Grangur

The bridge was interesting. It's great in that it looks really weathered. The screws that hold it in place were suitably aged too, but to satisfy my wish for a new earth-wire, it had to come off. I noticed the centre screw had already broken off. This is unfortunate, to say the least. It was also an omen for the removal of the other screws. 3 came out without too much hassle. The tops weren't too bad even though they're a bit chewed up. The 3rd wasn't moving. The top was getting even more chewed. As you can see there's not a lot to be using to turn that. To get this out I used a trick from my old days when I used to take out engines from cars - Impact screwdriver. I have long since ditched the Impact -screwdriver so I went round to a neighbour - no joy. OK, last resort - I dug out a screwdriver with a metal end to the handle and hit that with a hammer, and tried to turn the screw at the same time as hitting it - UREKA! I actually moved! Having taken the bridge off I could then replace the wire and could see the bridge had, at some time, been painted black - so that's a good way to get the weathered look. I then re-fitted the bridge with new screws. I never like to take a risk with old screws - sorry if you like the rust-ic look, but I really don't like the idea of having screws terminally in place.

As you'll notice the screening in the cavities isn't complete. So something else I've done today is adding to this. The "supplied" screen is copper, but I used what I have which is aluminium. It seems to work OK, as much as I can tell. I've also checked the continuity and seems to be ok. Carrying on with the body, today I've also done the electrics. The pups are Fender American Vintage 74 Jazz pups. They come with some neat brass plates with sponges stuck to them. The brass plates also have earth-wires soldered to them. These layed in the bottom of the routs were a tight fit - just what the Doc ordered! I fed the wires through to the control cavity and terminated all the earth-wires together in a small screw block connector. Today I also changed the earth-wire to the bridge as the one supplied was a bare wire. I don't like those as they can short against other components. I'll put about that in the next post - later.

[quote name='JimBobTTD' timestamp='1469895302' post='3101872'] Where are all the parts from? [/quote] I don't know too much about the neck [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]the eBay seller claimed it came from the Japanese all parts factory but was a B stock due to the binding finish on the first fret not being totally perfect. I've taken a look at the binding and I can't see anything that I'd say is "wrong", but it cost about £160 with the import charges...so not entirely sure if it was a great deal or not. It feels good though.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The body comes from MJT this body was "sold" to our friend "naked" and sprayed and reliced.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Here's the body initially:[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I'd have left it naked, but what do I know? I even like Warwicks!![/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Here's another pic that shows the relicing[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]That's not THE control plate, but I laid it in there with the pup covers to get a look at what it would look like - thinking about the neck colour again.[/font][/color]

The fit in the pocket is important. This helps with the sound as it resonates through the bass. As you can see in the pic above; the body is, largely finished, the neck is in the raw. What I'm not sure about is if I've left it too tight as I'm going to be spraying the neck with nitro lacquer. So I need to allow space for the nitro, but not have the neck flopping in the pocket. Further work on the neck; I cleaned out the nut slot and checked the brass nut in the slot. It's too tight, so I used a sharp blade and cleaned the slot some more. All the scraping I did was on the headstock side of the slot and the ends. No scraping to the neck-side as I don't want to shorten the scale length. The neck has binding on both sides of the nut-slot. So I cut shoulders in the ends of the nut - so the nut will sit on the bottom of the slot, but over-hang the binding. Careful cutting and filing here as I also don't want ugly gaps. - [i]No pic of this yet - i'l take one later.[/i] As you can also see the neck is virgin-white. This looks naff with the body and out of character for a neck that's meant to be 40 years old. So we need to think about the colour. Looking at the neck colour and samples of other necks I've done. Here you can see how anemic the new neck looks. BTW this is a good quality neck from Japan. the TR adjustment is in the heel and it's generally smooth. Thinking of staining the neck to look right - but how dark. How much stain to use? Even clear lacquer does make it darker, to some degree. In the above pic you can see the "naked", new neck. In the pic below you can see the neck I've damped down. By wiping the headstock with a damp cloth you can see a rough idea of what colour the headstock would be if I don't stain it, but simply spray with clear lacquer. So It's looking like it would be similar to the "Patricia Lucile" headstock here. (Patricia Lucile? Who the f...? That's another story) IMHO - and I'm open to thoughts here; I recon I need something between the 2 colours here.

I've recently been chatting with one of our BC brethren, who has a desire to build, or have built a Repro of a 1970s Fender Jazz. Regrettably he's not blessed with the reddies for the real thing right now due to family commitments - with children come family needs. So he's wanting to capture the spirit of the 70s and have one built as near to the real thing as we can. I've been downloading pictures of the real thing and looking at the level of relicing on REAL 70s basses, not the ones that look like they've been fire-bombed or dragged behind a car for a fortnight, but real basses that have been loved and played. Well, this isn't a massively involved build, so it won't go on for weeks, but I thought others might like to see a reasonably simple build; which is what I expect this to be. Well, earlier this week the excitement at Grangur Towers started with the arrival of a small box from Allparts. This contained a control bell-plate, knobs, 1 strap-button. Yesterday, Mrs G arrived back from the Ma-in-L's with 2 boxes. These generally broke down into 3 packages: So all in all I've got pretty much all the parts I need now. So today the work began. I started with the neck and checking the fit in the pocket. I'd already been told it didn't fit, so I wondered how big an issue it was. I also wanted to make sure it ran in a straight line from the bridge, straight forward. I didn't want to find it veers off up or down. Drawing a pencil line on the body from the centre of the bridge through the centre of the neck pup this gave a rough guide that I could project on down the neck. It is rough, but it looked OK when I offered up the neck. T'was true the neck didn't fit in the pocket the right way round. Yet I found that if I turned the neck over; so the binding was face down, the neck did fit in the pocket a good way in. My original thought had been to sand body, to widen the pocket. Yet with learning that the neck isn't parallel from top to bottom of the heel, I changed the plan and sanded the heel of the neck. After a bit of sanding with course paper laid on the bench (dining table) and sliding the neck back and forth over the edge of the paper - avoiding sanding the binding. The job was done and we now have a neck that fits tightly in the pocket.

[quote name='Les' timestamp='1469885069' post='3101774'] No mate, the sound is the least concern, it's the visual impact of standing on the bar playing bagpipes we would be after, [/quote] Lol. So £69.99 specials it is then.

Les, have you thought about trying it on a fretless?

You could always simply get a practice cantor. Not bad for £25-30. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnrwTMI7ZRk

A1; Leave it - it's all part of the life and character of the bass. THAT is true mojo. I've got a Warwick Corvette that's got dings and scrapes. It even has a child's writing on the back where a child wrote on a piece of paper, in Chinese, and the writing has imprinted into the wood. When I first bought it I thought I'd re-fin it. Instead, I got fine sandpaper and smoothed the edges of the dings that bothered me and did no more. It adds to the character.

Just found this. Enjoy https://youtu.be/O6cuNDN1YKo

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1469825001' post='3101394'] I settled for a Cort Action DLX which I found locally. [/quote] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n3576u5c6M

[quote name='Machines' timestamp='1469738758' post='3100820'] Ok I get it now. You're trolling us. [/quote] Yes, that's the conclusion I've come to as well.

Ream out the holes bigger? They only need to grow a mm or 2.

Those pots are old. I also don't like bare wires at all - They're too open to short-circuits. If I were you I'd replace the lot. Problem 1: you're not me and your wiring/soldering skills may not be so good. There's no reason why you can't buy the parts and learn. I did. And if it goes wrong we can advise. Or, you could buy a harness from KiOgon who, I believe, does a top-job. Good luck whatever you chose to do.

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1469660375' post='3100208'] That's up to the person offering the bass for £150. I've sent him a PM and that's all that needs to be said. What arrangements are made will be privately conducted. I asked a simple question and i am finding all this melodrama and attitude quite unpleasant at this point. I thought people were being helpful before but that seems to have changed. [/quote] Ok. Honest opinion: I've only ever found 1 Yamaha I liked. If it were me, I wouldn't buy it. Yamaha sound too tinny to me. It reminds me of the tone of Japanese and Chinese music. There, I hope that's helpful to you. Now after all your rudeness I'm out of here. I can happily live without teenage trolls.

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1469643336' post='3100019'] If you think that's what's happening then I don't know what to tell you. So for a third time, and i'm getting frsutrated having to make this point three times: I was asking what people thought of that bass. You have yet to explain why that's a problem. [/quote] OK, if it makes it easy, I love the Yamahaha TRBX304. We all love it. You love it. It's a bargain. Actually, there's a good thread on here somewhere where loads of folk here listed all the things they don't like in a bass. I'm sure the Yamahaha TRBX 304 was never mentioned in the WHOLE thread. Everyone really loves that bass. Which is interesting because in that thread you can be sure that almost every feature you can think of on any bass was listed by someone as a dislike except the Yamahaha TRBX304. Look if you don't buy it I will.

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1469640540' post='3099990'] I thought I'd used clear enough English to make my point; I guess not. Again: I'm seeking views on this instrument. Would you like me to clarify that again? [/quote] Lets turn this around: I'm looking for a bass. I'm seriously thinking of a Wishbass (If you don't know them Google it) It's fretless, solidly built, Kent Armstong pup; I like that. Easy to work on, passive, no stoopid tone control that I won't use anyway. No truss rod to complicate set ups. No setting up to do really! All good! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Np8_Etibv9Q What do you think of it? You don't like it? Why not? Does this mean I can't have one? Does this mean nobody can have one? So, what does it matter if we don't share your idea of the perfect bass? We won't be playing it YOU will.

You're right Mojo. That bass has absolutely no value to you at all whatsoever. It doesn't look the part, it's cheap and there's no point in having a bass if it's not going to be played. Please send me your account details and I'll PM you my address. Joking aside; who knows what it cost except you? If it's tatty, that bass can be spruced up and look the dogs bananas. I'd LOVE to get my hands on it. Please, please?? OK, I voted "Other". I did so, because if it looks a dogs dinner I'd work on it. On the other hand, sometimes, it's the image you might want: http://youtu.be/MYPBF4s8m_Y?t=81

I've got a nice no-name jazz copy going up soon. It's black with rosewood FB. 43mm nut, great sound. Both pups have some bite to them with good bass thump. It's not too far off a P tone when used on the neck pup. The maple neck has some really cool birds-eye grain on the headstock. I'll be after about £100 for it. I'm only selling as I need to clear some space. I'll try to get some pics up in the next day or so. A link will be in my signature.

Yes