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https://www.joinmyband.co.uk/classifieds/dynamic-bass-player-available-some-restrictions-t1172623.html Sounds a bit like me... 😄

This is a bit of a background job but I've made a little more progress. The top will be dished to a 25 foot radius - so I use a 25' radius dish as a former. The top struts, including the all-important X-brace, are cut out in profile and then the bottoms radiused to match their positions in the dish: Again, I will leave these flat-topped until they have been glued to the top, holding that in its 25' radius shape. Meanwhile, the AAA spruce top (lovely bit of wood from David Dyke) has been thicknessed down to 3.25mm and then is being glued between a trio of sash clamps, with the joint being held flat by a couple of flat cauls placed and clamped either side of the joint: When it is fully set, I will use a cabinet scraper to even the joint and to bring the final thickness of the whole sheet down to 3mm. The back, meanwhile, has had its centre cross-grain maple reinforcement added and is holding the 15 foot spherical radius nicely and is now ready for the final shaping of the struts: One thing on the back that has developed is a split along one of the grain lines. I've checked the sides (same wood) and they are OK, so I'll probably stitch it for good measure and just slurry-fill it when I do the finishing. Structurally, it can't go anywhere because of the bracing and the back doesn't really contribute to the tone of an acoustic so I don't think it will affect the performance. The alternative would be to scrap the back AND sides (they always come matched from the same piece of wood) and that would be a bit too OCD

Four string. Fivers are the work of Satan and say “Fiver” too many times and you’ll find yourself in a Candyman scenario

Yes he did but was fired after personal tensions developed between the two anthopomorphs. Topo Gigio explained later that when he was around Calamero 'it always felt I was walking on eggshells'.

By Rufus Thomas!!! Hahaha

And well played too, it's not an easy line.

For the last dreadnought I did, I did an offset rosette which I wanted to try again. This was the last one: This time, I took a note of the measurements! You never know - there maybe a next time! I'd got three plates I could use, so cut out the shape and tried them to see which figuring worked best: Then out with the Dremel. This is about the only job I do with this accessory but by golly it's useful! Then it's a case of measuring correctly and remembering which hole you are supposed to be pivoting around! With luck, you end up with this: Which gives me the rosette. Of course - I've got to rout the same shape in the expensive top wood next...hmmm and that needs to be accurate!

This is the undisputed truth of the universe

A 1 x 10" combo that weighs 2kg and sounds like a 1970s 100w Marshall bass head through two 4 x 12 cabs. That would sell, to me at least.

A couple of weeks ago I saw an old SR1000E. The item description, however, read... so, emboldened - as I do enjoy fixing up fixer-uppers - by Dutch courage and bad advice, clicked Buy It Now, drifted back into tipsy reverie and promptly forgot about it until it arrived in the post a few days later. Thankfully, I was able to see the source of the electronic woe within a couple of seconds, fixed in a couple of minutes, and the truss rod was a little stiff but quite functional, nothing which couldn’t be solved by a clean and lube of the nut and bolt. It needed a thorough decontamination from the biosludge which coated every square cm, but it’s working fully, the neck is straight as an arrow, it sets up nicely and sounds like a beast. It makes a great sibling for my same-year SR800 which came off the line 141 units earlier. I have some new straplocks on the way and that’ll be one of the best mistakes I ever made.

True. Topo Gigio only ever played fours as seen on the cover of his early 60's single Mamma Twist. It's an unforgettable musical experience.

Keep them down the back of the sofa like everyone else.

I went to buy a sandwich last Thursday lunchtime and ended up unexpectedly buying a Fender Player Precision as well. It’s the 3rd time I’ve gone out for lunch and bought a bass without planning to, all from the same shop. Hopefully this one will be a keeper, unlike the other two, but I really need to find a nice sandwich shop further away from PMT Newcastle in future.

The tops of most 'flat top' acoustic guitars are dished at around 25' radius. The backs vary, but are also dished usually to around 15' radius. So all of the braces have to be curved to suit, and then the back and top forced into shape while gluing those braces and thus hold the dish-shape. For this, you need a couple of radius dishes and - most of us use - a simple go-bar rig The radius dish I use is just a 20mm thick piece of MDF suitably scooped out. This is the 15' radius one for the back. The four maple back braces have been shaped to suit their relative positions on the disc and also shaped roughly parabolic, leaving the tops flat: The go-bar deck is just two stiff boards separated by threaded rods and wink nuts: Basically, a combination of dowel rods and fibreglass rods will be used to force everything into the dish. First I use the pretty stiff dowels to press the back fully into the dish: And now, progressively glue the braces into position, again using them to force the back sheet into the dish and therefore help it hold the curve when it's all dry: This is why I left the tops of the braces flat!

Just a quick pic with the temporary pickguard......... 😀

Wasn’t sure whether this should be in here or in Repairs & Technical but here goes…. The restoration of the electrics on my '83 SB-R150 is finally complete and I'm very pleased with the result. Huge thanks go to @Prostheta for his wizardry and patience and also to Rautia Pickups for the pair of MB-1E replacement pickups. This bass was originally listed for sale on here several years ago although I subsequently found it through an ad elsewhere (EDIT - I was actually given the heads up by @Fionn of the ad on FB). Turned out that the BC ad was indeed still live. I purchased it because it was in such beautiful condition, including the original case. The big (very big) and obvious issue was that the original pickups and electronics had long since been removed and disposed of. After conversations with Prostheta as to what was or wasn't possible I decided to push on with trying to get it restored to as close to stock as possible. The first pictures show the bass as I bought it, then with everything stripped out. Note the packers that had been fitted inside the pickup cavities to take the screws for the previously installed Armstrong pickups. Fortunately after some careful chipping away I managed to clear the old glue off to reveal the original pickup screw bushings. As you can see the loom (including 6-position Varitone and preamp) that Prostheta provided is a work of art and it seemed a shame to have to try and cram it into the seemingly tiny electronics cavity in the back of the bass. It was a squeeze but it went in and it is beautifully quiet running. No humming, no buzzing, even sat directly in front of the amp with the volume up to gigging levels it is uber quiet. Finally there are a couple of pics with this now complete bass taking its place alongside my R60 and R80. I may look out for a set of black or bronze pickup screws as the silver ones do stand out a little but all in all I'm thrilled with it. It sounds great with a powerful preamp and a huge range of tones and I know it’ll be good for years. I'm a happy chappy and I hope you enjoy the pics showing the seemingly simple but oh not so simple transformation. 😀

Seriously, it’s just down to practicing a lot. I use a variation on the floating thumb technique, my right hand moves down the strings, helping to mute the ones that I’m not playing. I’m also muting with my left hand, using the fingers I’m not using to fret notes. Maybe get a string mute thing too, they help cut down on unwanted string noise.

Just to close this one out. Got myself a Barefaced one10 and it’s enough! Absolutely astounded by the volume and bottom end from something so small. Love it!

Got it!! Boy In The Bubble by Paul Simon.

Satan's bum crack. 😉

Alan at ACG could do you something similar in design but far superior in build quality for less money...

Thank you, I'm very pleased with them, they are my first builds in quite a long time and a lot of new techniques for me in there too. Brass, well yes I have seen brass nuts (behave!) but never heard one; I have brass saddles on a Hiphot bridge on my Fender and they are very good compared to the stainless ones I also tried, I suppose it might sound more like a fret?

To be fair, I do know D, A, F and F sharp. In fact I can find F sharp better on my bass than I can on my Mac.

I've offered to teach him the D and A notes. £60 each

Sounds really good mate. Did you use the 'share' link as below?

My problem is that the song title An Old Windmill in Amsterdam immediately reminded me of the Max Bygraves 'hit' Tulips From Amsterdam and now I can't get that song out of my head. 'When it's spring again, I bring again...' Tulips song: Weapons-grade schlock

Aww... don't you want me? 😞

I did that a few weeks ago

Bizarrely that song has been on a loop in my head for about 2 weeks after it featured in something I watched on the telly (Killing Eve maybe?). Reading this has just set it off again, so thanks for that.

Better block me as well as i’ll Just keep sending you DM’s with stuff

I keep mine in the filter of the washing machine.

Yup. Drunk me bought sober me a Squier Jag one night after a few too many vodkas. The weird thing is, sober me can't stand Fender / Squier basses. I just think the headstocks are so bloody ugly. It's true what they say about "beer goggles". Although to be fair the thing sounds superb and the build quality is ridiculously good for a "cheap" bass. So I kept it as a back up / practice bass. I also once did the cheeky bid, no chance of winning, thing on eBay and ended up with a full Laney stack. 😂

They can - but it would cost more than they’d get back. You need the economies of scale for it to work. If a company (A) is in a high tax area (the UK, say), the basic trick is to set up a parent (B) in a low-tax area (Dublin, Luxembourg?) and cross-charge A lots of fees for Head Office services such as HR or PR or whatever. You make all of A’s departments cost centres with all the revenue going to the Parent entity. You can also have B load up A with a pile of debt that has to be serviced with interest charges. All these “costs” reduce the profits of the subsidiary so they pay less tax at the high rate while B makes more profit on which they pay tax at a much, much lower rate. There’s lots of other stunts and many variations on this theme but, as I understand it from someone who set up a Cayman Islands/Dublin/London-based structure to minimise corporation tax, that’s the general approach....

You, Sir, are a born librarian and that’s a compliment.

Why not just use a seed tray from your local garden centre?

Use masking tape to tape off one of the edges. Mix epoxy and using a fine syringe, apply the expoxy under the unmasked edge. Push down on to the cab. Any epoxy that spills goes onto masked edge. Remove masking tape on the unglued edge. Do the same in reverse for the other edge. Tada, all glued and that tolex won't be coming off again in a hurry* *This is a time consuming ballache of a job though but will put the problem to bed. Also, what is Alex's fascination with silver screws on black hardware?

It’s mostly going back to my roots Dave - I worked in big studio movie promotion for several years and really enjoyed it. Now working with some of the same people but on purely independently produced and financed films. Way smaller budgets but also without all the politics of big Hollywood studio productions. The biggest bonus is that I can work almost exclusively from home and only have to travel into London about once every 2-3 months instead of every day. We have a very experienced team of people working together and we can short-cut all the time-wasting meetings and ridiculously long conference calls. All our materials sit in a central cloud based storage system and we chat via Skype and WhatsApp Makes it much more relaxing but still fun and, mostly, rewarding as we all deal direct with producers, writers, cast etc - I was most impressed to get Suki Waterhouse asking for my WhatsApp details last week and sending me little messages and requests for help in stuff, lol.

I think this might be the furthest off topic I've seen a thread go on Basschat 😂

The kerfing is now fitted on the back and the top faces of the sides and the back has been cut to outline. This is with the back slightly dampened - this will be close to the final colour once the finish has been applied: Next job will be carving the back braces and gluing those onto the back in the 15' radius dish when I get a moment

This build is a bit of a background job. Just finished @TheGreek 's Nanyo save and just about to start some interesting stuff for @wwcringe but, while we are verifying the spec and ordering parts, etc, I've done a couple of small jobs on this. The head and tail blocks have been cut, the top kerfing has been glued and the back kerfing is in progress: The kerfing and blocks are set just proud of the sides so that they can be sanded at an angle to make the appropriate contact with the dished back and top when they get glued. My blank for the tailstock was a little short and so I will cap that with a piece of mahogany sheet to raise it a few mm to the correct height. I have 'tidied' my 25' radius dish and my Go-bar rig somewhere so will have to find those soon. In the meantime, Matt - the pro player I mentioned before - has agreed to my deal, that is, if this sounds as good as the one of mine he's been using on his videos (getting close to being uploaded), then I'll give him this one as a thanks for featuring my builds. And if it turns out that the one he's been using sounds better, then I'll reshape the neck to his preference and he can keep that one

I decided to give it a go on the body to see how it looks??................. 😀