Al Heeley

I'd be wary of Tung oil - it is a natural product and variable, and I don't think it has driers added to it like Tru-oil does. Some lots can take a long time to dry and that sticky feeling can stay for many weeks. Tru-oil is not tung oil, its got some tung in it as well as linseed (boiled) and dryers.

+1 from me too, I have an ex-girlfriend who is a practicing AT, did wonders for me, she did a lot of good work with musicians (no she wasn't shagging the band...., just the bassist )

Uh-oh - no pickups or bridge, screwdriver by your feet - the telltale signs are there, have you been naughty?

[quote name='lowdown' post='441504' date='Mar 22 2009, 08:14 AM']They dont - thats what rewire is for... Garry[/quote]OK , what's rewire about then? Just as I thought i was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel....

Strips of that foam mat you use to lie on when you go camping - resiliant and long lasting with the right amount of give.

Eight: you are right about Ableton, very user-friendly, after 1/2 an hour I'd imported some drum loops from EZdrummer, synched 4 different keyboard midi tracks and played a bass groove along at the same time thru an audio track. It has a GUI feel that I find a lot easier and more logical to move around in so i guess the Cubase LE will gather some more dust while I learn the ropes.

I thought craft supplies were going stagnant on their support of guitar building, less and less stock, no-one who is able to answer questions knowledgably, etc. I get my truss rods from Touchstone Tonewoods (and fingerboards too - their ebony and rosewood is usually really nice quality)

[quote name='solo4652' post='440006' date='Mar 20 2009, 09:00 AM']Thanks for all your replies. It turns out that the drummer is a bit of a computer boffin, so he's taking responsibility for this. Thankfully. Steve[/quote] Blimey, thats a turn up, I reckon our drummer would struggle getting the pc out of its box.

The MM Gunstock oil is Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil, marvellous stuff for oil-finishing a guitar body and neck. I have used it on quite a few builds to show off a natural wood. You can take loads and loads of very thin coats to build up quite a good gloss, but with a neck, then 5 or 6 thin coats (I'm talking wipe with a few drops on a rag here) over a weekend give s a superb silky smooth feel to a neck with protection against moisture/grease, cream crackers and tiny insects. You can buy Tru-Oil online if you don't have a repuatble gunsmiths handy. Try google or ebay. its so easy to apply, virtually idiot-proof and the discerning choice of many top luthiers, of which i wish i was one. I have finished my recent replica ricky maple build with tru-oil and it gives the maple a lovely warm glow withou much yellowing or darkening. Once fully dry, finish off with a gentle scotchbrite pad rub-down then a coat of good quality antique furniture wax, beeswax or carnauba, as Shaggy says.

+1 sound advice (no pun intended) - thanks guys. Will look thru some of the tutorials now and try to get soundcard/asio/midi configured correctly in Ableton and Cubase (and reaper - which came with my new vypyr lead amp) and see which I get on best with. I'm presuming all of these will have similar access to the VST instruments, to run EZdrummer and guitar rig/amplitude, etc...?

I'm a vista user here. I'll have a go with Ableton - I have a demo copy (live 5.1). One problem is trying to work out which settings I should use - I have Asio4all, also creative asio, then theres directx options, creative multimedia full and half duplex and another one like wmp or something. [quote]Once you have Cubase up and running, i would invest in a decent audio card[/quote]Oops, just spent £80 on this top-of-range X-Fi Elite pro creative audio card, I was running of an on-board soundchip before, I thought this was a significant upgrade!

[quote]Does the new version time out now when the evaluation period is over?[/quote] I'll let you know in about 12 days......

thx guys, yes the bass records, but the midi keyboard attached does nowt. Is it worth trying to get hold of a copy of Ableton? My brother has a big library of such software as he works in the business.

I clicked around wildly and got not only the bass to play thru the X-Fi but also to register on Cubase as a recording level, which is greta progress. Yr advice about getting a How-To book off Amazon is sound, thx. Not tried to import an mp3 yet (i didn't know you could..!) Others have also said Cubase is 'orrible. All the decent packages seem to cost an arm and a leg though. [edit] mp3 imports and plays fine. Geez this is progress!

I'm struggling to get started in cubase and all the midi settings, its doing my head in. I need advice about where to start. I upgraded my soundcard to a creative X-fi Elite Pro (it was really cheap) with external interface so I could use the PC to record multitrack, with guitar, drum machine, synth and bass input. the soundcard came with Cubase 4 LE and IK's Amplitube. I also have EZdrummer installed. I can't find the right settings within cubase to get the drums, keyboard, guitar (via Amplitude) fired up and recording, I have no idea which of the myriad of settings I need to choose - is there a good tutorial site that could take me step by step thru the process so i can start making music?

[quote name='51m0n' post='439386' date='Mar 19 2009, 04:22 PM']Reaper. really not going to bother saying again![/quote] $225 for a full licence thou! The poster is asking for free recording software, i would assume a free copy of audacity is adequate, not a multitrack cubase-type program.

Wow! Love the headstock :wub:

I put together a simple A/B pedal with some switches and LED's from Maplins plus a £3.50 metal enclosure. The one I use all the time at gigs now is an A/B + X/Y pedal I put together, Stingray goes into A, Jazz Bass goes into B, footswitch 1 chooses between A or B Amp output is X, Tuner output is Y, footswitch 2 toggles between them. When you want the amp to mute, press footswitch 2 to tuner. Each input and output has its own LED so I know what options are chosen. Its simple but very handy. I posted a few schematics recently if anyone wanted to put one together for themselves.

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=160319444251"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=160319444251[/url] Can i interest anyone in my Boss GT-5 pedal? Excellent condition, complete with hand-crafted custom made wooden flight case.

[quote name='JackLondon' post='432899' date='Mar 12 2009, 09:18 PM']I've got one of those [url="http://www.nevadamusic.co.uk/brands/Line_6/Software/sc1292/b1348/p7428.aspx"]http://www.nevadamusic.co.uk/brands/Line_6...1348/p7428.aspx[/url] You can plug monitors straight into the unit so you don't get any latency in your sound playback, works the magic that bit of kit [/quote] I was looking at these units too, but wasn't sure if their performance would be throttled by my pc only having a basic onboard soundcard.

That answers a lot of initial questions - thanks, so it looks like theres more than just the bass/usb interface, if my pc soundcard is just a basic motherboard one its going to limit performance, latency and sound quality?

Aww, £800? Thats a beaut. I want it.

Any advice about best way to record guitar & bass to a pc? I am told line into soundcard mic or soundcard line in is useless for sound quality and latency, and that you need an external 'soundcard'(?) or usb guitar interface such as this available from maplins [http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222445] I see line6 do a similar interface. I only have a pretty standard soundcard built into my Dell motherboard. I have no idea if I need an 'external soundcard' but I'm assuming the above interface is not a soundcard? I want to be able to record multitrack on the pc with synth drums/softsynth keyboard, bass, guitar, as well as use software such as Guitar Rig, etc. to model amps and effects. Any advice would be cool as I'm pretty much a novice at this thing.

Just a scan from a photo in a guitar book, resized in photoshop then traced onto paper. Nothing fancy or clever really! Send me yr address, I'll put it in the post to you, i don't need it now. Cheers, Al