kodiakblair

@paul_c2 I never bothered following things up but Fender,Yamaha and a few shops all got a visit from trading standards last year over price fixing. https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2018/06/06/fender-yamaha-casio-roland-korg-price-fixing/ No idea if it's related.

@fretmeister San Francisco and Hong Kong are before NYC in the highest rents table. There's also the small matter of Brooklyn being one of the cheap areas of NY.

@Wilco Even the NY costs thing doesn't add up. Wages in Brooklyn are about 60% of those in Manhattan and maybe 15-20% less than in Queens. They share the 3rd floor of the building with an acting studio,2nd hand furniture shop and a charity.

If Fodera moved out of Brooklyn does anybody really think the prices would drop ?

Yer a lousy shot cause I don't see any bullet holes 😁

The Palaedium was the last bass Jim DeCola designed at Peavey, guitar and bass then got split into 2 dept and Jim headed the guitar side. Few year down the line Jim jumped ship to Fender. He asked how the Geddy Lee jazz differed from a standard jazz the folks told him "Your Paladium neck,we copied it" 🙂

The job is done 😎 Started the tung oil coats very early yesterday morning and did last coat around 11.30pm. Gave it a buff over this afternoon then came assembly. Still a small amount of fettling to be done, couple of touch ups to the finish and a wee bit off the saddles to tighten up the string spacing. Comes in just shy of 10lb.

All my efforts at the Paisley finish, earlier this year, fall well short of this 😞 Plays nicely too. Always a bonus 🙂

With a 51 slab body awaiting it's 2nd coat of tung and more than enough already there's no good reason for yet another P-bass. Except the finish. It's a cracking finish 🙂 Bought from Sounds Great Music on Friday afternoon and delivered by DPD 1400hrs on Saturday. My camera skills are zero so I've pinched the shop photos.

I've did very little over the last week except play with stain. Can't believe just what a pest this can be 🙂 In the photos, the pale areas look great. In real life they look crap 😊 They were also done with water-based stain so the grain rises and you lose a good bit sanding smooth again 😞 Tried some artist inks then some light fast spirit based wood dye arrived 🙂 A high gloss finish would be great but after the Paisley bass there'll be no more spraying in this house 🤐 Could be tung oil or a wax.

£900 with a couple of niggles Vs £7k with the same niggles ? I think you made a wise decision 🙂 That's a very fine looking bass,congratulations.

Thanks. I've just mixed some linseed and turps for a sealer coat,when it dries in I'll do some tests on the scraps. BTW forgot to mention . Neck,body,pickup and bridge comes in just under 8lb 🙂 Expect knobs and machineheads will add another 1lb.

Thank you. No scratchplate going on it and I'm thinking some form of blue wash to show the grain. What's your feeling on blue ? Neck will be getting an Amber tint.

Cut out the control cavity this morning and sanded round the edges. Test assembly with neck and bridge. Happy to report I got the pickup placement right and the strings will run over the poles 😎 The control cavity is massive and with good reason. 1st. I've a few options for the pots. Original 51, varitone or a Noll preamp. 2nd. It's a damn sight easier to drill or pickup wires and bridge ground. That's enough for today, I've toys to build for the wee fella across the landing.

Good time to mention what it's like working with pine. The yellow pine I bought is South American and quite stable. A 47mm thick slab of it is a bandit to cut. Shaft on 1st cutter bent after 6", I was using a template bit. Next cutter,the tip snapped 🤬 At that point I flipped the blank over and started cutting with a guided bit. The bearing sheared off so lucky I'd bought 2 🙂 This stopping/starting and swapping cutters played merry hell with the cut so there were gouges and lines to be sanded out. The 47mm was also a bit too thick for the length of router bits I had. After the bent shaft I was a concerned about exposing too much out of the nut. Be bloody careful of the top surface, dents can happen but tear-outs are easy done.

Over to the blank. I forgot to take a photo of that. There's the remains and the mock-up after cutting. Neck pocket cut,pickup routed out and bridge position set.

Printed out a PDF template then made one from MDF.

Few weeks back a fella over on the TB site was asking about 51 style P-basses,namely the Harley Benton PB-50 and the Squier CV. Couple of folks moaned about slab bodies and comfort then got weird when it was pointed out neither bass mentioned was a slab body. Jumping to conclusions then getting weird when corrected is standard practise on TB 😁 Anyway I've never owned a slab body so decided to build one.Added extra was I've often wondered about the early pine body Fenders,now was my chance 👍 Parts list 600mm x 400mm x 47mm yellow pine blank (folks on the telecaster form all said 47mm or 1 7/8" was the norm). £54. Got shafted on VAT & delivery 😠 2 saddle bridge. Took 10 days delivered from Arkansas Musicworks,also cost just £14 inc delivery 😱 PB-50 neck from ebay.£30 Wilkinson tuners bought from here. £15 Knobs,control plate,string tree and strap buttons from Axecaster. £12 Pots,string ferrules from NW Guitars £9 Cup style Tele jack socket £4.50 Black Dog Music Bloodstone staggered 51 style pickup from here £35. Call it £175 even

Thank god it's not the "Silent bass" I bought a few year back. https://www.edmwi.com/silent-bass-guitar-sandalwood-hollow-body-electric

I'm going into 2019 GAS-free and can see it staying that way. Could be swayed by a Vigier Nautilus but chances of one appearing are slim 😉

That's an absolute nightmare. I've a house move expected for 2019,many basses won't be coming with me 😞 I'll give you a couple of months to get over your disappointment before asking if your interest is rekindled.

Are these the same Glasto folks who booked Kanye ? If it is then I doubt anyone on BC can find the logic behind their thinking. Who's "Cheap and available" sounds likely.

Who was talkin about selling 😁 Dave only mentioned trying one .

You're not far from me Dave. I'm sure we can arrange to meet up sometime.