Andyjr1515

Well, theoretically if you turn them all round with the poles facing the back... ...but that would be very silly... (that'll be a No)

Just as a post-script, it's worth going into a bit more detail of the two things that I think have got folks here particularly interested - the Nova headless system and SimS Super-Quads First the headless system. And what a nice, great to use and looks good too is Andre Passini's Nova Guitar Parts headless system! String fitting (2 minutes for a full string change - I timed myself) and tuning up is effortless. The tuners are as smooth as silk and very accurate. The only challenge I had was getting enough height adjustment of the saddles while still being able to clamp then in the normal way - but I have some thoughts how this could be easily and cheaply improved which I will bounce off Andre shortly. But for 'best bang for the buck', this system absolutely gets my vote and I will be fitting them on all future headless builds. And that includes guitars because the guitar versions are just as good The other is the SimS Super-Quad system. They are fully passive pickups - the 9v battery is simply there to light the LEDs to tell you if you are in 'Split' 'Single' or 'Humbucker' mode. All the tech happens in that fancy switch, including some very clever work that means that there is NO volume change from the humbucking to single/split coil modes. And this is fully passive - remarkable. Here are the options: The three switches at the bottom are the SimS Tri-logic switches, then the 3 at the top are simply on/off toggles for each. There is a master volume and master tone and that's it. They are a synch to fit - for each pickup you attach the loom and then solder an earth, the hot out and the 9v feed for the LED. Mind you, it does take up quite a bit of real estate...especially with three!! And this, to Martin Sims' and my knowledge, is the first bass in the world with three of these remarkable pickups Oh...and they sound great

That's better! And they are all spot on 18mm spacing as preferred by @Jus Lukin And forgive the indulgence, but the inevitable arty farty shots : ..and, finally, with lights on: Thanks for looking, folks

OK - if the light is OK tomorrow, I'll do the arty farty shots....because it's all done! Wahaaaaaayyyy! I'm MUCH happier with the string positions, both relative to the pickups and relative to each other - and it's all invisible; top horn strap button on; back cover drilled, countersunk and fixed. So just optimising the string and pickup heights and the wait for Boris to decide that @Jus Lukin and I can meet somewhere just north of the M25 for me to pass it over. All being well, final photos tomorrow

It was the 'life flashing before your eyes near death experience' I remember the most Mind you, useful in a way. I remembered where I'd hidden my pocket money a few years earlier...

I don't have a problem with it. Assembling a bass from parts, kit or separates, finishing it, setting it up and then playing, or seeing someone who's asked for it to be built playing it, is a VERY satisfying thing to do. Designing a bass from broad requirements, choosing the timbers, solving the 'how-to' challenges, finishing it, setting it up and then playing is a VERY, VERY satisfying thing to do. Building from components and kits is also a very instructive thing to do to understand how the instrument actually operates, those things that have to be right and those things that you can take liberties with, and I often advise folks who want to try a full build (that's how I personally refer to them: full build; part build; kit or bitsa build) for the first time, that they should build a kit or bitsa first to learn those essential differences. This is our old gits band a few years ago before infirmity set in (I was the youngest...it wasn't a good look ) All are Andyjr1515 guitars or basses. In the way I would describe them: 1 Modded 1 Modded Kit Build 1 Bitsa Build 3 Full Builds I played the modded kit build for years (in fact I retired an own-design full build to play it) - and was very pleased with it. So I'm cool with it. But don't get me onto how a guitar company that makes copies of classic models are allowed to call their company 'Vintage'

You mean the ones where I destroyed the 3/4 finished bass with the router and had to start again? No, it's OK, he doesn't know about that. Oh...wait a minute...

Indeed. But he doesn't know about that yet. Oh...wait a minute...

It's the bridge positions. There's been a bit of cumulative creep that has put the strings too offset towards the treble side. Normally, that wouldn't really need sorting, but you have to remember that these pickups are two rows of two side by side coils. In that it is fixable, that the fix can be invisible and relatively straightforward, I'd rather sort it

Nope There's no way of doing that except to simply unplug the battery (which is only there for the LEDs). The LEDs are all controlled from within the SimS switches themselves.

No - that would mean making my own doohickeys and doohickey machining is way past my capabilities

No, no prize. @Jus Lukin is happy with the chrome washers

Thanks, @eude ! Hope all well with you and yours

You say the nicest things Thanks. I have to say, it's one of my favourites.

Good point - I forgot to mention that. There will be a label on the back of the cover. But that's not the change

There is actually one small tweak I'm going to make, apart from the above jobs, before I declare it properly finished. I'll let you all guess what that might be. Usual prize - one cheesy grin emoji

Before I run out of my quota of 'thanks' emojis, many thanks for the very encouraging comments and feedback, folks

I'll leave that to the owner I think @Jus Lukin has already twigged that his services might be required once we can get this to him

OK - good progress this morning. Martin at SimS sent me the new switches at super-quick time - and they're in - and they all work I still have to pop the front strap button on, put the fixing screws on the back hatch (yup - magnets aren't going to cut the mustard ) and do the final pickup height adjustment but, basically, it's done This is why it will need screws - the hatch actually stays shut (see below) but it would only want the wires to 'relax' a smidgen and it would pop a magnet hatch right off: Here are some shots to be getting on with: Here, the hatch is just pushed on and stays there fine even without magnets...but after, say, changing the battery, it only needs one of the 47 wires to shift a bit and even with magnets, it would be off By the way - although the LEDs light up as soon as the jack is plugged in (there is no option with the SimS switches for them to be turned off) the pickups don't actually need the battery to work. So if you wanted to me a little less colourful, you can just take the battery out and it will still play just as well. As always, thanks for the tremendous support along the way, folks. I always means a lot

No - I think @Fishman has already sounded them out although I believe there were some smaller things they were happy to help with.

That's some nice timber Looks great.

Great info, @TrevorR - thank you very much

OK. Bridge not fitted yet - I won't do that until the neck is bolted in place - but basically the body is finished with the scratchplate fitted and the pickup working as it should: @Fishman had asked me if I could do anything with the pick/nail scratches on the pickguard, so the above is after I've given that a bit of attention. You can see them clearly here on a 'before' shot: It's quite a delicate operation, because the surface is textured and slightly shiny, so you want to remove the main visual edges of the scratches without taking that bobbly surface or shine away. I did another 'wet & dry' approach but this time where the sanding medium was some pretty fine micro-web and the wet was good old beeswax balsam (this will be used for the final clean and polish up of the finished bass) and even so applied very, very lightly in stages of wipe off, buff up, look at the result, repeat. If you look very closely, you can see the lines, but they are very faint now and - as you can see in the photo - pretty invisible from normal distance So this is going to a safe storage place until those pesky unf bolts and cupped washers arrive

I'm told that it was also put to Mythbusters to see if licking a Scalextric track would prevent you tasting sherbert for a number of years. It was apparently rejected because the show's producers considered it "ridiculous that anyone would be that stupid."

Happily, of the two experiments on my list of 'cool things to try', the licking the Scalextric track was first on the list...