philw

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1407055454' post='2516870']
Done my own SQUIER custom p already. Sunburst with all maple white/pearl blocks/binding. And the black one also, but that's a Fender bitsa rather than Squier. The Squier wins, though. That's my go to bass.
[/quote]

I'm in the middle of a Squire bits build too. My black VM Jaguar HB already has a new mint green pick guard courtesy of Martin Sims, and will over the new few weeks have a maple fingerboard neck from a from Squire 50s Tele bass fitted. It already sounds very cool but will soon look equally cool.

[quote name='theyellowcar' timestamp='1407006084' post='2516652']
I love the idea Phil, and actually it makes relatively good sense for them commercially too - loads of parts sitting around doing nothing that could easily be bolted together and sold at a premium because of the customisation, without really impacting 'proper' Fender sales because it's 'still a Squier'.
[/quote]

Hmmm, I reckon it'd do exactly that - steal proper Fender sales. If I had say, £500 to spend on a custom, personally configured Squire or a standard MIM Fender, I'd go for the Squire.

It'd be an interesting thread to start actually: Configure your ideal Squire bass. You can select components from every currently available model.

P

I wish I was Fender you know 'cause with the parts bin I'd have available there'd be endless hours of fun to be had creating cool new models to torment people with. That 50s P Bass looks especially lovely.

I wonder what Fender would say to a proposal for a "Squire Custom Shop" business? The idea would be that customers could specify a bass created from almost any combination of the currently available Squire parts. The parts would be ordered direct from the various Squire manufacturing companies, the basses put together (with any mild fettling necessary) and shipped direct to the end customer. I reckon the business would be swamped with orders.

Anyway, in reality, I know exactly how Fender would respond to that idea, but hey, I can dream can't I?

Phil

Hmmm, I suspect I won't be able to hold out for ever on ordering a [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Maruszczyk.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]P[/font][/color]

Gulp! I've been lusting after that bass for a while now. Well done for buying it. Is it a 32" or 34"?

Mmmmm, it's not the colours I would have chosen, but that's lovely. Is it 32" scale?

P

Have an, "oh my giddy aunt that's gorgeous" bump.

P

I've always felt you know that my Wal doesn't like hanging and needs a slight truss-rod tighten if it's hung for a while. It may just be me though 'cause it has a neck built like a proverbial out-house and a really can't see why hanging would increase the relief. Anyway, these days I always put it on a stand rather than hang it. Anybody else with a Wal feel the same?

P

I've emailed Sims with an enquiry. Let's see.

P

Yeah I just noticed Sims is cheaper - quite surprised at that. I'm not looking for tort, no. Never really liked it myself. It's mint green for me.

P

Thanks both. I have a quote of £58 inc shipping (for a Jaguar bass scratch plate) from these guys: http://www.jacksinstrumentservices.com

Does that seem reasonable? Does anybody have experience of them?

Phil

Can anybody recommend the best/cheapest place to go for a custom made scratch plate?

Ta
Phil

Is the Jag neck sold, and is it by any chance a maple fingerboard (pics aren't displaying)?

Phll

[quote name='police squad' timestamp='1405239853' post='2499904']
I've got an XL2 with a plug in leg rest. 1983 I think. Fantastic bass guitar. In fact I'll take it to my Police tribute gig this afternoon.
If I had the money that L2 would be mine. GLWTS
[/quote]

An XL2 with a plug in? That's a rare beast. Must be a "transition" instrument.

And that L2 wouldn't be yours if you had the money, 'cause I'd have bought it already if I had the money :-)

P

Hmmm why are there so many wonderful basses up for sale at the moment? Everywhere I look there's one I want, no, sorry, need. Even Brighton Guitars had one (a Stonebridge acoustic bass) on display the other day that stopped me in my tracks and got my nose up against the window.

And now this truly gorgeous Stingray.

Please everybody, stop putting wonderful instruments up for sale and driving me towards wasting money on lottery tickets.

P

+1 for weneedstrings.com.

P

[quote name='cloudburst' timestamp='1405201351' post='2499726']

Never had the slightest issue with the XL's hinged leg rest - so I'm genuinely intrigued to understand how far is far? :-)

CB
[/quote]

In hindsight of course it should have been, "far superior in my opinion". It's the industrial designer in me speaking. I'm sure the hinged leg-rest works just fine, but it seems to me there's more design purity to the plug-in version. The hinged one is (to my way of thinking) just a touch Heath-Robinson in context of such a single-minded and logic-driven product. Of course, all the design purity in the world didn't stop most L2 plug-in leg-rests getting lost over the years, which I guess is why Ned S went for a fixed option option on the XL2. I'd like to think he drew the hinged version through gritted teeth though. I think I would have done, muttering something along the lines of, "well if they can't look after their plug-in leg-rests they can buy a friggin' Fender".

Damn! All this talk of L2s make me regret selling mine even more.

Good to hear Andy that an old pair of AE1s is still doing the business. They're great speakers which, sadly, I had nothing to do with. What you may not know however is that they were designed by Phil Jones - he of Phil Jones Bass fame. He and another guy, who's name escapes me, founded Acoustic Energy in London in the early 1980s. Small world innit?

Meanwhile, back on topic. Good luck with the L2 sale. Just make sure you're not going to regret saying goodby to it. You're unlikely to get another one.

Phil

Lovely

I had one just like that for a while - complete with boomerang and plug-in leg-rest (far superior to the XL2's hinged thing). Sold it about 8 years ago for £750. What a stupid, stupid thing to do.

Phil

All,

I'm planning to replace the standard rosewood fingerboard neck on my recently acquired Squire Jag HB with a maple fingerboard neck. I have two possible necks in mind. One is a Squire Matt Freeman P neck and one a Vintage Modified Squire tele bass neck.

The Jaguar neck has a radius on the end where it fits into the body, as does does the Matt Freman neck. The VM neck however is straight. So while the MF neck looks like it will fit, the VM neck will either leave a slight gap at the end (which is fine, cause I can cover that with the new custom scratch plate I'm getting) or, worst case, won't go all the way into the neck pocket. I fear the latter is most likely, which kind of rules out the tele neck.

Has anybody else been done this kind of route and have thoughts/advice?

Ta
Phil

The Tacoma CB10 always had a reputation for being a particularly loud acoustic bass (I've always fancied one too, but they don't come up very often and when they do they're expensive), but I'd agree with all the comments above. Acoustic basses are lovely things to have around the house and to mess about on, but without an amp they're only good for the quietest of ensemble playing.

P

PS. Of course the thing is, if you're doing gigs you can just DI into the PA just like the other "acoustic" instruments.

[quote name='6feet7' timestamp='1404834656' post='2496216']
If you're going the car paint resprayers route I work right opposite one here in Uckfield - he's done a couple of guitars for me for and can mix the right amount of paint for the job.
[/quote]

Any chance you could PM me a name and contact number/email for the Uckfield guy?

Ta
Phil

PS. Although I am getting very tempted by the tins of spray paint idea. I mean, what can possibly go wrong :-)

La Bella White Nylons would be an interesting left-field choice (Bass DIrect have them I think). They sounded extraordinary on my Wal - very uprighty, but partly I wasn't really looking for that sound from the Wal, and partly I wasn't sure I liked the very low tension.

P

PS. Back in the day, Pete Stevens recommended Picato strings. They were standard fit on 80s Wals. I still use them on mine and they can often be found going for not much more than a song on eBay.

Yeah I'm sure stripping is a real pain. A car shop paint job looks the best bet, but of course it hadn't occurred to me be that they'd need to have the paint in stock (don't see many sort of surf green cars around). Otherwise I'd have to buy five litres of it and use a thimble-full. I need to find a friendly spray shop around Brighton.

Hmmmmm. I'm starting to wonder in my black new £149 Squire Jaguar HB was such a good idea. Maybe I'll be happy with it just with a maple fingerboard and stick at that.

P

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1404745995' post='2495326']
Sims are well regarded, and even if you don't go with them you can use their pdf price list on the following page as a point of comparison:
[url="http://www.simscustom.com/html/00sprayshop.htm"]http://www.simscusto...00sprayshop.htm[/url]

Looks like it's not going to be cheap ...
[/quote]

Err, yeah, it does look expensive at Sims doesn't it. Hmmmm

P

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1404564161' post='2493774']
Terry Chapman of TJC Guitars did a very good job on a black to white Precision for me. He`s based in Stevenage which is a fair way from you, however even factoring in fuel/postage costs, I found his prices to be significanly better than anyone else I contacted (significatly so, I might add).

[url="http://www.tjcguitars.com/"]http://www.tjcguitars.com/[/url]
[/quote]

Thanks both.

Lozz, did the black have to be stripped off for white to work successfully?

Phil