JPJ

That Hamer is a Purdy little thing aint it

Something I have been accused of on occasion 😂

A ten string bass (BEADG + BEADG) would also make a good donor as it will have the neck width.

With banjo tuners, you wouldn’t have to modify the body shape. You would just have four tuning posts behind the bridge/stop bar.

You could of course get creative and take a different approach to the tuner position for one set of drone strings and in doing so reduce the number of tuners on the headstock. Doing something like this BC Rich but using banjo tuners a la Gibson Firebirds?

I thought I did, but its missing in action somewhere. I did a bit of damage to the PCB trying other non-approved solder removal techniques and I’ve probably fried a few components too. But it was a great learning experience and I’m looking forward to attempt no2 (armed with a solder sucker, desoldering tape, smaller tips for my soldering iron, and a better magnifier). I will not be beaten 😂

Hmmm I think the real challenge here is going to be getting all you want for sub 9lbs without neck dive. Considering the outlay, my approach would be to buy a donor and reshape the body to what you want it to be. That’s the sort of shed challenge I relish, and at the end of the day your outlay will be significantly less than the full custom option. If the trib really takes off, then you can spend your earnings on either a full custom or original version. Just a thought, but have you checked all the cases in your music room to make sure you haven’t already accidentally purchased one in a late night drunken eBay session?

Well as might be expected for a first attempt - I have a non-functioning pedal. I know I messed up one capacitor connection as the solder merged between the two pins and I have a few other areas where my plumbing soldering techniques were a little, shall we say, heavy handed. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and I’ve bought the kit again to have another go, well I have the enclosure now 😉

And so it begins. As usual, having started I’m now being dragged off to do family stuff, but hope to be able to get more done later today.

So I'm finally home and able to take a look at the kit. Whilst it looks quite daunting to a novice like me, everything is nicely packaged and identified and the instructions (you download these from the website) are comprehensive. I think I'll probably leave it until the weekend to get the soldering iron out as I'm a bit knackered after ten days on the road.

So the kit arrived at home today so that’s about three weeks from order. No claims for import duty or VAT 😎 Typically the kit arrives when I’m halfway around the world away and crazy busy in the day job so probably won’t get to open this for another week or so 😤

To my ears listen through mk1 AirPods the 925 sounds a little compressed and a little bit brighter?

^ this is the proverbial rabbit warren I hope I’m about to metaphorically disappear down 😂

I was actually going to suggest a high build epoxy primer but wasn’t sure how that lives with nitro?

Yup, but what I can say without revealing any names or numbers is that I project manage the build and refit of Superyachts for the slightly rich and not so famous

In my day job, paint perfection is mandatory. This is why we inspect the hell out of each stage (primer, filler, high build epoxy, colour coat, clear coat, clear coat) and believe me, when the thing being painted is >100 metres long, even the smallest defects show up. I’ve just the same techniques painting guitar and bass bodies and still run into difficulties 😂

So I dug out my logarithm tables and dusted off my school boy trigonometry and the impact of splitting the baffle and angling it at 15 degrees adds an extra 23mm to the overall internal depth of the cab. Allowing for constructing from 15mm ply and 30mm in front of the baffle, this brings the finished depth of the cab to 443mm which will accept my 19" racked amps very nicely.

Thanks again @Phil Starr for your valuable input. Sorry for being the numpty here but you mention the 'edge' of the slot port causing turbulence. Would there be any discernible reduction if I rounded over or thinned the edges of the top 'shelf' of the port (the internal edges)?

This is my latest fretless squeeze and by far the liveliest most mwah containing fretless I’ve owned. Fender Tony Franklin fretless Precision 2011.

Well that's one question comprehensively answered - thanks @stevie

This is the part that most self-builders and kit builders miss and then wonder why the finish isn’t as good as they expected. You can’t rectify hills and hollows in the finish (believe me, I’ve tried) and the only way is to get the wood right first. This takes hours and lots of patience and is probably the most time consuming part of any build. Ever wondered why custom basses cost as much - here’s your answer 😎

Yes I had the 21012 where the 12 was on the slant baffle. Great cab that one, wish I still had it.

The angled baffle idea appeals to me although my version would be in a rectangular box and partly hidden by the conventional vertical speaker grill. However, I suspect that having spent many hours reading what the luminaries of loudspeaker design share freely on here, I will be introducing some unwanted sonic effect such as ‘comb filtering’ by having the two drivers in close proximity but on different planes.

Ok, so I’ve started to assemble the components needed to build the Basschat 2x12 and I will document the build here but before I do, two final questions for @Phil Starr - is there any advantage/disadvantage to: 1) adding the Basschat 1x12v3 crossover and high frequency driver to this cab? 2) splitting the baffle and angling the top half back at 10-15 degrees so that the upper speaker is not firing straight at the back of your legs (I seem to remember a Hartke speaker like this a few years back)?