neepheid

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='1328638' date='Aug 5 2011, 12:54 PM']I like that colour. Of course the problem is that it does come off with repeated use. I like the look of that hardware anyway. Looks nice.[/quote] I'm sure it's lovely if everything's the same. I'm just bitter because I've been sold cosmo black stuff on the basis that it's proper black before and got an unpleasant surprise

Hardware's here. Slight raised blood pressure moment when the person the courier claimed had signed for it had no recollection of doing so. Found it somewhere else at work (phew). Looking good (nice and proper black, none of this "cosmo" black rubbish, eh Gotoh?), unfortunately I have band practice tonight and a gig on Saturday, so I won't be able to muck about with it much until Sunday. Also, the Humbrol enamel didn't take to the pickguard, came out/off when I made an attempt to level it off, hmph.

Damn it, forgot about those!

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='1288300' date='Jun 30 2011, 10:15 PM']you're making a pretty big assumption that most people are swayed by one (or more) posts from opinionated people.[/quote] If you think that doesn't happen around here then you either don't come here that often or you've got your head in the sand. There are a few people on here with a big enough name (whether warranted or otherwise) from whom a negative word on the price or provenance of the item would completely derail any sale attempt. The whole sale thread hijacking thing is just damn rude. You don't go to the car dealership with a megaphone, stand in front of a motor you feel is overpriced and start bellowing that fact out into the street do you? No, if you think there's some wiggle room then you enter into a PRIVATE negotiation with the salesperson. Why do people think that the normal rules of engagement and social norms do not apply on the internet? Arbitrary nonsense! That's like saying "you can't complain that my kid hit your kid because it happened in the sandpit". That's quite enough analogies for one post

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1326207' date='Aug 3 2011, 10:00 PM']You can easily damage your hearing by wnding up the volume without realising how loud your headphones really are.[/quote] I have a simple test for that - I take the headphones off and put them in my lap and play some music through them. If I can hear the music at that range then it's too loud.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1326386' date='Aug 4 2011, 01:20 AM']I'm utterly perplexed (and obviously nosey), how come you've had one that long and you've only been playing for 4 years? edit : Oh I have a couple of leads from circa '82 they are smelly and I wouldn't trust them at all. [/quote] Heh, I did have a brief flirtation with skinny stringed guitars in my yoof. I had one of these: I didn't stick at it, didn't learn much, couldn't play the songs I wanted to so it became an ornament until I flogged it and the wee amp. That lead (and a few plectrums) are the only remnants of that era which remain today. Also, I'm only counting playing properly (as in actually sticking at it) in that time. I bought my first bass (the Epi EB-3) back in 2003 (I think). Thankfully the laziness wasn't terminal this time

[quote name='Johnston' post='1326053' date='Aug 3 2011, 07:53 PM']If it were me I would get a bit of spare lumber. Test your Neck template (also gives a valuable practice run) . Screw on your bridge and neck and straight edge it and see what gap between body and strings are even glue on or screw on some 10mm dowel to represent the pups.[/quote] That sounds just the ticket.

Calliper still working - Here are the measurements: Pickups (when screwed in as low as I would want to) protrude 9mm from the surface. Neck heel is 30-31 deep (not including frets) Current neck pocket is 17-18mm deep (due to neck angle) Won't know for sure until I get the bridges but from the info so far I think I could do a straight (non angled) neck pocket because in an 18mm deep pocket the neck would protrude 12-13mm. That might even possibly be too high, necessitating a deeper neck pocket by a few mm. The scheming continues...

I hate waiting for stuff when other stuff is predicated upon its arrival! Thomann have been taunting me with status updates this morning (the package is in Köln, the package has left Köln). In the meantime, I have been beheading the Thunderbird logo on the pickguard. Good old Humbrol enamel model paint, ahh the childhood memories The rose-tinted glasses blocked out the 6 hour time between coats though

[quote name='bigjohn' post='1325819' date='Aug 3 2011, 04:15 PM']I too have a [b]1908[/b]'s whirlwind. Lovely it is. Not a crackle, despite being used, abused and being my only lead for years.[/quote] I think we have a winner

I still have the first lead I ever bought - a Proel cable with Neutrik ends from 1996, so 15 years old. Still going strong.

I'm going to have to get scientific on this I think. Once I have the bridges then I'll be able to determine their min/max height from the top of the body, the height of the pickups and that information combined with the lateral positions of these points and the depth of the neck heel + frets will determine the depth of the neck pocket and the angle (if any) I need to do this right. Warning noted on the Epi T-bird centre step - I suspected that would be the case. I think I'm going to need a new battery for my calliper.

[quote name='ogrimark' post='1325279' date='Aug 3 2011, 09:56 AM']Sorry, Bored at work and i have only just found this thread. I am loving it, Especially the graphic you did of the White with Black hardware. I am a big fan of the Tbird and am looking forward to seeing how this turns out. cheers.[/quote] Then I guess seeing it from the back won't help you return to your duties

[quote name='Johnston' post='1325213' date='Aug 3 2011, 08:42 AM']+1 You could just shape it, keep it tilted and adjust the saddles. Or Level it and Shim if Necessary. But don't the Epi T-bird Pickups sit rather proud of the body (Been ages since I played mine and can't be arsed going up stairs to look ). If you level it you might run the risk of the pickups not lowering enough to clear the strings.[/quote] That's a good point - better screw them back in and have a look. If they're high as well then that extra plunge depth on my Dad's router may be called into action again on the pickup holes I will factor this into my calculations, thanks

Good news - having consulted with my Dad, his router can plunge until the collet/nut is beginning to show below the base plate. Perfect. Not so good news - the existing neck pocket is on a slight slope. Of course this was to make sure that the levitating monstrosity that is the 3 point bridge would be able to get down low enough. I'm pretty sure these saddles will be much lower down. Should I just take it level and shim if necessary, or try to replicate the slope? Maybe it would be prudent to wait until the hardware arrives...

So, 2 is the magic number (we think). I hope my Dad's router will have sufficient plunge depth, otherwise I'll have to get my thinking cap on. Probably a case of taking it as far down as I can then finishing off with a good old chisel (cheers for pointing out that get out clause, Rich). My router's plunge depth is about 10mm too shallow. If I can get rid of most of that deficit then I'll be happy. Also been mulling over finishing. I think I'm going to give it a go myself. I think I'm going to use Plasti-Kote, which I believe is acrylic based. My wife has managed to spray a medicine cabinet with this stuff, surely it can't be that hard! The hardware has been dispatched from Thomann today. I'm getting quite excited. Once the neck pocket is done I think I'll be able to get this assembled and working pretty quickly. Then it's decisions like "do I reshape the body?" before moving onto spraying.

There are probably small differences between hours of manufacture, let alone years.

They most probably are humbuckers. SD don't do anything off the shelf that will fit in here. These look like guitar humbucker sized pickups, like on the Epiphone Les Paul Standard bass. Direct replacements for bass which come to mind are EMG-HB (active), Rio Grande Pitbull and TV Jones Thundertron (English mount).

It's annoying from the point of view that when I search for Gibson basses I usually get half a tonne of Epiphone stuff thrown in that I have to pick through. Unlike the above example I find that most of the time people mention both brands and just try and cash in on the loose family tie to the more expensive brand. About as pointless as wasting 4 characters of your auction title on "L@@K", but hey ho.

Plenty oil money up here, I've seen basses at pub gigs like Ken Smiths, Jaydees, high end Warwicks (saw an Infinity once at an open mic), Spectors (impossible to tell at range how "posh" it was though), quite a few USA Fenders, a few Gibsons (not my own!) but I've also seen/heard people getting great results out of Squiers, Ibanezes, Yamahas and other stuff. As for me, my Gibson G-3 has sparked the occasional after gig discussion (like "what is that?") and my not that spectacular rig (Hartke 3500 and Ashdown ABM 4x10) has generated positive comments after gear sharing from those who could be bothered seeking me out to say thanks. It's nice when people take an interest

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1322828' date='Aug 1 2011, 10:22 AM']You only need to earth one bridge piece Matt. Think about it. Where are the strings attached? [/quote] Of course, they're all going through the same headpiece. Doh. Thanks man See why I don't do this for a living?

[quote name='Johnston' post='1322805' date='Aug 1 2011, 10:03 AM']Another way of making the template is. Cut it close then give it a good layer of Isopon and put your neck in the template. The Isopon hardens to the shape of the neck and bingo perfect template.[/quote] That's a clever idea. I'll keep that in mind for future - I'll use my tape trick this time as I've got it all worked out.

Oh, and I know it makes absolutely no financial sense, but I've decided to obtain some ABM headless hardware in order to do this project. A total extravagance (£170 for the headpiece and 4 individual saddles - more than the bass cost to obtain so far...), but I've come to the conclusion that if I'm going to do it right and I'm actually going to play the damn thing then I'd feel better having stuff that feels right. If I use individual saddles then I'll be able to place the bridge super accurately. This will be a big advantage when bringing together stuff that should never have ever met. It also means no major surgery at the bridge end (the bridge I have will require some serious gouging to accommodate the tuner rollers) as they just sit flat on the deck. The headpiece allows the use of single or double ball end strings. One question comes to mind - what's the best way of earthing individual saddle bridges? The quick bodge would be a strip of copper shielding foil underneath all four then a wire from last saddle to the cavity, but is there a better, less visible way? Individual bridge units - expensive, but looks good, no?

Right, you want some progress then, do you? OK, I have been shamed into making some. Over the weekend I got to work on attaching the neck to the body. Having never made a neck pocket in my life before (this neck is so different from the old one it's like making a new one) I was understandably nervous about this. I was reading this very useful article which gave me the impetus to get off my backside: [url="http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/pocket/index.htm"]http://buildyourguitar.com/resources/pocket/index.htm[/url] However, I'm not quite ready to go straight to the body, so instead I made a template out of MDF marked with a centre line so I can place it on the (similarly marked) body. Using the same trick of clamping two lengths of wood to the sides of the neck then removing the neck I got this (with a router with a roller at the top of the cutter): What a pain in the backside that my router lacks the plunge depth to do that in one pass, I had to go around, remove the guides then go again with the router directly on the piece. I will need to obtain a different router when I come to do this for real. Anyway, I then did a test run in some spare MDF: Which unfortunately was "Fender tight" : Quite pleased with the fit at the heel though (did that by hand on the template, chickened out of freehand routing it...): No worries though, I will use a trick I learned when I was doing the rebate cutting for the Les Paul selector switch cover. In order to make the hole smaller, I will put a few layers of insulating tape on the roller, thus placing the cutter away from the edge of the template by tiny increments. Cut a long story short it looks like 3 layers is the magic number, 4 seems a bit too tight for unfinished wood, but I'm going to check it out with Rich tonight who can advise me on how much he thinks the finish will reduce the gap. Once I'm sure that 3 is the way to go, I will seek out a router with sufficient plunge depth and go for it!