Leaderboard

Not just front dots, side dots too made from bamboo skewers, (not recycled). I've put the first coat of oil on the neck and the wood will darken over the next few months, I'm hoping that the bamboo will stay the same and be more visible. Fret ends still need finishing. Back of the neck: The whole thing so far:

I think I must be alone in that this (and the Stu Hamm thing) make me want to pour superglue into my ears. What a racket!

Updates! So after some thinking and umming and ahing I decided to start the neck again! I know... I know... I worked on the neck more and started profiling the radius and I just didn't like the way it looked, no wenge at the first 5 frets looked really bad in my eyes so I stopped took stock and started the process again. Ta Da! This is the new neck, with smaller laminations and a much cleaner look, just Ovankol and Wenge this time around and no Zebrano bling. At this stage I've cut the stock to size, planed and thicknessed the timber, glued the laminations and then planed it all down to a roughly correct final size. Lubbly Jubbly! I prepared the scarf joint in the same way as the previous build, bandsawed the angle, and then got it on my router jig and cleaned up the faces. (Image is pre routering FYI ;)) The scarf joint is again glued up and the laminations lined up so they are consistent through the joint. Lovely join between the two pieces so I'm happy with that, with the jigs I've made the scarf joint can be completed in under an hour. I also began to shape the fingerboard and built this 20 degree radius router jig after experiencing nothing but hell with a sanding block. It worked really well and so much quicker... ...The block has now been relegated for final sand and removing the router marks. I have also redesigned the lower horn and worked up a new design for the double cut variant of this bass which I will hopefully make after I have completed this one. Next! I get to make up for my mistakes on the previous truss rod slot I did, and fit the carbon rods, so more router fun there. With the fingerboard radius done I can look to cut the neck angles down and glue the fingerboard on! Progress is still slow as I'm still only able to get on to this after work! Booo! I should have saved some holidays. Thanks again!

OK - I fibbed! I promise I won't do any of the subsequent coats...but this is the first coat:

The end is nigh. Two more handovers (handsover?) the second one of which will be @BreadBin to me. What a great advert for the fine folk hereabouts. I might not wait as long the next time UPS delivers a bass but neither will I have anywhere near as much fun. Glad to have helped facilitate some Basschatters meeting up and finding common ground on more than just music. And just so so grateful to everyone who has taken part. NBD approaches.

Look out for my next post - “How do I remove something superglued to my forehead?” 😂

Single cut, never seen one I like.

Tort scratchplate Sunburst finishes. Well, any burst finish, really. Tort scratchplate Modern single cuts where the upper bout looks like a cartoon whale. Tort scratchplate Red bases Tort scratchplate I think that's it. No, hang on, tort scratchplates. I've owned sunburst basses, once owned a red bass ( I had it refinished in black), currently own a single cut bass (but not particularly cetacean). But never ever a tort scratchplate.

Needs pedals fixing, and a cable tidy but there it is. R to L = in to out. Joyo OJ - always on dirt and tone TPM - loop 1 = California Drive set up filthy but blended with the clean signal. TPM - loop 2 = Boss LS2 blended with clean signal. Boss LS2 - B loop = Ricochet dry + octave down, or 5th up. Boss LS2 - A loop = XVI octave up + clean + a smidgen of octave down GEQ - as and if needed. B1 Four - individual stomps Phaser, Flanger, Chorus Auto Wah, HPF (always on). Midi controller - select FI patches FI - all sorts from weird noises to filthy funk. Powered by Harley Benton PowerPlant Powerbank.

If you usually go through a DI at a gig then headphones will give you a better idea of how it will sound through a PA than your bass cab will. Generally when I practice at home I plug straight into an audio interface and use headphones as I prefer the sound and I don't have to worry about bothering people with it. Given most of my gigs have PA support and a lot are on in ears headphones probably gives me a closer practice setup than using an amp anyway.

Headphones have much flatter and wider response than speakers. The ideal headphone has no coloration, while all bass cabs have some coloration, and most bass cabs have a lot of coloration.

Not at all, I'm afraid. Even if all else were equal, bass cabinets' output are subject to all sorts of environmental (as in room-related) artefacts to which headphones are virtually immune; Room modes, reverb, reflective/ absorptive surfaces, whether the floor is solid or hollow, boundary reinforcement... Some of these can be harnessed to improve your cabs, or EQ'd out as much as possible, but the net result is that headphones can inform your tastes in amplifiers, but only if you play through the said headphones. I'd expect different preferences if you then switched to using cabs instead.

Fender Precision and Jazz basses and anything similar. I'm sure that they are perfectly good basses for most people (although I have owned a Squier Jazz and it was probably the worst instrument I ever had, and significantly inferior to the £60 Wesley bass it was supposed to replace), but in my eyes they are boring looking and that's a good enough reason for me not to have one. Thinking about it the Fender Precision Bass is so deadly dull looking that I don't think I've ever been tempted to try one, even briefly, in my entire 40+ year playing career. I made the mistake of buying a nice sounding and playing, but boring looking, guitar back in the early 90s when I was getting back into playing guitar and bass after a long stint of playing synth, and decided that since it was only going to be for recording and writing, it didn't matter what it looked liked. Within a couple of years I was on stage using it and thinking how crap it looked, and have vowed to never again own an instrument that I wouldn't be happy being seen playing.

Black precision basses with a white scratch plate and a rosewood neck. It’s just a cheapo bass combination.

Sunburst, sunburst, SUNBURST!!! If a bass I'm interested in, is listed in the for sale section, I'll usually open it, get to the first pic, see sunburst and close instantly. Can't chuffin stand it. I'd even refuse a Wal in sunburst (if such an atrocity has ever existed).

Arrived today from Serek in Chicago. Lightweight (7.2 pounds), retro short scale bass with three tone settings (deep, 'regular' and fuzz). #2 of limited batch of 3. Lots of fun

I love this 👆 You've literally listed the brief I would hand to a luthier were I in a position to do such a thing! I love all of these things , but you are wonderfully offended by them. Bravo!

Agree completely. 🤮 My own pet hates are ‘Buzzard’ basses - and basses with more knobs than strings; if you exceed this number then you’re an audio engineer first and bass player second. seriously, get stacked knobs and do it tastefully!

Laughing at how much unspoken disgust NBD threads must generate.

As long as you are not supergluing nuts to your forehead, you’ll be ok......

Oh no 😂

Should anyone else need a nudge on blank boards, they feck guitarists right off!

Quick update. I sent the video to the retailer who I bought it from and they agreed it doesn't sound right. They sent me a replacement unit and collected the defective one in a single courier interaction (quite happy with that service). I've plugged the new one in and the fan does sound healthier, no knocking to speak of so far and it hasn't spun up to takeoff levels yet. I'm sat about 1.5 meters away and can hear the fan whine in an otherwise silent room. It's a laptop size fan so unsurprisingly it sounds like a laptop under a light load. I'd say it's quieter but higher pitched than the fan in my Markbass LM 250 Black Line. So I think the new unit has proven that the old one was faulty.

Yes and yes it does. I take solace in the fact that they got it right on the four string Monarch. Headstock on mine....

My Sandberg California. I bought it from a guy privately for £750 when I had more money than sense but I love it. The relic job is the best I have ever seen.

Singlecuts, basses with very exotic wood tops, anything with more than five strings, or anything that weighs a tonne are not for me. I'm no fan of fake relicing either - it's not a deal breaker, but some otherwise nice basses have enough ridiculously overcooked relicing to put me right off.

I'd say no. IME what you get through headphones will not by a long chalk be the sound you get through a speaker.

Not a fan of mushy peas... Tbh

The shape of that headstock doesn’t bother me, but the placement of the tuners does. I suspect it’s a vanity thing in that they didn’t want to have the A string right across the ‘Fodera’ on the truss rod cover. That B string is barely holding on 😂

I think the black hardware on this bass looks ace, and really compliments the neck

Ha ha! My top bass is a gold Maruschkchsyk

Much better EQ on this copy:

The original jazz bass ones are cool imo

Sandberg weren’t massively helpful! 😂

I like the compact look of 3 over 1, but MM's (and Fender's) 4 over 1 is ridiculous! 3 over 2, or 2 over 3 seems much neater.

IME, a lot of trial, error and experiences playing the exact same setup in the studio, at home, live and at jam sessions I now feel pretty confident that what I hear through my 'headphone rig' sounds exactly the same as my bass does when recorded. And because I'm so happy with the sound with it in a mix, I've locked that sound in and haven't changed it at all in years. Live I know that the speaker and amp will colour the sound a little but generally my own rigs have been powerful clean sounding rigs and when I borrow one that isn't I know what to adjust to get it sounding as flat as possible, or at least good enough. I NEVER play through an amp at home (my Blackstar U500 has barely been used at all) because I don't like the idea that neighbours might hear me plodding away and I couldn't;t concentrate or relax knowing I was making a racket. Plus, everything in the room vibrates with each and every note and finally I don't like hearing the acoustic sound of the instrument 'clacking' away over the top of a quiet amplifier. Using headphones you hear your bass like it's been recorded and nothing else - sure you can add a touch of reverb and 'room tone' but mixed with a floor board/bassboard you get all the 'feel' along with the advantages of being practically silent.

So many different opinions here on what we dislike. Some might see it as a sea of negativity, but I think it’s healthy that we like/dislike different things. It’s unlikely that any of my dislikes would stop me buying a bass that played magnificently and sounded awesome, but it would give me pause. Too many knobs and switches and gold hardware are two of my pet peeves, but I’ve owned an SR1605 that is guilty of both. Some headstock shapes are ‘wrong’ too, so, combined with my previous 2 dislikes, a Fodera in my arsenal seems unlikely (even if I could afford one, they do sound fantastic, however). But if you think some of the already listed headstocks are puke inducing, check out what guitarists have to endure...

Seriously - WTAF were they thinking?

It's funny to see some people not liking blank fretboards. For me the standard dot inlays are really grating. It's not a complete deal breaker but very nearly. I don't mind if they're offset, but blank boards are my preference by far.

Another regretful seller right here! Fiesta red jazz was beautiful to play. Such a mistake to sell. However... In case you've not seen there's a fresh wave of them coming to go along with the 60th anniversary jazz. I saw this picture the other day. I'm waiting for them to release details of the new RW Precision as well - I am an absolute sucker for a matching headstock, so here's hoping they keep that idea rolling.

That’s what my last girlfriend said. Is there anything you want to share ?

Love a plain fretboard. I just think they look classy.

I’m probably going to get slated for this but , Lakland do some stunning basses and I would definitely have one in my collection , but I can’t do the bridge shape

Nice start to the day today. Came downstairs to find a very tired looking white-tailed bumblebee stumbling about on the hall floor. I recalled reading something about bees responding well to a bit of energy and hydration, so i mixed a tiny bit of sugar in a splash of water on the end of a teaspoon, and held it down in front of the bee. It found it and immediately started to drink, I could see its tongue lapping it up. After slurping for a couple of minutes it stopped and visibly began to revive, so I took it outside. It headed straight for some flowers and started doing what bees do, looking a lot healthier. My feelgood moment for the day.