carlsim

I picked it up earlier from my pal, it’s certainly a bit of a beastly case so will be good for postage. It will add a few kg to the weight though! Saying that, a few extra pounds for extra weight postage wise is worth it for the protection.

I am starting this thread to see if we can get a 'pay it forward' kind of thing going on with a flight / hard case I have been given. I am about to send a bass through a courier and mentioned this to a friend and he told me he had a old spare flight/hard case in the loft he was going to bin. He offered it to me and I am going to be sending a bass to @Happypants using this case. I thought it could then be used by some one else who may need a more secure way of posting a bass. I will post some pics of it (inside and out) - hopefully it will have some use. It will be making its way to Orpington (SE London way) so will be free to anyone who can collect it from there. I did envisage it becoming a Basschat box - used by members to ship basses around the country - I may be somewhat deluded by this! Any thoughts on this? Am I deluded? Can someone ask a mod if there is a better place for me to post this? Thanks

Honestly, I refinished an Xotic recently with Tru-Oil and its looks amazing. It's great stuff and is a combination of an oil and a varnish so dries nice and hard. The process is well documented on the build diary here: I can definitely recommend it if you are after a natural finish. Lovely bit of timber by the way!

I thought I would contribute to this discussion a little and there are many valid points made along the way. From the perspective as a bass player (and this goes for any musician), I remember my old teacher telling me (he was a monster pianist) that basic keyboard skills are one of the best musical skills that any musician should have. They teach the fundamental building blocks of harmony in a much easier way than any other instrument. Grab an old keyboard - learn some basic chord construction and it opens up infinite avenues towards creating more interesting music as a bass player. As a music teacher myself now, I completely understand where he was coming from. Completing a grade 5 music theory class when I was 16 and starting out on bass was a huge eye opener for me - if you can find a course locally at a school or college, it's well recommended! Music Theory shouldn't be scary - I say to my students - having a basic understanding of music theory is central to the creation of music. Having said that, I am aware that good music can be created by people who have no musical knowledge - but imagine what they could create if they did? It isn't just about harmony either - key signatures, rhythms, melody, articulation, performance indications are all part of what makes music great. Plus it also makes it so much easier to communicate ideas in a musical setting. I still remember being a young bassist and doing an early resident band gig - the keyboard player started a song (luckily I did know the song a bit but it was a bit of a busker) and looked at me and stuck his hand out with 3 fingers pointing down - essentially telling me we were in Eb major. (3 flats key signature - fingers down for flats and fingers up for sharps). Once I knew that I had an understanding in my head of what chords and harmony were in the key and where the song might go. Obviously, it helps if it is a pretty straight forward song and not harmonically complex. Anyway, start simple - learn basic triad construction. They you look at chord extensions and how 7ths / 9ths and 11ths are added and how voicing is used. I love a dark and moody C minor 9 chord - voice the C, D and Eb together and you get this gorgeous clashy harmony which sounds amazing - esepcially when composing for a Film Noir soundtrack! Once you start with music theory, it can become addictive to want to learn more. It's an amazing world to embrace as a bass player who holds the root of the harmony. Sting said it best, "it's not a C Chord until I play a C!" Anyway... just my 2 cents!

I may well go with a blanking something of some sort… will make it a lot easier!

Hi all… some advice needed. I have an Xotic XJ-1T and love the bass… the electronics, not so much. pups are great, although I am considering seeing if something works better… but for now, I am really looking at a preamp mod. basically, when in active mode, the passive high cut is still working which to me, totally negates the purpose of having a high, mid and bass eq control. Some may disagree, but I find it counter intuitive when making tonal changes. anyway, the Xotic has 6 pots. Vol, blend and passive tone control plus the 3 band eq. hardly any preamps have 6 pots so I have settled on the Glockenklang 3 band eq, the treble becoming a passive tone control in passive mode. They have good reviews and seem to be a nice transparent pre. anyway… I will be left with a spare hole. toggle switch was my first thought - a kill switch maybe? Save unplugging during breaks? Is that doable? wire the switch to the battery positive to kill the battery feed? any other thoughts? I’m not clever endings to get in to coil tapping, besides I’m sure the pups are single coil. Plus I’m quite happy with a standard jazz blend. any other ideas?? carl.

Thanks guys… I’m still undecided on the stain… I may give it a whirl yet. See how it looks…

so... a fair bit of work later and I am approaching the end to this little project! Not quite turned out how I expected, so a bit more of a lined fretless rather than an unlined board look but for now, it will be fine and I am pretty chuffed with the end result. Glued in all the veneer, chiseled flat and then rubbed smooth. I did find there was still a little bit of chip out on certain frets when they were removed which was still visible after the veneer had gone in, so I relied on the wonders of CA glue again! I stored all the sanding dust in a little pot and used a sharp edge scraper to fill any gaps with the sanding dust, a drop of CA glue and sanded and I must say - looks pretty good. I took the same approach for the side dots - drilled them out with a 1.5mm bit, packed in some sanding dust and the a drop off CA glue over the top. Sand it back and they are barely visible at all. Very happy. Just waiting for new side dot material to come so I can drill and glue new markers in place. I was originally going to add a stain to try a bit more uniformity colour wise and hide the lines, but for now, I am pretty happy with the end result. As I say, not quite what I intended but when strung up and used on stage, I think the lines with be pretty well hidden. Any feedback is most welcome - I did a bodge defret job a while back and I wanted a much more professional job with this one and I am pretty please with the outcome. I may well attempt a black stain a bit further down the line - will see how the tru oil finish wears and perhaps when it needs a refinish, I may give it a go. Will post finished pics when it has some new flats on and I have completed the side markers.

I think I’m going that route… I’m hoping that possibly a darker stain might create a bit more uniformity. @Andyjr1515 I know you used ink as a stain for wood before - is that correct? would that work? I’m hoping to create a black ebony look - can you recommend a stain?? also… I saw people use CA glue as a grain fill but I think I will use tru oil again… just to grain fill and add some protection. @Andyjr1515 is this a good idea for a rosewood board??

I think I'm going to as well! 🙂

I hadn’t thought of that to be honest… something I am going to consider. I have done a small test area and lines are definitely showing, albeit not dramatically… hmmm…

I'm also now thinking... would feint / just about visible lines be a bad thing?? Especially with my intonation! Maybe an unlined upgrade can be a bit further down the line... Will report back when it is cut down and sanded...

So the veneer is going in nicely… luckily it’s a snug fit in the slot so titebond and veneer should minimise visibility… I am quite hopeful that the lines will be minimal, will update once I have cut and sanded these 4. I will, no doubt, lose patience and do the rest! I know what I’m like…

I think I agree with the above 2 comments… I pulled out 3 frets today and cut some of the veneer to be glued in tomorrow. The veneer is a good match, but I think you are both right, the lines will be visible to some degree. I am going to try it anyway, possibly with an additional ebony stain to get some uniformity of colour which will hopefully hide them a bit more. Once a do a bit of grain filling with some tru oil, I am hoping it will look more or less unlined! if not, off it will come! I will update in the next few days…

I’m bought some rosewood veneer off eBay which arrived today so I’m going to pull a couple of frets out and test how the veneer matches to the existing rosewood. I will give the neck a bit of wire wool first and see how the match looks… possibly add an ebony stain - looks like this could be the best option… if I only pull a few frets out, I can still use the existing ones to get some heat in there if I decide to do a fretboard swap… to be honest, I bought the overwater for this purpose so would rather not try and butcher two things together. the key thing is, can I disguise a defret so it looks like an unlined board??

Yeah I did look at those, but already have the overwater aspiration not doing very much… plus I like something to tinker with! I was hoping to see what other people had done in these situation and whether any amateur ‘luthiers’ had attempted a fingerboard swap…

Hi all... My quest seems to be a fruitless one... I have been looking for an unlined 5 string fretless bass for some time now - not something I would gig a lot so I had a budget of around £300 in my head. What can i get for that? Bu**er all basically! So... what are my options? For a true unlined board, buy a cheaper fretted bass and swap the fingerboard. Or, buy a fretted bass, buy some veneer which is the same wood rather than contrasting and glue in and finish. Then, possibly add a stain with oil to finish for a bit more uniformity. so... 2 options. 1 - swap the fingerboard for an ebony board. 2 - defret and fill with matching veneer and stain a bit darker to look like ebony (it is a rosewood board). Option 1 raises many questions. 1 - can I achieve a good finish? I am pretty confident and meticulous when it comes to woodworking although sometimes my patience runs out. Main concerns are getting a flush finish around the edges when the ebony would meet the maple of the neck. Plus, also there is the issue of the radius on the board. Flat is an option (thank you to @Andyjr1515 for talking me through a few options...) or possibly a very subtle 15/17 degree radius which shouldn't be too much hassle (would need to get radius blocks as needed). I do have most of the tools to do the job and I don't mind buying tools needed... who doesn't like a nice new tool here and there! Do I have the time to do this? Could be moving house soon to a renovation property and that is going to give me plenty to do! Option 2 is obviously an easier option and something I have done before. However, I haven't tried to hide the lines before by using a matching veneer. The question is can I make it look like an unlined board? Anyone tried this route before? Feel free to post pics... So my question to you BCers is - option 1 or 2? Anyone with personal experience of either method? Time frames? Links to build threads? Pictures of finished projects? I have picked up a trans red Overwater aspiration 5 string fretted bass recently which is going to the project bass. It doesn't have dot markers on the fingerboard so if a go the defret route, I only have to worry about filling the fret lines and changing dot markers on the side. Any comments would be most welcome - am I putting myself in a world of hurt here trying to change a fingerboard? I'm no luthier by any means, never built an instrument but after my recent success in re-finishing my Xotic bass (feel free to view the build thread), confidence in projects like this is high! @Andyjr1515 was very encouraging on the fingerboard swap idea... I will post some pics of the bass when I can. Carl.

Pete bought my Headrush speaker. No issues at all and was a gent throughout the transaction. Top bass chatter!