Jean-Luc Pickguard

Wipe down after each gig/rehearsal to remove sweat/blood/snot etc Change Strings, Change batteries if active, Set the neck relief with the truss rod, set bridge saddle height & intonation -set neck angle with shim if neccessary, Lem-oil fingerboard, check & adjust slots in nut. Level & dress frets

Red. It reminds me a lot of the £200 Peavey I used to own which was very similar, but purple rather than red. The blue one reminds me of looking into a toilet bowl when one of those blu things is in the cistern. Perhaps EBMM should produce some bongos in that finish

The tone is in the fingers, so practice more. .... or get new fingers.

Good luck - hopefully you'll get this sorted out without being out of pocket.

It looks like this is the camera tripod type stand rather than the heavy duty CR one - is that correct? If its not a design fault, it has to be a manufacturing fault. I'm pretty sure you should be covered by the[url="http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/understanding-the-sale-of-goods-act/your-rights/"] fit for purpose clause of the sales of good act[/url]. I had no trouble getting the apple store to give me a new macbook battery when the one in my out of warranty MacBook bulged (I didn't have to make a fuss & they offered the free replacement before I mentioned my expectations in getting it replaced at no cost) Hopefully your retailer will be similary clued-up. Maybe an email to NS-Design will help, I've heard good things about their customer service in the past, although I've never needed after sales help personally. I use both the endpin stand and the heavy duty stand which came with my CR5M - they seem pretty solid and I've had no trouble so far, but I hope the relevant piece on each is made of stronger stuff than yours.

Fret buzz? I think I remember that, but these days I do my own setups and get ultra low action with no buzz. Could be something to do with the TI flats I use

We did a set at a local pub's all-day charity gig. Opened with our usual first song - the band's 'up on cripple creek'. not the best choice as the gig was raising funds to buy some chap an electric wheelchair.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1224873' date='May 9 2011, 10:56 AM'][/quote] Mine is cooler! [attachment=79406:danelect...longhorn.jpg]

Thanks chaps. Now I want one - if one was available, I doubt it would be anywhere near my price range

Duck

Saw this CD in Asda today. [attachment=79355:elvis_movies.jpg] I was drawn to the 6-string bass/guitar doubleneck on the cover. It seems to have a 6 string bass neck (with schaller-style tuners) & a 6 string guitar neck, as opposed to the Jimmy Page 12 string guitar/6 string guitar. A similar pic crops off the headstock: [attachment=79356:ElvisPre..._guitar3.jpg] I never saw a Gibson like this & certainly saw never Elvis play anything like this, so I'm not sure whether its a photoshop hackup or custom instrument or what? Any ideas?

It does look like Rick James's bass was for show only - probably not even plugged into anything

[quote name='Matt P' post='1221456' date='May 5 2011, 07:42 PM']wow, what are they made of? do you think they'd respond well to having all the finish stripped off? (then a nice tv yellow or cherry red) i wonder if one of those could be de-glittered and then pimped to make a great stage bass. (i'm rather fond of shorter scale basses) Matt[/quote] I believe the neck & body are mahogany. The top is a laminate of pearloid similar to that used for pickguards and toilet seats. As it is bound, I'm not sure how thick the layer is or how easily it could be removed. Its already a great stage bass and thomastic JF324s fit perfectly I actually have two of these basses hanging up on wall, plus a matching guitar - only one of the basses is mine, the other bass and the guitar belong to my daughters. Strangely the guitar was made in china whereas the basses are indonesian.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='1221465' date='May 5 2011, 07:47 PM']I'd go along & see them, sit down with them over a pint & ask them straight out why they buggered me about. If I got a decent & respectful apology, I'd go with it, otherwise I'd walk away. G.[/quote] +1!

Looks like a less funky and more expensive version of my daisyrock I see Gibson are still designing new basses with that ridiculous 3 point bridge. Surely they could design something that looks similar but works better. It seems to me that the only reason to use that tired old flawed design is for the sake of vintage cred.

i guess you'd not be interested in one of my woven bacon straps then?

What did he use to fit those tuners? A Hammer? If I was selling that, I wouldn't admit to bolluxing it up either.

I use the guitar rig Session I/O - a little hardware thingy that comes with a cut-down version of guitar rig (inc bassamp), but when I got it there was an offer for a free update to the full version of guitar rig - I run that along with iTunes for an ideal headphone practice rig.

I have an NS CR5M which I bought as an upgrade to my old Dean Pace. I don't think I'll ever part with my NS. The NXT seems to be very similar to the CR5M. Had it been available when I bought my CR I would have probably gone for an NXT and saved a few quid.

I used Isopon P38 car body filler for a £100 musicmaster I repainted eleven years years ago. I'm sure a nice bit of alder would have been better, but I'd have made a mess of it, having neither the tools, patience, skills or suitable piece of wood. This was under the pickguard and I sprayed the bass a solid colour, so it was easy to hide and with the pickguard off the repair cannot be seen. I've never had anyone complain about the bass sounding less 'woody'.

In my experience a Badass (or similar) is great on a Jazz bass - but sucks all the punch out of a Precision. I'd put the BBOT back on. YMMV!

I've used the screwdriver method with great success on a few basses. The only one where I removed wood were on the brandoni neck of my Fretless precision where I sanded a radius into the edge of the ebony fingerboard.

No One would believe my Ashbory is actually a bass, so I'll be OK

I wouldn't buy one as I don't like the design of these instruments no matter how well they play & how good they sound. From what Bill C says about the service from the company that makes his budget range, it sound like a potential nightmare for any UK company who takes on local distribution/sales & has to handle support.

[quote name='Delberthot' post='1208131' date='Apr 22 2011, 11:35 AM']A Squier VM Mustang - much rather have one of these to the Bronco/Musicmaster[/quote] I'd be up for one of those - or an accurate '66 RI Roadworn or Fender version in a wider colour choice than red or white.