dmccombe7

I watched a few vid clips on shimming and its taken me a little while to get my head round why you just shim the very back of the neck rather than the full neck pocket but i get it now. Any idea what thickness you might be talking about or is it a trial and error thing.

Was it the plastic or cardboard that you used. ideally i need to raise the neck approx 1 - 1.5mm to give me some spare adjustment on the E saddle.

What did you use to shim the necks ? Dave

I think you can ask for a more powerful version but its not a standard production by looks of it. Dave

So that's a definite NO then

Well that's mine just paid for and should be sent out Thu/Fri no idea how long it'll take to get here especially if its held up at customs until payment made. or do they deliver and just send you an invoice for the money to be paid ? Dave

£800 plus £28 postage to UK then add on Import tax and VAT so i'm guessing circa £1k in total Dave

Thanks @Bluewine you're a true gent. I was going to take a holiday over that area and make a visit to the museum not long after it opened but life changed and it didn't happen. Maybe some day. Many many thanks for sharing some HD pics. Always appreciated. Dave

1st gig with Glam Rock band and our new guitarist at The Dreadnought in Bathgate. One of the singers had food poisoning from the night before so she was extremely unwell but like the trooper she is The Show Must Go On she carried on. New guitarist did a sterling job after just 3 weeks with the songs. Venue was pretty busy with people up dancing almost from the 1st song. Quite a few standing with mouths open when we took to the stage but the feedback has been amazing. Several people mentioned they were too busy watching the show to dance and were amazed at the outfits and what they were witnessing. Very hot on stage and drank about 2 litres of water during the show. Few early bird pics have appeared so here's one of them to give you an idea of what we do.

My VM4 has plenty of travel left on the saddles and string height is 1.5mm across the board. I know Fender set up manual states 2.5mm on the E string and i can work with that but its better and easier for me at 2mm or less. I bought the bass 2nd hand so it would be worth having a pro look at it to be on safe side. Dave

Dont recognise the bass amp ? what make and model is it @Franticsmurf ? Dave

I'm gonna put my MarloweDK in at some point to get the string height a bit lower. I've tried all i can think off but the E string saddle is bottomed out with just a very slight lift with the screws to keep saddle flat of the base. G string much the same. Neck is almost straight with very slight curve. If i lower any more i get string buzz. If i make the neck any straighter i get fret buzz at 4th / 5th frets. String height at 12th fret on E is approx 2.2 - 2.3mm. My VM4 and Geddy Jazz are 1.5mm and i can feel the benefits with that little lower action. Dont get me wrong i'm gigging with the Marlowe and it sounds great in the punk band but i just feel it should have a better action than it does. Action was 3mm on 12fret E string when i got it. I think it either needs shimmed which surprises me as it must have been like that when it left Sandberg or something done to lower the saddle heights but not sure that's possible ? I'll let an expert sort it out. I'll use Chris from McIntyre Guitars in Edinburgh. I've already mentioned my P bass issue but he was very busy at the time so i decided to hang off a bit. Dave

I've stored that Handbox historical fact in my file for useless information where i keep most of my brain. Its a small file for a tiny brain. Dave

You've got it made Blue, Limo picks you up for the gig plus you get to play my perfect venue. HD Museum. I'm drooling. Dave

Obviously its a safety thing. If no one working there's no risk of injury. Job done. Dave

That would be a walk in the park for you guys doing a 1.5hr set instead of 3-4hr gigs. Dave

The GB Streamliners didn't altho it was a while ago when i had one. Dave

I'm guessing the internal time consuming changes were seperate boards for things possibly being combined to one main pre-amp board and then a power board. Possibly using interconnecting plugs etc rather than soldered connections between boards. That's just my own thoughts and opinion and not from HB. As for the Contour thing being more popular in US i'm not sure i'd agree as the US amps i've had didn't have a contour knob that i can recall. (Ampeg, Mesa, Genz) The GK 1001Rbii might have had a contour but cant remember. Dave

Nice one mate. thanks Dave

Did Leszek say the name has gone back to Handbox rather than HB ? Not seen anything in the pics i've seen so far. ? Not that it bothers me too much .... just curious as to how its gonna look in the final product. Dave

And my name is on one of them. My real name is WB-100. Looking forward to getting it and all thanks to your reviews @wateroftyne Cheers matey Dave.

Had that last week leaving Glasgow on the main M8. In middle of Glasgow the cones appeared on outside lane closing off all 3 lanes and diverting to M80 to Stirling. I was heading South to M74 and overhead signs said "M8 Closed" that was all it said with no signs of diverted route anywhere to be seen. Travelled along M80 for 9 miles until i saw a road i recognised that took me to M73 and back down to M74. I appreciate roadworks are needed but the diversions need to have signs up telling people where to divert to and not left wide open. Had i not recognised the roads at Cumbernauld i could have ended up at bloody Stirling. Finally made it to M74 only for signs appearing road closed after Larhall junction which is 15 miles before my usual exit. Once again another diversion from a main motorway route. I feel sorry for overnight truck drivers who have schedules to keep. Anyway a journey that normally takes me an hour took me 2 hrs. Had i known the motorway was closed before i got onto it in Glasgow i could have taken other routes out of the city centre. That my nightly rant over chaps. Dave

You Fool No One with that one. I believe he was a Folder of Four Tunes

I preferred the re-incinerated version playing Burn with Glenn Pughes.

The hard part is finding like minded people. A lot of bands start of with the best of intentions, a lot of excitement and everyone being enthusiastic but as time progresses towards gigs you start to realise some people aren't so keen now and you get a drop in commitment. Sometimes its because they enjoy rehearsing and the thought of being in a band but dont like gigging. Usually by the time you find out you've already invested a lot of time and money. Oh well that's bands for you. Dave