Leaderboard

Nothing wrong with dreaming about an Ibanez, it's all subjective. Also nothing wrong with dreaming about a Mondeo either. It's all about perspective.

Sometimes opportunities arise. There were only a couple of small offcuts of the top walnut left, but I realised that it was enough to do a bookmatched headstock plate if Matt preferred that to the ebony - and yes, that's the way we are going to go. I thicknessed and joined it last night and cut it out this morning. Clearly the glue line in the middle will fully sand away but this is broadly how it will look Couple more swifts to cut out sometime during the day

Hey guys Quick back story, I've played a Tobias Toby Pro bass since I was 18 (18th Birthday present from parents). Managed to pick up the 5 string version of my original 4 string last year and was lucky enough to find another matching 4 string to be a back up to my #1 as I wanted to "retire" my #1 due to sentimental attachment. Annnnyway, recently I've been really wanting a Fretless bass again but as I don't really have the room for another guitar, I thought I'd go about converting one of my basses (I've done fretless conversions for people before and on a bass I used to own) and decided the #2 was the perfect candidate. End of the day, this one has absolutely zero sentimental attachment and I only paid £100 for it (seller had it listed as an Epiphone bass, if they couldn't be bothered to list it properly, I wasn't about to correct them). So, I had some maple veneer left over from the last fretless conversion I did for a "customer" (a few mates have paid me to do fretless conversions on their basses after playing my converted bass) and went about getting it done. Reason for the veneer strips is because I still wanted fret lines so I could see where I am! Hopefully this stops me tinkering with my basses for a while so I can focus on a new model railway I'll be building soon (should no guitar tinkering get in the way! 😂) Just as a side note, this isn't a professional job as I'm not a trained luthier but I think you'll agree the end results look great. I'll list the steps here then add some photos of the steps down below. 1: Remove frets = I did this by taking a Stanley blade and gently sliding it under the fret to lift it and remove and glue keeping it in place. Next, I slowly lifted the fret wire out with a pair of pliers and cleaned the slot by gently running a hand saw through the slot a couple of times. This way it didn't widen the slot and left it with a flat edge to push the veneer in to. 2: Veneer strips = The veneer strips were cut to over hang the sides of the neck so I could trim them flush with the edges of the board and use it as an indicator for which note I'm playing 😂. A swab of clear super glue on the lower half ensured the veneers stayed in place. Once the glue had dried and hardened over an hour, I used a Stanley blade held flush to the board to trim off any excess. The remaining bits would be sanded down later on. 3: Touch-ups and polish = Using a very soft and very fine sandpaper on a soft pad with a hand-held drill, I gave the fretboard a final sand over on a very low speed to get rid of any remaining protruding veneer then checked the board back over with a 10" radius block (which is the original radius). No change at all to the radius so no problems there. There were quite a few scratches on the lacquer down the side of the neck so I just used the hand-held drill again with a polishing kit which got rid of all the scratches and returning it to it's previously lovely gloss finish. After all that was done, I applied some Linseed oil to the board (BTW, I don't care about the pros and cons of lemon oil vs linseed oil) 4: Setup and test = I'm not going to be using Roundwounds on this as in my previous experience, they cut in to the fretboard too much so I used my favourite Flatwounds, the D'addario Chrome 50-105 but as Flatwounds have more tension than most Rounds, I tuned this down to B E A D which again is a personal preference for 4 string basses.With a little neck adjustment, the strings aren't floppy at all and have great tension and balance. I dropped the action to my preferred 5/64s, set the intonation (as close as possible without frets!) and lowered the pickups back down a tad. The end result instantly made me smile instantly. Playing fretless is so much fun and so much more expressive. Any bits that chipped out of the board during fret removal were filled with rosewood dust and glue. I am still undecided about Epoxy coating the board as I feel there isn't any need to do so because I'll always use Flatwounds on it and love how it currently sounds/feels to play. In conclusion, I was worried at first that I might regret doing this but no way in hell will I. I haven't played my fretted basses since finishing this and am just having so much fun with those lovely "muah" slides between notes. I'll get a video clip up on here in the next couple of days but wanted to share my progress with you all on here. Even had my guit*rded friend who said "why would you want a fretless?, it's an awful idea" end up saying "yeah I can see why you've done that, it sounds great" and is now pestering me to jam "Parisienne Walkways" with him 🤣 I should add that yes, there is a missing potentiometer from this bass because I haven't been able to get the EMG stacked preamp I want for it yet but the wiring has been done inside ready to just clip it in. The neck volume pot on all 3 acts as an active/passive push/pull so I can still use the fretless in passive mode (with the passive TBX tone pot) until I get the preamp and the bridge volume pot is a push/pull to swap between series & parallel. All 3 basses have had Hipshot Ultralite tuners installed, the two 4 strings have a Badass II installed, the #1 and 5 string have EMG preamps installed and #1 has had Nordstrand pickups installed. Eventually all 3 will have EMG preamps (2 band on Fretless), Nordstrand Pickups, Hipshot ultralites, Graphtech Black Tusq nuts and Leo Quan Badass bridges (II on the 4's, V on the 5'er). Anyway, enough of my waffle, here's some photos and a family photo at the end. Enjoy!

At the moment it is cut a touch oversize and straight sided - but it's on Once the tuner holes have been drilled and I know exactly where the tuners are going to be I will carve the curves a bit deeper to tone in with the body shape : But, final shape or not, always worth a gratuitous mock-up

'And here's one I've just done'

You folks are all sour. He's found a market and he's smashing it out the park. He's a killer player and would no doubt be able to sit in on most gigs and get the job done better than most (and I would wager much better than those that are moaning about him). His style, presentation etc may not appeal to all - but the stats speak for themselves. I'm sure he's not going to lose any sleep over comments on BC. You can't really be a creator if you are going to be impacted by comments. The whole of social media is built on engagement... positive and negative. He's an entertainer... that is using bass as his gimmick. Fair play for him finding the gap in the market and exploiting it. EDIT: the fact that we are talking about it, clicking and watching - engagement - shows that Davie is winning.

Fun. Control. Money. No drunk punters pouring lager on your pedals. No useless ‘sound man’. No load in/out. No ‘sex on fire’!

You’re getting it all the wrong way round. The cash is in the YouTube videos and endorsements not playing bass on some pointless jazz funk record nobody ever buys.

The headstock is designed to accommodate the 5 ultralights, keep the string runs straight and, most importantly fit in the electric guitar hardcase that's ready and waiting! A double check that the tuners will fit in the right places also gives me how much room there will be to pop a couple of swifts onto the headstock plate: For those who have seen this many times, feel free to skip the next few photos - the inlays They are marked out on the mother of pearl: Cut out with a jeweller's saw: Positioned and a pencil outline drawn round them: Then out comes the Dremel with a precision router base and 1mm bit: One done, one to go! And then glued in with epoxy mixed with walnut dust which will secure them and the squeeze-out will fill any gaps with walnut-coloured filler: And after lunch I can sand them down and we should have a couple of finished inlays

I have actually warmed to Mr 504. He obviously has a market which is totally not us and he is hitting it well. His tongue is firmly in his cheek most of the time. I wish him well.

And even on the headstock plate you can't have too many clamps! :

What?? Fantastic that you live such a privileged life, but perhaps a £1k or so investment on a bass is a lot of money for some people?

I got bored after about 30 seconds. His monotone voice was irritating. That said, I hate the wholeYoutube culture. HEEEEY GUUUUYZ IM GONNA REACT TO THIS REACTION VIDEO AND OMG SOUND ON DON'T SKIP BECAUSE ITS LUUUULLLLZ LIKE AND SUBSCRIIIIIBE BECAUSE MY SOUL IS EMPTYAND I NEED CONSTANT VALIDATION FROM STRANGERS AND TROLLZ ON THE INTERWEBZZZ

I always take a spare where it’s feasible. I favour the cheapo backup option to keep the insurance premium sensible, and also because “my jag wouldn’t start so I went in the merc” sounds nowhere near as much fun when drunkenly recounting the tale at a later date as “..so I fired up the reliant and off we went!” 🙂 Our rhythm guitarist is ‘that guy’ when it comes to gear maintenance and associated malfunctions. He had yet another string break and proceeded to change it on stage, mid song. We just carried on playing and he managed to come back in for the last few bars. Unfortunately for him, he had a GoPro pointed straight at him, so the lead guitarist took the footage of the string replacement, speeded it up, set it to the benny hill theme and sent it round. It got the point across.

Not a build diary as normal (see my other threads for those), but I have decided I want to make my build hobby into something more official...(still hobby, but at least have a proper vehicle for repairs, custom builds, upgrades). so building a website and “small” business .... watch this space over the next few months. 😎

Each time I go down into the cellar today I am fitting an extra fret in. We are going for EVO Golds and the first 5 are already in. After detanging them at the sides, I pop a small amount of wood glue on the tangs, hammer them in and then clamp the radius block to keep them fully seated while the glue grabs. I'll take some extra shots of the earlier steps as I go along, but this is the final step of the above method (which was when I remembered to take the photo) :

I firmly believe that ‘the wand chooses the wizard’... in that the basses that stumble into my life inevitably turn out better than the ones who’s specs I agonise over. There is almost no crossover between the instruments on my wall. I strongly disliked the colour of what is now my main bass when I first saw it, and yet here we are 3 years later! So much so that when ordering my next Sandberg I left them with a few options so I’m not 100% certain what will arrive in September!

I follow a small guitar channel where the guy posting is a 50-something guitar teacher living in a very depressed part of the UK. On one of his occasional live chats he said that doing YouTube tutorials (free) with expanded stuff like transcriptions for Patreon subscribers (paid) and paid on-line courses has transformed his finances to the point that he can make a decent living instead of being continually hand-to-mouth. I think it's great that another path has opened for talented people to make a living out of music.

Jolana Diamant, 70s/early 80s Czechoslovakia. These are pretty good & getting a bit collectable. Loads of Jolana info here: http://cheesyguitars.com/

That would be far too organised for my scattershot way of doing things. And I wouldn't remember where I'd put them

Don't quite know why but I like this. Where do they sit on the Heavy-o-meter? Every tune a toe-tapper.

71? Still a spring chicken. Keep on rockin’

I mean, I listen to lots of heavily downtuned 'doom' metal, so stuff like Yob, Inter Arma, Sleep and the like. However, I find them very easy to listen to as they are not unlike classic rock in terms of production: big valve amps, no drum triggers, no obscene amounts of compression on the recording and there is actually a lot of dynamics in the material (in my opinion obviously). However, it isn't something I listen to at home since my wife doesn't like that type of stuff, though I can generally get away with Mastodon, High on Fire and Red/Blue album era Baroness, which is my general 'acceptable' level of heavyness. However, my daughters taste in Peppa Pig usually wins out so I am pretty familiar with that too. I generally don't listen to much modern production djent metal, so basically anything with loads of drum triggers or has that highly polished Roadrunner America modern metal mix (i.e Five Finger Death Punch/Lamb of God type stuff, I would say Mudvayne too but the bassist is utterly incredible so they always get a pass). Not because it is too heavy, I just don't like that kind of rock/metal.

You just been fished. And that's why some people are great at social media. They know how to push people's buttons.

It is a good thing your logo isn’t a millipede, that would take ages

James Jamerson also had one.

You can just picture the scene at Madison Square Garden as JPJ's bass suddenly dies and he walks across the stage forlornly - only to see Peter Grant waiting for him!!! ... or Ian Faith.

My Wal's probably nearest to this:

"Darkening of the Volute" - that sounds like the latest EP from basschat's resident neo-prog-metal band.

This video illustrates perfectly why guitar solos are best played on a guitar.

Finally plucked up the courage to remove clamps... and it didn't fall apart (phew). Still needs cleaning up/flattening, but very happy with how this is turning out!

Not exactly ‘high end’, but a US Stingray. Had the bass from an 18 yr old, my first proper bass. Years later I started using 60s Ps & Js with flats and decided to go to town on the Stingray after selling some nice basses to fund the Fenders. It had extra MM & P pickups, active/passive and coil split for MM pups. All positions sounded really good. Sold it a few years later after a tough period. Tried to buy it back but the guy I sold it to stopped communicating and must have sold it on. I kept searching regularly though. The beauty of it being so customised was that when it popped up on eBay last month I spotted it and was the only bidder - and got it back. After all the mods, it’s back to original partly for nostalgia reasons but also as it’s just too much for me to tinker with, but it sounded great with them. Here’s pics of when I got it back, and now.

I had a similar experience. I went to the Crawdaddy Club to see the Yardbirds (1967). I got there early, and during the sound check Chris Dreja's P bass didn't work. I went home and fetched my bass. There were some raised eyebrows and nudge, nudge comments from Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck when I turned up with my Framus Star Bass! But it worked and Chris was very thankful at the end of the evening.

I see my Precision as this

My first 5 string was the BBN5! Great little bass, as i recall i spent about £400 new vack in 1996. I liked it so much I bought the first Nathan East signature about a year later.

Got to use it a local pub gig last weekend. Looks great, sounds even better. Lots of lovely comments about the tone and my bass playing. 😀 IMG_1539.MP4

Exactly this. An expensive, luxury bass for me is £1000. I'm not someone who can drop 3k+ on a dream bass so there's no point dreaming above my means! If I ever won the lottery I'd totally buy a dingwall tho.

No SWANS fans then? Or Neurosis. Or Autopsy. Etc.

Every Musicman Stingray that I’ve had. They look great, play great, are really comfortable to wear/play but after the initial buzz I realise that I just don’t like the sound, or at least the sound when I’m playing them. When others play them I think they sound awesome but I’m so Precision ingrained any bass in my hands other than a Precision just doesn’t sound right to me. Now if a Stingray sounded exactly like a Precision, well I’d be in bass heaven as the ergonomics & fit are better for me.

It was a Sadowsky. On paper it was perfect. When I played it - no better than a common jazz. Up until that point it had been on my bucket list.

This is the bass. . . . . . . . probably worth 10/- by the time I'd finished with it!

I liked it before, but that balances it so well. Hats off to you, Sir!

I have humble expectations, but it forces me to step up or shut up. A good thing.

Don't go changing... I love watching how these basses flow through your hands , it's quite hypnotic, like watching a waterfall 🤣 Much more entertaining than anything on the telly at least.

I just don’t like the “humour”. Ive seen a few of his videos now, he’s obviously a good player. But I wouldn’t care if I never heard/saw him again.

You have to ask yourself a number of questions: What sort of band are you in, and what sort of gigs you do. Are you playing 30-45 minute sets down at the local? Or are you doing 2-3 hour stints at functions (weddings etc.)? If you're doing the first option, then no. You don't need to buy and take a spare bass. Make sure your main instrument is looked after, strings, batteries, plectra, etc. and you'll be fine (always carry spare strings & batteries if you need them though). If you're playing in a function band and doing a couple of long sets per show, then yes, you do need a spare instrument, as it's a completely separate premise. You're being paid decent sums of money to provide entertainment, so you need to be professional and be prepared for any eventuality. And if that eventuality occurs, then the switch should be as quick as possible. I would assume that the first option is the case, and you don't NEED to take another bass to rehearsals & gigs.