Maude

Pickups, I've always said 'front and rear' are 'neck and bridge'. Strings used to confuse me when I was learning as when wearing the bass top to bottom is E to G, but in terms of pitch it's G to E. While knowing nothing about pitch, I did know which way was up, so it seemed logical that the 'top' string was the E, but it isn't.

Leave It Alone - NOFX 🧐 rocket - salad - leaves 🙄

Yeah sorry, my edit is confusing reading it back. I meant they were in stock, but now only 'available to order', as in not in stock. Hopefully you'll get your green one soon. I really couldn't decide between the green or gold but just fancied a gold bass in the end. I can see a tort scratchplate on the gold, but the black matches the headstock. What am I doing, I haven't even got it yet! 😁

A lovely looking '85 fretless BB1100S has just popped up on facebook marketplace. https://www.facebook.com/groups/167660810099231/permalink/1856217261243569/?sale_post_id=1856217261243569

Orgasm Addict - The Buzzcocks

I've just bought Tom's Yamaha BB2024X. Absolute pleasure to deal with. He agreed to post, swapped the gigbag for hardcase and absorbed the cost of the postage. Also kept me informed at all stages. Thank you so much much Tom.

This mornings fun. Some comparison time and a choice to be made. Visually (shallow I know) the 1024's bridge, P pickup, string tree, nut and gloss headstock look nicer, but the 424's fretboard wood is far, far nicer and I prefer the plain black scratchplate. The 1024 has white Dr neons while the 424 has D'addario half rounds ( @Ricky Rioli) so sound comparison will be difficult. I've not weighed them but the 1024 feels heavier, but not substantially. Time to play. 🙂👍

No but in true Basschat style I'll throw my favourite in the mix just to add some confusion. 😁 It sounds like you like me in liking a robust feeling string. I've settled on D'addario half rounds (enr72 are great) as they have a decent amount of tension, allowing me to really dig in without masses of fret clatter, they have that flatwound bottom and mid but still have a reasonable amount of treble. They're kind of like old rounds but with a real punch in the mids. In our band they really sit well, playing Mod/Ska/Northern Soul.

Result! Cancelled the finance ordered bass that was in stock, and they're sending that one as my paid for order. I was worried that it might get assigned to someone else. It'll be here on Tuesday. 🙂

Hmm I need some wall hangers and their three pack is a good price. I'd probably be buying or 7 or 8 packs so still not a small amount of money if they're not very good. Does anyone have any experience with them? I don't want to save money over Hercules but find half my bass on the floor.

That looks rather lovely. 🙂👍

I just set up an extra email address for all the places that insist on an email address. It's not linked to anything so I get no notifications on any devices. One address for the stuff I want, one for the ones I don't want to hear from. I did have a quick check of the spammers one as I was waiting for a delivery from someone on here, and ended up making use of PMT 10% off Black Friday deal so clearly I'm just a sucker that can't follow my own rules. 😁

From buying my Jack Casady earlier in the year I know that Gibson/Epiphone deliveries are few and far between and dates are very vague. PMT had the green in stock earlier at £314 using promo code 'BF10'. Free delivery on Tuesday, if that helps. Edit - Now showing as available to order ☹️

An Embassy has been causing some low level gas for a good few months now, and although I don't usually bother with 'Black Friday' nonsense an email from PMT arrived stating 10% off selected lines. I had a look and yes, the Embassy is included. So a lovely Almond one is on it's way. Well I say on it's way but I've kind of screwed myself. As it was an unplanned purchase I thought I'd do the nine months interest free, just to spread it out a bit. With PMT's checkout process you buy the bass and then apply for credit, but the only credit available on it was 'buy now pay later' at 19.9%, no thanks. This transaction is now 'pending' waiting for a finance agreement. It gets cancelled after two days of no payment. I had to buy another one but the pending one must've been the last one as that one says delivery on Tuesday, but the one I've actually paid for says 'delivery once back in stock'. I'll ring tomorrow and see if they can send the pending one, but I might have just scuppered myself.

I comin' ta getcha!

Liar - Sex Pistols

Not at all, it makes perfect sense. 🙂👍

This is the classic Ford colour 'Rosso Red'. "Ooh that sounds exotic." "What is it, Italian? Nice." "What's Rosso Italian for then, something sexy or sporty?" "Oh, um, well that's a bit er, unispired isn't it?" Walks away deflated.

The top looks great, some lovely quilting on that upper bout. Seems odd to put a lovely veneer on and then paint it. I've probably misunderstood but you are planning on taking all the sanding sealer off aren't you? You'll need to so the stain can soak into the wood. Also the four ferrules that the bridge and tailpiece screw into, if you find a longish bolt or screw with the correct thread you can screw it straight through the ferrule until it bottoms out on the wood inside the hole, then carefully keep tightening and the ferrule should lift itself out by winding up the thread of the bolt/screw. They shouldn't be excessively tight but be aware that some folks glue them in so just watch the wood doesn't start to lift around it.

I'm pretty sure all original Fender colours, and probably other manufacturers of the same era, were car colours. It was the easiest thing to do, just pop down the DuPont factory and grab some Burgandy Mist etc.

That seasoning time seems excessive, but as I said, I'm only going on what I've read. I was going to say that I'd imagine the wood would solidify in that amount of time by any resins crystallising, and is that for acoustic instruments, but @durhamboy has suggested the same. My workshop has a 4x5m covered outdoor workspace at the front. It's a metal roof which isn't insulated in the outdoor part. Lots of timber, pipes, all sorts gets strapped under the rafters for starage. After the winter I could strap the beech slab up there to speed up the seasoning. It gets toasty warm with any sun on the metal roof but still has good airflow. The wood has been stored in an open fronted barn for six months of summer already, a winter in my workshop, then a summer under the roof followed by another winter inside. Hopefully it might be usable after that two year period. For the final winter it could go in the spraybooth at work as it'll be far drier by then and less likely to split or warp. This is all great info, thanks everyone.

I'm certainly no expert and have only read a few articles but it seems the seasoning process kills the fungi naturally. Spalting only occurs under certain conditions. When occurring naturally, a wound in the tree lets the fungi invade. Spalting can be forced by human intervention but the correct moisture and temperatures need to be maintained to allow the fungi to thrive, they feed off the naturally occurring sugars in the sap. Unless the wood is kept damp the fungi will naturally die. Kiln drying kills it quicker but naturally seasoning will do the same.

I've not tried a Spector. I know it's shallow but I just don't like the look of them, they always look a bit Wonky. Although I'm sure there must be Spectors without the melted look. On the flip side however, I will know what a 1024 is like by the end of the week. 😁

The baulk of it will be used for my bathroom counter top (and possibly matching window sill) but there'll be at least enough left for one, maybe two, solid bass blanks. He only wanted £50 for this slab and I'm considering getting some more and cutting up and seasoning at the same time. It's cheap because it's just a tree that came down on his farm and he sliced it up and is selling it rather than burn it. He has around twenty or thirty slabs like this, some around 3.5 metres long, and lots of smaller pieces.

Just found this which is interesting... if you're a little sad like me 😁. What is Spalting? Many timbers can spalt but Beech is one of the most common. Spalting is a term used to describe the process by which certain fungi grow on dead or fallen trees and after colonizing the wood via travelling up the wood cells from the ends or from broken off branches, leave a most attractive pattern. The process takes 2 to 3 years to reach the ideal stage to cut & season the timber. The black lines are zone lines created by different species of fungi erecting barriers around their territory! There are primary colonizers who come first and establish territories and then have to defend them against secondary colonizers who are only able to colonize the wood because the primary colonizers have changed the ph of the wood & its structure. A microscopic army! If left unchecked eventually the whole tree is eaten & consumed, part of nature’s process of dealing with dead & fallen trees.