JimBobTTD

The body and neck arrived yesterday and are incredibly lovely...far better than they appear in the photos above. The finish is thin yet the burst has incredible depth to it. I spent quite some time staring at it. I also put the neck on.

This was perhaps silly of me. I had surgery on my right elbow a little over a week ago and I am not ready for this kind of arm movement. It is likely that this will be ready by Easter, even though I have all the parts. I cannot hold my drill in my right hand and I do not have the dexterity in my left to do this kind of work. I might be able to shield the cavities and put the bridge on but drilling holes for the strap buttons or soldering is out for a while.

I broke down and ordered a John East J-Retro deluxe. Yes, the one with the plate which cannot be used. So, I shall remove the bits and put it on the Warmoth plate and drill holes. Yes...just what I wanted to avoid and the reason why I sold the U-Retro. Yes, I see the folly in this. I basically wasted a bundle of cash. Silly me! 

Bummer about the router bit. Still...onwards and upwards. The body looks good, so it should still look good after the reparations. 

Personally, I would go for a side jack. I have always seen front-mounted jacks as accidents waiting to happen. Also, side jacks are cooler (but I cannot see why I seem to think this).

I would go for maple, too. If you are going for a red body, doubly so...tinted maple looks lovely on a red body. Red also works well with plain maple, too. You are on to a winner!

How odd. They find it rude that you did not say hello to them. Did they say hello to you? Nope. 

It depends on how well you plan, how well you check and how lucky you are whether the parts match up. 

With careful planning and sourcing of parts, you should be able to get bits that fit and match each other. Go for the same make and model and you will likely be ok, but check before pulling the trigger. 

My first project was a Strat. Mystery body, Mighty Mite neck, mystery bridge, mystery scratchplate, mystery other parts...and done before I had internet at home. It all screwed together and fit perfectly. Now, many years later, I appreciate the luck I had when making the guitar. The project should have been a disaster several times over! 

My word...that’s a nice looking rig. Great photo, too. 

Joy of joys! The neck and body are both finished and will soon be making their way to me. 

On 02/02/2018 at 16:58, Al Krow said:

I reckon this thread is going to be boosting sales of HPFs (and MS-60Bs!); that is of course for any folk who, like me, find turning the bass EQ on their amp down too much of an ask 

 

Hmm. I have only just seen this thread...my wanted post was totally independent of this discussion. Typical, really...now the demand will be higher and the prices, too!

I think tennis elbow is used as a catch-all term for nerve/tendon/muscle damage. 

As tennis elbow is RSI and mine was trauma, I didn’t believe that this is what I actually had. Still, it seems that some of the symptoms were shared. The surgeon cut out a knot of scar tissue and fiddled with some other bits. It already seems better. 

I did that exercise too, but found that the exercises would be undone by holding a briefcase. 

Hand on heart, I am still not convinced what I had was tennis elbow. But with the surgery done, my focus is on getting better!

As an update...nothing helped. Physiotherapy, cortisone, nothing.

I had surgery the day before yesterday. I have to wear a brace on my wrist for 4-6 weeks. I shall update when I have something else to say.

Just sold an East preamp to Geddys nose. All went without a hitch. 

Thanks, Si! 

A moment of panic has made me change my mind on the East preamp. I would have to drill two holes for the switches. This is not a big deal, but, should I want to go passive, I would need to buy another bell plate from Warmoth as, for some reason, neither the John East plate nor the Fender plate fits the cut in the Warmoth scratchplate (previous experience tells me). 

Anyway, I put the East up for sale here and it was sold in 25 minutes.

So...I was looking at the East U-Pre, but John East tells me that it will not fit in the cavity on a Jazz. This is a shame; the new U-Pre has no extra switches but instead relies on push/pull pots and it would have been perfect. What I might do is do what I did on my other Jazz (now fretless): put a switch in the fourth hole for series/parallel. The only problem with this is that I know that this would mean that I would likely never change to anything else...V/V/T/switch on the other one was meant to be a stopgap until I worked out what kind of preamp I wanted in there. And I really want to have a preamp in this one!

For the sake of completion, the pics:

That was quick!

Sold pending payment.

A sudden change of plan for my project means that this is superfluous. 

I bought it here several years back and have had it in a drawer since then. 

Screw terminals rather than solder. 

Info here: http://www.east-uk.com/index.php/bass/u-retro-01-deluxe.html

Add £5 for delivery. 

I shall be back in Blighty next week and can post it then. Or you can collect from central London or Sutton. After that, though, it will be in Stockholm again. Add £7 for postage from Sweden. 

Pics to follow. 

2 hours ago, Geek99 said:

In the words of the fast show “I think I’ve just come”

did you paint that ?

No, not me. 

Sorry...I should have mentioned. The painting has been done by Retro169 (Paul) in Newquay. Paul was recommended a while back and did the lacquer on my fretless neck. 

Point taken! 

Great collection, Tweedledum, and excellent photography. 

Sorry, Owen with a small o. I am a bad person. 

Sunburst, slightly tinted lacquer on the neck. No relic work. I wanted this to look like a new version of Tweedledum’s 74 Jazz but with 60s appointments, so (my understanding of) 60s sunburst pattern, 60s bridge pickup position etc. And five string. And active. So not much like his 74 Jazz, then. But his bass is what made this build happen, though; I would otherwise have probably gone with a white Jazz without binding and blocks. 

In good news, the body has been painted and is ready. It looks lush. The neck is not ready yet. 

A few years ago, I fell hopelessly in love with @Tweedledum's 1974 Jazz. It took me some time to get started, but it is now underway. I prefer 5s to 4s (otherwise I would have bought it off him when he sold it) so I had to go about getting one using my preferred method - Warmoth. They are expensive but I find the necks amazingly comfortable. This is my third Warmoth...I already have fretless Jazz V and a Firecreek PJ5 with a Warmoth neck. 

Body

Warmoth Jazz Deluxe 5, alder, top routed

Neck

Flame maple

Dark rosewood fingerboard

Binding & blocks

Parts

Nordstrand NJ5F set

John East U-Retro Dlx

Hipshot A bridge

Hipshot Ultralite tuners

Hipshot string guides

Gotoh double battery box

Warmoth tort scratchplate

Due to CITES, this took ages to get done. The body, neck and a few parts were ordered in mid-July. Warmoth had finished the parts and received their CITES in September. At that point, I was able to apply for my CITES certificate. The parts were with me in late November. 

I chose the Nordstrands because I was so impressed with them in my PJ. Hipshot because I like their kit. East U-Retro because I have one at home and I want this bass to be active (not exactly period correct, I know, but neither is the B-string!). 

Photos to come later...I would imagine this will be complete in time for Easter. 

Winter 2003 or 2004. Fender Coronado bass, 1960s, I think. In terrible cosmetic shape but played beautifully. It felt so wonderfully natural. It was about £2600 - I had thought it was £600 when I picked it up, which I could not afford at the time, either - and was way out of my financial league. No idea if this was a reasonable price for it. Gone, but not forgotten. 

Spring or summer 1989, unknown make, unknown model. Quilted maple top, sunburst but dark all over the body apart from the very middle, just under the strings. It looked like fire. It was a thing of beauty. 

2 hours ago, Cuzzie said:

It has to have something to do with aesthetics and feel, the world of MP3 is a great place, so why the vinyl revival......it’s tactile, you get an album sleeve, it turns it into a listening experience rather than 20 secs and skip this track. 

Why do people still have wooden furniture etc.

Happy to be called wrong but this tactile connection to something is important 

Through a good stereo, vinyl sounds a lot bigger and richer than mp3. I didn't believe this until I heard it on an acquaintance's (not overly expensive) system. 

Vinyl v FLAC, though, I could not say. 

43 minutes ago, largo said:

Funnily enough I love a thru-neck too and got a passive PJ 5-string built by Jon Shuker a couple of years back with a set neck option. Pretty much a Fender 70’s Jazz style with MOP blocks on the neck. Got a similar styled “active” 5-string from him too but that has Wizard Humbucker pickups instead of the PJ. Both cracking basses & cant beat that thru-neck feel. 

My word...I feel a bit weak at the knees looking at that. That neck! The join! The overall aesthetic! Gnnnnnnggghhh!

4 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I'm also a massive fan of Ibbys and have a SR1206 (as well as the more modern SR1800). BUT I would just say, JimBob, that beauty is clearly in the eye of the beholder: IMHO there is no need for that particular bass with that particular finish being auctioned in your link really to ever leave the US!  I guess it's the difference between a Pontiac Firebird and a Jaguar E type, both are fast...

That one is a bit dark, true. They did one with a more natural finish, still mahogany back, maple top, wenge/maple neck-through. I did months of research looking for what was considered the "best" Ibanez and this one came up a few times. Rare as hens' teeth, though, with only a few hundred made in the mid-90s (quite possible of the whole series, so 1200, 1205, 1206, both the maple/maple version and the mahogany/maple versions). I hav been keeping an eye out for an SR1205FL - the fretless version - but now that Ibanez recycled the series name, finding an original 90s SR1205 is still difficult but now also mighty frustrating! 

I have the SR1206 from the same series but, sadly, this was a bit wasted as I found that I really cannot get along with the wide neck on it. It, too, has EMG 40P in the neck and 40DC in the bridge.