Jimothey

I really want a 5 string P bass and can’t afford a lot (around £100 max) I’ve been looking at the Harley Benton PJ5-HTR Deluxe and the Gear4Music LA 5 string p basses and reading reviews there doesn’t seem much in it? The big thing for me is I don’t really like Red Basses and hate Tort pickguards so I’d have to mod the HB straight out of the box and I don’t know what it is about G4M basses but I don’t really trust that the quality is as good as HB Basses?? Has anyone played either and could give me a review of them?? The last option would be to build my own??

But you’ve just spent all that time making it look nice a shiny??........😜

Looking great mate!!! I think practical but I think that putting the thumb rest in the “traditional” position looks weird but that’s just my opinion.........😀

Yeah that’s a good idea I’ll give that a go, this is what I meant about the Alu tape under the bridge No I’ve just made sure that the Alu tape comes over the edge of the cavity so the Alu tape on the pickguard is sitting on it Would you just put an extra ground wire off a pot or the jack and fix it to the cavity somewhere to ground the cavity?? I think I might get some graphite paint and rip-off the shielding and do it again properly.............😀

No it’s just my P bass all the others are fine, I’ve just resprayed my Jazz White (to match my Precision) and I thought that the ground wire to the bridge might not be getting a good contact so I thought putting some Alu tape that I use for shielding between the body and the ground wire might help I’m going to try it on my Precision tomorrow night to see if it helps??..........🤞

I forgot the the most important reason my missus won’t let me spend a lot!!! I'm exactly like you I’m not a luthier but I love experimenting and trying different things and in the end having a completely custom bass that no one else will ever have!! I do strive tho to do work to the same standard as Jabba and Andy etc but I’ve got a long way to go yet!! IMHO there are too many brand snobs out there!!..........😀

I completely agree with you, I love cheap basses and modding them!! Firstly because I haven’t got the money to buy expensive basses and I’m only a bedroom player at the mo so I can’t warrant spending too much on them either also If they don’t come out how you want them to you can just fill them etc and try again where as you couldn’t do that with a Rick, Vintage Fender etc My bitsa P Bass cost me in total about £70 and I personally think it plays better than one of my mates MIA Fenders but I’m probably biased because I made it..........😀

@Cuzzie I always thought it was the other way round if when you touch your strings the hum goes then you need to shield your cavities better and if it gets louder then it’s a grounding issue but I could be completely wrong The cavities are all sheilded with Alu tape (as I had a few rolls of it at work)and I tested it with my multi-meter in multiple places and it showed that it is conductive.............😀

If your brother isn’t happy then you need to give him a slap and then you can give it to me............🤞

My bitsa P Bass has suddenly started making a loud hum when you touch the strings, am I right I’m thinking that’s a Earth/Ground problem or is it a shielding issue? At the moment the ground wire comes off the jack socket to underneath the bridge and is held in place when the bridge is screwed to the body Would the fact the bridge is chrome plated make any difference to the quality of the ground?? Is there a better way or place I could ground the strings?? Thanks

I think that’s a stretch too far even for me!! I’ve been having a little play around with a new style headstock logo, I quite like this one............🤔

I’d be astonished if it ever sold at that price but I suppose there’s some mugs out there who will thinks it’s a good deal!?!.....😀

No worries mate always here to help!! 👍 No I really thought it was worth spending double the price of a brand new one it must be a rare limited edition or something.........😀

This seems like an absolute bargain??? https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F283520577746 Dont people actually check what things are worth??? they retail brand new for £84.99???

You can’t go wrong with White!! It looks lovely did you just use rattle cans or did you use spray gun and great job with the repair!! I'm going to spray my Jazz White and possibly my Fortress-ish copy aswell...........😀

This is the mk2 stand............ They are going to be painted and thick draught excluded stuck on to protect the bass................😀

The stand is just a very rudimentary stand that I made I’ll post a pic when I get back to my workshop It looks a lot like this but I’ve filled the back in and put a brace across the front which I’m going to shape a bit so it doesn’t look so square and chunky..............😀

I am more than a bit partial to a block inlay so I thought I’d see how this build would look with yellow blocks instead of the standard MOP effect.............. Just the electrics and headstock decal to fit then it’s ready for a set-up...............😀

My bitsa P, cheap and cheerful but great to play..............👍 Im thinking of doing my Jazz the same to have a matching pair!!

I’ve tried marking out the body to reshape it but it doesn’t look right so if your interested in taking it off my hands let me know............👍

Tempting but I think I’m going to keep it and reshape it............😀

This will probably not come as too much of a surprise to people who have seen my builds before but there might be a change to this build........... I keep on looking at the HB PB-50 SB and I’m gonna purchase one next month so here’s my dilemma........... Do I carry on with this build or do I change the body shape to a telecaster shape and change the shape of the pickguard to suit the body opinions please

I know this threads been dead for a few months now but just a little update For the last couple of months I’ve been using the ramp on my wick copy and I really like playing with a ramp on its definitely helped me with the speed of my playing and made my touch a lot better, to start of with I kept missing/hitting the wrong strings etc but once I got used to it it has become a permanent fixture...........👍

@Christine your right it’s not a finish for the faint hearted and its definitely a finish that can’t be rushed!! As you say when your cutting it back to remove the excess oil if you press too hard with the mop you can leave lines in the polish so that’s really good advice practice on a scrap piece of wood first!! If anybody wants to learn how to French Polish the course I did was brilliant it’s run in Saffron Walden at the Paragon School of Restoration it was about £400 for a 5 day course..........😀

I think @Christine instructions will probably be a lot more in depth and more comprehensive but my method was to clamp the scraper in a vice so the long edge is to the top then using a metal file give it a few passes to make sure it’s nice and flat and removed any bit of the burr then use a burnisher slightly angled downwards and I found it easier if you hold the handle of the burnisher and the end of the rod using a bit of force run it over the edge about 4/5 times in a downward motion using the length of the burnisher then check that you’ve got a little burr on the underside of the scraper if you haven’t repeat the process till you do This is the burnisher I used to use My method in using it was to hold the scraper with the burr on the bottom edge facing away from you, I held it as if I was trying to snap it in half, use your thumbs to bend the middle of the scraper away from then using just a small part from the centre scrap the piece you want to smooth...........😀