karlthebassist

Oooooooo nice one that!

I love mine to bits. I use a single GS112 and an LMII and I feel it makes for a very articulate mini-rig. I don't play tunings lower than standard 4 string, so can't comment on its note holding ability on a 5er (I tune mine EADGC...). I would definately like to add another though as the volume of one just doesn't cut it for gig's without a strong PA you can run through.

If you love this bass, and would really rather keep it then I'd say hang on to it and get it sorted when you can afford it. A twisted neck can be fixed if its not TOO twisted. I'm no expert, but I'd be interested to see a photo of the neck twist if possible. I've re-set a twisted neck before by heating it until the glue holding the fingerboard on softened then forcing the neck into shape and clamping it in place until the glue hardened again. Needed a fret dress once it was done and it was fine. Removing the fingerboard completely, replacing trussrod and sorting the twist out with a re-planing and new board would be the best bet I suppose if the twist isnt too bad. And I cant imagine a job like that being as expensive as what Warwick would charge for a new neck...

There are no way enough P Bass photo's popping up on this thread! I'll add to the list of modded MIM ones with mine. [attachment=37630:Mex_P_Bass.JPG] I have fitted active Basslines pups inc J position pup, badass II, chrome cover (rarely on) tort plate. And, most importantly, another string retainer to give the A string a better break angle.

Yeah, its like the trebble control on the ray sits WAAAAYYY up in the frequency range rather than the smoother voicings of say Ibanez or G&L pre-amps. Like Rich, I tend to welly the bass pot up and only a touch of trebble. I tend to only set the trebble pot just up out of its center dent as any more is ear shattering. the mid control is just awesome though in my opinion. im gonna have to try some different strings too soon, as ive been using elites for about 4 years and want a change.

Oh lordy! I love the pale pink one soooooo much! Only just got my 'ray. '95 model so has the chrome battery cover and bridge that can take mutes and love it to bits. Favorite bass ever.

James Jamerson, Geezer Butler, Duck Dunn, Colin Hodgkinson, Billy Sheehan John Entwistle, Guy Pratt, Tony Franklin, Pino Palladino, Brian Wilson, Sid Vicious, Paul Simonon, Sting, Andy Rourke, Phil Lynott, Steve Harris. All these chaps have managed to make a pretty big dent into the shape of modern music using a P-Bass, and through several different styles of music. So I don't think that you can say that they aren't versatile...

Thank you all so much for your input, but as Nick said, I am now the proud owner of the bass I've always wanted - a black and maple 3EQ StringRay - "The Ray of Darkness". Love it to bits. Thanks again all! Karl

Little update. Went into work yesterday, started to flat the finish down on the painted bolt-on jobby. Also (and more importantly) I've milled the recesses into the headless so that the tuners sink into the body 5mm. This was needed as the bridge saddles were right down low but the strings not touching the board. The next one I build of these I shall work out an angle to set the neck back at. Although the tuners do look good sunk into the body. Looks a lot more solid. Also sorted some rads out a bit but did nothing major as I had other things to do elsewhere. Back in tomorrow I guess.

In my hands now is a Stingray 4 3EQ that I have been lent to try out. And bloody hell. What a stunning instrument. It plays like butter. Fantastic tone - not so much the one trick jobby I originaly though. Possibly not as versatile as a two pickup instrument, but then the 3 band EQ is so powerful that I'm getting a good range of very useful tones out of it. Pick-style, fingerstyle and slap all seem to work so well. I think as a live tool - which it would predominantly be used as, as I do VERY little recording - it is bang on... I think I've got something here that would do everything I need...

TU-2 is a nice robust pedal. Not cheap, but you can use it to power other pedals which is very useful and it acts as a mute switch too. Plus if you decide you don't want it any more, you can sell them SOOOOO easily for good money.

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='646946' date='Nov 6 2009, 08:32 AM']Wow - A bass with a sequential gear shift! [/quote]

[quote name='Mikey R' post='648908' date='Nov 8 2009, 04:57 PM']Hi Karl, nice pair! I like how they are both totally different concepts. Im more drawn to the headless, but thats probably cos I dont own a headless and I like the look of yours If do choose to route out individual pockets for the bridge pieces then I'd love to see how you do that. Im been trying to come up with a jig for that kind of job and I just cant figure out the best way to do it. Wow, you work fast! [/quote] Ha, cheers. Well I do all this at work where I have quite extensive facilities and solid surfaces to work on, so it doesn't really take long to get stuff done. If I do the individual brigde pockets then I will do it on a metal work mill, pick up the center of the width and just work from there - no marking out or jig needed, just using the readings on machine. If i were to build a jig I would do much the same, but into a piece of ply wood... you were trying to position individual saddels for a fanned fret build - i think i would have just planned it out on autocad and used a mill again and drilled the screw holes. its one of those things i guesss that if youre making a one-off then you just have to bite the bullet and go for it. but if it was batch/mass produced then i guess you could make a large jig that positions neck pocket, pickup holes, bridge holes and control holes all in one go. Yeah i saw your thread for you fanned fret build - thought it was absoloutly fantastic. The headless is my first serious attempt at designing and building, and once i finish it i shall make design alterations and build a second prototype. headed too. I would quite like to build a fanned fret bass at some point. maybe my next scratch build. I though about how to mark out and set the fret positions and did a model on autocad with a 35" E and a 32" G (or there abouts), but then read that you were having intonation problems up the neck - do you think this was due to incorrect marking out/cutting on your part or due to some secret that we dont know about fret positions on fanned fret basses? I like what you did and went for a less extreme faning than the dingwall. i hadnt' though of making the fret perpendicular at the 3rd fret though. sounds a lot better than the 10th or 12th that i did.