All Activity

... and Icicle Works for me, a fair few years ago. I only made it through the first song. AC/DC were also loud, we were right at the back of the area and I had my orange builder's ear plugs. Not loud enough to leave, but loud enough to to wonder about the people at the front without hearing protection!

If it ends up looking anything like your Thunder-me-wotsit Mustang thing - this will look ace! Like you, I'm bad at fretless. Then you listen to Pino or a bit of Pearl Jam and think I NEED one. Think I've had 4 or 5 fretless basses, none of which have lasted after gathering dust 😅

Leo himself did in 1960. If I was forced to choose just one bass for the rest of my life, it'd be some variety of Jazz. Not much you can't do with a J.

That's a decent pic. Dave

So when (if) the time comes to play octaves at any kind of speed, how are you coping? I don't see how it's possible without curling my fingers, which blows the whole rest stroke thing for me.

Hi guys Since I had my '66 Mustang modified (Resto-modded, I think is the term) by the amazing @Andyjr1515 I have found it to be an absolutely wonderful instrument in every way - it's properly floored me, so much so that I sold my other 4 string basses. Now I'm looking to create a fretless version with the same sort of vibe. I say create, but I basically mean buy the bits and stick them together, and ask a competent luthier to fill in the vast gaps in my knowledge and skills. To that end, I have started a conversation with a recommended local luthier who will do some of this work. So what am I working with? Rather than de-fret a Musicmaster neck, I was lucky enough to score a Mustang (MIJ) neck on Facebook, which someone had already worked on. The truss rod has been replaced with an aluminium one and the fretboard replaced with ebony. The guy sounds quite experienced and I think it'll be a decent job. It cost me £200. As for the rest - well, I was always going to need a pickup near the bridge, which Musicmasters don't have. Either I'd need to get something routed or try and find something pre destroyed. This came up on eBay, Reverb etc from Rich Tone Music in Sheffield. I have spoken to them about it a bit and decided to go for it. I think it was slightly over valued but I think it'll be pretty spot on for my project. It's a 1972 Musicmaster that someone has put DiMarzio pickups in. The installation at the bridge is quite neat - indeed the neck is done quite nicely too (I saw pics under the scratch plate) but it is slightly wonky. But that's OK - I have a plan. So the neck will come off and swap easily. The neck pickup can be wiggled to straighten it (there's a bit of space around the pickup, happily not a massive swimming pool but just a slightly looser cutout than the bridge, looks like an OK job). The electronics are, weirdly, vol/tone. One vol for both pickups (no pan). I will re-wire it instead to blend/tone as per my Mustang. I say I will, someone else will with me pestering them. Once the pickup is repositioned I'll either need a new scratch plate or to work around it somehow. I have a plan for this too - reissue scratch plates have too many holes, and It would be nice to use the original. I don't have to be precious as it's obviously already been hacked away. I will widen the cutout to accommodate the moving of the pickup by a few degrees, then put a bezel around the new position, covering the gap left. Original guard stays on, and the neck pickup will gain a bezel, which I'll do in probably 3 ply w/b/w rectangle. Or, that fails and I get a new guard made using a tracing of mine. Next - the neck. I'm after a glossy finish, so we're talking about epoxy coating/polishing. Of course this can happen later if needs be. I will be using rounds, so something hard to compliment the ebony, but something that can be re-finished eventually. Finally - I might put a new bridge on, one with four saddle adjustability. I play in drop D (yes it works really well on the Mustang, even at 30") so independent adjustment for intonation is a must - I will probably need longer saddle screws for the fattest two strings, too. So the bits are arriving over the coming weeks - I have a couple of weekends away and so forth but I will update here as I go, if anyone is interested! I will see if my luthier is interested in updating here too, though if I'm able to move the pickup and do the pick guard bit myself he might not have too much to do except this kind of thing on the neck: So, a little bit crazy, potentially daft - but it went so well last time I thought why not? Cheers, looking forward to tops/advice/commiseration as appropriate! Crazy thing is that I'm not even any good on fretless

Hey u bass players. How long do a set of aquila strings last? I'm debating one of the bamboo u bass from thomann for easy transport.

Nice! I didn't know they'd done the Kelly shape as a bass, I've only ever seen the Kellybird Thunderbird inspired models. Balance always seems to be a bit of an issue with these explorer type basses, but they certainly look the part.

Hi there, which spacing did you go for/what's the standard spacing? Cheers

I had one of those, also about 25 years ago (crikey, how am I that old?!). It does give Tom Daley a run for his money, but looks amazing - like an Explorer on speed.

That would be great thanks 👍🏻 Here's the link to my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/share/1HxMyuT1Me/

At least 25 years ago - so that might've been before I was born!

I'm just asking out of curiosity but is that to check if the battery connector is shorting? Or would that check if there's a short in the circuit as a whole?

I saw Kenny Wayne Shepherd a year or so ago in a proper concert venue with normally great sound. Christ he was so stupidly loud we joined people walking out half way through the first set. A similar thing with Joe Satriani although we did last until the interval.

Graphite Addicts of BC unite in anticipation...

Of course they did. Things don't stand still, but with all the flaws, issues and competition, Fender Strats, P basses and Jazz basses still form the bulk of the instruments I see being used on gigs and on TV. I now play 2 FSO's. Fender designs with all the wrinkles ironed out and taken to the next level. I couldn't be happier.

Forgot about Len stiles, my first job was a stones throw from there so often had a lunchtime browse in there. There was also gigsounds in Streatham and Wing music in Sidcup.

This is an excellent point. Not sure what that says about us though as a species 🤔

Damn These Vampires — The Mountain Goats