prowla

[quote name='Harryburke14' timestamp='1483910624' post='3211116'] For me, the money being spent on it is definitely worth it. I am getting a custom made, personalised bass to my spec built by a master craftsman at a very low price. Should all go to plan, this will be my number one bass for as long as I can play. [/quote] I'd say you are getting a (very) nice looking bass, certainly.

Doh! Hipshot don't do a Ricky D-tuner - they do straight Ricky style machines, but not the D-tuner variant, so I may need to reassess.

[quote name='12stringbassist' timestamp='1475767624' post='3148622'] Some of these may be REAL... [/quote] Is the one on the right a John Birch?

North of £400 for a Squier doesn't make sense to me.

Those veneer jobs are really nice! For the OP's HB, I'd have to question whether it's worth a lot of money spending on it. If the chip is on the black bit of a sunburst finish, it could just be filled with a dark resin and be pretty much unnoticeable if done right. There seem to be two bare wood guitar body sellers on ebay: guitarbuild https://www.guitarbuild.co.uk/ and someone who is selling seconds (might be guitabuild ones?). I've just built a Partscaster using one of the seconds made from Paulownia wood, which is really light; I coloured it with some dark oak stain from Homebase and oversprayed it with some matt lacquer - it looks really good! Back to the HB - is it solid or ply? if it's ply, then stripping it back will be a bit disappointing. Best of luck, anyway. (And did I mention that those veneer jobs are nice?)

Low B every time - it allows you to go deeper, even if it's just down to a D. If you want to go higher, then get more frets and if you're always playing up there then you should be on a guitar! However, having played a 4-string and guitar for may years and thus associating the thickest string with being bottom E, I do find it very easy to forget which instrument I'm on and that I'm one string out! Perhaps the string isn't the only things that's thick here...

[b]Columbus Jazz Bass[/b] copy - it got me into bass playing, so can't be bad. Bought from a Lasky's high-street electrical retailer, if I recall. [b]Rickenbacker 4001[/b] '64 (earlier s/n than McCartney's and Squire's, according to the Ricky book) - bought from a friend of a friend in my teens in the mid '70s for £220; it had a neck problem and a blown pickup, so I got it fixed and sprayed white. Still got it, still have an intake of breath when I look at it. [b]Aria Pro II SB700[/b] - the passive version of the SB1000. It was a decent bass and sounded fretless-like even though it was fretted, but I don't recall when I sold it and I've never missed it. Custom-made "[b]Hooker[/b]" fretless bass - a friend of a friend made it and sold it to me after he made a second one. I lost it in a house move. [b]Rickenbacker 4001[/b] '73 - bought from a drug dealer friend who decided he wanted to play keyboards instead, cost me £333.33 in the early 80s (with money my grandfather left me when he passed). I've still got it. At one stage I put a Badass II bridge on it, but it never really worked and was finally replaced by a Hipshot one last year. The treble pickup was replaced by a SD humbucker, because the stock one was unusable live; the thing about Rickys, though, is they sound like Rickys even when they're not plugged in, so the humbucker works. [b]Hohner The Jack[/b] headless - I was playing in a clubs band in the late '80s and we had a change of clothes each set; one was shiny black outfits with red belts (well, it was the 80s!), so I bought a black bass & red strap to match. I never particularly rated it as a stand-out instrument though and sold it some time in the 90s. [b]Washburn Status[/b] - I wanted a Status, but they are a bit pricey, so I got this. It was OK, but not a real Status. I sold it in the naughties. I'm surprised to see that they are creeping up in value again. [b]Status S2 headless[/b] graphite through-neck - the real thing. Still got it. Quality! Would prefer a 5-string (nearly went for one on ebay a few months back, but forced myself not to bid!). [b]Warwick Corvette 5 string[/b] - I decided to finally try out a 5 string a couple of years ago, so I got this on ebay. It was a Chinese one and I never really liked it; the neck was wrong for me and I think I damaged my left index finger on it. I sold it on ebay to someone who reported back that they liked it. [b]Status 5 string[/b] headed, wooden neck. This is a really nice bass - more organic than the graphite. A keeper! [b]RPG double-neck[/b] 6/4 - RPG was a guitar shop in Cannock (Staffs), whose owner imported some custom designed guitars (often focusing on left-handed, but also did right-handed). This one came up on ebay last year, so I placed a spotter bid on it and nobody outbid me. I drove up and collected it from a nice bloke. I had to do a bit of setting up, including shimming the neck angle; it plays OK now, but could maybe do with a bit more (or professional) work on it so get it right, or maybe it's as good as it'll get. An orange[b] Precision partsblaster[/b] - a "job-lot" on ebay, based on a Squier Affinity Precision/P-Bass, which the previous chap had oversprayed orange, in bits and with some extra parts. I've now replaced the neck with a Mighty Mite fretless one acquired from a workmate who had upgraded (the one he upgraded to must be fantastic, because the MM one is bloody good!) and just put a Hipshot Xtender/D-tuner on the bottom E to trick it up a bit. It's got Shadow (German?) Precision pickup, which is quite good, the Badass II bridge I had on my Ricky, my own wiring assembly, Fender flatwounds and Straplocks (may be Schaller or copies). I may replace the body at some point, at which time I'll probably rebuild the original orange Squier and sell it on to the next projecteer... A Chinese [b]RSL[/b] bass - bought on ebay from a chap (I guess he's RSL!) in the next town; he had some guitars made and decided to make up the numbers with a short run of basses. Again, I put a spotter bid on one and nobody outbid me (they're currently available). The bass is good and bad... It's quite good quality and the neck is very thin and comfortable, but I had to do a lot of setup work and even took an angle off the end of the fretboard overhang to allow my finger to get in for slap (I'm not great at that, but it was actually impossible til I got my hacksaw & file out). The bad is that the final assembly lets it down (in particular the neckplate screws) and the bridge is four individual single-string bridges whose saddles are tiny black squares which fall out when you take the string off (I can just imagine breaking a string and losing one!), so I'll probably replace it with a more robust conventional one (from my box of bits). A [b]Hohner Rockwood Precision[/b] - another ebay spotter bid which won (I think I maybe need to stop doing that!)... It was an OK bass, bright red, but I got it and decided I didn't really want it. I considered using it for a possible gig with a Pink Floyd tribute band as a kind of nod to how to play crap bass (I'm not a Roger Waters fan), but I decided I was probably better off just not going for it. I sold it last week on ebay (for a profit of £1!). [b]Fakenbacker[/b] - I've just arranged to buy a Ricky copy project off someone who had put it on ebay, but ebay pulled the auction for fake/replica/copyright infringement. I got in touch with the seller and have arranged to collect it next weekend. I'd like to build it up with quality parts (I've got a spare Hipshot bridge and a genuine Ricky toaster pickup) with a view to eventually getting a real Ricky body and shifting everything onto it. I was hoping to put a Hipshot Xtender on it too, but it looks like they don't do a Ricky one :-( . It came with a non-genuine "Rickenbacker" truss rod cover, but I may replace it with "Frickenbacker" in the appropriate lettering. So, that's me: some keepers, some hackabouts and some I can take or leave. (Smiles happily and saunters off to open a can of beer...) Going ahead, I'd like another 5-string (I'd be up for replacing the Status headless 4-string like-for-like) and will probably noodle around with partsblasters

[quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1483812854' post='3210359'] Thought so! And just to demonstrate that I know my Fakers, the one you're buying is a Matsumoku-built bolt-neck, which would (assuming you're in the UK) have likely originally been badged as Arbiter, CMI, Aria or Aria Pro II, amongst others. You'll find it has a neckplate stamped "Steel Adjustable Neck" with a random serial number you can't date it from. Shame it has Schaller tuners because that means the original Wavy Grover copies have been replaced. Not that there's anything wrong with Schallers. It may also have dual truss rods like a real Rick (which unlike a real Rick, should work properly) but not all Mat bolt-necks have them. I can tell all that from four little dots. [/quote] Hehe... That's interesting info - Matsumoku is a good name to hear; I don't have a picture of the back. I do like the wavy Grovers (my real one above has them), but I'm kindof glad about the Schallers, because I think the Hipshot should be about the same. The bloke is going to throw in whatever other parts he has too, so it'll be interesting to see what I get. I've got a real Ricky toaster pickup in my box of parts, which may find its way to the neck position. I'll make up the wiring harness and will add a switch for the serial treble cap option. I'll probably treat it to the real knobs too. And straplocks (it looks like the strap button on the top horn is in the wrong place, so that'll have to move). I've been wanting a black Ricky, so it might get a paint job. All-in-all, I'm quite looking forward to it!

I've just arranged to buy a 'faker project; I'm due to go and pick it up next weekend. I'm not sure of the brand; it's got the skunk stripe in the neck and into the neck pickup bay, but not then through to the bridge. It'll probably be a platform to build the parts onto, with the aim of picking up a genuine Ricky body at some point if I spot one. I might put the Seymour Duncan off the red one above onto it (and restore the original pickup to the original Ricky). I've got another Hipshot bridge which will go onto it. The one I'm buying has Schaller machines, but I plan to put a Hipshot Xtender/D-Tuner onto it (I've just put one onto my Precision fretless project). It's got a scratchplate, pickup surround and replica Ricky truss-rod cover, but is missing a twin jack plate (it was single-jack, but the previous owner has drilled a second socket).

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1482784798' post='3202753'] Is that one of the Hipshot bridges? [/quote] Yep. [quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1482798499' post='3202829'] Interesting. Definitely a Faker? [/quote] Actually, no; it's a genuine '73 Ricky - I faked a faker!

Well, I've only found out about it by reading this thread today; It might be worth strolling in on the Saturday, though.

Here's a good 'un!

I'm playing around with a Precision - it's a Squier body & neck at the moment, with miscellaneous other parts including a Badass II bridge, a Shadow pickup (the Squier ones were too quiet) and my pots & socket wiring, but the plan is to replace the body (maybe with a Warmoth?) and the neck at some point. When I've done, I guess I'll reassemble the Squier and either start again or sell it on. I've got conductive tape for the cavity (and underside of pickguard) and I'll probably put a layer of insulating tape or plastic film on top of that near the socket. I've also using little gold connectors to join the pickups and the bridge earth, so I can easily swap things around. I have thought of trying a Rickenbacker pickup in the neck position, since I've got a spare one...

OK - here's a brace of Rickys... [center]DA07 Jan '64[/center] [center]LJ1165 '73[/center]

Hi! I've got a Trace Elliot BLX-130 SMH combo and it's got a hum around G# (420 Hz?) through the speaker. The hum occurs immediately it is switched on, without anything plugged in, and is at a constant level regardless of the volume, eq, switches, gain settings.The amp also has a fan which kicks in on power-on; I can hear it spinning too (but the hum in question is from the speaker). It'd be great to get some advice on what to check out for this (I'm thinking output diode/regulators?). I don't have a circuit diagram and I haven't opened it up yet. Thanks! (P.S. The SMH is the model with a HF horn on the front, but the Fostex FH47 horn broke - ie. its plastic mounting became brittle and split - so at the moment there's a hole where it goes and its wires have insulation tape on them 'til I can get a replacement.)