Soledad

Gone in a flash.

Here we are. This one is all beech (oak wedges for the stretchers so it can knock down). I'm still using this one after 4 years so that's a good sign The big one in background was the 8 footer, twin screw vice etc. Too far to walk from one end to the other...

I've built quite a few benches for myself over the years and they have become more simple as I realise that (for me anyway) is better. Chris Schwarz in the U.S. has done a book and many articles on the subject (when he was editor at Popular Woodworking) - worth a quick Google. A few things I think worth considering: - frame stiffness - really important, especially when using hand tools. - work height - CS goes rather low but kitchen worktop height (900mm) is usually too high. My current is about 820mm I think. Hand tool users tend lowish, power tool users a bit higher, a compromise is always involved. - depth front to back - 20" is enough. Tool recesses are loved or loathed. I'm the latter - just fill up with shavings and lose tools in them. - vices - I have 2, a face and an end. On my current I have 2 Record 52 which is the smaller 7" and is way powerful enough even when making a door. The 7" is faster to use, a little more compact and can be found with quick release (I use that all the time) and an option of the pop-up end stop (on my end vice). I use that with 3/4" dogs along the top for clamping panels etc when planing. Generally I like quite small benches (current is 6 foot). I made an 8 footer with sliding deadman etc once but it was bigger than necessary. So basically I would say fairly hefty legs and stretchers (for mass and stiffness), can be softwood but chunky is good. Personally I'd be using solid softwood top, 3 x 2 turned on edge, 10 of those bonded together then planed flat. Reason for that is mass (always very good in a bench) and stiffness (I mainly use hand tools though). Benches are fascinating to me - I've made several commercially for other woodworkers and it becomes a thing - I just need to do another one... that kind of thing (quite like basses then). But I'm happy with my 6 footer now - I called it the Hemingway after 'The Old man and the Sea - that line about humility. It's a humble bench but a real good user. Do have a look at what Chris S has written (he's a bench obsessive) and I can do some pics of mine if it's of any interest. btw, the Records can be found on the bay around £30-ish,, but look for the QR ones. Here's a thread on the Hemingway build https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/post1007933.html?hilit=hemingway#p1007933

4 string set off my Jazz (thru-body). I think they are 45-105. Silk ends a bit marked but strings as new. Free to good home

I did a search but missed it:

Just been through the exact same issue in Kent / SE London. Found a place in Guildford - but my point is it would be a great database for the forum: amp techs and guitar/bass techs by area.

Yup, I think so. Sounds very straight and clean. Seller says 'sensible offers considered' so I suspect 300 might do it - that's £100 a lump which is nuts. Surely you can find a corner for that Mick? I'm a bit tempted but it would cause trouble at home...and abroad, given the volume levels

Maybe someone can find a home for this lot on Gumtree, asking 350 - that's a pound a watt with 4 x 10s and a 15 thrown in, plus some boxes and a load of sliders... lights up too. https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-bass-amplifiers/trace-elliot-bass-rig-ah350x-with-gp11-graphic-preamp-mkv-plus-speaker-cabs/1351202381

Just bought a DarkGlass comp from Banjo - really well packed in original box etc, looks mint. Arrived super-quick. Recommended without hesitation - top BCer. Trade with confidence.

I've been doing the top-line (vocal, lead instrument whatever) 'practice' for a long time now, esp on fretless. I reckon it's the very best way of opening up the fingerboard, becoming far more confident with bigger intervals, breaking out of the habit boxes of usual noodling playing. All round really good. Try some Jerry Douglas lap steel solos, Lady Gaga's Joanne vocal; a part of a Bach 'cello suite or some Miles Davis trumpet.... if you feel a bit boxed into safe shapes (normally within one octave) try this for a while, you'll never look back.

I recently picked up a UK built MAG250 combo (210) for rehearsal space so it runs at quite low levels, but I read somewhere they are known for overheating due maybe to no fan cooling. Anyone else know about this? Must say it's a cracking combo for the £120 I paid - good core sound and versatile EQ. Used other Ashdown rigs and always been impressed. I reckon it's partly a fashion thing, with weights also a bit of a factor for some. Top Gear, as they say on the streets of Amsterdam

Proper useful @itu - the 'Boss' standard is negative pin I believe and does seem to be the current near-standard. I think I have seen some jack-to-jack connectors with no cable - just solid direct for the side fitted jack in/outs - if you follow? Your suggested order makes sense I think - i'll start with that. The tuner tees off the Sad. so signal path isn't too bad.

I use isolated pedals sometimes but I need a board. This raises some basic questions I'm a bit stuck on: Power supply. Is centre negative a kind of standard? Can I get a basic say 500mA supply and a daisychain - job done? Signal. Say 4 pedals. What is the best way to connect signal through a chain like this. I mean short, tidy, and signal-clean? Order. I plan a Sadowsky SBP1 (got), a compressor; a chorus (got) and a tuner. Note pre-amp will be out most of time and used to add some gain and push tops sometimes. Is there a basic logic to pedal order? Tips from the experienced out there much appreciated

You never expected to get away with that did you. Please clarify 'nastier' and if it's a negative define nicer.

Agreed. You get the least of both - lack the body / punch of flats in the lows and mids, and lack the wide spectrum brightness of rounds at the top. And they squeak. And I don't like 'em. EB Cobalts.

Not my experience with them at all. I definitely recommend Cobalts. I asked the same question here a little while ago and that led me to the Cobalts which I use on a stock US P. They don't sound at all like rounds (I have D'Addario rounds on the Jazz and had them on the P before the EBs). I'd describe them, as bright flats with all the bottom and lower middle that flats are famous for, but with a really useful crunch in the lower treble, which can be dialled in and out on the bass in a flash. Love 'em. This old thread may be handy

That's been my long time impression. Either I have become desensitised to SPL (hearing loss then), or modern amps are less loud watts for watts. I definitely remember the Acoustic 360 / 361 rig being massively loud, befor that a Hiwatt 100 (OK, with 2 412s) silly loud. And in all my experience the Traces I have used belong to the brave old school... LOUD. A word for the 7 band graphic - really well chosen frequencies, lots of mid shaping available. Very few current class Ds offer the same degree of EQ, and when they try it just seems complicated. 7 sliders, job done.

Loud amps save lives... tasty. Sorry to digress, but what strings are on the P?

Correct. We don't ask how or why. We just know and respect. The end.

I'd say this takes first place... for now. Wondering how you store 72 basses, and what it looks like? Bass Direct I suppose

Can't comment on value, but I wouldn't be wanting 15s for what you plan. Maybe a 15 and 210 but prob no 15s at all. Mind you I like 10s, the more the better !!

Welcome! Let me guess, Thw White House was pre-Donald ??? me too, don't have those down my way. Thinking about it, I've probably played some without knowing that's what they were called

That's me too - lost a fiver on a Sire, made 20 on a Dean fretless, broke even on the Yamaha... It may be harder on amps/cabs as they are gigged and may deteriorate a bit with use / trucking. But when I buy a bass I want it to be a keeper, if not I reckon lose maybe 10% max and consider that a lease charge for having the bass for some months - and that 'loss' is a worst case really. You'll gather I don't buy new stuff Sorry to hear this. My post was quite light-hearted as I haven't lost so far on the 4 sold and would not feel too bad if I needed to sell 4 more - i'd just keep one Jazz I think. OK the Mayo fretless as well, and here we go I do think that if you are buying decent 2nd hand basses at a fair market price, you will be able to sell on without losing much if anything. I do avoid custom basses, I think they are far harder to price and value.