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HB PB-50 - v3.0 Becomes v4.0... *AUDIO CLIP* You'll be pleased to know that this will be the final reincarnation of this HB PB-50 Precision Bass. Yes... I know I said that last time - but Shoreline Gold, though a very nice finish, isn't really my thing. My thing is basses that are white. Or cream. Or aged Oly White. Or yellow, basically... you know what I mean. I was particularly taken with the new Player Series 'Buttercream' P bass - hence this refinish and reworking - saving myself £649. This one has a custom handmade Herrick dual-coil pickup in it - and very nice it is too... warm, taut and punchy, with the mid-range push typical of a 57-type split-pickup, but in a 51-type four-pole format. It's a beast... check out the audio clip. https://www.herrickpickups.com/ The previous version 3.0 bass is here. Now read on. Body refin in TV Yellow nitro Pickguard in Acrylic White Fender American Deluxe Bridge, Top-Loading or Through-Body Herrick Dual-Coil Telebass '51' pickup overwound to 11k ohms CTS solid-shaft pots, Chiclet cap .047uF, Switchcraft Jack in cats-eye side plate Fender Chrome '51' Pickup Cover Fender Tug Bar Fender dome-top knurled control knobs with grub screws Wilkinson WJBL 200 tuners La Bella 760FS Steel Flatwounds 45-65-85-105, Through-Body Stringing Is this really the final version..? I hope so, because I just don't have the time (or disposable bass tokens) for any more finishing shenanigans... I thank you!

Just getting through the post show let down after a very busy week.I was playing in the orchestra(yup, we had strings) for an amateur production of "Chicago" and although it is a slimmed down and cleaned up version of the Broadway show and is referred to as the "High School Edition", the music and orchestrations are for the most part exactly the same as the Broadway music.Luckily the musicians(14) are experienced players who have played many shows and some play in bands I am in and did a fantastic job with some very demanding music. Listen to the movie soundtrack if you want to get an idea of the level of playing demanded.Last week was three days of rehearsals and three shows.Of course the band had rehearsed a number of times before this. I was a last minute addition to the band when some extra money became available and I was asked to play...are you ready...tenor banjo!Almost 40 years ago I was very busy gigging with Dixieland type bands in Toronto but I haven't really played any serious banjo music for a long time so the last couple of weeks were real a real workout for me trying to get back some of the licks that I needed for the show and to get back into reading a banjo score instead of bass music. It was a great experience to do the shows and I had a fantastic time playing some good arrangements with excellent musicians.Three nights of full house with standing O's for cast and orchestra all three nights.On top of that I got back into playing banjo and even had couple of little solos in the show which I managed to play OK. I guess the point of the story is that if something that sounds interesting is offered to you,go for it because you might not get another opportunity like it again. Swing band rehearsal today playing bass and also a few Dixie tunes on banjo.Love it. As I have said on here before, we are so lucky to have music in our lives and be able to share it and have fun with others when we are playing. I have been gigging for 56 years and still get a thrill.I better go practice now...

One of our gigs last weekend was at a pub whose landlord, Phil, used to own a different pub. We used to play regularly for Phil at his previous pub but the new owners cancelled all the bookings when they took over. At last Saturdays gig two minibuses turned up full of locals from Phil's previous pub who'd come especially to see us, a thirty mile round trip. Money in Phil's till and two fingers up to the new landlord at his previous pub. We were delighted to see them

And we forgot the great Carles Benavent with Paco de Lucia (everything was played fretless !!!) He even played with Miles Davis and nowadays, he's been playing with Chick Corea... Listen to this and his amazing style of playing :

It depends what kind of look you’re after. I originally planned to clear coat and polish mine but in the end I just applied the amber nitro and left it to age and wear naturally. I lightly sanded with very fine paper, 2000 grit I think, to smooth it. I’m happy with it.

I have listened to a bit of Joe Bonamassa and I don't quite understand why he is the big thing; no doubt he can play but it all sounds a bit blues by numbers. Robert Cray is a far more interesting guitarist imo. Also has a great voice.

Most of what is happening now is what I call "smooth blues" which is main stream blues for the masses. Like Joe Bonamassa and Gary Clarke. Blue

OK - slightly different answer to my earlier post. The single cut above, which is actual Camphor, wasn't actually very holey. As such I got away with just creating a slurry by sanding with wet and dry but using Tru-oil as the wet (basically a variation of the 'slurry and buff' approach). Also, the slurry is the sawdust of the predominant wood - and this camphor was similar hues all around so filling small voids with that lighter slurry didn't detract from the darker burl This one below, was Camphor Laurel (it is actually a type of laurel as far as I understand) which was holey like yours: And this one, yes - I mixed ebony sanding dust with epoxy and filled it with that. This gives a true black fill of the voids: This one below was the same Camphor Laurel, but this time I did a tru-oil slurry and buff. Bear in mind this is not full gloss finished, but you see how the lightness of the slurry tends to soften the burl effect: So, I would say for maximum effect, mix epoxy (Z-epoxy would be my choice) with a decent amount of a very dark sanding dust, for a lesser effect, you could slurry and wipe. Or - you could opt to leave unfilled, as I have for @Len_derby 's very recently finished burl poplar lightweight bass:

An option would be or could be rather, mix epoxy with black powder paint and really bulk it up with brass or bronze dust to give it a polished metal effect. There was a furniture maker on the Scottish borders who did that on Elm burr table tops and it was sensational. Just found a video to give you an idea

The real deal!

Mind set - interesting. I was thinking that a few weeks back. Turned up to do a festival on a pretty big stage and the sound man took one look at the pedal train nano and the K10.2 and said "er, is that it? where's the head and cab?" After explaining, he mumbled something about weirdness and plugged into the through port on the QSC. Afterwards he wandered over and said he liked the bass sound very much and found mixing the FOH bass much easier as there wasn't a massive big cab blaring it out which he had no control over. I had my onstage monitor, rest of the band was happy, soundman was happy. It's a mind set.

@jrixn1 - the quality of the venues you play are much better than the ones I do!! There's no sawdust, puke, spilt beer or blood anywhere!

@jrixn1 - good to hear your experiences. So then, agreed, your best rig ever? And by some long shot I'm guessing? The speakers in PA cabs are just far better than the ones found in your standard offerings... and with the DSP, any inadequacies in the cabs are catered for digitally. What's not to like, right?

I've been working as a volunteer at my local Drug & Alcohol service delivering groups. I decided to run a group where the members would learn to play "The Chain" - easily recognisable, not too difficult to play. I took in two basses and an amp. A number of the group had a go - remember that recovery is about perseverance and obstacles as is learning to play bass. One of the group was left handed so I was given the challenge of playing left handed - you know what? - we take our normal dexterity and muscle memory for granted - I was making loads of mistakes...if I practised left handed I think I might get the hang of it but I got reminded how difficult it was when I started. Playing bass is a lot harder than you think...

I ought to do you under copyright laws using an image of my missis without her permission LOL. but I suppose I would have to sue 98% of wales.

In the loud band, when I owned Bergs I used 3 112 cabs, then a 212 and 112. Now I'm using BF cabs I always use 2 SC's or lately 2 Two10's. The guitarist uses a Fender Twin which he sometimes links up to second combo. I could use 1 cab on the "regular" gigs, it's loud enough, but I've used 2 cabs (BF, Bergs, Mesa Boogie, Ampeg) on most gigs for many years because 2 just sounds so much better.

I agree FireDragons or Ddraig Dân 😀

A bit of extra sawing, carving and lots of sanding this weekend has resulted in this. You can clearly see the saw marks on the angled side but, like I said before, I've made it a few millimetres over-sized so it should sand out.

FireDragons sounds great!

crazy

Two more jobs - soldering the wires and fitting the strap buttons. However, took the advantage of a little bit of cloud (not often in the UK we say THAT!) to take the arty-farty shots - taking photos in full sunlight is not an easy thing to do! Before those shots (and forgive the self-indulgence!), someone asked me why I've started scooping the back. Two reasons that can be seen in these two shots: It takes out a LOT of weight. Just look at how much wood has been removed - and this is a relatively thick body this time: It allows a superslim transition of the neck to the body. Again, this one has been made a little deeper (this one is 30mm at its minimum - my last build was 25mm where the body was basically the same thickness as the neck!) but still retains those pleasing lines at the transition. I've also left the transition relatively modest starting with a taper just past the 13th fret - I can always get the surform out if, after he's had a proper play with it, @Len_derby wants it slimmer further up Anyway, enough of the technicals - here are the fancy shots: As always, many thanks for sticking with yet another tortuous thread and for your kind words and encouragement - always HUGELY appreciated Andy

We call them 'paid rehearsals'

I'm not really one for fancy finishes but always liked the Fender Paisely print models. I'm also a cheapskate so it'd need to be DIY. The Harley Benton PB-50 has been a great bass for me so that was the starting point. While looking for suitable Paisley print I saw a link for "Hydrographics" and with release of the fiery red PB-50 looming thought that would be the answer 🙂 Not to be. The hydrographics people never replied to my questions and the fiery red PB-50 has a hole beneath the scratchplate that needs filling ☹️ I'd also be limited to black on red paisely. The sunburst PB-50 project in March was a doddle and I saw this pan out the same way so ordered up a B-stock . That assumption was to cost me 😄Paisely print was a nightmare to find, wallpaper print is too big. Got the last 2 sheets of a great pink/gold paper from Etsy.com. Rust-o-leam had a pink that matched. I was in business 😎 From here on in the benefit of hindsight causes the most pain.

It is a pleasure to be here. I would like to invite people to share thoughts and invite you all to get to know me. Sending you my best regards, Jeff

Joe is a money-making machine. Hope he gets his fair share! I remember interviewing him a while ago and said ‘Where do you think you’ll be in 10 years time?’ He said, straight off: ‘If they’re anything like the last ten I’ll be dead...’

Lance Lopez and Anders Osborne are two that come to mind to me. Actually for new ‘old’ blues, Sweet Tea by Buddy Guy is pretty damn good. Robert Randolph and the Family Band hit on funk and gospel as much as blues, but Robert Randolph is an awesome slide guitarist.

Yes, I've had the other members of the band saying "what is that?" and "why is that over there next to the drums?" but it's not negative in any way - just the first time of seeing a PA speaker where they weren't expecting one to be. The way it looks (functional) is fine with me - although if they made a version with a cloth cover I would trade mine in for it. The closest I saw was https://www.thomann.de/gb/friedman_amplification_asm_12_active_monitor.htm but it's expensive and heavy, and perhaps lower spec than my current one. Yes, double bass sounds very very good through this! 😀

Even for an acoustic that action is getting towards unplayable territory. As a general rule of thumb, once you've got the basic technique down, playing barre chords shouldn't require any real physical effort. On that guitar it looks like it would require a fair bit of downwards force even quite near the nut, let alone further up the board.

Ouch indeed. Get well soon. *waits impatiently for healing*

Ouch. At least you came back with it. Get well soon.

yes, Trace didn't make many duds but this was one, had the misfortune to use one on a multi band gig, "Trace Elliot combo supplied" oh goody methinks

What about the Midlands Bush? Are you banning us from that too?

Fir goodness sake!

Well if you’re ever down in Herts, let me know Si

Bland. Nothing the Ting Ting's didn't do 10+ years ago. All IMHO, of course....

If I'm learning something new, While it's a bass cover not a tutorial this would be what I would use to learn the song, but add my personal style to it. Blue

Because there are so many sounds you can get out of this pedal I try to limit my use of it so I can quickly remember which settings I like according to the song I play. This pedal is great fun at home or in the studio as you have time to tweak, but on the fly in a performance situation it’s not very user friendly if you need to call up multiple tones. I typically only use two tones which only needs one knob to tweak without changing the mode setting. I start with choosing mode 10, set the frequency and resolution to about half way (give or take a little tweak in either direction), quite a bit of dry mix and roll back the fx mix to about the 2 o’clock position. I leave it like that pretty much permanently. At this point all I have to do is control is the decay knob. All the way up gets rid of the envelope filter and creates a really gnarly gated fuzz tone. I can add additional affects after this pedal if I want to for a bit more fun. If I roll back the decay filter I start engaging the envelope filter which gives a vocal sounding envelope filter for a keyboard synth tone. So, two completely different tones and only one knob to tweak. It’s an awesome pedal, but I am in the market for something that has memory to store and call up tones, such as the Markbass Super Synth or SourceAudio Multiwave Bass Distortion.

Probably, yes. Sorry that the bass didn't work out for you. There are lots of other great models for you to check out.

Or perhaps it’s the better way and all us right handed players are at a disadvantage? After all, why does it have to be one way? And if you think about it, when playing normal right handed mode it’s the left hand that has a more complex job to do which is counter intuitive to me as a right hander. If you think of the precursors string instrument wise (assuming double bass played with bow) the right hand had a far finer set of movements to perfect. But short of buying one of each and exactly matching practice from the start to see which feels easier I am not sure how you would prove this one way or another.

😂 leathering is the art of fisticuffs outside of the marquess of queesnbury's rules 😏 Alternatively, a girl started beating up her boyfriend at the event 👍

Yep, this! Ha! 😀 To the O/P, would you be willing to pop the chassis out and take a pic? It may be DFA control..

Bel Assis by Mo Foster, his first solo album... sublime. Esp A Walk In The Country. Beautiful track.

Last stage. Still more heartache on the horizon 😱 Lacquer got peeled off with a razor blade,back and sides rubbed smoooth,satin black applied. No drama 🙂 Putting the bass back together wasn't straight forward. I was fitting a 2 saddle/through body bridge, from that you want the strings and pickup to line up near as possible. The Bloodstone P-Bass 50's chosen for this job didn't fit the hole,nor did the Roswell ?? I had a smaller single coil bought on ebay so used that. Bridge drilled and fitted,string bushings drilled/fitted. String it up for first time. All OK except the neck is arching back on itself 😱Slacken off the TR helps but even with the saddles jacked right up the strings are hitting the fretboard. Never had this bother fitting the other 2 saddle so start investigating. Turns out the new PB-50s have a different bridge,that bridge has a thicker base plate so the neck pocket was shallower. Got the router out and trimmed down the neck pocket Still couldn't fathom why the pickup didn't fit. I'd 2 Roswell pickups and lifted the wrong one,the one for this PB-50 had been trimmed down by 1mm. I had the router out anyway so cut a bigger hole 👍 You'll be glad to know I now have a playing bass 😉 I may add a skin to the back at a later date.

The new batch of PB-50s have had a change of factory and they do things differently. The annoying hole for the pickup wire was present and needed filled. For some stupid reason I stripped the body of it's lacquer. Not only did the lacquer come away but the photo flame peeled off and left an uneven surface. This is a layer of lacquer and one of the photo flame paper looked at from the back and side. . Covered the whole thing in filler then sanded flat. Next up. The Print Debacle !!