crazycloud

Better still a real vintage Fender, just to hear the lamentations of their women.

Get a cheap Fender clone and add a large bathtub rout between the neck pocket and bridge. It's much easier than making or modifying a Rail for that purpose.

Make the rails chrome steel or stainless, and use copper solder wick as the earthing connector. It's flexible, cheap and easily replaceable.

This is true, but most basses, especially the Musicmaster, is that because of the ginormous headstock (out of proportion to the smaller body vs a full size P or J) and boat anchor tuners, is that it has a lever effect weighing down the left (fretting) side making it feel heavier than the same weight centred on the spine like a backpack would be*. Plus all of the many 70s Fenders I've had are veneered concrete construction, because of the "mass means sustain" mythos of that era, whereas any engineer with 1/2 a brain could tell you it's rigidity of the primary structure that's most important. So, to lighten the MM by chambering the body, you're going to shift the weight balance further to the fretting side, increasing the apparent weight on the L shoulder and increasing the torque on the spine. Replacing the tuners with Hipshots will help with the torque on the spine, and that might be enough, but based on personal experience, I doubt it. The huge 4IL headstock is still there and so is the moment it creates by it's placement and design. * I've now crossed the threshold into old fart and I ruck with a 20kg plate, and a backpack containing water, clothes and other stuff; my point being that spine centred weight is less of an issue than an imbalanced bass (almost all of them in my experience). In the next month or so I'm going to do a 70km beach and headland trip in a single day so taking care of myself, because of a whole raft of injuries including spinal breaks etc when I was younger, I'm still out and active and my 5.2kg ATK doesn't bother me at all. A good strap helps, but it can't overcome the poor ergos of most basses, especially if you have issues. Doubly so if you're not interesting in working on these to help improve your lifestyle too. FWIW, I use a DSL 5" strap on the ATK and the SR706. I use 3.5 versions on most of my other instruments and own lots of his straps because they're so good. This is the point I've been working my way to. I don't play SS or 4s any more, but I still have this Samick Greg Bennett SS PJ. Weighs maybe 7lb, is 30", cost maybe 100Quid and has a teeny, weeny headstock with modern smaller diameter tuners so there's little spinal torque. It's PJ and sounds great to my ears, though mine has Villexes in it because I had them laying around unused and the hardware and general build is fine, likely better than the typically sloppy 70's F work. In the decade or more it's been here, and was purchased S/H, it's never been touched because it hasn't needed it. Apart from being a SS 4, the only thing I don't like about the Samick is it's too trad looking for my tastes. Sell the MM and buy something that better suits your needs.

Does that mean my neighbour's Austin 7 was actually made in Texas? Nagoya could be a brand name.

I have the chance to get a Roadster II similar to the one @briansbrew posted above, but white, and wonder if anyone has played one of these, as well as the earlier RS824? I really liked the neck on the RS824 I had that I foolishly let go years ago, and wonder if they're similar in feel? The bass is a bit of a drive away, and there's a cyclone about to make landfall near here so I'm not going to go for a few days and it's killing me in the interim, so I'm hoping you all will say no and I can let it out of my mind. There is absolutely no need for a 4 in my collection, but I really liked the 824, and they're just silly money now.

Piece of flat steel or Al of the dimensions you wish. Copy the NS Stick version.

I've never seen a Schecter bass either in the flesh or on stage in my life - they just don't seem to have any decent representation here. Ditto for their guitars. They seem like great units and Charles Bertould has a nice looking 6er that he can play the crap out of so they must be at least OK.

Or you can add a long 'strap pin extender' a la the NS Stick. I know the NS is headless, but with lightweight tuners, a weighty 'body' and a little experimentation with the extender's length, you'll be able to se the balance where you want. I've made and added these to my wooden Hohner and Spirit Steinberger clones, and my upcoming custom 6 string (bass) versions. Plus I think I've worked out how to do the same to my Ibanez SR basses as I want the static playing angle more vertical than stock.

I can hear my wallet sobbing in sympathy from the next room.

I won't tell you what I paid for my, admittedly well used, S2000 then. I don't think it has anything to do with the preamp, it's just the extremely rigid construction of the monocoque.

I bought a Tele guitar copy from Artist in Australia for $A279/140 quid and it's awesome. It was a return, probably because it's a tad heavy, but that doesn't bother me. No set up required, no fret issues, FnF is perfect and the PUs are great. Haven't tried any of the basses as they're FSOs and don't appeal, but I'm sure they're of similar quality. This. The location of the machine doesn't matter as factory quality machines will all be pretty good these days, and a moderately xhilled labour force in a lower wage country means good quality output and numbers for a modest price out the door. The lumber shipping costs to Indo or China are basically free as most is going in the other direction and shippers are happy to get whatever they can for the return trip instead of carrying mainly empty containers. Maybe in some places, but I've heard the guitar factories in Indo are sought after and well paying jobs, at least in local terms.

That's a great design and I might copy your idea when I build the next cabs.

Cort A5 Ultra Ash.

There was some mention on TB a while back that the HB had changed from the IcePower. Does anyone have any idea if that's true or not?

1982 Ibanez Musician MC924PW

I still miss my RS824BB, even though I don't play 4s any more, and if I could buy it back I would. Ibanez Wiki image as I lost all of my old photos of my actual bass.

Fender Jag. Really bad dive, meh tone, OK FnF but not great for the new price. Felt awful compared to the cheap Samick SS I had (still have) so I swapped it through the local classifieds for a near new Ibanez SR370 to a guitarist that bought the Ibby, but decided he wanted a SS and 'er indoors wouldn't allow him to spend any more money. This was a few years back and swaps back to the store I purchased from wasn't an option. I really don't need the SR4, but it's a nice bass and the burst is acceptably subtle.

I still have mine, but it's had the snot beaten out of it, as the previous owner told me it had over a million air miles on it. Still have my XL2 I bought new.

This sounds bad to you? FWIW, I have ab A6 and several other Mk1 equipped basses.

So swap them out for what you want if the rest of the bass does it for you. Personally, I have lusted after the 1006 since I first saw/heard one.

Agreed. I have a 370 and a 375 and they're awesome. like @horrorshowbass I'm also a fan of the Powerspans and was almost convinced to change them out at one point, but these days I see no need at all. I'd like a white 305 but they weren't available in the Colonies. I keep threatening to take the brown 256B back to bare wood and refinish it white, but that's a lot of work and I'm a lazy sod, especially as the brown isn't wearing.

What's MAD?

Double post, sorry.

That bass, headless would be a piece of kit I think I could love. Can't afford it though.