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Hi, I posted a thread several months ago asking for views of Shuker's bass/guitar building course. I've spend last week doing this and thought I should let you all know how it went. The short answer - it was great and I'd recommend it to anyone. I went in to this course with almost zero woodworking experience. I can build a flatpack or put up a shelf, but that's about it. I know my way around basic guitar maintenance – I can do a setup, electronics work or a swap out a bridge for example. But I had never used a bandsaw or router before! Jon Shuker is extremely knowledgeable and patient. Nothing seems to phase him – he’s a great teacher! He was assisted by Tim, who is also very good. They were both happy to help resolve any shoddy workmanship, ensuring you come away with a quality end result. It was a very busy week. Within minutes of arriving, we were selecting our body wood – alder or mahogany – swamp ash is impossible to get at the moment. By the end of the first day, I had something resembling a bass body. The next three days, the focus was mostly the neck – which really is a huge amount of work. Cutting the basic maple shape and rough fingerboard, routing a truss rod channel. Sawing the fret-slots was far less daunting than I thought it’d be, aided by a nice tool that ensures it’s done precisely. Adding dot inlays is quite a fun job – although one ended up marginally off-centre due to my inability to mark a centre point! It definitely felt rewarding to spend time sanding the fingerboard until it was shiny smooth – it seems a much better finish than any bass I’ve owned. Between neck jobs, we were sanding the body, which seemed to be the one job that was never finished! The final day was mostly fretwork, soldering and assembly – and was definitely the busiest day, we were finally done by about 6pm. It's worth noting that all the hardware is top quality - Seymour Duncan pickups, Gotoh bridge, Schaller tuners. Jon even ordered some straplocks for me, rather than have me get home and replace the normal ones. The only job we couldn't do was spraying - apparently he's not insured for it. Given the short time, the choices of finish are quite limited anyway - I just opted for clear lacquer as I quite liked the grain. This is the final result – I’ve very pleased!

Moving production to the UK! Scary stuff. But Very exciting. Meeting with Retrovibe at our premises to plan out new production facilities and workshop.

This arrived a couple of days ago direct from Modern Vintage (Rob Elrick & John Files), but I wanted the La Bella Black Nylons on and the bass setup before I posted it. So far I love it, fantastically built bass, sounds great and a neck finish, feel and shape to die for! Loving the finish too, really nice vintage Shell Pink colour with matching headstock! Si

When a chance came to get hold of one of my old basses back in a trade I of course had to say yes. This arrived today: a 2014 Fender AV 64 Reissue Jazz in a FSR Daphne Blue with matching headstock. It's bloody lovely so goodness knows why I got rid of it in the first place. I have a love/hate thing with Jazzes but hopefully it will hang around for a while. We'll see...

J'arrive! These are interesting, and subject of a lot of speculation over in MIJland. Prepare to be bored into a coma. Strongly Burns-influenced, but not a straight copy, there are several variations on this same design, indicating a number of different factories made them over quite a long period. What seem to be the earliest ones have a 2-a-side headstock & a pronounced German carve. Hardware & general features place these at mid-late 60s. As ever with this sort of thing, unless a brand name refers to a specific factory, ignore it: https://reverb.com/item/18207457-dynatone-guyatone-short-scale-bass-1960-s-aged-white There's also a guitar version of this style. Subsequent versions have the 4-inline headstock, chrome pickups, tort plate etc that @Lord Sausage's example have. Here's where a brand name is useful, up to a point - these sometimes turn up branded Sakai, which was an actual manufacturer, Sakai Mokko. They can also have build traits associated with Sakai. This version appear in an early 70s Aria catalogue (probably 73-4, not 1970 as the link suggests) alongside a pair of Kalamazoo KG copies, which are also thought to be Sakai Mokko guitars: https://www.vintagejapanguitars.com.br/en/aria-1970-catalogue/ This is where the mistaken connection with Matsumoku comes from - the incorrect assumption that all Aria/Aria Pro II instruments were Matsumoku products. It's interesting that the images are unbranded factory catalogue shots, and I can't remember one of these (or the KG lookey-likeys) being seen in the wild branded Aria. However while I don't think Matsumoku was connected with these, there are enough variations to suggest several other factories were - some have 6-bolt neckplates, some have mahogany necks, others maple, while still others have painted necks covering strip ply construction - a known Sakai trait. All these minor differences suggest different factories made them, or were involved in supplying components. This might likely point to the involvement of Matsumoto Gakki Seizou Kumiai, the so-called Matsumoto Manufacturers Association, a collaborative group building instruments sourced from various woodshops, hardware & electronics manufacturers in the Matsumoto City area. There are later, and slightly more crude versions of the same bass which were made in Korea, not Japan. This points to the migration of the manufacture of low-end instruments from Japan to Korea in the mid/late 70s, and demonstrating how specific established designs were exported. This one is branded Arirang (named after a traditional Korean song), a common 70s/80s Korean brand name. It's unclear whether Arirang was a manufacturer in its own right, as there's evidence suggesting it might have been a sub-brand of Samick. https://reverb.com/item/786783-arirang-short-scale-bass-1970s-olympic-white-mahogany-neck It's entirely probable that manufacture of this style continued in Korea (and possibly Taiwan) into the 80s, like many designs & styles that originated in Japan in the 60s did. Which coincidentally, leads me quite neatly to... Yeah - I can & they didn't! Well, broadly anyway. Excuse me while I rant incoherently: There's a tendency for people to look at anything old looking & Far-Eastern looking and go TEISSSCOOOOO!!! (in the same way anything late 70s/early 80s & stripey provokes MATSUUMOOKUUUU!!! - as though no-one else ever ripped off Alembic) whereas the reality is there were countless manufacturers making & exporting similar odd little guitars in the 60s. Many of these designs continued being made as starter instruments in the 70s, alongside the 'proper' copies, and later being manufactured in Korea & Taiwan through the 70s & 80s. Teisco was actually taken over by Kawai Gakki in 1967, and ceased manufacturing in its own right at that point, and a lot of what people try to flog as '60s Teisco' is actually 80s Taiwanese catalogue tat. And breathe. There. It's over. You made it. Well done you!

All sorted thanks to a brilliant Uber driver, and venue staff who got it back for me.

OK so I fell out with my Canadian Dingwall ABZ,although it is undoubtedly a thing of beauty & plays sublimely well I just can't get it to sound how I'd like it in the band. Since I realised I was trying to make it sound like a P bass (which it isn't) I made up my mind I actually needed a P bass. After much research & browsing I didn't want a Fender as they are massively over priced,then spotted the Vintage Modern basses on Bass Direct. Contacted Mark & sorted a good trade deal out for this little beauty. It is a sublime P bass,sounds ace,build quality is spot on & it has a gorgeous roasted maple neck too. So I've gone full circle once again & ended up on a P bass. You'd think I'd learn 😁

and 'Supporting Member'. What's all that about? There are plenty of people who think I am a 'member' without BC joining in the abuse. It's ridiculous and sounds like I'm congratulating myself for paying up to advertise. And these STUPID badges are against the whole spirit of BC, where newbies and experienced members could chat without being ranked or being conscious of each other's 'status'. Please get rid. Edit: Just how stupid this is is shown by my having apparently earned a 'Great Content' badge for posting this!

Eh up So..... It's been years since I was here last. Most of you won't remember me, but a few oldies might. I've been here since the start, since the "Bassworld" days which most of you won't remember. I've been totally out of it all now for at least a couple of years. I totally lost all enthusiasm for bass, and making music generally for no reason I can put my finger on other than concentrating on art. I've had every bass you can imagine.... I must be into 3 figures of them... fender, lakland, musician, sadowsky, ibanez, Yamaha etc.... from 3k to £100 (best P bass I ever had... a 100 quid knackered MIJ Squier from the bay).... Anyway.... 2yrs since letting my last 2 Yamaha BBs go..... I got the itch again... my Mrs has bought me (with my guidance) an old Yamaha RBX460. It's, really fun to play, made in Taiwan, around 1997 I think. I'm already looking for pickup upgrades lol.... but it decent as it is... anyways.. Just dropping in.... 👍🏻

Success!!!

Hi folks I've been working on a dark theme today. I've done my best but know I'll have missed something, so feel free to try it out and let me know. Screenshots are helpful if you spot a colour conflict or item which is invisible because it's the same colour as the background. Building a theme is basically trial and error as all the various parts of the site are called completely random things and there's no logical order, so please be patient as I muck about. Dark themes work best on good monitors which are able to distinguish between the tones, so for many of you the best screen might be your mobile. SO try it on that, too. Please add any thoughts here and I'll try to take them all into account, although please bear in mind that not everything is possible to adjust, and I can't please everyone! Cheers ped To switch: Select 'Basschat 2.0 (Dark)' at the bottom of the page

Had the pleasure to play a couple of gigs at the weekend and meet a couple of Basschats elite @hiram.k.hackenbacker on Saturday down in Dagenham and @AndyTravis and family on Sunday in Manchester. About 50 people on Saturday night and 10,000 on Sunday. It felt great!!

It lives, it lives! Just need to arrange collection. Don’t want to risk it going teats-up with a courier. Had a custom logo added to the rear of the headstock in memory of late father who passed away last May. His initials were gkb. More pics when I get my hands on it.

Nothing wrong with a precautionary lateral flow test - takes two minutes and helps everyone to relax more whilst rehearsing.

So this started out life as a Ash Squire 54 Paranormal Jazz Bass Body and pickguard. The project was basically an idea to upgrade everything, neck, bridge, tuners electronics and pickups. So the specs are: Fender Roasted Maple Neck. Hipshot Nickel Tuners and Bridge nickel hardware all over. CTS pots and orange caps. Fralin Jazz pickups. I hope you like it!

Got a new bass build ready. TB-12-Q Twelve string Thunderbird Bass with Quilted Maple top. - Mahogany body - Bookmatched Quilted Maple top - Nine ply Mahogany/Walnut set neck. Glued in - Transparent black stain - High gloss transparent acrylic finish - White binding - Ebony fretboard - Mother of pearl position dots - Jumbo frets - 34" scale - Buffalo horn nut ? - ETS twelve string brass bridge set - Two spokewheel double action trussrods - Carbon reinforcement strip in the neck - Lace Alumitone Bass Bar in the neck position - Lace Alumitone DeathBar in the bridge position - Allparts stacked pots (volume/tone volume/tone) - Mullard capacitors - MEC on-on switch for coil split (humbucker-single coil) - Gotoh GB 350 lightweight bass tuners - Gotoh Stealth ST 31 guitar tuners - 2 xPure Tone Multi Contact jack output - d'Addario EXL 170 - 12 strings - Weight: 4.25 kg Electronics circuit by my good friend Bas Becu. Serialnumber: 2021003 Pics of the build process can be found here: https://www.enkoo.nl/brooks-tb-12-q.html

and ordered 😍 XXX Thank you for your order from Ernie Ball Music Man. Once your package ships we will send an email with a link to track your order. If you have questions about your order, you can email us at [email protected] Your Order #400000XXXX Placed on Jul 29, 2021, 3:38:24 AM

I have a good friend who is a bit poorly and is coming to the end of his playing days. He still has his guitars but has sold his drum kits and bits. Which brings him to his double basses - yes, he’s quite versatile. On one of our regular phone calls he asked me to help him with his Martin and a 7/8 German Bass. I remember going to see George Martin with him when he bought that bass and if it wasn’t that I’m on a downsize I’d have snapped it up. I phoned George and explained the circumstances and although Martin’s rarely buy basses in, unless they are old and have improvement potential, we agreed a price for the two basses. A bit of a bargain price but one to make it worth George’s while and which would satisfy my friend. After George collected the basses I emailed him to thank him for accommodating my friend. He told me that he already had someone coming to see the bass who had a small budget, was going to music college and who Martins wanted to help. If that happens it will be a great result and my friend will be absolutely delighted.

From Musicfestnews.com on Facebook

I first saw / heard that bass in action in 1983 after bumping in to the band in a restaurant in Glasgow. After they'd finished their meal, I approached Mark to say hello, and to ask about his bass, which I'd seen in magazine pictures (remember, this was decades before the Internet- so information was obtained by reading magazines, and word of mouth). He said the bass was a Jaydee, and advised me that the unusual looking pickups were in fact, wooden covers, and not blade style polepieces as I had thought from the magazine pics). We chatted for a while, and he gave me John Diggens' telephone number. The band were playing that evening in the Locarno Ballroom in Glasgow, so I headed to the gig to see them in action. Mark's playing was an absolute powerhouse of a performance (at one point, he played a percussion / timbale break on a separate rig - which was unexpecte). The Jaydee looked and sounded amazing. Plus, his backline of the Trace Elliott 4 x 10 cabs, and the head illuminated by its ultra violet tube, looked fantastic. I was sold!! I called John Diggins the next day to chat about his basses. He said that Mark had spoken to him earlier that morning, and mentioned that a young guy from Glasgow might call. I ended up placing an order for a GA24 with black wings. That bass ended up being my sole instrument from 1984 until the mid 90s. As for Mark's red Jaydee basses, I got to play both the crescent inlay one, and his dot marker neck bass (one of which had been retrofitted with red LED markers, and the double ball bearing roller nut), at the Barrowland venue in Glasgow in 84 or 85. I met Phil Gould and had a bite to eat in catering with him. Mark was in London doing some breakfast TV interview, so wouldn't get to the Glasgow venue until mid afternoon. As a result, Phil and I had a quick jam, with me trying out both basses. I collected my GA24 bass from the upstairs Jaydee workshop in Moseley, Birmingham. Fantastic instrument. However, I always hunkered after a Series 1 (I had originally stayed away from that model as it was so strongly associated with Mark, and I knew I could never match his skill level). However, after all these years, I have now succumbed and paid my deposit yesterday for one of the basses). Yippee!

Hi folks The 'Supporting Member' status is a function of the marketplace, which we can't avoid. Basically, ages ago we wrote our own code to allow the marketplatz to work, because Invision (who make the software) didn't have an out of the box solution. This took a long time, required a LOT of manual maintenance and constant monitoring, but it worked. Since ten, advancements have been made to the 'in house' system, which we are now able to slowly adopt (in parts) to take that strain out of the system. We can't use it fully yet as it doesn't allow some things like 'location' and so on but it does maintain and tidy up the database and renewals for us. To do that, users have to be moved into a different group. On top of that, the intention is to remove adverts one day if we can get more people to subscribe, and already it seems to be having a positive effect. The 'Rank' are a new system, designed to be a bit of fun. It seems like it kind of replaces, or enhances, the 'reaction' system with our 'watts' reputation system. We turned it on to give it a try and plan at some point to design better badges, but really, it's not to be taken seriously (like anything on BC?). The designs are the stock ones and we had a play with some different types, but haven't got round to doing anything with that yet whilst we sort other things. The 'Badges' are intertwined with the above, and to be honest I don't think they make a lot of sense, plus the badges are a bit ugly. Again, I wrote some random 'rules' yesterday that case a badge to be issued, and plan on either changing them or removing them, it does't really matter - I think they're aimed more at new users to encourage them to participate and make their first post, etc. Which at the end of the day is better for all of us. You're free to ignore them if you don't like them Cheers ped

None of my wives or long term partners has been that excited by my chosen lifestyle. I don't blame them at all. One came to gigs in order to prevent me murdering the singer en route to the venue. So in a very real way she kept that band alive. But I have led a self centred life, selfish in my indulgence, myopic to the needs of others. Which is why I will, deservedly, die penniless and alone. I am a feckin awesome bass player though.

Well…12. Twelve years. Still here… I won’t share this years birthday photo as we were dancing around at 8.30am in our dressing gowns. But yeah - 12 years. I’ve learned nowt. 😉

I didn't need a new bass...no-one ever needs a new bass...but well, sometimes stuff just happens in life, innit...?! So, a while ago @Useless amateurfires up for sale, a @KiOgonloom loaded Olympic White P-Bass body, with all chrome hardware fitted. In the same thread, a comment's made along the lines of... "Oh, that'd go lovely with the Status neck that's also up for sale!" Right there and then, I've went full Partridge.... "AHH-HAAAA" And the project was born. Switch / upgrade the chrome to black Hipshot Bridge, Thumb Rest, Ultralight Tuners, throw in a set of Delano's, fire on some DR Black Beauties, and et voilà. Of course, it didn't actually dawn on me for one second until it was completed, what I was actually putting together was my very own Duff PJ, minus the J...! Anyway, I present "The Substitutes" P-Bass, complete with engraved band logo neck plate. My 2nd, and last, project bass.

Taken the plunge on my first bitsa build! Was torn between selling a 70's Camel P bass or using the body as a base for a build as I thought it looked a bit special under the trans finish. Starting point was I probably have enough P-bass parts accumulated over the years to knock something together one way or another. I'd decide what level of refinement to take it too as it became clearer the level of finish time/patience meant I could achieve. First thoughts if things feel/look good are Natural body and a Status neck. Stripped it down and had a sand of the body to see what we have, just taken to 120 grit at the moment and more work to do but not unhappy with it as a starting point. Pretty sure it's ash from the grain. Crazy how ideas then start to build! I do like the open pore finish on a couple of Sandberg's I've seen, also tempted with ebonizing. All good fun having a dream and play about.

There isn’t a global pandemic of second hand smoke though Jack, give your head a wobble - I think asking for proof of a negative lateral flow test isn’t unreasonable; they’re free and take a couple of minutes.

I have a gig! Praise be. The eternal question arises; what gear shall I take? The answer is simple. The best of everything. Best amp, best cabs, best bass.

It lives! Having confirmed that there was continuity everywhere there should be, I turned my attention to finding it where it should not be. I quickly discovered that the wiper of the volume control was connected directly to earth - the culprit was a stray whisker of shielding. Although I had stripped back the shielding and clipped it away (but not completely it seems), the action of sliding some heat-shrink tubing over it had dragged it into contact with the grid stopper resistor feeding the phase inverter. The amp doesn't sound particularly loud through my test speaker (a 10in guitar speaker lying face-down on my work bench - I can't really give it much beans) but that's just to load the output and confirm that the amp is working - experience tells me it will be a different story through my BF One 10, but that will have to wait for now. There is a little bit of buzz that disappears when the volume control is maxed, but I can deal with that at my leisure. I think my transformer purchase goof may have been a happy accident. Running the amp at full wall voltage (249V today) the HT voltages are only 7-9% below the Heritage spec. If I had fitted a 360-0-360V PT they would have been way above spec. Plate dissipation is now 21.7W in each 6L6. This is 72% of maximum, and perfectly fine for a cathode biased amp. The 10W bias resistor gets pretty hot considering it's only burning off 3.7W! I have been lucky with my guess about the PT secondaries i.e. the NFB resistor is not creating scary positive feedback. I still have to fit the feet to the base plate and make sure they don't foul any of the electronics. I'll do this and fit the base plate before I sit it on my One 10. Watch this space!

Well that was interesting! The mains transformer I bought and installed is not the one I intended to get - it has a secondary of 300-0-300V at 200mA, whereas I meant to buy one that gives 360-0-360V at 400mA. I discovered my error when I checked the B+ voltages, which are about 10% down on what I expected. I used this online calculator to confirm that 200mA should be more than adequate for this amp with a 300V supply voltage - if it gets a bit squashy and saggy, no problem, this is for home use after all. Otherwise I'll have to drop another £120 on a PT that weighs 1.6kg more than the present one! Plate dissipation in each 6L6 is 20W, or 67% of max - that should be fine. With all valves fitted, there is a buzz at the output through my bench speaker but no signal is getting through. I noticed a bad solder joint at the 4ohm speaker output to which the NFB resistor is connected but fixing that made no difference. The 6SL7 preamp valves are the only ones I couldn't test, but I bought them as tested and working, the filaments light up, and swapping them round did not change anything, so I think there's still a wiring error in there for me to find. I've got a busy weekend of gigs and a rehearsal coming up and I need to do some practice, so I'll have to leave it for tonight. In the meantime, here's the mighty valve line-up: