Leaderboard

Just finished putting this together for my next tour: It's a bit convoluted for something that looks pretty simple! On the next tour I will be doubling on electric and upright, so the sound man wants a separate feed for each. I, on the other hand, only want one volume pedal, and one tuner for both instruments, which means they will both have to share a section of the signal path. The Lehle Acouswitch popped up for sale here and I worked out that between that and an LS-2, I can do what I need. The Lehle has two inputs, so the upright will go into Input A (as this input goes through the preamp/EQ section) and my Sadowsky P will go into Input B (as this doesn't go through the preamp). The only actual effect I need on this tour is an Octave pedal, so the Octamizer can sit at the back of the board in the Lehle's loop and be brought in and out of the chain with the footswitch on the Lehle. The last thing in the chain is the second effects loop on the Lehle which is always active (no switch). In there I put the Peterson tuner (in monitor mode so the readout is always active, but the pedal isn't muting the signal) and then the signal is routed out of a TRS Mini Mod to the volume pedal that is off the board using a Y splitter. The signal comes back into the board then hits the LS-2 set to A<->B Mode. Send A goes back to the Return of the Lehle, and Send B goes to the Khan DI. Whenever you switch instruments with the Lehle, you switch outputs with the Boss accordingly. I modded my LS-2 to have blue and white LEDs to match the blue/white channel select LED on the Lehle. So although you have to hit 2 switches to change instruments, all you have to do is make sure the LEDs on both units are the same, which will ensure each instrument goes to the correct DI Out. I put the LS-2 as close to the Lehle A/B switch as possible to make it as convenient as possible. Signal chain is: Upright --> Lehle Channel A Electric --> Lehle Channel B Lehle Loop 1 Send --> Octamizer --> Lehle Loop 1 Return Lehle Loop 2 Send --> Peterson Strobostomp Mini --> Dunlop DVP4 --> Boss LS-2 In Boss LS-2 Send A --> Lehle Loop 2 Return --> XLR Out to Desk (Upright) Boss LS-2 Send B --> Khan VTDI --> XLR Out to Desk (Electric) I like being able to roll my volume pedal off to tune, and this setup will allow me to do that for both basses, with one volume pedal and one tuner. The Lehle also has a mute switch that sends the signal to the Tuner Out, but I wouldn't be able to roll off the volume pedal to tune in that configuration, so I doubt that switch will get used much. I've used a Rockboard MOD to keep all my ins and outs neat and tidy. I also drilled out one of the side holes of the Rockboard to accept a PowerCON connector, which I've soldered two IEC's on to. One goes to the GigRig Generator under the board for the pedals, the other right angled IEC comes through the top of the board to power the Khan VTDI. All 1/4" cables are made up of Squareplug SP400 jacks and Mogami 2319 cable, all XLR cables are Van Damme and Switchcraft low profile right angle XLRs. The Y Split for the volume pedal is a Squareplug SP550S (TRS) to 2 Squareplug SPS4 TS jacks. I like the Squareplugs as not only are they super low profile and well made, they sell different colour screws that you can use to ID your cables. I have orange on the jack that plugs into the Output of the volume pedal, so I (and any potential deps) will know which jack goes where. If you got this far without falling asleep, congratulations - you're as much of a nerd as I am! 🤣

Hi all, we have our drawings, many thanks to @Bassybert for drawing them up and @SamIAm for checking them, any mistakes are mine (hoping there aren't any of course) I've swapped out the origianl hand sketch at the top of this thread and there is a link to download the drawings in PDF

About 20yrs ago I was regularly gigging with a USA Musicman Stingray bass and Ampeg rig Sold it all off when the band folded and I had a ten year break from playing bass ( everything sold ) I returned and started playing Fender PBass and I thought this was my perfect bass however I’ve discovered that I’m really still a Stingray guy and I’ve found a secondhand USA Stingray in Blue Pearl virtually the same as my original bass !! I’m converted back to playing a Ray Im already selling my Vintera II on here and my American Performer will soon be listed too Picture of incoming bass and 20yrs ago gigging my Ray with Ampeg 610 and SVT CL head !

Not a build but a heavy mod so I hope I'm posting in the right forum, apologies if not and a call to the mods to move it to it's correct home if necessary. I'm new so apologies. So, I'd been a bit curious about fanned fret basses for some time now but there is no way I could afford a Dingwall or such and most fanned frets were commanding prices of £600+ even at secondhand values. Then I read about the Red Sub Coliseum which were being knocked out by G4M for around £270. When I went on the G4M they'd dropped Red Sub but carried an almost identical bass called the 972 https://g4m.com/product/g4m-972-fanned-fret-5-string-blue-burl-burst/ Which I thought I'd take a punt on. TBH when it arrived I loved it, OK the hardware and electronics were a bit flakey but the neck was sublime and a lovely player. However, I do really think that it's more of a 'metal' or 'prog' guitar than a good all rounder due to the pickups positioning. I rather like dub and reggae and was wondering how it would sound with a third pickup added close to the neck. I did some research but concluded that trying to wire a third pickup and find a switch which would allow me to adjust all 3 pickups individually or permutations of the three was well above my level of experience. Plan 'B' was called for which was moving the 'neck' pickup closer to the neck. I build a little pickup mule to find the sweetspot that worked for me; Having spent ages trying to decide I finally stumbled across this configuration which had the pickup at a different angle to the angle it was originally set at; Visually, I was not over enamoured with all the bumpy and pointy bits on the body so I decided to 'phone a friend' namely one of my old band mates from 40 years ago who was building guitars in his retirement. Armed with a set of French Curves we went to work... We subtly rounded the upper horn, and took the pointy bit off the lower horn then took quite a bit of material from the bottom end of the body. Now you will notice that this picture shows an undercoat. The original blue burl is actually a very thin real wood veneer, unfortunately because we were going to relocate the pickup then there was no way of either getting some veneer or even applying it to the original pickup position, so the plan was to respray. With the old pickup cavity blocked with a bit of wood and the new cavity cut out it was time to prep for the respray. Now in case you're confused the photo above was taken before he finished rounding off the bottom of the body he'd forgot about that, so he actually cut those bits off when he'd prepped the undercoat. Colour. What are we going to have? Well I wanted something a bit different to all of the natural or black guitars I already have. So was thinking back to my youth when in the early 70's everything was orange, Space Hoppers, Chopper bikes, Habitat wall paper and also a groundbreaking film 'A Clockwork Orange' was doing the rounds. Picked out RAL2011 and since it matched my little Orange Crush Bass 50 thought 'that'll do' and was at one stage going to call the bass 'The Clockwork Orange' even printed out the decals along with Alex Delarge's stylised eye. Nitro painting; Shielding Headstock - dropped the lettering and just went with the eye flakey machine heads replaced with Wawicks and a Glockenklang 3 eq pre added; Final assembly Neck pickup sounds lovely dialled fully on and the Glockenklang just adds a lot more richness so really happy now with the guitar which didn't start life as a bad instrument to be fair, but it's where I want it now, has no resale value at all but I love it. Cheers.

Yup. Good luck figuring that one out. 😆 New acoustic bass and gator case day. I picked up this Takamine electro acoustic with a Gator Case included for an absolute bargain £250 a couple of weeks ago on the bay of fleas. Since then I've been biting my nails waiting for it to turn up and hoping it would still be in one piece. Turns out I didn't need to worry. 3 couriers. Over 2500km from London to Bulgaria and not only was it still in one piece, but it was still in tune! The bass is superb. But I have to give props to the Gator Case. It's the first one I've owned and what a superb piece of kit it is. I've heard people sing their praises many times and now I understand why. Looking forward to playing this at the weekend in my new acoustic jam project. 😁

I may have just accidentally purchased a WB-100 from Bass Bros. Proof will follow when it arrives 😅

Bought these 10 years ago and had acres of excellent service from them, double-decker busloads of service, olympic swimming pools of service, but a year ago we upgraded to a pair of very nice HK-Audio tops so these are now surplus to requirement, not wanted on voyage. These are FREE to any Basschatter who can prove themselves worthy of such a noble gift. The challenge - should you decide to attempt it - is: To drive to Harrow HA1 in a suitable vehicle and load them into the boot of that vehicle before driving away, whistling a merry tune. I did intend to add a couple of bits involving slaying dragons and fighting faceless knights with blank shields, but I'm a wee bit busy just now.

@Beedster has cut this story to a very short version. I know the ins and outs and I’m absolutely disgusted at the way he’s been treated, especially on my recommendation. I always try to help people out on here and in general, and can honestly say I haven’t had an issue with him. However after this I won’t use his services again and have told him this. So yeah, I’d strongly suggest to look elsewhere for your courier needs and not book with Tim. Again apologies @Beedster 😔

At first sight; 100% refinish and non original pickguard. I can't read the potmeter dating, if they don't read '72 it would be nice to know how they got to that year. Very strange that they don't mention the refinish and changed pickguard (should be tortoise or white usually, depending on original finish, also thumb rest holes on top are wrong). I'd say it's ridiculously priced all in all for a non original kinda early '70s bass ...

Actually, in the model aircraft world folks use cast-off lithographic aluminium sheet used in the printing industry that is even thinner - it is used once and then thrown out for recycling. It is very thin and weighs next to nothing. WHAT AM I SAYING??????

That really was very careless

My Ken Smith BSR5EG Black Tiger Elite is pretty much my dream bass, doesn’t really get much better than this. It is a joy. Edited with photos now, as it was rude of me not to post them!

After a three week layoff, last Saturday my band reconvened to play at a 3-band mini-festival in yet another Dorset village. This was a strange venue insofar as the teas, games and kiddies stuff were in one field, whilst the tractors, vintage cars and music were in the next field up the hill; yes, there was pedestrian access between the two, but only a crazy treasure-hunt navigational challenge round the back lanes for vehicles. I parked on a 1-in-5 slope near the pole barn set aside for bands, but was very grateful later for the Jeep’s ultra-low 4WD to get out after the rain that pelted down - many others needed tractor assistance! So what about the music? We followed a competent rock band with a barely-competent set dictated by the absence of our kb player (on holiday), our still-learning dep guitarist (young guy doing his best) and a rather superfluous fiddle/harmonica playing lady who was there to make up the contracted line-up numbers. Frankly, I wasn’t happy with that line-up nor with the unforced errors littering the sets, nor with the need to play only stuff that I’d describe as cheese and cr*p, because that was all the scratch line-up could manage without falling apart completely but that still happened, of course – crikey, we’ve always played ‘Jolene’ in Fm, but due to wrongly placed capos, panic and fluster-clucking that resulted in three restarts in Db, Eb then Bb, which is what we ended up busking it in! Now here’s the paradox – the punters (local worthies mixed with working farming types) loved us, wanted more (although we didn’t have any more to give) and were very happy to pay us. Moral of the story? I just don’t think there is one... perhaps it's if you get out of the venue alive, the gig was a success!

I'll do a proper write-up once it really is finished, but some initial thoughts are: - it looks amazing! At some point I'll get some proper photos done. My phone and workshop lighting do not make for a David Bailey experience.... - the geometry has mostly come out well. The metal bridge looks nice, but is sh_te. I may replace the string retainer with a handmade ebony thing. - The acoustic sound is very nice. It's slightly louder and much more complex than the last prototype I built. More overtones, more focussed, less 'flabby' sounding. - the traditionalists will crucify me, but I used Tru-oil for the spruce top and the walnut back. On the spruce top it looks completely amazing. Better than the french-polished shellac I used on the previous guitar. - The piezo pickup isn't installed yet. I'll do fret levelling, set-up and finish everything else before installing. I'll need to drill a hole in the top for the wire, so I want to make sure the bridge is in the right place first....

It's a non original 1974 Fender Jazz Bass as the neck stamp attests it. As previously said, it's not what it's supposed to be. And the price tag is way too high.

That’s a nice looking instrument but at the price I’d wait for something verifiably authentic and original to come along, it’s a buyer’s market at present 👍

The 2 jazzes I currently own; Custom Shop '66 in aged firemist silver, and an ESP 800 series (messe '91). Both are terrific.

Can I say a massive thanks to @loudspeaker who so generously posted me a handle free of charge. What an amazing gesture and a top top guy. Thanks so much mate 🙏🙏🙏

And so today's job was getting the neck to fit the immoveable and un-modifiable neck pocket at the correct scale length. I don't use the DIY router table that often, but there are certain jobs that are perfect for it. First was getting the length right, while retaining the heel end shape. I used a narrow router bit so that the sides of my fences either side of the bit could be close together and making the cut follow the heel end curve. Little by little is the golden rule here - this is after 6 passes of around 1mm length removal at a time. The height of the cut is around 1mm higher than the depth of the pocket, leaving an overhang for the unchanged fretboard size and shape: Then, positioning the neck along the length of the fences, I narrowed each side by a couple of mm. Here's how the new heel comes out: It fits! On this side, I have narrowed the whole length of the heel to give a clean face in line with the pocket width - I will blend and refinish the join later On the other side, I could do the same - but I have another cunning plan I am considering and so, for the moment, have left it as a cut-out And this is how it looks at the moment with the neck heel sitting fully and snugly in the pocket : And the all-important scale check... Phew!

I slipped and accidentally landed on the Bass Bros page…

Sloppy work, well done🤣

I haven't trialed it myself yet, but apparently it does a decent job with bass!

Luthier Warehoue / Luthier Crafts / Durham Guitars... Made me a P and a J routed how i wanted...

The cherry burst Sadowsky Vintage is the one I'd pick

I wouldn't bother with the Darkglass suite. Two reasons A) It's already pretty much covered with the models already on the QC B) I reckon it will be ages before that one is upgrade to X and made QC compatible, if it ever is! Parallax is the way. Though I already have that, so I reckon I'm going to go Rabea for that Overlord synth engine 😍

So after my correspondence with Markbass last week they did finally ship the parts at the end of the week, Real Electronics received them Monday and got the repair done within 24hrs! Should be with me today hopefully 🤞

Play about raising the HPF until it sounds like it is missing something. Back it off until it isn't. It's working. You should find that the bass control on the amp now behaves a little differently. You can bring it up with no ill effect instead of causing speaker to flap. It may be that an extra bit of HPF can work with significant bass boost to tailor a much more full low end.

I've been doing a bit of research and I have good news in so much as there seems to be a lot of variation in the finishes of the individual basses. Sweetwater have got a few blackburst ones in stock and they are all different. One looks like the one at Bass Direct, the others look more like the images that Spector have been disseminating. The downside to that is those inconsistencies mean if you want to buy one you then have to find one with a finish that matches your preference. Not just the right finish but also the right rendition of that finish.

Hi friends! I made several boards and sent them to musicians I know so that they could test them in operation under various extreme conditions.

Feels about 25/30 years a bit too late? he was using them from the load/reload era. “Newsted” as a band are done. Dunno - love the bloke, and he was probably well up there with Flea as my early influences/inspiration… But £7000+ for that? Big fat Meh.

Updates coming thick and fast. Just the set up to go 🙂 Here I'll admit to being more than a little excited 😀

Agree with all the comments about the benefit of HPF's to eliminate low end crud to improve speaker efficiency, particularly in the subsonic range (<20Hz) and equally also below the low B fundamental at 31Hz (or 41Hz for the low E for 4 string basses). My key learning point, with very helpful input from fellow BC'er @ratman, who is both a pro bass player and a capable sound engineer, and who kindly came along to one of our gigs recently, is to think of the business end of the bass frequency range as being up to 200Hz. Our analogue desk has a built in HPF with cut-off kicking in at 100Hz - engaging that for the bass left the sound feeling thin and lacking weight, so I've gone instead for a pedal setting at 50Hz with a 12dB/oct cut but then adding a 3dB boost at 140Hz in the "low mids". (Fwiw I've personally found it unhelpful to think of 120hz+ as "mids" because it's very much in the bass frequency range and mids go so much higher! Maybe time to reclaim this end of the spectrum as "bass", haha!) Bingo, the bass is now 'back' adding that proverbial 'heft' that had been lacking. So we are currently HPF'ing everything on the desk other than the bass and kick drum, and applying a separate HPF at 50Hz to just the bass.

….or following a Star Wars theme “The Rebel Bass” (I’ll get my coat) 😂

Coming soon to a lawyer's wall near you, never to make a sound in anger.

Lamborghini is making excellent tractors, that said.

You are kinda comparing a tractor to a Lamborghini here...

I have some history with viols.. " early music" was a "thing" when I was at primary school and we got to play recorders along with a viol consort. My next school had a cupboard full of cornetti and crum horns, a recorder consort ( praetorius, holborn, Byrd etc) and a chamber orchestra for Bach and Vivaldi. Since I inherited my dad's bass de viol (a student six string) I've been chatting with the doyenne of UK viol playing, Alison Crum, who turns out to know some people I know and several my brother has played with. I have all the background and none of the ability! 😂. Roll on retirement and I'll spend a morning a week on viol (a day on cello, a day on classical double bass, a day on jazz double bass and a day on electric..half on fretted, half on fretless) and get back to grips with the old alto block flute... not enough days in the week sadly. Neither cello nor viol have been played in weeks.

Thanks very much, everyone. I was pretty down about it (the thought of not playing again rather than the injury itself) when I woke up this morning but I've given my head a talking to and am feeling a bit more positive now. Band practise is going ahead tonight (without bass) and we're going to figure out what we're going to do. I've got a follow-up appointment on Thursday where they'll assess the there's any likelihood of the stitching working and we'll go from there. Annoyingly I have a 111-mile sponsored walk coming up in the next couple of weeks and could do without this hanging over it. Still, as said above, where there's a will there's a way. Thanks for all the supportive comments (and horrifying war stories!) - they're making a boring day at home much more bearable. Cheers, Jack

It's not for everyone, that's for sure. I was 25 when I moved from being in a signed (albeit rubbish) band, to doing session work. But I used to do a couple of night shifts at a bakery as well, just in case there were quiet weeks. Sometimes I'd turn up to a studio session or a dep gig or something, and I'd get the "ooh, look out - here's little bakery boy" chants or get called a master baker or whatever. Wahey! It was usually done in jest so I could have laugh along with the banter, no big deal. But I did start to notice that other musicians I was playing alongside were living in rented rooms or bedsits and living off cup-a-soups, or still with their parents, whereas I had a mortgage on a flat in central London because I had a side hustle and they weren't prepared to do that. I was usually totally knackered - imagine finishing a drumming gig and then heading straight off to do a night shift at a bakery, already sweaty and fit for sleep. But without the bakery side hustle for a couple of years I wouldn't have been able to carry on, I was rarely 'first call' as a player, my skills weren't up to it. I wasn't A-list, more like S-list 😂