Dom in Dorset

I've bought a broken one of these: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SHINE-GUITAR-ELECTRIC-BASS-5-FIVE-STRING-SBA-625-NEW-/370356711461?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item563afaf025"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SHINE-GUITAR-ELECTRI...=item563afaf025[/url] the neck is f#cked and I hate the body so i'm going to harvest the hardware and build something else with it. the battery box is also missing so i can't play it to find out (yet) Question: what do all the knobs do? I'm not used to active basses so I'm wondering what I've got , vol, vol, tone , tone, ?

Re: my earlier comment about "the worst bass I've ever seen, " I saw it again today, it's labeled "Benson."

I've contoured the body, sanded it and drowned it in linseed oil. i'm goingf to give it a final buff with bees wax before final assembly. the headstocks have been shaped and the necks stained. Next it's scratch plates and wires...

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='954748' date='Sep 13 2010, 01:55 PM']I accumulate spare parts until I have an especially boring day, then I have a new bass to play with.[/quote] I'm also doing this, it's also worth a trawl through ebay see what odds and ends turn up.

Don't spend too much on your first project, treat it as a first lesson in instrument making. The Thoman kits : it says on the website "Harley Benton Bass", I've not tried the kit but I've seen a Harley Benton bass and in my opinion it was the worst bass I've ever come across. The one I saw appeared to be factory made, neck pocket cut so the neck sat at an amazing angle giving a sky high action. If I remember rightly it had a short scale neck. Have a look at CH guitars : [url="http://stores.ebay.co.uk/CH-GUITARS"]http://stores.ebay.co.uk/CH-GUITARS[/url] For about £200 you could mix and match parts to build something prety descent. I've used CH many times now, unless I'm after a certain brand they are my first port of call.

after the gig , usually nobody. Once , before a gig (bass strapped on ready to go) ......."What's your bass player's name?!!!!"

I've always rated Pegg but it wasn't until Glastonbury last year that I really appreciated his genious.I saw him playing from less than 20' away, stunning stuff, throwing in open strings all over the place, he knows that neck inside out.

I put rounds on a rosewood board and they started chewinging it very quickly. Ebony seems to cope with rounds better. I'm a big fan of nylons.

Crackling?

Quite often the screws that control bridge hight can buzz if they aren't making contact with bass plate. On bridges with two screws per string if one is left loose it can buzz, just tighten it a bit ubtil it makes contact with the bass plate, if you stop just as it touches it won't affect the action.

Reading the blurb it sounds like they are describing "kiln drying", it's been around for years, it mearly dreduces the seasoning time of fresh cut timber. It is usually thought to be inferior to natural or "air dried" timber. I'd be intrigued to know if the brown colour shown is the result of their process, kiln drying dosen't (as far as I know) affect the colour. It's interesting to note that their blurb dosen't say that the process gives that nice golden brown colour, I suspect that it's an applied finish. Look nice, probably does the job, IMO it's way of making a routine cost saving opperation into a bonus for the customer.

Just noticed Dave Cs Hohner stick for sale, I had the five string once, good bass if a little "Marmite". They also have the advantage of being unfeasably small even in a hard case.

Ibanez usually give good value for money, a few models in the £300 range. I tried a Jet Kings and loved it, not a classic look but a nice bass and full marks for quirky. Having said that , you can't go wrong with a decent P bass copy and Squire seem to be well thought of here.

As it turns out I accidentaly bought one of each!!! As it's for my twin neck, I'll use them both, I'll let you know whar happens.

That also explains why I crawl on my belly and eat dust.

Deuteronomy 16.8 : "And the Lord sent a great fire into the land and the great fire consumed all of the cattle , both great and small, all of the cattle both spotted and ringstraked. All the beasts that walk on cloven hooves were consumed by fire. All the bass guitars , both five and six stringed were consumed by fire , for they are an abomination in the sight of the Lord."

Never heard of them but I love the idea of playing a Crunge.

AAAAH! Look around you, wonderful stuff. Most of it's on youtube, well worth a look.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='900070' date='Jul 20 2010, 02:22 PM']Try him on this, slap and a great vocal in one: [/quote] Were you unnemployed at any point during the 1980's?

I can see that I'm going to have to work on the Blockbusters theme too. Mind you, the sound man we see most of all is American and just wont appreciate the likes of Rentaghost or Blockbusters.

I always used to play Spinal Tap's "Tonigh I'm Gonna rock You (tonight)" in sound checks, last night i was practicing scales when a new tune happened! There are better versions on youtube, this guy is a few steps ahead of me, but I'm not gigging for nearly a month , so plenty of time: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib9gMLjOXS8"]youtube clip[/url]

I love it! all those people boiling their strings to briong back the zing and you soak them in engine oil to remove it! It's always a worry replacing one string, I had to replace one black nylon string recently, the new one sounded just like the old, no problem. I'll remember the engine oil when a round wound dies!

they would appear to be polyester, i'll go for ceramic. Thanks.

I love the sound of black nylon strings on my acoustic fretless. I'm making a twin neck (fretted /fretless) it's solid body with P bass pickups + piezo bridges. the bridges in question are all metal construction as opposed to the wooden sadle + plastic "ivory" on my existing fetless. in order to avoid spending lots of money trying different strings it would be useful to know if nylon strings would make much difference with the magnetic/piezo set up or would regular flats sound prety much the same?

I'm about to order the electrics for my latest project, I know nothing about the subject, happy to follow a wiring diagram. CH guitars do wiring kits for certain basses and guitars, they do two for Jazz bass, one with a ceramic capacitor one with poly- what difference does it make (if any?)