kodiakblair

If I didn't already own several 51 type basses I'd snag one of those myself. There's a fair few folk in various TalkBass "51/Tele bass" threads have the Squiers and none of them were complaining 😎 A couple of the "buy to mod" crowd ventured in to say they'd bought Duncan QPs, only to discover they don't fit. Serves them right for having such poor taste in pickups 🤣

Certainly is 🙂

This is a lovely bass and I'm thrilled to own it 🙂 While nowhere near as pretty it's this £80 Harley Benton which gets played. The Benton neck is far more comfortable than the Fender's and it sounds better too, thanks to that brilliant (discontinued) Wilkinson single coil 🙂 Apart from changing the strings for TI flats this PB-50 remains as it was when Thomann shipped it, April 2014 😎

'Frost Blue' dates it between 1982 and 1985. The folk in Peavey's spray shop had little experience so finish options came in baby steps, most of the first year natural matt was it 😃 Gradually they worked up to gloss with solid colours like black and red coming online around the 18 month mark. By 82 they got a handle on spraying, bodies were dunked in a vat of electrostatic liquid so the paint would stick easier . Peavey decided to discontinue the T-40 in 85, took them almost 2 years to reduce the stockpile of surplus bodies. All of those were sprayed black as it hid a multitude of sins 🤣

Sensible chap.

There's a whole industry supporting it. I've done all sorts of mods and wholeheartedly agree 🙂 As @Cato said, it's not uncommon to see posts on US sites where folks have a shopping list of aftermarket parts before they buy the actual bass. There's little thought given, just a bunch of buzzword brand names they hope will gain them 'likes'. As an example of how little thought is given there's light weight tuning pegs, Hipshot Ultralites are popular. Now we've all heard of or experienced 'dead spots'. One cause is the mass of the peghead yet nobody seems to give a monkey's, it's shave 200g off and damn the results.

Two totally different things. Ed is well known and respected as a player, author and bass guru. He does straight up honest reviews. Lobster fella is selling folk on mods. He does his initial video then does another after he's had someone swap the pickups, whether they actually need swapping or not. He's looking for YT checks for video, kickbacks from his embedded links and lastly cash in his back pocket when he punts the bass on the QT.

Own several at 12lb and up. I'm much the same as @Reggaebass and @neepheid in preferring a heavier bass, also agree it's not a competition. Countless hours were spent as a laddie trudging to the hut with 50Kg cement bags on my left shoulder. That really messed up some folk but I was one of the lucky ones. Knees are shot these days, back and shoulders still in tip top condition.

No problem under the strings, dropped right in. If memory is correct David used 25mm slugs, that's the same as Entwistle machine screw poles. Plenty of firms aim for 19mm deep with pickup cavities, foam or springs do the lifting. I copied "plenty of" when making the pine slab body so sunk to the floor; 6mm proud. Still had to use foam to lift it as you've generally got 12mm from the body to the underside of strings. "Difference" was more lesson learned. I'd hoped the massive overwind would get me a 'mudbucker' but pickup placement is king there 🙂

I've never used Toltec but had David at Bloodstone build me a few. One was a massively overwound (29.9k ohm) split coil in a 51 single footprint, price was so reasonable I'll never consider buying pickups from outside the UK again. This is it next to his normal 51 single. More 51 singles and 51 hum cancelling have come from Martin Herrick in Wales. Recently I have pickups from another Martin, surname Harmer. He's involved with the Durham folk runningguitar building/luthier courses along with his White Label Pickups brand. Had ALNICO 2 split coil and 51 single from this Martin. He also made me a pair of 51 singles for a jazz bass arrangement. Needed a wider pole spacing for that so Martin cut me custom flatwork and the bridge went RWRP. Again very reasonable, about 60% the price of Fralins.

I'd like one of those Italia basses with the 4 lipstick pickups. Boy in Stirling has one for sale, been asking £600 for it most of last year. That's twice what I'm prepared to pay 😀

Brian has those, listed in his "Pickguards for various bass models" section. Size is 'cat 3', £40 for most colour options, £42 for carbon fibre, £50 for transparent or mirror finish. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114490584526?hash=item1aa82badce:g:bt8AAOSwloxfnA5O

I went the opposite way last time Stew. Felt the bridge on was too close to the pickup on this build. 30" scale length 24 frets. For my take on the Mosrite, I still used a 30" scale 24 fret neck but chopped it down to 20 frets. Forced me to move the bridge to a better position.

I second @neepheid's suggestion.

Any chance the neck has a 21st fret overhang ? Sticking a block arse end of the pocket would shift the nut further from the bridge. Course you'd need to plug and re-drill the neck screws but the bridge can remain in place and the overhang will hide the eyesore.

If the finish was to be relic'd, why not.

I just made one from scrap timber, took about 10 minutes all in 👍

Bought a set of TruBass for £5 in a closing down sale. Loved them, they were on my P-bass from 1984 to when I sold the bass late 1989 🙂

I'd rather buy an Alpine. Made in France so cost about the same. https://www.alpineguitar.fr/work/50s-cat/ No "world-leading pickups", instead you get Hepcats which I'm familiar with 🙂

Nope, they can weigh more than some T-40s 😮 Good shout putting tapes on it, I always kept one strung with tapes myself 👍

Fact that the back of an axe head can be seen in the photo is just pure coincidence 😄

Could this have something to do with "Sorry, no photos." ? Warehouse could be miles away, not to mention the folks working there are likely way too busy shipping out orders.

If that's the case, expect to see one build diary a month throughout 2024 😁

This abstinence thing, does it cover building basses from parts you already own ?

Still to do. Matching black peghead veneer. Swap the W/B/W scratchplate for tort. Hide the TOM threaded inserts with a sticker, probably this one 😀 I'll likely have some 4 pole P-90s made but things are pretty good as is👍