Leaderboard

Busy week this week, but been having a whale of a time, coming down to the garage to this: having done a little more shaping to the body, at the end of last week i ended up here: in terms of actual shape and lines, its getting fairly close here, so its time to start work on the neck. there is an awful lot of material to come off. using the laser cut templates and some careful routing, the neck is brought to the correct width and alignment with the body. as you can imagine, this caused a huge mess, but the closer i get to putting the router back away for good, the better. with the neck closer to its final width, i can start work on the transitional areas where it meets the body. on the front, this means carving into the areas around the bottom of the fretboard. i had orginially intended that the white maple stripe would follow through from the upper horn to the lower, but now im leaning towards having it how it is in the picture above, curving up toweard the fretboard where it transitions. it just looks a bit more organic to my eye Meanwhile, round the back this should give you some idea how much material ive got to remove. thankfully a lot of this can go without losing much in the way of stiffness or leaving a weak area, but its going to be a big old job. But starting to remove some of the material from the back of the neck is super satisfying. its starting to let me see how the pattern is going to look, and the gorgeous grain of the namibian rosewood. theres a hell of a lot of wood left on up at the headstock end, but this is mostly because i want to get the neck profile down to where it should be to test the stiffness before starting on the headstock. this way i can add additional carbon to the neck if needed. at the moment it feels ridiculously stiff, but we shall see what happens as more is removed. ive got some plastic templates cut out to make sure i dont carve too far. up at the headstock end there is not a lot of wood between the carbon rods and the outside of the neck, so need to take care up there especially. one of my big worries with this build was that the neck marquetry wouldnt look as good once it had been rounded over, but thankfully im starting to see it come together and i like what i'm seeing. it actually helps to keep the neck profile symetrical, as i can use the pattern to judge how much to take off. and this is where i got to. theres still a huge amount to take out of the bottom of the neck to get the transition looking nice and smooth, and i haven't started the carving on the back yet either, but im happy with this progress so far. honestly the first time taking a rasp to that marquetry to start shaping the neck felt terrifying, but you soon get into a rythm and start enjoying it. it will be interesting to see how it looks, and how heavy it is once the shaping is all done and the cavities are routed out as well, so stay tuned!

@thodrik @MNY and @walshy I think I have your baby brother! For me this bass really comes into its own in a mix - punchy, growly and articulate. Ridiculously comfortable to play and pretty much flawless finish. I was thinking about replacing the chrome hardware with black, but then discovered that the ABM bridge is a proprietary Vigier design so decided against messing around drilling new holes etc. I did originally want a matte sapphire finish but couldn't wait the 12 months for Mr. Vigier to build it! Am very happy with this one though, the deep deep blue looks great.

I may well have found the missing link between a Yamaha BB1200s and a BB2024 : the Yamaha BB1000s ! I've just bought it second hand, sent by post, as "in very good condition", but is is clearly roadworn, has been played a lot in the 80s and 90s, has a lot of dings, the fretboard after the nut has suffered from I do not know what, and I am not sure the tuners are original. The 3 way pickup selector seems to be dead. But these are extraordinarily solid : it plays really well, the frets are good. Through neck vs bolt-on : Same headstock design, different tuners Same jack socket 2 stripes 1 stripe Deeper cutaway on the G side on the 2024 The nut : still operatin, not sure how :

Just throught I'd share some first impressions now I've had a few days to play around. This is one of the second series of Ibanez headless EHB basses, released in 2021 (the first series came out in 2020). I've been playing short scale basses, but since my experience with multi-scale guitars was positive I thought that multi-scale would suit a short scale bass quite well as the main 'problem' with shorter scale lengths can be the lack of tautness in the E-string. My main concerns when ordering were that there were some issues with the first series of EHB (reasonable number of reports of neck cracks, misaligned bridges, poor jack socket), but no-one short of custom ordering did an instrument like this, and nothing like this kind of price. Stuck my pre-order in at Andertons in January with delivery expected in early-mid March. Well, it turned up on the 2nd of March, so top marks there. Slightly disappointed to find that someone (presumably at Andertons) had rifled through the gigbag and opened the accessory bag, presumably to get to the 9V battery, which I found with the wrapper semi-removed plugged into the back of the bass. Guess it was the first one in and someone wanted a play. Doesn't bother me too much as long as they were careful, and as there wasn't a mark on it I guess they were... First, some pictures: Metallic green/blue paint, burl maple fretboard. A nice combo in my eyes Bolt on neck, but upper fret access is very good. The back of the body is bevelled, so the upper half is thinner than the lower The neck profile is incredibly flat and wide in true Ibanez fashion. It's comfortable to play, although the width was a bit of a shock at first Playing Feel The first thing that hits you is that adding a string makes for a very wide looking/feeling neck at the treble end of the fretboard (the nut's only 45mm). It also knocks your calibration out of whack, and I found that I'd be playing the wrong string from time to time. I've played a 7 string guitar so was expecting both of these and it'll come with time. The action is low, aiding playability, and is not buzzy. I'd say the setup is pretty well judged out of the box, but the intonation will need some adjustment. The string tension is lower on the B-string than I'd expected, but not excessively so. The multi-scale will take a little getting used to, but with a neutral (that's basically the 'normal' fret, perpendicular to the string) 7th fret, the pattern makes a lot of ergonomic sense on a bass-length scale. As I move my fretting hand up the neck, my fingers follow the arc/fan of the frets very well. Just need to get the muscle memory re-learnt so that I'm placing my fingers in the optimum place - I was getting a few 'just-past' the target fret moments at first. My main concern was about successfully muting the newly acquired 5th string. I usually right-hand mute strings by hooking my ring and little fingers through/around the strings, whilst anchoring with my thumb. This works nicely on a four string bass as even when playing the G-string, the second playing finger will mute the D-string. What I've found to work really well on this bass is anchoring my thumb on the edge of the neck: When playing the 3rd to 5th strings it's business as usual, but when playing the 1st or 2nd strings, the thumb starts to naturally rotate into position and touch the B string. It's pretty natural and works well. When using a strap, you'll find the rear strap button is rather higher than a 'normal' bass (much like a Strandberg), so you'll find that you'll want to shorten the strap by a good 10cm or so (I couldn't figure why it felt weird at first). Balance is excellent as you'd expect with no head - it just sits where you want it with no pull one way or another. It's also very light (just 3.3kg), not just for a 5 string, or a bass, but it's light even for a guitar. That lack of weight is much appreciated during longer playing sessions. Build Quality The build is generally very nice, the neck in particular being a high point. Fret ends are nicely finished and smooth, the edge of the fretboard is well rounded, making it very comfortable. As is often the case, it's just the upper corners of the nut that could use a bit more time with the sander as the corners are sharp, and without a headstock it's easy to run a little too far and catch on the nut. The hardware feels excellent quality and is easy to adjust (and there are a lot of adjustments available too). The individual bridges are good and straight as you'd expect. Before buying headless I'd heard many complain that the tuners are difficult to adjust with fingers. Not so here - the knobs are a decent size and are very smooth and easy to adjust. A minus point has to be that the manual is a generic Ibanez document that is almost entirely irrelevant in every respect to the EHB. They'd have been better off providing nothing as the only 'normal' thing shared is the truss rod. It's particularly weird that they've not included any specific manuals as they've produced some which are on their website, both for the hardware and the EQ/electronics. As mentioned before the paintwork is generally very good, but the area around the bridge/tuners is not up to a great standard. Only really visible if you're looking for it though Electronics The pickups are a pair of passive Bartolini BH2s, through an Ibanez 9V powered EQ. Again, some documentation in the box would have been nice, but a quick download later and all was revealed. Volume Pickup balance (clockwise for neck, anti-clockwise for bridge. This has a central detent for both pickups on equally) 3 - 7 control the EQ Lower knob is bass EQ, cutting or boosting the bass (this has a central detent for a flat EQ) Upper knob is treble EQ, cutting or boosting the treble (this has a central detent for a flat EQ). It also becomes the passive tone control if the active EQ is switched off Lower knob controls the mid frequency that control 6 affects Upper knob is the mid EQ, cutting or boosting around the frequency selected by control 5 (this has a central detent for a flat EQ) EQ switch. Switched forward this disables the active EQ and control 4 becomes a passive tone knob The controls are nicely weighted and are smooth, although the plastic knobs do feel a touch cheap. Being a beginner to 3-way EQ actually on the bass itself I've not played around too much yet, sticking to passive control. The pickup blend is a nice feature, although I'd have preferred two volume knobs and a switch as it allows for mid-song changes more easily. The jack socket is a captive type preventing accidental disconnects. It's fairly stiff to release, but easy enough to do with one hand I don't feel qualified to comment on the sound, but through my Ashdown ABM III it sounds bloody good, punchy and clear, even driven by my fingers. Output volume is not boosted like an active pickup which means less equipment adjustment if switching basses (it's very similar in output to my Hagstrom Swede). Overall As the owner of a Strandberg Boden (guitar) I do find there's a lot of similarity (even superficially), it really feels that Ibanez are trying to create an instrument that is very reminiscent of the Strandberg, but substantially less expensive. It's a well made, ergonomic instrument that undoubtably has a few niggles/areas for improvement, but the overall impression is of a well designed bass with a good variety of tones for playing most genres of music.

Yeah, the strings were ancient when I got the bass so I’m not really sure if they were original to the bass or just worn out? There never was much sustain to it anyway, I used to have to compress it like mad whenever I recorded with it. The bass and it’s ancient strings made it onto a few records but this one is pretty funky. Sort of like Beastie Boys instrumental vibe but done on a 4-track cassette recorder instead of a Hollywood studio. It all kicks off around 1:15...

NBD! I just received this German made Warwick Streamer CV4, and I couldn't be happier. Built like a tank, and the quality is flawless. Maple neck, rosewood fingerboard and swamp ash body, gives a total weight of 7.5 lbs. Light as a feather. Easily the best instrument I have ever owned, and extremely comfortable to play on! I replaced the tuners for hipshots (always do), and I want to change the passive MECs in the not-to-distant future. This I knew beforehand, but I would love to get some recommendations of which pups to choose. The passive 2-band electronics might also be changed to an active preamp. But that is questions for another thread.

Prior to 1968 my £1 a week paper round money didn't go very far, it did buy me a 10 speed racing bike though, bought off my Mum's Marshall Ward mail order catalogue over 38 weeks. 17 shilling and 6 pence a week it was. That didn't leave a lot left for strings and the only string I knew of were tape wound and Bl**dy awful they were too! My £9 a week wage in 1968 didn't go that far either and it wasn't until I saw an advert in Beat Instrumental, probably John Entwhistle using swing bass, that I even knew that round wounds existed but I managed to buy a set from the local music shop and what a revelation they were. I never used a tape wound again! I bought my first and last P bass in 1972 and it cost £220, 10% extra for left handed and in sunburst, an extra 10% if you wanted a solid colour. It was rubbish!!!

It just shows how wrong the calculator is. If you consider actual salary or wage for say a 19 yr old - I had quite a decent job in 1973 at just under £1000 per annum. A new Precision was £252 (without case) in a particular shop (natural finish). So this is more than a quarter of that annual salary. A quarter of say £15000 now gives you a new US P bass at £3750 - so they are now relatively cheaper and should be around £3k. GHS did flatwounds in the mid/late 60s and a new Musicman Stingray came with them fitted. A sign of the times is they changed to GHS rounds in early 78. I do not recall anyone in my local scene who played bass even considering using using flatwounds and the normal replacement string (in the UK) was Rotosound. You have to remember that in the 70s stuff from the early 60s era was very deeply uncool - this extended to pastel coloured instruments, liking the Shadows, and in the later 70s, passive Fender basses even (unless you were a punk band) and even then there were as many people playing Rickenbsckers and the like (The Jam for instance). The idea anyone ever saw a Fender catalogue in the UK was also a misnomer - you bought what was in the shop - I'm doubtful anyone would be able to get a retailer to make a special order (I.e something not in stock). Times were different - we'd never heard of Jamerson, even less what make of instrument and strings he used - although his bass lines were, of course very influential to some people (rock fans would probably not listen to Motown in the same way that punks would not listen to Genesis and Yes!) So flatwounds were really not something of the 70s at all - I don't recall them being on sale in the music shops I frequented and of course there was no mail order or Internet. You have to question why would people stock something virtually no one used - and even if they did they didn't change them!!! I don't think I was unique in wanting that first two or three weeks lasting sound of a new Rotosound set of strings but wasn't wealthy enough to change them that often. Remember amplification and speakers were not what they are now also. Although things were changing over to solid state (Acoustic for the very wealthy; HH for something more affordable) the standard available now is light years away. The chances are with flatwounds you would have even less chance of hearing yourself than you had. For valve stuff, Marshall and Ampeg stacks were the preserve of the super rich!!!

Finished the little project I was building for a friend. Original DOD 250 circuit with added Pre-gain boost, blend and output level control. Not my finest work internally, it’s relatively tidy, but there’s a lot going on in there. Enclosure was created by my friend, I just built everything into it. Si

I usually watch vids when I see that particular "talented young woman", not just ones from the retailer I'll add, I like seeing bass players who are into their groove and the act of playing which she is, hence the expression on her face I imagine. Having read the comments after watching said vids I can see why that retailer might want to go scrub chat, there's a lot of instant hate and thirst for her which is sad. Not saying your comment was worthy of scrubbing, just that I can see why they might rubber stamp a bunch of deletes for her vids specifically. As for being censored online, yeah it happens and that's what alt accounts are for. I'd much rather "stinky poo post" freely in my own name as I'm a disagreeable type and would shrug off any heat but the tech overlords and algorithms aren't into free speech. edit: just got censored posting this, I do not use language like "stinky poo post", my phrase was more colourful. Algorithmic filtering strikes again but I'm on their platform.

In all seriousness and to answer the OP's original question more directly, I did have a plan for my 50th birthday regarding a celebratory bass purchase. I decided on the bass in question a few years before with a view to getting it built for completion around the relevant time. A few e-mails went back and forth between the manufacturer and I regarding options and pricing, but it was going to be a very long wait unless I was willing to accept one of the couple that had already been built. For a number of reasons, I didn't pull the trigger and before I knew it, the moment had passed for a new build to arrive anywhere near on time. The day of my 50th came and went free of any significant bass purchases. I did buy a few that year, so don't get the violins out, but I didn't get to scratch the particular itch I had....until three years later! I found my '50th birthday bass' for sale and completely by chance, it had the exact spec I would have chosen - it was like it was meant to be. It was/is in absolutely mint condition and one owner from new - also a lot cheaper than a new one!

I’ve just looked in a Bells catalog that i have from 1977 when I first went into a music store, it looks like picato did them

I never post on YouTube. The comment sections are a toxic hell-hole on there.

My first bass, when I was about 13 or 14, was a Jazz copy, I can't remember the make, possibly Columbus, but it was very shiny and I did my first gigs with it. It came with black flats or tapewound strings that I don't think I ever changed. The neck ended up so bowed that Robin Hood could have happily added it to his armoury, and (honestly) the fingerboard fell off in the end. I didn't know anything about fancy exotic things like truss rods in those early days 🙂

I forgot to mention - gluing a piece of batten to the baffle just above the driver completely killed the 70Hz resonance, as can be seen from the impedance curve.

My first bass had flatwounds on it. It was a short scale Shaftesbury Tele bass (pictured below) bought s/h for £65 in 1990. I’m not really sure but I think they were ancient Rotosounds, but I’m certain someone on here would be able to identify them from the yellow silks. I took them off once to put fresh strings on before going in the studio but the new strings were awful, it didn’t sound like a duff 60s bass anymore, so I fished the old flatwounds out of the bin and put them back on. Normal duff 60s bass sound restored! 👍

This brings back some very happy memories. Still get excited hearing this, all these years later...

I was after a new Precision in 1980 and remember the price at £350. I eventually got a new '79 Musicman Stingray for £375.00 in Buzz Music, Hereford.

That’s really nice Cato, do you want to sell....the stickers 😁

My Washburn Status that I've had from new. Complete with 30 year old glow in the dark Batman stickers.

One of the great mysteries of life....why???

Posted in the lefties gallery, so thought i'd post here as well. My recent addition to the fold 😊

That’s my experience too. In Coventry at the time the two shops to go to were Coventry Music Centre and the Sound Centre. Both leaned very much towards guitars, and, as such, only Rotosound were stocked for bass strings. ‘Swing Bass’ were what most people bought but they had the flatwound version stocked, albeit in significantly smaller numbers. A lad I knew was sold a set by mistake and never quite recovered!! For me, buying a new set of strings was a luxury (and a rare event) due to the cost of them vs. what I was earning as an apprentice at the time. I once tried boiling a set and nearly ended up scalding myself as they chased me around my mum’s kitchen. Nowadays I post on here wanting really worn-in/out flatwounds - the younger me would not have been impressed!

Strangely nobody mentioned Höfner.

It looks like fender also did flatwound strings then, and tapewound, here’s a 1969 catalogue , so I’m guessing that if you bought a new jazz or P, it would come with their own strings

Wow, look at those prices! Here's the "HP agreement" on the back of his card from an early 70s white P I bought from the local muso shop in about 73/4ish. It's painful to see and I wish regularly I hadn't sold it.

Derek Birkett played bass on this one, very much a Crass type bass line, another one to listen to would be Securisor by Crass featuring Peter Wright (no not the darts player) on bass

Where does the tractor attach ? I assume the upper horn cuts the earth and the strings and lower horn sift it and turn it to the side before you start the next furrow ? The frets are for measuring depth of furrow cut ? is the brown colour from clay soil staining?

Don’t want to derail your thread but a few pages on look how much a new jazz or P was , 🙂

I had this Alpher Cobia made for my 50th

Not bass related so please feel free to pass whatever judgement you feel necessary 🙂 The first two were back when I was in a band playing guitar for a few years. Two milestone purchases after completing chemo. 1: Black MN 70s (reissue) Strat. This guitar is doubly sentimental, not only for me completing the chemo, but because over months I had become friends with the eBay seller who lived a couple of hundred miles away and we used to send each other clips of our bands. He sold the Strat to help pay for a Jimmy Page sig LP which he loved; I hadn't heard from him for a while when one day a mail arrived from his wife telling me he'd been killed in a road crash in the snow. She said that (like me) he didn't make friends easily but he used to talk about me a lot. She had to sell his pride and joy LP to help pay for the funeral. I think of him each time I look at that guitar and it holds a very special place in my heart. 2: A few years later and more chemo - I bought an SG Standard. 3: Martin D-28 which has shared many special times with me.

I’m experimenting using the Shaper to create a headstock logo. I used a 0.5mm bit and infilled with blue resin. It turned out super crisp!

Nice thread 🙂 About 10 years ago I tried a set of Fender flats - went to a couple of rehearsals and changed back to my usual rounds. I just couldn't get on with the feel or sound, but I know now that I didn't really give them enough chance. About this time last year I thought I'd try again with Fender flats so put some on one of my P and stuck with it for a few rehearsals. After they've been broken in they feel and sound just as I hoped they would, so I'm sticking with Fenders for my flats from now on - and they're great value too imho. I also put a set of Fenders on my old 4001 and to my ears it sounds wonderful.

These same places will be re-visited by a future generation with as much nostalgia and sentiment of deception, as they will have again evolved. Maybe to heights even more giddy, maybe sunken to dens of depravity; time will tell. It's only places of great-enough 'historical mass' that resist, and even those are subject to the Laws of Change (Stonehenge, anyone..?). One day the Pyramids themselves will return to the sands from which they came. It's just a question of time, and a function of getting old that we reminisce in this way.

One of the best things about Denmark Street was that it never became a tourist trap -- it was a place that attracted visitors, and some tourists, but always maintained its identity as a place where the flesh, blood and sinew of the music business went about its day-to-day. The kind of transformation you mention makes a nonsense of local identity. I remember a visit a few years ago to a part of east London I used to haunt before it was sent for the socioeconomic equivalent of elocution lessons and a new wardrobe. Instead of the frayed fabric I had remembered, I found commerce indistinguishable from that of SoHo in New York: glossy chains selling the same sportswear, the same lifestyle accessories, the same ephemeral technology in pseudo-minimalist spaces, the same expensive but oddly unerotic lingerie, the same crockery, the same "unique" quirky small businesses that were now small global chains. I don't want or expect places to remain unchanged, and there are benefits as well as disadvantages to regeneration. Nonetheless, places do become soulless when they become generic. Denmark Street, like Soho and its environs in general, has had its heyday. It was great while it lasted. It will certainly be remembered but I agree that it cannot be preserved.

Of interest..other people wrapping a bass..

It’s a great thread, I only use flats and have done for years , it’s interesting to find out about their history 🙂

That SB bass with the maple board looks great. Given the trend towards slightly quirky retro designs, I think if Yamaha were to resurrect that style it would be well received, especially if it were equipped with some nice and beefy- sounding pickups. As with all Yamaha basses, it would have to be Japanese- made to peak my interest, but I expect it will never happen anyway.😟

Great job, love the attention to detail and the extra effort and inventiveness that goes into your builds.

It's been a few weeks since I managed to get on with any bass building but I managed to get back to this one today. When I last put it down, I had fitted the binding but wasn't happy with it. It took a few hours to put it on but minutes to remove it again with the router!! So today I fitted some new binding using several layers of veneer using Titebond rather than superglue. This gave me enough time to get the veneer in the correct position before the glue set. Much happier with the result this time which has given e the incentive to get this finished. The mark on the side is where I've got to drill the hole for the jack socket. I got a nice recessed plate with some parts I bought recently which will look the part on this build. With the weather getting a bit warmer and some welcome time off work on the horizon, I'm hoping to get this complete in the near future. I need to as I've got a few builds stacking up behind this - the 27" 5 string I've already started, 25" 4 string shorty, a 5 string short scale headless and another 4 string semi hollow. It's going to get busy!!

It took over a year for the other members of one band to notice that I played a fretless.

Haven't got time to watch it, too busy arguing what's punk and what's not on another thread. 😂😂

Personally, if I was looking for something I was never going to sell I'd think seriously about a custom build. For the money you'd spend on a new MM @Andyjr1515 could build you whatever you wanted. Check the Build Diaries thread for details of some of his creations. and here: