loki

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I am in the process of doing one actually! What have you got in mind?

Yes that's me. The site is down at present.

Here's the last bass I did. This one was front markers only: [IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae185/mmmbeard/jazz1.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae185/mmmbeard/jazz2.jpg[/IMG]

Not theory, experience. As I said, I've done lots of these and I worked it all out for myself. I will post pics later.

Hi Jez, I run all of my LED's (wired in parallel) from a single 9v battery with a single resistor. It means you have a lot of wires running down the neck but I use tiny thin wire so it's OK.I get very good battery life using this method. Putting LED's in a bass you are making yourself is very easy compared to retro-fitting as you can pre-rout all your channels and as you are only doing the side markers, even easier. You are bang-on with the fibre idea, although you could do yourself a massive favour buy buying some brass tubing from a model shop and making your actual dots from that. The fibre will fit right inside and can be held in place with epoxy or superglue. Cut the brass tubing to approx 4-5mm lengths and this will give you a nice tidy job, plus the brass adds a touch of class When it comes to the fibre itself, bond it in place before you trim it back. Cut it with a scalpel and then polish it with 1200 grade wet or dry. The better finish you get on the end of the fibre, the brighter your LED will be. Alternatively, as you are fitting the LED's before installing the fretboard, you could use a length of 2mm round acrylic (perspex). Bond this directly to the LED. You will get really good light transfer with this material and it's easier to work with than fibre. You still need to polish the ends though. I'm guessing you are using 3mm LED's. These are fine for side-only dots but I would recommend using Surface Mount LED's for front markers it you ever wanted to install them. Before surface mount technology I had to modify each LED to make it fit and it was a major pain in the @$$. Status now use surface mount LED's in their basses, although they have a lot of problems with static when polishing. Let me know if you need any more help Scott.

Guys, I've done countless LED installs on guitars and basses, front and side. It's not as hard as everyone makes out. Yes it is a lot of work and a very high-risk job as you stand to completely ruin the guitar/bass if it goes wrong but it's definitely do-able with a half decent shed and some simple tools. Companies such as SIMS are very good but they charge far too much IMHO - and the price goes up for each LED you add. I don't do that. LED's are just pennies each and it's just as easy to fit 12 as it is 10. I'm not knocking SIMS though as they do excellent work and have an excellent reputation. Scott.

My Warwick Streamer Pro M arrived today and to say I'm very happy is an understatement. Mark is a total pro and extremely helpful. Bass was expertly packed and exactly as I expected. I hope to deal with Mark again and would highly recommend him to anyone. A smooth, hassle-free and entirely pleasant experience. Thanks Mark!