Maude

Oh yes, how annoying would that be, to have one the wrong way around? It's all these little details, which until you do the job you don't think about, that I enjoy reading about in these threads.

Reveal time. The picture above, which incidentally is the corner of our patio, is the reflection off the back of the bass. I made it black 'n' white and cropped it as it was obvious what it was when red with the outline. I couldn't believe how clear the reflection was in the photo. I know, I'm a little sad. 😄 I just want to get it rebuilt now but waiting for parts.

Aria STB series have the trussrod adjustment at the nut end, so that rules that one out.

Go easy, the OP is thinking of buying it so presumably likes it. Do you have any more pictures of it, especially how the (extra?) knobs have been fitted and what price is he asking? As said above, it looks to be a generic P/J that someone's modified and dependant on price, you could possibly spend your money more wisely. But if it's cheap enough and you like it then go for it. 🙂

As I said on the other thread, I love my Variax, but I look at it as a bass with a huge array of tones available at the turn of a knob, whether they sound exactly like the modelled basses matters not to me. I also like how the note length changes with settings. One minute it's bright, clangy, aggressive with lots of sustain, then it's warm, thick and muted with no sustain without having to mess with pickup selector, tone, foam mutes, etc. In a varied cover band setting it's great.

When I first got into New Order in the eighties, the second album of theirs I bought was substance. I hadn't heard most of the songs and, being New Order, a lot of the titles had little to do with the lyrics. I had it on cassette and it confused the hell out of me trying to work out what track was what as the listing on the cover was all wrong. Not worth anything as they were all like it.

Nobody going for this then? 😁

As I've quite surprised myself with how this is turning out, you'll have to excuse me while I put this picture here and I'll explain tomorrow. #smugtwonk, as the kids say. 😁

That now passes the 'pickup ring on bottom edge of screen' test. 🙂 It's looking amazing, that wood is perfect for the guitar shape, or rather you've put everything in just the right place to make the most of the woods grain. 👍

The neck's looking lovely. I've just re read a few bits and realised when I said about using a Stanley blade to bevel the scratchplate I meant use it at ninety degrees to the surface as a scraper. Just keep scraping in fairly long, smooth, fluid motion until you get your 45 degree bevel. The different plies actually act as a guide rather than making it difficult, when the plies look right, it is right. The first one I did I thought, I'll never get this looking even, but it's actually rather quick and easy.

I want the full 17 minute version of New Orders 'Elegia' played before the service starts, and everyone has to sit in silence until it's finished. Then Joy Divisions 'Atmosphere' as people leave. That'll teach you for coming to make sure I'm dead!

Well it's polished up nicely for aerosol, but I'm waiting for a new scratchplate and my magpie decal to arrive so it's really frustrating because I can't do anything. Can't fit the bridge without the control plate in because of the earth wire, can't fit the control plate without the pickup in and can't fit the pickup in case the new scratchplate has the cutout in a different place, it shouldn't but do I really want to risk it. Can't rebuild the headstock and fit the neck without the decal. Grrrrr!! 😄

I would imagine Ped was right. If it was expecting to see certain notes from certain strings, how would it cope when you start fretting? If you're tuning the B string to C then surely it would just 'think' you're playing at the first fret when you play the open string. It also has to cope with bends and vibrato so must just affect whatever you send to it. But I am only assuming and you know what they say about that.

Another option would be for Andy to put a thin vaneer on the top and stain or paint that black, but the SR is quite curvy so might not be possible. Good luck with whatever you go for.

Yes, mind those fingers, I'd hate to convince someone to have a go at something and they then injure themselves. You know your limits. Warming the paint with a heatgun or hairdryer would soften it ever so slightly to help it not chip or splinter when cutting. If you removed the pickguard, you could lever the fingerboard from that end, then any damage would be less visable, easier to tidy up and wouldnt be felt when playing. If you do go for it maybe start a topic in the build section as there's vastly superior knowledge to mine in there that would give guidance.

Another thing that makes it a little more tricky, same process, but more cumbersome, is I'm guessing it's neck through rather than bolt on.

Going away from the decal topic, but are the filled pickup routes going to be covered by a scratchplate or anything? The reason I ask is that if you have two edges of wood butted up against each other, no matter how tightly fitted or well glued, once filled over and painted you will more than likely still see the line between the woods, made even more visable by being black. Worst case scenario is that there will be ever so slight movement, expanding/shrinking between the two woods causing your filler to crack. Tapering the edges can help, but it's always a risk. Apologies if you already know this or have a different plan. 🙂

@stewblack I don't know how hands on you are or how confident you are trying things like I'm about to suggest, but if it's going to end up a wall hanging then there's nothing to lose. You could very carefully score through the paint finish between the fretboard binding and the neck using a scalpel or similar very sharp knife. Use a steel straight edge as a guide and use several slow steady passes until you're confident you've cut through the paint. Then heat the fretboard, being careful not to blister the lacquer or binding, and prise the fretboard off. Replace rod, reglue fretboard and then, once dry, very carefully run superglue (or lacquer if you have some, even clear nail varnish) in the paint crack between the binding and neck, the glue will wick into the gap and can be wet flatted and polished up once dry. With patience and care this could be a virtually invisible repair. Good luck with whatever you try. 🙂

The way I look at my variax is that it isn't 24 famous basses in one, rather it's a nice bass with a huge amount of tonal options, all easily accessible with a simple rotary switch. I do have a spare one that I was going to defret as I think that could really open up some the sounds, especially the doublebass and synth. I'm going to first see if my fretless neck will fit just to see how it'll work.

I just sent him a link to a picture I found on the internet of what I needed and told him the size and colours and he did the rest. Good luck with the project, another Andy build thread to follow hopefully. 🙂

I used this person recently. Really good looking decals, extremely thin so covered really well with lacquer, and you get two for that price in case you mess up the first attempt. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324037188013

The above bit about piccolo bass makes no sense. 😁 A guitar with an octave down and a bass with an octave up would be the comparison. The point I was trying to make is that bass and string construction must play a big part as although a picollo bass is tuned the same pitch as a guitar, it doesn't sound like a guitar.

If it were possible, I think it would sound very synthetic to be honest. A guitar with an octave pedal doesn't sound like a bass, in the same way a piccolo bass doesn't sound like a guitar. Although the signal is digitally processed in a Variax, a massive amount of the core sound is retained. Changing strings makes a big difference and doesn't just get overridden by the digital processor.

It's definitely slightly off in the picture. If you zoom in and then scroll up and down, the lower edge of the neck pickup sits almost perfectly on the lower edge of your screen, the top edge of the bridge pickup is definitely not sitting level on the edge of the screen when doing the same. Whether that's a quirk of the camera angle, I don't know. I hate to pick fault as it's exceptional but it's better to know if it really is out.

I don't like red basses or white scratchplates, especially if they're pearloid. Also never really liked the look of Stingrays. Can't explain it but there you go. I'm in the middle of building a Red Stingray style bass and I've almost talked myself into buying a white pearloid scratchplate. What is happening? 🙂