Maude

I've sat back and mulled this over for a couple of days. I remembered I brought some leftover basecoats home from work before lockdown as I had a Vespa engine cover to do a custom paint job on for our guitarist, so I had a few more colour options at hand. I really like that Luke Blue and I had a graphite grey and some blue, but the blue has a green pearl edge to it and the resulting mix has too much of a green/gold look to it and I fear it's a bit 'old man's Honda' for what I had in mind. The grey on it's own is OK but definitely nothing like like Luke Blue. I still like the idea of black but it is very 'safe'. So after some careful thought, red it is. 😆 I don't particularly like red basses but I've got a very nice dark red metallic here which I quite like, and the chrome, black and the maple neck should work well with it. Then whislt browsing the forum last night I re-read @Andyjr1515s thread about reducing the weight of a Harley Benton jazz as I had thought about taking some weight out of this one, not because it's heavy but because with the bigger pickup magnets, bridge and adding a great big metal control plate this bass is gaining weight. Whilst reading I saw the neck was the same as mine, and Andy stained the bass red. Hmm red, black and maple, the same as I was considering, and it looked good. So I've kind of made my mind up to go for the proper stingray look in red. That meant partially filling the precision cavity between the control plate and scratchplate. I cut some wood to fit and hammered and glued it in place, rembering to leave a 'tunnel' for the pickup wire to run though. The next day I took out the excess with a forstner bit and while I was there, drawing inspiration from Andy's thread, I took a lot out from under the scratchplate, I left a little island to support the centre of the plate. I tidied the edges with a chisel but I don't see the need to get the router out to smooth the cavity floor as I've nowhere to clamp it and holding the body between my legs while freehand routing doesn't appeal. I smoothed over the wood fillet and unnecessary screwholes with some filler and sanded down. Then gave the body another coat of primer. I realise all this making my mind up live on air so to speak must be getting boring, but I think I'm pretty much there, maybe. 😉 Here's the body after wood fillet, filling and weight reduction (the body was originally red), then in primer. A quick rub tomorrow and it'll be ready for paint.

And meanwhile in the ebay thread, everyone's laughing at this. At a mere £299 it's starting to look a lot more promising.

As they don't list a features I guess it's the usual Wilkinson hardware? At least I know what water is now.

If you pregressively detuned more from the E string across to the G you could get that almost bang on.

The Bronco bridge arrived this morning, so I've just fitted it and given the Kay a proper set up as the strings sit differently now. I removed the neck shim as it was half a shim so tilted the neck back and I was getting buzzing up the high end, also wanted to start from scratch with the set up. Filing the nut down has massively improved playability and even the intonation is pretty much there considering it's a two saddle bridge, G & D all but bang on but it's a balancing act with A & E, I've done it so the A is right but the E is a touch flat, I'll be less likely to be on the E string up higher. The action is a touch higher than I'd normally like but the G saddle adjuster is right down now so I'll let it settle overnight and if I think it needs it I'll put a full shim in the neck cavity to lift the neck without changing the angle. Thanks again to @Jabba_the_gut for suggesting the Bronco and @AndyTravisfor drawing my attention to the one on ebay. While I was working on it the sun was coming through the window onto and the copper pearl was looking really glittery, so a photo needed to be taken 😁, but my phone camera went mental deciding on whether to focus on the grain or the window reflection. Here's the bridge in place and a truer representation of the colour when not in the sun.

This site by Scott Whitley is quite helpful with all things short scale. https://www.shortscalebass.co.uk/short-scale-string-choice/

"Right, everybody out!"

We are supposed to be seeing The Eagles at Wembley Stadium on August 29th. I bought the tickets as a present for Mrs. M and even though I'm not a fan it'll be a nice way to spend an evening. As such I'm not massively worried if it's cancelled but we decided to make a long weekend of it, being a bank holiday weekend, so I've booked a rather swanky hotel for Saturday and Sunday night. We haven't heard anything about the concert and I'm not sure which way to proceed. If I assume it'll be cancelled and cancel the hotel, but the concert then goes ahead, we've got nowhere to stay. If I assume the concert will go ahead but then it's cancelled at the last minute, I'll lose my hotel money. I paid in full because I don't like having things to pay for outstanding. Also need to sort out travel as I can't be arsed to drive up and pay for three days parking in central London, but that could be money down the pan as well. I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter but it would be nice to know what's happening. To be honest, I'm not sure I want to be in a stadium with 80,000 others, or spend three days in central London at the moment anyway.

Quick mock ups to see lay outs. This is with the control plate fully covering the cavity but it then eats into the scratchplate in a telecaster kind of way. This is where the control plate looks best. Still to far back for a Stingray but better looking. The cavity will need filling though which will show up in the future. This you'll need imagination for. Ignore the horns of the scratchplate and imagine the two plates bevelled on the join like a Baldwin/Burns, maybe even a top horn plate. I'll make them in black card tomorrow to better envisage it.

It's evolving, I think! I re-shaped the the neck heel to fit the body better and screwed the neck with E and G tuners on and fitted the old bridge (it fits the holes, the new one doesn't) and put two strings on to make sure it all lined up, and to get a centre line to work from. Luckily, now the neck fits further into the pocket, the neck was rounded but the body is square, the screw holes line up and I don't need to plug and redrill the neck, woo hoo! I have a decision to make with the scratchplate and pickup but more of that in a bit. With the scratchplate in place I've been trying to get the control plate to fit nicely. As the body is slightly different to a Ray the control just looks a bit odd, with the edge following the curve of the lower bout it's too far towards the bridge but with it in the right place in comparison to the bridge and scratchplate, it doesn't follow the curve of the body. It's not much but it just looks a bit awkward. Also the Precision cavity isn't completey covered by the scratchplate and control plate so will need a small section filling in. The better looking control plate location leaves a bigger void to fill so it's a balancing game. After a bit I thought I wonder what a new scratchplate that incorporated the Ray shape with the lower end of a P plate might look like, I'm not trying to make a Ray clone after all. I dug out the original P plate and laid it on the body with the Ray one on top and instantly thought, ooh that's cool. But instead of making a complete one I think it will look good as two plates. A bit Jazz-esque was my thought but both made from scratchplate material. Even though one plate is black and the other white I can see it in my mind and its got a definate Baldwin/Burns look about it, which is good as that's another bass I've always loved the look of. I'm going to mull it over this evening but I think I'll be throwing some Baldwin in the mix as well. It will save having to infill the cavity as well which is good because if I paint this black then no matter how good the filling, it will shrink over time making it visible in the right light. Shame I have got an old black scratcplate to knock one up from quick. The other issue is the scratchplate/pickup location. As this isn't a Ray body or neck, to have the pickup in exactly the right place it means the scratchplate is moved towards the bridge leaving about a 3mm gap between it and the neck, with it all being black it won't really notice but I'd rather it was snug. But having it snug means the pickup is 3-4mm closer to the neck, and I wanted it in exactly the right spot. Do I go for tone over cosmetics?

Thanks, and yes that colour really suits those Stingrays doesn't it.

Fair play (ish) to the seller, I let him know the issue but said I'd keep it anyway (I need it for lining stuff up and can replace later). He's refunded me £3, I only paid £3.64 plus 90p p&p, and said he thinks that's fair if I'm keeping it. He says he thought it was new, I don't know, but life's to short to worry about these things.

As above, you really want the twin cartridge filter type as a minimum, the sort of paper makes being bought up in huge quantities at the mo are just dust masks and won't stop paint fumes. The other problem with that type is they don't generally seal against your face very well, as you can see after using one when the sides of your nose around your nostrils are covered in whatever dust you were creating. On a lighter note, the correct gear is not good with this covid19 around for a different reason. Our house is up a lane (pedestrian) off the road, my workshop is the opposite side of the lane to the house. When painting three basses a couple of weeks ago I'd come out of the workshop between coats, as even with extraction it fills up pretty quick in there. Some people walked up the road to see me stood in the lane outside the house in full hazmat gear, white paper overalls, latex gloves and full face with hood breathing apparatus. They looked quite worried to be fair.

My scratchplate turned up this morning from ebay, I do love a good liar. It was cheap enough so I'm not really bothered but this was listed as being new. It had one poor photo showing not much more than a load of glare from the flash. It said any marks were in the film (being new) and the film was intact. I've had plates before that look terrible but once you pull the film off it's all good, so I went for it. It didn't have a film on it and I've got a sneaking suspicion that it might be used. 😁 I'll give it a polish and see what it comes up like as it's not worth returning, but I have messaged the seller to ask him to be a little more honest in future.

I wonder what the manufacturing process is for fender, I assume the painting is all robotic. I can't imagine anyone sat there masking the headstock face off for painting. I imagine the colour goes over the edge by a couple of mm due to whatever automated process they're using, whether that be ease of masking or the actual paint application. Hmm, it would be interesting to know. For yours, just mask it however you feel comfortable. If you can get the tape right on the edge then ideal, if not then mask it a mil down the side. It doesn't really matter as long as it's neat. When I did the Longhorn headstock I applied the colour coat, removed masking and let it dry. Then as I was lacquering the whole neck I used a stanley blade as a scraper to scrape round the sides of the head, holding the blade at 90 degrees to the face to get a perfect edge.

People aren't happy in Postie land. Our singer is a postie and has posted the following on Facebook. EVERY SINGLE POSTAL WORKER IN THE UK NEEDS TO SEE THIS Dear Colleagues, Royal Mail USO/Executive Action This LTB is to update Branches, Representatives and members on the union’s response to the announcement made yesterday by Royal Mail Group regarding the company’s executive decision to suspend Saturday letter deliveries and to impose un-agreed changes to the current operational network and agreed duty structures. By their actions Royal Mail has derecognised the union and disrespected our members and the customers we serve. They are refusing to adhere to any of our agreements, be they at local or national level. It is quite clear that this current managerial leadership has no moral compass and has dragged standards of behaviour and industrial relations to an all-time low. Our members have lost full confidence and trust in these people and this planned national executive action is a despicable attempt to use a public health crisis to drive through long-term and highly damaging change. The changes they advocate go to the very heart of our dispute and our ability to protect the 6 day USO, our members’ jobs and this great public service. We stepped back from our dispute to do the right thing for our nation during this pandemic and Royal Mail Group agreed to do the same but they are now breaking that agreement. The timing of their action was also in our opinion deliberately planned to coincide with the CWU National Postal Workers day, so when the rest of the nation, including politicians from all parties, were showing their gratitude for our members and this excellent public service, RMG were rewarding them for their efforts with this highly damaging imposition and the very real potential of 20,000 job losses. Against this backdrop the Postal Executive, following consultation with our Senior Field Officials earlier today, has agreed the following political and industrial response: 🛑 The union will explore with immediate effect and where possible utilise all legal options available to mount a legal challenge against the actions of the company, including if possible a challenge on the reduction of the USO being an unlawful act. 🛑 In line with the relevant legislation it is the union’s intention to draw up the appropriate notices to send to Royal Mail within the legal timeframe that will result in us calling upon our members in Royal Mail to take industrial action in line with the ballot result we announced on 17th March 2020. 🛑 With immediate effect Representatives and members should not cooperate or give any local agreement to any deployment of management’s plan. 🛑 In defiance of the company’s unilateral action, all members should continue to adhere to their currently agreed duty/attendance arrangements. 🛑 The union will issue further guidance on all aspects of H&S standards and compliance with HMG guidance relating to social distancing/PPE within the workplace, the legal obligations of the employer to comply with them as well as the legal requirement for the employer to consult the recognised Trade Union on changes in the workplace which have health and safety implications. 🛑 The DGS(P) Department in conjunction with the General Secretary, Postal National Officers and the Head of Communications will develop a high profile communications strategy, including as a priority an individual letter to all postal members that sets out and exposes in detail the actions of the company and reaffirms the CWU commitment to defend its members, their terms and conditions and the public postal service. The union via the office of the General Secretary will continue to explore all political avenues in challenging Ofcom and the Government. Terry Pullinger Dave Ward Andy Furey Mark Baulch Davie Robertson Carl Maden DO NOT REPLY 🛑

As usual there's a few ways and none are right or wrong as long as they work, it also depends on what type of paint you're using. In general there's two types of colour coat, basecoat which dries matt and needs lacquering, and topcoat (or solid colour, different folks call it different things) which dries gloss and needs no further lacquering. There's a lot less build with basecoat so less of an edge to worry about, but masking onto basecoat that hasn't been lacquered can leave marks so if using basecoat I'd first basecoat and lacquer the first colour, not masking an edge, let it dry, prep the entire thing again, mask for second colour using fine line tape (I'll get to that in a minute) and spray basecoat, whilst still wet peel the fine line tape off, let the basecoat dry enough to lacquer and de mask the rest, then lacquer over the whole thing sealing in both colours. Or if using solid colour topcoat (ie gloss) paint first colour as above, dry, mask for second colour using fine line, paint second colour and remove fine line whilst still wet, let dry. Then de mask and prep for lacquering (although it doesn't have to be lacquered) and rub the raised edge slightly if needed. Lacquer completely and let dry. Now, the fine line tape. It's a thin plastic masking tape, about 3mm wide, that you can shape around curves nicely and gives a much cleaner edge to the paint than normal masking tape. You mask up with normal tape just a smidge back from where you want your edge, and then finish masking with fine line last, so it can be removed without disturbing the rest of the masking. I always peel the fine line off while the paint is still wet as the build up on the edge will flow slightly and you won't be left with as sharp an edge as if you'd let it dry first. Leave the rest of the masking on until dry so you don't get any contamination from it in your wet paint. Then prep the whole thing for lacquer giving the join line a slight flat if needed. You don't want to try and remove the entire edge as there's a risk you'll feather the colour back, just smooth it a little. Then lacquer the whole thing. You can then flat the edge back after the lacquer has dried as well but doing the above will reduce the amount you need to, so minimising the risk of rubbing through. I hope that all makes sense but any questions just ask away.

I use a fine bristle 2" paintbrush, gets in around the bridge and pickups nicely.

Perfect for Steinberger basses then.

Yeah yeah yeah, you're not fooling anyone. We all know you found it in @Happy Jacks toiletries cupboard. Nothing worse than looking all washed out under stage lights. 😁

Yes! If you plug your phone (or whatever music source) into one of the 'CHAIN' inputs rather than 'AUX', then the input knob only controls your instrument volume making it easy to balance the two levels (with your foot while you're playing, do i really do that?), ie not fiddling around with a phone. Phone volume on a decent level, then 'ME' up full 'PHONES' to a comfortable level and then just add your bass to suit with the 'INPUT' knob.

Yes sorry, I'd sort of missed the point of it being a bass class that VW was holding. Apologies

Yes I thought that too. I think it's more aimed at linking two or more together for silent jamming, the controls then adjust how much of you and the other people you hear. Having said that maybe you can plug your phone into one of the other jack sockets and use a one of the knobs to control its volume. I'm off to try.

I can see your point @Bobthedogbut if you don't know the song then you'll never know the bassline. I'm unfamiliar with 80% of the music folks on here talk about, purely because it's not the sort of thing I'm into. 🙂

I assume it's a waterslide decal @Jeff29361, built up your lacquer in very light coats, allowing to tack off quite well between coats. It's quite easy to melt waterslide decals with the solvent if you get the lacquer too wet. Apologies if you're already aware of this. 🙂