W1_Pro

Apparently that last reply earned me a 'Basschat hero' badge. I feel quite emotional....😆

Part of the issue, as far as I can see is that the pickup and the bridge attach to both the extended neck heel and the body of the bass. So changing one angle affects the other two. Ho hum.

Me neither.

Hello Andy, good to hear from you and thanks for the sage advice. The truss rod has already been de tensioned. In fact it was in these pictuures. It made a bit of difference to the action height, but you are right of course, adjusting it is not going to cure this. I did consider a shim. I was a bit leery of fitting one as I thought it might mess up the seating of the bridge, whch of course sits on top of the neck but it has to be worth a try! I shall do some experimenting and report back.

So after a very long break I'm resurecting this thread in a search for some advice. I got the bass back together to find that the neck, and/or the truss rod has a fairly serious fault. The action is very high all the way up the neck. I cranked the truss rod as tight as I could, which makes it slightly better, however when this is done the nut at the base of the neck- which is the truss rod adjustment- sits at a pretty alarming angle. My best guess is that the truss rod is knackered. So, I don't just want to bin the bass, the refret actually went very well and the neck, now its sanded and oiled, feels very nice. I think then, I need to replace the truss rod. Given that this is a hideously awkward job (I'll need to rout out the skunk stripe, remove the old one and refit the new one this way), and I really can't afford to pay somone to do this - it would be nuts considering what the bass is worth- I was wondering if anyone could suggest a method for routing out the stripe. I've got a decent router, I guess I'll need to make some kind of jig? Suggestions, advice and encouragement welcome.... I've attached a few shots below..The bridge is already as low as it can go.

Go on...you know you want to....

Here's mine, taken a couple of years ago. Overwater on the right in the process of having the control cavity insulated...NR TBird on the bench being restrung and set up...The pile of paint cans has only got bigger...

AFAIK yes, 1985 is relatively 'late'. My burst one in the pic further up the thread is according to Chris 'very early' he dates that as 1979 and the blue one at 1980 or '81. Here is a link to an article reviewing an Overwater with Armstrongs but in the same position as the earlier Lawrence pickups. A transitional model I suppose. It does mention in the review that Chris has been building this shape of bass for some time. https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/overwater-bass/6557?utm_source=chatgpt.com The article dates from June 84.

That must be a 'late' Original I think JPJ? The pickups have moved into an Artisan like configuration I notice. Really interesting to see how they have developed over time. Is that the battery box just off to the left there?

This looks like a completely magnificent project. I hope it ends up sounding as formidable as it looks! Bill makes a very good point about cable nonsense. I'm reminded of an event I worked on a few years ago at the opera house in Covent Garden. It was aimed squarely at obscenley rich people, and one of the featured attractions was a display of insanely expensive hifi. The mains blocks they plugged into were a sight to behold. Massive curly mains leads going into twenty amp powercons plugged into these amazing looking six gang plug boards with power conditioning and martindales built in. All of this apparently really helped the transients on the bottom end, the noise floor, etc etc etc etc. I followed one of these cables behind the set flats, where it was daisy chained into a white plastic four gang which was obviously bought from a pound shop. 'What tangled webs we weave', I thought.....

Thanks for that. As far as I'm aware, the early originals had Bill Lawrence blades in them, and then for whatever reason, they (Overwater) moved to using Kent Armstong soap bars and continued doing so into the Artisan bass(on the right of the pic below). The Kent soap bar is a relatively straightforward humbucker to which Overwater (sometimes) added a coil tap to to facillitate single coil usage, one assumes...Mine are all passive and have a single jack out.

So Red, the Overwater that you had that was active..I assume that was a later one with the Kent Armstrong soap bars?

Hello folks, I have a question with regard to this. I've heard a few people mention Overwaters 'filter based preamps' over the years but I have to confess I have no idea what they are or what they do. Were they fitted to Original series basses? I have three of them which are all passive. Two of those have completely standard pot and loom wiring and the third has a pcb which might as well be pot and loom, as it has (mounted on the PCB) two pots (volume and tone), a coil tap switch and a capacitor. If anyone could shed any light and maybe a pic or two, I should be grateful.

A CPD is a different document. As far as a carnet goes...In the good old days when I used to do a bit of tour managing, the turns kit would be carneted in and out of countries regardless of whether they were with it or not (ie. Air Freight vs a bus, for instance). The key demarcator as to whether you need a carnet for your kit or not is if you are being paid for what you do, as I understand it anyway, but I've always found that quite a lot is subject to the whim of the individual customs agent...

That, is a very nice looking rig. I use a Little Bastard with the 2x12" box. We're not the loudest band in the world- both guitarists are obsessed with not using amps so they go straight into the the PA- but with a live drummer and two guitars, this holds its own quite comfortably and of course, because I am driving it quite hard you get that lovely power tube break up....

Have you been asked for a carnet by customs whilst travelling with your bass, Twigman ? I suppose techically when travelling with your own kit, you should have a CPD but I've never met anyone who uses one...

Are they Ashdown boxes?

Ashdown.

Maybe its just me, I quite like the G&L ones and I'm agnostic about Sire. The HB ones are OK too..I mean, at that price, I'd put up with a lot..😆.

I agree about the headstock. I quite like that angular thing he's got going. I suppose you have to try something a bit different otherwise we end up with endless minor variations of Fender headstocks...

A Balogh. Now theres a fine looking instrument...There was one for sale on here a while back. Lovely it was.

Theres a variant of the 434 that looks like an Ibanez Musician. Very nice.

I think its pretty...