anzoid

I think I just about got there. I ended up buying some narrower copper tape than used on the first attempt in the pickup cavity and that made it a whole lot easier to do as I wasn't trying to fold the (and rip up...) the tape round odd corners.

Yeah, it sems a touch mellower than the Tonerider with sweet highs. Will be taking it to practice on Thursday to put it through its paces

Have taken the pickup out this evening and, as far as I can tell the pole pieces are completely electrically isolated. Resistance between the black and white wires is 10.6 kΩ, but from either wire to any pole piece... nothing. My multimeter is a bit of a naff auto-ranging/function thing and it doesn't find anything to measure, continuity works fine (which is how I used it for shielding). I actually caved last week and bought a Delano PMVC 4 FE/M2 (the one with the chunky pole pieces) because I've been wanting to try one for ages, and should have probably bought it in the first place. Installed and it's both silent with respect to any hum/buzz and silent if I touch any of the pole pieces. Took it to band practice on Thursday with the Tonerider in it and the sound was very good... made me wonder if the Delano will really be much better.

Saddles sanded slightly, connectivity checked at every conceivable point, everything put back together and... the bass is silent when I don't touch the strings. Can get a bit of buzz from touching the pickup poles though I did put copper tape on the bottom of the pickup and then round the pickup foams so as to be touching the shielding - but something wasn't quite right there. I'm currently not sure whether I'm going to be keeping the TRP1 or trying something like an SD Quarter Pound... we shall see. Thank you @tauzero, @Hellzero, @Chienmortbb and @ezbass for the help! Very much appreciated because I don't think I would have got this sorted without your advice.

That'll be today's job Thank you!

Job done! Thank you to everyone for the help and advice. Pickup cavity now shielded with copper tape and I checked every piece for connectivity as it was applied - it's about as shielded as I can get it. Everything is grounded to the shielding in the control cavity and I somehow ended up with a spare piece of wire afterwards ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Final step was putting the lid back on the control cavity and I now have a bass with no hum. Only oddity is I get a slight click touching the G-string (ooh er)...

No washer at the moment, just the wire wrapped round the screw and tightened down... Off to fit a star washer now, I like that idea!

I was surprised how rubbish it is - a few feeble beeps from the multimeter in a couple of places The other two basses I've built have EMG pickups and don't even have shielding and are silent (except the noise I make :D)

Lid has copper tape already done. I think the shielding is grounded OK - the screw going through the shielding with the wire wrapped round of it seems to be making good contact and electrical continuity throughout the cavity is OK, though I shall check some more points to be sure!

It's shaping up pretty well. The neck is gorgeous to play, and body has come out looking pretty good, not 100% what I was imagining, but close enough

Looks like I'm going to have to put copper tape in the pickup cavity as the shielding paint I used appears to be useless - vary variable continuity using the multimeter probes in different parts of the cavity. With copper tape does it have to go all the way to the top edge of the cavity, or is something like half way up the sides sufficient? Going to be really difficult to keep it looking neat otherwise

Thank you both for your help! Off to do some wiring!

Nope, hadn't even thought of that! Thank you! Just given it a try and it makes no difference. Cranking my amp - there is a buzz/hum with hands off the strings, but it's not that loud. 😕 I've tried disconnecting the earth wire from shielding - instant horrendous buzz. Also tried not earthing the bridge - instant horrendous buzz. With everything wired up I have continuity from each the string and the bridge through to the sleeve of the jack at the far end of my guitar lead. Ah, no, the pickup cavity isn't grounded... I was just about to ask that question - should I ground the pickup cavity... Looks like that might be today's job, the bass doesn't have a scratchplate, control cavity is rear routed and the front is just wood: Control cavity wiring is pretty basic 😆

I've been working on a self-build P-bass type thing (this one: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/493469-guitarbuildcouk-bass-3). The setup is a little out of the ordinary - the pickup is a Tonerider TRP1 and it's wired directly to the output jack - no controls of any kind, and it sounds pretty awesome. The cavity is shielded with copper foil and the bridge is properly earthed. I checked this with a multimeter from strings to output jack. Although parts of the coated aluminium Hipshot B style bridge don't seem to be grounded, the the saddles and screws are. When plugged in and not touching the strings the bass is silent - not even a hint of hum. However, when I touch the strings I get a click, and if I touch alternating poles of the pickup (starting on the outside of the E string), I get a horrendous buzz/hum. The jack is a bog standard Switchcraft mono 1/5" jack and it doesn't touch any of the copper foil anywhere because I've wrapped electrical tape round it so that it can't touch the body at all. So, I'm kinda stumped as to what could be causing the problem and would be grateful for any wisdom from the the wonderful folk in this part of the forum. Thank you!

I recently got an MB58R Energy 2x10 to go with my GK MB500. Band I'm in loves it, though they've not known me use anything else so far. Had a pair of NY121s also used with a (different) MB500 and that was a monster rig that I never got the best from because I never played anywhere that I could crank it up properly so it was always barely ticking over, still regret selling that rig, so when the MB58R arrived on the scene at the time I was looking for a new cab is was a no-brainer because I like the Markbass sound.

Cool, thanks Rob. That's really helpful... well, looks like my mind may be made up then

After seeing these mentioned in the other thread, and seeing you ordered one... I went and had a look as I'm looking for an amp at the moment. The RM800s at £475 are described as "B-stock" - what's the condition like on the one you received? I had been looking at a Markbass Little Mark IV and had the same concerns as you that, given their support history, if it goes wrong, you're out of luck.

I have to confess the original inspiration was one of the new Joe Dart basses, but things do seem to be heading in a slightly different direction because I had some black Hipshot tuners kicking around from when BTN Music sold a whole lot of Hipshot stuff off cheap a year or so ago. So... decided to go with with black rather than chrome, the Tonerider pickup has black covers, but may change those... I think I agree on visible veneer. I started with the Wudtone finish and although I wasn't 100 sure after the first coat, it's starting to look good. The grain of the veneer has darkened, as has the alder of the rest of the body. Now waiting for a new batch of finish as I finished off what was left over from the last build.

Having completed two other Guitarbuild.co.uk basses (https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/478420-guitarbuildcouk-bass/ and https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/490058-nbd-guitarbuildcouk-bass-2) I wanted to do (at least) one more. Body and neck were ordered and arrived yesterday. Parts for the build have been trickling in over the last few months as I found the bits I wanted. Once again, the whole process working with Jasmine at Guitarbuild.co.uk was smooth from start to finish and the body and neck are everything I hoped for. The body, like the other two, is the P-bass body, except this time it's actually going to have a P-bass pickup :gasp: Main wood is alder with a swamp ash veneer from the special collection. Neck is two piece flamed maple - and it's gorgeous. All black hardware is going to be Hipshot B-bridge, licensed Hipshot 1/2" ultralights, Hipshot three-way string retainer and Schaller straplock buttons. Pickup is going to be a Tonerider TRP1 with a special custom @KiOgon wiring loom - John made me a completely modular P-bass loom that I can easily wire up with or without either volume or tone pot. First config will be pickup straight to the output and only if I don't like that will I start drilling holes in the body. Current plan is to finish the body in clear Wudtone (like the other two basses) though I have toyed with the idea of doing either Olympic white, or... orange. Thoughts on that?? So, without further ado... photos before I get started doing anything:

Looks like they've dropped the 3+1 headstock:

It's their own headstock shape that is offered when you spec up the neck on the website. Believe it or not, prior to finding them, I had been working on designing my own bass and had come up with something quite similar for the headstock, and when I saw theirs just decided to go with it...

After finishing my first build based on parts from GuitarBuild.co.uk (https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/478420-guitarbuildcouk-bass) I decided that I really wanted to do another one - and it's now done - with pictures below. The Spec: Body is lightweight White Limba - it's a softer wood than I had anticipated, it's going to dent quite easily, but I'm generally pretty careful... though have already managed to put one dink in it. Neck is walnut with separate walnut fretboard and abalone dots (I had them do abalone dots on the side too and should have gone with white as they're not as visible as they probably need to be... oh well) Tuners are Hipshot Licensed Ultralights and the bridge is a Hipshot Fender-fit A-style. Pickups are EMG 40TWX (yeah, I know, they're supposed to go in a five string but thought slightly wider would look better and the price was the same - I checked with EMG that they'd be OK with a 4-string and since they're bar magnets in there rather than individual pole pieces it works out fine). The pickups are switchable single-coils/humbuckers with push/pull volume knobs (and active tone control). When the pickups are in single-coil mode, the coils are in the 70s jazz bass position. It's wired up so that you have to pull the volume knobs up to engage the humbuckers, so it's normally just a slightly souped up jazz bass, and then you can kick in some extra thickness. Sound is pretty much what I was looking for. It's not as mid-forward as the previous build but can get some growl going by dialing back the neck pickup a touch. With just the neck pickup on it does a passable P-bass impression, and with just the humbucker on at the bridge it sounds quite aggressive, though not as cutting as a proper Stingray pickup in the right position. Overall - very happy with how it's turned out. Finish is about eight layers of Wudtone clear, it's come up somewhere between satin and gloss, and on the neck I ended up using a scouring pad to get it back towards more or a matte finish. It weighs in at just 3.5kg and there's no neck dive - probably helped by the ultralights at one end and the brass A-style bridge at the other. The Build: As on the previous build, Jasmine and Phil at GuitarBuild.co.uk were wonderful. The routs for the pickups were custom and I sent in one pickup plus the wiring harness so that they could make everything fit - including making sure it was possible to get the rather thick cable through into the control cavity. Attention to detail is great on the bodies and necks they make - the pickup rout even had an indent to account for the connector on the bottom of the pickups - it's kinda chunky. The Photos: