Leaderboard

Those who have seen my previous builds know that, with the way I apply gloss finish - polyurethane varnish brushed on - I add and sand back coats until I judge I am unlikely to be able to do another one any better. I can't replicate top pro finishes, but do try to get something that is fit for purpose and 'looks OK'. So when I get a coat that I think will achieve that after final polishing (done after a week or so of hardening) then I STOP...because I know that further coats are more likely to be worse rather than better. And I'm stopping here. There are bits where the finish has sunk into previously invisible hollows, there are bits where the grain ripples are a little more pronounced, but I don't think I can do any better than this however more sand backs and coats I do: So it will now sit for a week to harden and then will be polished up (and should polish up nicely) and reassembled

Disappointing. I tend to judge a business more on how it performs when things go wrong than when they go as planned. Hope you get the outcome you want.

I finally made a start on the Élite. The body is two piece lightweight ash and neck is 4A quartersawn maple with Birdseye top. preamp choice is now Noll 4 band, three stacked knobs.

Just stumbled across this video by this young whippersnapper about the piano used at Trident Studios in London during the 60's 70's and 80's. I would have never in a million years guessed that all these songs were recorded on this one piano!

Updates! I think ...finally... I've done all my gluing and sawing. Now hopefully it's the detail work, nights and nights of sanding loom. I got the lower body wing glued to the neck, I cut the neck end and blended the body shapes and neck together. I did some light sanding around all the edges just to knock the sharps off, I don't know how curvy I'll go on the body but I'll do it with my orbital sander and feel it as I go. I cut out my cavity cover from Ash, this will be held in with magnets so I can snap it in place and pop it off easily. To help get it on and off I've carved in this little finger groove. After a quick brush down I was able to get the basses first on the sofa shot... it's turning out really nicely. Next! Lots and lots and lots of sanding, I've got a boat load of paper from 60 up to 3000 so... let's work through the grades! Then frets... and then the dreaded pickup route... two jobs i'm definitely putting off!!

Absolutely love my valves 🤘 Ashdown for the win 😍

It’s not normally the sort of thing I’d listen to but from a bass perspective I found this fascinating, and whatever your taste in music it’s well worth a watch. He’s obviously a superb and innovative player, and also seems such a lovely guy!

After sales is important for me, if a company is quick to take my money they should be quick to rectify any problems, or they wouldn’t get my custom again.

You gave them 2 chances and they bolloxed it up. Return the second bass and spend your hard earned elsewhere. And name and shame them!

4 1/2 years ago I received a Squier Vintage Modified Precision 5 string as a valentines gift from my wife. I fell in love with the feel of the neck instantly - enough so that it straight away became my number one over all my other more expensive basses. I have a habit of tinkering with my gear though and since then I've gradually changed bits and pieces here and there. This week I finally finished making changes and thought I'd share the end result. Quick disclaimer - the modifications do include a Fender decal. This has been discussed to death on here already but its my bass, my choice and this bass will never be sold on (in fact it will have to be prised out of my cold dead hands). There's also a Fender logo neck plate but that was only fitted because the original Squier one got a nasty scratch across it and I had this one kicking about already. Here are the other modifications:- Bar string-retainer on the headstock swapped for a pair of round string-retainers. Pickguard changed to gold anodised aluminium (cut by myself by hand from a blank sheet). Black thumb rest added. Chrome pickup and bridge covers added. To make access to the bridge easier for string changes, the bridge cover attaches with magnets which are counter sunk and epoxied into the body. Again to make string changes easier, the bridge itself I've adapted to be quick release by drilling though the tail piece alongside each string hole. Crude but works perfectly! The pickup I've swapped for a Nordstrand NP5V. This originally came from Dave Swift's White Sadowsky P5 so the shell is branded Sadowsky rather than Nordstrand. Dunlop Straploks fitted. I originally installed an active preamp which was an old Dan Armstrong Yellow Humper that @KiOgon kindly repaired for me and modified to include a true bypass switch. It was a simple circuit that just had a 3-way toggle switch to select between a flat eq, bass boost or bass and treble boost. To install this I had to route out some extra space under the pickguard. I also routed battery access through the back of the bass and made a little plastic plate to cover it. Unfortunately the Yellow Humper gave up the ghost a little while ago so this week I've installed an Artec Semi-parametric preamp. Stacked treble and bass, stacked mid frequency and mid level, volume and an optional pickup blend. Because I had, the option of a pickup blend control with the preamp, and because I still had the original pickup, I decided to add a bridge pickup to get a bit more clarity - particularly from the low B. As the original pickup is a split coil I decided to go for the kind of V-shaped pickup layout that you see on the Warwick buzzard bass to try and get more articulation from the lower strings. I don't particularly like the look of bridge pickups on P-basses however so I also wanted to make it a 'stealth' pickup. My first thought was to route the pickup cavity in through the back of the bass so it would sit just below the surface of the body but a quick test showed that it wouldn't get enough signal from there to be effective. Instead I opted to fit it into the front of the bass in the normal way and to just make a wooden pickup cover for it. I made it by hand from a piece of ash and stained it a similar colour to the centre of the sunburst. I think it blends in fairly well. At this point the only original, un-modified parts are the neck itself, the frets and the tuners. I had thought at one point about fitting some Hipshot Ultralights but there's honestly nothing wrong with the original tuners and the frets aren't showing any wear just yet. 🙂

Same here. SVT II non pro for everything from rehearsals to gigs. Cant get THAT sound from anything else

The Dubbeez and some Australian Reggae.

Updates! It's starting to look like a bass!! I've got the top body wing glued on and I've started giving the edge some shaping to soften it off, I love the wenge in the middle and I want that to be seen from the front on the curve. I cut the slots for the frets, that was an awfully stressful experience, I really didn't want to mess that up. Got the side fretboard inlays in place. I've got the lower body section cut and ready to sand and shape before gluing to the body. Got the blend between the neck and the upper body wing sorted, very happy with that. Still loads to do... but I'm really buzzing about the build, it's looking like a bass finally! Next! I need to work on the control cavity and get the cut out neater, I have my EMG circuit and pickups ready to be installed and I've tested the electronics in the space and there's plenty of room to move, I've drilled the barrel jack hole and the pickup cable holes in the lower body section prior to gluing, so, just need to neaten up the lower body wing and then glue it to the rest of the bass. I need to do the fretwork on the bass... another I don't want to mess that up job, and then there is a tonne of sanding to do! Really enjoying the build to date, thanks again for everyone giving this a read. B

These are the pick ups and loom from an early 90s Hohner Rockwood P-bass. Happy to pass on to anyone willing to cover postage. Thanks for looking!

Houston, we have a problem. The love seat just blew up! The audio exciter got audio over excited, overheated, melted the glue holding it together and prolapsed onto the floor. Back as they say, to the drawing board.

Theres a few remixes on Youtube, this is one of my favourite ones, this guy does good remixes [Youtube]

After a while of sitting, staring at the bits everyday, I levelled with myself that I was never going to get round to ordering some fancy veneers so plumped instead for a quick and dirty rewrap. Found some gold sparkle on eBay and ordered, then lobbed it all together. I am most pleased that the tool I bought 15+ years ago to replace drum badge grommets but never successfully used finally worked! Annoyingly it seems that the lower hoop is warped/out of round, so I couldn’t get the resonant head to sit properly. As they’re die cast hoops, that means £50+ on a replacement, so I have compromised on an s-hoop, which is a pressed hoop like a ‘normal’ one but with an extra fold to stiffen it up like die cast. Anyway, a quick couple of pics:

Don't know much about flanger but I started with a cheap rowin one that I liked enough to explore other flangers currently using a tc thunderstorm and really like it it's really rich sounding to me and has lots of setting options I am still experimenting with it so can't really be much more help

Just bought a Jazz from Mick. Bomb proof packaging and even included a gig bag which I was not expecting. A pleasure to deal with and a credit to the Basschat community. Thanks again Mick.

I have just stuck a set of Elixirs on one of my P basses and am not very excited about them. I love the Elixir guitar strings. They are super bright and last for ages but I find the bass strings a bit dull sounding.

...........and then you open the set with "Merry Xmas Everybody" 😀

Not had time to fit them yet but hopefully today. Will def update the thread later today. I'm not one for VIDS but i might do a short before and after kind of thing and if it looks ok i'll share. If i'm rubbish i'll keep it to myself. I never know what to play when recording myself playing bass at home. Dave

At 34kg loved by chiropractors and at between 1400-1700 quid, hated by bank managers and spouses

Glued the 2 bits together. Will work well.

Ooh, er, Mrs!

This may be heresy around these parts, but I'm not a great believer in "great basslines". There are basslines that fit the song and ones that don't. Playing straight 16th root notes can sound brilliant, and playing a fancy slap riff can sound awful.

Reminds me, band I was in we used to put music on via a phone before, between and after so that it wasn't a shock when we began playing. One wedding gig our singer left his iPhone on random...we went out for a drink and when we came back we found the bride and groom desperately fiddling with the PA in an attempt to turn off chapter four of Harry Potter audiobook! Set the tone for the rest of the gig, that one did...

Cheers.i doubted the spec on the plan so that lead to my question.i had a telecaster bass in the late 70s and seem to remember a tight radius.think ill start with a 3mm and take it from there.this is my first attempt at a build so every step raises fresh questions.

We're rehearsing this afternoon, so I'll try to remember to ask him about the inverter. No more outdoor gigs, we've been told to stop by the council (following a police visit last weekend).

Imo it’s the right tone - and level in the mix - for the song. Really fits it well.

My Ampeg PF50T is proving really useful for the kind of gigs I do, and importantly when the sound guy appears with their XLR cable it has good DI outputs that do get some ampy character across. Stage volume is enough for me with one or two reasonably efficient 12"s, and in a padded bag it's easy to move around. When I had a much larger and heavier old Carlsbro 100 watter with no DI outs, I ended up using my Gallien Krueger MB200 for a lot of gigs out of convenience, but the GK hasn't been out on a gig since I got the Ampeg.

The Bugera Veyrons have one and it is footswitchable (made up word)

Simply try the Elixir Nanoweb strings as you play fingerstyle. They last for years, but never use a plectrum as the coating will die within the next hours. I'm quite surprised nobody mentioned these strings... That said, I prefer the real raw round wound sound (not coated).

Mmm... Fish fingers, garden beans, courgettes and tomatoes... That's better. Now, where was I..? Ah yes, the Building Site... Here's the wall that needs removing... (Our Eldest can be seen, preparing the top of his future workbench, using the ubiquitous WorkMate...) Here's the footings being prepared to receive future masonry, calculated to be plumb to the roof (unlike the present wall...).... We can't just remove the wall, or the roof would come down. We'll do it in stages, from left to right. Here's the timid start... ... which quickly becomes ... Our Friendly Neighbour helps out with spreading the rubble over the forecourt... The masonry gets started, and the double-door frame set in... Meanwhile, Our Eldest prepares crosspieces for the timber framing... I've bought some wood from a local sawmill; it's Douglas Fir. How appropriate..! Getting serious... What came down must go up. The roof is now shored up on the left... Cutting in to receive the transoms and stuff... ... and planing... Now a bit more can be demolished... ... and its masonry laid ... A good friend has some old beams we can use, so we go to collect them... Another upright in place... ... so more demolition ... ... and masonry... So far, so good... Windows, flooring, whatever... ... and we start filling in the gaps, using a double thickness of expanded cement blocks, leaving an air-gap... Here's me, contributing to the effort by taking the photos... Getting there... ... precariously... Nearly finished ... All is fitted and mostly cleaned up ... A good coat of protective paint on the woodwork; this is a year later... ... and a more recent photo... The whole job took two months, basically. It's survived three winters since, and has proved to be maybe even better than anticipated. Well worth the effort; it took me nearly three decades to firstly work out how to do the job, then gather the monies required, and finally have the courage to bite the bullet and do it. No regrets.

We did indeed look at adding a 9v out to the Ant and the Newt for powering pedals As it makes total sense but for this version at least we wanted to make it as small, light and affordable as possible. There’s so little space in the enclosure as is that we would have had to add around 40mm to the length to incorporate it plus a bit of added cost/weight so we decided against it. We will however down the line add it to a ‘deluxe’ version for those who would benefit from it. As for on heads? Would you really want to run a barrel jacked fairly flimsy cable from the back of a head at the back of the stage to power pedals? Sounds like an accidental mute moment waiting to happen...