Norris

If your body is ash you'll find that the dark debris from wet and dry paper will stick in the pores of the wood. It even does it with finer grained wood such as maple. I've had very good results with 400 grit sterated aluminium oxide paper that I got from eBay. It's Silverline brand and came in a 5m roll. It's remarkably clog-free on non-oily woods. Part number 993057. You'll probably want to use something like 120 grit for gentle shaping and then use the 400 for final finishing

Great to see some progress again. The middle wood looks like you've done the dark strips in a V shape because of the perspective - that's a cool idea that I might steal one day

If you're going to use a router for the first time I'd get a bit of advice from your mate on how to use it. I'd make a template out of thick MDF first, exactly the size you need for your pickup. Then using a short top-bearing template following bit, practice on some scrap wood first. Make the template big enough that you have room to clamp it without getting in the way of your router. Only take off a little bit of wood on each pass. Work in a clockwise direction to go with the bit rotation. Keep the bit moving to avoid scorching from friction. Hold the router firmly and be careful - flesh cuts much easier than wood!

Apart from a bit of switch cleaner on the contacts and blowing the dust out there's not much you can do in terms of preventative maintenance on an amp. Usually they either work or they don't. Valve amps may differ where you have some adjustment to make sure the valves are working optimally, but not on solid state amps

Very nice

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1487953190' post='3244543'] Two Bon Jovi bass lines for me, unsurprising as my new band is a Bon Jovi tribute. First one is 'Keep The Faith'. Getting it to bounce along nicely took me a long while. Now it is 'Homebound Train'. It is the bass playing equivalent of saying 'red lorry yellow lorry'. Making my fingers very sore it is. I always get there but sometimes it takes longer. I have gained much respect for Hugh McDonald since I started scrutinising his parts (so to speak)! [/quote] I have the same with Livin' On A Prayer. It's the relentless repetition of the riff, requiring concentration to keep it on track. The toughest I've had to learn is Frankenstein by the Edgar Winter Group. Five or six minutes of riffs with hardly any the same twice. That was a case of breaking it into sections and nailing each one before combining them - as well as trying to cover the bass and keyboard parts together (G/B/D trio)

If you've already checked the neck relief, you can check for a high fret by using a straight edge. Grab a credit card or something, centre it on a fret and then see how much it can rock backwards and forwards against the adjacent frets. If the frets are level it shouldn't rock, especially if you have some neck relief. You can buy luthier "fret rockers" for the purpose, but a credit card should give you enough of an indication - better still if you have an old one you can cut up as ideally it should cover just 3 frets Edit: Use the edge of the credit card to check (just to be obvious )

A titanium fretboard might be a bit of a challenge

It's more expensive to chrome plate than nickel because of the processes involved. I can only assume that gold plating involves even more processes, adding to the cost

[quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1487972917' post='3244808'] How do you mean repackaged ? Thats not a term i've heard before [/quote] There are custom pickup makers around that could either make pickups how you want them to sound and in the shape/size you want them; or possibly remove the covers from yours and fit the gubbins in covers the size you want. All within limits of course. If you have an Aerodyne I assume that's Jazz pickups? What type are you wanting to fit?

Could your pickups be re-packaged to fit the existing holes? It might work out cheaper and needs no intrusive surgery

That's ok. I've incorporated loads of other people's ideas anyway Anyway I have TWO of them I still have some other bits to do first but I do keep thinking about that grain filler now the ash back is ready for it! Loads of real life stuff coming up which means I'll be struggling for time - but I'm still itching to pop that lid!

A quadrant cabinet scraper can help with rounding over in awkward places, especially if you cut it down a bit. It is quite easy to put a gouge in your top though It certainly helps to get a roundover started if it's too fiddly to get any power tools to it though

I'd buy second hand and save some of the budget for a setup by a decent guitar tech. Don't sniff at Squiers - try a few different basses, but make sure a Squier is among them

I was going to be the keyboard player in my school band but seeing as I didn't own a keyboard anyway and we decided that a bass player was more important. So I became a bass player. Being a bass trombonist at the time helped. We started off with two guitars, bass and vocals going through one small combo amp. We had that opened up by customs on our way to our very first gig in Germany - we were all part of the school choir doing an exchange visit with a woodwind band and performed the two songs we had written at the farewell party ) think that I'm the only one out of that band that ever carried on playing after we left school

You'll have to try a Ric and a Thunderbird for the holy "quinitry"

Despite being an old git I quite like a bit of Grime

See if you can borrow a Daisy Rock bass for your next rehearsal

RnB has always confused me. It doesn't sound like any rhythm and blues I've heard. It seems to be such a wide genre too - so many turns are described as an 'RnB artist"

I wouldn't hold your breath. I'm 18 months into build number 1 at the moment!

Excellent work! Please feel free to pass on any other tips that occur to you. Flake is involved in one of my future build daydreams (build 4 or 5 - a 34" scale 4-string, single 'bucker passive archtop bass with scrolls and translucent red base & gold flake... or something audacious like that!)

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1487532517' post='3240558'] Ah...but first I turn it round and do it better on the other side. And if that isn't right, then the mosaic look, then the.... [/quote] ... Eddie Vanhalen style random stripes?

Have a look at the Jack Bruce (ish) build thread by Andyjr1515. There was quite a bit of discussion about notch filters and Andy had a couple as switch options

What you described is a notch filter if I understood correctly

The Comfort Strapp is made from neoprene and elastic in the main. However I wouldn't describe mine as being bouncy. They have a bit of give in them but that's a benefit imho. They are stable. Maybe you should try a few, but most music shops don't stock decent bass straps