Leaderboard

OK - definitely into the final furlong Trussrod cover cut and fitted with magnetic catches, heel carve and headstock carves are finished, frets levelled and recrowned, action height sorted, intonation sorted and template saddle cut. Here's what it looks like now. Fully playable but final finish not on the body yet and finish also not yet on the neck: So tomorrow will be disassembly and final varnish coats started for the body and the satin finish started for the neck. And then it's...well, done

I am over the moon. Spent an hour playing it last night after getting back to stoke and it feels so "right". Thanks so much Steve I won't sell it again :)

I spoke to Leduc, he told me he hates you. 😜 (P.S. it was me that stole your bass, and yes a Delorean was involved...)

Ha! This morning, I decided that I'd sell my Squier Musicmaster. Put it on Gumtree, I thought. Just before I did that, I checked the BC "Wanted" section and discovered that Cheddatom was looking for a white Musicmaster. We swapped photos and -yes! - I had his first ever bass. It's now back with him, and I'm really pleased that it turned out the way it did. Bit of BC Karma, right there. Steve

Yes. But it would progress like this - numbers represent what each sprint delivers a rubber band. 4 rubber bands and a packing crate 4 rubber bands and a matchbox a cardboard box of about the right size five guitar strings and some plywood a fully operational 3 band EQ with custom pickups as above with working pickups plywood guitar body to match 6 bass guitar body in pine with 27" neck fretted for 35" a skateboard ...

SVT-II here, use it for all practice, rehearsals and gigs, even small ones. Tone to die for, will never need a gym membership, and my amp will never be stolen at a gig. What more do you need

I never need an excuse to post my custom Shuker's! 😎 Absolutely no regrets at all. The only 'issue' or 'problem' is that for me, all other basses don't feel or play as well.

For luthiers (not assemblers), and from observation of bass forums, this seems to be the major difference between a good build and a regretted build.... the ability to trust the luthier and their experience. How many times have we seen someone come up with something and get really pernickety about every small detail and define it to the luthier - they get built exactly what they want but then find out that although the forums all said that Wenge and Iron wood would sound amazing... turns out it was as heavy as the Luthier was trying to tell you. It strikes me the best Luthiers and relationships is where theres a level of trust and understanding of their skill. For instance I'm pretty sure If you like ACGs (I do) you could give Alan a pile of money and a brief about what you like and don't like, and what you are aiming for sound wise --- and then just trust him to do his job. Even worse is when you see someone crowd sourcing a bass forum's opinion on what all the small details should be to dictate to the luthier.

I've owned loads of custom builds, but they were all built for other people so I do understand what this topic is all about! The two honest-to-God commissioned-by-me-to-my-own-specs custom builds that I have ordered are still with me and are HUGELY unlikely to be going anywhere else. In truth, and in the interests of full disclosure, both basses have things that I could nit-pick about if I wanted, things the builder got 'wrong'. These issues (I can hardly bring myself to describe them as 'faults') are always going to happen unless you spend the entire build in the luthier's workshop, looming over his bench and preventing him from deciding anything for himself.° In my (limited) experience the killer factor is whether or not you have a clear purpose for the instrument. Commissioning an instrument as a 50th birthday present to yourself, or because you like the luthier or something, is IMHO doomed to end in failure and disappointment. My two were both very specific orders to meet very specific needs. º Other genders of luthier are available.

Part of the problem with customs builds is the anticipation/reality gulf. We're anticipating something extraordinary, but it can only ever be a bass guitar, the rate limiter being that in most cases even the most expensive example is made of the same materials (wood and metal), of the same dimensions, and built to the same functional criteria as nearly all other bass guitars. So, whilst we're expecting something amazing (after all, we designed it to suit our personal needs and a craftsman hand built it over months, even years), we tend to get what is to all intents just another bass guitar, and we tend be disappointed, at least a little. It's the opposite reasons to why people say how amazing Squiers and Harley Bentons are, largely because they exceed our expectations.

Ordered the Cobalts flats from Amazon will be here tomorrow. Appreciate everyone getting involved again considering we've talked strings so many times before. Thanks again everyone Dave

@ezbass that’s awesome - great video, and lovely performances. if only I could get my lot to behave 😂

These are from the colour catalogue that also came with it which says ‘effective from January 1, 2008’.

I know all this, Russ, that's why I sent that spy cat you're feeding right now .

I've had two custom basses made, one being Binky the 10 string, made by Bee Basses out in the States and one being made by ACG. Both basses started in my head as one thing, then with guidance from the luithers as to what, from their experience of building, will yield the best results, ended as another. Both builds involved extensive communication with the builder, regular photo updates and confirmations of me being happy with various woods etc before anything was cut as well as them trying as best they could to create the bass as the instrument I had in mind based on the conversation had prior to build. For me, both basses turned out absolutely beautifully and will never be sold on. Maybe I'm lucky, but I do think that with you asking the right questions, and a luthier capable of understanding your questions and taking you through each build stage, you are likely to end up with the bass you want. If you give a luthier free reign, then there's little point going custom as it won't be made to your exact wants.

So I decided that even though I build for fun/hobby, I want to be able to add a logo to my instruments. I think it looks cool, it gives "identity" to my builds and it helps people see what I did and did not build/mod. So a crash course in Inkscape further and I came up with this: Infinite Bass, clearly a take on the Bass Cleff and the Infinity sign. Will be adding the logo to all basses from now on, starting wth the fretless and shortscale basses I built earlier this year, and also on the Modern 5 I am doing now. Not really a build diary, but I still wanted to share

The Cornell May 8th 77 recording is usually regarded as one of the best - certainly gets played a lot in my house! Personally, my choice is anything from 1973-4 and 1976-7. Some of the earlier recordings (I'm only talking about the live stuff, I hardly ever listen to any of the studio albums) have good music but the recordings are often not too great. For my taste, they got a bit too slick from the 80s onwards. Best source is archive.com or relisten

Got my new Sandberg earlier this week and very nice it is. The thing is I can`t stand the stock strings so if any of you guys who uses the stock strings wants them, drop me a pm and I will get them off to you gratis. And they say folk from Paisley have short arms and deep pockets! GONE!!

Or the A57(M)

Yep. Bloody love it

SVT-II is the king of Ampeg tube amps. Simples. Hard to say why in technical terms, but in acoustic terms it's just that little bit more visceral (IMO of course)

Well, I mean there is another option.. (photo from a recording session last week)

The jazz/funk/etc. quartet in which I play bass recently slimmed down (if such an expression can be used to describe anything involving me!) to a trio and I found myself in the position of being called on to take the odd bass solo or two by way of variation in some of the arrangements. At the first rehearsal in this new format, I used the Squier Bass VI that I acquired from @Al Krow to see if the whole concept was viable; the general consensus was that going up high for soloing sounded good BUT the Squier lacked a little.......testicular fortitude down the low end, certainly by comparison with the Spector 5-stringers that are my normal weapons of choice. So after trying to snag the Spector Legend 6 that Bass Direct had on their website (just missed it), I found this on The 'Bay. It's a Cort A6. I even found a video review of this bass by that Dan Veal bloke, which was pretty glowing and inspired me to pursue this. And so, after a rain-soaked journey through Storm Francis last night to pick it up, it is mine!! First impressions - the string spacing's a lot better than I was anticipating - there's room for moderate slapping, and everything else is comfortable, even up the dusty end (to which there is very good access). It's not too heavy - quite comfy in fact. Probably lighter than my Spector Legend Custom 5'er. And the twin Bart's give it a lovely growl, with a lot of bottom end. Just two things as a result; 1) Sorry Bas, but the Bass VI will have to go now. Really lovely instrument, but I have neither need for room for it after this. Yes, I KNOW that it does something completely different from this bass, but.... 2) Dan Veal - @Dood, I bought my Spectorcore and now this , after seeing your videos. Can you please stop making stuff sound so good in your reviews, at least for a while until my bank balance recovers.

My pick choice is Herco's heavy thumb-pick. I find that I start getting cramp in my fingers if I have to grip a regular pick for too long, and the thumb-pick means this doesn't happen as I barely have to grip it at all. The other neat thing is that because it stays stuck to my thumb, I can switch between fingerstyle and pick on the fly -- between notes, even.

I have an AD200B. If you need to DI from it, you can connect one to the ‘slave output’ on the back. I use an Orchid Electronics DI and would highly recommend them. Once the signal arrives at the mixer, just use a bit of EQ as a pseudo cab-sim and then problem solved! The better solution would be using a cab microphone though. You’ll get the tone come through better than a DI. The two in combination would be even better.

I rarely get my SVT-CL out these days TBH, just too big and heavy, but I've never got a tone from my other gear like that thing does. If its a special event (eventually) it'll come out for that.

This is a very interesting thread. I’d heard of the concept of custom-build buyers remorse but not read specific descriptions of it. My custom-build from @Andyjr1515 worked for me because I wasn’t looking for an improved version of something that already existed. I wasn’t looking for, say, ‘a Fender Jazz but even better’. I wanted a specific, maybe unique, combination of features, light weight being the most important. I’m glad to say I was, and continue to be, fully satisfied.

Here's my Maruszczyk Elwwod L, fretless in action for a lockdown version of Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes.

Absolutely love mine

Interesting reading this thread and comparing it to software development. "WFT?" you all say, but bear with me. Quite often business users come in with an idea of what they want and need, and a solution in mind. It is really hard to get them, especially the technically competent ones, to stop proposing solutions but to let us talk until we have understood all the requirements.. Frequently there is a relatively minor piece of functionality (ie used in about 1% of cases), which dictates a very different underlying data structure or software model than the other 99% alone would. Yes you can change this down the line, but the more you understand up front the easier the process is. Likewise the thread emerging here seems to be that if you go in with clear requirements (sound, intended use, preferences and desires) but discuss and be flexible with the final specifications (exact wood, preamp choice, neck construction), then you are more likely to get an instrument you love than if you spec everything in detail. Some people have more detailed requirements that others would be more flexible over, but it seems that in all cases discussion is the key.

I haven't actually listened to any of the nine (yes, nine!) CDs that make up XTC's Andy Partridge's Fuzzy Warbles/Hinges collection. The delights of working from home. Wish me luck.

I had a relic Limelight built and me spec was 'make it look as if Phil Lynott was alive and had been playing this P bass all his life still' - the result was superb! I could be tempted to get Rob from Brooks to make me a custom black flame top Thunderbird, very similar to the Gibson Blackwater/older Joe Perry Les Paul models finish.

I always hated the look of those paddle basses and other headless basses when I started playing bass. The headless (and more specifically, Status Graphite) virus hit me when I spotted a beautiful, pure white S2 Classic with Roman numeral inlays for sale. It looked so utterly beautiful, the modern and elegant bodyshape looks so good with the headless neck. And the white of the body with the all-black fingerboard with white numerals and black hardware just looks stunning. Sadly it had just been sold... It took me another 11 years (!) of waiting until that very bass popped up for sale again, but this time I snagged it. That was 3 years ago now, and I'm hooked.

Depends on what kind of Slapper you’re into - the Friday night bling type, or the deep down and dirty Saturday night groover 😁👍

Basslines MM pup is the Seymour - Bart is the $50 up charge. Or am i miss understanding you?

I put some EB cobalt flats on my P for the first time a few weeks ago. Overall, well pleased with them - I agree with what everyone's written about them here regarding tone and feel. They are not a loud string, but this isn't a big deal really. And also remember they are just as useless for slap as any other flatwound.

IMHO, by far their BEST album is Metropolis, Pt. 2. It's a prog-metal rock Opera, telling a story right through. Metropolois Pt. 1 was on Images and Words, I think? as a single song, but Pt.2 is imho their best album, and one of the best albums ever of any style. It also doesn't suffer from the 80s mixing/production that Images and Words suffers from. After getting REALLY into Met Pt. 2, having never heard the band before, I started exploring their other works. It's very up and down in songwriting quality imho, although always extremely well performed. One of their best songwriters was their original drummer, who hasn't been with the band for a few years now. Their keyboardist is also an excellent composer. But they can go in surprising directions... some of which is amazing, some of which is just sort of odd LoL. But Met. Pt.2 is a really really good album by any standards, thematically and musically and complexity-wise and lyrically. Heck - it has a love song on it! LoL Who woulda thought?? Any

Bloody Hell but that takes me back. I still remember that session.

Nope. Just something that didn't look like the logo of every unsigned metal band out there.