that he reigned supreme now was like a fortress.

One night after a full cycle of the moon, Tun Perak summoned me to his house. He was grief strickened and wanted me to find an old hermit called Sang Rajuna Tapa. I reckoned Tun Perak was delirious from having a high fever. Sang Rajuna Tapa was certainly no hermit. He was the legendary Bendahara during Parameswara’s rule in Temasik. How could he still be alive? He must close to be a hundred by then. But in haste I did go to Ulu Melaka.

I was shocked that Tun Perak had been hiding Sang Rajuna Tapa and Tuah in Ulu Melaka. Sang Rajuna Tapa was indeed an old man and had disguised himself as an old imam called Syeikh Mansur. Years ago, he was banished from Temasik and was told never to come back. Tuah had been learning some secrets of the art from him. He looked refreshed there in Ulu Melaka. I was overjoyed upon seeing him. But sad at the same time. Tun Perak should have not kept this secret from us. But then again, Tun Perak and Hang Tuah were of the same breed of warriors.

The day Tuah fought Jebat was not as what was depicted by the storytellers. Jebat had indeed became more bloodthirsty by the minute. He was practically ruling Melaka with an iron grip. Traders shunned our ports and the coffers dwindled.

It was after the Friday prayers when Tuah reached the palatial gates. With Pamung Sari in his hand, we and about 200 of us swarmed the locked main entrance. Tuah called on Jebat to come out. It took him about an hour to answer Tuah’s challenge. By this time, the people of Melaka had surrounded the palace, wanting to see the duel. I estimated about 20,000 people had came to watch them fight.

Jebat was happy upon seeing Tuah. But his laughter was not only hysterical, it was tinged with madness. Jebat then killed one of the concubines just to whet Taming Sari’s appetite. Jebat offered to fight on the courtyard but Tuah declined. He said it’s better to fight inside the palace so that the people will not see the death of either one of them.

Storm raged Melaka that night. We knew that a terrible duel was taken place above the howling wind. We waited outside till the next morning. Sometimes they would rest, sometimes Jebat would let Tuah pray undisturbed. Tuah later on told me that Jebat declined to pray because his sins were already too great to be forgiven by God. By late afternoon, we heard the death cries of Jebat from the inside. Tuah came rushing out. His face was ashen while his body was covered in blood. He threw Taming Sari to me and ran towards the parted crowd.

We went inside the palace but lo and behold! Jebat was still alive! But his stomach was badly wounded. He was busy wrapping the angry wound with a piece of cloth so that his gut wouldn’t spill out. Jebat was a strong warrior indeed. Seeing his death face, Lekiu, Lekir and myself left him there attending to himself as the sight was too much for us.

It was hard enough for Tuah to contain Jebat when he was angered and it was extremely difficult for the Royal Guards to subdue the wounded Jebat. Nearly a hundred of innocent people died in his rampage in search of the Sultan. Finally exhausted, Jebat came over to Tuah’s house. We were there when Tuah lifted him up into one of the rooms. Jebat managed to ask forgiveness from all of us for his treachery and for acting without our consent. We shed a few tears then. Jebat died in Tuah’s arms as the wrappings were undone. Blood flowed freely from his mouth, nose, ears, eyes and every pores of his body.

From that day onwards, Tuah became a different man. He became deeply religious. He followed the Arab traders back to the heart of Ottoman Empire in Turkey just to learn more about Islam. The death of Jebat changed him. Jebat was his conscience at times. Sometimes, his wild streak. He was more ferocious when Jebat was fighting alongside him. The death of Jebat showed him how greatly Jebat was needed. During the reign of Raja Hussain (Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah), Laksamana Tun Tuah had always wanted to leave the life of the royal courts. But not until Raja Hussain was poisoned to death in Pagoh did Tuah left in such agony. His heart broke yet again when he was unable to prevent the death of the young Sultan.

I was made Maharaja Setia (deputy Bendahara) and Jebat’s only son, Khoja Hassan took over as Orang Kaya Laksamana Melaka in 1488. Incidentally, Khoja Hassan was also Tuah’s son in law. Tun Tuah was called into service one last time during the reign of the petulant Sultan Mahmud Shah as the head of retinue to find Puteri Gunung Ledang.

Until this day, the day I find rest at last, I am glad to have Hang Tuah as my brother. His steadfast loyalty and unwavering stance to protect the system was like a beacon in the days we weathered through. Tuah was given a terrible choice which he then chose as he saw it fit. Hopefully, the new Bendahara, Tun Mutahir will find new breed of young Malay warriors to protect what we have now against the dark days ahead.

Merga Paksi tujuh bersaudara

Pencak silat Kertala Sari

Lihat lenggok Tuan Laksamana

Dibuai kilas Taming Sari

– pantun from ‘Hikayat Raja Raja’

Addendum by Jebat Must Die

Hang Tuah never met Puteri Gunung Ledang. He was already in his 60’s when the young Sultan Mahmud asked him to be the head of retinue to propose the mythical (non existent) Puteri Gunung Ledang for her hand in marriage. Halfway to the top of the mountain, Tun Mamat (some say it was actually Paduka Mimat – the Sultan’s uncle) continued his way upwards alone, leaving the tired Tun Tuah and the rest of the retinue at the foot of the mountain.

Hang Tuah did not kill Hang Jebat during that final fight in the Sultan’s palace. Hang Jebat died a day after the fight because of the heavy stomach wound inflicted by Hang Tuah. Hang Jebat managed to wrap the wounds around his stomach before he ran amok and killed more innocent people on the streets of Melaka. He then went straight to Tuah’s house where Hang Tuah was meditating and seeking repentance. Hang Jebat died in the arms of Hang Tuah when he released open the wrappings around Jebat’s stomach to ease the pain.

It was not Hang Tuah who had kidnapped Tun Teja from Pahang for Sultan Mahmud but rather, it was his son in law, Hang Nadim. It was unlikely Hang Tuah could even entice the lovely Tun Teja to elope with him at that time because he was already an old man. Remember, Hang Tuah was already in his 60’s when Sultan Mahmud started to reign. At that time, Hang Tuah had past his prime and Melaka was under the watchful eye of Laksamana Khoja Hassan, the son of the late Hang Jebat whom he had adopted as his own. Khoja Hassan eventually became his son in law. His other son in law, Hang Nadim was second in command.

He was not a Chinese as some speculated. The story of a DNA tested on the bones of Hang Tuah by a Michigan based forensic society was a hoax. The society does not even exist. The theory of having the same surname as Princess Hang Li Poh does not hold water. The name ‘Hang’ was a monicker for ‘teenager’ in the past. Which in turn will stick to the owner way past their adulthood. When Hang Tuah was bestowed the title ‘Tun’ upon his promotion to become a laksamana, people called him Tun Tuah, instead of Tun Hang Tuah.

The story above is a work of fiction based on all the statutory declarations in Sejarah Melayu, Hikayat Hang Tuah and Tuhfat Al Nafis.

tombak:

Thanks JMD for writing this and for the research. As you have given me a new perspective to look at on the role of Tuah. I was in a band and have a song written about Jebat, and I was always looking at Tuah in a bad light for his role in killing Jebat and presume that his decision was blind faith.

I just wish that our people will be more willing to collect and research and write more about the history of our people.

Moebius Redux

a documentary on one of my favourite artist Jean Giraud @ Moebius

Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (born May 8, 1938) is a French comics artist. Giraud has earned worldwide fame, not only under his own name but also under the pseudonym Moebius, and to a lesser extent Gir, the latter appearing mostly in the form of a boxed signature at the bottom of the artist’s paintings, for instance the volumes’ covers. (from Wikepedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud

How to do your own bass setups.

How to do Your Own Bass Setups
     by John Galt, aka. Doug Wellington (doug@sun1paztcn.wr.usgs.gov)

This article is an excerpt from The Bottom Line, Issue #133, February 9, 1992

—————————————————————————-
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 1992 01:44 MST
From: John Galt <JOHNGALT@CCIT.Arizona.edu>
Subject: How to do your own bass setups.

Hi folks,

I was recently asked how to adjust a bass, so I thought that I would
pass this on to the whole list.  This is the procedure that I have
gone through on all of my basses.  Feel free to adjust my method to
suit your own preferences.  The important thing is to get one system
down and stick to it so that you can duplicate what you have done.
Of course, everyone likes his or her bass setup in a different way,
so the measurements that I use may not be appropriate for your bass
and/or your playing style.  Also, your bass may or may not have all
of the adjustments that I am talking about.  For instance, not all
basses have neck tilt adjustment screws.  For that matter, some
basses don’t have bolt on necks anyway.  Expect to have to adjust
your bass every time you change string sizes, and also expect that
your bass will change with changes in the weather, unless it is made
of graphite, and then I don’t want to hear about it, you lucky dog!

I’ll start from scratch here, but you can start at any point in the
procedure.  Read the whole thing first before you actually try any of it.
You may want to thoroughly clean your bass if you have the strings off
of it.  I like to pay extra attention to the fretboard right next to the
frets.  (I couldn’t ever be like James Jamerson and not ever clean my bass,
but I do admire his playing!)  I have even taken all of my basses completely
apart at least once.  OK, so I’m an obsessive, compulsive, anal retentive
kind of guy, what can I say?  It was there, and I had to do it.

To adjust your own truss rod, neck tilt, bridge height and intonation,
get a couple tools ready.  My method requires a capo, a feeler gauge set,
a machinists 6″ steel ruler, a couple of allen wrenches and a couple
screwdrivers.  I bought a cheap capo for a couple bucks – don’t bother
with the fancy $18 ones.  I had the ruler, wrenches and screwdrivers
because I used to be a machinist.

First, loosen up the screws that hold the neck on.  Then use the allen
wrench to back off the neck tilt adjustment screw that is accessed from
the hole in the plate the neck screws go through.  After you have
loosened the tilt screw, re-tighten the neck screws.  The tilt screw
should still be completely slack after the others are tight.  Don’t
worry, we’ll come back to it later.

Next, string up the bass with the set of strings that you will be using.
Try to only have about three turns of the string on each tuning peg. Tune
up your bass to the tuning you will be using.  If the pickups look like
they are too close to the strings, use a screwdriver to lower them.  Now,
put the capo on the first fret.  We will be using the strings as a
straightedge.  To get as accurate a measurement as possible, hold the
bass in the same position as you play it.  Gravity really can change
the relief on these big thangs!  Hold down the string at the last fret
(for me, the 22nd) and measure the distance between the string and the
fret at the half-way point on the finger board (for me, the 8th).  This
will tell you how much relief the neck has.  I like to see about .014″
between the string and the fret.  I use a set of flat feeler gauges to
tell. Choose one and see if you can fit it in between the string and the
fret without lifting the string.  If the distance is less than .014″,
then you have to loosen the truss rod.  If the distance is more than
.014″, then you have to tighten the truss rod.  Only tighten or loosen
the truss rod nut about an eighth of a turn at a time, no more.  If you
have an old P-bass (I have one), you’ll have to actually remove the
neck from the body to do this properly.

Once the relief is set, take off the capo and pick up the machinists
ruler.  Hold the ruler on the last fret of the neck (closest to the
bridge) and measure the distance between the string and the fret.
This tells you how high your action is.  I like to see 5/32″ on my
low B and 4/32″ on my G string.  If the distance is more than 5/32″
then you have to lower the saddles on the bridge.  If the distance is
less than 5/32″ then you have to raise the saddles on the bridge.  Use
the correct allen wrench and adjust the screws on each saddle evenly.  I
usually turn each screw 1/2 turn and recheck the measurements.  The most
important thing to accomplish here is to make the strings be an equal
height off of the neck.  Don’t adjust the saddles so that they are bottomed
out on the face of the bridge.  If they won’t go down far enough, then
adjust them to a reasonable point and make all the strings as even as you
can, matching the lowest one.  (For me the lowest one is always the G.)

Once the strings are all even, decide if they are still too high for
your style of playing.  If they are too high, then the neck tilt
adjustment screw needs to be tightened.  Loosen the neck screws, and
tighten the neck tilt screw a little bit.  Same as the truss rod nut,
1/8 turn is a good starting point.  Now tighten the neck screws again
and recheck the measurement.  Repeat this until the height of the strings
is to your liking.  At this point, you should be comfortable with the way
the bass plays.  If not, then go back and repeat whatever is necessary of
this whole procedure to get to a happy medium.  Don’t forget, the lower
the action and the less relief the neck has, the more possibility there
is for fret noise.  On the other hand, too much relief and too high an
action can be hard to play and, in excess, can cause your neck to warp,
especially if you use heavy strings.  If you have a bass without an
adjustment screw, like my old P-bass, then you can stick a little piece
of something under the end of the neck before you bolt it on to the body.
A piece of match book cover is actually quite good.

Whoa, we’re not done yet.  Two more things.  Adjust your pickups so that
they are at a point where they won’t get sanded down from contact with
the strings, yet aren’t so far away that they lose volume.  Be careful
though, that you don’t put the pickups so close that the magnets in
them pull on the strings, damping out the sustain.  The thicker your
strings are, the closer the pickups can be because of the higher tension
that thick strings have.  My Lace Sensors are nice!  No magnetic pull,
so I just stick them up as close as I can without having them rub.

Now, last, but certainly not least is to adjust the intonation.  This is
easiest with one of the electronic tuners.  Make sure that the open strings
are in tune.  Then check the tuning at the twelfth fret.  If the twelfth
fret is sharp, then the saddle needs to be adjusted away from the nut, so
that the string is longer.  If the twelfth fret is flat, then the saddle
needs to be adjusted toward the nut, so that the string is shorter.  This
is done by adjusting the long screw that holds the saddle against the pull
of the string.  Again, like the truss rod, and the neck tilt, a little
tightening or loosening goes a long way.  You will have to retune each
string after every adjustment and then check the tuning at the twelfth fret
again.  The biggest thing that affects intonation is the height of the
string off of the neck (the “action”).  Every time you adjust the string
height, you should recheck the intonation.

Well, now you have it.  Keep records of the measurements and play your
bass for a while and see if there is something you want to change.  If
you want to change it, why not, GO FOR IT!  Only YOU really know how
you like your bass set up, so why not do it yourself.  As long as you
don’t try major surgery on your instrument, it is very hard to cause
serious damage.  The most important thing is to keep your truss rod
tightened enough that it prevents warping.  Don’t ever leave the truss
rod nut completely loosened!  You should pretty much follow the order
of the adjustments that I followed, because the subsequent ones depend
upon the previous ones to work right.  BTW, I have to give credit to
Jack Schwarz, the Fender factory guitar tech.  I learned all this stuff
from him when he was here in Tucson giving one of his tune up clinics.

For a more in depth study of setups and guitar/bass repair, I have to
recommend Dan Erlewine’s book, The Guitar Player Repair Guide.

-J