neepheid

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1350313778' post='1837147'] Ahh ok man no worries well if I come across any I will remember to let you know =) What era is yours anyway? [/quote] If I've read everything correctly (serial number and years of availability of this particular model) then mine is a 1985 BB450.

[quote name='Horizontalste' timestamp='1350307460' post='1837036'] You are the savior of a nice bass there Matt, well done... [/quote] Thank you, and thanks for the bridge pickup too

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1350309176' post='1837076'] Thanks for the advice I will look into it =) I actually might have a set of BB tuners up for sale soon as I might be changing mine off my BB414, all depends on how much I can live with the neck dive lol. If they become available I will give you a shout =). £50!? Thats the bargain of the year you were very lucky indeed. [/quote] Cheers for the offer but if I remember correctly (I had a BB614) those tuners have the wrong buttons (fairly normal elephant ears) - the ones for my era of bass have more chunky, slightly heart shaped ones like this:

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1350303418' post='1836956'] Fair play you have done a great job on it Are you going to do anything with the body like re spray it or something? or will you let it age with grace? I've always like the idea of a little project for me to work on but always been put off by the fact im not great with electronics and stuff like that lol. What would you say is the best way to get into that sort of thing? Just out of interest how much did the whole thing cost at the end? [/quote] Och no, I'm just going to leave it as is, it's not awful looking and it also means that I wouldn't be apoplectic with rage if someone knocked it over or whatever (like I would be if say my Gibson RD Artist took a tumble!). The only thing that's bugging me now is the non standard tuners, they're licenced Schallers like you might find on a Fender product and while they do the job fine the buttons aren't "right" and I'd like to make it right if I can find some replacements If you're just starting out with projects/rebuilds, in my opinion you can't beat getting hold of a Squier/Fender P or J. So much choice of replacement parts and all mostly interchangeable. It was pure luck that I managed to get all Yamaha BB bits for this one, replacing them with off the shelf stuff would probably have required some woodworking/ingenuity, some of which would have been irreversible (changing size/shape of pickup routs etc.) All in all this cost me around £50. This was due to some very generous BCers being on board with what I was trying to do and basically giving me the stuff for not much more than postage costs or even taking that on the chin in return for a wee contribution to ped's Greggs fund

Classic first world problem

[quote name='4StringFortress' timestamp='1350283942' post='1836660'] Oh wow very nice, love the red What have you done to resurrect it? [/quote] It came to me in stages - first the body and neck (the previous owner was going to use them as the basis for a piece of furniture but thankfully never got around to it, I say thankfully because I really like BBs). The neck had a suspected maxed out truss rod and had no nut. The owner of the bass before that got wind of my acquisition and as luck would have it had kept most of the guts and was kind enough to make them available to me. Someone had bought the bridge pickup and a few other bits (jack/plate, switch) from him. Amazingly, all the stars aligned because mere weeks later, the owner of said bridge pickup had not got round to fitting it to his BB300 and had put both the BB300 and the bridge pickup bits up for sale. One quick enquiry later and I had all the pieces I had a mate make a new nut for me (Rich/Ou7shined on here - he's way better at that kind of stuff than me). The truss rod was indeed maxed - I tightened it as far as I dared and once strings were on there was still a generous amount of relief. I slipped a couple of washers on the rod and tightened it up again. Now the relief is better and I didn't have to tighten the hell out of it so I think I'm good for now. The selector switch was bust and so needed replacing. So a bit of soldering later (and re-soldering because I wired the pickups out of phase, what are the chances? Oh yeah, 50% chance ), a quick and dirty setup and here we are. And it's pretty damn good sounding and feeling too. It's not great looking (body is pretty beat up around the edges, as is the headstock), but for a beater bass it's exceptional. I'd have no problem gigging it. Will have to keep an eye on that neck though.

Have my recently resurrected BB450:

It's all kinds of wrong, as has been outlined in some detail already. What amazes me is someone is even bothering to attempt to copy such a distinctive bass.

Advice deleted, because I offer no guarantee of success and I will make no contribution to repairs necessitated by following my advice.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1350158281' post='1835367'] Or do you just keep going until one Saturday afternoon you look at your amp, feel your back and think I really don't want to put that in my car ever again! [/quote] That time is called neodymium time

This thread is infested with luddites, call the exterminators!

Bought some strap buttons from Tom, arrived promptly and well packed, nice smooth transaction. Cheers!

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1349856250' post='1831250'] Sorry but that's not even vaguely Mosrite-y. What does EB stand for in this case? Ernie Ball? [/quote] I would guess it stands for "Electric Bass" like it always has done. I have nothing official to back that up, but I'll wager my guess has more chance of being right than yours

Time to kick this thread back to the the top with a 1985 El Toro: Grrrrr! Here it is next to my Tribute L-2000: Go Team G&L!

Any bass I can't afford is overpriced?

Ha ha, I bought the very pickup mentioned above from Steve. Smooth transaction, good comms and excellent packaging - free Tupperware included

[quote name='nomis' timestamp='1349345420' post='1824934'] Forgive my ignorance but what does BBOT mean? [/quote] Bent Bit Of Tin - a rather unflattering description of Fender's original/classic bridges

[quote name='bobpalt' timestamp='1349343732' post='1824891'] I tend to find that rinsing them in water works better than urine. Might just be me, but I have always thought that having your ears smell of wee was a bit uncool? Mind you, if you rinse them in water and then put them in a pouch full of urine that would defeat the object...................... [/quote]

Funnily enough, I watched that vid a fair bit while waiting for my RD to arrive It would be interesting to find out what settings and what other effects are in use in this particular example, I can't really tell anything from the vid.

[quote name='nottswarwick' timestamp='1349338277' post='1824779'] Custom ACS ER 15 filters. No contest. [/quote] I wasn't aware that there was a contest offered

Foam plugs make sound rather muffled and unnatural. If it's just some gig-going plugs you're looking for, have a quick google for er-20 earplugs. There are two sizes of er-20 (I found the small ones more comfortable). Basically these will take a slice off the dBs but in a balanced way. See the manufacturer's page for more info: [url="http://www.etymotic.com/hp/er20.html"]http://www.etymotic.com/hp/er20.html[/url] You should be able to pick up a set for a tenner. They're reusable, just give 'em a wee rinse/wipe and they usually come in a wee pouch.

[quote name='Wooks79' timestamp='1349301306' post='1824603'] I'd love an[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][color=#282828] RD Artist, really cool looking bass, and I really wanna hear how the Moog stuff sounds.[/color][/font] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Looking fwd to pics![/font][/color] [/quote] [url="http://www.ifb.co.uk/~matthew/mp3/RD%20soundclips/"]http://www.ifb.co.uk...D%20soundclips/[/url] That's all the extremes, but it does everything inbetween. Remember that having the compression/expansion and bright mode simultaneously is only available on post late '79 models with the two mini toggle switches in place of the single three way Moog switch.