scrumpymike's (a) Rascal

[scrumpymike]

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

Any way that you can reduce weight has got to be a good thing. I can highly recommend the work Andy did to do this on the Psilos - I've been right to trust his judgement on both the builds he's done for me. You should to...

Wouldn't dream of doing anything else

[Andyjr1515]

I'll have to have a proper think about this - that internal chamber is probably too close for me to do what I was originally considering.  This is the fun part of the hobby . Especially if I don't pink torpedole it up. 

[scrumpymike]

6 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I'll have to have a proper think about this - that internal chamber is probably too close for me to do what I was originally considering.  This is the fun part of the hobby . Especially if I don't pink torpedole it up. 

I'm counting on you me owd pink-torpedole-sparra!

[BigRedX]

23 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

But I'm not normal in the head and two things would bug me. 

The first thing goes back to the 1950's.  THAT'S OVER 60 YEARS AGO, FENDER!!!  And because the Fender 5 way switch is 1.5" deep, then this surprisingly deep chamber is still only just deep enough ( and that includes bending the contacts down out of the way for the hatch to fit) :

 

Are there really no low-profile alternatives to the Fender-style 5-way switch? 

Personally I'd have asked about the feasibility of replacing it with a rotary switch. Not only lower profile but you could have added some extra switching alternatives.

[scrumpymike]

7 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Are there really no low-profile alternatives to the Fender-style 5-way switch? 

Personally I'd have asked about the feasibility of replacing it with a rotary switch. Not only lower profile but you could have added some extra switching alternatives.

My fault - I particularly wanted to retain the original controls.

Edited December 5, 2017 by scrumpymike

[Andyjr1515]

So, I've had a think and - I suppose you wouldn't expect anything different - I'm going with the more difficult of the various options       As one of my fellow band members says (in this case about my sax playing), "What I like, Andy, is that you're always on the very, very edge of disaster!" 

This is what I'm going to do:

 

But hang on, Andy, I hear you say....that means your hatch has a double bend in it.

Yes it does......bring it on!

 

[SpondonBassed]

Oh yes!

{Background sounds of hooting, loud cheers and tobacco spits}

 

Edited December 5, 2017 by SpondonBassed

[Jabba_the_gut]

Are these switches a bit lower profile than the one you have?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-way-Pickup-Selector-Switch-for-Squire-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitars/371792049450?epid=2070517912&hash=item569088752a:g:vqEAAOSwpP9Y5TSn

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Are these switches a bit lower profile than the one you have?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5-way-Pickup-Selector-Switch-for-Squire-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitars/371792049450?epid=2070517912&hash=item569088752a:g:vqEAAOSwpP9Y5TSn

A few mm once I've bent the tabs on the standard one, Jez.

To be honest, it's not a big issue - it's just more a comment on how conservative the guitar and bass industry (and maybe buyers too) tends to be.  As Mike says, the spec was always to transfer the electrics as is.  

It spurs me on to pursuing the slim and light design exploration.  Apart from anything else, us old gits are starting to find heavy instruments verging on an impossibility

[SpondonBassed]

7 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

...it's not a big issue - it's just more a comment on how conservative the guitar and bass industry (and maybe buyers too) tends to be...

As ScrumpyMike demonstrates, customer demand seems to be a big factor.

Composite materials were used by Ned Steinberger in his range of new age guitar designs as far back as the late seventies.  Many manufacturers use them now.  They are still somehow not the real deal in the eyes of a lot of people who were there in the 60s, 70s or 80s.  Oddly, people who weren't born back then are voicing similar sentiment today.

In parallel, I was getting an introduction to composite materials in aircraft technology in my day job.  Aerospace, the automotive and the sports industries all use composite materials routinely now.  In music, significant numbers of players seem to want to avoid newer materials.  The green issues surrounding the harvesting of exotic woods and ivory are good reason to think twice about what your instrument is really made of... or so you'd think.

Since I started taking notice of music tech in the seventies the industry has embraced new technology whole-heartedly.  I was on one of the last analogue sound mixing courses that were being run in Dublin.  We touched on MIDI despite that, such was the enthusiasm of the instructors to whet our appetites for the future.  The new syllabus was a rewrite that put digital tech at the core or everything.

I was the mug who had paid for the old fashioned analogue course the day before the new syllabus was announced.  Don't get me wrong, I have no regrets because it was good knowledge.  Indeed, I was amongst the last to be formally educated in analogue sound and lighting for live and recorded performance.  I have a feeling of privilege for that.

The oddness is in the way that traditional instruments are sought despite clear advantages in choosing modern instruments that incorporate new materials and ideas.  The current demand for newer instruments to look old shows a willingness to pay lip service to antiquity by defacing relicing brand new kit.

Inexplicable.  The antique market benefits as ever.  Collectors take over from musicians.  They'll pay extra for genuine and original hardware.  That is a good reason for Mike to keep his original spec switch.  It is also good reason for you to make the headstock modification reversible.  That you take care to uphold that ideal is admirable.

[scrumpymike]

That's an interesting post SpondonB - I often wonder why composites aren't more commonly used for guitar bodies.  As you say, though, it's a tradition/heritage thing - and I'm sure that moulding carbon-fibre wouldn't give Andy the satisfaction he gets from working with natural materials.

[HowieBass]

Re carbon fibre - you'd have to make a wooden body first to then take a mould in which to do the carbon fibre layup after which you need some way to cure it (autoclave or vacuum system)...

Cort used Luthite to make the bodies of the old Cort Curbows but I've read that if you drop them they can chip badly.

[Andyjr1515]

6 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

That's an interesting post SpondonB - I often wonder why composites aren't more commonly used for guitar bodies.  As you say, though, it's a tradition/heritage thing - and I'm sure that moulding carbon-fibre wouldn't give Andy the satisfaction he gets from working with natural materials.

I make enough of a mess with wood. Can you imagine the mess I'd make with composites 

[Jimothey]

I’m a bit of a traditionalist carbon fibre has its place but I don’t think it should be used in musical instruments (it hasn’t got any soul), I have enough of a problem with status’s graphite necks let alone start moulding bodies out of carbon fibre etc

[MPU]

Making a carbon fiber instrument is not more difficult than working with wood. It’s just different, in many ways even easier. 

If interested, please check out

https://www.talkbass.com/threads/winter-2017-build-off-carbon-headless-bass.1259505/

[discreet]

Depends if you think that wood has any bearing on 'tone' or not. I think that it does not. *Hides under bed*

 

[Jimothey]

5 hours ago, discreet said:

Depends if you think that wood has any bearing on 'tone' or not. I think that it does not. *Hides under bed*

 

I do agree with you that I don’t think that what wood you use makes much difference to the tone but composites are just cold and lifeless 

[SpondonBassed]

4 hours ago, Jimothey said:

I do agree with you that I don’t think that what wood you use makes much difference to the tone but composites are just cold and lifeless 

I agree.  Despite my engineering background my sentiment over-rides my knowledge.  Composites have no soul.  Timber has.

[discreet]

6 hours ago, Jimothey said:

I do agree with you that I don’t think that what wood you use makes much difference to the tone but composites are just cold and lifeless 

 

1 hour ago, SpondonBassed said:

I agree.  Despite my engineering background my sentiment over-rides my knowledge.  Composites have no soul.  Timber has.

You could always cover it in leather, or faux-fur or something, a la ZZ Top. Or use veneer or paint to make it look like wood.

[Andyjr1515]

27 minutes ago, discreet said:

 

You could always cover it in leather, or faux-fur or something, a la ZZ Top. Or use veneer or paint to make it look like wood.

Don't worry, folks. The absence of progress photos, allowing the thread to drift a little off topic, is simply MrsAndyjr1515, reasonably but firmly, reminding me I was going to paint the kitchen before Christmas . Normal service should resume very shortly and we can get off materials and back to what a jolly good bodger builder I am  

[SpondonBassed]

2 hours ago, discreet said:

 

You could always cover it in leather, or faux-fur or something, a la ZZ Top. Or use veneer or paint to make it look like wood.

I saw a photo of one of our member's basses, a B2A, covered in fur.  It scared the bejayzus out of me!

I do like @owen's jacketed DB though

[SpondonBassed]

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Don't worry, folks. The absence of progress photos, allowing the thread to drift a little off topic, is simply MrsAndyjr1515, reasonably but firmly, reminding me I was going to paint the kitchen before Christmas . Normal service should resume very shortly and we can get off materials and back to what a jolly good bodger builder I am  

I hereby dub thee - Sir Jolly Bodger of the Basschat round table.  I'll have my people make a flag with two necks crossed on top of a bass body and run it up the forum flagpole.

It'll keep me busy while I wait for the next gripping instalment.

[scrumpymike]

4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Don't worry, folks. The absence of progress photos, allowing the thread to drift a little off topic, is simply MrsAndyjr1515, reasonably but firmly, reminding me I was going to paint the kitchen before Christmas . Normal service should resume very shortly and we can get off materials and back to what a jolly good bodger builder I am  

Hey Andy, what are you doing the kitchen in - faux fur, leather, or good old Osmo 3014?  As long as you don't get mixed up and finish my bass with a coat or two of Dulux emulsion

[Andyjr1515]

1 minute ago, scrumpymike said:

 As long as you don't get mixed up and finish my bass with a coat or two of Dulux emulsion

Oh.....oooops......

 

 

 

 

[scrumpymike]

3 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Oh.....oooops......

 

 

 

 

Don't worry mate - if it's kitchen paint, at least I know it'll wipe clean.