Unknown_User

That looks nice. Did you employ any special technique when applying it to make it so glossy? Rubbing compound or wax afterwards? I've only ever used oil once on wood. That was Danish oil on the back of a maple neck. I applied maybe three coats with sandpaper to make a slurry with the sanding dust (I presume to fill the pores) before wiping it clean. Then at the end buffed it with a clean cloth. It ended up incredibly smooth and lovely to play, but definitely a satin finish. Mind you that was applied to bare wood. Did yours have a finish on it before you put the oil on?

Not related as I haven't seen this video, but generally I find those videos intensely annoying. I've watched a few as they've had gear on that I've been interested in, but mostly I sit there fast forwarding and seething at how irritating the people on it are and how vacuous the "banter" is.

I think that a difference between Danish and Tru oil is that Danish oil gives more of a satin type finish while Tru oil is more glossy. I will happily stand corrected on this.

I'm fairly sure this could be fixed by an easy modification to your bass which will help to improve your discipline over correct arm and elbow positioning. If you simply embed a series of Stanley blades across the top edge of the instrument, then you'll soon learn to keep your arm well clear of the bass. No need to thank me. It's enough for me to know that I've helped.

If the tone is what you want then can I ask what you mean by hotter signal? Just the volume or a fuller sound? As above the first place I'd suggest would be bringing the pickups closer to the strings to see if that helps. If you want an active sound then maybe experiment with a few pre amp pedals? Do a YouTube search and I'm sure there will be loads of pre amp shootout vids that give you an idea of what different pre amp models sound like. Personally I would definitely go down the pedal route as installing an active circuit on your bass is surely going to necessitate drilling more holes in your bass for extra potentiometers and possibly routing out a cavity to install the active circuit. Plus a load of soldering and a hassle to change it if the active circuit isn't what you want. Which seems like a giant expensive ball ache to me!

Looks fantastic and the neck looks amazing with it.

As someone who knows nothing about these, do they only work if everything is running through the PA? I guess otherwise it'll stop you from hearing the rest of it properly?

If anyone is into building their own pedals it sounds like this might the one from this layout. I agree it really does colour the sound nicely. In the rock band I'm in I just have a fuzz pedal (another homebrew one off the site linked above) and then this preamp with a jazz bass and I think it really works for that too. A deeper and more rounded sound than just the fuzz pedal on its own.

Unfortunately nothing much has changed from the first post. 🙁 All we've done other than that is to mark off some bits that we need to cut out where the neck pocket is to go and measure up where the bridge and pickups will go. Although that's mostly just to get an idea of where the channels for the wires will need to be cut. I plan to cut the channels, rout the control cavity and the cavity for the jack socket. Then when all that's done to get the top wood on, then rout out for the neck and pickups.

Work has stalled badly on this because we're up to the stage of routing out channels for the wires and control cavity, but the cheapo router I bought came with 6mm & 8mm collets and the only bits I can find are in 1/4" & 1/2". So the 1/4" bit we've got for it doesn't fit. 🤬 I found a 1/4" collet on Amazon that looked the same shape as the 6mm & 8mm ones that were supplied and after a couple of weeks that finally arrived today. So I'm going to have a go and see if it all fits together and works over the weekend. *fingers crossed*

Scott Putesky AKA Daisy Berkowitz. Marilyn Manson's first guitarist. Been a fan of Marilyn Manson since I was around 17. Which is around the time he left the band, but I always thought he was the best guitarist he's had. Even if not technically - John 5 is a bit of a one off - I thought his playing was full of character and, I guess, soul for want of a less pregnant word. I was writing a post about guitarists or bands or something on a non-music forum and I mentioned his name in it. So went to Wikipedia to see what he was up to and found out he'd died 18 months previously from cancer, aged 49. I'm not particularly prone to outbreaks of fellow feeling and I'd never met him or even seen him play live, but I was pretty bummed out for the rest of the day. I think it was partly him being one of my favourite guitarists from one of my favourite bands and partly that I didn't find out until so long after the fact. Also maybe partly that it was illness at a young age (for dying at least) rather than a blaze of rock'n'roll glory.

I reckon this is good advice, but generally speaking I probably agree with your drummer about not doing covers unless you need some quick, easy filler or if it's a song of a different genre reworked as a novelty. Like Limp Bizkit's version of "Faith" . That said, would something like Give it Away by RHCP work for all of you?

G strings can definitely cause excessive wear on your nu.... No I can't do it. I can't help but best of luck @LeperMesiah

There's much better advice above than anything I can give as I don't normally have problems sleeping, but I definitely agree about not going to bed too soon after getting in. I normally have an hour or two just chilling out on my own afterwards. Play computer games or watch something rubbish on the telly that doesn't require too much thought (normally at that time it's Family Guy or American Dad) to relax and have a beer and maybe a bite to eat. Then go to bed when I'm tired otherwise I'll just be laying there trying to suppress the ringing in my ears and thinking that I've gone to bed too early.

I'm not into the show and obviously that's stupid money for a guitar, but I do think they look great nonetheless.

Oh my!

Sounds like it's going to be ace. Nerves are normal, but what's the worst that can happen? You might play a bum note and if you do that probably no one will really notice and if they do they aren't going to judge you for it. Just concentrate on keeping in time with the rest of the band and you'll be fine. Have fun!

That looks ace with the stripes. I'm planning a future build with this shape but neck through with the raised section as some sort of laminate of different coloured wood to the top and bottom sections. So that picture has helped me visualise it a bit!

Haha! I know what you mean. It's a fantastic resource but can be a bit frustrating to use. Cheers mate, I've sent you a PM.

Thanks for the encouraging words! I'm up to the end of the second chorus but haven't really practised it for about a week. In between getting home from work and the kids being asleep I have a small window for making noise and my time in that window is generally taken up with more pressing matters! I've been using this Songsterr link. To my ears it seems pretty good so far. My transcribing skills are pretty hopeless, which is another thing I'm hoping to work on with that playlist I've made.

We do that one. Lots of root and 5th in it. Personally I think it gets a bit boring. I made myself an iPod playlist of songs I either want to learn or enjoy playing. Currently trying to learn Wake Me Up Before You Go Go but it's probably a bit advanced for me. I need to try and dedicate some time to it.

This is probably no help at all but I built a preamp pedal from this layout. I think it gives a really nice tone to my passive P and J basses. Particularly the J.

Ooof! Glad you're still here to post about it at least. The advice from @Mykesbass seems pretty solid. Maybe if you take it really slowly and have lots of patience with it playing the bass may have some positive rehabilitative effect? The alternative (and I hope you take this in good humour - feel free to tell me to f*** off if not) is that you get a left handed bass, have your left hand replaced with a hook and learn to play with that. Plus you could still earn a few quid playing Captain Hook at children's parties. On a more serious note, best of luck for the convalescence, keep posting and check in on the Bad Jokes thread for a chuckle every so often.

That is a good point. I hadn't thought about glue getting into the channels. That's definitely something I'm going to have to have a think about. Does anyone have any recommendations about the best sort of glue to use for that?

Thanks! I did a J bass from a kit I got for my birthday last year and I came across both those issues. For drilling the screw holes for the neck I just clamped it in place and drilled through the body and into the neck as slowly and carefully as possible. I did nearly make an unsightly mess drilling the hole between bridge and pickup with a normal length bit and only just about got away with it. Thankfully on this one we have top wood to go over the face of the body, so I'm going to cut channels through the body for running the wires. Which can then be covered by the top. I've no idea how they do the solid bodies with the holes for the wires drilled horizontally through. I'm presuming it must be a tiny team of Lemmings, like in the old computer game.