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That’s amazing. only a suggestion… clover/elephant ear tuners… Might just set off the vintage aesthetic a little more…

It's done! I went to the Mech Engineering Workshop at work today, because I needed some help to get a hole through from the new pickup route to the cavity. Yes, they had a sufficiently long drill bit to be able to enter from the neck pocket and drill through, into the new route then onwards and into the bridge pickup route... Bridge pickup is foam suspended, so the foam will simply deform around the chunky multicore wire. After that, it was pretty much just a case of wiring it all up. Except it wasn't - because there were a few wrinkles in the plan (isn't there always?). First thing I learned is that the T-40 pickup, while splittable, doesn't give you access to all four ends of the coils - it only has three wires plus a shield coming out of it, so all you can do is series/single by shunting one coil to ground. So I had to change from a three way mini toggle to a two way. Then gotcha 2 happened - the new switch had less of a threaded section on it than the previous switch, so out comes the drill again with the forstner bit to remove a little more control cavity to make the new switch poke through the top of the guitar enough. With those little issues out of the way it was just a case of wiring it up... Quick tap test on the pickups made me suspect that the pickups were out of phase when both engaged, so I swapped the wires of easiest one (the bridge pickup). Then I tested it for real. IT WORKED! I am delighted with this mod - I've had to learn a lot of new things, and I hope to never have to route an already finished bass ever again

I walked out of a Walter Trout gig in the first song because it was immediately painful. It was at The Stables in Milton Keynes and it was loud enough the back rows at Wembley. Out through double sets of doors into the bar and it was still too loud there. I have absolutely no doubt the people who stayed for the 2 hour set had permanently damaged their hearing. You did the right thing walking out.

Aha, another Canadian! I am north of you near North Bay and have been enjoying the wonders of this group since 2015. Welcome, I'm sure you will love it here, great people and lots of interesting topics.

I saw BB King in a big venue once, he was playing through a tiny little amp beside him on the stage (couldn't see what it was but I'm guessing an old valve amp, 20w or something). The amp was mic'd up. No effects, just guitar, lead, amp the size of a shoebox, and his guitar tone was incredible.

Doesn’t mean they should cost you your hearing

I have an old Gallien Krueger 250ML (guitar combo) but it's annoyingly 110V so it needs a big transformer to plug into in the UK. So I thought, why not have a look inside and see what I can do? I don't really care about it but fixing it seems fun. It has a big chassis transformer mounted inside. This is labelled "00617 MAGCOMP MC-1724 8811". It has five leads coming off it labelled 1,2,3,4,5 Here is the schematichttp://bee.mif.pg.gda.pl/ciasteczkowypotwor/%23pro_audio/Gallien-krueger/Gallien-krueger_250ML,_250RL,_212SCL_Service_Manual.pdf Are any of you wise in these things and can point me at an equivalent designed for 240V mains? I took it to an amp tech but he kept it for a month then gave it back to me, saying the change was "uneconomic". But it seems like a fun project.

In 2004 I went to listen to G3 tour (Fripp, Satriani, Vai) with three friends of mine. The venue was made of concrete and the volume was infernal. All I heard from Billy Sheehan was bzzzzzz. No chance to hear any notes. We left after fourth "song". A g-word player friend of mine was working there and said the same, the sound was a chore. I couldn't have believed that good players were counting on volume instead of skills - and Vai's hair fan was just ridiculous. Yngvie may think it differently, but there exists a level of too much.

Music stores where I have no choice but to demo a bass wearing headphones while the guitarists and pianists (Yamaha Music) get to make as much noise as they like.

My newest acquisition isn’t a Fender Jazz but it’s still a Jazz in spirit. So, here’s my 2…

18 and 19 mm are doable for me but not 17 mm. Most 5-string basses are 17 and therefore a no go. That Roscoe looks super!

Yeah, that old board with the footers was silly! Ha. Does the Black Pearl nail it? I’ve heard a few people say it’s very subtle and in fact doesn’t sound much like the Moog at all. But guitar demos imply otherwise. I just picked up a Mr Black Gilamondo and it’s VERY good. But the Moog had a special place in my heart. I’m not sure the Behringer is going to scatch that itch.

Thanks for the detailed explanations. Looking forward to seeing progress. Following.

I don’t; I think the footprint is slightly smaller but deeper. Black Pearl is a loaner for comparison. Tempted to get one. Gigging with 5 MF pedals is mad. Need PastFX to make one of their shrunk-down clones of this like they did with the 101.

I've started work on another 3d printed guitar. I build a guitar first and then apply the learnings from the guitar to the bass. So a bass will follow and I'm trying to get both ready for the SW Bass Bash, which could be a challenge. The last 3d printed guitar was a decent guitar and I still have it, its still plays well and is as much fun as any of the guitars and sounds great with P90s in. However since last year I've been thinking about how to improve the design, the build and the finish. For those of you who do 3d printing, it has many advantages but one big drawback is the surface finish on some sides, especially when you have gentle sloping sides and curves. So my last 3d printed guitar was 'slab sided' with a 6mm fillet along the top and bottom edge. Far more Telecaster than Stratocaster. The headless bass I made, also has the same issue. This has irked and bugged me for months and I resolved to do something about it. My goal with this guitar is to have a finish as good as I can possibly make it, I am targetting as good a finish as a decent 'ordinary' guitar (whatever that may mean), basically no compromises. I don;t want to have to say "it's a good finish for a 3d printed guitar", but it's a dammed good finish full stop. My aims are below. When I say guitar I also mean the follow on bass. A simpler design in Fusion 360 that allows me to make changes easily. I've learnt an awful lot more about F360 in the last nine months and realised I was using F360 in a poor way. A better and 'simpler' design of the overall guitar. I used Voronoi curves before which are nice but impose certain restrictions on the design. I want to make the guitar even more open that before. I want to have a gentle curve, a tummy cut and a slope where the wrist would rest. The neck mounting holes will be for a Fender Strat, if (and when) I get a neck, if the holes aren't for a Strat I'll fill the neck and redrill. It was a major hassle last time. The internal wiring channels for the switches were an utter nightmare on the old guitar. I want a better system. I may (or may not) have a modular pickup mounting system that allows you to change pickups in minutes. I've designed one but it was designed for a back mounted wooden guitar. Still pondering that one. The system works with P90's, humberbuckers and single coils with a standardised wiring loom. The finish must be as good as possible. Not "good for a 3d printed guitar" but just "bloody good". Simpler Design The new design was started about 10 days ago and is pretty much finished. I have ditched true Voronoi curves and have more or less the same style but simplified. Ditching the V curves, and thinking a lot more about the design up front has meant the design was mostly completed over 5-6 evenings. Importantly for those who use Fusion 360, an awful lot of tangential curves and fillets so it's smooth as, well, something very smooth. F360 does tend to allow you to do a hierarchy of design and I went too far down that route in the last designs. I've been a lot more disciplined this time and the design has 24 versions vs 180 versions from the previous one and is simpler all around. The tummy curves are built in and look utterly crap when printed However I have a cunning plan, a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a fox... Standardisation Standardisation on a Fender Strat neck and filling the neck and redrilling to make it fit, removes so much hassle in the design. Lets face it, there are so many Fender/Squirer/clones necks out there, it makes sense. I'll apply the same logic to the bass that'll follow this. If anybody has a decent Squier / Fender Strat neck and wants to sell, please let me know. Internal wiring As I've got rid of the Voronoi curves and made pseudo V curves, the internal wiring channels are so much easier to design and more importantly to print. Modular pickups Still not sure about this one. I have two cheap mahogany bodies sitting in my office that I was going to use as mules to test the concept. I've done all the design work on this modular system, I've got five pin pogo connectors and a standard wiring loom worked out, looks a lot like a Les Paul or Telecaster Deluxe with volume and tone controls per pickup. However a 3d printed guitar needs a strong backbone and I can't work out how to make it strong with two large rectilinear holes in an lump of aluminium. I suspect this may have to wait. Finish Well this is the big one... I've set myself a high bar here. I'll be honest and say I've spent a few months testing out various ideas in the background and I think I have a solution. I'll leave it at that for the moment, but I'm fairly confident I've got a decent solution or even suspension This is the original design from last year and this is the new version. I think only three straight lines were carried over from the above, but the design was probably four to five times faster to do. It's also just as stiff and strong as the top one. The control panel is modular and is just a big gap at the moment. However the design of the guitar is about 40-50% quicker to print, so 8-10 hours per piece down to 4-6 hours per piece. Also the bridge and neck heal will be permanently fixed in (probably). I've printed the body into four sections and have started preparing them to be finished and assembled. That's the next email in this thread. Rob

Yes! We are close now!

Hessey's in Liverpool is long gone. Only ever bought a couple of things from them, as they were too expensive for my pocket at the time, but tons of drool-worthy gear. Famed for where The Beatles bought some of their equipment. There used to be another shop on Woolton Road IIRC, but I can't recall the name. Curley's was always my favourite when it was on Stanley St. (next door to Hessey's, and round the corner from Probe Records), always used to have a good selection of basses in. They're still going, now on Renshaw St. where Taskers used to be.

A really handsome bass, I expect it sounds as good as it looks.

The online raffle ticket link is now live for the Nick Smith Midas Bass! Follow the link below to be able to purchase the raffle tickets for this awesome Bass! https://graingerguitarparts.com/products/nick-smith-midas-bass---raffle-entry-x-1