Andyjr1515

Nova Guitar Parts - Andre Passini - they are excellent! I used them on @Jus Lukin 's build here: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/442299-finished-its-a-bass-jim But don't search on ebay - some folks in China have knocked them off including the logo! Contact Andre directly through his Nova Guitar Parts Facebook page - he will ship directly from Brazil but that is pretty quick and painless.

Love it. Looks great!

That's good info, @Owen

By the way - and apols for the slight diversion... and yes, this is a drop tuner on a 4 string - but it's not often you see or hear a drop tuner used in the middle of a number rather than between numbers. There's a couple of examples in this short piece that Matt Marriott included when he demo'd @mhoss32 's preamp prototype fitted in my Camphor single cut. Feel free to skip this interruption to the main topic, but if anyone's interested: https://youtu.be/CJBOxnRMdFo

I think there's a practicality decision as much as a desirability one. Yes - I can see why you might want to drop to bottom A musically (maybe not as often as a drop D on a 4 string, but still useful in some instances). But the low B on a standard long scale 5-er already tends to flop around on, what often feels like, the very edge of buzz-free playability. And so, unless the B string was at an unusually high action height, a low E would be even more on the edge. It would certainly be a challenge to tune it...

Brilliant! Love it. The Lull looks and sounds good

One happy customer = one very happy modder

Wow - that's a new on me!

With the Psilos, the through neck had the angled ramp incorporated. We couldn't hide the block like @Kiwi (lovely job, by the way ) because the body was only 25mm thick! : The judgement/hope was that the block would 'wrap round' the player and therefore not be in the way. And to our great relief, that's what it does

Praise indeed! Thanks, Silvia

And it's done Slimmed Lull fretted neck: Same width and profile AJR fretless neck: Fully tuned and playable: to fully tuned and playable: in: (Of which at least 6 minutes was removing and fitting the strings) Private AJR1515 reporting back to Colonel@Happy Jack : Mission complete, sah!

Love this, @alittlebitrobot There's some nice ideas and it looks good too! I think the use of the electric plug pins has a touch of genius about it! And welcome back! You did indeed used to be a regular Yes, @Daz39 is quite right - with the Psilos, @TheGreek and I managed to hide the controls, tuners, magnetic pickups (it has magnetic and piezo) and even part of the fretboard

I think we're on the final furlong. The machine screw inserts are fitted for the fretless neck: And that just leaves the finish on the plain maple neck and headstock back/sides for the fretless (tru-oil slurry and buffed - a relatively quick job) and fitting the string retaining bars on both. Those will be in this kind of position for both necks. The original string tree screw holes will be filled as well as possible with dye-coloured filler but will not be able to be made invisible:

With the maple plug cut flush and the neck lined up, time to drill for the last insert. With the 3 machine screws nice and tight and a final check for line up, I use a 5mm brad point fed through the ferrule to make a centre point and then use that as my reference drilling with a 6mm brad point on the drill-press ready to fit the final insert. And all four done. Just got to agree with @Happy Jack where to fit the string retaining bar and that's the fretted neck pretty much done. Inserts for the fretless neck next

Yup - with the pickguard for me And looks a decent shape to my eye...

For three of the four screw holes, they were close enough for me to drill out the original screw holes with the larger holes needed for the screw inserts. However, one would have left some of the original screw hole there and so the better thing for that one was to drill it out and plug. For inserts, dowel isn't strong enough and so the better thing is to use a plug-cutter and cut a piece of rock maple: This one will be drilled for the insert last. The other three went in OK. Note - if anyone is ever fitting this type - that although they have an allen-key hex, it is still a lot safer to use a screw and nut with a spanner to insert them and leave the relatively weak hex socket just for removal if that is ever needed: With the plug chiselled flush, the neck was fitted with the three machine screws to ensure the neck was straight (using the top dots as the guide): Then tomorrow, I can just pop a brad-pointed drill in the final hole and give it a tap to mark the centre point, then drill that out to take the final insert. Then, of course, repeat the whole process for the fretless neck

And so to the slightly scary bit - fitting the machine screws In principle, it is straightforward - -machine screw fits nicely in the ferrule: - and screws into the threaded insert which, itself is threaded into the neck: The challenge is that, whereas with wood screws you can get away with quite major misalignments, with machine screws you can't. They have to be square to the surface and in exactly the correct position...or you just aren't going to be able to screw them in. To illustrate "whereas with wood screws you can get away with quite major misalignments" - Mike Lull basses are beautifully made basses. But on the original neck - with the two bottom screws in place and the neck fully seated and straight - this is where the two top screw holes are: See how offset the hole is to the edge of the ferrule? With a wood screw, this is no problem - it will be tight but will screw in. With a machine screw, you simply wouldn't be able to get the screw into the insert in the first place. And so I have to reposition any holes that are out of line. Which is the scary bit Still, it could be worse. It could be my own bass's neck

Actually, because all of these settings are sweeping (Matt 'numbers' them just to give you some idea of where he is in each sweep from zero to full) - and each of the settings interact with each other - there are an absolute myriad of sounds that can't really be demonstrated fully in a short, one-take, video. It's closer to an on-board effects pedal in many ways than just an EQ. And that actually gave Matt a few challenges - because some of the combinations of settings put out such a different shape of sound, he had difficulty fitting it into a single 'live' set of DAW recording settings. There is the potential for major differences in tones. Of course, it does need some time set aside to experiment and find the spectrum that suits your own needs. But that's just the external controls!!! Because there are 6 (from memory) adjustable internal gain pots too that Matt didn't alter...but they are all alterable, cutting / boosting / moulding different ranges of frequencies for each pickup.

Just a bit of a post-script on this stunning build. If you haven't ever read this thread, then pour yourself a beer or a long soft drink, find a comfy chair and read it from the start. On every one of the nine pages of the thread there will be things you see that, I guarantee, will leave you open-mouthed in amazement. For those of you who have read the thread, then you will remember that not only is the bass a stunning build, but also that @mhoss32 designed and made his own pickups and @mhoss32 also designed and built his own powered EQ. And, what seems like an age ago (covid lockdowns/covid lifting restrictions/etc/etc) @mhoss32 sent me one of his prototype EQ systems to try out in one of my basses which I was delighted to try out and suggested I got Matt Marriott (an excellent musician who has done a number of videos featuring my builds) to do a couple of videos with it fitted. It's taken a while (Matt is a pro-musician so half the time he was prioritising trying to make a living when everything was locked down, and the other half trying to make a living when things started opening up again!) but here they are. The first video is a run through just a very few of the myriad of settings and the second is a short original piece he used to demo the sound 'in the mix'. The donor bass is the camphor-topped single cut. The pickups are DiMarzio PJ s. Matt is recording directly into the DAW. As always with these things, best heard through headphones. Video 2

Better light today - and I've added the decals: And so 2-3 overcoats of clear to put over it and the headstock is basically done.

Bit of a dull day to be trying to take natural light photos - but I'm pleased with the colour match: When you hold a sheet of white paper next to the body, it is surprising how cream it is. The headstock has had its final clear coat, currently drying, before the decal goes on and then it will have a further 2-3 coats of clear. I will leave the masking over the ebony runaway until all of that is done. After that I'll sort the machine screw inserts and then do the finish on the maple (which is actually quite a quick process). The last task will be fitting some hipshot-type string retention bars. Assuming suppliers have the string retainers in stock, both necks should be ready by around the end of next weekend.

Sounds very nice Looking forward to see the photos

Nothing clumsy about big Luminlays, is there @TheGreek

The headstock is basically having one clear coat a day. So the time to do further stuff is in the morning, when it is dry from the previous evening's coat. And this morning was Luminlay Day Method was the same as with the fretted neck a few pages back but, this time, the dots are on the fret, not between. I've also added a dot for fret 1 - I personally find that a help on a fretless because I don't have to guess the progressive shortening of the space between those first three semitones. Jack opted for the large Luminlays again for the main part of the neck. For the 12th, I've put a couple of small ones either side and also small ones for the narrow strip for the upper positions where the neck pocket joins. It will have another coat of clear on the headstock this evening. Otherwise engaged tomorrow but Friday should see the final sand and start of the finishing process for the neck and headstock back - oh and the small but vital step of adding a coat of tinted varnish to the headstock front And then, I'm afraid I won't be able to put off sorting the machine screw inserts on both necks ANY longer!

Well there you go...