prowla

"The Cactus In The Window" - sounds like the title of a whodunnit...

The pics with with my iPhone and were within minutes of each other, but the auto settings do seem to have a slightly darker setting for the pearl one popping out a bit more.

FYI the Hakko arrived today and it looks good (I've not opened it to check the daughterboard). The ebay seller is rossharmon08 (Grosvenor Associates), which is who one of the online "how to spot a fake" videos mentioned and confirmed OK.

Cheers! It's taking shape; not sure if black or pearl looks best?

That's a great idea!

Blueberry syrup?

I’m buying on ebay. there are some YT videos explaining real vs fake spotting; it’s down to details. I’m expecting it to arrive in a couple of days and will do the checks, and then share.

But is it a Satellite or a Hondo? I gots to know!

Continuing the soldering iron tangent; I've ordered a Hakko. (Apparently there are some fakes about, so needed to do a bit of research...)

Resurrecting this thread... A couple of weeks ago I had a mad weekend and bought three basses; I only intended to buy one, but I went to the shop and whilst we were looking for the case for it I spotted a Hohner The Jack project and picked that up too, then when I got home I found that my spotter bid had also won the auction for a Westone Quantum in need of some TLC, so I ended up with all three. Hohner The Jack The Hohner The Jack had a bridge mech missing, no strings, and dead electronics, and looked like this. I managed to acquire a replacement bridge and used it as a donor for the missing parts; the remainder went onto another project (see later). So, I gave the instrument a light polish, completed the bridge, and put on a set of Status strings: I put in a battery but it didn't light up, so I set about finding a fix for it. Coincidentally I found someone selling a The Jack with a twisted neck, so I contacted them and agreed a price to buy it, pending confirming mine didn't work. A couple of days later I got to spend a bit more time on it and I plugged it in; lo-and-behold it worked (both passive and active)! So, it looks like it's just the LED; apparently not an uncommon issue with these, but I can live with that. So, I've ended up with a rather nice bass for not a lot. Westone Quantum A few days later the Westone Quantum arrived; the seller kindly agreed to post it to me, as I had a change of plans from my intended drive to collect it. It looks like it may have been overpainted from blue and it needs a back cover for the control bay, but it's kindof cool as it is. The headstock has a serial number. (And yes, I will sort out those strings!) So that's a nice one for the collection. The rest of the headless bridge... So, after using the bridge for donor parts for the Hohner The Jack, I used the rest of the unit on a headless doubleneck which had a cheapo "Overlord" one on it. The bass neck is now pretty good and it has quite a nice deep resonance to it. I've got to do a bit of work on the guitar half, replacing the pickups (I'm pretty sure those are not really EMGs!), sorting the nut (it's too high, so pressing the 1st fret makes it out of tune), and the "Overlord" bridge's trem mech is poop so it's only usable in the locked position.

I was looking for a a part and found a fretless Jazz Bass neck I must've bought a while back, so I decided to go ahead and see if I could make up a bass. I'd like a MIM Jazz body for it, but in the meanwhile I've acquired a fetching purple Squier PJ body to be getting on with... I managed to find most of the required bits in my parts boxes, though I'll probably get a Fender Hi-Mass bridge for it (they seem to work well with a fretless and flats). The J bridge pickup is leftover from putting the neck one onto a Cowpoke bass, so that was fortuitous, and the P is an I'm not sure what, so will have to see. I think I've got a set of knobs for it and probably pots. I'll probably spend this evening bolting the main bits together and will then look at the electronics.

The cat doesn't reckon much to it...

Is it over yet?

For anybody in or who visits Portsmouth and drops in to the Guitar Centre, Steve has had to vacate the premises at Highland Road, Southsea, as it's been sold for redevelopment. It was touch-and-go, but a new location has been found and the store will be moving to Cosham; I'm not sure of the opening date yet. The location is quite good, near the Tesco superstore at the roundabout where the A3 meets the Havant Road and straight-on becomes the A397; alternatively if you're familiar with PMT & Sainsbury's on the Fitzherbert Road, it's back up the hill (A2030), turn left, and less than a mile along. The new address is 25 Spur Road, Cosham PO6 3DY. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Spur+Rd,+Cosham,+Portsmouth+PO6+3DY https://www.facebook.com/GuitarCentreSouthsea

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/204201285486

MIDI-Fiddy!

Smorgasboard 🙂

MIDIway (or some other joined-up wordplay).

I’m thinking about a Hakko.

You have to beware of Draper - there's a cheapo product line and a pro-level one. I'm intending at some point to get a better soldering iron than the one I've had since the 80s; temperature-controlled ones don't seem to be cheap, though!

Someone might get stung...

Yep - I'm pretty sure that must be a slip of the decimal point.