lettsguitars

Yep proper mental this. IBTL!

[quote name='simonc61' timestamp='1357638096' post='1925602'] It just gets better and better - [url="http://markpercy.co.uk/musician_attacked.htm"]http://markpercy.co....an_attacked.htm[/url] This guy appears to have some seriously bad Karma going on! [/quote]That is scary. Is the op actually M.P or has his bc account been hacked? Another condition of the position should be -MUST WEAR BODY ARMOUR WHEN PLAYING GIGS WITH ME!

Plying with others is good unless you dont get on. It could be fun and you may actually enjoy it. I see where you're coming from about the set and personally jamming on improvised tunes is my only passion when it comes to playing. I've not learned covers since my early youth and dont see any point in it as a technique/ability building exercise.

Post it in one of the ACG threads in the affiliates forum. I'm sure he wont mind lending his opinion.

Poplar is rather plain looking, creamy colour with green streaks. I would have to say that after all the effort put into that lovely finish it would be a shame to mess with it. You could well end up with a once beautiful, now worthless instrument of the very highest order. Be warned. Be very warned! DONT DO IT!!!!!

Alan Cringean uses unusual material just like that. Ask him!

[quote name='mckendrick' timestamp='1357655625' post='1926069'] Best change that avatar then, boss. Or is that there as an example? [/quote] I loves me some segovia and that there avatar is straight out of my dreams.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1357650076' post='1925916'] Any music manufacturer would give their eye teeth to have that sort of distribution network behind them! [/quote]Not necessarily. Mass production doesn't appeal to everyone. It's not always about making mega bucks. It is actually sometimes about making the best guitars that you can which is how Leo started out, although he did turn to labour division and machines to increase production which is how it all starts to go horribly wrong. imo!

No drugs? Sounds like you've taken some

[quote name='zero9' timestamp='1355924104' post='1904526'] I'm not sure I could 'get in' a combo, but I'm sure I'd fit into an 8x10 [/quote]

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1357641199' post='1925675'] That could well be an indication of your taste rather than the quality of the work involved though, couldn't it? I'm not going to attempt to defend the worst attrocities of contemporary pop, but I do think that a lot of contemporary EDM has interesting links to some pretty experimental electronica that validate it as an art form as much as any jazz by the likes of Coltrane (just as an example). No its not all about notes and harmony, instead its all about timbres, saturation, filters, sounds, transients, grooves etc, yet it is still as often as not experimental in that it is constantly evolving and striving for the next new idea, which is exacly what jazz was supposed to be doing, and then sort of stopped doing... Of course I wouldnt expect everyone to enjoy it, any more than I can enjoy the efforts of Coltrane, but that makes it no less valid... [/quote]Of course I am generalising to make a point. All genres have their reasons for being with good and bad efforts all round. All I meant was that people tend to forget the past 1000 years or so of human musical expression in favour of the latest bangin beats.

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1357634921' post='1925542'] Are you saying that everything recorded before 1953 sounded better than anything recorded after?!?!? Nuts!!!! [/quote]NOOOOO. Just that most folk are only interested in modern rock and pop (dubstep, whatever) which to me is throwaway music and has all been leading up to this point of audio saturation and quantity not quality due to industry profit margins. The public (me included) are told what to like with constant flashing images of singing arses from birth. The human race has a rich history of beautiful music from all over the world and yet most of us only seem to be concerned with 'new' music which to me is absolutely tragic. Churning out music that is cheap to produce and distribute is ideal in the eyes of business bods and the majority fall for it every time. If classical music was encouraged more then it would mean less sales for tinchy stri(y)der. "New 'music' = new money and if we give it to em in awful but cheap formats from the start they'll get used to it and we'll be quids in". Sad state of affairs. Art is dying. Any real talent is killed off now at a very early age as kids spend more time on twitter than they do practicing thier fugel horn licks. Throwaway capitalist culture is here to ruin everything! Including audio quality. That's enough of that I suppose. Sorry

Massive massive Bowie fan from the age of 8. We had all his records in our house (still do). Let's dance was his crowning glory and although he has done great stuff recentlyish (heathen) I find his newer material doesn't stand the test of time like it used to. Cant get excited about it anymore and over the last few years have realised just how uninteresting the majority of the bass work has been on most of his albums. Tony Visconti is a legend (up the hill backwards is magnificent) though and I'm positive it cant be [i]bad[/i]. Fantastic voyage blows me away every time.

Have you tried a new battery?

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1357595919' post='1925218'] I have owned quite a few Fenders over the years (some of them desirable oldies), most of them good solid workhorses after being adjusted to my preference - but I laterally prefered Lakland for Fender style basses...better QC etc. I switched to Ibanez premium basses a few months ago...and I believe that they are one of the most playable underrated basses on the market. People look down their nose ask me all the time why I have switched to Ibanez after owning vintage Fenders, Wal's, Alembic etc etc. Its like being the hunchback of notre dame "The Ibanezzzzzzsss, the Ibanezzzzzzzzsss"...I'm a freak for playing Ibanez & not Fenders lol. [/quote] Dont listen to em mate. Find a bass [i]you [/i]like and forget names and image. I would say it's a status thing but that would just confuse everybody

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1357595019' post='1925191'] To be fair, I didn't say hidden. Had a look at the Lettsbass website. Fair play and applaude the original, non copy, designs. Although, as a consequence, your bound to recommend something other than Fender. Wasn't dissing you. Fair play to you - but I don't agree with your view on The Big F. [/quote]Sound as. Thanks dl. With that avatar I'd expect you to have a different opinion Theres a time and a place for every kind of bass. With fenders its first thing wednesday morning on the pavement (bin day)

[quote name='Mottlefeeder' timestamp='1357427787' post='1922664'] I am not a luthier, so I may be wrong on this, but my understanding is that a paint finish is more than skin deep, so you can sand it and then refinish, but you cannot sand it then oil it - the oil cannot get into the wood because of the paint residue that is already there. Can any one confirm / correct my recollections? David [/quote]Wax not oil. That'll work. Also probably wont need a grain fill if it's alder or similar tight grained affair. Stripping is the hard part if it's a modern finish (poly). The same question pops up regularly and it seriously needs pinning by some bugger.

I have the plugin version. It does something but not very often. Too much saturation of any given frequency makes me feel dirty and I try and keep things nice and pure. For what it's worth (sod all).

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1357592119' post='1925107'] To be fair I have been brain washed by Letts basses lol...but thats another thread! [/quote]Yer in me power! Absolutely no to hidden agendas. I love dissing the fender and you wont find me speaking ill of any respectable makers of MODERN quality instruments. I'm a basschat nut and mainly stick to the repair tech advice threads but occasionally cannot help myself when it comes to this kind of stuff depending on my level of grumpiness on any given day. My comments here rarely make me any new friends or sales as far as I know.

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1357593085' post='1925128'] Not very easy at all. Get a power sander with plenty of spare sheets of 60 grit paper. You'll just have to do as best you can with the edges. Personally, having done it before, I think I'd rather die before trying it again. Truckstop [/quote]Yes sanding/scraping/swearing it off is a mammoth task and best left well alone.

Wood is surprisingly unaffected by heat. If the wood is nice and dry you have no worries aside from setting fire to it which is easily avoided by taking your time. The main issue is the heat sucking any remaining moisture out of the body which could cause movement and cracking worse case. Worse is a funny looking word.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1357561535' post='1924413'] I would like to think that you consider the instruments you make in part at least art. Would they then not be better if you gave them away for free? [/quote]The difference is you cant download a guitar otherwise I would be in the same position. Also I would say that it is a different realm of art. More like sculpture or pottery with little to no metaphysical aspect. Craft more than art. Obviously any affect on the music industry has a knock on effect to all musically related sales, guitars included.

Walking around with headphones permanently glued to your ears with a constant flow of mp3 music restricted to only the last 60 years of material makes you deaf to quality. IMO!

[quote name='Ruiner' timestamp='1357559835' post='1924364'] Is Flea renowned for his choice of badly set up instruments? Hasn't' he also used Musicman/Modulus/wal basses in his time? Does that mean they are inferior also? Confused. [/quote]I didnt mean much by that, other than to me a player like Willis is in another league to most pop players where the fender is prevalent, and his bass of choice is Ibanez so that tells me they cant be too bad. You dont see many top [i]modern[/i] players with fenders in recent times. I dont like heavy guitars with plastic bits, bolt on necks and uncouth aesthetics, but that's just me. Ibanez sweem to have a little more ergonomiciness and playability. My first bass was an Ibanez and it really set the standard for me in terms of weight, looks and quality.

[quote name='paulpirie8' timestamp='1357559709' post='1924359'] True. I suppose I should have mentioned formats as well. I was going with the assumption that a proper Hi-Fi would be used with either CDs or vinyl. Don't agree about CDs sounding terrible although vinyl (which I'm assuming is your medium of choice) definitely sounds better. Paul [/quote]I cant be bothered with it all nowadays. Spotify through my stereo is too easy not to. Vinyl if I can be arsed.