gary mac

My daughter has one, which when she got it, was in a grubby and unloved state. We spent a couple of hours cleaning, polishing and lemon oiling. Then a new set of strings and a set up and got to say I think it's a decent bass. Don't think she has gigged it yet but I've heard her rehearsing with it and it certainly cut through well enough. Don't think it could be described as sounding like a typical P bass but it's got a voice of it's own that is impressive enough. She was talking to me about selling it to fund a jazz bass purchase, so let me know if you are interested. She is a member on here but doesn't visit very often.

Been thinking since I posted in this thread. The application of the garden centre foil did stop the buzzing on my bass, so maybe I won't strip it off and start again.

Is that the one with the skull and crossbones?

Squeeze are one of my all time favs, so I would love to have a copy of the book if its still available. I'll pm you my details . All the best Gary

I had this on my p bass that I've just put together. It was on the E and A strings. Yesterday I had all the saddle screws out and cut them down as I hate having them protruding above the saddles. I noticed today that the E string is now rattle free. So maybe it is something to do with the saddle screws, still a buzz/rattle on the A string. Like you I've checked everything. I recal someone posting about this before and saying that it was one of the springs within the bridge that was the cause. Hope you get it sorted. I'll let you know if I cure the A string on mine.

It does look a bit sorry for itself, but salvagable I'm sure. Probably just putting all the bits back on would make it look a tad more healthy.

[quote name='lettsguitars' post='1042357' date='Nov 30 2010, 01:45 PM']maplins dont do it, and neither do b&q. you can get slug repellant tape from garden centres, but this is thinner than sheild tape, and also, has a non-conductive adhesive, which means you have to solder every peice together to form a 'circuit'. ebay. look for the stuff with conductive adhesive.[/quote] DOH. I've done two of my basses and my daughters jazz with the very same, didn't know about the non-conductive adhesive. This means I now have to remove the pickguard yet again from my p bass project, oh bollix.

29/11/2010. The neck really does fit well, better than some of the examples I’ve seen in the shops. The neck pocket is nice and tight with no obvious gaps; hopefully this can be seen in the relevant photo. Got the action sorted to how I like it and fine tuned for intonation. The only other job I wanted to do today was to sort out the protruding saddle screws. I’ve cut my hand in the past when playing basses with the screws all standing proud of the saddle, it’s a real pet hate of mine. So although I had just completed the set up, I decided to take out the screws and cut them down to cure the problem. A tedious job but ultimately very much worth the effort. It took a couple of hours of sawing, filing and adjusting but finally all done. [attachment=65361:neck8.JPG][attachment=65362:neck10.JPG]

28/11/2010. Set about fitting the neck today. The four fixing screws bit in nice and securely. The sharp eyed amongst you will notice that I’ve not used a period correct neck plate. I was just keen to get on and I had this one to hand. I do intend to replace it soon with a plain one with my initials and birth date engraved in the style of a serial number. Naively I was hoping that the truss rod would not need adjusting as I hadn’t grooved out the body to allow access to the adjustment screw, which is located at the heel end on these necks. Once I had put some strings on though it was very obvious that an adjustment was needed. This was a stupid error really, that now meant the strings would need to come off and the pick guard yet again to allow me to form the necessary groove in the body. This was soon completed with a small chisel. Got the strings back on and with some assistance from Mrs Mac (I haven’t got a capo), adjusted the truss rod Decided after a tune up, that this would be a good time to plug in and see if everything functions as it should. Well nothing exploded and it makes a noise. Enough for today.

[attachment=65328:neck7.JPG][attachment=65329:neck4.JPG] 25/11/2010. After weeks of countless trawls through the for sale forum and Ebay, I’ve got a neck sorted, a Fender Japanese one. From the photos it looks to be exactly what I’ve been looking for. Maple fret board, period correct decal, skunk stripe and in good nick. After some negotiating with the seller we reached an agreement and he kindly offered to deliver it to me tomorrow, which was extremely kind, saved me some postage and also the trauma of waiting for a courier to deliver it, hopefully in one piece. 26/11/2010. Got the neck today, hand delivered as promised by a very decent seller and all round nice chap. My first impression is that it was worth waiting for and looks like a good one. Slightly concerned that three of the four screw holes look a little large. Presumably just due to the fact that it’s been on and off a few basses over the years. Anyway it’s soon sorted with some wood and glue, ready to be re drilled tomorrow.

Just last week one of very own Bass Chatters Henry Norton gave me what I thought was a very good price to build me a maple neck/fboard. Gary

[quote name='TomKent' post='1039415' date='Nov 27 2010, 11:22 PM']I thought this was tomorrow! [/quote] Yes I've got to admit to that as well. Still wouldn't have been able to go though

Hope you all had a marvelous time. I couldn't get there this year due to the recent surgery. I can't risk long car journeys and although Surrey is not too far, you know how the M25 can be. So I look forward to seeing the photos that I'm sure will get posted soon.

[url="http://thedecalshop.co.uk/"]http://thedecalshop.co.uk/[/url] Someone else on here recommended them to me, but not actually tried them yet.

I'm sure I recently spotted some extra long strings by DR, might be worth checking out.

This has got to be a first for this forum, or any other bass forum on the world wide web.

Can you not use a standard off the shelf one? I think the gold anodised fender ones are about £30.00. One of the stickies on the forum has details of suppliers who do custom pickguards.

I think BurritoBass was selling one.

Oh lordy!

[quote name='thinman' post='1034348' date='Nov 23 2010, 08:12 PM']I've 84s in my Jazz and I think I know what you're saying when you say "muddy" - they're quite fat sounding and maybe have less bite than standard pickups.[/quote] Elequently put, compared to my feeble effort, thanks.

Like the others have said, he's a top chap and very helpful. I've got 64's in my jazz, my daughter has 84's in her jazz. They do sound very different. I find it very hard to describe sounds what I would say though is that the 64's sound more defined, the 84's deeper maybe more muddy. See what I mean, rubbish at describing sound. They both sound good though. Right I'm off having cleared up this discussion for you

I couldn't get the link to do it's thing Chris. Will try again later. So I've not ignored your post but been thwarted.