4 Strings

[quote name='pierreganseman' timestamp='1380551009' post='2226916'] ... but what about taking 3 minutes of your time to send an email to actually explain the situation? [/quote] I think this is the key, its disarming and gains sympathy and patience. Honesty and communication.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1380550114' post='2226896'] Really? You wouldn't thinkg it was a "great story" if it happened to you, believe me. I was only in my late teens at the time; I'd ordered the bass with money from my first job & dealing with the whole thing was a f***ing nightmare. No pics - the whole incident got very nasty indeed. If I found & posted a picture people would be able to see the bass & therefore who it was made by & that's somewhere I really don't want to go. [/quote] Sorry, didn't mean to diminish your experience. Sounds like the builder you dealt with is better out of everyone's way.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1380545122' post='2226766'] Understood, but my point remains that you have to physically put the T-nut inside the cab somehow as opposed to the hollow wall fixing which is all done from outside. [/quote] Yes. (They use T-Nuts for the handles)

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1380545736' post='2226778']The time quoted for delivery came & went & all I got from the arsehole building it was a series of increasingly bizarre lies about why it was not ready. The bass in question had a unique set of inlays designed by me - Imagine my surprise when I saw somebody on Top of the Pops using a custom bass by the same builder with exactly the same woods as mine & with my inlays! To make it worse this was about a week after the builder told me the bass he was building me had been destroyed in a workshop fire! The guy ended up leaving the country with a long line of people he owed work & money to chasing after him. [/quote] Great story! Any pics of the band and your bass?

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1380538392' post='2226644'] Oh, missed that about T-nuts. The only difference I can think of is that the entire installation can be done from outside the cab with hollow wall anchors, no need to get inside - surely you'd have to press/drive the T-nut into the inside face of the base of the cab, or am I being mental? [/quote] Well, not mental, but they get drawn into place by tightening the screw.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1380541792' post='2226698'] Just on the flipside of your letter.... Alan at ACG, Chris and the Guys at Overwater, Rob and Dawn at Status Chris at Alpher, Aaron at whatever Aaron armstrong's pickup making business, Alex at barefaced apart from Alpher and ACG I've not bought from them, but in talking to all of them and the way they conducted themselves, I would trust them 100% in their integrity and communications. The good guys should be celebrated I think! [/quote] You could add John East to that, been very helpful whenever asked

Do you have money tied in with the pickup order? Otherwise I think I would have cancelled it by now.

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1380533699' post='2226552'] The grain is enough as it is. It does not need adorning. Do you give the straight grain on a violin front a sunburst finish? No. Opinionated? Moi? [/quote] Perhaps a light tint to a highly translucent stain. Any stain will bring the grain out more. Green?

Lastly, for now, we're going with the Wittman built in tuner, talking to John East about a switchable pull-up volume control on the preamp.

Haven't come up with a suitable stand design. There's a Guild Thunderbird with a built in stand. Apparently, one of the features of many examples is a repair to the headstock from it falling over! [url="http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/GuildThunderbird_zps86f10af3.jpg.html"][/url] A better way round for the tripod would be to have the two feet on the stand (taking most weight) and a single point on the body. The limiting thing is the length of the stand, causes the body to lean back too far. Current thought is a flexible foot of some kind simply to allow it to be leant against something: [url="http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/AdjFoot_zps04b94372.jpg.html"][/url] or: [url="http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/flexyfoot_zpsb2f5f058.jpg.html"][/url] Might be a bit too clumsy looking, and the bass may spin when leaning. Instead, simply two rubber pads either side of the strap button would prevent this. Also wondering about a strip of rubber set into the back of the headstock near the top to allow leaning (and a bit of grip) without damage and not being visible from the front.

Not much to report at the moment, the pups and electronics are awaited, should start to arrive this week. In the meantime work continued on the neck, the front has been lacquered and this bit will now be all nice and shiny: [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/photo_zps4e78a20f.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/photo_zps4e78a20f.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Heath popped over with his callipers to talk neck thickness dimensions. Also, he left the body with me to think about colour, rounding, arm rests, belly cavities etc. The latter has been started for positioning. The body wood has been treated with wood bleach to remove some black discolouration in some of the end grain and there is a patchy yellowing to the face which is likely to come out with similar treatment. You can see the shape properly here. Loosely based on MM and G&L bodies, it has received the Ruach style. I'm wanting a 'slab of wood' effect so the rounding of the edges is likely to be limited to the corners (maybe Tele style) rather than fully shaped like a Warwick. [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/2013-09-30100838_zps7bb598a8.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/2013-09-30100838_zps7bb598a8.jpg[/IMG][/URL] The pencil marking on the back marks the approximate extent on the smoothing once the neck has been mounted. The neck will have an asymmetric profile and so the centre point of this bit will not end up central. [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/2013-09-30100850_zps2018b790.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/2013-09-30100850_zps2018b790.jpg[/IMG][/URL] I'm enjoying being able to handle and hold the body, it's a lovely bit of wood with a lovely pattern, but as you can see it's not very pronounced (there is a series of vertical ripples which haven't come out). So I'm wondering about how opaque the finish should be. And what colour. No idea why the current fetish for green, never really like green guitars, I hope it passes soon!

I'm not having that experience with Ruach, although the build has currently lost a bit of momentum while they await the arrival of hardware etc (mostly from independent makers!). I get almost daily updates and pics and I have sent them a nauseating amount of emails with suggestions, pics, ideas etc, all cheerfully received and replied. They have also popped round to my house when in the area to drop colour samples, show me wood etc.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1380489361' post='2226176'] Customers shouldn’t have to use wood glue, sawdust and matchsticks to stop bits falling off a product that costs over a thousand pounds. [/quote] Fair enough, although they're not quite as expensive as that! Also, unlike many other manufacturers, you're not dealing with lawyers and letters of the law in warranties but a small group of very nice people who want to get things right.

[quote name='Protium' timestamp='1380452646' post='2225376'] I'd send it back to barefaced, tell them to fix it and stop penny pinching on cheap sh*te hardware. [/quote] Even as a very happy BF user, I think this is fair comment, although the feet and fixings are no different to many others. The BF cabs are, I understand, made from ply with varying density, ie tough and hard outer plies and softer but lighter in the middle. Perhaps this give less for the screws to bite into. As I mentioned, i appear to have solved the problem on my cabs with a dab of glue in each screw hole.

If it's drummer 'with crappy time' he has to. (Or shout things like 'TEMPO!' when each drumfill raises the song by 2bpm)

Subscribed - very interested in the neck insert especially

The neck wood is wonderful. I was almost sad that the body had a top, the walnut is also beautiful but that's going to be an outstanding body. I'd be interested to know why they make the body thinner at the neck joint. Need more update pics! Walnut pup covers?

This is an amazing piece of work! Hope the horn holds up (as it were).

A few minutes of drizzle will do little more than make some surfaces wet. Anything more then I think I'd be packing things away. There will always be better opportunities to play. How many will be in the wet watching? I'm not a fan, but radio mics etc all helped this situation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adD-9JxQ8kc

Maybe, but those details are on every cheque issued and so are hardly secrets. Sounds like he has a deal somewhere along the line for getting paid for hits to his site. This could just be a way of improving that number of hits. If you can be bothered, could see what the net step entails, you're clearly cautious already so I'd doubt you'd do anything silly.

Reeeeally Nice! I must admit, the spec sounded a bit stealth/matt black for me, but the result is beautiful. Subtle and balanced. I also really like the scratch plate and the curvy bit in the head. Well done, also please it plays so well!

Little update: Headstock inlay - I asked for the full 'Ruach' as opposed to the more normal 'R'. It will be set on a black background so it will stand out more. Heath cut it to match the lower curve. [URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3525_zpsa4a67b52.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3525_zpsa4a67b52.jpg[/IMG][/URL] The headstock has a curve to the top and so the string posts will have a partial, shallow recess. We both like a slim headstock (the poorer quality guitars in my life have always been a bit chunky here, lower quality materials maybe. Even MM and Fenders show a thinner headstock on the older models.) [url="http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/IMG_3570_zpsa16ec785.jpg.html"][URL=http://s1341.photobucket.com/user/4Strings1/media/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3570_zpsa16ec785.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/o760/4Strings1/Ruach%20Utility%20Bass/IMG_3570_zpsa16ec785.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/url]

Yep, hands up, one bass for 25 years, only changed amps when they got nicked. A couple of years into bass chat and 7 basses and a load of cabs have passed through the house. Have enjoyed the process and haven't lost much money in it either. All thinning back down, but my present gear is way more expensive than anything I would have though justifiable.

[quote name='wombatboter' timestamp='1379887740' post='2217977'] Sounds familiar... bought bass number 136 this week and still looking for that "right" sound while I used to play a Yamaha BB300 and was quite pleased with it. [/quote] 136 and still not found the sound? Maybe time to try a tuba or organ pedals, its clearly not the sound of a bass guitar you're looking for!

Ouchee, puts the problem of a foot falling off in context! For the OP I have unscrewed all mine (16!) and put a dab of undiluted wood glue in each screw hole an screwed them all in. I have not lost one since and they are all as firm as can be.