neepheid

Welcome to the forum

I've got no problem with Squier gear. It's perfectly functional and is a great starting point for modding projects. The main wood of my Fecker Imprecision is a Squier Affinity P (and the only reason it got rebadged is that it had a rather naff looking silver painted headstock which I wanted to remove) and my Squier Bronco has been modded significantly with different bridge, tuners, pickup and pickguard but I'm not going to scrub the logo off the headstock. I WANT people to see that it's a Squier and go "hmm, that's better than I expected". I wholeheartedly disapprove of people putting Fender logos on Squiers. What's the point? It's just a fraudulent expression of insecurity from one's inner gear snob.

[quote name='Andyalfa' post='357956' date='Dec 18 2008, 02:55 PM']I was thinking of changing/updrading the hardware on my old Hohner Professional JJ bass, partly as an experiment and partly to use as a backup/alternative to my main Precision. Currently, it has two active jazz style pickups which are powered by a 9v preamp. This has two volume controls and a stacked bass/treble knob. There’s also a handy toggle switch for active/passive and a little light to tell me if it’s on. I had a close look at the pickups the other night, and the faint writing on them seemed to say Select design (which I thought was by EMG, but maybe not). Anyway, I’d like to replace all of the electronics with something newer, which gives a nice warm, clean sound as opposed to the dirtier, rockier tone of my precision. Any thoughts would be welcome. At the moment, I have my eye on an EMG J set for around £160. I’d also like to swap the tatty old bridge with something that looks better, has more adjustment and gives better sustain (without going the through body route, I don’t want to do too much drilling). One in matt black would be nice too, but isn’t essential. Once again, any hints or tips would be useful. I’ve seen a sexy looking Leo Quan badass bridge which looks like it might fit the bill and a similar one by Schaller. Any recommendations?[/quote] It really depends upon whether the bass is a keeper. If you're happy with the neck and the general all round feel and construction of it and you're not intending selling it on then modding is valid. However, the amount of money you could spend on mods (those EMGs you mention plus a BA) and you're well on the way to the cost of a decent used bass off here. If you want to get experience with modding then that's fine too, just remember that you're on a hiding to nothing, financially speaking. You will not get your money back whether you try to sell the modded bass as a whole or returning the bass to stock and selling the upgrade parts seperately.

Welcome to the forum Advice? Don't worry about mistakes as much as I do!

This may serve to simply increment my post count seeing as Aberdeen is a frozen wasteland full of nothing but chain shops and chewing gum strewn pavements ever since the eBay scammers found it too busy and cosmopolitan for their tastes/needs and upped sticks to Orkney and Shetland, but I'll ask anyway. Can anyone recommend a friendly, competent bass tutor in Aberdeen or the near vicinity? I have decided that my playing (if you can call it that) is severely hampered by a lack of theoretical knowledge and technical ability. It's monkey see, monkey do - I'll learn a set of songs and churn them out but I can't help feel that there's much more to it than that. It's purely repetition, not musicianship. With that in mind I would like to learn more theory, perhaps do my grades and know what people mean when they say "it's in A" and everyone else just nods (or says nothing at all and just plays).

I can't improvise to save my life. I need to know how every song goes before I even remotely consider playing it in front of other musicians, never mind Joe Public. I also prefer to know [i]why[/i] I am playing a certain note. I'm hoping that once I build up my theory then I'll know the right things to do. Right now if someone said "this is in the key of A" I just go "err, that's nice" and not have a clue how this information helps me. I think I need lessons. Either that or sell my basses and get a triangle. Basically I can't seem to let go and just have fun with the bass without fear of what the results will be. I've always been the sort of person who prefers to make his mistakes in private.

[quote name='beerdragon' post='357366' date='Dec 17 2008, 09:54 PM']Looks like a lot of thought went into the bridge, and those tuners!. I would love to hear it though.Is that one bolt holding the neck on or a strap holder? [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370129851389&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWAX%3AIT&viewitem=&salenotsupported"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...alenotsupported[/url][/quote] Very early EB-0s were based upon the Les Paul double cut body shape. Only made in small numbers from 1959-61 according to my sources. Yes, the bridge is a little lacking in finesse (and adjustability). The tuners are banjo style tuners, also used on the EB-1 (Gibson's violin bass) and guitars such as the Firebird. It is a set neck and that is indeed a strap button.

Welcome to the forum

[quote name='Cantdosleepy' post='357109' date='Dec 17 2008, 04:15 PM']Is there somewhere on this site where we've got 'promoter feedback'? Would it be worth doing? It would be a good resource for somewhere like London, with the same old faces and lots of us playing there.[/quote] It sounds like a libel case waiting to happen. People (in general) can't be relied upon to keep their cool and stick to facts when they've just been mucked about by some promoter or other.

Welcome to the forum

Don't forget differences in neck width, with the (traditional) P neck being wider at the nut than the (traditional) J. Of course with bolt on necks you can replace one with your preferred neck shape/size quite easily.

[quote name='Mr Fudge' post='355692' date='Dec 16 2008, 10:17 AM']I have just put together my first bass ( a jazz/ precision mongrel ) from various bits. I must say that I am highly delighted with the results bur have a few little buzz's on the D string 6th and 7th fret. I have raised the saddles a bit to compensate but I feel it leaves the action of the string too high and generally feeling wrong, if you know what I mean. Months ago when I was tinkering with my MM sig someone posted an excellent link on dabbling with truss rods and their effect. Needless to say I can't find it. I wondered whether my problem could be solved by putting a little relief into the neck. Would this be a slight anticlockwise turn. I can't remember. Any words of advice would of course be much appreciated. I will be posting pics of my mongrel soon and reviewing the wizard thumpers after I gig it on Saturday. I haven't had it through a rig yet! Cheers.[/quote] Possibly. You should check the relief as is first. Hold the E string at the first fret with one hand then push it down onto the last fret by applying pressure after it. This uses your string as a straight edge to check the current gap. If it's non-existent then perhaps a little relief might help and yes, it would be anti-clockwise, you're loosening the truss rod to allow the string tension to pull some relief into the neck. Don't do too much at a time - a 1/4 turn at a time, and give it time to settle down before re-evaluating.

Pics as promised: I know the E string has a bit of an angle coming out of the nut, but it's nothing Fender hasn't done in the past: So now it doesn't look like a toy. Fender types just look weird with miniature tuners, you need elephant ear tuners.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='355050' date='Dec 15 2008, 02:34 PM']Fender Imprecision?[/quote] Already done:

Remember the music-outlet-shop's butchered Ripper? Here's a Grabber which eclipses that one by a fair margin: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260331151025"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=260331151025[/url] Seriously - why?

Full size machine heads now installed. Pics later.

[quote name='7string' post='353894' date='Dec 13 2008, 09:33 PM']Roger at THG Knobs [url="http://www.thgknobs.com"]www.thgknobs.com[/url] will make stacked knobs out of a choice of woods. I have a set on my Jackson and they're just the job.[/quote] Thanks for the link, that's just what I was looking for. Could be pricey though, might have to stick the EMG supplied ones on for now while I mull it over. In other news, I bored out the holes for through body stringing last night. In order to save a tiny amount of weight on this rather heavy body, I bored them the width of the ferrules top to bottom instead of boring from the top the width of the fattest string then boring the recess for the ferrule from the back to the depth of the ferrule. Minuscule difference, but a difference nonetheless.

Welcome to the forum

The knob conundrum is complicated by the concentric pot, the choices of stack knob out there isn't exactly awe-inspiring. 1) Matt finish Fender 2) Fender Deluxe Jazz 3) Hipshot O-ring 4) Standard Black Barrel 5) Mini barrel I'm thinking that rosewood knobs would look great, but most of them seem to be push fit (no good) and I haven't found anyone who does wood stack knobs. Bah.

Also I decided that I dislike the way the neck heel pokes out of the body by about an inch - the perils of bringing together parts which were not designed for one another) Therefore I decided to reprofile the neck heel to suit: It's still rough - the bulk of the excess material is removed but it's a case of sanding it down to match the rest of the neck. Right now the amount of sawdust I'm creating is the reason it's called the "dusty end"