neepheid

Welcome to the forum

Couldn't resist finishing the truss rod cover off tonight. I think it's cute. Didn't manage to get the veneers to match up, but I'm not too bothered. Screws are temporary until I find some suitable countersunk ones. Yes I know they're off centre, that's because of the daft recesses for the truss rod nuts being off centre too.

I've been working sporadically on this over the past week: 1. Maple veneer applied to the back of the headstock I got around the curve of the volute by using the foam out of an EMG box in a roll then squishing it down with a scrap of ply and a g clamp 2. Installed the machine heads Not happy with how the veneer turned out. You can't really see the problems in the photo above. I was impatient and only gave it a cursory flatten with a steam iron and due to running out of clamps (and not having one at the time which was deep enough, some ripples occurred in the veneer in the middle. I will try to slit them and re-glue them now that I have acquired some deep clamps. 3. Strung up and filed the nut slots I cut one slot too low, but the old superglue trick worked for now. I'll probably get another Tusq blank and redo it at some point. 4. Glued the filler into the control cavity Remember the cavernous cavity? This filler, carefully chosen to match the wood surrounding it will mean that the exposed bridge screw is covered and allow me to drill the holes for the through body stringing. 5. Made a truss rod cover Just like a flower press eh? It's a 3-ply cover made from zebrano/maple/zebrano veneer. This will make it approx. 1.8mm thick and ought to make it strong enough to do the job. I've tried to get a similar grain pattern in the top veneer to the headstock at that point, but it's a bit of a lottery so we'll see how it turns out. The poly pocket is to stop my caul from sticking to the piece - wood glue won't stick to it. So, things are progressing. It was a bit of a downer taking the bass to bits after it has been made up but needs must.

[quote name='Jesus' post='349773' date='Dec 9 2008, 03:09 PM']I would love a Rockbass Streamer, but they are £20-30 more than i can afford to spend for a while now. I think i'm going to to take the plunge and get an Aria P-bass for £109.99 unless someone has anything to say on why i shouldnt?[/quote] £20-£30? That's a typical spend that down the pub on a Fri/Sat night! At the risk of making an assumption about your lifestyle - stay in for a couple of weekends then get the Streamer?

I guess it depends upon whether you're playing it or investing in it. Non-original stuff harms resale value (which is probably why it was never mentioned - although the guy might have been ignorant of these things). The crack in the fingerboard is quite a common thing with the bullet truss rod. It's ultimately up to you how much these little faults/idiosyncrasies annoy you. The first thing you mention is that you're happy, so I'm guessing it's more of a niggling feeling of mild indignation at someone who has been economical with the truth.

[quote name='Duarte' post='343465' date='Dec 2 2008, 08:23 PM']Is it wrong for a budding bass player to try and sell his guitars? No. Is it wrong that he advertise on a bass forum in which he is a member? No. Is it wrong that he has posted in ebay links and not 'bass guitars for sale'? No. Is it wrong for people to go out of their way to act like asses and demand a higher 'authority' to put their (deranged?) mind at rest? well...yes, it is.[/quote] To be honest, I read it as humour. It's a good default to use - saves a lot of aggro.

I have had no problems with stuff acquired via BC. However, I have heard of/seen some situations where people have been a bit economical with the truth when it comes to item condition. I hope I don't come across as blowing my own trumpet here but when I sell something on here (or eBay), I take photos, full disclosure with respect to condition (the motivational factor here is "how would I feel if I received this?"), accurately weigh and quote postage, post the thing when I say I will and keep the buyer informed of progress or changes of circumstances. Why do I do all this? BECAUSE IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. People who fail to live up to these (IMO) reasonable expectations really hack me off.

There's more chance of an SX, Squier or something at that price point being a solid piece of wood.

[quote name='nick' post='348629' date='Dec 8 2008, 02:10 PM']Hi all, Last week, my cat managed to bring down a bookcase on top of one of my basses (Maya Rickenfaker), also knocking out of it's stand, onto the carpet. The finish on neck is 'shattered' in areas. However, this (luckily) seems to be the only damage, it still plays OK & thru-neck joint is fine - tough old bass. Fragments of finish coming away from the neck are like shards of glass, & after during scraping a bit away - horrible smell leads me to believe that it's some kind of plastic (?) I've played a few acoustics before with a satin-like finish which I liked the feel of. I would like to strip all the old finish off the neck, and rather than try to blend in patches, try to get as near as possible feel to a bare-wood neck. Can anyone recommend anything to refinish bare-wood in a natural colour and how to do it? Many thanks[/quote] I have refinished necks in two ways - with premix "French Polish" and nitrocellulose lacquer. The French Polish that I used will give quite a yellow tint to the wood: The satin nitro is a lot more neutral: The good thing about the "French Polish" is that you can do it at home without any special equipment other than making a "rubber" (cotton wool/wadding wrapped in cotton cloth). With nitro you [b]need[/b] a good mask whether you're using aerosols or an air gun (one with filters, not a simple dust mask), a ventilated area to do it where it doesn't matter about the stink, no sources of ignition etc. Both approaches involve removing the old finish. I sanded, started off with something rough like 80 grit to get the finish off, then working up the grades - 160, 280, 400, 600 etc. I stopped at 600, seemed smooth enough to me. As for applying finish, many thin coats are better than a few thick ones.

Well, it sold this morning to what looks like an eBay newcomer/occasional user (4 feedback), so I've taken the liberty of pointing them at the previous auction and pointing out the damage which the seller seems to be blind to.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='341481' date='Nov 30 2008, 10:28 PM']I never seen one of these before. Quite nice in a toilet seat kind of way. I know a fellow BCer, keen on short scales and lives round the corner from me who would love this.[/quote] Heh, I did see that one. Not at that price though. Not at any price at the moment, actually - no early Xmas pressies from me to me

[quote name='Beedster' post='346130' date='Dec 5 2008, 09:17 AM']Not sure how we'd know if that's a replacement pickup (or perhaps your screen's better than mine) and that does seem to be where a lot of players place their thumb rest! Chris[/quote] I only see 4 pole pieces and some sort of logo printed in white underneath them which probably means that it could be a Seymour Duncan SCPB or it could be a Vista-tone one out of the short lived Squier Musicmaster reissue. If it was an original pickup with the cover missing then it would have 6, as they used a guitar pickup on Musicmasters. Sensible place for a thumbrest or not (I wasn't disputing that) - drilling holes in a vintage bass reduces its value, hence my point about the price being optimistic.

You'd be much better trading your bass for one the colour you want. Refinishing only makes sense when the original finish is so badly worn that there's more wood showing than finish. I am refinishing this because it's the only way forward (practically none of the original finish remains and you can't get these basses any more) : I would not refinish a bass just because you're bored of the colour. If you're bored of the bass, trade it or sell it and buy a new one.

Did you even get Musicmaster basses in 1964? In any case, they would have a different headstock logo and different tuners. Although the finish looks in good nick, it's had a replacement pickup and a thumbrest fitted in a rather unusual place which will have made holes where they can't be covered. Price is maybe a little optimistic.

I've had no problems with them but I've not used them in ages. Prices aren't as good as I remember though, probably as much the fault of the ailing pound as much as anything.

Play more, maybe join a band, finish a project.

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your playing

Welcome to the forum

I'm a failed guitarist, and I'm trying not to be a failed bassist!

I have a set of Fender stainless steels on my Fecker Imprecision. Bright, zingy and not too harsh on the fingers. I only got them because they were the cheapest in the particular establishment I was in. Pleasantly surprised.

I've always found them to be reliable and fast. Hopefully just a blip.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='343098' date='Dec 2 2008, 03:33 PM']Cool! This may be a stupid question but.... Is it hard to get the intonation right on a bass? IE did you have to work out where the bridge goes, and where to cut into the nut etc etc all with complicated forumals? Or do you just stick them on in a straight line and try to set it up after? Perhaps there's a beginner's guide I would be better looking at.[/quote] It's not too hard as long as you measure correctly. For bridge placement, you usually set your bridge saddles to nearly their maximum forward position (90-95% of total travel before they ping off the adjustment screws) and place the bridge such that the saddles sit at the appropriate scale length. To set intonation, the saddles will invariably need moved back from that point as the string thickness increases. Of course, nothing has been straightforward about this project - because of pre-drilled holes in the body which needed hiding I had to fit the bridge first, then I measured where the 24th fret would be from the bridge saddle and enlarged the neck pocket to suit - basically working in reverse As for nut spacing, the simple way is to simply put the outer strings a few mm in from the side then subdivide the remaining space for the number of strings. However this does not take the thickness of the strings into account and will feel (and look) uneven. You therefore compensate for the string lengths. As you can see in the pictures, the edges of the strings have the same space between them, the centres are not equidistant from each other as a result. There probably is a formula for it but I have a template that I use which I obtained from this ebay seller: norman_1957. He doesn't seem to have been active for a while though but you could contact him and see if he'll do another run of nut spacing templates - it's just a laminated card with diagrams for 4 and 5 string bass on one side, 6 and 7 string guitar on the other which show the spacing at increasing widths. Simply lay the nut blank at the appropriate width then mark on the positions indicated. Guesswork invariably leads to errors!

[quote name='bremen' post='342824' date='Dec 2 2008, 11:24 AM']We don't *eat* the leather seats![/quote] Ahh, but in times of famine, would you?

Looking good. I love that RIM headstock.