miles'tone

Check out this Schecter custom P5. They get alot of love on talkbass. Very versatile due to the bridge humbucker and GAK have them on sale for £389! Barryargain! http://www.schecterguitars.com/products/bass/diamond-p-custom-5.aspx

Blimey that's alot of bass for a hundred quid! Looks groovy as in white too, well done.

I've done it to a poly Fender neck so I don't see why a body would be any different. I just gave it a good rub ovet with 600 grit wet and dry to give the new coating a good key (picked up the tip on either here or talkbass, can't remember which) and shot a can of tinted nitro over the top and it worked great. On a body though, I'd give it a once over with a white primer designed for instruments (Rothko and Frost do it - was talking to them about my own project yesterday)- heard some nightmare stories abour car primer not going off properly.

Ah well. The great guys at Rothko and Frost informed me that all the bright solid colours are based on a white resin so getting an exact daphne blue translucent would be next to impossible. He did say he would try to get as close as possible with a custom mix but couldn't guarantee it would be exact. Also, as the colour coat would be opaque so it would be difficult to keep the grain showing anyway due to the coats it would need for coverage. Fair do's, Simon at R&F REALLY knows his stuff about the history et al of the trad Fender finishes and the rest. We were chatting for ages about it all, so defo gonna shop with confidence there. They are the real deal. I think I may just do the body in Tru-Oil then clear sanding sealer with a can of satin clear nitro on top. Should look nice and most importantly give the body more protection than before without compromising the tone much. If I do get bored of the natural then it'll be prepped ready for a colour coat anyway so won't be too much of a headache.....mmmm that Daphne Blue though.. hmm. Seafoam green is pretty sexy too... oh god! Sanded it back now:

I've changed a regular fender string through bridge for the newer HMV version and it did sound better afterwards. Same lovely vintage tone but just more of it, and it was louder acoustically too. I'm into lightweight basses so a good mod for me also is lightweight tuners to avoid neck dive. My so-so mod was installing a Lindy Fralin P pickup. Don't get me wrong, it sounds awesome but no better really than the Fender Original P pup that it replaced. The Fender is half the price. I did fancy trying a Wizard Thumper next for some added oomph, but alas I've missed the boat there eh? (pun intended )

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1376928782' posted='2181041'] You should spray it blue a little so you can still see the grain through it.. and get the best of both worlds [/quote] Ooo now there's an idea! Just been looking at the Rothko and Frost website and they will mix up a can of translucent nitro in any colour you want it seems. Translucent Daphne Blue? Gonna ring them in the morning, see what they reckon.

[quote name='nugget' timestamp='1376927955' post='2181024'] I think Cellulose reacts with Tru-oil, so if you go down that route test it first on a scrap piece of alder. It is a nice piece of alder, how about rustins plastic coating, super hard finish that buffs up to very high gloss and dead easy to apply? [/quote] Tru-oil is fine with cellulose/nitrocellulose as long as you give the tru-oil time to dry...according to lots of builders on the tele websites and talkbass. I hope. Nice idea about Rustins it's just I don't fancy plastic coating it. I forgot to mention that when my bass was together it sounded divine. VERY resonant and pretty loud acoustically. Sounded very "alive". I don't want to mute it's tone with a heavy tight finish. Whatever I finish I use, it will be a thin finish for some protection. Better than no protection. Cheers for the ideas though! Si.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1376923910' post='2180933'] Paint may look pretty, but kevlar it is not. So the dings will continue and the paint will soon look crap, unless you're really into the scratched paint look in a big way. [size=4]Repairing the dings in the oiled wood is far easier than re-spraying. [/size][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=4]To repair dings in wood, don't sand it. You can sweat the wood back to shape.[/size][/font][/color][size=4] First [/size][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=4]plug in the clothes iron. Mrs Miles'tone will tell you what it looks like [/size][/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=4]Get a soft, old cloth and a bowl of water. Dip the cloth in the water and put a small piece of the wet clot over a dent and get the tip of the iron and heat the cloth/dent.[/size][/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Doing this will normally cause the wood to swell and the dent will recover. If not go find a Stanley knife and take a look at the dents and cut the wood WITH the grain. DON'T go across the grain. Just do small cuts, don't go hacking at it. Then steam the wood with the cloth/iron again.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]When the wood has swollen back out you'll need let it dry out. When dry you need to sand the wood to get rid of any rough bits. Finish it off with really fine grain paper (at least grade 350, finer if you can get it). Sand it WITH the grain, not across it. After this it'll look a ton better than it did.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Finish off by re-applying the finish - oil or lacquer; whatever it has already. [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]PM me if you need more info[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Then meet me down the pub and buy me a beer.[/font][/color] [/quote] Grangur, that's great advice! (apart from getting the missus to show me where the iron is, she'll only make me use it if I do!) Thing is I'm not too bothered about a bass getting scratched and worn - that's life but I would never relic it on purpose. If it happens it happens, as it did to the original Fenders. If I keep it natural I will certainly keep your top tips in mind! Cheers.

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1376922675' post='2180907'] I think Sonic Blue with a Tort guard is the way forward, and more "correct" for a Precision: It's also one of my dream colour combos, so you've got a guaranteed buyer if you ever choose to sell it [/quote] Thanks Jono. Your right sonic blue does work with a tort guard but it's a bit pale for my tastes to be honest, I like the way Daphne is bold (I'm just worried it's a colour that might get a bit much for every day but I do love it). It's not surf green but it would look good in a surf band (not that I'm in one!) Also, I'm not bothered about being correct about anything. It's got a jazz neck on when it's together! Cheers.

Hi all this is my ongoing build that is awaiting it's new finish. The body is a lightweight select alder cnc clone of a genuine '64 P from the Sims custom shop. It has quite a nice grain to it for alder so I originally gave it a good few coats of danish oil and then finishing wax. It looked lovely! Unfortunately the wood is rather soft and a couple of little taps on things around the house marked it very easily, as well as fingernail scratches (the bass has been together for about a year with home use only). I've taken it apart and sanded the marks out, and I was just going to tru-oil it this time and once that's finished and dry, shoot a can of clear nitro over the top for a hard finish. BUT... I've seen this pic of a '64 jazz in Daphne Blue with a tort guard and it's thrown me! A bit if googling has shown me that it's a pretty uncommon colour for a P but I think it would be cool against my tort guard. This is my dream bass build so it's doing my head in! Help! So, over to you guys.... Daphne Blue or Tru-Oil natural? And why? (Defo down to these two as I've thoroughly gone over all the trad/custom Fender/vintage auto colours) Cheers! Si.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1376863086' post='2180195'] Guys, girls. I would have not got any joy if I had mentioned the issue I discovered to the UK distributors because the parent company in america that also runs the forum about those instruments would have branded me as heretic, locked and deleted any thread, put a life ban on me (which did get eventually) and make a big cover up of it all, just like president obama did when they wasted bin laden (apparently) Also you know of another member of this forum that, when he had trouble with another instrument of the same brand, said distributor gave him the run around until it was discovered (allegedly) that a body was fitted to a different neck or something along those lines. Had I insisted with pointing out my issue which was measured by an indipendent and highly qualified UK luthier with a lazer cad machine and he proved exactly my suspicions with figures, (shaking his head in disbelief) I would have been told by said distributor that it was all in my head or that they would have been prepared to change or refund but never admitted it was a common fault but perhaps a faux pas that only happened to my one. So I thought bllcx to it all and got rid of it, after all it was all in my head, the next owner is still very happy with it. There you go. [/quote] Oh just spit it out! Why even post about not saying? You may just save others a headache/nightmare from your findings. Just call it your opinion then all the happy bongo fans can take it with a pinch of salt.

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1376736869' post='2178510'] I guess there is. BC has shown more Bongos than shops in the UK can provide. Also, in the Gear Porn forum, there's a Music Man thread - not that I've checked it for Bongos: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/25449-musicman-porn-thread/"]http://basschat.co.u...an-porn-thread/[/url] best, bert Oh, and here's som humouring the OP: my 2007 Dargie Delight 4-HH: [URL=http://s1170.photobucket.com/user/basstractor1/media/mm-bongo-hh-dargie-delight-_zpsa7e53372.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1170.photobucket.com/albums/r525/basstractor1/mm-bongo-hh-dargie-delight-_zpsa7e53372.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/quote] Best MM finish colour EVER!

If you do end up forking out for new tuners, I recommend the Gotoh GB640 instead as the will fit right where your heavy tuners are as they are vintage style and they look the biz with the tall stems. Plus they are still insanely light enough to solve your problem (I've got some on another bass). They are £140(!) from Allparts but £100 from Thomann below (plus postage that is) Sounds crazy I know spending money on a relatively inexpensive bass but they are good those Tony Butlers, they just don't say 'by Fender' on them that's all. http://www.thomann.de/gb/gotoh_gb_640_bass_mechanik_set.htm

[quote name='lee4' timestamp='1375269103' post='2158994'] Played it last night and did a bit of strap adjustment.So far it has improved things a bit. Still looking at lightweight tuners though. [/quote] Keep your eye on the classifieds here on BC. I recently sold a set of cloverleaf hipshots for half what they cost new. That's what they usually go for when they come up. Yep those Wilkinson tuners are a bit heavy but they are good quality and more bombproof than original Fender vintage style tuners, almost like they are over engineered (I've got a regular V4 Pbass with them on - it's a great bass)

"Basses" section? There's probably loads there.

I looked into it about 3 years ago when I wanted a Jap '62 P off a dealer over there on ebay. Yes you pay upon collection from a depot this end. I can't actually remember how the costs broke down individually but I do remember that whatever you buy the bass for, plus shipping, expect to add about a quarter of that amount on again.

wateroftyne's fretless Precision has caused me to lose some sleep That tone is evil-good!

Wow what a good mate you have! Lovely bass mate. My vote goes to lake placid blue. This Squier 50's classic vibe is lpb. Daphne blue is a solid colour so it's defo not that check out this jazz in it. Nice that it's lightweight too as all the Mexi's I tried a while back were pretty weighty Congrats!

Strings work for me. Nice to see everybody on stage well into it. I wasn't aware of this dvd so cheers for that!

https://www.bassstringsonline.com/La-Bella-WHITE-Nylon-Tape-Wound--4-String-Set--NEW-PRODUCT_p_1409.html Stop press!! There is a new string out from Labella: White Tapes. They are the best by all accounts at emulating the upright sound, more organic than black tapes apparently. They are very low tension, completely smooth and give zero finger noise. Standard gauge best for acoustic it seems.

Classic. As a lad I loved the old fashioned look of it on JPJ's Led Zep jazz bass. It looked as wooly and big and brown as it sounded! Disclaimer: I DON'T like sunburst that has a big fat line of red through it that almost reaches the pickguard, that looks cheesy sorry. It's got to be a subtle 'burst as close to the edge of the body as poss. That way the effect is more seamless and easy on the eye. You asked!

I like it alot. Perfect for the song and it's place in the mix is great.

I love passive basses, Precisions in particular. They are just perfect by design in my opinion... I do irrationally like the idea of a John East P-Retro preamp though!

This is the one: http://www.allparts.com/EP-8385-000-250K-DPDT-Solid-Shaft-Pot_p_4508.html Cheaper than Fender's version but still a top brand. Plus you don't have to pay even more to buy the plastic switch knob.

Just get a 250k push/pull pot and keep your original knobs. This way your bass remains looking standard. (I don't understand why Fender didn't go this way as those S1 button knobs were a bit flimsy and sometimes would get stuck, plus they looked a bit odd as they didn't match the other jazz knobs as they were all black.) Here's a diagram for the push/pull mod: http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=jass_bass_sp