henry norton

I think Yuri's right. My bass is set up about the same as yours @ricobasso with around 2mm relief under the E and 1 under the G. I use it mainly for pizz but with a bit of arco - it's strung with Spirocores at the moment and it works fine for both. The rule of thumb used to be about the thickness of the string in relief but that always seemed excessive to me. Talking about your EUB Gollihur (as mentioned by @Silvia Bluejay) has an interesting article on making NS uprights sound more like a 'proper' double bass. He doesn't mention carving relief into the fingerboard.

You'd be surprised at how many people would want to have a project like this. Gear 4 Music often sell off their broken returns on everybody's favorite auction site and they always seem to ask fairly decent money for them. It looks like a ply bass so most luthiers wouldn't be that interested but the upside is it can be repaired with normal white wood glue and some G clamps. Better than giving it away, or burning it...

[quote name='James Nada' timestamp='1499362662' post='3331060'] Apologies for the hijack. I've though of doing this myself but couldn't quite figure out the best way to do it. Do you have any pics or a link of a modified one? Cheers [/quote]I'll work something out......

[quote name='Chopthebass' timestamp='1499366044' post='3331108'] Nice job! [/quote] Thanks

All done other than some intonation and truss rod adjustment (and in keeping with the slightly neglected finish I may well neglect the set up aspect too). It plays nicely - definitely feels 'bigger' than a 34" scale 5, but not uncomfortably. The B has a very nice tension to it too courtesy of the extra inch. Pleased with the sound too. I won't bore anyone with set up pictures but here's a photo of the finished article. Onto the next job now....

Thanks for the knob related feedback (cue joke...). It's finished now and I am going to keep it hanging on the wall in my bedroom for a while so I can ponder over any changes I might want to make. I damaged the neck pickup during some over zealous 'relicing' so it's only working on the bridge til I can get my soldering iron warmed up. Otherwise it's done so I'll post some finished pics when I've got some spare daylight time, along with some gloating comments about how little it cost me

The Warwick bridge seemed quite cheap in comparison to some of the others on their website - the Hipshot stuff was proper pricey!!! Bear in mind quite a few 8 and 12 string basses just used standard or slightly modded 4 string bridges. The Schaller bridge is probably the best though. [quote name='MemphisStone' timestamp='1498508742' post='3325160'] ... do I need special pickups or can I just use standard 4-string versions? [/quote] NO - just use normal 4 string pickups.

Sounds excellent Pete. The Schaller bridge is good because you can adjust the intonation of each string - useful if you play past the 8th fret. If not you could modify a bog standard BBOT (Bent Bit Of Tin Fender bridge) to accommodate 8 strings. All you need is a drill and a file

Following on from BassAgent's question about the chrome knobs I've done a quick comparison using the 2 black plastic knobs from my Bass VI. Not sure if I like the 'authentic' knobs enough to shell out some more cash for them or whether the chrome knobs fit better with the hot-rodded look. Opinions welcome... Either way it's nearly done now. I've cut the nut and put it all together, just needing string trees now. I'll post some pics when they're in place.

Thanks for the comments. [quote name='BassAgent' timestamp='1498213929' post='3323149'] ...Why the chrome knobs? [/quote] I'm glad you asked that, I've been looking at it and wondering about the control plate. The chrome knobs came on the cheapo plate I bought for it when I first started the build. The original idea was to make as much as I could from materials and hardware I already had lying around - the control plate and the bridge were the only significant parts I had to buy and for some reason I ended up with chrome knobs (I don't know why). The main point of this build was to do it for little or no extra outlay but I'm thinking it may be worth shelling out a bit of cash for some black plastic ones. I'm getting there now and have spent my largest individual outlay on it - £21 on a set of strings !!! I'll post some pictures up soon.

Started on the flatting and polishing so things are really starting to take shape. Just loosely put together for now so I can see some progress. Being a lazy git I decided on a mildly worn look, obtained by flatting back with 2000 grit paper followed by semi-buffing using watered down ultra cut rubbing compound. Quite pleased with it so far.

I'd just go for putting the screws back in (or shorter versions). Anything else would look obvious and possibly a bit weird. Considering it's only 10 - 15 quid for a new pick guard you don't want to spend much on an alternative solution.

That looks pretty good - how are you polishing it???

Thanks Andy, looking forward to getting it all together now. Really excited about having a Fiesta Red Jazz