Leaderboard

Well, three out one in. That's acceptable, right? I was down to two P Basses (one with rounds and one with flats) and was on the lookout for a Stingray. I found this one on Guitar Guitar's website advertised as used. Further investigation revealed that it still had the plastic on the pickguard and the stickers on the back of the body, so if it was used, it wasn't used much. After lots of research about these new Specials (18v electrics, roasted maple neck, very lightweight) I decided to take the plunge and am glad I did. It's a beauty and the Burnt Apple finish is amazing. The electrics to me, sound a lot warmer than previous Rays and with the treble rolled pretty much all the way down, no boost in the mids and bass pretty-much all the way up, it sounds like a modern P bass. It's effortless to play too.

I'm a postie and I have never been busier. However deliveries to my house are more infrequent. I think some delivery offices are prioritising certain items - maybe due to staff shortages - and others, like mine, are going full on hammer and tongues. I advise to send items tracked at the moment if possible. The parcels I am delivering each day are around the same, if not more than Christmas. It is also Ramadan, so charity letters and parcels in some areas are through the roof. Apologies if the service is not up to usual for you all.

Right, I got to the workshop unscathed, (fairly quickly, I admit). So its time to plug in and try the bass I suppose.....😁 Despite Martin keeping me informed throughout the work with lots and lots of photos along the way, there is nothing like being presented with the completed bass. I was utterly blown away by the look of the new back facing. It looks like it has always been there. It really does. Such quality workmanship by Martin, who really is a legend. Now on to the numbers: The bass, prior to the chambering work, weighed 10.5 lbs. It now weighs a simply amazing 8.1 lbs! Thats an overall reduction of 2.4 lbs. This is lighter than I could have hoped for. It is immediately more comfortable to wear, even for a 3 hour gig. I am simply delighted with the work Martin has done. Upon plugging. the bass in, a second surprise awaited. At the outset Martin was concerned what effect the chambering would have on the sound of the bass. This bass always has had 'grunt' to spare. I play in a 9-piece Soul band, with a 4 piece brass section, and they are loud, so the bass has always been turned up, to the point where my Vanderkley Aurora was clipping for 3 hours. With the new Overwater circuit, and the chambered body, the bass seems to 'breathe' more. I notice that the mids in particular seem more pronounced, but all the bass tones are still there. I am so happy with the sound, which overall is so much improved. So there we are! A scary piece of work, driven by absolute necessity, with a very happy ending! What more could I wish for. Huge thanks to Martin, for taking this job on. Thanks also to Chris and Kirstie at Overwater, and to Neil for the excellent re-finishing of the bass. I am very fortunate to own my Overwaters, and moreover, to be part of the Overwater players family. I am blessed. Thank you for reading my ramblings throughout this thread, I hope you have found it informative and entertaining in equal measure. Right, I need to get practicing! Over and out RK7

I was bored, so I bought a body and neck, plus the hardware, to create a new P-Bass for my collection. P-Bass body and neck (with a fantastic neck pocket join. Gotoh "lollipop" tuners EMG active P-Bass pickup. Gotoh battery box Fender '58 True Vintage bridge Off-white pickguard Nitrocellulose lacquer: white primer, Seafoam Green colour coat, clear gloss topcoat for body and neck. I spent an evening sanding the neck to a super smooth finish, scraped the fingerboard to get it really smooth to the touch, rolled the fingerboard edges, and smoothed off the fret ends so that the neck feels really comfortable in my hand when playing. Grain filling the body wood was a real pain, but it's worth it to ensure that the colour finish is super smooth. EMG active pickups - did you know that they don't utilise an earth wire from the bridge as happens with passive pickups? I installed an earth wire anyhow, but just left the wire in the control cavity (so that it's there if I ever decide to change the pickup).

This was out of the case yesterday as well..

New bass month and new thumbrest week, obv. Recently acquired '51 CS Precision which, despite not being the short scale I have gravitated to was so appealing as its where the modern electric bass started. Also happens to play very nicely. Arrived with pale maple thumbrest which looked a bit off kilter. Then thanks to the generosity of @Rick's Fine '52, who (as the forum expert on old Fenders) I had asked about the bass, it is now wearing a black maple thumbrest. Before and after pics below.

Exactly. Mine purrs like a contented cat - an original '57 (with Clive Brown refin). It just makes me smile 😊

And all three together just for the hell of it!!

Voting thread is up! Sorry again for the delay... technical issues now resolved: Really good crop of entries this months guy. Well done 👏 I had started one myself (Yeah I know! Been ages...), but then work got in the way and I didn't finish it. Damn my optimism... might finish it anyway and bung in the Share Your Music forum. Hope you're all well and stay safe.

*Pushes the idiots out of the way and steps to the front* The white wheel is the awesome dial. With it turned all the way anti-clockwise you start at awesome. Turning it a notch clockwise increases the awesomeness. Simples

As a guitarist first, and suffering greatly from GAS, I have an embarrassing amount of guitars. A couple of nice ones to be going on with...

Well, back in 1999 a new Wal Custom Series Bass was in the region of 2 and a half grand. Up in that London a second hand Custom Series 4 string was around £1,500 at most. An old Pro Series Wal was about £450-500. Well, in Spring 1999 a nice red Wal Pro 2E turned up. Really good condition and IMHO a real looker. But the price tag said, £1,500! Of course I had a try (I’d actually been looking for a Pro 2E ) and said to the owner. It’s lovely. I’d take it off your hands today but it’s just way overpriced... by a factor of about 3, you know.” “Nah mate. That’s a Wal that is. They’re top flight basses those. That’s what they go for up in London. Properly rare.” “Well, yeah, the newer Customs go for that, the ones with the exotic wood bodies and newer electrics. This is a Pro Series. The market value is about 500 quid. Honest, I’d take it off your hands today for that.” “You’re ‘avin’ a larff, mate. This one’s worth one and a half grand. That’s the price. Take it or leave it.” “OK, I’ll have to leave it. But I’m telling you now, it’s just going to sit there gathering dust, taking up floor space and cluttering up your inventory. But if you don’t mind I’ll pop in every two or three months to have a bit of a play on it and see if the price has come down to a sensible price. That OK?” “Huh, please yourself but it’ll be gone in no time. Really sought after these are. It’ll be gone within a week.” So that’s what I did. Every so often I’d pop in, have a look at the guitars have a noodle on the Wal and offer £500 for it.” Over the course of two years the price label was amended to say £1400, £1250, £1100, £1000, and then £900. Then one month in 2001 The Guitar Magazine covered Pro Series Wals in their vintage basses you might see around and what they’re worth feature. As ever, it finished with a price round up which said that a good condition Pro IIE could go for up to £500 or £550. It was a Saturday morning so I rushed down to the local library and got a photocopy. Then it was straight to the shop to wave it under the owner’s nose. Sadly he wasn’t in, just the Saturday boy (to whom I was a familiar face by then. I had a chat with him and said, “You know that Wal?” He smiled, “Well can you show your boss this article in this month’s TGM and let him know that my offer for £500 quid absolutely still stands.” I wrote my name and number on the sheet and toddled home for lunch. It was about 2:30 when the phone rang and the Saturday boy was on the other end. “I’ve had a word with the boss and showed him the article. He says that you can have it for five hundred and fifty quid.” “Shall I pop over now?”... Got there about 20 minutes later and watched him take the £900 sign off and hand me the bass... Here she is...

Just a noodle. Done on GarageBand with a temperamental interface, some patience. All direct in, all GB loops. Nothing fancy.

With Series/Parallel; 😎 Oh, and solderless connection 😍

Or to see if the ominously quiet audience is coming towards you...

Incredible workmanship. The hole on the headstock means you can put it on your key ring!

Watched a bit of that, some great playing but not really my bag. This however, I loved - Post Malone playing a full set of Nirvana covers with Travis Barker of Blink 182 He's clearly a massive Nirvana fan as he absolutely nails it.

What’s going on here? They just can’t use my user name like that! Especially as mine was first and in no way is supposed to be pronounced ee-zee. Expect to hear from my lawyer. 😡

My custom build is ready to go!! Can't wait to get my hands on it!

Owned many over the years , now just have these three.

Here you go @Merton! Not pictured is another winged badge engraved on the back.

Yeah it's still not a bad job. Getting harder and harder though. I was made redundant from a really good job with Chubb on the alarms about four years ago. Went into I. T. and hated it. My wife saw the Royal Mail job and I went for it. Big drop in wage partly coz it's part time (loads of OT if you want it) . Suits me though with two little ones. Don't need the money as they are not cash hoovers yet. Get to see loads more of them and don't bring work home anymore like when I was managing. Also sneak in a bit more playing time 😎. Just can't afford to buy those thousand quid + basses anymore.

Brilliant isn't it.

For some reason, even though I’ve only used one of these basses in one band, and then only for a short while, and no longer have one, I just think there’s something special about them. I can’t quantify it, but there’s something about them.

behold - a working version of the demo with the bass

That's beautiful! Right choice to swap out the natural rest I think. Here's a really nice 54 tribute parts build I bought from @Sparky Mark

Due to obligatorily home-lockdown I had some extra free time, which I spent on improving my bass playing skills (and other as well!). This is my first attempt to record a slap bass cover. There are some mistakes here and there, but I'm not an everyday slap-bassplayer. However, this song was a good choice to learn to improve my skills. Please be not too harsh on me for posting this...👽

The 76 looks great Andy. There is definitely something about tort & sunburst on a vintage P bass. It’s a shame they changed to black in 75 but hey if Andy wants tort he should have tort! I know what you mean about the smell from vintage Fenders. Last week i reopened the case of my 71 P bass that I bought from Michael @wateroftyne & the musty smell was something else. Real history & intrigue.

Ha! Just a bit of fun. The Bass Collection instruments are rightly famous for two things: 1 Superb quality instruments which punch well above their weight and price point. 2 The world's most horrendously designed headstock logo. It looks like a horror show of worms, or possibly amputated fingers or penises entangled in such a macabre fashion as to spell the word bass. All drawn by a child. Holding the crayon between her feet. I just put a sticker on it.

And so, dear readers, all that remains is to fit the hardware and strings: The Hipshot Ultralight Tuners Final wiring, bridge pieces, and pickups. Oooooh, nearly there now! Yessssss! Its finished! Just a full set-up to go, and re-fitting the strap lock buttons. Time to get in the car and slowly drive to Carlisle to the workshop! (Oh, and those swanky new control knobs look fabulous)

1983 ‘62 Fullerton Reissue.

More recent photos.

I bet it's great for slap...

Most decent modern amps will make a reasonable job of most things. Replicating recorded sound in a live situation is not simply a matter of using what people on the records use or used. Bass would virtually always have been (and still is) recorded direct, perhaps augmented with a mic'd cab, but often not. The sound you hear on the records was/is created via a lot of expensive studio-quality equipment that you could not possibly take out on the road. Even if you have very deep pockets (and people to carry it), it will still not necessarily produce the goods at live volumes without PA support (and high quality PA support at that). You can end up chasing your own tail and wasting a lot of money trying to get 'that' sound/tone. Prices of a lot of average and even poor "classic" kit have been driven into the stratosphere as a result. A classic example is the myth that "An Ampeg B15 will give me that Jamerson tone because that's what he used in the studio". Leaving aside the fact that JJ's sound, as is that of all players, was largely in his fingers/technique, bass at Motown was recorded direct, via custom preamps (Motown built or had their own built) and so on. The amp was merely used for in-room monitoring so the band could hear the bass. Best to visit a few well-stocked shops, ask their advice, try a few things, read some reviews and find out what you like. In view of what you're looking to re-create, some valves would be worth trying, but they're not essential. Fwiw, I get a decent approximation of the Jamerson tone with a Carvin class D head and Phil Jones cabs, which are hardly classic or vintage stuff.

Looks lovely. I love the black scratchplate I’ve gotta say, but as the owner of a very similar looking ‘70 with a tort plate I’ll happily admire either. Sounds like a good weight for a ‘76 too. Nicely done.

As many of the comments say, he's been caught out by an algorithmn and he can challenge it.

Because it’s way smaller and fits into smaller pedal boards more easily. There’s a lot of empty space inside the stock FI housing and @GisserD has made an incredibly high quality new housing by precision laser scanning the original, removing any verbiage and 3D printing a new one. Personally I like the original bit for many people board space is at a premium so it’s a neat solution for plenty of people, as evidenced by the relatively high number of users who’ve bought one from him. I had a big box QTron and, had I kept it, I would have got Darren to make a custom housing as it was also mostly dead space.

Spector legend NT (Aguilar preamp/pups) - 1 of the 2 main basses I use, it’s absolutely superb!