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In terms of the music, my favourite Sabbath was definitely the Dio era too, saw them live ect, but Ozzy was a personality cult all of his own, even back then. I agree that if Sabbath had changed their name at that point then maybe people would have more readily acknowledged what great music they were turning out in their own right. I saw Ozzy with Randy Rhodes on the first Blizzard Of Oz tour in 1980. It was pretty good but not great, just another routine gig on a Monday night in the provinces for Ozzy. I waited at the stage door afterwards to get my programme signed but Ozzy looking a bit dazed and glazed-over, wasn't very approachable. Sharon accompanied him straight across the car park to the hotel next door. A few minutes later you could see him through the window having a drink in the bar with Budgie, the support band. Probably just a quick nightcap and then straight to bed.

Dude, this was heartbreaking to read. I read the thread for the other (black) bass, and was looking forward to this one, but that sentence sent my heart sinking for you. A wonderful build, that I hope turns up for you soon. Mark

Funnily enough this lot did have a keys player! But that video clarifies that the basis of the line he played (which is in just about every youtube bass cover) is actually the guitar line. I'd somehow never come across anyone playing that as the bassline before that night.

Great to see you live up to your name .😺Jealous about the status s2 classic . I may track one down one day .. There is a cort space bass for sale on here . If it’s still here after the weekend , I may take the plunge .🤔

I am sure it is. But there are ways of applying it that do not look like that!

Here are the two bass guitars together, side by side like they should be...

@MoonBassAlpha Track goes together well, moves through and keeps interesting. Good sounds too. Bass came out well. I like the mid drive sound, it's live sounding and has even weight low and high. It's original too. Nice work. @upside downer Good mix. The slury synth bass riff makes my head go funny, in a good way, and so does the arrangement and phrasing. It has good drive and evolves as it goes with some subtle surprises. I enjoyed it.

Most of us are filling in for missing keys.

While the lacquer cured, I started to prepare the tuners for installment. Like I mentioned in the thread of the other bass that I built for Tom Petersson I modified the Schaller tuners a little bit. Two reasons: Save weight. And to make them shorter in order to keep the headstock as small as possible (without sacrificing strength of the wood). After I had wet sanded and polished the bass, I installed al the hardware and electronics. Initially the bass was designed with a pearloid pickguard (which matches the pearloid buttons of the octave tuners) But when I saw the beautiful quilted maple top I got second thoughts. And suggested we'd leave the pickguard off. Tom agreed to leave it off. But I did make some pics with the pickguard that I already had cut out. I used cut off head of phillips crews to make it look as if it was really mounted. So no holes were drilled in that quilted maple top. I put the pickguard inside the case. So if Tom should change his mind he can always decide to mount it after all.

After the neck was glued in I stained the bass in the desired color. Tom asked for a dark Lemon Burst. Which was a first for me. But it turned out great. After a few coats of clear lacquer Applied the decals

Routed the profiel for the controls cover on the back of the body Routed the neck pocket Shaped the heel of the neck to fot the neck pocket Then routed the pickup cavities

I've had so many good comments about mine that I have no desire for any other amp. Compact, easy fit in the car boot, a one-hand lift, and it looks good too imo - such a great bit of kit!

Routed the channel for the first step of the checkerboard binding. Glued in the strips of checkerboard binding. On the sharp corners it's actually done block by block. The routed away the black fiber strip in the outside. And glued in the real outer binding. I use a hairdryer to soften the binding where it has to make a sharp corner. When everything was in place I used the strips of inner bicycle tubes to keep it all clamped, while it dried and hardened. The two bodies were ready at the same time

Drilled holes for weight relief in the body blank and routed the cavities and channels for the wiring Bought a beautiful bookmatched Quilted Maple top set at my wood supplier (Masave in Zwolle The Netherlands) Glued the top op. You can never have enough clamps 😉 Let it sit for a couple of hours And then routed the body outline.

The meeting is on Tuesday.

After I glued on the fretted fretboard I shape the neck profile (sorry, no pics) And I drilled the tuner holes Shaped the headstock outline Then cleaned up the front and back of the headstock. Drilled the little holes in the side of the fretboard, for the side position markers. Glued them in. And sanded them flush Filled the gaps underneath the frets with a mix of ebony saw dust and Titebond Original

As with the black twelve string bass it started with the body blank and neck blank. I had my wood supplier make them to my exact specs. A nine-ply khaya (mahogany) neck with walnut strips in between. And a two piece body blank of the same Khaya. Routed the channel for the carbon strip in the middle As well as the tapering slots for the two truss rods. Then prepared the fretboard. Drilled the holes for the inlays. Glued in the position dots. And aluminum ring for the twelfth position. Sanded it flush with the 16" radius block. Prepared the frets by cutting off the tang on the edges Hammered them in and used the arbor press to have them seated perfectly

Here's the video demo that I made

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you this mate, but be open and honest, and do what’s right for you

That black twelve-string bass that I built for Tom Petersson is only half the story. I built another twelve-string bass for Tom. And they were finished simultaneously. Both basses were sent off to Tom's address on June 29th. The black one was delivered four days later. But the other one (with quilted maple top) still has not been delivered. UPS has lost the package... I filed a claim for investigation on July 16. But still no sign of the bass to this day! I am gutted. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that it will show up in the UPS warehouse after all. But if you should ever see this bass for sale, please do contact me. Here are the pics that I took before I sent it off to the USA Specifications: - Mahogany body - Quilted Maple top, bookmatched - Nine ply laminated Mahogany set neck. Glued in - Lemon Burst finish. Naturel Mahogany back and sides - Checkerboard binding - Ebony fretboard - Abalone position dots. Aluminium ring in 12th position - Jumbo frets - 30 1/2" scale - Buffalo horn nut - ETS Custom made twelve string bridge set. Nickel - Two spokewheel double action trussrods - Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck - Gemini Dominator in the neck position. Nickel - Gemini Devastator in the middle position. Nickel - Pure Tone output. Nickel - 3-way pickup selector toggle switch - Hipshot Ultralite Mini clover bass tuners. Nickel - Schaller GrandTune guitar tuners. Nickel, Pearloid button - d'Addario custom strings - Weight: 4.7 kg I'll post pics of the build process below.

I think Frank Bello can decide what's metal enough for himself 😂

Hope the band meeting went terribly and you're sick of the bunch of bum holes. Did you hear though, the prices of vintage Gibson Ripper's have plummeted in the last few days. Terrible timing and all that. I'll give you a ton for it. On a more serious note, whatever you decide to do, keep the Ripper and some sort of music in your life. Sounds like you just might need a change of scenery rather than leaving the planet.

Reading this post with interest in the engineering aspects. Quick question Kiwi: How much would a "neck-through" length neck cost over your regular scale necks that fit to different bodies? Couldn't you build a single neck length that people could sandwich between 2 pieces of a body shape that mimic their favourite body style, and then fit the correct scale fingerboard for their needs? Slotted bolt holes for the bridge could allow the placement to be made for the scale length of choice. Would the difficulty lie in the pickup placement spaces weakening the structure? Maybe you need a "distribution agent" in the UK to take delivery of several at once, reducing shipping and import fees to one shipment.

Cheese And Onions - The Rutles