Henrythe8

Did you have a hard time to fit the neck ? I thought the Icon's neck pocket was narrower thant the standard Fender, but never really looked into it, so if you have a feedback on this, it'd be appreciated ! 🙂

Nicely done.

https://www.guitarsummit.de/en/ Just the week after London Bass SHow - it seems bass players will hang around Europe for a few days 🙂 Who's going there ? (although I reckon that in a mainly Briton Forum , the Bass Show is a far hotter topic 🙂 ) I'll be attending on Saturday and sunday, booked the Masterclass with Billy Sheehan.

Thank you. Really. I can't believe the insane amount of craftmanship, and creativity displayed on this instrument. From inlays to finish, going through the addition of a custom Bigsby, the choice of wood... I'd say it screams it's quality build, but that would be far too crude as this bass oozes class and originality like Sean Connery in kilt.

So, first bass is done. (I'll upload pics ASAP). It's been quite the effing nightmare, and I'm not too proud of what lies underneath the covers. I made a lot of rookie mistakes, as the body, Neck and bridges were from different origins. First assembly left me with a misaligned bridge, and strings that were not centered on the neck and pickups. OF course, it's a string through bridge. And OF COURSE, the holes were already drilled. The Routing for the DiMarzio was, then misaligned, so I had to redo a bit. Anyway, it's been sorted out, now, and after a quick setup it's... Wow. Great sounding. Very P-bassish with a load of oumph. with the DiMarzio. Te Warmoth neck is truly a great buy, well worth the money. Installed on the bass, I didn't even had to use the trussrod. o_0 Onto the next one, now, with a single EMG P pickup and EMG BTC, simple straightforward active P-Bass.

I just *love* this shellac finish. Would you mind giving some details, please ? How is it applied, how many layers, how did you buff it to that shine ? THANKS !

*Show Off Alert* I've been playing my Stradi Symphony since a year. Thre is basically nothing bad to say about Marek's craftmanship. You can see details of my bass here : I've been a pain for Marek, as I requested tons of things that were off his line of work. It's my baby and I'm very proud of playing it. Of course, it looks overkill. but since I play with a Pirate Shirt, waistcoat and Top Hat, it's the right thing for me. Of course, it SOUNDS overkill. P'ups are placed in the P spot and "Almost" MM spot, so they are very usable individually. Marek is really a great guy to work with. And I know I'll need some more money for a second build 🙂

There is a legend he said he was also able to hear the difference between brands of batteries in his Pedals. I wouldn't be surprised if Duracell made a Eric Johnson Signature Battery. You know, just slightly relic'd. I'm personnaly so good I can tell which way the fuse is inserted in my amp. 🙂 As for the metal vs plastic, I'll follow @Lfalex v1.1. Insulation, earthing, maybe, mainly cost 🙂

It's like I hesitated between Rosewood and Maple fretboard and decided to have both. Thanks @TheGreek for the pictures. It seems I'm lacking basic skills 🙂 Waiting for the pickguard and ferrules to arrive and it'll be drilling and routing time.

Here's the Neck and Daphné Blue body. It's a really light blue, almost white. https://photos.app.goo.gl/W1Y29QZoWrAB8cVE8

Hello y'all. I had a few assemblies already made, usually involving cheap Harley Benton/Stagg/Squier parts. Feeling pretty much secure with this level of craftmanship, I found a Japanese P-bass body, one of the crappy style I like as it has already been stripped, refinished in red NitroCell, used, and then resprayed with Daphne Blue, then played again. The result besing a relic'd Daphné Blue over red with the distinctive crackling of the Nitro finish. I had a very precise idea of the neck and had to buy it from Warmoth, as I wanted a reverse Tele P bass, non maple fretboard. I went a bit over the top as I ordered a Roasted Maple neck, Goncal Alves fretboard, mandolin Stainless Stell frets and Turquoise dots. The big surprise was when I received the neck, as I did not expect such a frivolously figured fretboard... I already had a heavily modified P-Bass assembled from a Harley Benton kit. The aim is to strip the Harley Benton from all the great parts (Hipshot Lollipop Tuners, DiMarzio Model One, Fender CustomShop '59 P Pickup), and install those on the new build, and recycling the HB kit with a Twin EMG P-Bass setup. For Bridges I have two "Epiphone Japan" string-through bridges, both solid brass. Pictures will follow 🙂

Taxes.

Another BassCamp story, sorry. So here I am, on stage in the bar, playing/trying some basses. To avoid playing a riff composed by one of the bassists around, I chose to play some Obscure, french tune called "Soul Music Airlines" by Michel Jonasz. (look it up, it's a cool song). I get out of stage, and then Etienne M'Bappé (you know Etienne ? ) approaches me and says : That's a nice riff ! I said thanks, it's a song from Michel Jonasz he says : I know, I composed it. That's why I think it's a cool riff. badum tsss.

That one time at BassCamp :-) (Warning : A bit of Sho-off content :-) ) There were those two guitar guys, mid-long hairs, kinda Old Rock Stars Wannabes. They seemed pretty relaxed, and they often played on stage. So I went to one of those and asks he maybe we could play Black Night by Deep Purple. The guy said "Sorry man, I don't know this one, but if you know some AC/DC, or something ?" I said OK, we went on stage. He called his friend "Hey Stevie, come play with us". And we went on. We played a few songs, the guy sings very, VERY well, makes a friggin' show. I was thinking, damn, this guy should be famous. And then, just then, at the back of the bar, there is a TV. And on TV, there was the guy I was playing With. It was PhilX from BonJovi. The other guitar guy was Stevie Salas (Rod Stewart, and some other bloke named Mick Jagger). And the Drummer was Brent Fitz (That plays with Slash). And, some days later, I was in a "testing Room" at Warwick HQ; playing the intro riff of Angry Again (Megadeth) on a Buzzard bass previously owned by John Entwistle. Tried several times, and finally did it right. The doors open and David Ellefson comes in saying : "Yes ! You nailed it, good work". We chatted and played a bit, and he gave me a pick saying that i could REALLY play metal. Believe me, I played it cool, saying thanks, man... but the 17 YO inside of me peed himself.

I know him through his reputation. Good choice.

Cool. Who is the Luthier ? (I'm in Northern France too, interested 🙂 ) I like that there's a fair amount of Billy Sheehan in this 🙂

I can't stand reheasals that are not work. I auditionned for a few bands, and everytime there was more beer and smoking than playing, I just said goodbye. I'm a professionnal in scheduling and project management, hence... all rehearsal dates are planned, confirmed at the end of the previous session, with the to do list (songs to work on, to learn...) we record every rehearsal, so if there is a difficulty that has not been mastered during reheasal, the guitar guy sends the recordings and we work on it. Ne songs are learnt at home, and set-up together, with changes if wanted. I'm a real freak about it. Sure, we have fun, we joke, but at the end of a two hours rehearsal, we have at least played 10 songs ininterrupted like in a show, and one hour of working.