Shaggy

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1481912293' post='3196270'] You spray paper cones and possibly rubber surrounds with hairspray! I see your logic of sealing things kinda! but knowing what chemicals etc that are in hairspray. Then I can not understate how much I would say this is a bad thing! As it could break down elements of the cone material and weaken glue. Looking at the first ingredient in hair spray is Alcohol! Which isn't a good thing for paper or glue or rubber! Etc etc. Then a whole host of other stuff that doubtfully would would protect a driver as a coating. But more likely break it down or weaken it. Not to mention even a few light coatings will start to add mass as some elements will remain on the cone after every coating. Changing the drivers specs. I hope that wasn't the cause of your hifi speakers disintegrating. Please no one coat there drivers in hairspray. [/quote] I'd be the first to admit there's no scientific basis for my tip - I think it was a tech who passed it onto me one time - and should also point out that my gear is almost invariably vintage (20 years old plus) so it probably helps revive rather tired cones; hairspray is essentially just a very light lacquer. Anyone with newer drivers you're probably right - don't mess with the cones, especially as they're blends of other materials such as Kevlar these days No, didnt mess with the hi-if speakers before the repair, in fact they were a real pig to get at! Researching a bit after the event, perishing of the foam rubber cone mounting was a common cause of failure with the drivers on Dahlquist speakers

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1481848696' post='3195764'] Everything decays eventually but speakers are fairly resilient. the biggest problem is likely to be damp. Small amounts of moisture will make the paper cone swell over time and eventually may cause it to distort. [/quote] From the "Blue Peter" school of speaker maintenance: if I'm changing drivers or have the cab grille off for any reason, I usually give the cones a quick spray with Mrs Shaggy's hairspray - helps to seal the paper against damp / stains, and also gets them looking nice and black again (unless they were never black in the first place of course....). It's a tip artists use for sealing watercolour paintings and pictures done in pastel - too much I'm sure would over-stiffen the cone, but just a touch seems to help them last in good condition [quote name='ead' timestamp='1481894569' post='3196049'] Don't know whether it's urban legend or not, but I have heard suggestions that speakers should be stored & transported on the backs so the sagging effect is minimised. [/quote] Haven't heard that one, but large drivers (eg: 15") are apparently prone to "cone sag" and you're supposed to rotate the cab through 180 degrees every now and again when stored to compensate for this. Never done it, mind....... [quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1481897788' post='3196104'] Years ago, the speaker in my Gallien Krueger 200MB (the little 1x12 combo) fell apart - the cone just parted company with the surround, having hardened and crumbled away. [/quote] Never happened to me with a bass cab, and somewhere like Wembley loudspeakers could do a proper repair of course. But another "Blue Peter" bodge; my prized 1970's Dahlquist DQ-10 hi-fi speakers started farting a few years ago, and inevitably I found that the foam rubber mountings for the cones on the woofer drivers had disintegrated, as above. Stuck them back to the frame surround with adhesive woven acrylic tape (used for surgical dressings) smeared with silicone rubber sealant, with a bit of a fold to allow movement - still going strong.

I'd have sworn the OP bass has a curly koa facing, rather than walnut - but whatever it is it's a fabulous looking beastie...... Just to add to the porn; I'll include my '76 long scale S1 in bird's eye maple.

Good score, and looks to be in great nick. Ibanez's finest ever bass IMHO Only bass of the zillions that have passed through my hands that I ever bought new (1980, from Hesseys in Liverpool)

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1477435526' post='3162293'] I remember him when he worked at Probe Records in Liverpool in the late 70s/early 80s, first time i had seen weird contact lenses, he terrified me at 15! Very sad news. [/quote] Likewise - arriving at Uni in Liverpool in the late '70's as a country hick from E Anglia, Liverpool was a crazy and fascinating place. Being a music junkie I soon found and frequented Eric's club and Probe records - still have quite a few albums I bought at the latter. The strange looking tall dude behind the counter was fairly prickly with "straights and newbies", but a lovely guy to chat with once you were a regular. Didn't suss until quite a time after "you spin me round " that it was the same guy. Sad day.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1990-American-Showster-AS-57-Bel-Air-Special-Edition-Bass-/162046087968?hash=item25bab31320:g:NnAAAOSwJSJXGSxx Quite liking this, but it'd be better with a pair of Thunderbird-type chrome humbuckers

[quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1474487302' post='3138392'] Columbus jazz copies were pretty awful, build wise, but they played well enough . I owned one and made the mistake of stripping the finish to reveal wood. I say the word wood quite loosely It kind of resembled balsa mixed with papier mache [/quote] Also the pickups were only just about barely magnetic, and had the approximate output strength of a gnat's fart I put an old Gibson mudbucker on mine, and it made it into a half-decent bass

[quote name='Funky Dunky' timestamp='1473807408' post='3133356'] Lollars sound superb but are really expensive - I think you can only import them, and shipping alone is $41, not including import/customs taxes. If memory serves the pickup itself is about £90. A good pickup but pretty pricey once you add shipping from the States and import duty etc. Lindy Fralins are highly recommended, but I don't see what all the fuss is about - although to be fair I'm judging them entirely on home-made YouTube demos. I personally really like the Bareknuckle 58 Split P and the Nordstrand NP4, but you're talking £90-£100 for them. Short of replacing your '62 with another '62, you're really looking at something from the DiMarzio or Seymour Duncan ranges for round about the same money. [/quote] This I've used most of the boutique "vintage" split-coil P pickups, and favourite is definitely Lollar, but all those mentioned above are good. I got a a used Lollar on US evilBay for not too much

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1473878533' post='3133844'] My first SG copy was - action could be measured in metres! I'm not sure if it was an Avon or possibly a Columbus. Awful and probably put me off G-style basses until I got my Thunderbird. Kind of coming back to the OP, Gibson (in my mind) never really "got" the bass. Guitars are great (if you can stand the weight) but basses not quite so. IMHO [/quote] My very first bass was a genuine Gibson, of sorts - a mid-60's Kalamazoo KB-1, all of 25 quid in 1977. Pretty decent by the standard of cheapo basses of the time, despite the fact that Gibson sourced a toilet seat manufacturer to make the MDF body (pre-empting the Bongo, maybe? ) Second was a Columbus Jazz bass copy, of which firewood would be too kind a description. There were indeed some real dogs around back then. As BigRedX says; during the 60's / '70's Gibson basses were hugely popular, but seem to have got left behind in the '80's and been deeply unfashionable ever since. Shame, as in the early days at least Gibson were genuinely innovative, came up with some radical styling designs that are now iconic (and nicked by other high-end manufacturers such as Alembic, PRS etc), had a reputation for using very high quality tonewoods and proper old-school luthiery manufacturing techniques (rather than purely fast output cheap-as-possible machining), and designed and made some of the best pickups around. They wrote the book on manufacturing semi-acoustic guitars and basses, and came up with the humbucker. Some weak points; though personally I've never had an issue with the 3-point bridge that arouses such antipathy - to my mind the only major failing is the weak neck / headstock area on the earlier mahogany-necked basses. But maybe it's a good thing in a way, as vintage examples are still affordable to players, rather than the market being dominated by collectors (as Fender)

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1473582264' post='3131281'] Yes it's a bit of a beast. I'm not sure but I think it's vigier's own or possibly kahler. Very adjustable though and string through body. I could probably clean it up a little with some metal polish but I'm not 100% sure what it's made of. [/quote] Does look like a Kahler That's a beautiful looking bass - a bit of Guild and Rickenbacker styling in that body shape, much prettier than a Status IMO Good score ! Is this the one you had all the shipping hassle with?

I'm sure there's been a few threads on this topic, and bottom line is if you don't get it - you don't get it (as for any brand with a distinctive identity) Most people associate a "Gibson sound" with the typically warm, rather thuddy sound that their mahogany bodied, usually short-scale basses fitted with humbuckers made during the 1960's tended to produce. Since then they've used a range of other tonewoods, pickups, and circuitry - the Grabbers, Rippers and Explorers can sound very "Fendery" and the RD Arists can do about any tone there is. IMHO from the early '60's to the early '80's Gibson pushed the boundaries of bass design in terms of styling and ideas far more than (for instance) Fender and Rickenbacker ever tried to. I'd agree that they've been rather uninspiring since then though I own far too many basses, but Gibsons have always been the core ('58 EB-2, '65 Thunderbird IV, '69 EB-2D, '78 RD Artist, '81 RD Artist CMT) - for me it's because I like the warm, harmonic-rich tone of the earlier basses, I'm a big fan of semi- acoustics, and the playing ergonomics of the reverse-bodied basses suit me. As said above, they look good too.

That Super-400 is just beautiful Good luck with the project, the photography & production look fab