Simon.

Have to say I'm likeing this rather a lot. Thanks.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1342681644' post='1739047'] Sky 2 - takes me back to pre-teen days before we shifted to NZ.[/quote] Is Sky a guilty pleasure? Oo-eck. I have the full set! Some of Mr Flowers bass work is sublime and I've been trying to tackle some of the guitar parts on mandolin, which is entertaining...

Blocks & binding - 'tis the only way to go! I really should get a pic up of my now finished Bitsa PJ - lots of lovely blocks on display!

Oh, blinkin' flip! It's a sad, sad day to lose one music great, but for two to pass away on the same day.... Thanks for all the fabulous tunes, Bob. Sadly, sadly missed. R.I.P

Thanks for the input folks - lots to get started on! I like a lot of Jerry Jermont's work on the soul and RnB side of things, but hadn’t realised he had worked with BB King as well. Will check that out. I know some of John Mayer's work as well - mainly through his having Pino in the band. Jeff Healey is another of those "I like what I've heard, but haven't heard all that much" guys. Mainly I'm trying to find ways of keeping things interesting and not getting stuck in a 12-bar, root-3-5, repetition. Eddie Martin is a guy I know as well and like, albeit I haven't listened to him for a while. I have quite a funny story about him as well: Many moons ago he was playing at the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, where I was working as the stage manager. He was doing a great set with the Texas Blues Kings as his rhythm section when he broke a string. I volunteered to change said string while he did a harmonica-only number. String was duly changed, re-tuned and everything looked OK. The drummer was watching me and clocked that the guitar was good to go, so as soon as I handed it back to Eddie, the drummer started the count-in to the next number... Eddie had no choice but to go for the opening chord without being able to check the guitar & you could see him wincing, expecting it to be out of tune! Guitar was fine, and the transition from a look of expectant-terror to pleasant-surprise was great to watch. The drummer & I were in peals of laughter.

Hi there, Over the years, I've enjoyed listening to a fair amount of blues, but rarely dabbled in playing it. However, in my continuous quest to educate myself, it's an area I fancy looking at, but feel at a bit of a loss as to where to start! The kind of stuff I'm listening to at the moment is SRV, the new Walter Trout album, Joe Bonamassa, but so much stuff comes across as a poor excuse for a guitarist to masturbate himself in public. So, who would you recommend listening too, and more importantly, who are the blues bass players out there, doing interesting work? Cheers, Simon.

That's what I ended up doing! I was chasing a Lakland Duck Dunn, but never managed to be quick enough off the mark in the For Sale forum, so decided to create my own. Started out as a mid-80's MIJ Jazz, now has a block & bound neck, new Schaller tuners, high mass bridge and P/J configuration with Wizard pick-ups. It also has a 2nd scratchplate and neck-position Jazz PU, so in the space of less than 10 minutes, you can convert it back to a straight Jazz, if required. Some work I did myself, some done by Chris McIntyre in Edinburgh. His work was excellent, and it plays like a dream!

Saw this on the news last night - what a downer after a great week of holiday. Totally gutted that he's gone - one of my bass heros. Duck's work with the Blues Brothers got me into the whole Soul and R&B genre and I've been in love with it ever since. RIP, Duck.

A couple of times I've been tuning up between songs using a TU-2 stomp-box and forgotten to un-mute it when going for the opening note of the next song... Worst one was with a pervious band when I let the guys pack the gear into the van and just met them at the gig, and yup - no bass! First and last time I wasn't there to load up the van.

Holla folks, I was just wondering if anyone knew how to get in touch with Fender Japan? I have a mid-80's MIJ P-Lyte which appears to have developed a fault with its pre-amp. It’s been in semi-retirement for a few years, and although it gets use a bit as a noodling bass, generally it never gets plugged in. However, I felt the need last night and discovered a very distorted sound coming out! New batteries all round, cables tested and different amps tried, all with the same result. So, as the fault is apparent regardless of pick-up selection, volume (unless at 0, obviously) or tone, I'm suspecting something has failed in the pre-amp. I'm quite happy to spend some time fault finding on it, but would like to have a wiring diagram and schematic to hand. So, does anyone have such a thing, or know how to contact Fender Japan? The only e-mail link I could find on their website goes to a dead page... https://www.kandashokai.co.jp/fenderjapanmail/mail.php Cheers, Simon.

Holla folks, Not strictly a build, more of an on-going upgrade programme! A bit of background, first: Many moons ago, when living in student digs, a flatmate of mine had a MIJ Jazz bass kicking around that he wasn't using much as was generally starting to get a bit trashed. As he was rooked for cash, I offered to buy it off him, to use as a back-up. However, despise my best efforts to improve the set-up, it was never a great bass to play. Nice tone, but physically not great. Eventually it moved down the pecking order, but at least was well looked after. Roll on a few years and I decided to get the neck de-fretted, and instantly the bass was a really player! It became a joy to play and became my main bass for about 3 years. Times & bands changed and I went back to fretted, getting a MIJ 75 RI, which was my go-to bass for the next 6 years. Eventually I decided to do something constructive with the old jazz. New pick-ups from Wizard and a new All-parts fretted neck made it a good playable bass again, and I started using it more and more. However, I was sadly now bitten with the up-grade bug! After much thought, I took the bass down to Chris McIntyre in Edinburgh with a list of things to do: Task 1 - Route out a cavity to fit a P-bass pick-up, but in such a way that it's not going to prevent the neck jazz p/u being re-installed in the future. Basically the idea was to get a P/J bass, but have the option of changing it back to standard Jazz with a quick swap over of pick-up and scratch plate. Task 2 - Two new scratch plates - one to take a J pick-up, one for the P. Both to be tortoiseshell. Task 3 - If possible, re-profile the neck. The All-parts neck I got is nice, but feels a bit like baseball bat, in terms of radius. I'm hoping to get something much closer to the thinner, U-shape profile my 75 RI had. Task 4 - New Hipshot bridge. Possibility of making it through-body stringing as well, as the bridge we looked at allows both. Strap-locks, a thumb rest & bridge ashtray to be added (got to have some bling! ) as well as any upgrades to the electronics Chris sees necessary, although staying passive. I did fancy a re-spray, but my budget wouldn't go that far, and I think the tort pick guards against the Olympic white body will look a pretty smart improvement over the white plastic plate that was there originally. Hopefully after all this, I'll end up with something that will be a very solid, working bass and will give me a range of tonal options to fit most scenarios. The only issue I think there might be is that I've possibly made a slight faux-pas in going for a Wizard Thumper P pick-up, when the jazz pick-ups in at the moment are Wizard 64's. Didn't realise until too late just how significant the impedance difference, which might mean it's a bit imbalanced when set up as a P/J config. We'll see. Bass was dropped of which Chris last Friday, so hopefully it won't be too long until she is ready! Pics to follow!

[quote name='skelf' timestamp='1332754265' post='1592409'] Hi I should point out that you do not need to have a flat finger board or asymmetric neck profile. I can carve a normal profile and put a radius on the board. [/quote] LOL. I thought that might be the case! Temptress....

I've always liked the look of Alan's basses, but after trying a few at the Moffat Bass Bash last year, found the asymmetrical neck profile and flat fretboard really uncomfortable and difficult to get on with. Some very nice sounds though. This, though, I have to say looks like a real beauty. Very, very tempted.

I've known some bone-lazy roadies in my time, but don't think I've ever seen one miming...

The standing in front of a room full of strangers and being able to perform/deliver a speech, is definitely one. The ones I have found most transferrable have been to do with organisation & logistics of gigs and applying that to off-shore engineering operations. Things like: Having packing & equipment lists, Spares for everything, Arranging transportation, Dealing with venues/suppliers/random people & idiots. Having done a fair amount of roadying and stage management, the knowledge I picked up of stage electrics comes in useful too.

Despite my best efforts chasing one particular bass, I haven't managed to buy anything as yet on here, but did sell a bass that didn’t even get as far as being listed in the For Sale section! I have recently purchased a couple of the BC t-shirts to give something back and hopefully boost the funds a little bit. Definitely one of the best and friendliest on-line communities I've come across and have had the pleasure of being part of! Long may BC, and all who sail in her, continue.

[quote name='Clarky72' timestamp='1326843070' post='1502825'] This thread has really put me off going to Shuker... [/quote] Likewise. I have been saving for a long while, with the aim of getting a Shuker made. Having tried one at the last Moffat Bash, I was impressed with the build quality and sound. I wasn't after anything too exotic, a PJ with block & bound neck, but it was something that I could never seem to find off the shelf anywhere else, or if there was, it was nearly equivalent price-wise. Now, I'm not so sure, and have been looking at other builders, or what I could get as a standard bass and modify to suit.

Hope you are liking it mate! Looking back on it, I've realised that it's actaully the first bass I've ever sold on! Even though the reasons were good and valid, being without it still feels a bit weird...

I've a Fender Precision Lyte, which has the fastest neck I've ever played. I refer to it as my Doodle bass, as it's great for noodling, chords, trying out two-handed tapping and other such silliness! My Japanese 75RI Jazz had a 38mm nut and a very nice neck, but not as skinny as the P-Lyte.

Slightly noob-ish question, but does the hole pattern on a BadAss II match up with the normal BBOT one? Have considered getting one for my Bitsa project, which has a Jap Fender body. Cheers.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1324405447' post='1473932'] PM'd [/quote] To me ... To you ...