HazBeen

So I came home today to this……. (See pics) My 1984, serial 067 Streamer headstock (it was a glued repair) has miraculously let go…. The body has a minor dent at the bottom from my guitar rack, and obviously the bass is beheaded. Like Gibsons, the early Streamers were prone to breakage due to not having a volute. The break was pretty ugly and repaired by a monkey, but the bass sounds wonderful and glue is stronger than wood. So I used it quite often, never an issue. But since it has let go and I will probable never be able to sell anyway, I have hatched a cunning plan….. I could replace a large part of the top of neck and headstock with new wood, add some splines ….. basic traditional Gibson-esque surgery. But I am going to do something else….. I am going to use the wood of the headstock, graft that in place (keeping serial number intact) and turn the bass into a (semi) headless! Will post the plan/design here soon. But the plan is to go from beheaded to headless, using mostly original wood.

I wish Kiss would just say farewell….. Kiss Off so to speak.

I have to admit I had to look a Mako up, yeah I see what you are saying. Although this is more traditional/conventional (in my view) due to not having an offset body. The design was in part inspired by a G&L SB2, with a P bass meets modern Single Cut. 3.7kg, so pretty decent.

Need to solder a few last bits and clean the chrome and we are done!

CA glue, no brainer. Will solve it 100%.

6 on! Now we let it dry for a few days, then put it together.

2 coats and counting

I thought about doing it, but my magnets are all used up and since I do have screws I am going to fix in place with 1 screw. For the pic it was just placed in position, smoke and mirrors

Pretty happy, neck attached to correctly place bridge. And just fit the tunes etc for fun. Going to be a sweet bass….. Put the strings and remaining hardware on top to weigh it = 3.6kg. Oil finish weighs nothing, so pretty close to end weight I’d say.

Shielding done and neck ferrules in too….! Basically just a shed load of sanding to do now and finishing with oil.

And 1 Bubinga headstock cap and trussrod cover …. Check! intentionally left the cap sit a little proud, I think it looks really cool that way.

Consensus I think is natural, and also has me preference. Nice, saved myself some work there

So the question is……. What to do with the body. Initially I thought about staining it black. Maybe doing a black burst and then finishing with lacquer. But the more I look at the alder - it is quite figured for Alder - I am thinking oil finish/ no extra colour. With the dark neck, a light body is quite nice. And for sure no pickguard methinks. I have never done an oil only finish on alder before. Pls note sanding is still only up to 80/120 grit at the moment. Open to audience opinions and ideas 😂

Neck in Not the tightest I have ever done…… but pretty solid fit and certainly more than fine for my skill level.

As I am back from my holiday, I thought I’d get back into the bass. Control and pickup cavities done, and made the template for the neck (will route that next time).

I’ve had the Markbass Ninja 500 210 combo for a while now, great sounding, simple, compact, light. Today I bought a gently used Markbass 102p 2x10. They stack up perfectly, giving me a “line array” vertical 4x10 500 watt stack. Good for me

I have to admit that I didn’t get a kick out of this, it is probably due to a Stingray sounding like a Stingray due to the pickup position, not the preamp (well, preamp has significantly less impact) and there are already shorty Rays around. The type of thing that marketing departments come up with. The main thing clearly is that the bass will sound great, so congrats if you bought one, and I do think TC needs to be recognized for being awesome so a signature bass is certainly appropriate.

Yeah, an 8” machine methinks? Will do lots of good things for you I have a very similar one.

Some people just prefer lined fretless……. Bunny Brunel, Gary Willis, Kyle Eastwood, HazBeen ….. okay the last one is a joke 🤪

I get them local, so not of much use. Dimension wise, I always use 5mm x 2mm magnets, same size for cavity and hatch. Trussrod covers I use 2mmx1mm ones. The pull on my 5x2s is a little higher, 0.5kg.

Smart, I do not know anyone who has built from scratch to stop after one. 😀😎

Has to be said, not bad attempts. With frets in much more complicated, so well done.