4 Strings

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1381529967' post='2240516'] Translucent orange with PRSesque fake binding around the edge. [/quote] I know I was joking about whether to go or not with orange (due to the traffic light thing) but this was my initial thought for colour, no doubt it would look great. Just feel that for a custom bass, natural or orangey brown is for me, well, custom bass colour. Now I've gone green I'm almost obsessed.

There are plenty of black churches playing that sort of stuff in the UK, often with amazing bass players to boot. There will be one in Cardiff, just look around. Some Assemblies of God, Elim and others may (I say a big MAY as no church is typical) have such a band. If you're in East London City Gates have an outrageous group of musicians and play a Gospel style.

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1381530987' post='2240520'] Insanely great. [/quote] 'Tis truly amazing. I know they are flat strings, but no squeaking going either. Funny how with solos people spend most of it up the dusty end on the G string. I suppose the more normal register is a bit heavy and indistinct sounding on it's own but it means it become less to do with being a bass.

[quote name='andydye' timestamp='1381514973' post='2240240'] If it's got to be green then a darker british racing tint would be more pleasing on my 'not paying for it playing it' eye ;-) With a utilitarian go faster stripe too [/quote] Utilitarian, brg and go faster stripe... [attachment=145843:escort_studio_003.jpg]

[quote name='AntLockyer' timestamp='1381514683' post='2240229'] Orange. [/quote] Hmm, undecided about orange!

But anyway, this one is nice, and has to do with bass guitar playing. I still didn't have the patience to get through the whole thing, but it certainly inspires; http://youtu.be/vQtTpF6IdZI

Along a similar theme, and to prove the OP's point: http://youtu.be/Zv2uwdekgKQ

Ha, see I AM converting the world! When I have, I'm having my bass in blue. Apparently the Hipshot gear has arrived safe and sound, and being applied as I type. The bridge is being mounted as far South as practicable to keep the neck short and the bass balanced and so we'll see how much space will be left for my weird strapbutton ramp. Mr Wittman has rejoined the throng with info on the dimensions of a tuner circuit board twice as large as expected and so Heath is looking to see how this can all be accommodated in a cavity which doesn't impinge on pickup routs and a through bridge and doesn't require a bulging cavity cover on the back. With the pup dims confirmed it's all systems go! Go, that's green isn't it?

[quote name='Ziphoblat' timestamp='1381501137' post='2239958'] Yeah, very nice playing, the string squeak just gets a bit distracting. [/quote] Yep, same here. A classical guitar player would have conquered this a long time before. However, the tone here is trebly and so would accentuate squeaks which would have been missed on a classical guitar (where three strings are unwound and the others with much thinner wire). However, if I concentrate on squeak removal at my comparatively basic level of playing, a bit more attention to it would, to my mind, improve things.

[quote name='RoRi' timestamp='1381421111' post='2238907'] Terrible he even can't stand in the shadow of Victor. [/quote] +1. Very clever, but not very interesting. He's clearly spent a lot of time on this though. I was privileged to be at the VW workshop at the now empty Digital Village in Romford. He was amazing. His timing, accuracy, musical knowledge and downright groove put him on a pedestal for me. Whereas my previous experience of him was his tricks, which get put up on Youtube, his history and demeanour put him among the greats for me. Even if this Brain Salad of a tune (which I didn't recognise) is more clever than something VW does to my mind, no, he's not in his shadow. Having said that, I don't have one record with VW playing on it.

Love Games - Level 42 or Somebody Else's Guy - Jocelyn Brown

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1381441474' post='2239323'] there was a shirt thread aswell somewhere but cant find it now, but till I do you can have this as it has my gig hat on [url="http://www.flickr.com/photos/16408931@N03/10196335706/"][/url] [/quote] Good hat, and, just like a good carpenter always has a pencil behind his ear, I see you are prepared for bvs at any time! Also - love the Green Bass!

And, suddenly, it looks like a Fender neck. But bigger.

Now sorted!

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1381428338' post='2239059'] Rubber feet mounted over strap buttons with strap permanently screwed on to strap button before rubber fitted? All my straps are screwed in with a big washer to hold them in place. Why am I obsessed with your bass? [/quote] Because it's going to be the most useful 'Go to' bass there is! (Or because it's going to be green!) We decided that two feet were necessary to stop it spinning or leaning over when standing. With the top touching the wall (or whatever) a tripod is created. I did wonder about a permanently fixed strap with a foot (see post 83) for a while, but then decided we need two feet. Pup dims are sorted, covers are off to Aaron Kent to fit his innards so the pup cavities and (with a guess for the size of the Wittman tuner circuit) the control cavity can now be routed. Also, the Hipshot stuff will be delivered tomorrow so the bridge pieces can be fixed (these are the tricky Triple Lock Down type with the hollow bolts going through the body) and tuners can go on. Can't wait for the neck to go on!

Yes, thats the sort of thing, although I didn't want it resting on the strap button, it tends to loosen the screw and not be as good as a grippy, rubber foot. Utility! So, we'll try to get the strap button out the way and have it resting on small rubber pads. Finishes on both basses are pretty amazing though! The Pangbourne is very Jaydee-esque.

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1381415768' post='2238769'] Out of interest , has the built in stand idea been shelved ? [/quote] Not shelved, but just couldn't come up with a reasonable and robust solution that wasn't going to put the bass at risk when used (the lack of length available if it tucks into the back meant the backward lean would be quite marked). However, we're looking into a 'safe leaner'! i.e., made so it can be safely leant against things. This includes a small rubber protection strip at the top and Heath is looking into cutting back the body where the strap button is to get it out the way and then two (tastefully crafted!) rubber strips at the bottom/back so it has two safe points of contact with the floor. Very simple, no constructions to rattle or break, but Heath hates the idea of the rubber! He's making a mock up of the current idea from this dodgy sketch I sent, it will need a lot of developing to both work and not look crap - watch this space! [attachment=145769:Dodgy Sketch.jpg] (I think this is an important feature as, not so much at gigs, but in practice at home and with the band, the bass is on and off like a yoyo sometimes and a safe and quick way to put it down will help stop me trying to do things with the bass swinging round on my neck)

Another quickie: Our band is completing an album with some live recordings on Saturday evening in East London and we want to record it on video too so we can add the recorded sound track. But, we've been let down by someone and are struggling to find someone who can use a couple of cameras and take a video of the 5 recorded songs. Limited budget (of course!) but we expect to pay. Any recommendations?

I realise this should be in a a technical forum, but I hoped a first shout here might reach a wider audience. Has anyone use, got or have a picture of the circuit that goes with a Wittman Pro onboard tuner? The guy at Wittman has come back with info when asked in the past, except for just recently, but it's holding up the progress of my custom bass. The luthier wants to rout the controls chamber but needs to know how much space to allow for the tuner circuit board (it's pretty tight at the moment). Anybody seen one? Cheers

Just trying to avoid this sort of look: [attachment=145764:Sunburst Green 2.jpg]

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1381394983' post='2238340'] Seeing them pictures, I'm now very much for the green! [/quote] Hooray! - I'll convert the world, you'll see!

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1381395359' post='2238348'] Green basses are just wrong. [size=4] It should of course be white (or blonde), as any fule kno. [/size] [size=4]You can't beat white with a maple neck. *Babbles incoherently* [/size] [/quote] You mean like this: [attachment=145762:JE Frankenstein.jpg]

Well, maple is a sort of theme for the bass, the neck is a particularly nice piece of it, the sycamore used for the body if from the maple family. I found this example of the sort of thing you're suggesting (which looks a lovely colour on those leaves): [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/MapleRed_zpsa1565e58.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/MapleRed_zpsa1565e58.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Or there's the same thing in green: [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Maplegreen_zps706cbf56.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Maplegreen_zps706cbf56.jpg[/IMG][/URL] While the red looks very nice, I'm afraid I'm still obsessed with green, don't know why, because it's untypical perhaps?

Unfortunately things are slowed a little waiting for suppliers. They're not being bad (the Hipshot stuff has only just been cleared from customs, for example), dims for the Jazz pup are being sorted and having to go to Japan for a supplier of luminous side dots on a black background (can have it on white but, for some reason, there seems to be a UK shortage of black). We're using the Luminlay stuff, SGM-23 (scroll to the bottom here: [url="http://www.luminlay.com/galleryjp.html"]http://www.luminlay.com/galleryjp.html[/url] ) probably the best of the options, but will be £20 once duties etc has been paid. The second component that's been outrageously expensive. Anyway, the time has allowed further thought on the standing up aspect. We're not going to have a built-in stand. Decision made. It will be designed to be safely leant. I've asked for a small, 12mm or so rubber inlay at the top of the back of the headstock to help grip (and not chip) when it gets leaned. At the bottom of the body, the area around the strap button will be set back at an angle into the body (a sort of ramp carved into the body at around 45degrees) to get the straplocks out of the way, and then the back edges of the body each side of the ramp rounded to, say a 25mm radius and capped with rubber. This will all be largely invisible from the front and will avoid having any rubber bumpers sticking out. Heath is going to make a mock up from the useful bits of mdf he has for these purposes to make sure it all works, get the dims right if it does etc before attacking the sycamore. I've got a sketch, I'll try to make it legible and post it up. This is now going against Heath's better judgement, he's not that keen on slapping rubber onto his creation! This is the currently favourite green. Heath's doing his best top mix it up. Apparently quite a process has been used to get the flame pattern to show like this with the stain. [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/leafwithmaple_zpsb47e9a7b.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/leafwithmaple_zpsb47e9a7b.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I don't like green guitars! Trans maple leaf red sounds interesting, any examples? Sounds very autumnal. Right, the mdf mock-ups looked, well, like mdf mock-ups. Here's a picture of what that solution looks like in some first grade sycamore. [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3675_zpsfca67059.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3675_zpsfca67059.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Am I allowed to post such sexy pictures on here? [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3673_zpseba42a57.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3673_zpseba42a57.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Whatever the green, it's going to have to be subtle.