Shaggy

Hehe - you KNOW you'll be trading it back to me one of these days Chris...... Seriously; even compared to other '80's Wals this one is an absolute gem - it was only prised out of my hot little hands as Chris was an absolute star and helped me acquire something I wanted more, Enjoy mate, and I reckon an unlined ebony board would look so right with that wenge body

[quote name='zawinul' timestamp='1437921767' post='2829990'] Cheers this all sounds like good advice. What's the best cleaner? People have said use Tung oil which dries hard like expoxy would this be a.good idea? [/quote] I'm fairly sure there's Tung oil as an ingredient in the Danish oil I mentioned above - it does dry hard, but more like a sealant than a varnish, and does seem to actually harden the wood; I've generally used round wound strings and the (ebony) board on my 1977 Ovation Magnum 1 fretless is almost unmarked. As pointed out, ebony is a very non-absorbent wood, so a very light application is all it needs

I don't know if this is recognised good practice as I'd picked it up from carpentry, but I've always used it on my ebony fretless boards (in fact all uncoated boards) and keeps them pretty much pristine and sealed against grot / sweaty hands - clean board off with methylated spirits (on cloth or kitchen tissue), rub on a light coat of Danish oil with a bit of soft cloth, rub off excess oil after a minute or so, leave for a couple of days to dry hard, and polish with a dry cloth before re-stringing

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=24e-B00iiws

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1435693206' post='2811591'] I once accidentally stalked a guy- Firstly, I joined a Gibson leaning vintage guitar forum to ask a specific question about Gibson three point bridges, and a couple of chaps there were very helpful. Completely separately, whilst planning to add some pickups to my Squier Precision TB I came across a super cool Tele bass with an Alembic p-bass pickup in it. It was similar to what I wanted to do, and was just cool as hell! On an unrelated note, whilst nerding up on Gibson EB-0s and Melody Maker basses I randomly clicked on a guy's soundcloud, and really dug what I heard- mudbuckers, fuzz, and improvised space rock! Slowly but surely the screen-names started to look familiar, and I realised that the Gibson guy, the 'Telembic' guy, and the mud-fuzz guy were all one and the same! By pure chance, I had completely separately found and dug his basses and the music he made on them! I didn't think of it until I mentioned it on that first forum, but I think it crept him out, and it left me feeling a bit weird too. Regardless, those basses and tunes were pretty cool! [/quote] Excellent - and I hope you've checked out http://www.flyguitars.com run by our own EvilLordJuju I generally seem to trade / deal with the same BC'ers, traded a a load of gear with a member whose name starts with "B" and ends with "eedster" including no less than THREE double-deals, i.e. one has sold to the other and then bought it back again!

Good thread; reminded me just how good and quintessentially English the lyrics on "Dark side..." are From "Wish you were here" on I thought Waters writing got rather self indulgent and relentlessly "one man versus The System", but always a clever song-writer. IMHO he was the "Lennon" to Gilmour's "McCartney", and both were stronger when working with the other

"Brittle-dick" as Ian Anderson teasingly but affectionally called him on stage.... +1 to all above, Tull was the first "proper" rock band I got into when moving on from Slade, T Rex etc

Saw this very bass today: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hayman-40-40-bass-guitar-rare-not-many-of-these-about-/121673862391?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item1c5453ccf7 whilst browsing for obscure vinyl in a secondhand shop in Ammanford - have to say it's rather tasty...... I know nothing about these other that they're the precursors to Shergold (which in turn passed on a few genes to Wal basses) Apparently missing transparent plastic covers on the pickups. Seems a tad pricey to me, but if I can assist in haggling / picking up for anyone interested let me know

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1432767134' post='2784893'] Be grateful yours has obviously been tastefully restored. I have seen some horrendeous jobs done on some of those oldies. Funny, because the scratchplate with the controls mounted on it like that reminded me of the ghastly Rosetti Lucky Seven a mate of mine had. Pickups and controls including jack socket all in this ugly lump of white plastic..... Yours looks rather nice! [/quote] I think Broadway were a budget brand of the importer Rose-Morris, with various UK and Euro parts stuck together depending on what was at hand. Maybe Rosetti was also? The pickups / electrics / pickguard assembly isn't actually recessed into the body at all, it "floats" above it on little mounts, and as there's no room for a full size jack socket it has a tiny one instead (oo-er.....). No truss rod (though neck is laminated and still perfectly straight) basic as can be, but actually plays very nice, and has that "instant '60's" Gretsch-type tone Mine was a junk-shop find for £30, I was actually going to strip the pickups out to use in a bass project and trash the guitar, but then didn't have the heart to. The finish was irretrievably knackered with punk-era graffiti painted all over it so had to be stripped, and I did the nitro refin. Likewise I fitted the Bigsby and roller bridge, keeping the incredibly basic wooden bridge and trapeze tailpiece Really liking that Fenton-Weill bass of yours - is it short scale?

Very cool, not seen one like that before! I've got an early '60's "Broadway" semi-acoustic guitar with twin Fenton Weil pickups - look very similar to the units on your bass. The pickups are indeed fantastic units (Excuse crappy pic)

Once saw a mid-60's Hofner Strat-styled guit*r with almost identical finish - with the benefit of natural relic-ing it was very cool indeed in a Tex-Mex kind of way.....

Hell of a good score on both! Our local guitar shop hap one of those Antoria EB-2 copies back in the late '70's, which I lusted after as a spotty but penniless 16 year old. I attempted a straight swap for my Kalmazoo KB1 bass, to which the response was a pitying smile and a reply to the effect of "run along, sonny". The KB1 would probably be worth around £300 or so today (the less common Mustang copy type - cost me all of £20) Enjoy those two - Jap (?) but far from cr@p

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1429522570' post='2752148'] I've never had one break on me, am I doing it wrong? [/quote] Gibson had a bit of a name for it when almost all of their guitars and basses were mahogany necked / no volute behind the truss rod adjust point / large headstocks (early T'birds being a classic example). Back to the OP - bass has to smell right, and not keen on very light basses - I like to know I'm wearing it, and occasionally wrestle with it.....