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The general policy is to let nature take its course, and have topics 'sink or swim' depending on the frequency of posts added. Any subject not attracting replies would then, naturally, sink down (but would still be found by searching, of course...). Some topics, such as warnings about Paypal scams, are of permanent interest, and would normally not, in themselves, solicit replies; hence the pinning. It's also true that, when pinned, topics tend to become 'part of the furniture', and no longer receive any visits at all, because they're pinned..! Having said all that, and recognising the quality and value of the OP, I'll pin this, as it's in the proper section for those interested. On my head be it, then; let the pinning commence..!

Hmm just watched the vid and although I agree with the premise I gotta say I preferred it when they overplayed as it shut the singer up !

Indeed so. The LPJ DC above costs $799. I'd cheerfully pay as much - or more - for a plane ticket to the States, car hire and a hotel at the other end just so I could hunt down whoever came up with that monstrosity and give them the Chinese burn of a lifetime. A Junior in name only. Too true, Gibson, too true.

On a 5-string that's only £13 per string. Unless you have a serious issue to resolve (or in my case anything that involves a soldering iron), any amount greater than a penny is too much to pay for a set up IMHO. Bass guitars are pretty simple - you'd be much better advised learning how to set it up for yourself.

Reading dots can take you to places you might otherwise never go. I value it considerably as a learning tool, for recording compositions and for reducing wasted time in rehearsals.

Done a bit of sanding on this for the belly are arm shaping. The neck is starting to look quite nice - I think the birds eye maple will finish nicely

In fact, that guy could probably sell you some

I normally charge £35 for a set up. Typically this will include adjustments to the nut slots, truss rod and string height. Lubricant where required. A thorough clean. Fret polish and board treatment. Strings not included in the price.

Kids don't worry me. They can't drive or carry a 10x8. I'll still have a gig 😂

Thought I'd share since the bassline is so badass 😎 The album as a whole is worth checking out if you're into funky neo soul/jazz/beats...

I bought a 2017 EB4 new a year ago, and it is a damn good bass. Babicz bridge, two humbuckers with coil taps, I've used for a few gigs and it sounds great. Very light as well. Surprised it was so badly received by the bass playing world, I think they condemned it without playing it or even seeing it in the flesh.

Awesome thank you chaps!

A few weeks ago I paid £100 for a full setup (minus strings, flats so didn’t need changing), but that included a full fret levelling & polish etc. It took him (a busy luthier) one day to turn around. The bass played beautifully after, like really really good! So if your guy does good work, i’d say the price is ok if it genuinely will feel like a different bass after, although i’d hope they can turn it around quicker than 10 days, I always feel a bit hard-done-by after 7 days haha Si

One person's easy is another person's total pain in the neck. I am really hopeless with anything technical, and it makes me really grumpy even trying to attempt it. Luckily I am in a position where I can pay experts to set up my bass, alter my curtains, change my tyres.. all that technical shizz that I really cannot bear to do. I even hate changing my strings, but I can just about manage that without assistance. Takes me a very long time and much swearing though. It's obviously different if you are a bit hard up and/or actually like that side of things.☺️ Re the original question - I'd say £65 is a bit steep, but I'd be willing to pay it if I knew they were going to do a really good job.

Today was inlaying, joy!! Briefly, bottom of the design stuck onto masking tape, masking tape on top of headstock. Masking tape to masking tape superglue the inlay in place Scribe around the design with a sharp marker, I used a scalpel but I'm sure there is a better tool for this than that. Pull off the surrounding masking tape to make sure you've scribed everywhere Pare off the inlay with a chisel then rout out the design, I forgot to photo this but I used a Dremel, a 1mm bit for the outline and a 3mm bit for the bulk of the waste. I tend with dark woods like this to actually rout half and half through the line leaving something like a 0.5mm gap all around which in reality means some places it's tight and in others there's 1mm gap. Then I mixed epoxy with dust saved from sanding the fretboards and glued them all in with plenty oozing out, messy but in this case it doesn't matter as we are grain filling the lot afterwards and the black on black won't show once it's sprayed. Sand it all off once dry and see how it looks, there are still some voids that need filling, they have been cleaned out and done but they're being left now for a cople of days, I'm having a day off tomorrow

No chance! I'm committed to becoming a badass on the bass 😎

£115 for a set up? That's some serious

Last night was my first gig with the 80s covers band that I joined a couple of months ago (c.f. "Number of songs for audition" thread). It was at the Maiden's Head in Maidenhead - decent venue, easy load-in/out, the crowd picked up over the course of the evening. However I did have to deal with a situation that I'm not sure I've ever encountered before, but which is probably going to become a regular occurrence: hollow wooden stage with no PA support. The EQ that resulted in a good sound out front meant a little area of extreme boominess within a radius of about 2m of my bass amp. My new bandmates were absolutely elated with my performance and the way the band sounded as a whole. I made a few flubs, but well within my range of acceptable tolerances for a first gig with a new band. I also got to wear a shirt that I bought about 15 years ago, but have never worn because it's fairly hideous. Yet perfect for an 80s band. S.P.

That, and well... I can't be bothered to do it myself. I know my way around me gear, for any professional it's imperative that you should, but when I'm out playing 2 and a half hours plus 4 nights a week, I can't really be bothered to do it myself on my time off, and would rather a professional who knows their craft do it for me to exacting standards 🤷🏻‍♂️

Thunderbirds: They never stopped making them, but they did tweak the pickups, electronics and bridges. I think they genunely missed a trick by failing to move away from the colour options of sunburst, black or (occasionally) white/ivory. I couldn't give a rats donkey for the 50th Anniversary gold one or the other misfires; surely if you're painting all these effing Les Pauls a myriad of rainbow colours, how difficult would it be to slip a Thunderbird into the paint booth? Fools.

Yes - generally for stripping poly I use heatgun and decent decorators scraper: You actually need quite a bit of heat but as said above, also need to avoid burning the wood (quite easy to do). Keeping the heat gun moving helps. A sharp edged scraper allows you to get under the poly as it softens but you need to guard against digging in. Basically, start at the back to start to get the feel for it, don't rush and don't be surprised if, under one removed layer, there is another one underneath (Ibanez's are particularly prone to this).

Oh no. That's totally ruined my enjoyment of Def Leppard and Kiss.

Extraordinary to see such negative vibes, and I'd wager none of you have seen one of these in the flesh let alone played one. Go and try one before you comment. I have one (more details to follow tomorrow) - the revoiced preamp does sound very musical even on full mid boost. The weight loss is very noticeable - I have a light Stingray and Sabre and this is noticeably lighter than them. The output is huge. The changed body and neck contours feel really good. Oh and flawlessly constructed and the roasted maple is the slickest neck I've ever played. What's not to like (other than the price - but this is easily as good if not better than say a Fender CS) Regarding string to string volume - this bass is very balanced - The pre amp is revoiced - I don't think people will have an issue with that even if the EQ settings are abused. And the slap tone remains wonderful - clever eh? Just to correct some errors in Misdee's post - there was an issue with quality control from CLF who made the pre EB basses initially, which affected amongst other things necks on pre EB basses - indeed rigorous quality control was instituted as dealers rejected the instruments and eventually this created a relationship breakdown because CLF were either unwilling or not capable of producing a product which would meet MMs requirements (this was the 70s!!!) - it's all readily available in print - the issues included inoperable truss rods, dead spots (at the very top end of the neck), rattling truss rods and worse. Those in circulation didn't have those issues.

'Heart attack' is a catchall term for so many different problems - advice for the wrong one could be misleading at best, life threatening at worse. If I were in your shoes I'd be looking for the advice of those who treated you and know exactly what your problem is, not a bunch of random bass players who have never met you.

Knew I'd seen that charcoal sparkle finish before 😁

The figure of eight technique was used with Arkansas stones and carborundum that were very hard. Being so hard the tool was near impossibly to gouge into it and getting even wear was important because you needed to take them to a stone mason to get flattened if they got dished. Waterstones being soft will let the tool dig in but also can the flattened on a piece of sandpaper in a few seconds. Pulling the blade backwards is also better because the burr gets polished off, pushing tends to break it off which can fool you into thinking the blade is sharp. The other reason we pull backwards is it is easy to maintain the tool angle by rocking from one foot to the other with our elbows locked into our ribs, the old figure of eight methods usually ended up with a rounded bevel that needed to become progressively steeper or to hone for longer There really is no need to use honing compounds, a 6000 grit stone will finish your tools to a mirror finish and more than sharp enough even for planing Satinwood or Snakewood. There is no need to worry about overheating with waterstones, using them is a wet process and self cooling.

This guy certainly makes his Reverend sound amazing:

I recall popping into The Old Duke in Bristol many moons ago on one of their jazz nights. There was a band playing and it quickly became apparent that the bassist (old Fender Jazz, sounded glorious) was, shall we say, a bijou bit busy. They took solos, bassist went first and credit where it's due, he was awesome. Then the sax took a solo... and the bassist kept soloing... drummer next... yup, bass was still going... he trampled on everything. By the end of the tune I just wanted him to FSTFU.

That's more 80's than a Betamax player, love it

I saw a drummer once doing blazing double kick in Caribbean Queen. In fact there's a plethora of drummers that sound like knitting machines

Nothing wrong over playing. It's just choosing when to. Imo.

I’ve done the right thing and have emailed Darkglass to see if I can review this little beast for you all

Please forgive the ostentatious title, some of you will remember a discussion a while ago regarding tool sharpening and my insistence that sharpening jigs are not needed; well I was asked to write this about how edge tools are sharpened in a professional cabinet making shop. Now please don't try and compare how a jobbing chippy sharpens his or her tools on site that is a different story but cabinetry and Luthiery have a similar need for tools that are precisely sharp as opposed to being sharp enough. I will honestly say the one machine/power tool I would not do without is a wet grinder, I would rather rip boards up with a ripsaw and plane them flat and to size by hand than do without that and have done in the past. Why you may ask? Well when you are trying to do fine work in wood the single most important thing you need is control and with cutting tools the only way you can get that control is with very sharp tools, not almost sharp or even sharp enough, to get precise cuts first time and every time they need to be sharper than that razor you shave with each morning and kept that way. It is a job that can be tedious if you let it be, the trick is to let it not be and to do that it needs to be quick and easy then it can be seen as a way of releiving your mind from the concentration levels of doing careful work for long periods. Lets have a look at my sharpening area What you see is a wetstone grinder, a tub of water and two Japanese water stones which a are wedged into wooden blocks to keep them from sliding in use; they are then kept in the tub of water when not being used. Above these I have a variety of gadgets that are associated with sharpening various tools but there is only one of note, the grinding angle gauge The wetstone grinder is used to give a hollow grind to the edge on a the cutting tool at a set angle which is determined by a little gauge. Mine is a 25 degree gauge which is a good all round angle for many tools giving a nice balance between durability and sharpness. The blade is clamped into a sliding carriage at the correct angle like this Then it is simply a matter of switching on and moving the blade from side to side until you have a fully ground hollow edge that is square. I've tried to illustrate that with these photos as best I can You can just make it out but notice that ragged burr on the edge. All we have done is to prepare our blade for the real sharpening: In days gone by various types of oilstones were the way to go, when I was an apprentice I had a prized set of Arkansas stones but things thankfully have moved on some since then, we have the waterstones, diamond impregnated tiles, ceramic stones.... My own favourites are the waterstones and I'll explain why. Waterstones are a man made brick for want of a better term, made of precisely graded grits, they are bound together quite loosely so they actually wear quite quickly in comparison to other types but that to me is an advantage. When you sharpen a tool you abbraide it's surface so tiny particles are removed, these can become embedded quite firmly in the stone and cause something called glazing which reduces it's efficiency. Waterstones on the other hand break up very slowly so the particles are freed stopping that glazing. The downside of that of course is that the stone can quickly wear out of true, thankfully it is so easy to flatten unlike the old Arkansas stones that needed taking to a stone mason. To flatten a waterstone just get a strip of 80 grit sandpaper taped to a flat surface and give the stone half a dozen rubs on that and the job is done, easy. Another great advantage is that water is used a s a lubricant so rather than having oily hands after sharpening they are merely wet and the stones can just be put back in the tub with not further cleaning or drying needed. I have two stones, the large red one which is a 1000 grit stone and the yellow one which is a 6000 grit, I use one at a time, they are both out above just for illustration. I don't have photos of the actual procedure but it is easy to understand. To start sharpening you stand in front of the stone (1000 grit), one foot in front of the other (important). You take the blade in both hands with some fingers from each hand on top of the blade to give it full support. Place the blade on the stone and feel for that hollow grind, there is a point where it sits flat and stable. Now you can either sharpen at that or as I do lift the blade a tiny amount so I only grind the front edge. Lock your elbows tight into your rib cage to lock your arms rigid, then rock backwards using your legs, so weight shifting from the front foot to the back foot, that stops the blade rocking. Do that four times and you should be left with a tiny shiny flat across the whole front edge of your blade. If you look closely mine isn't even, my stone needs flattening (OOPS!) but looking closely notice the burr Change the stone to the 6000 grit and do the same again, remember this must only be done backwards never forwards, the stones are too soft. So four times then flip the blade over and place it flat on the stone, slide the blade over the stone backwards four times. Repeat that two or three more times until when you examine the edge there is absolutely no sign of any burr and the back face should be almost a mirror finish. That should give you a wholly flat edge, for a bench plane you may want to give that edge a slight curve, to do this I use an extra pass over the 6000 stone with pressure on one outside edge then the other and that will be enough to give you a nice edge for a plane And that is it, just give the blade a quick dry on a towel along with your hands and back to work but be careful, that blade will be sharp and i mean sharp. The grinding procedure isn't done every time, just when the sharpening procedure starts taking longer as the flats get bigger; typically I sharpen four times then regrind. Even with regrinding a single blade can be processed within a couple of minutes. I keep four to six plane blades above my bench and sharpen all of them at once, that way I am less likely to be tempted to use a dulling iron when it is so easy to quickly change and it is quicker to sharpen six once then one six times. I hope you can see the logic in that method, every cabinet shop I have been into uses that exact method so I assume that it is probably the best and easiest way of doing it, being quick and easy you are more likely to want to do it and the more likely your work will improve. One last thing and this is actually the very first thing with any flat blade. The back face of a cutting tool needs to be flat, when you buy it it won't be, not even close. The first job with any new chisel or plane blade is to flatten it; how depends on how bad it is. Sometimes 10 minutes on a 1000 grit stone will do it flattening the stone a couple of times, if it is really bad then some 80 grit carborundum powder and a piece of glass it the way to go. Once it's flat then it will stay flat as long as you keep your stones flat but that back face MUST be flat to get the best out of your tools. Very briefly the reason why: A chisel is used mostly but supporting the back edge on work that has previously been cut, either to the side or behind the cutting edge. The back of the chisel is used as a rest and as a guide for progression, if your blade isn't flat then it will either dig in (blade concave) or ride up (blade convex) and that will never ever let you produce good work. Plane blades Other than you wont be able to sharpen properly a bade that is hollow along it's length one of the most important pasts of a bench plane is the cap iron, unless that is in intimate contact with the blade face it will clog up and even with the sharpest blade in the world that plane will not work or certainly won't be capable of quality work but more on that again.

My template worked - fretboard slotted, glued to neck and roughly trimmed. Next task will be to trim this using my router table then the shaping can start. Based on the short scale bass neck made with the offcuts of this neck, I reckon the finish should be really nice on this.

Excellent news. I've played in that room as part of 'Dovefest' in 2017. 1. jebroad 2. Len_Derby

Why do people take such pleasure in the demise of a fine old instrument manufacturer? So they don't make a P bass, so what? The EB range was a standby of pub and club bands back in the late 60s and 70s.

Razors are specialist tools that have an extreme hollow grind, I assume they are sharpened often on some sort of stone but given that keen edge by stopping on a leather strap. They have some form of rouge on them that has become impregnated so provide a very gentle polishing of the edge which as part of the way the razor is used doesn't require that flat back most woodworking edge tools do. The combination stone is a carborundum stone that needs oil as a lubricant, useful for the jobbing joiner/carpenter who can't carry a specialist sharpening setup. To be any use they really need to be flat but a stonemason can flatten it quickly if you want, then use the same technique as above but don't expect the same edge as with more modern types of stone. It will be sharp enough for planing softwoods and most hardwoods but it won't be able to give that shimmering surface a truly sharp tool will and will require more sanding afterwards (this is all about speed at the end of the day). I read the scary sharp thing, yes well... It will work but not in my shop especially if I'm paying your wages. Hand slapping, I don't know what to say, honestly, it seems it helps get rid of the burr but it should already be gone after the 6000 stone all that realistically does is break any burr off, your hand isn't an abrasive. I suppose it make someone feel more like am old school master or something. Actually you can buy am 8000 grit waterstone, a lot finer than the 6000 I recommend, it is used after the 6000, it also needs a secondary stone called a Nagura stone which helps build up a slurry on the surface. The 8000 grit will add to the overall sharpness, I have one (somewhere) but it gives no real advantage over the edge given by the 6000 grit so it is a waste of time in my eyes and any extra sharpness is probably lost after the first pass of a plane over timber. Remember though that the wetstone grinder is part of this method in that it keeps your blade in that easy to sharpen state, it is THE most important tool/machine in my workshop

Willkommen 😎 (That's German for welcome...) (No, I'm not German...)

Just an update on this thread. Have now got Newtone strings on three of my basses (with a set ready for the fourth when the strings on that need changing). Both Diamond & Platinum round core nickel types. Platinum’s are slightly smoother but not by much. Difficult to understand any tone difference between them as they are on instruments with different pickup configurations & electronics. All the basses sound epic though. Am now a Newtone convert & these will be my string of choice from now on!

Certainly is, Cos... ☺

I have a Jackson Kelley bass with a pointy head. It has a pointy Explorer-style body also. Your bass has a nice bright red color and maple board. I like it.

Another strength of yours: the ability To make up rhyming poetry on the flea. Is that better?

Nice one. The gigs I always wanted were the show band, theatre and cruise work. Sadly I ruined my life by getting married to a psycho at 20

Great for prodding unruly audiences

Yes. everything.

Where did all the funk go? Juan Nelson stole it all.