Leaderboard

I picked this up on Tuesday from a guy in London. It needs new strings and a setup, which should be done next week. Overall I’m very pleased with it. It’s a Stentor Conservatoire, approximately ten years old. The guy actually sold it as a Stentor Student 2, I noticed the Conservatoire label inside earlier today. The Conservatoire model is quite a lot better than the Student model, and consequently a lot more money. It has a carved front and back - the back is really nicely flamed.

I’ve been lusting after this burgundy mist Sei from the first time I saw it about 3 years ago. Finally got round to purchasing it and couldn’t be happier. Almost perfect spec for me 33.5” scale, a P that sounds great solo’d or mixed with the bridge humbucker (which can also be really snarly solo’d), sounds just fine in passive mode, super slim striped maple neck, lovely fingerboard, very low action, through neck with beautifully carved neck to body alignment, bound body, back-angled headstock and even has nice subtle white LEDs on the top of the neck. Sits beautifully on the wall next to my other Sei too 😉

Finally have a door and a window installed. The door is a composite door with added security locks. Quite hefty with some soundproofing. Electrician came round yesterday routed the wiring which will allow me to do the roof and wall insulation too. I also started painting the studio. Word of advice, if you're going to be paint porous blockwork with a paintbrush, don't bother. Much better to invest in a spray gun which can get into all the pores of the block work. Wish I'd have known this earlier. It would have saved a lot of graft.

And what is probably the final 'one slip could spell disaster' step is done...and, happily, without a disaster. Drilling the tuner holes There's lot's of stuff to get right - not leaving the backs of the tuners hanging in fresh air, keeping the string runs as straight as the neck blank size will allow, positioning the tuners so they don't clash, drilling the holes straight so the bushes don't bind. Well, with a lot of care and a huge dollop of good luck, I think it's OK. And why the angled tuners? See above So I have just a couple of preference questions to ask Matt and a tidy up of the volute carve and then I think we are rapidly moving towards the 'finish sand' stage

Right then- deposit down for the 4th of September. Will update the title shortly.

Here's a couple of mine...

OK - short diversion for @spacecowboy or anyone else interested in one way (I'm sure there are many) of re-burnishing card/cabinet scrapers. By the way, when you buy a set (and they are not at all expensive) they come ready burnished so this is only if you use them more frequently and they go blunt. It's all about getting a completely square edge Once the cutting edges of the scraper are completely square and sharp (the solid blue in this magnified representation), we will be 'squashing' the top of the scraper which will create a tiny burr either side: And then we will be rolling that burr over a touch so it now acts like a mini plane: Starting with a rectangular one. This is what I do. To get that edge absolutely square, I polish the edges on both sides on a flat abrasive surface. You can use a flat file, or some fine emery glued to a piece of glass or similar but I find my diamond sharpening block (which I use to sharpen my chisel and plane blades on) easier. I use this wet: Then I use a piece of wood with a saw slot cut in it highly sophisticated tool to hold the scraper at exactly 90 degrees and run the edge along the diamond block: I now have the completely square and sharp edges. I then clamp the scraper in a vice. I pop a drop of light machine oil (bicycle oil or 3-in-one) on my finger and run it along the edge (careful because those edges are sharp) Then I take a screwdriver or similar (needs to be hard, chrome vanadium or similar) holding either end and at 90 degrees to the scraper, I press quite hard and run it down the length of the edge. I repeat this three or four times, ensuring it remains square: This will have deformed the edge and formed the teeny burr (you will be able to feel it but probably not see it) Now I tilt the screwdriver shaft around 30 degrees and repeat along one side of the scraper edge. Again, personally I press quite hard. This will bend the burr into a minute hook shape. I tilt the screwdriver shaft 30 degrees the other direction and peen over the burr on the other side: You won't be able to easily see the burr but you should be able to feel it with your finger (again, remember it's sharp) Goose neck is exactly the same except you have to fiddle around a bit moving it round the curve, especially the edge flattening and the burnishing: Hope this helps!

Nothing wrong with dreaming about an Ibanez, it's all subjective. Also nothing wrong with dreaming about a Mondeo either. It's all about perspective.

I have been running a thread on this in the DIY lounge but wanted to show more people so that Ceri who did it can get the applause he deserves. https://www.facebook.com/rendallsrestorations . He has done stellar work. Andy and Jabba also played their parts and I am grateful to everyone )

Fretless

For anyone with the Dave Ellefson signature Jackson

My latest incarnation... just needs an SY-1 now... I think.

Celinder J-Update Also by a man named Christian from Scandinavia Vigier Passion G&L SB1 Wingbass Stingray

My Relic'd P Bass

Steinberger/Hohner 'Cricket Bat'. 😉

Yes but I aint saying as I might want to sell a couple of them on here at some point

Looks like one of those did not get the memo on naming standards!

I liked her reaction to the initial suggestion to add a lead guitarist to the line up. Can't remember the full rant but it included something along the lines of "Why do we want some egomaniac jizzing all over our songs?"

Awesome!!!

"He is risen!" Sorry, that should be: "He is risible!"

But we don't all dream of owning a Ken Smith, Fodera etc. Sometimes our dreams are tinged with reality. I'm not a pro musician and don't need to spend £1k plus on a bass. My pitifully modest 'dream' bass is a Sire Version 2 Marcus Miller M7 swamp ash 4 string in natural finish. Full price at Andertons, £669. Anything Marcus Miller endorses or has a hand in is good enough for me.

At the moment it is cut a touch oversize and straight sided - but it's on Once the tuner holes have been drilled and I know exactly where the tuners are going to be I will carve the curves a bit deeper to tone in with the body shape : But, final shape or not, always worth a gratuitous mock-up

Not for me sadly, but one for my Fretless Jazz. I really can't get on with Jazz Bass bodies as they always sit awkwardly on me and I look like I'm Clay Pigeon Shooting. I really don't like the sound of Fretless P Basses though, so decided to order a P Bass body with Jazz Bass pickups from Guitar and Bass Builds. It's a 2 piece swamp as body, so is very light and I decided I'd go for the lacquered body rather than make an awful hash of it myself. It's only been dry fitted at the moment as I need to order a new EMG loom to fit in it (the Jazz one won't fit sadly) but it's gone together very easily and the build quality is excellent and it didn't require any significant fettling. I need to cut some proper slots in the Badass Bridge as it's the unslotted version and the G string is just slightly out of line for me but other than that, I'm delighted.

Status Buzzard?

Not sure many will be interested, but you did ask! Band name - The Mason-Dixon Line. Initial line up was two-tone, unusual for the 60s, with Guitar, bass, drums, tenor sax, vocals and keys, playing jazz-oriented stuff, like Big Noise from Winetka etc, some Fats Domino, also Bluebeat, and the obligatory three-chord rep. Inevitably we broke up, leaving just G, B and D jamming, but a lead guitarist/vocalist without a band, who I’d been in bands with previously, and who thought we were still gigging, got us some work, so we recruited him, to make this lineup. It lasted a year or so, and eventually broke up when I left to join the RAF. As a post-script, I’ve been doing some remote recording during lockdown with the guitarist/vocalist who joined us...

I’ve been fortunate to own a lot of mine and other peoples” dream bass’s” Wal Status,Jaydee,Thunderbird,Musicman.many Fenders new and signature models, Warwick etc etc over a very long period.As a weekend warrior all my band income was re invested due to GAS searching for that holly grail.I have no regrets about any of my dream purchase ‘s.I was lucky and fulfilled my dreams.But this is the thing.My son and wife bought me a Ibanez 5 string fan fret for a special birthday after I expressed an interest.Not a dream bass you may say but it has become my all time favourite. Would I swap it for anything else. Not a chance What makes it special? Well to paraphrase. This is my Ibanez there are many like it,but this one is special ,this one is mine and there is no other like it. Would it be the dream bass if I had the dream in the past knowing what I know now. In a heart beat.

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for this! Looks like a need to make myself one of those space age tools for running against the stone first! Seriously though that's probably the easiest to understand guide I've seen! Should get it published online pronto!

So I usually always post good news and it sometimes looks like nothing goes wrong during a build... but... I managed to totally balls up the fretboard glue up by not fitting my carbon rod properly and not realising until half of it was clamped up 😬! About a 3mm gap was visible! By the time I got the board off some of the glue had hardened so it wasn't going to be easy to clean up to glue straight back on so... That fretboard was binned as I couldn't trust it to be perfectly flat and this new one was made. Actually remembered to put the truss rod tool access in to the fretboard too before gluing it, something I forgot on the last one! Frets went in nice and easy, the last frets I used only had 2mm heads and they felt very small so I'm back to 2.7mm on this board. Going to leave the fretboard (currently backed on to a steel bar to keep flat) until tomorrow so I can see if any frets have popped up, and now that's done I can get the nut started!

It’ll never catch on! 😄

I take most of this stuff with a pinch of salt. It’s largely Theatre and contrived controversy. As for some of the historical practices of established religion there are some things that are genuinely shocking and more warped than some gangly Norwegian teenagers can ever dream of.

11 done, 10 to go = over halfway

We're all a function of our experience of what is likely to break down and which will shape our attitude to risk. It's very similar to folks' views on home insurance and the level of cover people take out. In my case, I do actually have spares of pretty much most key gear i.e. (too many!) basses, recently acquired spare gigging amp, couple of cabs etc. But I play pretty much daily at home and much less frequently out on the road by comparison, although I'm probably doing a middling number of gigs by BC standards. So for me if a piece of kit is likely to fail then it's most likely to happen at home, so I'm comfortable that if it all checks out and not showing any signs of being temperamental pre-gig then that works for me and my bands. There are plenty of pro bass players I know on BC who have not had any issue over decades of gigging with their basses (refer to the OP's previous thread for examples) and are comfortable with not bothering with a spare bass for a local pub gig but might take one to a more distant wedding. And others who will take spares of all gear to all gigs. I personally don't consider either to be more "pro" or more "evolved" as bass-players as one earlier post suggested. They're just basing their decisions on their own experience and attitudes to risk, just as some folk don't want to start gigging until the autumn due to Covid-19, whereas others can't wait to get back out as soon as we are allowed to.

Tbf- with that username this isn't really a great surprise 🙂

Even if the input lead had gone open circuit, the light should still come on although you might have to press the footswitch. Most pedals us a stereo jack socket on the input, When a jack plug is inserted it connects the OV in the circuit to the -ve of the battery/power supply.

1st world problems.

On Apple music there's a nice bit in the blurb for The Drift album: "in the past eleven years has released just two solo albums – this one and 1995’s Tilt.Both are challenging works that require the listener to suspend their beliefs in what a song should do. You do not hum these tunes. You do not tap your foot to these beats. Preferably, you sit in a comfortable chair in a dark room and let the slowly unfolding drama overtake you." This was my introduction to non Walker Brothers Scott Walker:

I mostly listen to music that is under the extreme metal umbrella (post-hardcore, mathcore, grindcore, black metal, post-metal, metal-core, death metal, sludge, doom), so pretty heavy I'd say. For example the last five albums I bought were by Terrorizer, Godflesh, Neurosis, Din Of Celestial Birds and Greg Puciato. I'm not sure if today is a Bandcamp Friday or not, but I'm planning on buying albums by Cave In, Botch and The Armed

Ibanez did an interesting tweak of the Musician series for Alphonso Johnson. It's factory built.

So many choices, but, keeping it fairly simple to start with: Ash bodied, modern take on a P-bass. Slightly slimmed down from normal, and chambered. Through body stringing, decent high mass bridge. 4-string. 3-piece, 22-fret neck with carbon fibre rods and 2-way truss rod, with adjustment at the head. Ideally a rosewood board, but intrigued by the roasted maple option. Quite a shallow radius on the board - at least 12", possibly more, but not flat. Pearl inlays and binding - not tied to standard blocks, but nothing too outrageous. A single bass clef or bass-clef love heart at 12th fret, if space allows. Fender-esque headstock with Hipshot ultralites. Medium-slim frets. String tree that covers the A string as well. I would like to try a Norstrand p-type pickup, but want something that's going to cover the spectrum from Stax to Steve Harris. Probably passive. Rear cavity to have the guts of Phil Jones Big Head installed, with recessed (or edge mounted) sockets for headpone & audio inputs, and also the controls. Micro switch to switch the pickup output between the main jack and the input to the Big Head. Lake Placid Blue, with matching headstock. Ideally the shade Fender Japan refer to as Old Lake Placid Blue, which is a tad deeper than the US version. Aged white pick guard (if the binding is cream) or Mop style. Hope that all makes sense!

The instrument is only half the equation. Some great sounding tracks were recorded with Stingrays for instance. I have to cut both lows and treb on my Ray to make it sound good. My Warwick Thumb needs some help in the bottom end from an amp or external pre in order to shine. Make it work. Every bass can sound proper.

What?? Fantastic that you live such a privileged life, but perhaps a £1k or so investment on a bass is a lot of money for some people?

Just finished a GUMA-Drive. Real happy with it. It was above my soldering skills (and gear) so it was mostly done by my brother (an engineer, designs electronics since he was 10 y/o). Also he had all the printing material needed, lacquer, etc. I really only applied primer and yellow to the box, that's about it All in all a nice project and one more great excuse to hang out with my bro, who recently moved close to me after being 12K km away for almost 2 decades. Now I only need to get him to sit seriously in front of a drumkit (he's a SOLID drummer, he just always had to be dragged when it came to making music, simply he leans to other stuff in life). It sounds like this (using my rat rod Jazz, both pickups, then just the neck, EQed and compressed after the GUMA-Drive). Will record a wider variety of samples and do a video once the missing knobs make their way home.

Lightweight gear. Just a fad, it will pass