Delberthot

My black one is nowhere near original but the two best things you can do to improve the balance are to get a Hipshot bridge and move the front strap button to the front of the body heel under the neck. Its amazing how comfortable it becomes when you do these two things. Its all I've gigged with for the past 18 months for weddings, rock gigs and even the Beatles tribute band I am in. I think this one has always been alder, the Goth & NIkki Sixx being the only two I am aware of that are mahogany. Never had a problem with the jack but I rewired it with decent pots and stuff when I changed the pickups. If you're looking to rewire then its done exactly the same as a Jazz bass.

One thing I found out when I played 12 string was that D'Addario make Hamer brand strings.They are essentially the same strings from what I've read.

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1329252069' post='1539700'] In shock, lost for words, blah.... Some tremendous work gone into it. You know that moment when you skip read something, then think, that can't be right> My first reading was "reconstituted Tortoise". Please help me [/quote] I read the bit at the bottom as "skips with case" - debatably the best place for it. Clearly the builder had thought that there weren't enough basses shaped like Texas

I have a deeply distressed Ibanez DWB3 Doug Wimbish that I am in the process of resurrecting. Before I go on, there is one bass that I have never owned and fear that because of the crazy figures they sell for second hand, I will never own. I speak of the WAL bass. I have heard that the ACG filter based preamp is the closest that you can get to one so I am going to get myself one. I have decapitated the preamp from the cylinder head in such a way that it will be easy to put together. So how much should I be looking at for the preamp and the pickups? I've thought that the 35CS pickups would be the best as I've used them before and they were really good. Or should I just sell the preamp? I have no desire to sound like Doug Wimbish. I would like to sound a bit like John Deacon here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8CefyvKcFY

I've tried nearly every bass that every bass player I've ever liked has played as I've went through different phases then it dawned on me one day that I sound like me regardless of what I play. There may be a wee bit of extra bottom end or a touch more top between basses but its still essentially the same sound.

I've been in the fortunate position to have a reasonable amount of money to buy myself something recently and believe me I have trawled Ebay worldwide, Soundslive, Digital Village, GAK, Thomann and loads of others but there is hee haw that interests me. Its a funny old game. I've had everything from A to Z (except Alembic and Zon ) and I feel that I've done it all now and want to just enjoy playing the damn things without wondering what something else would be like.

Personally I would get the band into a rehearsal studio as often as you can comfortably allow to make sure you are all confident of playing your set live. I've been playing for years in front of crowds ranging from the bar manager and an old guy in with his dog to a few thousand people but we headlined the Dundee Beatles Weekend which was full of the biggest Beatles fans in Scotland and many that had come from Europe and South of the Border and I nearly sh*t myself but we'd rehearsed plenty and that was what helped us get through the initial nerves. We also headlined but didn't play last

They're not for everyone and some slight modification may be required but I've now had my Thunderbird for well over a year making it the longest I've had a bass since my Stingray. Thought about selling it and nearly did but its far too good for that. I also discovered at the weekend that a wee bit of adjustment on the controls gives it a pure mad mental plectrum tone - so good that i played most of the second set with one the other night.

I don't see it listed anymore but it looks like the Fender Precision Deluxe Active something or other. I'm sure it had P and a double Jazz pickup. nice.

I've had my Roto flats on my Thunderbird for about a year now, I think, and still love them. I am able to still get a very bright tone, something resembling fretless sounds or an impressive honk. Where you play can also influence to tone. I play right up at the bridge and use a lot of staccato notes to give my sound added punch

That and about a dozen other basses have been listed and relisted by the same seller for the past few months. Perhaps trying to get a name for himself like our German friend