Mikey R

I'll be there! Lets get this list going: 1. Yorks5stringer 2. Mikey R - the blue four string and the funny brown five string (har har, beat you to it Retroman! )

hey Retroman, i really liked your gibsons! that eb2 is a monster!

I dont like it but I need to take my name off the list 01. Silverfoxnik: Roscoe Beck V, BC Rich Eagle, Yamaha TRB5 with Norstrand p/ups and Auderre pre, Eden Metro Rig, and a Peavey MKIV head and SWR Triad for the Jamming Room (unless anyone has something else we can use that's better?) 02. Merton: Status Retroactive J, Eden WT550 and Barefaced Vintage, & multiscale 5er 03. Silddx: 04. Hamster: 05. WalMan: Wal Custom, pair of G&L L2500s, Markbass Combo, Epifani Cab, Marshall Superbass 100, Bass Pod Pro xt 06. Jakesbass: 07. Happy Jack: Kit: PJB Bass Buddy, Rolls PM1, ‘Mystery Guest’ + 3 sets of headphones. Basses: The people will decide. 08. Ped: Vigier Passion II with Marleaux and Roland GK electronics, Roland Vbass unit, 1u 800w digital poweramp, SWR 4x8 and 1x15 09. 51m0n: Bergantino AE410, Markbass SA450, Roscoe CS 5, Pedal board with various bits of lovely goodness, Bergantino HT210 and HT115, Ibby BTB470 10. obbm: Godin A5 fretless, Shuker PJ5, PJB Cub, PJB-D200, Lakland PJ Duck Dunn, TecAmp Pleasure Board and Sony headphones 11. jhk 12. Stingray5: Musicman, Tune, Fender, Westone basses; Trace Elliot GP12SMX combo + 2x10/2x5, Boss GT6-B 13. pete.young: Bass Collection 465 and GK3-B plus Roland V-Bass, plus Yamaha BB800 and maybe the Burman Pro 4000 14. Andy 15. sockdeluxe_mikey: lakland 44-01, Markbass SA450, EBS 112 Neo: 16. Clarky: stealth black Alembic Spoiler, TC 450 and RS112 cab or Markbass CMD121P combo 17. Bottle: Precision special, EBS cabs (yep, both the 4x10 and 1x15), maybe a couple of 1x12's, and my GK MB500 head 18. Truckstop 19. Bloodaxe 20. Waynepunkdude: SX Bass 21. Barneyg42 22. essexbasscat 23. Stylon Pilson 24. Kraken 25. Alien 26. Bassmanady: Yamaha TRB5P 27. Clauster 28. Paul S: Trace Elliot AH300-12 + 2103H 29. Cetera: Spector basses, Wal bass, Sansamp RBI/RPM rig, Genz 212 30. TomKent: Eden Nemesis 250 Combo, Fretless P-Bass and my J-Bass 31. Urb 32. charic: line6 studio 110 33. Alex Claber: Barefaced cabs, RIM bass 34. walbassist: PJB M-300 and a 6B cab, plus my Veillette basses. 35. sean: Yamaha BB2024x, Yamaha BB2025, Spector NS5-XL, Mesa Walkabout Scout 12" combo, Mesa Carbine M6, 2 x Bergantino AE210, Assorted FX 36. thestick: various basses 37. Plux_the_Duck: see 51m0n list above 38. MacDaddy: custom Shuker and possibly my Hamer Blitz or Iceni Zoot. 39. johnnylager: Pimp Euro 5, a Jap P, the LH / Big Juan rig and the DHA thing. And a couple of cans of lager. 40. simon1964: '64 P and the Shuker 41. Tait: Taitycaster, Mark Hoppus Jazz, and maybe the Ibanez SR500 42. Sibob: 1973 Jazz, 2003 US Jazz, Orange Terror, Ashdown EVOII500, Ashdown mini 4x8 cab 43. philw: Wal Mk 1 Custom Fretless, the gorgeous Veillette Fretless Acoustic Bass and the very small AER Amp One combo 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.

[quote name='eude' post='1013498' date='Nov 5 2010, 04:57 PM']Wow - nice work fella![/quote] The bevel around the body is very nice and crisp very tidy work!

[quote name='jayblaze' post='981031' date='Oct 7 2010, 10:29 PM']So please tell me that it is rewarding and fun to make your own plank right? You never need to pay silly money for a nice bass again. What basic tools do I need?[/quote] You will need to spend a little money on tools. You'll also need somewhere to work. Bear in mind your first instrument will probably not be as good as you want it to be - design it to be simple, then build another more complicated. And accept that it certainly wont stop there, this stuff is addictive. So, no, in the long run it certainly doesnt save money! Lastly, dont build a bass to save money, build a bass because its something you want to do.

[quote name='Merton' post='969399' date='Sep 27 2010, 12:58 PM']Can we add MikeyR to the list as well? He'll be bringing my multiscale if it's finished, and prob his Shuker P and maybe the multiscale proto if he can carry it all [/quote] Hey, sorry Im late to the thread, I'll be along with the small blue one and the big brown one with the wonky frets. If I dont get the Mertbass done in time I'll try and bring it along anyway just for laughs.

Personally, I really like the mojo look - its honest. And the Royal visit was a bit of a non event really. She turned up, shook the CEOs hand then left.

[quote name='Merton' post='958736' date='Sep 16 2010, 07:49 PM']Finally, the strap buttons (or lack thereof). OK, I bought some straplocks for her, easy. Except that BOTH holes for the screws were so royally buggered that the biggest screw thread you can stick through a straplock hole still won't have any wood to bite against. I seem to have lost my tub of wood glue at the moment but i have some cocktail sticks primed and ready to plug the holes and start again...[/quote] Hey Mert, you really dont want to rely on cocktail sticks to hold the weight of a bass! Your best bet is to drill the holes out with an 8mm bit and insert and glue in 8mm dowels, then drill the correct size hole. Ideally, you would use plugs cut accross the grain rather than dowels, but the ones you can buy from homebase should do the job ok. Nice find by the way! Youre an addict

Jon had some buckeye burr at Shuker Towers last summer, it looked like fairly gnarley stuff, with cracks and voids that would need to be epoxied. Would it be structually sound enough to make a top from?

[quote name='dood' post='931116' date='Aug 20 2010, 04:44 PM']As with any technique or style - I choose to use it to enhance a song - not to waste time on some ego-boost mission. They are all legitimate techniques and should not just be limited to one instrument. Hell, if I thought it would sound good I'd have a cowbell strapped to my bass! he he! (ok.. I was jokin'... no more cowbell)[/quote] I agree, write stuff that sounds good! Its an instrument thats got strings on it - why do we need to get caught up in band roles all the time?

So do you have any recordings to share yet?

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='730236' date='Jan 31 2010, 02:22 AM']Funny how guitars can vary so much but a McDonalds cheeseburger on the other side of the world tastes the same [/quote] If we made basses from MDF then I reckon they would all sound the same, and taste as good as a McDonalds whereever you ate it...

The problem might not be your tone, it might be the guitars. What kind of stuff are the guitars playing - you could try asking them to roll off a little of their lower frequencies to give you a bit of room down there?

Kinda familiar, but the other way around for me. Reminds me a little of the first time my old band recorded in a propper studio. It was the nineties so we were recording to ananlogue tape, we had a really good engineer so we tracked the songs all together, puched in the mistakes then did a few overdubs. Listening to the rough mix on the way home, I thought it sounded like a bunch of fairly competent musicians playing our music - all the usual mistakes had been repaired - I felt really detached from the playing and for the first time was actiually able to listen to the songs as a whole. Changed my perspective on writing.

[quote name='henry norton' post='879022' date='Jun 27 2010, 05:57 PM']I always thought oil type finishes looked better on natural wood guitars than a thick, glassy smooth lacquer. That said, you'd be hard pushed to get a metalflake finish using oil [/quote] Ok, a danish oil wouldnt work over paint, but the water or oil based urethanes would probably work just fine. I wonder if you can get a metallic water based paint, then go over with a red milk paint, and finish up with a urethanes based varnish. From what Ive been able to find out, a polyurethane varnish is pretty much the same stuff as the laquer, the difference is only really how its applied, wipe or spray. That, and the two pack stuff cures differently of course, but Im not likely to use that stuff any time soon, so Ive not read much about it. EDIT: I added the word "probably", like I said Ive never tried this so just musing out loud.

With a smaller bit, it might actually be safer to use a fast speed - when the bit is spinning faster its actually removing less material per revolution, you get more control and a clean finish. Nice work!

Ive been researching finishes too, have you considdered either an oil finish or a wipe on varnish? Ive been readingup on General Finishes, either oil based or water based. From looking at their website, theyre look really easy to apply if you follow the instructions. You need to look out for the oil based varnish as the rags can spontaeously combust (!) if you dont let them dry flat, theres instructions on the website on the safe way to do this. [url="http://www.generalfinishes.co.uk/"]http://www.generalfinishes.co.uk/[/url] I might get some of the satin in and try it out, I'll let you know how I get on if I do. Then theres the oil finishes like Danish oil, Ive not looked at these too closely yet.

ok, Chestnut got back to me: [quote]Hi Mike I'm afraid it's impossible tor us to give definitive advice about mixing other people's products with our own as our knowledge of them is limited. I would however expect artist paints to adhere to our Shellac Sanding Sealer. However, we would not recommend using Acrylic Lacquer on top of Shellac Sanding Sealer, we would instead recommend our Acrylic Sanding Sealer. This should also be okay with the artists paints but we would suggest a trial piece first. I hope this is of some help Best regards Terry Smart Chestnut Products[/quote] A bit of a surprise there for me - I thought shellac would make a good base for anything. Anyway, hope that helps. Mike

[quote name='Spoombung' post='863326' date='Jun 10 2010, 02:46 PM']okay...I'm still not sure whether acrylic paint will adhere to shellac. Can you go over acrylic with shellac? (like a lacquer)[/quote] Im pretty sure that anything will go over shellac, but Ive just emailed Chestnut Finishes to get them to confim - I'll post here when they get back to me.

[quote name='Spoombung' post='863098' date='Jun 10 2010, 11:30 AM']Mikey - Maybe this would be better as it's acrylic anyway, and is bound to accept acrylic paint on top? [/quote] The problem there is that when pore filling, you would typically cover the body then sand right back down to bare wood, only leaving the product in the pores. Maybe you'd then leave the final coat of sealer on the surface as a base for the top coats. This is where shellac wins over acrylic - each layer of acrylic goes on like a layer of cling film. It sticks to the previous layer but doesnt become one with it. If you sand through, you'll get white lines like a contour map of where youve over sanded. Not a problem with shellac as it burns in, so theres no lines. [quote name='Spoombung' post='863098' date='Jun 10 2010, 11:30 AM']There is also cellulose version : (I'm not sure what cellulose is or if I could paint on top with waterbased acylic) Here is the product comparison: [url="http://www.axminster.co.uk/compare_products.asp"]http://www.axminster.co.uk/compare_products.asp[/url]?[/quote] I dont know anything about cellulose, but I cant see that it would be a better choice than shellac or acrylic. Maybe if I was using a nitro top coat, then maybe it would burn in, but Im unlikely to ever use nitrocellulose. It comes in a metal can, so maybe it eats away plastic? Personnaly, I wouldnt want to use it when theres spirit or water based alternatives. Are the pores really that big? The photo you showed doesnt look like ash.

[quote name='Spoombung' post='861470' date='Jun 8 2010, 09:03 PM']Thanks for the your, Mikey. I'm not sure if I could paint on top of shellac with acrylic, though. I'm noticing there are some vast differences of opinion going on here and disagreements about what will work. I'm surprised there is no standard way of priming the wood, painting on it, then laquering. I've Googled regarding painting on guitars and there is very little information at all. Whether that's to do with people being secretive about their techniques or using a different methods I can only guess.[/quote] Im getting my information here [url="http://thewoodwhisperer.com/category/video/finishing-videos/"]http://thewoodwhisperer.com/category/video/finishing-videos/[/url] - Have a look at vidios 47 and 73, he often refers to shellac as the universal binder. In 47, he puts a water based polyurethane / acrylic varnish over it, so its very unlikely that it will interfere with acrylic paint.

[quote name='Spoombung' post='861073' date='Jun 8 2010, 03:09 PM']1. PVA[/quote] Normal PVA isnt waterproof, so if you want to go over with acrylic based paint, then it will be reactivated. Also, PCA doesnt dry hard unless its a very thin film, so you might need to build up the coats. [quote name='Spoombung' post='861073' date='Jun 8 2010, 03:09 PM']2. Aresol sealant[/quote] I guess you mean the airosol laquer? Would work, but youd need to construct some kind of booth. [quote name='Spoombung' post='861073' date='Jun 8 2010, 03:09 PM']3. MDF primer[/quote] Only really works on MDF, which your bass isnt. [quote name='Spoombung' post='861073' date='Jun 8 2010, 03:09 PM']4. Rustin's Gloss Varnish 5. Epoxy[/quote] The last two are options, epoxy dries very hard so you may struggle to sand it. However, both of these two dont burn in, which means if you sand through, which you are likely to do, then you may get white witness marks. So, can I add option 6: available [url="http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Chestnut-Shellac-Sanding-Sealer-19766.htm"]here[/url]. Its shellac, so you can build up the coats and not worry too much about sanding through, as the next coat burns in with the previous, and its designed as a sealer. Ive not used it, but Im planning on giving it a try on the next bass, to seal in the stain before I add the top coat.

[quote name='Tegs' post='856565' date='Jun 3 2010, 09:08 PM']Don't mess with machinery kids and keep your mind on the job [/quote] Losing a digit has to be one of my all time worst nightmares! Im glad you've been able to carry on playing! My little brothers old bassist had all his fingers removed from his left hand by a lawn mower. He got them all sewn back on, and carried on playing bass the whole time. Tough as nails that bloke. [quote name='Al Heeley' post='856569' date='Jun 3 2010, 09:14 PM']+ 1 : Save the bass! Don't cut it up, sell it to someone who appreciates it then use the money to buy some wood and put together something original from scratch [/quote] As usual, I agree with Al. This bass would probably sell in the classifiedes on here pretty quick. We're still waiting on shop pics!