prowla

Ah yes - that does suggest that the truss-rod cutout is another area of weakness. Perhaps the earlier comment regarding graphite/fibre inserts along the length of the "plank" could work. Yes, I'd agree that shims at the end could make it worse. Indeed I was wondering if the counter-intuitive option of putting a shim midway(!) might work.

Are you saying they're wrong?

It could be that. I guess it'd be easy to confirm/eliminate the pickup bay question by simply putting a ruler on the neck extension and seeing where the gap(s) lie; moving it back & forth to get an idea of the profile. Doing that on the back side would pesumably show a bump or curve over which the ruler would rock. I'd suggest that, whatever it is, the wood should be straightened (heat & clamps) rather than simply adding screws to try and pull it back under the assumption that the body is strong enough to force it against. Also, if it is beyond the end of the brass plate (and assuming that is straight(!), there is only a very short length there for those screws to exert a quite significant force to straighten it. Those extra screws could help prevent it reoccurring in the future though.

Yes, so simply shimming it won't do the trick. @Maude's suggestion of shaving it could be a workaround, but I think the underlying issue would re-surface in the future. My guess is that the issue is in that P-bass pickup cutout. This is similar to the known neck-lift issue on Rickenbacker basses and people are able to fix that, either by heating/clamping to straighten it, or even by inserting carbon fibre strips to strengthen it and make it rigid.

If you look at the pictures, you will see that the bridge sits on the neck extension: the two front screws and 3 of the 5 tail-end bridge screw holes are on it (I didn't say it was a thru-neck).

Another thought is to cut the wood under the pickup and shim it there.

This talk of shimming… Doesn’t the bridge sit on the neck extension?

Why not offer it for sale?

Urinal Peep

So, it looks like the neck-lift issue lies between the end of the neck and the bridge. My guess is the weak-point is the thinnest part under the "P" pickups. It might be possible to "persuade" it back by adapting it to a string-thru arrangement or adding extra screws to clamp down the underside of the bridge end of the neck extension where the backplate sits, but that might also just introduce another issue.

Well, I was wearing my Hi-Fi hat rather than as a musician and went there because I did a seach for hi-res Peter Gabriel, rather than because I was on bandcamp.

I purchased and downloaded Peter Gabriel's "So" from there a couple of weeks ago. There's also some Bill Nelson there.

TBH, there's probably more human thought been put into the AI than some of the muzak/elevator music I've heard in my time.

What a Wally!

Nice - I tend to buy used. Unfortunately, I rarely go to Brighton.

These "you earn more money than me so you can afford to pay more taxes" evangelists are so blinkered that they can't see the bigger picture. In my case I've been helping my sons through uni and other things for the past however many years. If the state or other circumstances took that off me then it would've been detrimental to them. There's a saying that charity begins at home and, especially in these times, this is very true.

Is that an example of the cuts?

Nobody's forcing you to add yourself to the list; it was to gauge numbers initially.

I WFH; I have no wish to spend 2 hours each way travelling on unreliable public transport to get to an office where I have a cramped desk, small computer screen, and have to wear noise-cancelling headphones to hear myself think. Socially I do fine; going out, having a chat, doing jams and get-togethers, meeting people, having a walk across the park and stopping for a natter, going to events, etc. As for bands, I haven't been to see one in ages: the price of seeing a major artist is unrealistic and if it's in London I typically have to leave before the end to get the last train home. In other towns the cost of parking is ridiculous and the operators are sitting there waiting for you to transgress some contrived rule so they can send you a fake "fine" demanding money. In all honesty, I prefer listening to music on my hi-fi at home or watching gigs on my TV rather than on screens at a venue because you're too far from the stage. TBH, I find gigs pretty solitary places anyway. So I simply don't buy the assertion that WFH is killing social interaction and nor that I am somehow unclean for not wanting to go places to spaff money in some affected spirit of altruism so as to keep the local service industries in business. Harking back to a time before social media is a forlorn quest.

"Normal" is a meaningless word to apply to use as a generalisation, because each person's "normal" is based on their perception of what's around them, what they do, and how they think things should be. It minds me of something Dave Allen used to say: "May your god go with you.".

Raffle items would be good!

I'm fortunate in that I get paid to do one of my hobbies and so I put up with the superfluous hassle that goes with it. It would be great if I shifted to musicianship, but then all of the superfluous hassle would shift there too... I'm not sure I do: music production is now and the music industry has become quite diversified with the shift away from large organisations. Social media, Bandcamp, and so-on mean it is way easier to get your product out than in the past. I haven't done it because I am not motivated enough to do so, but if I wanted to I could, without even leaving my house. I guess there's 1 in 10,000 artists who makes it (ie. earns a good living); would increasing that (even doubling it) yield anything significant? Would it encourage people to spend more on the arts? The thing about the money for war is that it's loans rather than a slush fund; it took decades after for the UK to pay for WW II.

The problem with a universal basic income is that someone has to pay for it. We're already taxed at the highest level in decades and the current government are actively increasing taxes (even before the upcoming budget!). Whilst it's easy to denegrate people by posting strawman arguments postulating probable DM headlines about "woke" and "scroungers", what happens if money earners decide that they'd be as well jacking it in and becoming "musicians"?

It's a week to go folks! On the catering front... As previously mentioned, we plan to do a run to Costco on Friday to pick up some snacks; probably a couple of their ridiculously large cakes, some cans of pop, bottled water, some crisps, tea & coffee. Plus paper plates, cups, napkins. We'll do a £1 honesty box for items and the aim will be to cover costs, with the remainder going to the charity. If anybody has any specific wants or don't wants, then pop in a message and we'll try and (ahem) cater for them.

I have some models of the same bass with opposite direction tuners.