carlsim

Cheers! Plus it’s just a matter of swapping back the scratch plate to return it to normal which is handy.

A slight amendment, I like the circuit showing so cut a shape of copper tape to shape around the circuit and rest of the cavity. Looks a bit more interesting this way I think. it’s not perfect but a lot better in my view! Maybe add an led strip a bit later!

Ooh!! I like the LED idea... I didn't mind the circuit showing, it was the parallel / series switch I didn't like. Will have another think!

so... a temporary solution which I don't find too insulting... basically copper shielding tape stuck on the underside of the clear plate. I precut a nice curve in one piece to give it some shape. Will do for now until I consider a better option and have the time to look at a picture of the wood stuck on the underside or something...

I like that idea. Might give that one a whirl! Perhaps not the Pacman or Star Wars route though!🤣🤣

So... this is how it turned out. I'm not sure how I feel about the control cavity to be honest... Thoughts anyone? Luckily my work has a laser cutter so the clear plate cost me £1.30... just the price of the perspex. So I can make more if needed. Maybe I should start up a sideline?? I like the clear plate allowing the quilted top to show through, but the control cavity.... not so sure. I wondered if there was something I could put underneath / on top of the cavity maybe? Any ideas anyone?

Completely with you - although I hadn't thought about the headstock from that perspective! I have probably just devalued mine! 🤪 Stock strings are a bit naff... I need to change my fretted one when get the chance.... I put some EB flats on my fretless - it sings! I with you about the Preamp and pups... mine is nice and quiet and I don't think £200 is worth it just to add the VTC...

It's a funny thing, when I first started playing, i got involved with a local jazz big band playing DB and electric on some numbers. It was a lot of reading dots which was a great learning curve and I did notice that with big bands, arrangement - due to the transposing nature of brass and woodwind instruments, you tend to find yourself reading flat keys a heck of a lot more than sharp keys. That's not to say that ALL big band arrangements are in flat keys, but arrangers definitely seem to prefer flat keys when writing for big bands... that's my experience anyway! Now, 30 years down the line of reading gigs, function, theatre work etc. I always seem at ease when I see a flat key signature but pucker up a little when I see 5 sharps! 5 flats.... no worries, 5 sharps... concentrate!! It's not so much of a tone thing, but maybe you get used to hearing your instrument more in certain keys so maybe it becomes more familiar to you? I certainly feel happier playing wise and sound wise when I see flats rather than sharps.... Just my opinion of course!

Yeah my atelier z jazz has a clear plate and clear control cover, exactly as the pic… luckily, my work has a laser cutter so gonna have a go at making one myself by scanning in and vectorising the image… hopefully if the scan is accurate, it will match up perfectly!

Yeah, I saw the separate VTC option - I'm not sure if I fancy that!

Clear plate is the obvious idea... it just struck me! Any other ideas...??

I have recently acquired a Sterling Ray35 (big SR5 fan, had plenty over the years) and this new has a particularly nice quilted top - see pic! It has also been routed nicely around the pup so that just leaves the control cavity to cover if I wanted to leave the scratchplate off. Any ideas? A chrome cover? Would need to get this made... or maybe a thin aluminum sheet or something which is then powder coated? I'm open to ideas... a black 3 ply small cover would probably look a bit naff... something quite statement-ey?? Anyone else done this? 4 string players are lucky, they can just take the plate off. 5s need a bit more thought....

I find that these days a lot of the cheaper far east instruments are all of a similar quality and standard. They all need a little fettling to suit the player, but that's the deal with cheaper instruments. I don't think manufacturers can afford to try and offload cheap rubbish these days - word of mouth travels quickly these days via 't'net' and can destroy a brand very quickly. The 1st gen of the chinese metro express basses is a great example of that. Roger came out and said himself that he wasn't happy with the first iteration and problems would be fixed on the next batches. Credit to them, I never saw a first gen model but the next batches seem to be great basses for the money. Sires the same - great basses for the money although I don't think they have ever had QC issues like Sadowsky had to deal with on the first gen ME. Having said that, I don't think I would have spent £700+ on a ME, just for £350/£400, as others have mentioned, they are a great platform to mod and tinker! I keep thinking about the VTC but I don't know if it brings enough benefits to warrant the outlay! I may see if I can pick up a used one to try out. To spend money I like to see an obvious difference, I'm not sure if it would bring me that much to warrant a near £200 spend. I recently put in a Glockenklang preamp in my Atelier Z DAL5 and that sounds amazing! It has the passive tone, 2 band EQ and is cut and boost rather than just boost. And it is just over half the cost of the VTC. A difficult decision but luckily not an urgent one as my MEs are not my main gigging basses.

The sadowsky metro express basses have a SME or SMX serial on the rear of the headstock… metrolines and other sadowsky basses have simpler serials on the rear… would be quite obvious from the serial on the rear… plus it isn’t just printed, it seems to be embedded into the wood… I don’t have a picture at hand but can post one.

https://www.guitardecals.co.uk all the information is on the other thread...

I made a thread about this - it isn't totally detailed about the process but should cover most of what you need: Basically, sand the headstock (make sure the sanding is nice and even) apply a few dust coats of your chosen finish (I used a matt finish poly which I buffed to a satin finish...) wet sand a little and apply the decal lay on some dust coats to seal the decal and then you can apply a few more heavier coats to level out. I then wet sanded with 1200 W&D and buffed to a sheen. reassemble. i couldn't get around not having a very fine outline of the decal showing (you can see it in certain light and angles) but I can live with that. Hope this helps. Carl

Yep, spotted this about 2 seconds after I posted the images! All sorted now... It's not at all, the E string wasn't in the saddle correctly - all fixed now. It's a great bass for the cash - would be hard pressed to find something this good for £350 new.

Received my CAR 5 string a few weeks ago and only just had the chance to do the decal change and also put a carbon vinyl wrap on the scratchplate as the plain white was booooring!