zitherman

As a 5 string banjo player and lifetime bass player its great to play bluegrass with a double bass player but if the great Earl Scruggs was happy to play with an electric bass player albeit his son that would be good enough for me.

Ive just had a dat to digital transfer done by ShawSounds.Great quality and price with fast turnaround.Well worth a look if anyones looking for transctiption service.

Regarding the presto lathe.it is owned and operated by the Lathe Revival Company in the northeast.my bluegrass trio recorded "ill fly away" into a single mic while the operator brushed the cuttings away with a paintbrush.You start with a blank disc with no grooves.At around 2.5 minutes the lathe develops a whistling noise so you are limited as to the length of the song.its an experience i would highly recommend if you get the chance.the resulting record really has the 78rpm 30s sound but without the scratches developed over the years.im sure they have a site where you can hear their recordings done at various festivals and events.cheers.

As someone has kept his turntable and vinyl collection i still prefer it over cd though i do also have a cd collection.each has its own merits.i was lucky enough to record a 78rpm record direct onto a 1938 presto recording lathe.it sounded like it was recorded in the 30s though it was done in 2015.it really suited the carter family song we did.horses for courses to me

Thanks plunger moderno,i think you are far more knowledgeable about pickups than i am.i used a local pickup winder to build an accurate single coil and loom on the first bass i built.that one has flats fitted and sounds great.this one will have the same pickup but with a stellartone tonestyler and rounds.thanks for your interest

I like the idea of a pair of single coils placed together and switchable between series/parallel or individually.my dingwall is wired this way.but even though im an electrician by trade im going to leave that idea for another build.this time im going to fit a tonestyler and concentrate on the finish.

Chambering removed just under 2 pounds before maple top was fitted.

Cheers.this my first attempt at chambering a body.i think the fun may start when i glue the top on.the chambers removed 1pound and 13 ounces from the body .

This ones gone on a diet

Cheers.its a ziricote fretboard.also im going to chamber the body and fit a maple top.

Well this is the second instrument im building.going ok but still making mistakes.little bit of tear out on the top horn but ill round it off a bit more and shape the lower horn to match.im a fan of kevin ferners instruments so with this one im thinking of adding a pickup at the bridge position.possibly an mm type.also considering a tonestyler.any thoughts?

Re Essential Tension.ive never tried a real zither.the zither in my basschat name refers to old english banjos that were commonly called zither banjos.cheers

Bass,5string banjo and mandolin.the banjo has a surprisingly long neck but the mandolin takes the award for stretching fingers.try a fully fretted g.haha

Hey thanks for the interest in my build.the body is poplar which doesnt have a particularly nice grain pattern and also greenish stripes of heartwood.maple neck with a flamed maple fretboard which i bought pre slotted.i may well buy a slotting jig if i make more.tuners are hipshot licensed,retrovibe bridge.The pickup and loom are by a local to me maker called Alan Dingwall.i have his pickups in my tele as well.hes well worth checking out on facebook.cheers

I put flats on it and going for an old school type sound through my bassman.got a dingwall to scratch my metal itch haha

This my first attempt at building any sort of instrument.made plenty of mistakes but it plays and intonates fine.just waiting for warmer weather to paint it.second build underway

I considered adding a powered cabinet to my mbp 110 before i got my bassman rig.the 110 is a great little amp both for practice and small bar gigs.with regard to adding a 115 to your 212 it seems that mixing speaker sizes is a no no these days.on browsing bass directs site it would appear eich are quite happy to build a 12 and 10 into the same cabinet.like many others i successfully ran a 115 and 410 for years.go for it i would say

I decided to go with the 3 mm roundover.it looks a bit bigger than the pic from geddy lees book but im happy with it.this is my first attempt at building so theres plenty of mistakes but its getting there.

Thanks for your reply.that looks like a similar radius to the tele i had.i think 3mm might be the way to go.

Cheers.i doubted the spec on the plan so that lead to my question.i had a telecaster bass in the late 70s and seem to remember a tight radius.think ill start with a 3mm and take it from there.this is my first attempt at a build so every step raises fresh questions.

Looks like no one knows the answer to my question.i think illjust try a 4mm roundover first and see what it looks like.cheers

Im building a 51 p bass from plans that specify a 6mm radius on the body.is that correct as from memory i think its smaller.any answers?

I know very little about tks gear but i do know that dealing with one man or very small gear builders especially overseas ones is an extremely risky undertaking.in my case my speakers arrived damaged and neither courier or constructor would accept liability leaving me to repair them myself.caveat emptor

could it be lots of players giving up after months or years trying to find a band.im certainly not far from this position