Kiwi

An excellent idea, along similar lines to the Apathist's Club?

Time for an update given it's been over five years. Mostly I have been focussing on guitar but I'm pleased to welcome the following to the stable. Moon MBC5TN There were two guys I found on YT playing these basses. One called Terry Romanio, based in Australia, who was playing one of these on a Chaka track. And other guy Igor Odaryuk playing one with modified electronics and a delicious amount of chewy midrange. This japanese import was intended to be a better value alternative to the Warwick Thumb 5 but it's more like cross between a Smith and a Warwick. Featuring a through body neck of wenge and bubinga with mahogany wings and pomelle bubinga facings, it has the Smith high end smoothness but the Warwick growl in the mids although the action has to be lowered to get that. The lows are boomy and a little unfocussed so pairing it with a class D amp is a good match or maybe replacing the Barts with some tighter sounding pickups could work. It's also a bit on the heavy side and the nut is fairly broad at 48mm. The electronics include twin pickup volumes, a passive/active switch and a three band eq which seems little clumsy so they've been replaced by an East Pro circuit. The truss rod is proved to be a little sensitive to tweaking, a little movement creates a lot of curve but after a fret dress it plays like butter. Really nice bass and great value second hand, at the time of writing I could pick two more up in China for about 1300-1400 quid each. Good bits: Smooth, bell like high end that you might find on a Smith bass Mid range warwick growl when the action is lowered. Deep deep bass Comfortable body ergonomics Dual truss rods Neck through construction Astounding value for money if you can bag one in the right location Not so good bits: It feels closer to 5kg than 4. Compared to my Spector NS5CR, the low end is a little unfocused Electronics are a little illogical. Nut is on the wide side (48mm) Musicman Stingray Classic 5 I never set out to buy one and I was never really interested in owning one. This was a complete impulse buy, in mint condition, due to it's ridiculous asking price from some rich kid who aspiring to be a professional musician and didn't care about the money he lost. I was planning to sell it on in the UK to cover my airfare but I played it back to back with my '78 stingray and it was close enough (and impressively so despite differences in neck profile) that I had second thoughts. Then when the graphite neck thing started, I wondered whether there might be a chance of having the 5 string OG Cutlass bass I'd always wanted but could never have...watch this space. Good bits: Rich, deep character with some midrange growl thanks to the ash body. Beautiful 3A flamed neck Genuinely gets close to the sound of a preEB bass - fatter sounding than the standard SR5's I've played. Not so good bits: Nut width and neck profile is way too chunky, was it really necessary? It weighs over 4kg Vigier Passion III 5 string There was a guy on YT called Alex Bankovic who used a Passion III on some of this play alongs and I couldn't get that B string out of my head. This particular bass popped up on Ebay and I snagged it for a song, although it later turned out to have some cracking around the control socket which was repaired solidly but the refinishing is a little clumsy. The bass was also sold as "low action" but after I set it up properly, it turned out to have exactly the same built in relief as the others I've played. Still, the neck is ridiculously fast to play - the nut width is 42mm, the same as a stratocaster and the body is comfortable and light. Apart from the built in relief it's a very very good bass to play. So I will be getting the phenolic fingerboard replaced with PEEK at some point because it's very clearly lacking in thickness around the upper frets compared to the lower ones. Whether I add a truss rod at this point remains to be seen, it's mechanically the safest thing to do but its not certain whether it might have an impact on the sound of the bass. This bass has a replacement Lusithand GK RB800 preamp installed which on paper looks like it might be an ideal match for the character of the bass but in practice, the centres of the frequency bands miss the sweet spots of the bass, there isn't any onboard gain trim control so it's a little quieter than the Moon and the treble and attack is piercingly bright so I have it turned down. This one will be getting a repalcement preamp, I have a Noll 4 knob semi parametric in my spares department but will see what other options there might be. I'm also thinking about a Passion II type refinish in pearlescent white to hide the repaired cracks as I've got artwork for replacement waterslide decals on the headstock and body. Good bits: Ridiculous neck profile, probably the fastest and narrowest I've ever played. Toit low end (especially the B string) and chewy mid range growl Light weight Comfortable and well balanced Kahler bridge allows you to customise the string spacing. Not so good bits: Replacement preamp isn't as effective as it could be. Tone is a little too bright. That pre-set neck relief and no truss rod...for the love of god, WHY?!! Also, I replaced the Alembic filter in the Pedulla with another East Pro and it now feels like it's reached it's full potential after nearly 20 years of ownership. The Shuker Headless 6 and Pangborn Warlord graphite were sold through the Bass Gallery which helped free some cash up for the above purchases. The Status Series 1 had an East Pro and Bartolini pickups installed for a little more warmth and more versatility, overlapping the bass and mids yields a result that could pass for a warm Series 2 and it will do pretty much anything else with some knob twiddling. No changes on the amp side although I finally took possession of the Trace Hexavale and it's everything I want in a valve amp. I have yet to try it in anger though and the brackets got bent out of shape during shipping because they weren't up to the task of holding the amp during transportation...which is a bit of a concern. They need hammering back into shape at some point. Effects=wise, I sold the Source Audio C4 as it was too complicated and had too many compromises (like no MIDI DIN socket) so I'll probably be sticking with Future Impact. Also up for sale are the Cooper Fx Moment Machine sequencer pedal, Alexander Colour Theory sequencer pedal, newly acquired Boss SY200 (after 4 weeks of ownership), EBS Microbass II pedal. I also see that a company called Polyend have released a pedal based sequencer in August so I'm aiming to get one of those in the next 12 months and put it through it's paces.

Definitely wouldn't pay late seventies Series I money for what was a basic model originally in Alembic's line up.

I'll take a closer look as part of the QC check.

And the necks are done but I still need to eyeball them for QC.

I agree with everything, have also found single pickup basses generally track better and Stingrays too but with the bass dialled back a little.

I went in there last month and the Sire Z 5 bass I tried was pretty good but the bass selection overall was a little underwhelming. Anyhoo...welcome aboard. Try to avoid the market place if you want to stay solvent.

Normally we work in batches of five over four weeks although interest is such that I will see if it's possible to stretch it to six per batch We are a small boutique workshop and composite necks are one of a few lines of work carried out mostly around neck maintenance and repair. From this Wednesday (October 1st) to next Wednesday (October 8th) there is a week long public holiday so you should probably allow for five weeks if the deposit is recieved today. Shipping costs are very competitive - I would need your address information to provide a firm quote but as a guide, its 277RMB to the US (prepaid duty) and 390 RMB to the UK. So, depending on the logistics chain, expect somewhere around 390RMB to Italy - hopefully it will be less given Italiy is part of a bigger continent. Shipping times can vary but allow up to 15 days door to door and I'll confirm prepaid duty is possible on the shipping closer to the time so no need for customers to faff about with customs Yes, and not only that but if the work isn't started within 30 days of recieving the deposit then I will offer the option of a peace of mind refund. I also like to post weekly updates on here of the work in progress just so people are kept up to speed and can see that their order is being taken forward. Without the trust of customers, this operation wouldn't be feasible so I strive to protect that.

Did you reach a decision over whether to order in the end? We'll start the mould after Oct 9th (due to public holiday)

I wanted to give people the option of personalising the front.

I haven't firmed up the shipping logistics only because it depends on how much the final necks and packaging actually weigh. But yes, I can substitute any sender address you wish when we get to that point.

The SR5 mould has been completed and this is the neck I've ordered for myself. I'm going to change the dots to something else though.

Update time: Final coats are now drying.

Hi everyone - given the production has moved from 5 necks of each type to 5 necks of any type, I'll keep a running list of order slots here so everyone who has placed a deposit can see what is being worked on and what is coming up and also check the details of the order are correct. Batch 1 - JB4 necks (currently in QC) 1) @Rich77 - 20 fret PEEK fb, standard dots on front, luminay side dots 2) @Phaedrus01 - 21 fret PEEK fb, standard dots on front, luminay side dots 3) @HeadlessBassist - 20 fret PEEK fb, standard dots on front, luminay side dots 4) @Blartfactor10 - 21 fret PEEK fb, standard dots on front, luminay side dots 5) @WalMan - 21 fret PEEK fb, standard dots on front, luminay side dots Batch 2 - individual orders, we can stretch to 6 7 necks for this batch. (Estimated build time mid Oct - Nov 2025) 1) @Raslee SR4N, 21 fret, PEEK fb with MOP dots, luminay side dots 2) @BlueMoon PB4, unlined fretless PEEK fb, no dots, luminay side dots in fret positions 3) @Jo.gwillim JB4, 20 fret PEEK fb w/ abalone dots, luminay side dots 4) @thevintagebassist SRC5N PEEK fingerboard, luminay front dots, luminay side dots 5) @thevintagebassist SRC5N unlined 21 fret fretless PEEK fingerboard/ no fingerboard dots, luminay side dots in fret positions 6) @BlueMoon SR4N, 21 fret PEEK fb with MOP dots, luminay side dots 7) @Manfred741 SR4N, 21 fret ebony fingerboard with abalone dots, luminay side dots Batch 3- individual orders, we can stretch to 7 necks for this batch. (Estimated build time mid Nov-Dec 2025) 1) @Manolo F SR5N, 22 fret PEEK fingerboard, no fingerboard dots, luminay side dots, 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) [overflow] 7) [overflow]

PEEK (composite) fingerboard - no charge MOP or abalone dots - no charge Luminay side dots - free for the first batch of orders (normally £10) fretless - free for the first batch of orders (normally £60 for lined, £45 for unlined) Block inlays - £65 Wood fingerboard (Indian rosewood, salvaged Indian ebony, or African wenge) - £75 other woods may be available on request. Figured wood fingerboards (e.g. flamed or birdseye figuring) - £POA depending on availability

Hey Roger, I would have to investigate what prepaid duty options are available with the courier given the tariff situation. @thevintagebassist have you had any thoughts about options e.g. wooden fingerboard?

Have you checked how many files you've uploaded? You might be hitting the buffer for storage.

Update time: Necks are built and now just waiting for the logo decals before the final coats.

@Al Krow is this the correct thread?

Wow, that would be something! If I can sell 24 necks before next August, it'll set things up nicely for the following 12 months

About 6-8 weeks to get to the point where the website can be started, depending on build time for the sample necks

Haha, I suspect the reality may not live up to the hype! I will share the story about the origins at some point but at the moment it's too early and there are certain confidences I have to respect until order volume hits a certain level of consistency. Nothing dodgy, it's just that when business partners see volume, it can help provide them with some certainty that I'm not going to waste their time. Then I can formalise some key business and logistic arrangements. Once I have samples of the 5 initial neck types (JB4, PB4, SR4N, SR5N and headless 4/5) then I'll get a website set up. Once that goal is realised, I can start working on promotion in earnest. For now, the PB4 and SR4N moulds will be next after the SR5N and I'll need to test fit all the models to check measurements are within acceptable tolerances (and this could involve further development if not quite on point despite best efforts). The neck I'm looking forward to the most is the SR5N. The Musicman Cutlass basses I owned more or less set the bar for tone and a five string version of one of those, with an adjustable neck, would be something exciting for me.

"Dust. Anyone? No? Dust. Anyone? No? Dust. Anyone? No? High in fat or low in fat?" "That's right, it's low in fat which means you can eat as much dust cake as you like! And we all like a bit of cake, don't we? I know I do..."

Update: All five necks have been constructed. They are being prep sanded this weekend. Clear coating will begin this week.

Most of the time its about surviving the night with as few screw ups as possible.