Marc Day

Well these two are among the prettiest I've seen and I'm lucky enough to own them myself

I know what you mean about the Status thing. They are punchy. Until the mid 90s I actually had a pair of series IIs (one fretless) and wish I still had them. If you think about it though Raven's sound always was pretty consistent whatever bass he was playing and there could be any number of reasons for that from string gauges to amps. I'm not sure if you noticed on that clip of Chessboards, but he had a graphite neck on the Stingray he was playing, so I guess there must be something about it. I'd definitely go for graphite for fretless, as you can see. I don't know about you, but I've always gone for a sound with a bit less bottom end and more middle so that it cuts without being too loud and boomy. What Geddy Lee calls the twang.

Quite right, but I'd already made the comment before I realised how old his post was. When I did I messaged him out of curiosity asking how it all worked out for him 7 years down the line. Judging by some of his more recent posts I'd say pretty well. It would be interesting to find out. Thing is I kind of found the thread by accident rather than finding it here. I'd googled something about Raven and it came up and caught my eye. Still wouldn't have hurt to check the date first.

The fact that you've been inspired by Raven and want to develop a similar sound, but make it your own tells me that you're already on the right track. Raven and Geddy Lee are my all time fave bass players. Obviously totally different players and music, but the thing they had in common was that they always played what was perfect for the song. The right sound and an understanding of the music is what it's about for me.

Hi Miccus, I actually went to visit Doug 4 or 5 years ago when he was living near Ramsgate. At the time he had his house on the market and was planning to move back here to Maidstone which is our home town. I haven't spoken to him since, so I don't know how that went. I do know a few people that could help there, so leave it with me and I'll see what I can find out. Attached a pic of the bass he made for me around 85. You'll notice that the headstock is bare. Oddly enough, that was one reason for that visit. I was hoping that he'd put the Erskine logo on it, but he didn't have any decals at the time. I'd still like one. That rosewood Strat sounds really familiar. At the time he was making my bass I definitely recall him telling me that he'd made one or was making one for someone and that it weighed a ton, but the sustain went on forever. As I said I'll see what I can do. Marc.

Bloody typical! After all that b*****ks the intonation was fine anyway. The up side was that the method I devised worked really well. It meant that I was able to check it properly this time and if I ever actually have to do it I'll know how. It might come in handy for some of you other smoothies out there, so this is what I did. It's very simple, but it works well. Cut a narrow strip (about 2 mm) of tape and place it as squarely as poss across the neck on the octave as a reference. Instead of holding the string down with your finger, use something narrow and rigid, so that there's far less margin for error. Anything will do, but the Allen key for the truss rod was handy and I used that. Job done. Looks like I answered my own question in the end, but thanks again everyone for your input.

Might not be much help, but that's definitely the funniest comment so far. Nice one!

Good thinking Batman! Might try that.

Point taken, thanks very much. Looks very much like it is as Hit and miss as I was sure it wouldn't be. I have the info I need and a plan to deal with it, so I should be fine now. Cheers mate.

Being fairly new to the site and not that familiar with how it works, I felt that although the repair and tech forum was the right place for it I wasn't sure it might reach more people in general discussion so I did both.

Gentlemen, Thank you all very much for your input. I think I have enough info now to deal with this little issue, if it actually does need to be done in the end. The discussion has taken up a good deal of my time today and looks like it will still run on for a while, so I'd prefer to bow out at this point. Please don't think me rude if I don't respond to any messages etc, it's just that I have a lot of other things to attend to and simply don't have the time. Thanks again.