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Rush have released a new video for The Spirit of Radio which is tributed to Neil. Nicely done I thought.

As posted on the Sandberg thread but I've waited a few days before posting as a NBD to give me time to have a good fettle and explore with this bass, and I'm delighted with it. Bought on here from WillGatesBass after a few weeks of returning to the for sale boards to perv at it. 6 months old, matt virgin white, sandberg pre and pickups. A shade under 4kg. It's beautifully put together and looks the absolute business. Controls are very sensitive, a little goes a long way. I love the shallow neck and the action is really low, makes it super easy to play. Can't wait until I'm allowed to play out with the band to try it out live. Also a shout out to Eurosender. Insured delivery in about 24 hours for less than £30.

I thank God I won't have to do this for real. I will never be parted from my Aria. I've had it forever. Its been through 3 marriages, 4 children and countless bands and day jobs with me. But I have another Aria. A later, semi acoustic model. No Matsumoko cachét, not particularly valuable. But my dad bought it for me, knowing it would be our final Christmas together. I can still feel my sense of shock (we're not a grand gesture gift family. A paperback and a bottle of beer was more our mark.) as I opened it, still see the tears in my father's eyes. Not a happy choice for me, I lose not just an awesome bass, but a lot of history when I leave that Pro 2 behind.

I own a one-off 'red firecrackle' USA Kramer Spector NS2 that was made for Barry Dunaway (who was touring with Yngwie Malmsteen at the time). I saw him playing it on the Odyssey tour at London Dominion Theatre (and then the 'Trial By Fire - Live In Leningrad' DVD) and was blown away by it. I never dreamt it would come up for purchase some 25 years later.... but when it did (on ebay.com through a shop in Miami, Florida) I pounced and made a low ball offer! I've since become online friends with Barry (who now plays for 38 Special) and he's confirmed that it was indeed his.... and if I ever want to move it on he wants first dibs! I've also got to know the custom spray artist who worked for Kramer/Spector at the time who was commissioned to paint this very bass....

Finished fabrication today. - Neck cavity now a few mms deeper - Pots/jack/bridge installed (and taken off again 😂) - screws/ferrules for the neck sorted (just need to shorten the screws a bit) - magnets installed Now to sand and slap on 4 coats of Tungoil...

Hi All, hope you're all doing fine... here is my actual new project EVO-X5 Super M

I still have my Framus Star bass, given to me by my double bass playing Dad in September 1963 for my 13th birthday. It was secondhand when he bought it. Taught myself to play, and played in a few groups in the 60's. Still sounds nice, although the varnish is cracking a bit on the back of the neck.

Even had the Baddass on the Ric, Thats nerd level 9/10.

I’d happy swap my child for a Shuker or Wal. Or even just a new battery for my preamp.

Stop! Before you download any free plug-ins or buy any of the commercial versions, make sure that you have explored all the ones that come bundled with your DAW. The most important ones generally are EQ and compression, so make sure you know how to get the very best out of the ones you already have, and then you'll be able to work out if they are sufficient, or if you need something with a more user-friendly interface or more sonic capabilities. Then move on to Reverb and delay. After that it very much depends on what you want to do and what comes bundled with your DAW. Personally I've stopped using 3rd party plug-ins, because these is already too much choice in my DAW (Logic) and TBH if I can't get a decent sound it's far more likely to my short-comings as an engineer and not the fault of the plug-ins.

I was in two minds as to whether to post this as it's not a bass and I don't want Davie504 to call the FBI on me, but I mentioned it in my last bass build diary and a couple of you said you didn't mind, so here we go. It's technically a baritone, so I haven't gone all the way to the dark side. The guitarist/leader of my band asked me to build him a guitar. This is my first time building an instrument for someone else, and f*** me if it isn't the most hideous, literally the last thing I would ever conceive of building, instrument in the world. Still, beggars can't be choosers and/or the customer's always right. It's an opportunity to push myself with someone else paying for all the wood and that. So... have you ever seen those BC Rich 10 string guitars? The two bass strings are on their own, but the other four are doubled up like a 12 string? It's that but a V shape. Neck-through, maple neck, rosewood board, sapele body wings, 27" scale. Six tuners on the headstock, the other four at the other end. In all honesty this is a fascinating experience for me. There's no accounting for taste, but to my mind this thing is an abomination. Can I give it my all and make him happy? Let's find out. So far I've done a scarf joint and put in the truss rod and - something new for me - a couple of carbon fibre rods. I figure 10 strings is a lot of tension, so it might help. I don't have a bandsaw so will be adding more wood at the body end to make it thick enough, as I did with my last neck-through build. It's going to have a tune-o-matic bridge so the neck will need to be angled. No tail-piece - six strings will be anchored through the body and the other four will go to the bridge-end tuners. I have it all figured out in theory. In practice, I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope it all works out. This is the headstock shape - you'll see the markings for the tuners, plus four more where the ball ends of the extra strings will go through. This is my first sketch of the whole thing. It's an interesting challenge to come up with something that accommodates the unique set-up and looks... ok. Again, it's not my cup of tea, but he loves it and that's what matters. I'm still not sure where the jack and strap buttons are going to go. But most excitingly, it's NRD - New Router Day! The one I had been using was a falling to bits and if I'd persevered much longer, someone (me) would probably have got hurt.

I've dreamt of having a bass with a tremolo since I saw Les Claypool as a teenager. Obviously they don't show up often and I've never had much money, so never had a chance to even play one. However, after seeing a NOS scuffed up HipShot on eBay in the USA while drunk on my birthday, that dream has been kicked into gear. Lucky for me, and the budget, I have all the parts of an abandoned P bass project- super light swamp ash body, Mitey Mite neck with Schaller BM4 light tuners and (somewhere...) a black 3 ply scratch plate. Body is barely finished in dusky pink milk paint and due finishing post routing. Might stick with dusky pink and get a gold anodised pick guard, but I have other things to think about first.... This is my new bridge. Despite initial efforts, just pushing it into/ taping it to the body yielded poor results. I think I'm going to have to make an actual hole for it. To this end, I have bought a Triton JOF001 plunge router and a good template cutting bit. I have never used a router. I'm sure it'll be fine.... Stay tuned for disaster. Any advice/ thoughts/ prayers are welcomed. Anyone with tremolo experience please speak up if you feel you have any guiding words.

I finally took the leap and ordered a EB, MM Cutlass - it arrived last week and I'm very pleased. After a bit of time with it including a little recording I can say it's a beautiful thing and sounds great. I was looking for passive P-style bass. I didn't want go Fender because none of the ones I tried were really speaking to me except a sunburst professional which was out of my range - these things need a bit mojo! I got a deal on an ex-display which had, apparently suffered a bit of a fall - chip on the headstock, a couple of small dents on the body - otherwise pretty immaculate. Pluses I love the neck - it's pretty close to the pre EB stingray I tried (in an amazing 70's brown) and really invites playing up the neck in a way I find the flatter radiused boards just don't I thought I didn't like the pick up - it doesn't have enough of the nasal cut through thing that I was after, but after some recording it sits effortlessly in the mix without much tweaking. I though I could just drop in a p-pickup but I'm going to sit with it for a while. A lot of attention to detail - sloped edge for your thumb on the pickup, case coveniently has 'cutlass' on it in case you forget where you've put it, pots feel right - smooth and solid - fit and finish is all really top notch. Cons Still expensive, and why did I buy a not a p-bass p-bass? I can't help myself sometimes. And before you start on 'ugly' - I like it - it has a nice look for me, slightly generic, but well considered and tight aesthetically - some how feels a bit 60's, which I like - future retro!

Previous owner of my '83 Ibanez RB920 was Paul Ryder (Happy Mondays).... It was used on their first couple of albums, TOTP performances, videos & live - lots on youtube of it in action. Madchester funk machine! I don't have any provenance in writing, except some messages on FB, as I'm friends with Paul - asking me if I've still got the bass & if I'm looking after it

I suspect it boils down as to whether you like the Ramones or not, they're an easy target if you don't, "anybody can play and write their simple songs with dumb lyrics", the same argument could be made about the early rock and roll stars like Buddy Holly, and anybody can write simple songs, the trick is to write good catchy simple songs, IMO the Ramones and Dee Dee in particular, continually pulled that trick off

My 'grab it if the house was on fire' bass is the one I actually play the least - my JV Squier Precision. I've had something of a revolving door here when it comes to Precisions but I've had this longer than any other bass I've owned. I had 2 JV basses for a while - the other was an early Fender logo one and as such more valuable. But this is the one I kept. Something special about the way it plays and the tone is everything I want from a P bass. I changed the scratch plate from white and, soon after this pic, changed the bridge to a Schaller 3D as the neck is very slightly out of alignment. There is also a subtle holographic figuring about the neck that is magical. In fact, I have just got it out of its case and will treat myself to some noodling on it.😍

I've had an old Flying V since the 90s, but this instrument just beats it: For anyone who's interested it's a Grainger & Campbell army regulation pattern set which I got new in 1988, IIRC. Not much chance to play these days, unfortunately.

I use the Antex XS25 mine is about 30 years old and it replaced an Antex 15W model. I don't think I'd go down to 15W again, you need a bit more heat for lead free solder. I've not tried a temp controlled iron because my Antex still works. All the above about cleaning the metal before soldering and keeping the tip clean. If you are new then practice soldering old bits of wire together until you get nice joints, tin the tip of the iron, tin both parts you want to join and then just a touch of solder should complete the joint. I was taught to heat the lead/solder tag or whatever first and run the solder on to that rather than to try and apply it off the iron. The solder will melt as soon as the thing you are soldering is hot enough. Works for me.

Until a few years back I still had my first bass, a Kay ⚓. Unfortunately all my old guitars and basses, at some point became props for some insanity or other and got destroyed. I had the head of an acoustic mounted by a friend on a block like a trophy. He'd retrieved the smouldering remnant after a beach party where I had decided it would entertain those present if I was to strip naked and play the guitar having first set it on fire. Luckily we always took a bottle of petrol to facilitate a quicker start to the fire, so I had the necessary accelerant. And people still ask me why I stopped drinking. Anyway thanks to all this and other shameful tales, my longest owned is my Aria Pro ll. 1983, bought from Guitar Workshop up St Michael's Hill in Bristol. Still a fine instrument, if somewhat ravaged by the passing of time.

That was brilliant, thanks. Loved the accurate playing renditions of the musicians, all the song references, and the general nerdery of the animation. *must not cry*

My long-suffering and amended Kay K-2T bought around the time Running Free was in the charts 🙂

I’d never seen this before and it’s pretty cool, old as it is. I’ll check out this artist’s music too.

He wants to remove the glue, not satay the bloody thing. 😁

That is a heartwarming end to a long journey; glad to hear it.

Well, after nearly breaking my heart after a crippling neck break, and losing it for a good while for repair... it has subsequently rekindled my love of bass, made me focus on fretless, and taught me that actually you tend to bond with instruments very rarely. After all that heartache it’s now become the very first instrument that I truly couldn’t ever part with...

Tough because I have two of sentimental value but this build is probably more so and a fantastic bass.

The welcome news is that we've now got more than just The Beatles about whom to have threads which mostly comprise the observations: "They're sh*t!" / "They're not sh*t!"

Very nice. I would of been tempted as well if I played 5's. My first Sandberg is incoming next week..

Looks good on @Slapbass Shaun’s wall... 😁

Thanks - this ALWAYS gives me a bl00dy ear worm!

Difficult decision, but if pushed my TBird. Really light, well balanced, lovely varied tones from the Thunderbuckers and the slimmest and nicest neck of any bass I own (the best has to be a Status but its not mine..... yet). I don't understand why people say it is only good for rock. I can do Larry Graham to Thin Lizzy and everything inbetween with ease. Beautiful piano like highs with rounds and thumpy as hell with flats. Plus, as far as I am concerned, it looks tremendous.

And here is the bracing. This is standard OM bracing and, as you can see, plenty of room to be a bit more creative with the soundhole

Basically, yes. P and I are still pulling together the spec and I am still clambering up the learning curve using every crampon, piton and googlon at my disposal. So - as @BigRedX says, basically a guitar body with a bouzouki neck and bridge. The body size we are going for will be the OM/Concert - 15" across the lower bout and around 110mm deep at the tail (you can see I spent my formative years in transition between SI and Imperial!). The main difference to the body is that it joins the neck at the 16th fret, as opposed to the 14th fret of a standard steel string acoustic. However, the bridge position, bracing and sound hole broadly remain in standard position, and so the upper bout shortens by around 30mm. This is the shape we are toying with. You can see in light relief the outline of a standard OM acoustic: The sound hole will be wider than the norm and may well be shaped. It will have a standard-style guitar bridge with a compensated saddle. The construction and internal bracing design will be very much based on my own OM build: The top timber, some lovely AAA spruce from David Dyke is already here. The back and sides is on its way from Schroter in Germany and is Red Gum Satin Walnut. I've ordered two sets - P will decide which one he wants when I am able to see them in the flesh and made sure they are both OK to use: To say that I'm quite excited by this project is a bit of an understatement!

Alex Webster from Cannibal Corpse has a tremendous 3 finger attack.

I've been thinking about where the thumb came from, Upright Bassists use fingers but the Bass Guitar is a guitar, fingerpicking guitarists use their thumb for the bass parts, Leo Fender wasnt a player but he decided that that's the way it would be played

I can't see many gigs happening until all social distancing regulations are lifted

This is from Reverb

Did a few things over the weekend, it is always surprising how many hours you lose “fiddling” about. - Input jack hole - Pickup routed - Neck routed The neck cavity is a perfect fit, although annoyingly I messed up somewhere and I need to route another 3mm deeper (not an issue, just annoying). Slowly getting there.... Question for @Jabba_the_gut and @Andyjr1515, do you reckon the fact the neck has square corners at the heel there could be a risk of the body cracking when the neck is installed/strings tuned to pitch? The solution would be to add a 2nd pickup so the heel pushes against the pickup, not wood. What do you think?

Same as my old Zon Legacy fretless which I bought from John Giblin. Used by JG on various recordings with Kate Bush and Scott Walker, even a James Bond score. I was anticipating a dramatic improvement in my fretless playing but sadly not!

Wahoooo! I finally done a bass cover! I know it is not the best but I had lots of fun, I tried doing a few little things that juliaplaysgroove does at the start, of course i'm no where near as good as her lol. Hope you all enjoy it! Best to listen with headphones Hope everyone is keeping well and staying safe

I very foolishly buggered it up in the early '70's by sending it up to John Birch in Birmingham to have a R... (don't mention that word) pup fitted, to try and beef up the sound. But apart from being a bit louder there was no difference. I didn't understand at the time how important string length was on a bass, so I was really just trying to get the frequencies of a 34" string out of a 30" string. The Danelectro was extremely light and was made of a hardboard face and back with a hollow body. There was no way the poor thing was ever going to produce useful bass frequencies, and really only suited pick playing. So, a stylish and some might say iconic bass ruined through my ignorance. I eventually sold it to a guitarist friend and don't know what happened to it after that. I cannot remember where the R... pup came from, it was one of the early ones with a split magnet shroud. Here I am using the Dan with the pup fitted at some gig around 1973. I changed to a P soon after this.... Yes, and my hair was this long!

Always makes laugh when I see people lusting after Antigua Fenders. They got a bunch in our local guitar shop in around 1980 or so, and people used to congregate at the window commenting how hideous a finish it was. Hindsight and all that.😉

No progress to report I'm afraid. Unfortunately I may also find fur-ther delays owing to the annexing of the shell by a certain somebody.... Just guarding it now...

Here are the ones I used to own: Born To Rock F4B: Atlansia Solitaire Fretless Hondo Alien: