geoham

Hi, I posted a thread several months ago asking for views of Shuker's bass/guitar building course. I've spend last week doing this and thought I should let you all know how it went. The short answer - it was great and I'd recommend it to anyone. I went in to this course with almost zero woodworking experience. I can build a flatpack or put up a shelf, but that's about it. I know my way around basic guitar maintenance – I can do a setup, electronics work or a swap out a bridge for example. But I had never used a bandsaw or router before! Jon Shuker is extremely knowledgeable and patient. Nothing seems to phase him – he’s a great teacher! He was assisted by Tim, who is also very good. They were both happy to help resolve any shoddy workmanship, ensuring you come away with a quality end result. It was a very busy week. Within minutes of arriving, we were selecting our body wood – alder or mahogany – swamp ash is impossible to get at the moment. By the end of the first day, I had something resembling a bass body. The next three days, the focus was mostly the neck – which really is a huge amount of work. Cutting the basic maple shape and rough fingerboard, routing a truss rod channel. Sawing the fret-slots was far less daunting than I thought it’d be, aided by a nice tool that ensures it’s done precisely. Adding dot inlays is quite a fun job – although one ended up marginally off-centre due to my inability to mark a centre point! It definitely felt rewarding to spend time sanding the fingerboard until it was shiny smooth – it seems a much better finish than any bass I’ve owned. Between neck jobs, we were sanding the body, which seemed to be the one job that was never finished! The final day was mostly fretwork, soldering and assembly – and was definitely the busiest day, we were finally done by about 6pm. It's worth noting that all the hardware is top quality - Seymour Duncan pickups, Gotoh bridge, Schaller tuners. Jon even ordered some straplocks for me, rather than have me get home and replace the normal ones. The only job we couldn't do was spraying - apparently he's not insured for it. Given the short time, the choices of finish are quite limited anyway - I just opted for clear lacquer as I quite liked the grain. This is the final result – I’ve very pleased!

Looks like the bloke has form... And interestingly, @warwickhunt is mentioned in the thread, which is ten years old.

***Ignore!***

I have the six string version and I'm pretty happy with it. Slightly funny tale - I'd suggested a cheap six-string guitar when the wife asked what I'd like for Christmas. I was aiming for something like an HB or Squier Telecaster to muck around with. I knew she'd ask my guitarist mate for advice, so praised his new Tele and said I was thinking of picking one up myself. Xmas morning - this monster is under the tree! Not at all what I had in mind, but really can't fault it.

Beat me to it!

Interesting! I bought a Vintera Jazz from PMT last year to replace a 20 year old Jazz that was nicked from my car. It arrived in the original, unopened Fender box, so PMT have presumably just received it then shipped it right away - I did have to wait a few weeks for stock. I'd assumed that a £900 bass would have a basic factory setup. It was without a doubt, the worst set up bass I've ever bought. In particular, the truss rod was WAAAY off, like no tension in it all. You need to take of the neck to adjust it, so it was a proper pain to resolve - I easily had it off half a dozen times trying to resolve. I can see why someone could get impatient and overdo it! Now it's set up, it's a great bass and gets plenty of use. I'd owned three Fenders before, and they were always set up well - though these were bought in person, so I guess the shops must be to thank. I've bought new Harely Benton basses in the past that at least arrived in playable condition. Likewise, I have a Lakland that arrived very well set up. There's no reason why Fender can't get their act together. George

I went through a phase of taking a two or three of basses to gigs and swapping more frequently than I should! We normally play 2 x 75 minute sets. An active five string with roundwounds for transposed songs that took me below low E, or needed a bright modern sound. A Jazz with flats for a more classic sound. You get the idea... These days (as of my last gig 14 months ago...), a single bass more than often does the job. The active five string really can cover all the bases closely enough. I sometimes take a backup, but I've never needed it. When I do, I'll always give the backup a few songs - mostly for my own amusement. We have added two fretless songs since we last gigged, so taking two may be a necessity if these stay in the set. George

I use the model of the Binson Echorec (Echo Platter) in the Helix and get fairly close to the live version, though there's definitely two very distinct bass parts on the original record. This video is VERY entertaining, and may also be helpful! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKFJsxEMHMQ

Hermes are the only courier I've ever had problems with. Royal Mail, Yodel, DPD - all fine. Some examples:- A super-king size duvet lost by the driver. (Must have fallen down the back of his seat or something...) A case of beer 'delayed' on a Friday afternoon - after getting to 'out for deliver' stage and about 10 minutes before the deliver window. It was supposed to arrive within 24 hours of this, but here we are six months down the line An overpriced designer handbag going missing after being scanned in to the local depot

I had to look that up.. very interesting looking beast!

I've going for a fairly simple P-bass... can't see me going too off-piste from a typical design. Perhaps a high-mass bridge and Schaller straplock buttons, nothing too wild!

Really good feedback, thanks. That's the most unique P-Bass I've ever seen!

Yes - in the past couple of weeks and about this course.

He responded to me almost instantly via email when I contacted him.

I don't have the time right now, but you probably can. There's actually a small notch in the scratchplate that suggests you can do it with the scratchplate in place - but I had no sucess personally. However the scratchplace is a three-ply and quite thick, it looks like removing it would expose enough of the screw head to be able to turn it. It really did frustrate the life out of me setting it up at first. I must have had the neck off half a dozen times or more to get it just right. I was probably being far too cautious with how much I was turning it at first though. George

I realise I'm very late to the party here... I have a Vintera 60's. It's a great bass, but the factory setup was without a doubt the worst I have seen on any bass I've ever purchased. I've had US Fender, Mex Fender, Lakland, Squier, Ibanez & Harley Benton... nothing has been as bad. Basically, it arrived with the strings tuned almost a perfect full tone flat and with zero tension in the truss rod and the action set as high as possible. It was compounded by the fact you have to remove the neck to adjust the truss rod. But stick with it and it's a great bass...

I don't think I'd get a 63kg cab in the pubs play, never mind the half-mile or so trek from wherever I can get parked!

I do agree with the sentiment here, and agree that society needs to change fundamentally. However, the pandemic has made this much worse in my view. Inequility has been made much worse. Those at the very top - Jeff Bezos springs to mind - have increased their wealth hugely. Those in low paid jobs, like retail or hospitality lucky enough to still have a job are largely furloughed. Furloughed workers earning above average wages are having a tough time too, given the 80% of £2500 before deductions cap. A take home of about £1660. Businesses of all sizes are going bust at an alarming rate. Many self-employed tradesmen, taxi-drivers etc are struggling to make a living. All while the biggest companies continue to operate, having been handed an effective monopoly in the name of social distancing. I can't buy my son a game for his Xbox at the local independent games shop, nor go clothes shopping. But I can get just about anything I need from Tesco or Amazon. George

Some of those 'Recommended Configurations' seem rather excessive.... where do you need to be playing to need two 2x15 cabs and two 4x10 cabs? I suppose it's okay if you have a team of roadies and a stadium sized stage. It's quite interesting how it's all powered by a 400w head! I wonder how a modern class D with twice as many watts would compare?

You should hear their version of Dark Side of the Moon. It takes a special kind of weird and wacky to cover a concept album that is regarded by many as one of the greatest records ever from start to finish!

If you mean a mandated staggered closing time, then yes, I'd a agree - although limiting capacities should control this inside the pubs at least. However, if pubs close when it's right for them then it's less likely to be a problem. When a pub is closed at 8 or 10, then that's when the majority of folk will leave. Contrasting with my local (pre lockdown) for example, it opened until 1am at the weekend., but another pub along the road only open until midnight. You'd have a few coming in from the midnight pub, but it got gradually quieter from around 11 anyway. The other risk of early closing is that people have got in the mood to socialise and drink, and will be more likely to invite folk back afterwards. It's less likely to happen at say 1am, folk will be ready for bed. Mostly!

I agree that the obsession with having the schools 100% open for the new term was at least partly to blame. I live near a secondary school, and you should have seen the local takeaways, parks etc at lunchtimes. I know younger folk don't suffer symptoms as much as the older generation, but surely that puts them at high risk of being asymptomatic spreaders. 50 teenagers crammed around the door of the local kebab shop (which only allowed in one at time!) is basically the same as 50 households mixing. A more blended approach would have made more sense, particularly for those old enough to do their schoolwork from home without parental supervision. I suspect primary schools were much safer anyway, since they are smaller and kids don't move around as much. However, I feel that universities is where the real problem came from. Students coming from every corner of the globe being crammed in to student accomodation - then being made to work remotely anyway. While those from some countries may have been required to isolate , it was basically unenforced. I do strongly believe that not having a proper quarantine process for those arriving from overseas was a huge mistake - have a a look at how New Zealand handled this.

Any pubs allowing this type of thing should have been absolutely hammered. However, the governments need to take some responsibility for the crowded streets. Mandating that all pubs closed at 10, 8 or 6 forced everyone to the streets at once. The usual approach of pubs closing at different times, and many folk leaving well ahead of closing time would have made much more sense.

I'm not sure I agree. The pubs and restaurants I visited (which admittedly were very few and in the afternoon) were very well managed and seemed low risk. You had to be sat at a table, and couldn't order from the bar - table service only. Tables were well spaced with plastic screens in some areas. It made it very difficult for those not giving a toss to cause problems. It was certainly more controlled than people having drinks at home instead - and while this may be technically banned, it's absolutely still going on. I firmly believe hospitality was used as a scapegoat. It's been effectively closed down in Scotland since October and infection rates have done nothing but continue to rise. To be clear - I'm not suggesting that pubs should be open now - the situation is far too serious at the moment. I'm stating that (in Scotland at least), hospitality was basically the key focus of the tier system and the October 'circuit breaker' with little evidence to support it. The awful death rates being reported now suggest they powers that be got it wrong.