Chris Squire Electra Evolution

[paul h]

So happy that it turned out so well!

There is a now a white bass porn thread ready and waiting for you!

[xilddx]

Video

[purpleblob]

Congrats. not only does it look good but that's a really great sound. Fantastic job.

[xilddx]

[quote name='purpleblob' post='1012686' date='Nov 4 2010, 10:37 PM']Congrats. not only does it look good but that's a really great sound. Fantastic job.[/quote]
Thank you mate!

You're lucky you heard it, YT have disabled the audio pending copyright queries. f***ing w***ers.

[steve-soar]

f***ing marv Nige.

[steve-soar]

Sounds great.

[xilddx]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1012819' date='Nov 5 2010, 12:50 AM']f***ing marv Nige.[/quote]
Thank you mate! I'm so pleased with it, it's a fantastic bass!

Funny, works on here but YT have binned the audio. Probably a good decision given the mistakes I made on it

[FlatEric]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1012820' date='Nov 5 2010, 12:50 AM']Sounds great.[/quote]

I can't hear a thing!! Seems like YouTube has removed it!

Bah

As I said in a previous post, I would get some shots of my Electra, which
is what this custom build is based on and I guess what Chris's looked like
before it was erm. . . . modified!

[attachment=63074:Electra.jpg]

[attachment=63076:Electra2.jpg]

[attachment=63075:Electra1.jpg]



Took it to rehearsal - way too dark when I got there and the shot taken
inside is not that good - dodgy lights and reflections but hey ho, it was the
best I could do at the time. Sorry about the weeds!!
I've got two modules with mine and even without them, you can get some great
sounds from the rotary switching.
I will do a piece on it later on.

In the mean time, try and get the sound back up - I'm gagging to hear it!

Cheers.

[Marvin]

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1012819' date='Nov 5 2010, 12:50 AM']f***ing marv Nige.[/quote]

I'm glad you didn't put a question mark on the end of that sentence
[quote name='silddx' post='1012831' date='Nov 5 2010, 01:15 AM']Thank you mate! I'm so pleased with it, it's a fantastic bass!

Funny, works on here but YT have binned the audio. Probably a good decision given the mistakes I made on it [/quote]

Still working this morning. Sounds great, and you can keep the gold if you want, it actually suits the bass (damn it )

Oh and yeah you might want to put in a bit more practice on that piece

[paul h]

I can't hear it but you and the bass look immensely cool which let's face it, it is half the battle!

[Marvin]

[quote name='paul h' post='1012942' date='Nov 5 2010, 08:39 AM']I can't hear it but you and the bass look immensely cool which let's face it, it is half the battle!

[/quote]
Turn the volume up

[paul h]

If only it were that simple! Damn you Youtube!

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='paul h' post='1012942' date='Nov 5 2010, 08:39 AM']I can't hear it but you and the bass look immensely cool which let's face it, it is half the battle!

[/quote]

I'm afraid the Youtube notation and theory filter has blocked the sound.

[Marvin]

Odd, I can still get audio playback on the embedded video in the thread.

Your all welcome to pop round and have a listen

EDIT: Like the swig of wine you have before you start playing Nige, nice touch

Edited November 5, 2010 by Marvin

[Gust0o]

Video works fine if you got to Sil's channel and then load it.

[FlatEric]

SOUND IS BACK!!!

Sounds brilliant - WOW

Would be really interesting to hear the same thing, same settings, on the original item!

One day soon, perhaps? Interested? I could bring it down to you!

I personally think that the sip of wine before, made it more special and the one after was a reward.

Just off to watch it again.

Top Man.

Cheers.

[paul h]

Still not working for me.

[arsenic]

Good grief - not only does it look gorgeous, but it sounds incredible.

You really have piut together a fabulous intrument, I'm well chuffed for you.

[attachment=63198:notworthy.gif][attachment=63198:notworthy.gif][attachment=63198:notworthy.gif]

[scojack]

Looks and sounds fantastic .congrats !

Edited November 23, 2010 by scojack

[xilddx]

Right, thank you for all your very kind and humbling comments I am delighted!!

I've wanted a bass that looks like Chris Squire's modified Electra Outlaw MPC X610 for quite a while, but with the cost of getting a body made being about £300 from any decent luthier, it was a bit prohibitive. But my mate Adam agreed to make one for me for the cost of materials. Naturally I gave him double that for his time and effort, Thanks Adam So with that in mind I bought a B stock Warwick Rockbass Streamer Blackhawk from Thomann to scavenge for the neck and other parts. It was actually a starter kit so it came with a Warwick 30w amp, strap, cable, gigbag, etc. I sold everything on ebay I didn't need. All I kept was the neck and the pickups.

It's time for a bit of a review of it, and some pictures and a better video of Tempus Fugit, I made too many mistakes in the last one so I did it again. Here is it, followed by the pics and review.



[u][b]Parts, Cost and Spec[/b][/u]


£35 : POSTAGE COSTS - for parts (I was not charged duty on anything from the USA! Lucky that )
£100 : BODY - Seraya Mahogany. Made by my mate Adam.
£65 : BODY FINISHING : Tonetech Luthier Supplies Oly White pre-cat Nitro rattle cans x 3, sheets of wet and dry, milliput, tack rag.
£90 : NECK - 3-piece Maple/Polished Rosewood 'board. From a Warwick Rockbass Streamer Blackhawk B-stock starter kit for £260. I sold the amp and other hardware and kept the neck and the MEC pickups so I made about £130 back.
£26 : NECK INLAYS - Creative Cuts Roman Numeral Vinyl.
£40 : PICKUPS - MEC from the Rockbass Streamer Blackhawk.
£90 : TUNERS - x 4 Hipshot Ultralite GB7 Gold (from USA on Ebay).
£45 : D-TUNER - Hipshot GB7 Gold (from USA on Ebay).
£90 : BRIDGE - Hipshot Black Brass Rickenbacker Replacement (from USA on Ebay).
£73 : PICKGUARD - Mirror blank from WD (£28). Made by Jon Shuker (£45).
£89 : TOP NUT - Warwick Brass JAN-III
£8 : NECK SCREWS & BUSHINGS - Gold- From Warwick in Germany.
£9 : BARREL JACK - Gold- From Warwick in Germany.
£20 : STRAPLOCKS - Gold- From Warwick in Germany.
£215 : EAST PREAMP - U-Retro 4-knob Gold. This is a new product and not on his site yet. It's basically the 5 knob U-retro with the Blend and Volume as a stack.
£25 : STRINGS - DR Black Beauties 105 - 45 (from USA on Ebay).

[b]£1,020 : TOTAL BUILD COST[/b] (A f*** of a lot more than I intended, but worth it!)

The bass weighs 9lbs 13oz so it feels fairly heavy, but the bridge alone weighs 1lb 8oz!

[i][b]Body and Neck[/b][/i]

The body is a three piece made from Seraya Mahogany (Philippine Mahogany). 44mm thick. My friend Adam made it for me to my design. He did a cracking job and even though he's never made a neck pocket before, he did it beautifully and it fits like a glove. It's finished in Tonetech pre-cat nitro Olympic White. No clear coat. It took three rattle cans. The body was risky because grave doubts were raised about the balance. But I knew the body was heavy at 44mm and the hardware was heavy too, also the Hipshot Ultralite tuners weigh next to nothing. In the end, this is a perfectly balanced bass. It has a Hipshot Bras Rick Replacement bridge. Simple, beautiful, great engineering. It would have been even better if it was top loading but we can't have everything. I fitted gold Warwick security locks which work perfectly and look nice. Jon Shuker made the pickguard to my 1/1 scale drawing and it is a superb piece of work.

The neck is fairly chunky, nearer to Warwick necks from a few years back than their current ultra-shallow necks. I like it though and I'm used to them. It's essentially a chunky Jazz neck with a nut width of 38mm. Perfect for me as I don't like P-Bass width at all. The fingerboard is glassy, highly polished and highly figured rosewood, plastic side dots and has a Warwick brass JANIII top nut which I bought as a serious luxury item (£89 ), it is superb though I sanded off the Rockbass logo from the headstock and truss rod cover and have left it plan black. On went the gold reversible Hipshot Ultralite tuners and a Hipshot D-Tuner (Bass X-Tender).

[u][b]John East Preamp U-Retro Deluxe 4-Knob[/b][/u]

John is a very helpful and very nice man. We had a chat and he recommended this pre. It was easy to install as there is no soldering required. It has a Blend/Volume Stack, Bass/Treble Stack with Pull for Bright, and Mid Sweep/Boost0Cut Stack, and a Passive tone circuit knob. It's very easy to use and works brilliantly.

I love this bass, it plays very smoothly and sounds a bit like a Rickenbacker. It has a tight low end which needs a bit of boosting as it's not as resonant as my Warwicks, but it feels more controllable. It balances beautifully and is very comfortable to play.

Strings are DR Black Beauties.

















Cheers all.

[Darkstrike]

Schwing!

[Count Bassie]

Dude, that bass looks AWESOME!! I'm American so I have to use the word AWESOME!! But seriously, nice piece there, good looking instrument. And it sounds great! Very cool. Very cool.

I'll say it again. Very cool.

[xilddx]

Thank you everyone for your really encouraging comments, I really appreciate them

I played the bass at rehearsal last night. A little niggle was the jack socket kept coming lose but that's a very easy fix. The other problem is that the hideous Behringer bass head at the studio had a faulty power amp send return so I had to go through the preamp section, with the pod, never works and I couldn't hear what the bass really sounded like, but it is definitely got more top, less bottom and I perceive a higher mid range band than my Warwick Corvette $$. In short, very much more like a Rickenbacker tone. So, I need to adjust all my POD patch eqs to compensate.

Another issue is the blend on the East pre loses so much bass freqs when the pickups are in equal balance. Sounds like a massive phase cancellation. 1 or 2 mm to the right or left and the bass freq boom back in. The pickups sound great, there is a useful difference in freq response between the two but it's not too pronounced, unlike my $$ which has a thin, nasal tone on the bridge pup. I know Jaco fans like that, but I detest that sound. I like to floor rhinos with my bass, not tickle tarantulas

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='silddx' post='1018579' date='Nov 10 2010, 11:19 AM']Another issue is the blend on the East pre loses so much bass freqs when the pickups are in equal balance. Sounds like a massive phase cancellation. 1 or 2 mm to the right or left and the bass freq boom back in. The pickups sound great, there is a useful difference in freq response between the two but it's not too pronounced, unlike my $$ which has a thin, nasal tone on the bridge pup. I know Jaco fans like that, but I detest that sound. I like to floor rhinos with my bass, not tickle tarantulas [/quote]

That's not likely to be the pre's fault! Most preamps would display that behaviour... even a passive set up. That's physics in action... sounds like you have unfortunate pickup spacing

[Wil]

Great playing as always Nige.