3below

Be bold on a new day when you are feeling on form. Since you have done it before you will remember to use masking tape (or a locking barrel widget) to set the drill depth and prevent your worst fear. Many is the time I forget simple obvious steps that I know I should do. I also have days like yours when I am useless / ineffective because I become 'stuck' about things I have done many times before that are well within my competence. I can spend more time 'worrying' about the task than actually doing it. Totally irrational and luckily of little consequence in my current life .

Excellent, I have a bass that needs a similar bridge.

Ouch!

The satin looks good, sadly on mine it marked very easily. Wax polish fixed that and I really like the wax finish.

[quote name='SingleMalt' timestamp='1444759158' post='2885725'] ..... I do love how the wear realistic simulates the classic 'all around' finger placement around the bridge pick up. [/quote] I am still trying to work out what is missing in my bass technique since I do not get wear like that on mine

Obscure, is it linked to Volksbacker ?

This needs the 'in service' measurements - not the manufacturer's claimed ([s]emissions[/s]) consumption figures. I do not suspect Markbass have a software switch that detects bedroom use and lowers energy usage though . As suggested earlier a smart plug / Plug In Power Meter Energy Monitor (£12, search the well known internet auction site) will provide answers relating to reality At a push you could get the measurements from your electric meter, just stop any additional appliances being used during practice.

Neck pocket (and other routing in body) looks 'rough' / 'torn out'. My Fender experience from that era did not encounter routing that 'rough'. This is only a limited experience though.

Quite an impressive neck split

Looks like a modified DMZ 4001 which had the single DiMarzio P type pickup. The addition of J pickup to P type basses was very popular late 70s early 80s. Two lower volume knobs and jack socket plus furthest mini toggle look right for DMZ 4001. Great basses, if my 4001 was not in such good original condition the J bass pickup addition would be on the cards.

Neck, bridge and via some Fender push switch, both neck and bridge together. It does other variants but the 3 seem enough for me.

Should you want to, the satin finish has really responded really well (imo) to briwax / fiddes wax on my brown one. The neck is just sublime with the nitro / wax polish combo finish.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1443600878' post='2876005'] Another neat idea! This may be considered a bit more "brute force" but could work well A neat method would be to drill a pilot hole for the screw, then a slightly wider, shallower hole to countersink the screw.... Once everything was in place, and glue has had time to set you could then fill the countersunk space with some sawdust and PVA, or suitably coloured wood filler [/quote] Pilot(s) and countersink(s) are a given If a deep enough countersink is possible, 2 - 3mm+ you might even be able to insert a maple plug made using a plug cutter (£5-7 for a cheapie - 6mm? 8mm?). Virtually invisible if the colouring of the laquer can be matched. The challenge is now how invisible for how little money?

+1 very thin superglue. The brute force repair additional method would also involve inserting a screw from the G side, pulling the two parts together. Not elegant but effective. Body looks nice grain from front.

Tantalising image, as Passinwind notes, it is a 553?..... Looking at the stripboard back, I suggest taking a close look (magnifying glass) between pins 7 and 8 (pin 7 has the brown wire, pin 8 above on LHS of image). Is there a clear gap between the pins (no solder bridge / whiskers)? It is not clear in the image but the solder from pin 8 looks 'blobby' towards pin 7, however this could just be a camera angle artifact

[quote name='Chimike' timestamp='1443384272' post='2874323'] ....Post results, and we can take it from there. Mike [/quote] +1 What to do next depends on what you want. Accurate vintage performance or vintage look with modern performance (drivers, port size and cab size optimised).

In theory the speaker should have an EIA number which will help identify manufacturer, year and week. [url="http://www.recycledsound.net/8_Speaker_EIA_codes.pdf"]http://www.recycledsound.net/8_Speaker_EIA_codes.pdf[/url] Are there any other identifying numbers or markings on the speaker?

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1443119691' post='2872458'] .................... This is due to impending royal visit of my 83 year old mother. And this 57 year old having a few days of being treated like a 5 year old....... [/quote] A very familiar situation, replace mother with MIL.... Rusty polepieces, why are you worrying? there is a long way to go [attachment=201489:Rory-Gallagher-Against-The-Grain.jpg]

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1442696586' post='2868889'] For what its worth my take on Fender is that they make nice basses but charge over the odds for them. At the end of the day even the MIA stuff is still just production line factory made and it's selling for over £1200 for a pretty basic passive bass. You're coughing up a lot of money for the name on the head-stock. On the other hand, that same name on the head stock will mean they retain value well so its not as clear cut as it seems at first. [/quote] This +1, they (Fender and many others) are mass produced CNC machined products. Compare them to laptops, washing machines, mobile phones,TVs, or X boxes etc. Look at the amount of technology and manufacturing processes involved and then reflect on what we get for the money. I have two basses that are broadly directly comparable: Alder body, maple neck, humbucker pickup, rosewood board, large tuners 4 a side. Both have comparable action and sound pretty similar. It must be the decal on the headstock that makes one worth approx 10x the other s/h?.

[quote name='Thunderbird' timestamp='1442690155' post='2868826'] At the end of the day I suppose its horses for courses [/quote] Very much so I suspect. These days I just enjoy playing any reasonable bass, be it £100 to £OMG and enjoy the differences. There are good and bad examples of all, most of which can be sorted with good setup. I am still not taken by the Columbus, Kay (Woolworths?), Jedson and Avon basses of my youth - yet.

Changed strings recently or need a change of strings?