rubis

Yes you’re quite right, however I was lucky enough to find one on the German Ebay site, it is used...even better, as it will need to look 50 years old and no import taxes!

That’s very kind of you but I live in Plymouth, which I imagine is out of the way from you 😟

Wow! I see what you mean about the 2024 numbering, and I understand the heat treatment information (my first job on leaving school in the 80’s was as a blacksmith) There is some more lettering on the lower horn part in the photo, maybe part of a word or name, it looks like ‘.....AISE.....’ Any ideas what that might mean? Thank you kindly for your excellelnt response 👍

To the rescue again😌 Thanks again sir

Next question is about the aluminium pickguard shield. The red lettering on the back appears to say 'ALCLAD' but I can't make out what the rest of it says Can anyone help please? Once again thanks in advance for any help, advice, opinions or criticisms

Once again however I need the advice and help of those lucky enough to have or had a mid 60's p bass. Before I 'age' the neck plate I want to add a faux serial number, and instead of beginning L..... I want to use just numbers to read 170364. I have seen metal number/letter stamp sets online, and they come in 3mm and 4mm sized stamps, but can someone measure the actual size of the numbers for me please

Whilst waiting for the lacquer to harden a bit I have got some more hardware to finish off the body. Strap buttons, neck plate and I was lucky enough to find an aluminium pickguard shield on Ebay Germany which has saved on yet more import taxes as they don't seem to be available in the UK

This is great stuff I’m about to have a go at making a 60’s style veneer fingerboard neck and i think this may be adaptable to produce a concave as well as convex radius 🤔 thanks Andy

I use Mark Sudio 2 which has an Octaver on it They’ve knocked €20 off at the moment, but you can try the demo and if you are’nt in a mad rush, wait till the end of the year when these kind of things usually get reduced in price by a fair amount

Just so

My kinda slip 😏 would that be a gig-able head?

Quite right, I bet it’s awesome

The black one sort of reminds me of that roasted ash p bass that Fender did recently, and I quite liked it, what about a single ply, matt bakelite looking plate?

It’s a good job I’m on holiday at the moment, I had one in mind for exactly the same reason, perfect for recording 😌

It is VERY tempting 🤔

They’re showing the PFT50 at£429 😉

https://www.tcelectronic.com/Categories/Tcelectronic/Bass/Head-Amplifiers/BQ500/p/P0CQS ........or are they?

I have a Bare Knuckle p bass pickup, its awesome I have a Nordstrand MM and a 5 string p pickup, they’re all great Both companies make fantastic pickups, you won’t regret either and there are plenty of clips around to help you decide which one is closest to the sound in your head

Another fantasy finish I have had lurking in the back of my mind for quite a while is a laser etched design I saw a Telecaster which had a paisley design laser etched onto the top, and was then stained with a 3 tone sunburst and then clear coated. It looked awesome, and you could probably get any design on there and retain some of the grain beneath, my idea was some sort of Mexican Day of the dead design with either a clear coat or subtle sunburst or stain added

I honestly don’t know, but thinking about it, the principle would be the same either way around Best to try on a bit of scrap if you can When I get home later I’ll get Googling, I love digging up stuff like that, it’s like the kind of thing Ritter would do to the extreme!

As far as pickups choice, what about one like that p bass Pino had with a pickup from a Thunderbird was it? That would be interesting

That's a lovely grain orientation on that body Bridgehouse. I have an idea in mind for a 5 string build I started a while ago, involving a technique called cerusing. I think it would work great on a nice swamp ash body like that, where you apply a dark stain ( I thought jet black) then seal the body, then apply a light coloured grain filler. There are lots of video's showing the technique and it has been applied quite well to guitars, ash in particular because if its open grain. The effect can be quite dramatic

I've done a bit of yellowing on it now, it was great fun once I got going, in fact quite difficult to hold back and not go over the top with it! Rick and Bridgehouse were dead right, this is addictive! I fitted parts onto the body to provide natural masking, leaving the un-aged sonic blue underneath, and didn't screw the scratchplate down tightly so that I wasn't left with a hard line, as it would be (and in fact is) warped with age and so there would be a softer line between the yellowing and the clean colour. I hope this looks more realistic. I know it's only really visible when the scratchplate is removed, but I might as well do it if I can. I did a bit with the bridge cover on and then removed it and did a bit more, to try to make it look like the cover has been on and off 'over the years' I will tweak it a bit to rub back a little bit of the yellowing on areas that, from what I've seen in the dozens of photo's I have looked at, seem not to yellow. I can only imagine that this is down to some sort of continual wear pattern from contact against your body whilst playing. I mean on areas such as the forearm contour, the belly contour and the lower curve where it rests on your leg when you are seated, but again, I need to remind myself……..less is more! sorry if the photos don't show the colours or detail up very well, but the natural light was fading and i had to take them indoors. I'll take more photos when the clear coat goes on.

If it ends up looking like that I'll be well pleased

The pickguard has arrived, and very nice it is too. Nice touch to sign and date it on the back The second picture shows it on the as yet, un-yellowed body, so it looks a little bit odd, but it's a nice fit and when compared to the black one from my son's Westfield copy, there's quite a bit of difference in fit. I'm so glad I waited rather than use the black one to create an un-yellowed patch, as the different profile would have caused a problem