operative451

Brilliant, thanks! I'm quite excited now..

Thanks! I'm keeping the neck pickup. When i start pulling it to bits i'll be able to see what's easiest - i have minimal tools so i want to keep it as simple as possible! Having said all this stuff, i'm leaning in a direction of new MM style pickup at the bridge with a P-bass style cover on, and a les paul/jazz box style pickguard! I think whatever happens this thing is going to be a mutant...! EDIT: Inept mockup attached... [attachment=217062:bass_mockup.png]

That's actually super useful, thank you!

I prefer gain to compression. I'd rather tip over the edge into growl on a clean-ish tone that have it just be flattened. I'm also aware i may have just been using crappy compressors! Deffo for a lot of stuff i've been playing lately that has a more vintage thump (Shadows and Carpenters, believe it or not!) a bit of overdrive gives the 'big speaker working hard' sound on a smaller quieter set-up..

Thanks! It's going to be a 4 wire humbucker rather than two single coils. But i can see where i was a bit confusing there! I'm just being lazy and trying to do the minimum of soldering..

Hi! Me again! BTW, you people are fab, ya know that? *note to self, check meds, whatever i'm currently on is working!* So. With reference to 'Project make flying v sound nice'. If i convert a two pickup bass to a single pickup, can i use the existing pickup selector switch (now redundant) as a coil split switch? The new pickup that's going in has the requisite 4 wires. if i connect each humbucker coil seperately to where the two pickups were connected before, does that mean instead of giving me 'neck - both - bridge' it will give me 'top coil - both/humbucker - bottom coil? Thanks!

Ok, so we have a plan. White respray - prepare for lots of questions like 'can you use T-cut on car paint from halfords or white gloss paint like you'd use on a door?' That pickup up there in the not quite neck position with the stingray-style pickguard upside-down and covering the hole from the bridge pickup, and possibly a coil tap switch replacing the pickup selector. My not-a-stingray has a bridge pickup and i've always liked the look of 'neck pickup only' jazz boxes, so it seems like a good idea! I'm considering flatwounds too - i want this to be a thumper! I'm also going to put an 'ashtray (yuk)' style bridge cover on in chrome for added retro-ness and to cover the current none-more-black one. Right, wait for some bits, get it home (its at my GFs place currently). And we're off to 'Build diaries'!

I wasn't actually suggesting buying £7.50 ones.. ;D I have a plan... We're going art deco rocket ship. One of these pretty things in the neck: Possibly on a stingray style scratchplate but the other way round and no neck pickup, or with a better stingray type pickup with an old school P-bass style pickup cover over it. I'll have to do some measuring. And resprayed white to match the other bass and guitar, which are er, white... I blame you lot. I've been reading the build diaries!

Thanks! I've actually got a spare set floating about so i'll give it a try...

It feels - actually really smooth, almost too easy to play! I find myself playing fast lead widdly stuff on it, so that 'playability vs tone' question elsewhere? It wins on playability! Strings: Ernie ball Power Slinky, the slightly heavier ones. Acoustically, kind of twangy. Playing through either my pedalboard, or direct, into a Laney RBW300 or Warwick BC15 depending on where i am. Tried all the pickup combinations, it sounds 'best' with both pickups on, the neck one is just loud and dark, the bridge, loud and shrill but goes plasticky and dull if i turn the tone down.

Ooh, thanks! They're pretty but i must admit i don't want to spend that much...! I've just been bouncing around ebay and have a Really Looks a Lot Like A bass filtertron coming for 30 quid... I'd guess replacing the pickups like for like would probably be the ones that are about £7.50 a pair so...

Yes to the strings.. Pre-amp sounds like a thought, i sort of don't feel right about active but... I'm also thinking of giving it a kind of decopunk (like dieselpunk but cleaner - dieselpunk being like steampunk but 1930s/40s not victorian!) makeover with a white paintjob to match my main bass and my guitar, and lots of chrome...

Its one of these: http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Houston-Bass-Guitar-by-Gear4music-Black/8OS

So, quite some time ago now i had a hankering for a Flying V - and i bought one! Yay! A cheapie one off of Gear4Music. At the time i had no 'proper' amp and was still using my Zoom 505. Now i'm a couple of years (blimey time goes fast!) older, have been through a few more bits of kit and... realised my V sounds a bit pants! It's ok, in a METAL sort of way... Its got that kind of loud but sort of flat sound that you get from a metally type guitar, only an octave lower! Its very built for Frash, but it turns out i've got the funk and its really not me. I doubt i'd get much for it if i sold it, and it does play very smoothly. I'm thinking of doing a Project on it, taking it from None More Black goth noise maker, giving it a respray and a vintage V style scratchplate and some less shouty, more melodic pickups. Naturally i don't want to spend enormous amounts of money. But i'm thinking 'better than you get on a £99 bass' pickups. Its got massive great big huge stingray style jobbies in there at the moment, is there a slightly more subtle version, or should i go mini-humbuckers or J-bass pickups? Or any other ideas? Thanks, BC hive mind!

Ivana Funkanova gets a nice shiny retro-tastic pickup cover... [attachment=216371:IMG_20160406_194402_edit.jpg]

I think its funny that they're playing 'are friends electric' - its my go to for playing with the BSW synth sounds too! If i didn't have the BSW i'd probably want one... EDIT: Or not: http://digitech.com/en/news "The Dirty Robot Stereo Mini-Synth pedal will be available in April 2016 at $187.44 MSRP." Ouch! thats probably about the same in pounds then!

Tone. I like to fight instruments a bit or it doesn't feel like i'm trying... My non-bass guitar is a jazz box despite me being mainly a rock player - i like the Jesus and Mary chain and i like feedback! If you get a good fuzz-wah oscillation going it feels like its trying to twist out of my hands!

I'm really lucky - doing comedy/parody stuff i get to play in pretty much any style! That's because its mostly recording though - the 'try noodling around on your computer' thing doesn't really help if you're wanting to do live stuff only/mostly. Otherwise? Download some midi files and whack them into the DAW of your choice, and acoustic death metal elbow funk awaits!

Ok, i may need to up mymeds, this is getting way too CDO (Like OCD but with the letters IN THE RIGHT ORDER)... Also i may need to put some wheels on it! Post Mary Chain, 'make all the noise' board: BSW is being a splitter, the wah sound goes into the fuzz then the wah pedal, tremolo, 'British sound' and the reverb and out to an amp. Everything else goes to another amp. [attachment=215010:IMG_20160318_225453.jpg]

I must admit in my ex-guitarist sort of way, i thought filters were the same as wah and stuck it up front (fnarr). I've since learned better! Also fuzz into wah into overdrive is noisy fun..

No added mucking about - one pickup with enough oomph to growl but soft enough for some er, softness. Maple neck. Long strap...

My 'band' stuff is often a parody that starts from a 'donor' song - 'Mistakes' are just a songwriting tool...

Thanks! Its done to get as much of a 'boom tissshhhhh' Phil Spector sound as we can. Also, we don't have a drum kit...

To be fair, the only things in Plymouth that aren't called 'The Drake [something]' are called 'The armada [something]'. Except for the things that are called 'The mayflower [something]'. And i come from Thetford in norfolk originally, where everything is called 'The Thomas Payne [something]'... And only people from thetford, or the USA, remember who he was...

[attachment=212509:you-werent-there-man.jpg]