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Hi I've got a full build on the horizon but have been catching up on a few bits and pieces - some for other folk and some on my own guitars and basses. As part of that, one thing I do periodically, is remind myself what wood or unused components I have taking up space and which generally irritate MrsAndyjr1515. Although that is one of the few great pleasures left in life, actually I do need to clear some space for the next load of mess I have planned And I came across something I'd forgotten about - @TheGreek 's first Psilos neck Some of you might remember that originally the hidden magnetic pickup was going to be a standard humbucker. I did a mockup and it looked fine. Trouble was, because it was going to be inserted from the back, then it basically cut right through the neck core: Now, in reality - because there would be the fretboard at the other side - this isn't actually much different to what a deep pickup rout does to a through-neck in any case. But this shot was, admittedly, a bit stark! And Mick asked me if we could re-think. That's when the idea of custom individual coils came up...which is what we went for in the end: But that meant making another full length neck and left me with the shorter neck number 1. Look familiar? The reasoning for building another Dreadnought acoustic will be explained anon. But that's what I'm going to use the old Psilos neck blank for

It's really very simple. Eurovision is not about the music. Basically it's the epicentre of over-the-top, glitzy campness and we just haven't been building our entries to spec. Want to win Eurovision? Here's how: * The performer is more important than the song so choose someone with an intriguing back story, a willingness to wear heavily perforated bondage gear and the ability to weep like Niagara Falls without the aid of a freshly peeled onion * Come up with a dance routine that would scare your mum, possibly involving near-naked people juggling blazing chainsaws * Select 'basic EDM 4/4' on your drum software. Turn down the snare, turn up the kick. Switch off cymbals. * Choose two chords. Any two chords will do. * Write lyrics which detail the performer's urgent desire to 'be themselves' and not 'anyone else'. Ker-ching!

Sellers can be freaks as well, I had a right one on a Facebook selling page. I wanted to buy a VCR to convert some old videos of the kids to DVD. I work in Plymouth and saw one for sale in Plymouth, ideal I'll swing by one the way home from work. "Is it still for sale?" "Yes." 'I'll have it, I'll pick it this evening at half five." "Yes." “Can I have you address please?“ “Yes." After about an hour, " Can I have your address please so I can pick it up this evening?“ “Yes." Another half an hour goes by, “Address?“ “I'm not giving out my address over Facebook, here's my mobile number, if you text when you're five minutes away, I'll give it to you then". "How the feck will I know when I'm five minutes away, five minutes away from where? This is too difficult, you can keep it!“

Hi fellow basschatters! After 30 years of being 100% dedicated to all things bass-related, I lost my mojo and worried it was gone forever. Fortunately it has come back with a vengence and I thought it might be helpful to share my story for others possibly facing this in their own bass career. Here's the video...

Dep with a function band tonight/last night , at a massive hall . A bit OOT , but I wasn't loud . Just fancied trying out both cabs together for the first time

I'm not sure whether anyone is interested, but I've just finished a guitar with a brushed nitrocellulose lacquer finish. I always swore that I'd never use nitro - too poisenous both for me and the planet. However, a friend asked me to make them a Tele using a beautiful piece of flamed spalted maple, and nitro was the only finish that worked. Polyurethane, oil and CA glue turned the test pieces into a dull splodgy brown mess, not exactly the look I was going for. Nitro though brought out all the beautiful colours and let the flame really sing. Here's the piece of wood before I started.... Although I do spray waterbased polyurethane, there's no way I can spray nitro so I thought I'd try brushing it on. The internet though had almost no information about whether it was possible to brush it on, how to do it, or what the results would look like. So, hopefully this thread will help you decide if you want to do it. It is definitely not an easy option, but.....let me get up some finished pics, and you could decide whether it was worth it. This is what I used: This is Rothko & Frost's standard gloss nitro that they sell neat, ie not in aerosol. This was a 250ml bottle and I used the whole thing plus a bit more on the body. I brushed it on with an artist's brush, a trick I stole from @Andyjr1515. You need to make sure that it's a brush for oil paints, with natural bristles, otherwise the solvents can melt them. I used a Daler Rowney Bristlewhite hog hair fan brush, size 4 (though a size 6 might have made life a bit easier). They are comically long so I cut mine to a more manageable length. Schedule was something like this: 1. Sand to 220 2. Grain fill with Aqua Coat 3. Ignore the fact that the grain fill was pretty poor and crack on with finishing (john, john, john, will you never learn?🙄) 4. Brush on R&K Nitro, thinned with 30% R&K cellulose thinners, probaly about 10 coats. 5. Curse myself repeatedly for failing to grain fill properly. I've made enough guitars to know that preparation is everything, and if you want a smooth finish grain fill is critical. Impatience though sometimes clouds my already pretty poor judgement 5. Wet sand with Wet/Dry paper (water with a drop of Murphy's oil soap) with 600 grit. 6. Another unknown number of coats. It felt like hundreds, but was probably another 5 or so. 7. Wet sand 1000 grit 8. 'wet' sand with Gerlitz Carnauba wax on a piece of Mirka Abralon 1000 grit. This left exactly the satin sheen I was after. I found the key was to brush the nitro on in one stroke, never go back over somewhere you've just painted. Because the nitro dissolves the layer before, I found the brush would start 'sticking' as it got caught in the previous layer. My approach was to do lots and lots of layers, knowing that I would have to go back and wet sand quite a lot of it off to get it completely flat. In reality, because my grain fill was....well, shite.....I had to do many many more layers than I otherwise would have had to have done. If I ever do this again, I'm hoping that 10 layers in total would be enough, assuming a flat surface to begin with. I lay the guitar flat on a 'lazy susan' turntable, did the top and the sides at the start of the day then turned it over and did the back and sides. Would I do it again? Ummm....yes, and no. Yes, if the wood was crying out for nitro, as this piece was. I'd be a bit reluctant to do it again on an entire guitar body though. Even though it was brushed rather than sprayed, the fumes were still pretty bad, and I wore a proper mask with organic filters at all times. On a guitar with a binding like this one, next time I'd probably brush the top with nitro, as above, but do the rest of the body with something else, tru oil probably. The binding would provide a natural break between the two finishes, so the two finishes wouldn't ever touch. And on a flat surface like a guitar top (rather than the fiddly curved inner horns) you could whizz through the process in no time. It's worth mentioning that the Rothko & Frost nitro specifically says it is not suitable for brushing, though I'm not quite sure why, as far as I could tell it went on perfectly nicely. The process also used much less nitro than you would get through if spraying (I think). With a proper grain fill I'm pretty sure I could do a whole body with one 250ml bottle. An aerosol contains about 150ml of nitro, so I used probably the equivalent of two aerosols worth. I've never finished a guitar with rattlecans, but I'm pretty sure it would be many more than that. So all in all I'm pleased with the result (but the next one is going to be Danish Oil, which I can do on the kitchen table😂😁). And some photos.....

You lot are slow on the uptake. John Hall is visiting at the same time as Donald Trump, because they know all the protesters will go after Hall, allowing the Trumpmeister a peaceful visit.

It's in a ply/alu rack case in an attempt to prevent the Groovilium from escaping. In reality it doesn't get used. I'm not gigging...but by keeping it under lock and key I am preventing nearby planets from being expelled from the Solar System.

The other main one was Wendy Richards. We used to watch her from the tills in Selfridges while she peered over the top of her dark glasses to see who was looking. The best was Joan Collins. Selfridges was her local and she was in all the time. No shades, no make up, nowt. And no one gave her a second look. She used to come into the book department and talk to Brian who had been a child actor with her and then worked most of the fly's in the West End. One day she did a book signing and she came through the store on a chariot pulled by oiled Chippendale's while wearing a jewelled turban. Everyone knew She was in that day and it stopped traffic! She still spoke to Brian. IMHO Ms Collins really understood the game.

If I accidentally dropped a set of fret markers at your place I reckon you'd build a bass around them! Irrepressible.

Or because the UK retailers drew straws for who would host the event and Sound Affects of Ormskirk lost? Or because the venue is Hurlston Hall Golf Club and includes the word 'Hall' in its name? Or because it's easier to put a security perimeter round the club house for when the BassChat Massive turn up, swearing vengeance? The possibilities are literally endless

@mcnach yeah I'm getting it's the practice thing. Dammit 😜

Should also add that I’ve had passive basses louder than active ones and vice versa so I tend to use whichever input gives the best level regardless of the instrument ‘type’

I had a gig last night.

The works of Brother Smalls are to be venerated! I suggested this as a cover for our band but was shouted down by those with a lack of vision...

It’s not really slap , but more of a pop / hammer on , that I think gives this boz scaggs track a nice groove 🙂https://youtu.be/-C6Azq3ecrA

As mentioned in my headless thread, I'm looking at making a headed version of the mini bass, so I thought I'd start a thread for it. I'm planning on keeping it at 23" scale and the same body shape as the headless one (with a very slight tweak to the lower horn). I wasn't sure what to do with the headstock so I just went for the same design I have used on my recent semi hollow basses. To my eye, it seems to flow which is nice as it keeps something in common.  This design would allow me plenty of options with regards to bridges which is always the difficult thing when going down the headless route. I've also been looking at the option of a 5 string version of this. I've been looking at a 5 string version of a semi hollow bass (will put that on another thread) using the same head stock shape so I did a quick mock-up to see how that might look on a mini bass: It just looks wrong to me, the proportions don't seem quite right. I think the body looks too small compared to the head so I've mocked it up again making the body a little wider: I think the 5 string looks better with a slightly wider body but the shape needs a little more work I think. I also think tuners that had rounded buttons would also look better and not make the headstock look too big - something else to look at. Anyway, for the moment this I'm going to make one four string version and see how it goes.

... and it's my first gig since 1995! If anyone is in Nottingham and looking for something to to do, we will be on around 4:30; First band likely to be nearer to 3:30 than 2:30! After the great success of last years Abbey Road Army gig we are dropping you a reminder that ARA Take 2 is happening this month! Gig is on Sunday 19th May. at the Boat Club. · First act will go on around 2.30 pm. · Yes the 'bar' will be open! · Social Media - Tell Everybody! · Under 10’s go in free. Other than that the entry is £5 per person on the door where a large gentlemen will take the money and hand stamps will be in place. Please bring cash as we don't have a card machine!

Vinegar. Doesn't work at all, and stinks like vinegar. HTH

Half time in a surprisingly busy Sunday night hotel gig. The Groovilium is flowing

A very pleasant afternoon at the Derbyshire food and drink fair at Kedleston Hall. Full back-line and pa supplied and sound engineered by a competent crew. A well-oiled audience and we got paid too. My Swift Lite Bass made by our own @Andyjr1515 was almost the best looking thing on the stage.

Shows why short-scale basses are a bad idea 🙂

I'm quietly terrified of the day the Wickershams call it a day at Alembic. I read an interview with Ron a few years ago that suggested it would be a real possibilty when retirement comes. Admittedly the likelihood of me having the means to order a custom Alembic is very low, but it would be very sad if Alembic shut up shop.

The info about the list didn’t come from my memory, my brother in law still rows for the Union (he’s now Veteran, and old enough to know better!), and he told me about it fairly recently. Malcolm

Oh they're definitely past their best. Send them to me and I'll take care of it for you.

Many of you won't have even heard of these but I'm certain that my Veillette Citron is an absolute classic waiting to be recognised. Used by Bjorn from Abba and Tina Weymouth amongst others, it is reported that only about 260 basses were built by the two owners. From the net: Starting in 1976, luthiers Joe Veillette and Harvey Citron built and sold VC basses and guitars which were made of the finest woods and wired with revolutionary electronics (staged pickups and truly floating pickups) entirely handbuilt (except for tuners and knobs!) and beautifully crafted and balanced instruments. Each one is unique and today they are quite rare as total production of all basses and guitars was 530 instruments with somewhat over half, perhaps as many as 300 being basses. Their creations were played by Tina Waymouth (Talking Heads), Kasim Sultan (David Bowie), John Sebastian, The guitarist from the Good Rats and many other notables. By 1983, due to the cost of production and difficulty tooling up to meet demand, VC went out of business. Today both Harvey and Joe build amazing, custom made instruments and are located in Woodstock NY. As a bassist and collector of vintage basses, I have owned over 20 VCs - again, each is unique, but the one commonality they share is they are phenomenal players - thick ebony fretboards that have a unique and rich sound, never go out of tune, and the pickups- oh, the pickups... If you are not familiar with VCs or have never played one, do some research. They are much sought after and quite rare. http://www.veilletteguitars.com/press_citron.shtml

Was he crafty? Was he cockney? Do tell.

Yes, a pedal will effectively make your passive bass active. If it's switched on, or has a buffered bypass, it will have a low impedance output, and you might have a volume boost depending on what you're plugging into and how you have it set. But that doesn't necessarily mean you need to use the active input. I'd only use the active input or engage the pad if I was getting unwanted clipping at the input stage of the amp. And that depends on the bass - some passive basses are louder than some active basses!

Like most things, when abused it's a terrible thing, but slap bass can be done tastefully and it can be very nice in the right context. If your timing is failing you, I think it just means you need to practice it more. I think the key is to not try to put in more notes/percussive tones than we're able: make it sound good for the song first, simplify the line of you must, and once you get it grooving and you're comfortable, you can worry about adding more elements to it if you want to. I know that when I started to learn, my timing could be all over the place and I was far too tense, my arm would hurt sometimes and I needed to consciously relax it. Also, I'd move my hand/arm far more than is necessary, so I was very rough. By doing it again and again it gets easier and you relax more, and when you relax more it gets easier, and then you relax more, and then it gets easier, and then... you see the pattern, right?

Just slung my TE in the car for tonight's gig. It will be atop 2 BF 15" cabs and I can't wait.

An active bass ‘can’ overload the preamp on a bass amp (but it might not!). If it does use the active input which is padded usually by 10dB. Conversely a hot wound passive pick up might also overdrive the passive input. What rules eh! Ideally you should try both inputs and listen to the resulting sound. You might dig the extra grunt of the active into the passive input. Your effects unit in bypass mode isn’t adding anything to the signal so whatever input worked with just bass into amp should be fine. You’ll be adding gain stages via patches so they’re easily balanced if you’re noticing volume spikes between unit on and bypassed or between individual patches. Just turn the amp up to compensate for the the reduction in input gain versus output when using the padded input.

..or pay the shipping costs, avoid HMRC payments, worry about how safely it's being shipped... In short, what we need is a "beam me up Scotty".

There is a guy round my way that every time I put a bass up for sale on Gumtree he will give you a lowball offer. If you are asking £300 he will say something like "I know you are looking for £300 but I have £150 and can come over and collect the bass today." After 2 or 3 of these offers, I sent him back a mail congratulating him on giving a stupid offer on every bass I have put up for sale. Haven`t heard back from him since.

Madonna's a chancer. If we ignore her she might go away. This isn't a competition about "good music", whatever that is. It isn't my taste so I don't watch it. Any music is good if it is popular enough and with the audience figures this show gets it passes the good test on every level. We've been laughing at and demeaning the Eurovision contest for 30 years. With the UK press coverage and the BBC's use of Wogan and Norton to insult our European neighbours, it's hardly surprising they take their revenge and we don't do well. Our collective arrogance is a big problem across the board, but if we actually start treating this competition, and the other participants, with some respect we might be in a position to win in when the bad memories we've created have faded, say in another 30 years.

Isn't this why we voted Brexit?

I'm sensing negativity...

I liked the look of them but it was silly money for passive P and PJ basses. There's no shortage of well made basses out there that do the same thing for half of what Music Man were charging for these two models.

Years ago my soon to be wife and I moved in together and consolidated 2 large dvd collections and had many duplicates. We put some up for sale on evil bay. One guy bought a film then left really bad feedback as the dvd had bought for £1 with £1 carriage had a cracked case. Some people are total fktards..... evil bay tends to attract the really special ones...

Was tempted with a cutlass but it was a rip off IMO

@Jabba_the_gut strikes again - legendary work

The P bass will be called Joanna (I want to keep the tele and that name has certain associations for me!)

When I was on holiday once I actually heard someone ask a waiter what flavour the chocolate gateaux was.

Thanks. I've been working out.

So unless @jrixn1 has already beaten me to it, I'm guessing my gig outing tonight with the B1X-4 was probably the first out of the blocks for us? 50s and 60s band tonight, so pretty simple use: tuner, most of the set on 'clean' (= HPF + Comp + ZNR) with a couple of tracks using a drive patch I've created based on the MXR DI effect which is a lot less mid-scooped in core tone compared with the DG B7k sim (and similarly less scooped than the DG dirt options on my M900) and therefore cuts through in the mix really well. Managed to combine it with using a Smoothhound wireless pretty easily, without needing to set up a separate mini board. Performed just fine and slips very easily into the bass gig bag. Going to be a staple of my live sound going forward methinks. Anyway evidence of the B1X-4 set up ready for use...

So, initial impressions... My first instrument, so don't have anything to compare to, but the trbx174 feels nice and solid (without being overly heavy) and well made. The knobs all feel solid and I feel confident I've got a good 'un. Had to tune it as it wasn't close to being in tune... That's fine, I expected that. Lots of fret buzz, but I have mostly eliminated that by adjusting height of the action using allen key included (might get someone more professional to do a proper set up at some point though). Looking forward to getting it hooked up to an amp soon and getting more of a feel for the tone (and checking I don't have crackly pots etc). Had nice time noodling with it yesterday... No time today, as missus has had me working in the garden and now I'm gonna chill watching the FA cup and *cough* Eurovision 😂 Will start the proper learning on it soon!

More pics... trial fitting of the machine heads, I've also oiled the poplar wood on the face of the headstock with linseed and it's given it pleasing colour. Headstock from the back, I'll keep the veneer on this bit . In order to test out a few tools , techniques, ideas, etc and use up a few spare parts and end up with an interesting bitsa I'm also working on this: Bitsa body with contours and staining on the carved areas to blend withe the veneer. T800 neck with dots made from ebony from the black keys.

We should all buy a ticket, show up and ask him why he doesn't launch a range of Chinese Rics seeing as they'd be cheaper and better made. Then ask him to sign the Rickenfakers we've brought along. Just saying.

In the right voice, that sounds like the start of an action movie