JPJ

I play five string active basses and a KK Baby Bass. I added a Micro Thumpinator a few months back and it has been a revelation for both the BG's and the upright. In fact, I was paid a huge compliment by the professional sound crew at a large bike rally we played just last week. The FOH loved the sound of my bass DI so much he came up to the stage to see what I was using

So as a few of you will probably know, I have a five string KK Baby Bass and despite the issues I had due to Parcelforce, I'm now over the moon and loving playing her. One thing with these basses is that the stock magnetic pickup works best with two 'washers' inserted into the feet of the bridge. Positioning the bridge accurately on the two 'circles' of the pickup is also vital to getting a good tone. The 'washers' are about 8mm diameter, about 4mm thick and have one flat side and one countersunk side ready to take a screw head. I recently had the strings off to replace a broken tuner barrel (self-inflicted) and the washers dropped out, so I put them back with the flat side in contact with the pickup, thinking that the larger contact area would make for a better connection. Anyway, move forward to last week. The bass has a small metal frame over the bridge that is part of the pickup system. I've become used to using this like a handle when moving the bass in the confines of the man-cave (I know, I must stop) and yes, last week I picked the bass up with my fingers resting on the bridge which tipped the bridge over So I refitted the bridge, but this time I put the washers in the other way up (i.e. with the countersunk side in contact with the pickup) and wow, what an improvement in tone! The KK is naturally quite dark sounding with just the magnetic pickup, and I also use a piezo in the bridge to blend in a bit more high end and 'transparency'. However, with the washers inverted, I am getting a much better all round sound from just the built in magnetic pickup. So basically there is a happy ending to my misjudged handling of the bass. Silver linings and all that

My favourite Fendebird 😉 https://imgur.com/a/aRnSo

You sir have a patience of the proverbial saint. Looks a lovely result though, how does she play and sound?

I'm a huge fan of my custom ACS moulds. I started with 17db filters but found them too isolating, so I changed to 10db filters that work great, even with a loud rock band. They have the effect of cleaning the sound up with the result that I hear every note I play and really help when playing fretless or upright.

I'd start with wire wool, and only to sand paper if the roughness is really deep.

Personally, I'd go for the pickups and other cavities whilst the body blank is still flat and able to support the router. For rounding over the edges its more router work, but for forearm contour and belly cut, I use a belt sander to do all the heavy work.

A useful tip for neck pockets is take a lot of the material out with a forstner drill bit preferable in a pillar drill first. That way you have less chance of the router 'digging in' or 'kicking' messing up the neck pocket. For future reference, I normally cut the neck pocket first before the body profile as it gives you a bigger surface to support the template and router, and its easier to line everything up with nice square edges.

My KK Baby Bass has conventional bass guitar elephant ear tuners, but because they've been mounted without ferrules, I was able to snap one of mine when the string bound up on the side of the peg box.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1497616583' post='3319524'] I'll see how it goes, but I might be able to start fretting very soon [/quote] With all the complicated shapes and unusual features I'd have been fretting from day #1

I'm building a hoard of unobtainables. I contemplate selling my SWR SM1500 from time to time but quickly talk myself out of it even though it's a PITA to gig with due to the weight. Equally you'll have to prise my collection of Overwaters out of my cold dead hands.

If the glue is good enough, and you removed all the tiny torn fibres before gluing and clamping then the glue alone should be good enough as you have the same sort of surface area as most necks with a scarf jointed head have.

I recommend the Snark clip on tuner. Works brilliantly in 'vibration' mode for this sort of adjustment. Covers both my five string electrics and my 3/4 double bass with ease. £17 from Guitar Guitar but probably available cheaper online.

TC Electronic BG250 208, sounds great with the KK EUB

Can I throw the TC Electronic BG250 208 into the mix? Yes its a 2x8 but it does make a lovely noise.

[quote name='Maude' timestamp='1495140378' post='3301651'] I have a pair of H/H 4x12's in the shed that look just like those. They sound terrible [/quote] Many many moons ago I rehearsed with a 'band' (I don't think we ever played a gig) with two brothers who had one of those each with the matching VS series amp heads. Memories eh?

I've got to admit that I didn't like the original concept. I'm a 'dyed in the wool' Fender shaped bass type of guy, who prefers big slabs of wood. But this is shaping up (no pun intended) to be something really special. I love how the flame in the body wing wood has 'popped' as you've carved away the excess material, and the whole thing is a testament to your woodworking skills. One question though, how is the overall weight now you've done most of the wood removal and how is the balance?

[quote name='v8bass' timestamp='1495231521' post='3302416'] Good grief you've had some woes with that KK ! Love the mods to date ( Inc necessary repairs) The ally tailpiece looks great and my fingers are crossed that nothing else happens As a new KK owner I'm checking back regularly for hints and tips here * Just as a point of interest, have you modded the original pickup using the " washer " mod ? " Think we might need a KK sub forum :-P Your approach is totally Zen too Gary [/quote] Thanks for the kind words Gary, it's certainly been a journey! But the whole thing has been worthwhile when you play her, especially live like tonight. Mine came with the washer mod already done, so I can't really compare to a non-modded version. Welcome to the KK club (we may need to think of a more politically correct club name 😂) I'm sure you are going to enjoy it.

So the latest instalment to my KK Baby Bass tale of woe. I opened the gig bag the other week to be greeted by the bridge falling out on to the floor. "Odd" I thought "I'm sure thats not supposed to happen". Quick investigation showed that the tailpiece had split behind the bolt that secures it. Now its possible this is damage that occurred on the delivery journey, or its possibly been done in the man cave at home as this does appear to be a quite vulnerable area when only protected by the gig bag. I attempted a glue repair which was initially successful, but that lasted precisely one week before it sheared again along the glue line [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/C4EBC5CE-21AF-4F2E-AD54-A59AF27D0DF6_zpsgygtytjw.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/9F381F6E-D1CF-41DD-A124-B19CF86E7594_zpskpddopdq.jpg.html"][/url] So I did a bit of online shopping and thanks to the guys at The String Zone, I received a new Thomastik Infeld cast aluminium tailpiece with fine tuners in the post this morning. This is designed for a conventional double bass, so I needed to modify it by lopping the end off with a hacksaw and drilling a hole for the bolt which holds it to the bass, but now fitted, I feel that this is a big improvement to the solidity of this vulnerable area. [URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/A809BEA9-97F4-4018-B611-7292EA3F515F_zpso1xjjwai.jpg.html][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/JPJ/A809BEA9-97F4-4018-B611-7292EA3F515F_zpso1xjjwai.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/ADC987CC-C638-46EA-B916-BBEA6074FAC1_zps2bfl6iq6.jpg.html"][/url] I'm hoping that this is the end of my travails with this bass and I can just get on with learning to play her properly

I've just replaced the white dots on my KK Baby Bass with the 2mm Luminaire side dots from Rothko & Frost. I went with the 2mm version but in hindsight the 3mm might have been a better option. They are certainly bright enough on dark stages though [url="http://www.rothkoandfrost.com/glow-in-the-dark-luminescent-inlay-dots-pack-of-12/"]http://www.rothkoandfrost.com/glow-in-the-dark-luminescent-inlay-dots-pack-of-12/[/url]