Andyjr1515

Ah - solved the mystery maker @Andre_Passini: They are Bass Centre Elites, Stadium Series, Extra Light (30 to 90 gauge). I've never bought Bass Centre strings before or since so can't be sure whether these are their standard ball-ends. Anyone here on the forum know?

OK - before I get those strings out with my calipers to see if they are, indeed, the real odd-balls (accidental pun, honest) then let's start cutting and gluing wood A final check of the side view, neck angle and thicknesses: Then I was able to cut out the card template for the neck blanks and lay them out on the first inner neck splice: I had planed and checked the straightness of the edges of all of the splices first because, as you can see, the top edge will be my fretboard datum - so as long as I glue all of the splices upside down on a flat board, that will remain flat and square for the gluing, eventually, of the fretboard. You can also see above the extra width of the blank needed on a neck through due to the angle of the body. But I am still - just - able to get the second one out of the same blank: And after a morning on the bandsaw, I have 5 of the 9 (and there's a puzzle there for the more observant of you)! And then, using the outer mahogany blanks as clamping cauls, I glue the first three together:

No - not Rotosound. You are quite right that some do have that red binding, but all the ball ends I can see are the 'standard' smaller brass ones, which would fit fine. I've a feeling it is a real obscure make. I did get a set years ago of super-super light gauge from a string maker I'd never heard of and have never seen since. I'll check the gauges in the morning.

Ah...maybe. Like you, I generally don't use them but maybe it came off a re-string. I'll check so that I can update Andre if they are. Thanks

Didn't quite get to actual cutting of the neck laminates, but I have done all of the calcs to be able to do that first thing in the morning With all of the info I verified yesterday with bridge heights, etc, I was able to draw full scale the whole of the neck and bridge geometry including: fretboard depth; fret height; nut rise with the string tension and a couple of 'from (bitter) experience' tweaks to come up with the : - neck angle (2.5 degrees) which gives me the - neck blank minimum depth and shape I double checked this against the Sims routing depth requirement for the SuperQuads and that means that I can make the template to cut the neck blanks in the morning and start the process of laminating the 9 sections together. I doesn't look much but spending the time to do this drawing saves days of remedial work further down the line

I don't know if this helps. Bear in mind that the neck has no option but to follow the same shape as the truss rod. It sounds like your trussrod started like this. This is with the nut turned anticlockwise: Now, turning the nut clockwise until it feels loose, it's like this: And if you keep turning clockwise, you will feed the nut tighten again and it will start to bend the other way:

The truss rod has been actively bending the neck the wrong way ('wrong' being that it has been bending it the same way as the strings bend it, adding to the curve rather than counteracting it). So yes, as you loosened it, then the relief has reduced as the neck started straightening. So if, under full string tension, the relief is now at the 'business card or less' range, you wouldn't necessarily need to turn it anymore - except to carry on turning clockwise until you start to feel the resistance. This wouldn't bend the neck anymore but would tense the rod inside the slot and stop it rattling around (remember that the rod is, essentially loose inside there when it is fully straight). But if the relief is still too much, then carry on turning and the rod will then start bending the neck the other way, creating the slight back-bow that will counteract the forward bow effect of the strings. And yes you are right - there is no point in adjusting the saddles until the relief is correct.

This one has a wire clasp incorporated into the Ground tab, but the principle is the same on all of them. Basically the stereo barrel jack socket, just like the standard clip-type stereo jack socket, has three tabs: One is clearly on the outside of the barrel and then there are two more coming through the insulated disc: one is short and one is longer. On this pic, the outside one (with in my case the cable grip) is on the left, the shorter one is in the middle and the longer insulated one is on the right. The one on the outside (left in pic) is the Ground The short one through the insulation (middle in pic) is the Tip The longer one through the insulation (right in pic) is the Ring So if you were wanting to use a stereo jack for a stereo output, then one hot signal would go to the tip, the second hot signal would go to the ring and the ground would complete the circuit. The red triangles here are the spring clips that make the contact with the jack: But if you put a mono cable - like a bass amp cable into the socket, then the shaft of the jack shorts the ring to ground: So the folks much cleverer than me have mused, "Hmmm...we could use that to turn off the preamp when the cable's not plugged in. So basically, you wire the black lead from the battery holder to the ring and so when you push the jack in, it connects the -ve battery to ground and therefore makes the connection to turn on the power to the preamp, and when you pull the jack out, it breaks the connection and switches the preamp off. Which is why you never leave a pre-amp'd bass plugged in when you are not using it Clever stuff.

Hi There's a bit of confusion of terminologies and assumptions here so, just so we're starting in the same place: - Relief is about the straightness of the neck - Action is about the height of the strings above the neck - The relief can affect the action, but it must never be used as the primary way of adjusting the action. You set the neck relief so that the neck is relatively straight under string tension and then adjust the saddle heights to get the action height you want. - Ibanez basses can be fitted with single-action or dual action trussrods - You do indeed feel a resistance to the trussrod nut turning as it starts bending the neck - Generally when folks refer to loosening and tightening the trussrod nut, they are referring to the 'Lefty Loosey (anticlockwise looking at the nut); Righty Tighty (clockwise looking at the nut)' direction, and not necessarily the actual feel. - Easiest way of checking the relief is: With the strings tuned to pitch, hold down at the 1st fret and 17th fret; tap down the string at the mid point 8th fret. There should be just perceptible movement. A gap (relief) more than a business card means the neck bow from the string tension is too great and the neck needs straightening (slacken the strings, turn trussrod nut 1/4 turn clockwise, retune, check and repeat if necessary). If, however, there is no gap and the string at the 8th is hard against the fret, then the neck is 'back bowed' (slacken the strings, turn trussrod nut 1/4 turn anti-clockwise, retune, check and repeat if necessary) So, @alyctes from what I understand - the relief, measured as above, is too great and you have been turning the nut clockwise and you have reached a point where the nut seems surprisingly easy to turn? I agree with @Chiliwailer It tells me that you have a two-way truss rod fitted and, as he says, you should keep turning (possibibly up to a full turn) and then you should start feeling the tension start building on the nut, but in the opposite direction. Basically, a two-way trussrod sits loose in a narrow slot, held in place by the neck wood at the bottom of the slot and by the fretboard at the top of the slot. And, depending which way you turn the knob, the rod will bend either way. So if has been tightened the 'wrong' way - where the truss rod is actually increasing the relief and not reducing it - and you now turn it clockwise to correct that then you will reach a point where the rod is straight. At this point it isn't trying to bend the neck at all and so the nut feels very loose. As you keep turning it, then the rod now starts bending the opposite 'correct' way, trying to bend the neck into a backbow to counteract the bow effect of the string tension. And because the rod is now bending the neck again, albeit in the opposite direction, the tension on the nut increases too. So once you are bending the neck the 'correct' way, follow the above tips and you should be able to safely achieve the 'just perceptible' relief gap and then be able to adjust your action. And the golden rule - just like you have done with this post - if you're not sure and it doesn't seem to be doing what you expect, stop and ask again here

I think it's a standard stereo barrel jack. If I remember (I've got to that age ) I'll take a photo tomorrow and mark up the terminals.

No problem. I have many makes of string in my bits drawer and that was the only one that didn't fit. I don't recall any other strings I've used or fitted with that larger ball. It is certainly not one of the popular makes as far as I am aware.

I have had the privilege to work on a couple of Wals since I started this crazy hobby and, without any hesitation, they are my favourite basses. Everything is SO well engineered and the instruments just feel and sound - great! It's one of the absolute delights of the regional Basschat Bass-bashes because the kind folks round here let maniacs like me actually pick them up and play them. So, anything that I can do that can keep a Wal working or get playing again is always of interest. So you can imagine how excited I was to be contacted by our very own @Fishman who explained that he had some Pro 1e components and could I get it all playable again. 'Sure! Send them to me." Gosh - a Pro 1e! Happy Days The box was smaller and lighter than perhaps I might have expected. Well - maybe it's a particularly lightweight version...even MORE exciting because sometimes they can, indeed be on the heavy side Oh...that's odd... Well - definitely a Wal! That is the best pickup in the industry in my opinion: Well, OK - I'll admit that @Fishman did mention that it needed a new body. And the fretboard is coming off and being replaced with an ebony fretted one with a couple of AJR swifts at the 12th, requested by @Fishman so that there can be no ambiguity that this isn't a full genuine Wal (oh...and because they DO look pretty cool ) This is the kind of job I can slot in while the relevant machines are out for @Jus Lukin 's build (my cellar isn't big enough to leave the bigger stuff in situ) so it won't be a super fast affair but I am looking forward to it. Oh - and I've got a lovely piece of lightweight swamp ash for it (ignore the outline - don't worry, it won't look like a Fender I'll keep you guys and gals posted

So why do I make sure I have the timber and some of the hardware before I make a proper start? Well, for a through-neck the geometry has to be right otherwise it is major grief. Whereas on a bolt-on you can alter the neck pocket and neck angle, with a through neck that angle has to be right. And - as many of you know - when it comes to neck angles, a few mm here or there can make a big difference. And so I need to have hold of the actual bridge and see how far forward and back the saddles will go, and how much actual usable adjustment there is in terms of height. I need the fretboard blank because I need to know what my finished fretboard depth is going to be so that I can draw the string line against the bridge movement limits and that lets me work out the neck angle. And then with the actual neck blanks available on hand, I can work out the most economical way of achieving that angle (eg, can I get two splices from one blank or not) So today - with the bridge here and now the timber blanks in hand, I've got out the long rulers and set-squares to draw up the geometry. So first - on the bridge, where do the saddles sit in relation to the base and how much intonation movement is there? Then I can I work out where the bridge - and therefore the bass body - needs to be in relation to the nut. On intonation range, the Nova bridge score is off the scale. First, by fitting a dummy string, I could work out the maximum and minimum practical intonation movement achievable without string interfering with the bridge components. That worked out, I could now set the Bottom E right back and the Top G right forward. That gives me a whopping 9mm usable intonation movement! : But that's not all. Because there are four positions that each saddle unit can be fixed to : That gives an additional 38mm movement from the furthest forward to the furthest back - a total of 47mm!!! We're into multi-scale territory without even having to fit the individual bases (which Nova can supply in any case ) So top marks on that one. And it takes ALL the worry out of fitting the bridge in the wrong place (not that I would EVER do that ) The saddle height range, however, is more limited. I could only get 5.5mm reliable height adjustment of the saddle (reliable meaning where I could still fit the locking grub-screw). However, the base is generously thick (bodes well for the tone! ) at 6.5mm and so if, like me, you intend to sink the base into the bass top, you can practically sink it up to a further 6mm without interfering with anything, giving a total 'design safety factor' of around 11mm in the event of the neck angle not ending up quite to plan. So two big ticks for Nova. Then I hit what I thought was a snag. I always keep sets of 'setup' strings so that I don't k****er new strings with all of the build set up and stringing and restringing stuff. So I just pulled a random test string from my bits drawer - and then hit what I thought was a snag. The ball end was too big to allow the adjuster to slide into the saddle-holder: That's odd, I thought. I checked that it was fully seating and it was. While not overly difficult to fix - either by deepening the ball end socket on the unit, or filing the ball end down - it seemed unusual that this wouldn't have been picked up in such a well engineered item. So I opened a pack of new D'Addario strings and: Perfect. So I then tried a Newtone big fat B string: Perfect again. And all the other makes I had in the drawer. I've no idea what make the first one was that I tried, but my conclusion is that this isn't an issue with the Nova bridge - it is more an issue with that particular string manufacturer's balls... Tomorrow, I will finish calculating the angles and start getting a few neck splices cut. Oh - and yes - we're going for a 9-piecer: Thanks for looking

It is ridiculous! Everyone here, including me, will tell you that you need at least seven! At least.

No - you won't harm frets with polish although, depending on the polish, it might not get down to the metal and just react with the surface. Is the 'silvery colour' shiny? If so, the frets may be Evo Gold. They dull down to a brassy gold colour but freshly dressed are actually much more silvery. What's the bass? Best polish for frets is probably Autosol, but you must mask the fretboard when you use it because it's a bit of a messy white paste that is an absolute devil to get out of fretboard grain.

Ah - those look more like it. Great find!

That'll do (ignore the oak table...)

The good news is that the timber is coming! Clearly things are busy over there at David Dyke's - it arrives Monday In the meantime, the constructional veneer arrived for the back/top demarcation - this is 1.5mm maple rather than the standard 0.6mm - and is now being glued to the underside of the top: The main next job that holds everything else up is getting the neck blank laminated once the wood is here

It's a beauty.

Yes - in various ways and various situations, I think we've all done similar things...works every time. I think you will be very pleased with the John East - they are great little preamps.

I like the look of those!

Carrying on with the theme - someone mentioned AGC's. They are a particular favourite of mine because they retain the functionality with a passing nod to conventionality, but not overly bound to that. For a 'traditional' single cut, this is pretty d**n fine: So what they have done is lowered the lump of the top horn. But of course, that doesn't actually need to be there at all, really. Functionally, this would work just as well: Great topic @Si600 - we don't really challenge bass design nearly enough

There's a bit of pragmatism, a bit of conservatism and a bit of personal taste and a bit of an opportunity all mixed together, @Si600. The pragmatism and conservatism is that "I want everything the same as a double cut but I want it to be single cut. So Kert's Camphor: Becomes this as a single cut with a 3 minute session on the bandsaw: (Hmmm....there's a build for the future.....) While @Len_derby 's Swift Lite: ...could easily become a beluga with the saving of 3 minutes on the band saw: (Hmmm...to my eye, that don't look too bad...one to keep in the back pocket?) Functionally they are identical. But you then have to ask, why is the top horn...hang on...why are either of the horns there in the first place? Well - the bottom one has no purpose (edit: Big purpose if you try to play it without a strap!). The top one is somewhere to put the strap button. Functionally, that is their only purpose. So in Banjoland, folks would look at a 'traditional' bass and say "What was Leo F thinking?????" Because their Swift Lite's would look like this: (Hmmm........................................Nahhhhhh!!!) You can tell I'm still waiting for timber to arrive....

There are lots of things around to protect consumers - and especially if we are talking physical safety. It's worth looking up the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (might have been updated since then) and the General Product Safety Regulations 2005 and probably the current Sale of Goods Act . The Consumer Protection Act uses both Civil and Criminal law and applies to producers, importers and suppliers - and sometimes all of them! I don't know the facts and so can't comment on this particular case. But if what you say is correct, then they certainly seem to be treading a bit of a perilous path if they know it can cause injury and they know that it has caused injury and yet don't appear to be planning or attempting to do anything about it. Of course, unbeknown to any of us, they may be doing just that...

Still waiting on the wood - probably next week now. I think DD's are really busy (which is a good thing in the long run ) Anyway - keeping busy, I decided to clear a few infrequently used drawers full of random stuff. And one of those contained an unused 9v battery...and I haven't done anything to it...and it wasn't shorting on anything...and the drawer was dry and nowhere near any heat or light... : Just how I found it. And those cells are rock solid. And who knew they had cells inside them anyway??? And...er...do they do this?????