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So this is going to be my first post in the build diaries forum that's actually describing an ongoing project. A few weeks ago, I gave in to impulse and decided to buy @Chienmortbb's headless Hohner "The Jack". I'd been circling this project bass for a while because I was on the hunt for some decent (but not astronomically expensive) headless bass hardware. I didn't like the idea of cannibalizing a bass that looked more-or-less salvagable, but I figured I'd keep an eye on it just in case he decided to split it up for parts. The longer I stared at it, and at the complex thru-neck multi-laminate-body design that I'd been working on, the more I realized that a cheap, lightweight and compact bass was something I needed/wanted far more than the custom bass I'd designed. That was a bass that would probably take me several months and end up costing the best part of grand to make. So I contacted Chienmort and said I'd take the Hohner off his hands. It arrived the week before last, packed with great care and attention, and I was able to take stock of what needed to be done. For anyone who hasn't had a quick look at the original listing, the story of this bass is that it was retrofitted with a Roland midi pickup system by a previous owner. This meant it had three extra holes drilled into the control cavity for switches, a recess cut into the front to fit the pickup under the strings (which the previous owner appears to have done with his teeth) and a massive square-ish hole Boo-Radleyed into the side to accomodate the 13-pin output connector. Whatever I did, I knew that I was going to need to refinish the bass. So the first order of business was to strip off the finish – or as much of the finish as needed stripping away. I tried to use chemical stripper again, and met with exactly the same results as last time I tried to use it on a guitar, which is a whole lot of bugger all. Each application only penetrated into the top few microns of paint, and I probably would have made just as much progress with just a metal scraper on its own. I gave up and switched to an orbital sander, which went much better. My aim was not to go down to the bare wood (solid-colour instruments are always solid colour for a reason) but just to sand until the scratched top layer was gone. With that done, I was ready to start patching up the damage.

What a great story! Thank you for sharing, and for returning an instrument back to life.

Rumbled! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Prejudice is not one sided

Mind Blowing Decisions - Heatwave

As it's a fiver, you can lose the pick guard and go for a spotty finish. Yellow with pink spots.

Sorry to hear of your loss there. Never an easy time and our thoughts are with you there. Sounds like a combination of band members needing to extract the digit and do more and over-whelming workload. I think you're making the right decision in talking with your boss to ease back a bit. I made the mistake of keeping it to myself and suffered no end of stress related issues until i was asked by works nurse to see a stress therapist. To be fair it worked and i felt great after the sessions were all done but once you get back to the day job it just restarts and there's no way out. I was lucky that after 40 yrs service they wanted redundancy volunteers and i was the lucky one that got selected at 56yrs old. Best thing i ever did but i realised that work isn't the only thing in life you should focus on. It needs to be more balanced. My work ended up being my sole existence for about 10-15yrs. Its all i seemed to do. We used to always book a 6hr session on a Sun 11-5pm. It makes the rehearsal a lot more relaxed when you know you have time to get thru your full song list. We take sannies and coffee in too and of course cakes. Have a wee lunch break around 1-2 ish. Anyways take care and hopefully things will pick up once you confront those that need it. Dave

Let's be clear about the 'health problem'. It isn't about volume which can damage your hearing, it's about the stress caused by the regular annoyance which you refer to. David

My hero 💖 !

Righty. It actually stopped raining, so I got distracted working on my new project. The clouds have settled over south London again though, so I should wrap this tale up. Having reattached the neck and planed/sanded the fingerboard level (with an ever-so slight bow to it, as advised by luthiers online), I fitted the new adjustable bridge that I'd gotten from Thomann, using the old masking-tape/double-sided-tape/sandpaper trick to match the curve of the feet to the curve of the top. As you can probably see, even with the adjusting mechanism all the way down, this bridge is a good 3 cm taller than the old one, but still allows for a much lower action. While I was making these repairs I realized that the bung that holds the endpin in place was horribly loose. Many years of being dropped, dragged across the floor and generally knocked about by surly teenagers had mashed up the end-block pretty bad. I didn't have a way to fix that, so instead my wife quickly turned a replacement on her lathe at work. The new one is way bigger, but still a little loose – that's how badly mashed up it is. Finally, before I strung it up, I took a minute to strip the black paint from the tailpiece, as that was made from the same dense wood as the fingerboard, and they look better as a matched set. Here's the finished, revived version of Marylou, strung with a set of low-tension nylon strings. With these changes made, Marylou became much much easier to play (she's currently set up with a slightly silly action of about 7-8 mm on the G string). She was also a lot louder, to an extent that shocked me when I started tuning her up. I think the combination of reattaching the top properly and increasing the break angle really got things resonating. As a slightly frustrating postscript, when my tendon injuries cleared up and I no longer felt uncomfortable or nervous playing Marylou, I decided to put the d'Addario's back on. The nylon strings are a bit dull and clacky in a way I don't like. The d'Addario's were nowhere to be found however. I've turned the house upside down looking for them and have been forced to conclude that I must have thrown them away in a fit of hand-injury-related pique.

They got nuthin

Personally, I am really looking forward to it. We've already decided to make it a band social. Our singer has got a DVD to educate her daughter and her band about ST 1. The Italian Job II was nothing like the Italian Job (my favourite movie), but I still enjoyed it!

Of course you have the right to complain, noise above a certain dB level is a nuisance and is simply not allowed. And noise is a health problem as it can lead to serious health issues, stress being the first, leading itself to cardiac problems and neurological disorders. If you like noise, go and start living in a factory with 24/24 7/7 permanent noise, you'll certainly appreciate being in such an environment. Stop thinking you can make as much noise as you want without caring for the neighbours, it's so selfish.

I’ve just bought a genzler Magellan 350 combo. It’s a separate head and a 10” array speaker. They are connected with a mount. Extremely compact and the tone is killer. As I see you have used genzler you know the tone and quality

I watched the video but got distracted by a couple of things...

Happy VTDI user here - I've used it for motown, reggae, jazz, edge of breakup indie rock, heavy rock, disco... it sounds fantastic for all of them. It's well made, it's compact, it's easy to dial in your sound(s), it's an absolutely cracking piece of kit all round. I've never used the other pedals recommended (I'm sure they're lovely too!) but I reckon if you do go for a VTDI, you'll be a happy bunny.

Black one but wasn’t too bothered as price was right & I always wanted to try one .. not tried the ones you mentioned but can maybe try compare to two chorus pedals I do have .. tbc

I went to a jazz jam session at a rehearsal room and the drummer ran it really well. We discussed each tune, organised the solos and played to the nod. Was brilliant fun. What I’m trying to say is that not all jazz jams are bad, they can be really good. I guess it depends on who sets the context.