SamIAm

Frank is an Angel! I was drooling over an HX Stomp XL he was selling, but I could not afford (A recent fire in my flat wiped out most of my possessions and I am slowly needing to replace them). I'd had a HX Stomp previously, but sold it (pre-fire) as it did not have enough footswitches for my gigging (Giggling!?) style. But the Stomp XL is perfect! In a totally unsolicited way, Frank reached out to me and we have reached an arrangement that works for us both. A true gent! Thank you @Frank Blank S'manth xxx

Thank you @barkin, it seems that I do have it covered thanks to the lovely @leschirons who is fairly close to the origin point and is visiting down South in a location I can easily meet him at! S'manth xxx

I play bass in a ukulele band, currently a Harley Benton 5 string long scale fretless. Whilst the band is happy with the glorious sound I produce (Simply root/thirds/fifths with the occasional walking join) they feel it is ... too big for a uke band! Fortunately, I've now got almost all the bits I need to start building Phoenix, which will be more in keeping with the aesthetic of the group. (Tho I will continue playing the HB as it is rather amazing!) S'manth x

Nods vigorously! I cannot say how wonderful it is to be part of the BC family. Folks her are so amazing, good eggs as my uncle used to say! S'manth xx

Oh @leschirons, that would be perfect!!!! I'm not on duty on the 28th so I can drive travel up to meet you in or near E. Grinstead (Whichever you prefer) S'manth xxx

Thank you Lozz, so very kind! Cobham services was my "almost home" point when I lived in Walton on Thames for many years! I'm attending the Bass Bash in Addlestone on Oct 23rd, so if we can get the bass to you before then ... and we could meet that morning, it would be amazing! Journey so far (Green sorted) S'manth xx

I was gifted a fretted bass following my loss of nearly everything in a fire in August. I've been converted to fretless playing. I'd appreciate you experience/thoughts on how to best de-fret a bass. S'manth xx

Dear BCers. There is a bass in North Norfolk ... that needs to end up in Brighton. It's a jumbo acoustic instrument so courier costs are ... well ... a bit insane! I wonder if any kind folks might be able to assist, I would be so very grateful! A relay from point to point to point would work. I'm Brighton based but can drive up to M25 area, but Norfolk is out of range for my wee mini. S'manth xx

I guess I’d better crack on with the detailed design now! 🥳 S’manth x

I've played with a few multi f/x units (HX Stomp, Some Zooms, Mod Dwarf) and found them OK. I've not had the chance to try some of the super high end units like the Kemper or Cortex. Most are out of my price range (I drooled over an HX Stomp XL for sale in the marketplace for nearly an hour before deciding I just could simply not afford to buy it ... buy it if you can it a great bit of kit!) I had started down building the Effektlada but felt that it was ... well ... I did not want to abuse the Mod team. Whilst their software is open source, it felt wrong to use it given their struggle to stay afloat. I've nearly 30 years in IT and have reasonable electronics skills ... I've decided to build a multi-effects unit (MFX) myself. Pros It will do exactly what I want. It will be very cost effective. Cons It's going to take a while!! However, usinf an OSS approach I would hope that others would start to contribute to the range of capabilities; my skills/knowledge are limited .... but there are so many others out there with much more extensive skill/experience and once this gains momentum I would hope they would get involved. The power of the OSS approach is almost limitless! My bass playing abilities/experience are perhaps a 2/10 (I can groove a fair root/third/fifth on sight) but the subtlety of the effects, especially for us bass players are outside my experience. I'm reaching out to ask what you would want in a MFX I'm not enough of a rocket scientist to actually build effects plugins, but there are loads out there, I'm thinking about such factors as Display Number of footswitches In/Out connections Type of plugins supported (LV2/VST/etc) Form factor Anything else you can think of It will be an open source system so you can make one yourself, tho I'm happy to build you one if electronics is not you thing! S'manth xx

Can't sleep ... so naturally I'm thinking about the design of Phoenix! 🤣 I'm specifically pondering the fingerboard and its relationship to the face plane of the body. Phoenix is a one piece build. With Twiggy, I had a totally flat setup, there was no step from fingerboard to her body (Well, her sorta body!) I could do this with Phoenix, but I'm also musing about recessing her boday face to give a more "traditional" step down from fingerboard to body. Please excuse my crude drawing (My CAD is not up and running just yet!) I'd really appreciate your experience/views about the pros/cons of one approach versus the other. Some factors that might affect this are: She is fretless/headless I plan a zero fret rather than a nut I would really like to install a slap bass "thingie" (Bar/Plate/???) Also, Twiggy had a totally flat fingerboard and this seemed OK, is it worth considering a mild radius for Phoenix? I'll be using a CNC to shape this so it can be quite accurate, but the Bartolini pups I've been gifted are flat and seem to have no individual string height adjustment. Looking forward to the collective wisdom of the BC family to help guide me! S'manth x (Sleepless in Brighton!)

Or buy one of those chargers that had about 17 thousand different tip adapters! S'manth x

Just awaiting tuners and strings and then ... build time! This was the photo of my previous set of bits for a bass build along with Twiggy 24h later it was ash! I may be tempting fate, but I choose to believe lightning (Or more specifically an exploding Lithium battery inferno) is unlikely to strike twice 🤞 I have to say that I do love the look of the Idigbo that Phoenix will be made from. S'manth x

A couple of Picos survived the fire; I think I will use one of them. S'manth x

I let out a squeal of delight and did a little dance today! These beauties arrived, donated by the very kind @Si600 (Thank you so much!) The tuners have traveled from Brazil, via Memphis and are now "Operationally Delayed" at Charles De Gauelle ... hopefully not too much longer and I'll have all the bits I need S'manth x

Blue Moon

Finish what you start! I started a medical degree (In 1982) , but after three years thought it was not for me and left to work in IT. I am now a critical care nurse and really wish I'd slogged through the med degree, even if I didn't use it till recently. S'manth x

Thriller Season of the Witch I put a spell on you Somebody's watching me S'manth x