Leaderboard

And the next challenge - getting the chamber cut for the electronics when the screwholes are going to be so close to the edge. The process was basically to cut it undersize, and then fit it bit by bit a bit like when you are making a tight-fitting control chamber cover. The tools were the same as the neck pocket - hog out with forstner, bring to line with a chisel and to depth with a router. Here it is hogged out and edges being tidied up with a chisel proir to the trial-and-error fitting: And here with the battery box also cut, the chambers deepened on the router and the cutaway for the truss rod access next: And fitted, ready for a repeat of the process to fit the mighty Wal pickup :

A little bit more progress today. I drilled the holes for the tuners in the headstock plate. Seems easy enough but with my limited tools at home nothing is ever straight forward. 😄 The ferrules are just over 12mm and the biggest drill bit I have at home is 10mm, apart from some step cutter type bits. Also marking the position of the four holes proved trickier than you'd imagine as they'd have to be bang on or I wouldn't be able to get all four in. The inner diameter of the ferrules was 8mm though so I hatched a plan, yes Baldrick, a plan so cunning you could pin a tail on it and call it a weasel. Well nearly. It taped the plate into position on the front and popped the ferrules in from behind. I could then use an 8mm drill bit and the ferrule would act as a guide to stop it wandering and keep things aligned. I then ran a step drill through until the 12mm section and tried the ferrules, and they fit, but were they in exactly the right place? Tried to slot it all together and as if by magic, it actually fits. The neck is now on and I can pop a pair of strings on and line up the pickups tomorrow. The badge I mentioned further back is hopefully being sorted. @Dad3353 & @BigRedXhave teamed up and most kindly offered to design and 3D print one and it should be just the ticket. Massive thanks fellas. 🙂👍

My 1968 Fender Precision (A neck) is sitting in its case in the corner of the room. It's only been out of the case twice in nearly 20 years! It was seriously modded in the 90's, so there is little "original" value there. I have no urge to gig it and it's been around for so long I'll probably never sell it either. Here it is . . . .

[Mod's Hat On] It's too much of a hassle to tidy up topics of the sort. This one has had its say, and is now 'retired'. The political garbage will have to stay, but it's polluting an otherwise interesting topic. A shame, but there you go. Some folks just can't help it, it seems. [/Mod's Hat On]

I think the bass I’ve owned longest is, technically, one of the ones that cost e least but only because of the state I bought it in. It’s a ‘64 P that had been stripped and refinished in a horrendous natural lacquer that looked & felt like Ronseal. The neck was particularly hideous and sticky (although the fingerboard is lovely). I bought it in pieces from the USA where someone had started a restoration but ran out of money. It turned up, in the original ‘64 case that’s obviously been gigged within an inch of its life, with all the bits in little ziplock bags, right down to original screws and wiring loom etc. It sat in pieces whilst I tried to think of what colour to have it finished in. One day I was randomly chatting to a luthier friend and asked who he’d recommend for the refin and what he thought of possible colours. He asked to take a look and found traces of the original Olympic White in the neck pocket and cavity routing. He had officially stopped doing refins but, by complete chance, had one last quantity of nitro left and it was Oly White! He volunteered to finish it off and put it all back together at a ‘mate’s rate’ price. Took about 2 years before he was entirely happy with the finish but he did an amazing job. The nitro has aged quickly and is already fading and checking beautifully. On a personal note it has an attachment as it’s the bass my gorgeous grandson chose (out of a rack of about 12) when he told me he wanted to learn to play when he ‘grew up’. Unfortunately we lost him later that year but I’ll always remember that day and have a pic of him trying to play it somewhere. Can’t imagine I’ll ever sell it.

Just to go against the grain... The bass I've owned the longest is my Veillette Citron which I had to import from The States. One of maybe 3 in the UK it is lovely to play, great balance and amazing tones. I generally let visiting bass players play it since it may be the only opportunity they'll get to play one of these 80s masterpieces..

I did check that they weren't 'Stone Cutters'...

If she had bothered to read it she would have found that they had capitulated on fishing, even after all of the fuss that they made about it! The level of incompetence of government in this country over the past decade has been staggering. It never used to be like that (both parties were pretty capable at governing the country, whether you liked them or not).

I reckon this is complete. I really like all of these pedals and there's no room for any more unless I level up my Tetris skills.

https://www.nuxefx.com/mighty-plug.html Hi folks Full disclosure - NUX haven't paid me for this review but if they'd like to, let it be known that I'm happy to say whatever they/you like for cash. I play through headphones a lot. Rather than seeing it as a way of 'getting by' before being able to use a bass rig, I have made them central to my home setup where I do 90% of my playing. I'm using a Roland VB99 and a bass board by Tecamp for tactile feedback when playing along with music on Spotify or tracks I'm playing on for people. I love it because it's dead quiet, I can control the sound to my tastes exactly, nothing in the room rattles (or if it does then I can't hear it!) and I can rest easy knowing nobody else can hear me and steal my amazing basslines. I'm very picky when it comes to in-ear or headphone sound and especially sensitive to noise and distortion, having being spoilt by a crystal clear sound from the (outdated but very much still current) Roland. In the past I have tried lots of small battery powered headphone amplifiers, looking in essence for a small portable version of my home setup which in my head should be quite possible these days. I've been really frustrated by the ones I have tried so far - either they don't take batteries, they have loads of white noise, digital noise or otherwise, they are awkward, necessitating cables going in and out and all around, especially when adding a phone with some music to play to into the mix, and they lack any signal processing or adjustability. Most of them are cheap, like the Vox Amplug, and aren't intended to be anything more than a little gadget which might very well do for using now and then, so that's understandable. Enter the NUX Mighty Plug! Advantages: - It's super quiet. When you're not playing there is a barely perceptible yet smooth and more than acceptable level of noise. On some settings this is enhanced when playing clean and solo but negligible and inaudible when playing along with anything. - The app. I can open the app on my phone which connects to the plug by bluetooth. No extra cables! It has backing tracks, a drum machine and (for bass) three saveable presets with a good range of effects, cabs, apps and reverbs (which I find essential for solo noodling). - I can play music from my phone (Spotify, Youtube, whatever) to the plug and jam along, and there's even an EQ preset for the incoming audio to scoop out the bass which is quite neat. - It drives my IEMs fine and gan go VERY loud, but I think it sounds far better at low volume - Internal battery which seems to last very well. You could charge it from a power bank if you were hiding from an invading army and working with a guerrilla resistance force in the mountains with no access to power - Price! I paid £62 with delivery and stuff from here Disadvantages: - Doesn't drive my over ear headphones as well as IEMs - it doesn't go as loud and rolls off the treble a bit, but using a second preset I can save a separate setting for them and adjust to compensate. - Has a micro USB input for power, which are the worst connectors ever invented and never seem to accept a cable regardless of the angle of attack or thrust. USB-C would have been nice - No compressor/limiter 'effect' - I think this would have elevated it to be the perfect device. Currently it takes some getting used to the way it behaves with different basses to get a good consistent sound which doesn't;t distort the output, hence a preference for using it at lover volumes. I think a limiter would have been a great addition, but potentially it would introduce some noise which would be counterproductive. A good limiter wouldn't be an easy 'effect' to add, maybe. So that's about it - but then I plugged it into my Backbeat Insane! The backbeat can work in several ways - it can 'rumble' just your bass, pass that to the NUX then your headphones, or rumble the NUX including the backing tracks then go to headphones - but I prefer the former at lower volumes. The effect of feeling the bass means you can play very quietly and still feel every note. I'm well used to the feeling after using a TecAmp Bassboard for years but it's quite a weird experience having the same feeling in a portable package. So I'm very pleased with it; for the price I think it's absolutely brilliant! Cheers ped

I am trialing this. I will put metal strings on it BEADG. I will see how it behaves. If it settles (it has a truss rod) then I will get a magnetic pickup routed into it - probably one of those Delano Oval ones cos they are fit. I will also put a standard bass guitar bridge on it. It could benefit from a tummy cut and a forearm cut. We shall see. It was 200 all in from China. The woodwork is fine and dandy. The fret tangs are a bit sharp. It is vol and 3 band eq but a mag pickup would go passive vol and tone. All the pots have a center detent. Yes, all. Great for those half volume moments. If it does not take metal strings I will flog it. As with all my projects, I reserve the right to take an inordinately long time about it.

I've bought and sold a fair few basses over the past 5 years and find myself really happy with the shape and balance of my herd. I'm fortunate to have some lovely basses including a Ken Smith and a Yamaha BB NE2. However... I was taken aback recently when the penny dropped that the three basses I have owned the longest are actually my three least expensive ones! Here's a pic of my second oldest, a Yamaha BB1025, bought end of line from the Yamaha store in London for a very decent price, to get the ball rolling. It's seen off several other PJs and I suspect I'll never move this one on: Any of you got a similar story about your budget basses being the ones that have best weathered the test of time? And of course, it doesn't have to be just basses that can inspire loyalty! I bet there are some wonderful amps out there too that you've held on to 'cos they sounded great but didn't cost the earth?

Fixed that for ya

My Orion. It's one of the "cheap" models but it's still something which is a joy to play every time. You can see where the money goes in them.

The previous owner had painted it black, then wrapped fishnet stockings around it and sprayed grey over the top to give it a snakeskin effect. It had active Status pickups in and as a result both looked, and sounded, horrible. Looking back I have absolutely no idea why I bought it, other than I had just been bitten by the P-bass bug and it was the cheapest one I could find. I paid £400 plus another £50 for the shop to refinish it. Picked it up a week later and they had done an amazing job. Put some SD Quarter Pounders in it and it’s been my go to workhorse ever since.

Aye I bought tickets too. Great guys down at Alpher.

Let's hope the sellers don't take the... mick.

He won't be able to reply , as he's in hospital with Covid again .

Right - who's handing out numbers - I'll take 1205 please 🤣 After 14 years away, I am back with Ibanez... the things we do when G.A.S. attacks!

The bit of bass related gear that I’ve had the longest would be my fender CS ‘64 jazz, sonic blue with matching headstock. It even featured in bass guitar magazine. @molan helped me obtain it via the old shop and I think (he may be able to confirm) that this was April 2015 ish. I gigged it a lot up until 2018... not played it for a long time as the Status and Sadowsky now get all the gigs.

Haha! Well here’s the 64. Restored by John at Bravewood in Cornwall:

So I absolutely love a P bass, this is the current crop with another incoming from @Beedster Some vintage ones (65 and 66 ) some bitsa, some custom builds and a couple of Lakland Bob Glaubs. I love them all! I mainly gig the Black Lakland and the 66 CAR but they all have their own personality. Is 11 or 12 too many? Thoughts of thinning the herd chill my blood 😂

Read a great article by two blokes who built a double bass with a fully carved maple back (https://maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/328014-making-a-double-bass/). Initially they didn't want to use a router, but then realised that even Stradivarius had a router ... called the junior apprentice (apprentissimo). "Take this chisel laddie .... see that 4x 2ft piece of wood over there"

I've had my ESP 400 Series since late 92. At the time, I was deciding between a 75 Precision for £250 and the ESP for £300. Financially, I made the wrong choice and went with the substantially better bass.

Well, the new member of my BB family has arrived today. It's red is even more beautiful than from the pics. I thing gold hardware will fit very well.... Super low action ! NICE! Edit: Even the pickup rings of the 1000MA should fit... Put a ring on a 300 before, looks killer!

I’ve owned many very expensive basses and the two I’m left with cost me a total of around £800. Part of it is increasingly high levels of skintness, but also a recognition of what I need versus what I want. The latter tends to be where the expense creeps in

IMG_5649.MOV

In fairness, this is a discussion on politicians rather than politics. I think it's fair comment to say that politicians, these days, exhibit a marked tendency to stay in post when they have done things that would have been career-ending a few years ago. I should add that this is not just the UK either. There was a time when openly mocking/imitating someone with a disability would have been the last time such a person was able to aspire to/hold any kind of political office.

I may be able to beat them on price. I've been asked for some funny ol' things, mainly from fellow RC 'plane enthusiasts. A couple of pilot projects, for some US buddies ... One for France ... It doesn't always go to plan, though...

Suprise visit from UPS this morning delivering my Ibanez.

My Warwick Thumb was approx £1200 in 89 when i bought it from Sound Control Glasgow. Bass Centre had a sale on at £980 and i challenged them that i could just get it from Bass Centre so they gave me it for £980. Its the longest i've ever had a bass and after playing it yesterday for a while i don't ever see me selling it. Its simply glorious to play with its very slim neck and low action with that classic Warwick growl. Dave

Build your own/put one together and you’ll get exactly what you want. I build them and also have 2 of @Beedster builds along with many, many other P basses 😂 If you want a decent P bass today that is excellent value and sounds and plays like a P Bass should, buy the Nate Mendel in the classifieds. I’ve had a few, still have one and they are exceptionally good. If you don’t like it, you’ll not lose money on them either.

BassDirect sell them

There’s some stunners here

It's def a scam. He has ordered me to take PayPal payment and he will send his own courier. No chance pal.

I've got a '75 P that I had refinished in natural when I bought it 20 odd years ago, as the previous owner had seen fit to do a DIY snakeskin effect job on it... The body is definitely two different lumps of wood and somebody told me it would have been a solid colour originally to mask this fact, don't know how true that is but sounds feasible. You can see the join line running between the bridge and the scratch plate in the photos.

The Danelectro Longhorn Bass has a pretty narrow fretboard, even if it, as far as I recall, has a 41mm nut width, the neck doesn't widen much as you get down further towards the body, and I believe the string spacing is only 17mm, it also has a slightly shorter scale than 30", and 24 all very accessible frets, and it sounds absolutely killer, even if you wouldn't expect that kind of tone from a semi hollow bass with lipstick tube pickups, it is also incredible light. Otherwise the Ibanez GSRM20 and GSRM20B Mikro Bass is am awesome bass as well, with it's quite slim neck profile and only 28,6" scale length, though I would recommend a pickup upgrade if you go in this direction, absolutely worth it though.

The only downside to buying in the UK is that of choice. In the case of the OP there are likely no left hand US Sterlings for sale anywhere in the UK. MM are not delivering anything as stock in 2021 (that was the answer I had from a UK retailer when enquiring about a bass in a finish they did not have in stock). Same dilemma I have/had - I’m hoping as all the colours say discontinued on the MM website that 2021 colours come out - more choice of Sterling colours, lighter hardware but keep the pickups and preamp the same and I’d be interested. However, if UK retailers get more UK customers from those who won’t buy from Europe, maybe they’ll have correspondingly fewer European customers? Hard to tell, I don’t know how much exporting is done by the likes of PMT, Andertons, GuitarGuitar etc. If they’re not importing significantly more volume it’s unlikely the choice will increase. In any case there’s still not likely to be US Sterlings available here because there never were many if any sent into the UK. If MM have truly moved to the custom build only model it could be months or more to get your chosen bass - and no ability to return as it will be a custom order. Ho hum...

"Holy 'Strap Locks' Batman!"... Perhaps Sammy didn't get the Basschat Straplocks memo?...

The visa bit is an inconvenience for sure but, as I have said, if the carnet is required you're looking at significant cost. It would be dull to have to arrange visas but a bit of time spent on-line would take care of it.

I’d also be very surprised if Mark Gooday sold Ashdown, considering how he’s built up the company and their worthy reputation.

I remember the late 80s/early 90s when the Conservatives were in government. If they did something wrong and got caught it was hands up & resign. That seems to have gone by the wayside nowadays.

I've got highly specialised requirements in terms of both looks and functionality when it come to my musical equipment and unfortunately neither of those things come cheap.

Whingeing? I am questioning, that's what intelligent people do. Obviously we cannot protect the world but we have had some success for people, because he has refunded some (who believe that this thread facilitated that). It seems a shame to take our foot off the gas when we are having that success. Maybe it's my old training. Once you sink your 'tax' teeth into something bad you tend to keep lock them shut. He's not ripped me off so it's no financial skin off my nose but he's getting one over on virtual friends/colleagues of mine and I take exception to that. Hamster, yes I am disappointed but I also recognise that volunteers aren't going to put themselves in the firing line needlessly. He's hardly John Hall but the principle is the same (and it's your ball). 🙂

I locked it because: Some of the comments were bordering upon, if not actually, being slanderous - that opens up the website to civil action If active members haven't read it already then they're probably never going to The whole thing is visible to search engines no matter how far it falls down the forum If Ped or Kiwi want me to open it then I'm happy to do so - I'm just trying to do what I think is best. Sorry to disappoint you Steve. Cheers

Cleaned up the blank, laid out the truss rod location and slotted and rough sized the wenge fretboard. Looks tiny .... will end up lightning fast I am sure.

(sorry Andy!)