HowieBass

That really is a looker isn't it?! Fantastic colouring

That Spector is missing a saddle for the G... how difficult are they to source? The photo isn't good enough but I wonder if the nut is ok for the G too (can't tell if there's any damage in that area).

Double sided sticky tape (carpet tape is the real heavy duty type) might be your best bet. I'd seal/varnish the cards first then stick them to the body.

The Zoom B9.1ut works very much like a pedalboard with the ability to usefully switch several effects in/out per user defined patch and it has an expression pedal built in - it's older than the B3 and can be a bit daunting when it comes to programming when you first get to grips with it but there's a lot you can do with it. You'll only find these second-hand now which means they're harder to come by but they won't cost that much.

Always liked the look of reel-to-reel tape decks, they looked great behind Human League and OMD and again later on in Pulp Fiction - one of the best looking pieces of tech on the planet. Enjoy!

A pre-amp pedal is often used to simulate the effect of pushing the pre-amp stage of a valve amplifier so that you get an overdriven effect (by turning up the gain control) - that's bringing in warm harmonics as opposed to unpleasant clipping. If you have a bass amplifier head/combo that's already all valve or has a valve input stage then a pre-amp pedal might be of little use unless your bass doesn't put out enough signal to overdrive the input stage (which AFAIK is pretty unlikely). In the world of solid state amps and the likes of lightweight Class D amps then a pre-amp pedal might well add a nice touch of warmth or grit plus these types of pedals often have a DI out socket allowing you to send a signal to the room PA just in case your bass rig doesn't have that option.

This will be another I'll be happy to follow. By the way, Ed Roman pretty much copied Greg Curbow's body design with the 'Caesar' bass... http://www.edroman.com/guitars/abstract/caesar.html ... and it's the same shape with the Tanglewood 'Canyon' so I think you'll be okay using the same outline.

The Squier Thereabouts...

As mentioned nickels aren't as bright, trebly, harsh (depending on your point of view) as is usually the case with steel roundwounds. They're often described as darker or more mellow. They don't seem to change tone as much as steels when they age because they're starting off less bright. They're usually less abrasive when playing fingerstyle which is why players often prefer them and that's mainly why I've switched over to them (though I still use steel for flatwounds).

I didn't think you could repair that sort of damage but you've done what looks like an incredible job of it; very impressive indeed! I love seeing projects like this where old things are repaired and cleaned up and given a new breath of life.

Is it any good for [s]metal[/s] country?

Do these come with an Ebonol (phenolic) fingerboard? Happy NBD!

This is probably more complicated than you want but is there any way to split it into two equal thickness sheets and have a core of a different timber?

Andy, have you looked at photos of the genuine article, in other words Greg Curbow basses? Lots of beautiful wood combinations with those hand-built instruments. Most of these Curbows stayed in the USA; you'll find a lot of threads on them over on TalkBass.

Six strings seemed harder than four back in the late 70s even when punk bands were getting away with only a couple of chords. Plus I wasn't the sort who wanted to be in the spotlight. It was only later that I realised that bass players needed all that power so then it became about WMD (Wattage of Mass Destruction)...

And to think some people actually seek out rusty everything on reliced instruments...

There's a chance the pickup poles have lost some strength resulting in the lower volume - AFAIK the only way you'll be able to test this is by swapping out the pickup

Unless you really need a 5 or 6 string or the cash for some other urgent purpose then I'd hang on to the Jazz - nothing wrong with being a little sentimental about your first bass

I've seen a bass masterclass session on YouTube featuring Sadowsky and Tobias (which I've linked to a couple of times on here) and they talk about coated strings being problematic where they lack a metal to metal contact for grounding (so their advice is don't use them). YMMV.

I've often wondered this myself; I was pretty firmly embedded in the punk, new wave, then post punk world of Manchester in the late 70s, early 80s. Back then it seems that scenes almost had to be small and cohesive in order to develop at their own pace without too much outside intervention, free from overbearing commercial exploitation. It seems to me that in the current everything connected, rapidly evolving, diminishing lifetimes, everything monetised culture, what previously was a movement is now merely a trend.

Sounds to me like there's not quite enough relief in the neck, quite likely if the new set of strings is a lighter gauge than what it was wearing previously. If this is the case then you just need to slacken off the truss rod a little. You'll probably be able to lower the action when you've got enough relief in the neck as well.

The brand of strings you're using might well be adding to the string noise problem (the clue is in the name?). You might try some other brand, certainly see if you get along with some nickel rounds because these, for me at least, are less abrasive than pure steel and feel good for fingerstyle and I suspect will have less squeak for your fretting hand.

I don't know whether wood touch up pens are any better than felt tips but there are plenty being sold on eBay http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/wood-touch-up-pens

I don't have anything by Beyonce in my collection so I genuinely can't compare her 'artistry' with Beck's, but I've got a few albums of his and I really love 'Morning Phase' - to say I'm puzzled over KW's reaction would be an understatement!

Well, like I said I can't SEE anything like a ground wire connected to the output jack but that's based on a pretty grainy low res image...