Painy

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1477125678' post='3159965'] Excellent Richard, very kind, many thanks for that. As you've got previous for this and you do a great job, you don't happen to have done a kind of build thread have you? [/quote] I put up a thread a while back but had to remove the pictures ages ago to free up some of my allowance. If you PM me your email though I'll see if I can dig out some of the pictures and email them to you. The process itself is pretty much just stick it on and trim around the edge carefully with a sharp scalpel. (Shhh, don't tell THEM about the scalpel. They'll take it away again and I can't cut it properly with my spoon ).

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1477128951' post='3159989'] That maple has turned out really well! does it sound more like a maple neck now? It is only a matter of time before a pub 'expert' tells you after the gig how nice it sounded and that he knew it was a maple board Ray as soon as he walked in, more mellow sounding [/quote] You know what, it does. And the pickguard has given it more of a metallic zing too .

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1477112309' post='3159911'] Great job! I was genuinely expecting to see a white bass with a blue ship logo. [/quote] That would be awesome - in the style of the Steve Harris signature .

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1477105809' post='3159904'] Wow, looks great well done. Any "before" pics? Any chance of links to products used (especially on the 'plate)? [/quote] Thank you very much Everything was bought from eBay. Brushed steel effect is item number 152130098431. Maple effect is item number 162118533262. And the black dots (also available in lots of other exciting colors!!!) is item number 162101009694.

So last weekend I picked up a new Sterling Sub Ray 5 in a very nice satin translucent blue with black pickguard and rosewood fingerboard. Now I love the blue but overall I felt it looked a bit dark to really stand out on stage and I generally prefer the look of a maple board anyway. Having done this before with a few basses previously, I decided to go all Blue Peter with the sticky-back plastic and brighten it up a bit. Maple woodgrain effect vinyl on the fingerboard and black sticky dots for the fret markets. Brushed steel effect vinyl on the pickguard. And here it is:-

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1476871247' post='3157895'] in my experience this is the one thing that really mattered... I've played 34" basses that were remarkably uncomfortable (some Warwick, and a Tanglewood I once had that sounded amazing but copied a Warwick design, like a Corvette with a shorter long horn, much shorter... and the 1st fret felt like it was in another postcode). Since then, any 'new' shape I look at, the position of the top horn is the first thing I look at. A 35" Lakland 55-02 did not feel any different from my Stingray, scalewise. [/quote] I just sold an old Warwick Corvette this weekend which I hadn't played in a good year and had a bit of a goodbye play on it before it went. Same 34" scale as my Precision but because of the difference in body shape, when I tried to tune it instead of playing a harmonic at the 7th fret I realised I was all the way up at the 9th!

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1476871128' post='3157893'] My brother lives up near Clun - sadly he is tone deaf and can't play anything, so that won't help you. [/quote] Could still be a drummer though .

Well you could always PM OddBass65 and ask when he's going again .....

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1476796322' post='3157301'] P and jazz, musicmaster. Cool but imo your missing two iconic basses. Which have there own qualities which you can buy cheap and are much like there expensive counterpart. Hofner ignition violin bass. Completely hollow like the original, and does have that hofner sound more than the mid range versions do imo. Epiphone thunderbird classic. Has the gibson USA pickups, nearly identical construction/materials. Sounds just like the last model gibson did. I think then you have all the "iconic" bass tones covered and each sound different from one another. Shame epiphone don't do a decent eb0. [/quote] That'd be Saint Peter and the angel Gabriel then

[quote name='lowhand_mike' timestamp='1476790813' post='3157214'] all look good, fenders are growing on me (slowly), but am i going mad cos to me the picture seems to be a Fender P and Squire J? how you coping with the difference in string spacing as the Sub looks narrower than the other 2 [/quote] That's a naughty F decal on the Squier P. The Fender logo on the jazz is genuine but being a Chinese Modern Player the logo is lined up on the headstock a bit differently and it's in gold like a Squier rather than black which might be what's confusing your eyes . The string speaking is much tighter on the Ray. I'm pretty adaptable with string speaking fortunately though. The neck and string spacing on the Squier is actually perfect for me but the Rest is still very nice to play as I'm finding plucking string to string is very fast.

[quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1476787727' post='3157183'] Hi Painy - sorry to hijack your thread, but where did you get the pickup/bridge covers for that 5 string Precision? [/quote] It was a bit of a mission to say the least. I found a thread on Talkbass where a chap had found the bridge cover on eBay. Only problem was the Chinese seller (who also did the pup cover) wouldn't ship to the UK. After a call for help on here, a fellow BCer who was going to the states on holiday to visit family was kind enough to give me the address of his sister in Florida to get them shipped to. She then brought them with her to New York where they met up. He then brought them home to the Republic of Ireland and posted them to me in Norfolk. If you can find a way to get it home, the eBay item number is 151314126658.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1476651689' post='3156061'] Looks great, other than the rosewood board it looks just like my blue pearl/maple ebmm version [/quote] Thanks . I must admit I would have preferred the look of a maple board given the choice but I'm still very happy with it.

[quote name='machinehead' timestamp='1476651414' post='3156059'] The recent "budget" basses are a massive bargain and there's a certain enjoyment in owning what you know to be a quality instrument that cost a fraction of a mid to high end instrument. Frank. [/quote] Definitely this. I honestly think today's instruments in the £250-£350 price bracket are easily the equal of those in the £700-£800 bracket from when I started a little over 20 years ago. The most expensive bass I've owned was a Warwick Streamer Stage 1 5 string - the current master built version of which would buy this whole trio of basses 5.5 times over!!! The Warwick was a lovely bass but I'm pretty sure I'll have more fun with these 3 and the £4500 change .

For quite a few years I played Warwick basses and nothing else but over the last few years I started feeling the pull of more traditionally styled instruments and I've been gigging a (Squier VM) precision and a (Chinese built Fender Modern Player) Jazz. Yesterday my last remaining Warwick was collected to go to its new home and the newest member of the family arrived in its place: a translucent blue Sterling SUB Ray 5 - which for me completes what I tend to think of as the holy trinity of P/J/MM but all from the relatively budget end of the price spectrum. Now I've only played a full fat Musicman Stingray on a few occasions and that was quite a few years ago now so I'm not going to try and compare them in any detail other than to say the neck is much slimmer than I remember the Musicman being (which suits me fine) and from memory again feels much lighter too but it sounds pretty much how I expect a Stingray to sound. The very high output of the pre-amp in these has been spoken about plenty of times before and I have to agree it is pretty excessive - the low B in particular. Fortunately my compressor pedal has a -10dB pad which sorts that out as well as evening out the output across the strings. Electronics aside the rest of the bass seems excellent with a good standard of fit and finish, functional if simple hardware and a very fast, playable neck. A common factor between the three basses being that they are very well built but the electronics are the weak point (fortunately the part of a bass that I can most easily upgrade - as I have already done with my precision). It also came setup pretty well with a decently low action - although I prefer it even lower but was able to get it down to where I like it with no problems. The combined new cost of buying all three of my gigging basses is probably around the used price of just one of their American built big brothers but running them though my (somewhat more high end) Aguilar rig they all sound great to me! [URL=http://s38.photobucket.com/user/Richard_Pain/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0426_1_zpsuixz7brl.jpg.html][IMG]http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e113/Richard_Pain/Mobile%20Uploads/IMAG0426_1_zpsuixz7brl.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I have only ever had positive experiences buying and selling on Basschat but dealing with Richard recently genuinely stands out as exceptional. Yesterday he collected my rather worn and neglected old Warwick which will now get the much needed TLC it deserves. A nicer chap you'd be hard pushed to find and was a pleasure to meet him and his wife (he even tolerated my over excited / over tired toddlers climbing all over him). Thanks once again .

[quote name='Painy' timestamp='1474402193' post='3137791'] I'd guess it's probably my Warwick Corvette but only really because it's so knackered it's almost unplayable and therefore probably not worth enough to bother but equally it would likely cost more than its worth to get it up to scratch again. The bass I wouldn't part with by choice thought would actually be my Squier VM P5. It was a present from my wife for a start which makes it pretty special for that alone but also the neck sits in my hand just so, I've got it set up perfectly with a lovely action and there are a couple of modifications that I've made to it which make it quite unique to me. It's 'just' a Squier but it's unquestionable my favorite bass I've ever owned and if rather sell a kidney than this bass! [/quote] Well the Warwick was actually sold tonight - fortunately there are people in the world with more skill than me at getting basses back to their former glory and who are willing to do so. I'm sad to see it go as it was my longest serving bass but happy that it's gone to a home where it'll be given a new lease of life. The Squier is still going nowhere though !

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1476455192' post='3154501'] You may find you have to compromise. [/quote] Yup. Maybe consider a symphonic, blackened death jazz band instead.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1476307863' post='3153297'] How do you kill someone with a carrot? [/quote] I once read about a French gentleman who stabbed his wife to death with a wedge shaped piece of cheese that was so stale it had completely hardened. What were we talking about again?....

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1476304582' post='3153265'] Have you seen Dad3353's live show! [/quote]

[quote name='Grahambythesea' timestamp='1475931999' post='3149867'] Even the wood on the back looks like apiece of an old shed. [/quote] I was thinking an old picnic bench personally but generally I'm with you here.

Thanks for the input everyone - seems to be a pretty unanimous verdict too. My biggest worry was that it wouldn't generate enough interest as it is but it looks like I have found a buyer for it already. Thanks again!

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1476180121' post='3151957'] Have you seen your doctor about your hands ? I remember seeing a tv show years ago about Les Paul. He gave up playing at one point, and started to develop arthritis. He went to his doctor who advised him to start playing again. [/quote] I do plan to. I have a couple of those guitarist finger exercisers which I use when I'm on the phone at work during the week and find that it helps a lot with keeping my hands supple. Otherwise I'm fine while I'm at a gig but if I've not played much or used the exercise thingies during the week, then the next day my knuckles are swollen, stiff and painful.

[quote name='thebrig' timestamp='1476176993' post='3151924'] Thats a great achievement Painy, have you been together all that time with the same lineup, or have you had a few changes along the way? Either way, its still great that a bunch of guys can stay together playing music for so long. [/quote] To be fair we're on our fifth drummer and fifth lead vocalist with myself and the lead guitarist (who was also my best man) as the original members - but both the current drummer and current singer are the longest serving members in their respective positions. My band are my closest friends in the world and to me they are my family.