Mottlefeeder

A couple of things that might help - a) Practice for a few days with a rubber band around your ring finger and pinkie to help you get used to them working together. b) start working on songs, one key at a time, relearning the finger patterns when using the 5th string. David

An 8 ohm recone kit to make it into a standard deltalite 12 II would include a new coil, but the UK price appears to be around £100 from Lean audio. David

One of the most effective ways to get lead into your body is to handle solder, then roll a cigarette and smoke it. Lead contaminated paper, high temperature combustion, perfect. David

The mini Vong may only be 12dB/octave but the HPF/LPF Vong has a 12dB/octave 30Hz filter followed by a 12dB/octave variable filter, bringing you closer to the thumpinator 36dB/octave. There is also the FDeck HPF where the current generation are also 12dB fixed + 12dB variable. There is a tried and tested veroboard layout for this on a DIY pedals site. <http://guitar-fx-layouts.42897.x6.nabble.com/F-deck-HPF-Series-3-td44880.html If you have a builder available that would be an option. David

Thanks for asking. I'm still very happy with it from a portability and sound point of view, but the guts hanging off the back is a bit unsightly, so I may rebuild it into a slightly larger case in order to tidy that up - but keeping the same enclosure size and tuning. I took it down to the SW bass bash and it was liked by those who tried it, so I'm also happy that my enthusiasm for it is justified. As far as volume is concerned, I've been asked to turn it down on a couple of occasions outdoors, so it is plenty loud enough to keep up with acoustic guitars, vocals and electronic drums going through the PA at appropriate volumes for a street market. A 7AHr 12v battery lasts about 4 hours, so taking a spare battery means I'm set up for the day. David

A car stereo booster amplifier from a reputable brand will give you about 70w into an 8 ohm speaker and will run off a £17 12 volt battery for a couple of hours. Most are sensitive enough that you can plug an active bass into it and get almost full volume out of it. Unknown brands of far-east models may only give you about 10w, but anything badged as complying with CEA 2006 should give RMS power in the specification regardless of what sales have screen printed on the casing. My last two builds included the speaker enclosures, but you will get the general idea from them. David

Have you got room for a blob of hot melt glue to strengthen the joint or to anchor the cable to the pickup? David

The Omni 10 was a 2 x 10 design that some builders chopped in half to make 1 x 10s (AKA Omni 10.5). Bill commented at the time that the port tuning was retained, but the modified cab was more likely to chuff due to the reduced port size. The Jack 10 was designed to replace it. With only two tweeters, your version was built for bass use. The PA version used several piezo tweeters, either in a single column, or cut and glued as pairs in a double column. David

Replied to Kev's 'MXR81 wanted' post. We agreed the price, and although I made it clear I was out of the area for a few days, and could not pack/post it till I got pack, Kev transferred the full amount to my account almost immediately. Good communications, hassle free transaction. David

The US string adapter has a convex dished end to the screw and a corresponding concave dish at the bottom of the clamp screwhole. As you tighten the screw, it crimps the string and prevents it unraveling (so they say). I have successfully removed cut strings and put them back on, so it does appear to work. Thomann sell a similar string adapter. https://www.thomann.de/gb/steinberger_guitars_stadb05_adapter_5_string_bk.htm I've also found that bending strings through 90 degrees does not work with flatwounds. David

I have two of these, and would happily buy another if I needed one. https://leathergraft.co.uk/shop/ols/products/the-softy-guitar/v/4" Soft Brwn David

#16 Mottlefeeder David

I guessed its main purpose by the unblemished state it was in - a tool used for its purpose and treated with respect. My feeler gauges became redundant as soon as I earned enough to pay someone else to service my car, so I'm thinking of them as thin, sacrificial, toughened steel. David

One of the nice things about talking to other players and makers is what you learn without realising at the time. I was talking to @Andyjr1515 while he was filing the aforementioned nut, and afterwards I suddenly realised that his feeler gauge blade on the fretboard would protect it from scratches. This would also be a solution to the problem I have filing down excess superglue on a repair to the finish on one of my basses - so thank you Andy. David

Hi folks, Yes the battery combo is mine, and it was a feedback howl that took out a fuse. I sized the original fuse for the size of wires I used, so it did its job, but I need to rethink the internal wiring - anyone know a source of cheap welding cable... Mrs Mottlefeeder and I made a weekend of our visit, and only got home a couple of hours ago, so somewhat belatedly, may I now add my thanks to the organisers and helpers. David

Time for an update. I managed to buy the thicker superglue from a site with a 2 week delivery, so nothing happened for a while. I checked that the glue did not bleach the existing wood dye, and then put on the first coat. When it dried I noticed that there were now flecks of white in the original finish around the new glue, which was worrying, but they came off by wiping with a damp paper towel. To be safe, I shrouded the working area with masking tape, then put on a few more coats. Unfortunately, trying to get viscous glue to stay put on an external corner is much like telling a cat to do something. The result was the the glue spread as far as the masking tape, and also created bulges that I am now in the process of filing down. In summary, superglue is going to work, but it is going to be a long job. David

Mine would be shorter - easier to sneak into the house

Time to cross that one off then.

As well as the Ibanez ABG I will be bringing a couple of headless basses, a Hohner B2V (passive 5-string, twin pups, VVT, cricket bat shape with soft case) and a kit built passive 4-string, originally Hohner Jack shaped till I trimmed its wings, twin pups, VVT and with a soft case - both will be for sale. David

For the benefit of the DIYers attending, my band has managed to write off a couple of speaker enclosures, but I salvaged the drive units - I can bring them if anyone has a use for them: I have the speaker and crossover from a Soundlab 12 inch PA speaker and the speaker, crossover and horn driver from a Studiospares Crescendo 10 inch speaker. David

Having a double bass to play through the smaller speaker cabs would be interesting, but not if it causes you loads of hassle. David

Another point worth considering, if you choose to make text files with chords above lyrics, using tabs between chords wil be unlikely to put them in the right place when imported into another app. Using only spaces gives a much more stable layout. David

Chordpro puts chords exactly where you want them in the vocal line, but unless you also put the bar lines [also in square brackets] in the vocal line, it will only display chords over vocals, which gives you insufficient information to be confident how many beats you have until the next change. If the song is one chord per bar, and always on beat 1, this is not an issue, but something like 'Easy' with it's occasional lines starting on beat 4 will give you problems. A lot depends on whether your chord sheet is a one-gig learning aid, or something you plan to use, without further refreshing, at some point in the future. David

My preference would be for chords above vocals, and bar lines where the chords are not on beat 1. This probably rules out Chordpro as a format. I use the Chordle app on a Windows tablet or my home PC. It imports from lead sheets or Chordpro sheets, and will then very easily change the key and/or show the real chord or played chord if a capo is used. David