blablas Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 Replaced the three knob control plate on my Chi-Sonic Squier with a two knob stacked one today. More tonal control and it just looks so nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 A little bit of modding on the HB shorty P. Replaced the stock pickup with a Seymour Duncan Quarter pounder, also replaced the chrome pickguard screws with black ones for a nice visual contrast. Fixed the vague tuners with a little pencil lead in the nut grooves. Even though the pickup cost me more than the complete bass itself, I think it was some well spent money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 (edited) I Like the short scale Harley Benton PB so much I decided I want one with Jazz single coils, can not be bought so I had to convert a P version. Bought me a second one and started converting it, below is the final result. details: It was a fun little project to do, the end result is exactly what I had in mind, sound wise and looks wise. The twins. At the same time I made the mint green pickguard for this one I made one for the older P one as well (I could get two from one rough pickguard plate). Edited October 13, 2017 by blablas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tvrtastic Posted February 2, 2015 Share Posted February 2, 2015 This is my leftie. Built it in my dad's garage back in 1985. Never replaced it as cannot find anything better without me spending ££££. Brazilian mahogany with maple and spruce top (don't laugh it was all I could afford and didn't Leo Fender use pine when he started!?!?). Has a Kent Armstrong handwround pickup as originally used in early Status S2 basses. Guess you can see my inspiration for the shape. Bass sounds fine with great clarity from the pickup. Quite toppy but poor at slapping, although this may just be because of my paucity at changing strings! Always tempted to rip out the pickup and put it into a MIM bass or something to see the results and if this outshines my bass. But I just don't have the heart and I just keep playing the bass I built when I was a teenager :-). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 (edited) A NS Design NXT 5 LH, the replacement for my old and worn-out double bass. Bye bye. R.I.P.: the thing - 19??-2015 Edited October 13, 2017 by blablas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrFingers Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 If Epiphone can't deliver, well... I can. Started out as a regular mid nineties cherry Epiphone Rivoli I. A lefty friend of mine wanted one, so I refurbished in a pelham blue-ish color, and the wiring and pickguard of an EB2D. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXNg2L18E5w"]Sounds humongous[/url], and is I think a unique piece. Many manly tears were shed when trying to pry in the wiring harness (big CTS potmeters with the long shaft, many wires, small F hole)... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve-soar Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 That has made my day. Stunning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmo Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Awesome looking Epiphone. I would like one of those Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 (edited) Finished rebuilding a third Harley Benton Shorty. The official portrait: Edited October 13, 2017 by blablas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subbeh Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 You should be working for them in product development! upgraded P, cool jazz and a great string ray variant. Great work as always! Also MrFingers, that Epiphone is just gorgeous, you've done a fantastic job on that finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblueplanet Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 Love the Epiphone conversion MrFingers and blablas work is awesome as usual. Well done people! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 (edited) One more. [size=1](somehow I can't hold back)[/size] Harley Benton B30 NT Acoustic Bass Series 'Deko' Sold for decoration only..... We'll see about that. It came with a hump between fret 10 and 17 and had quiet a few sharp fret ends, the bridge saddle seemed to be too low, it was truly unplayable. First thing I did was level out the hump in the fretboard by leveling the frets, it's alive and plays (the hump was not that high but rather long). Next step was Removing the sharp fret ends and giving all the frets one final level session, after that I crowned and polished them. Also put a shim (half a millimeter thick) under the bridge saddle, as I already suspected it was set up too low, while I was busy working on the bass I gave the nut some tweaking as well. Another thing I needed to do was tightening all the tuner screws and nuts, they were all loose. Put a set of D'addario ETB92 Nylon Tape Wound strings and a 'de afwerking' thumbrest on it and gave it a final setup. The action is a little under two millimeters at the 12th fret, precisely what I like. Given the fact I bought this bass as a 'Deko' for only 45 euros I can't really complain it needed some TLC. Edited October 13, 2017 by blablas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted May 17, 2015 Share Posted May 17, 2015 Been doodling with my standard(ish) PB-Shorty. Finally came to the conclusion I don't really like this bass without a bridge pickup. I had an old (unbranded) bridge position J style dual coil pickup floating around in my parts box, decided to put this one in. The controls are volume/balance/tone and a series/parallel switch for the bridge pickup. Now that I can dial in the bite of a bridge pickup it sounds exactly the way I want it to. The only thing still wrong is that this old pickup is seriously microphonic, a DiMarzio DP148 is on it's way to solve this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted July 3, 2015 Share Posted July 3, 2015 Finished my latest DIY project. [IMG]http://s20.postimg.org/xd3uxgj4t/mk4_4.jpg[/IMG] [URL='http://basschat.co.uk/topic/240945-de-afwerking-mk4-4-blablas-has-that-building-itch-again/page__view__findpost__p__2813127']More detail pictures[/URL] & [URL='http://basschat.co.uk/topic/240945-de-afwerking-mk4-4-blablas-has-that-building-itch-again/']Full build diary[/URL]. (both on BassChat in the Build Diaries section) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Finnished another PB-Shorty conversion. RiB-Shorty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 (edited) A compilation picture of all my DIY builds. Finally made one, wanting to that for weeks already. Edited October 13, 2017 by blablas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Guess what? Danelectro Longhorn. Nice little bass, excellent build quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beany2510 Posted September 23, 2015 Share Posted September 23, 2015 hi all, just joined the forum so thought id show off my basses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sblueplanet Posted September 23, 2015 Author Share Posted September 23, 2015 I recognise that Thumb. Glad you're loving it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 Another new toy for blablas, I sure hope this will be the last one for a longer period time! Sandberg Basic 5 Ken Taylor zebra red. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Che Posted October 19, 2015 Share Posted October 19, 2015 [quote name='blablas' timestamp='1441321006' post='2858010'] A compilation picture of all my DIY builds. Finally made one, wanting to that for weeks already. [/quote] blablas you naughty boy you will scare away all others with your craftsmanship. Hell, I feel so useless after seeing all your awesome work, seriously! I struggle even to do a simple bass set-up and look you I was looking at buying a good book on building a bass or a guitar. Do you have any in particular you can suggest? (I'm seriously asking) I see some on Amazon but not sure which one to get. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blablas Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) There are supposed to be several good books on building guitars/basses. However, I've never read a single one of them, I'm coming from an background of engineering and metal manufacturing for a living, I just started building them and used my common sense and metal working skills and tools, and of course the understanding of the underlying technical principles of what makes a guitar work. EDIT: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/threads/best-bass-guitar-building-book.305141/"]Here[/url] is a link to what some people are advising over on TalkBass. Edited October 12, 2017 by blablas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 lefty's look so wrong...this thread has made me very uncomfortable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigman Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 [quote name='MrFingers' timestamp='1424349364' post='2695382'] If Epiphone can't deliver, well... I can. Started out as a regular mid nineties cherry Epiphone Rivoli I. A lefty friend of mine wanted one, so I refurbished in a pelham blue-ish color, and the wiring and pickguard of an EB2D. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXNg2L18E5w"]Sounds humongous[/url], and is I think a unique piece. Many manly tears were shed when trying to pry in the wiring harness (big CTS potmeters with the long shaft, many wires, small F hole)... [/quote] Why's it strung right handed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 [quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1445332339' post='2890559'] lefty's look so wrong...this thread has made me very uncomfortable [/quote] BHAHAHA!!! COME JOIN US AT THE DEVIL'S SIDE!!! \m/ \m/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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