Owen

>it might be possible to rout out the internal cavity, glue the pickups in before reducing the thickness from the outside. Now that makes sense. I could see that working as the installed gubbins would actually give the wood the support needed. The veneer idea is interesting but not really what I am after. I love to follow grain patterns in wood. Nice grain as attractive as figured stuff for me. It is like the movement of birds flying in flocks and stuff. I have just installed a 13 foot piece of 2" solid Oak as a windowsill. I can happily sit there just idly following the grain patterns. What I was thinking was that I (!!!!!)) could create the pickup cover from the wood in a way that would use the grain that was there and it would be a sort of continuation or development of the original grain patterns. The guy who is going to help me is building me a Bass Electric Uke at the moment and is using a 4mm Burr Elm top so I am guessing that this is technically do-able, even though the initial cut might be pretty scary. Thanks for letting me bounce ideas around.

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' timestamp='1330227310' post='1554389'] Could you mount the pickups from the rear and therefore not take any wood out the top at all? I'm sure I've seen this done but I have no idea where or by whom This would work especially well if you could have the neck sit lower on the body than on a normal bass (because you don't need to clear the pickups). [/quote] I guess that means the whole of the body could be like a ramp then! Tragically it looks like Dom's reply suggests that the wood would not be stable enough to take down to the thinness needed. But you never know until you ask I am not too worried about the difficulty of the woodworking becuase the luhier who will be doing the tricky stuff can treat wood like paper and do bonkers things with it. I guess it will be a large pickup housing then, like the Enfield (?) basses Simms make. I can live with that.

OK. I seem to have sourced some wood, but just trying to get some measurements together. What I fancy doing it cutting the pickup cover from the wood of the body so that the grain will be kind of unbroken. I would route the inside of the extracted block to make a housing. Obviously I use the words "I" here in a non-literal sense. I am thinking of having a mahoosive 2 x J + 1 x P pick up set in one housing so that it is all a kind of pretty large ramp set up. How difficult would it be to cut the wood out to do this? I am thinking of going neck through which will mean that I can dig out bits of the back without worrying about getting it super tidy on the back of the instrument. I cannot see how I could lift wood out of the front, but I see basses with pick-up covers which are obviously continuations of the body wood. Is this just exotic top stuff that is easier to do or could I do it with a solid piece of wood. It might be possible but, as I have already mentioned, I am a woodworking numpty and cannot see how it would work.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1328705997' post='1531382'] I can photograph my Bolin 4 controls and see if it helps you spot the potential problem. Just out of interest is this bass the one that Owen had (formerly mine)... just like keeping track of it. [/quote] Daf Lewis has that now and it is fretless.

I would also look at the Reunion Blues. They are incredibly light and just right if you are carrying it. It will not protect like one of the semi-rigid ones, but is light and well balanced. It is the one I reach for if I am walking.

[quote name='juledude' timestamp='1316567641' post='1379870'] I'm hoping a "valve bash" is a good thing? The 6SL7/6N9P Hi Fi version from Shuguang can be made to please, as can the Sovtek version. On paper, the same as a 12AX7. However, the "sameness" ends there. Not long ago, no manufacturer was making the 6SL7 and all the NOS were in bad shape. Having designed gear with both, I find the 6SL7 capable (when used well) of dramatically better bottom end performance. [/quote] I have fancied one of Jule's preamps, and here he is posting in my feedback. Is it a sign? Should I just buy one?

Mike was (and is) fabulous! He bought old Double Bass tat that I no longer wanted

20k is only 1 octave higher than 10k. It is not as bad as it seems.

Lee-Man speaks the truth.

I had wondered about one of those in a bundle http://www.thomann.de/gb/gallien_krueger_mb_200_bundle.htm?sid=7d4812a2d247cff51568aee02b52918c. The specs look pretty underwhelming max SPL: 91dB, frequency response: 51Hz - 18KHz but you never know until you try it!

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1329513578' post='1543832'] [url="http://www.putnamguitars.com/mods.htm"]http://www.putnamguitars.com/mods.htm[/url] You did ask (it's under the rack vt mod drop down options)... [/quote] Rats, I was kind of hoping it was a beefy amp plumbed into a floor pedal. Of course, on reflection there would be no space. But it was exciting for a moment.

So, mark 2 has begun. Here is the top. [IMG]http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a49/peredur/419997_10150669394676031_705786030_11395662_1917849023_n.jpg[/IMG]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1329398185' post='1541809'] There's been a guy in the states making a micro amp from the VT bass pedal and B&O 500 watt icepower module for a few years now - can't remember his name. He resides over on the other site. Mods all the character series pedals with added XLR and speaker defeat option. [/quote] Sorry, that is not enough info.

The binding thing is very lovely.

I've had a fretted 5 and 6. Nice axes they were.

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1329217515' post='1538838'] I don't know what sort of budget you are looking at but I would throw the Clover Apeiron Classic 6 into the mix... - I reckon street price circa £1300. (Not necessarily in this finish though!) [/quote] Lush that is

The BC Massiv have spoken. It shall be Elm. Where do I get a nice piece of Elm? I am new at this. Can you tell?