LukeFRC

So good bit of wood, nice bridge, nice neck...... think I've got a build going on here! So at the start:[list] [*]I'm not going to be going quickly on this. So don't expect lots of speedy building. Hopefully avoid any major mistakes! [*]It was going to be glittery silver body... but given I've got this nice bit of wood that might stay on display [*]It's going to be string thru body, so got to get furrells in a straight line! [*]I need to decide if it's going to have the control plate or be rear mounted. And if it's going to have the scratch plate. With a less stingray looking bridge I don't feel that it has to be a clone of a stingray, but wants to have enough there that it looks good. [*]there is an option of a $$ or HH pickup setup. I kinda like the idea that if I have HH and select the outside coils I might be able to get something that gets into Jazz territory. but at the same time you loose the simplicity of a stingray. [/list]

Attempt 5: So we need to fix the bad things with the Pink stingray. The preamp is good, maybe new pots. The tuners can't be faulted. and errr.. a nicer neck, a lighter body, a less cheap-screws-bridge.... So... someone on basschat sold me this neck... made in USA musicman - Think this will be an upgrade.... And then my BB1200 sold and I spent a bit extra on my G&L L1000... and wasn't sure if the wife would let me have more bass spending money... so I sat the neck in under the sofa bed and forgot about it for a bit... Then I saw this nice hipshot bridge on eBay at a reasonable price so snapped it up..... next some wood for a body. after a while looking around for someone who would have some wood that would be suitable I figured if I were going to do this I might as well do it properly and when visiting the in-laws in the peaks we went visited a certain Mr Shuker who sold me this bit of wood, already jointed and thicknessed for me!

New build time.... but first the background... In the beginning... Many years ago I was given this awful Vox Standard bass body - it weighed a ton. Varuious people on basschat sold me a cheap neck, a cheap Musicman pickup, cheap tuners and actually a nice bridge. etc. I cut a hole for the pickup, defretted the neck, sprayed the body with graffiti paint and the neck with ronseal diamond hard floor varnish. It all went wrong - it still weighed a ton, the finish was awful and the diamond hard floor varnish did do exactly what it said on the tin and I was unable to sand the radius back into it. It was an unplayable heavy lump of rubbish. But it was green which I like! Attempt two, and three... Many years later I try again.. this time I start off with a working bass (good start) and strip a 1990's japanese squier body. It was a bit of a mess to start with and I stripped it and attempted to repaint it. Let's just say it was such a mess that it went utterly wrong - that photo doesn't show the full horror of the green paint job, it looked the most unappetising thing ever and the "paint" stripping had revealed that body was plasticised wood covering some horrid soft stuff in the middle and it just was awfull. So I got a cheap alder body, again from someone on basschat and made it tomato-soup-red using molotov graffiti paint. Good finish except a parts where I finished - it also took a while to cure and I sat it in a case and got marks in it before it had fully hardened. Kinda missed the mark in being a stingray ... but Nice bass, fun to play, sounded good, why did I sell it? Attempt 4 a year or two back I made this... The body (ash) and neck (maple) were made by some local guy at uni when he did instrument building, the preamp is a clone of a pre EB 2 band that I made myself. The tuners are some nice schallers, the pickup is a lovely bartolini MMC, the bridge is a retrovibe stingray clone (with the inserts), more in this later and the paint is shell pink and looks good. (again Molotow) The good: it sounds amazing. Really really nice. The bad: It is a wee bit heavy and the neck is a dog. To be fair I couldn't make better but the frets arn't great and given I've got a few other nice basses there's no way I would choose to play this over them. It does sound good. The ugly: you can buy some lovely bass parts from chinese cheapy eBay sellers. That control plate for instance. That Retrovibe bridge is another chinese cheapy sold by Retrovibe here in the UK. It's a nice bit of kit, esp for the money... the downside, and a pet hate of mine, is cheap stews that the head threads as soon as you look at them. This one was so bad that not only did it thread the head, but when I tried to remove it with pliers it sheared off. Now maybe the pilot holes could have been bigger? but really awful screws and annoys me overtime I look at it. Also pet hate when it comes to cheap bikes...

Unless you know what you are doing I would stick with the Beyma in the plans. Otherwise your alternatives would be a kappa lite in a fearful design, or bills simplexx cabs which give recommended drivers and the rough spec for other cabs. If the reason you are substituting is to save money... buy a secondhand can!

[quote name='Rikki_Sixx' timestamp='1491660274' post='3274630'] I'm in Yorkshire too so I'd be keen to hear if you find anywhere selling suitable timber! These guys sell reject / b-stock bodies for pretty good prices on eBay, could be worth a look: [url="http://m.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?sid=boobooguitarsuk"]http://m.ebay.co.uk/...boobooguitarsuk[/url] [/quote] I'm going to visit the inlaws over easter down in the Peaks so ended up phoning Jon Shuker and he's sorting me out. Not the cheapest lump of wood ever he would be buying something the right kinda weight for his stuff and he's picking up a bit extra. He's also going to thickness it for me which will save me doing that! Figured Iif I'm going to do this I might as well do it properly! Build thread incoming!

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1491127494' post='3270630'] One of the most unusual finishes i've seen. Love it. Enjoy and have fun. Dave [/quote] try and find them on Facebook - Luke's bass isn't the craziest finish they do!

Have you read the whole talkbass thread?

the opposite is also true when they have presumed that everyone is using small speakers and they haven't put a HPF or whatever on it and mid programme our sub starts going low rumbley for no reason whatsoever

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1489857032' post='3260400'] Nice and bet it feels a lot lighter on the shoulder than the Warwicks too. Enjoy the new bass. Dave [/quote] I think it's the heaviest of the 3. Thumb is about 9lb, L1000 about the same, and the Streamer is 8lb or so ... balances a wee bit better than the thumb! Update from me: It's the only thing I'm playing. Bare in mind I bought it as a "P bass type" for when I needed a slightly more traditional looking and sounding bass.... and the other basses arn't getting a look in. There's something about how it plays and sounds, hum-bucking mode with the treble and bass backed off a wee bit that is just fun to play. I'm enjoying seeing the control s and not touching them for a whole set. It's just good - as one of the band said "you seem to click with it and just play better" So that's been interesting. What does that mean for me? Well I guess I'm thinking about a simpler preamp in the streamer than the ACG as that would probably help. Half thinking about another old G&L, would need to move the thumb or something on to make that happen but it's always a possibility! Anyone got an El Toro kicking about?!

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1491207787' post='3271135'] When i find I dislike them it's generally down to the sound. The feel is always fine. I love them all, but sometimes I play them and the tone simply doesn't do it. I love the look of the Streamer S1. The wood grain has amazing flaming in the maple. It is, without question, the most amazing looking Streamer I've seen. But the tone is generally very clangy. I prefer a deeper tone. It's probably all in the mind. TBH, as soon as I posted this thread I regretted it and went to bed. And lay there regretting it. It's me being daft. I'm actually amazed that the discussion has got picked up. Thanks, all, but I'll live. [/quote] been there - done that with a SS1 - bill bartolini is your friend

[quote name='Woodinblack' timestamp='1491041943' post='3270037'] I doubt there is a correlation between the two. Some people love getting new things, some people find one thing and stick with it, I think it is more down to personality then activity. I have way more basses than Scott Devine, but I am guessing he plays more than I do! [/quote] might be a better player too? 😁

I think what I like about an early stingray and an early L1000 is that they clearly have been designed to work together - the pickup and the tone controls literally designed around each other to provide a certain tonal set of sounds. Kudos to Leo for them both.

Two thoughts from me: 1 life is too short to surround yourself with things you don't love IMO . Sell them and buy basses you do love. (Of course the caveat is what you can afford - if a a Harley Benton deko is what you can afford then learn to love the best bass you can afford, we all have to spend within our means) 2 choice sometimes kills contentment. Some folk buy a lot of instruments cos they love them, some for their income need a few different tools, others buy cos they don't love any of them... ... cure for that is find one you love, but I think that sometimes comes down to picking one instrument, using it for most your gigs and practices for a couple of months, stop reading as many bass forums and learning to be content. 3 oh and never underestimate new strings being good

[quote name='Machines' timestamp='1490951831' post='3269290'] I'd like this but with a neck pickup too (with same options) but keeping the bridge pickup where it is, this would make it similar to an L-2000 but with better MM sounds available, I also prefer it with a pickguard which isn't available on the L-2000. [/quote] I don't think a G&L pup sounds much like... well anything else, including a MM pup IME it's crazy

[quote name='Tee' timestamp='1490892710' post='3268903'] It's a shame they can't make the L1000 again, with the pickup in the correct position. [/quote] Was my thought too - my L1000 I recently bought off Garath is phenomenal.

Going back on topic - what kinda price should one be expecting for a bit of lightish ash for a 2-3 piece body?

[quote name='SH73' timestamp='1490684568' post='3266923'] I've found some free pianos on internet Some 90 years old. I presume these are solid wood. Lots of furniture advertised as walnut or mahogany but they always turn out to be veneer. [/quote] we grew up with a beautiful mid Victorian piano in the house - wasn't ever in tune and nobody could play it- but that was all walnut vaneers - so I don't think you can use age as a guide

[quote name='SH73' timestamp='1490473762' post='3265437'] I found plenty on e bay, but where do you guys get exotic wood from for building a bass. I am after ash. [/quote] I'm on a similar hunt. It's not easy to work out where to get it from - 'american ash' could be any weight and more useful for baseball bats than instruments - and what I've found the postage costs are almost as much as the bit of wood!

I'm a reasonably sensible guy... and to be honest it wouldn't seem that odd if I read a few forum posts and just bought something of the net and started using it... unaware of any safety concerns... maybe a sticky on spraypaint safety would be good ?

Those neutranic silent jack plugs - brilliant

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1489948916' post='3261033'] You can always make a start on the templates [/quote] Good idea - annoying thing is I've found lots of suppliers selling reasonably priced body blanks - it's just they are all in Germany !

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1489878271' post='3260577'] +1 on David Dyke.... the good thing is when your finished and your not [i]quite[/i] happy.....just build another And so it starts [/quote] It's already started! Project is I think stage 2 - only the tuners and pickup will be in common.... thanks for your help everyone - I'll have to wait a wee bit before buying wood - firstly to have the money, and also to keep my eyes on secondhand stuff and see if something comes up. It seems a lot of places half the cost of getting a bit of wood is shipping it to me!

So i've got a load of parts... and a nice neck that I bought and my wife hasn't reasoned I spent my budget twice yet... and I've got a project in mind that is Musicman stingray or sterling shaped. But cheaper aftermarket stingray bodies are a bit thin on the ground, so thinking I may end up building my own from a lump of wood... but where do you source bits of wood (ideally lightish ash) to build a bass body from? In yorkshire so can drive to pick up. A lot of the woodyards I've asked who do hardwoods don't seem to do the lighter weight end of ash. Or, alternative wood, or is it better to buy a harley benton MM type thing for the body and hope it's not an boat anchor?

[quote name='Sean' timestamp='1489743797' post='3259337'] How versatile and could a wunkay be the wunandonly? [/quote] Depends on what type of music you play. I haven't found a good slap tone yet. Not that I ever slap but you know what I mean! EDIT: looking through your sig... for you I think yes, yes it could