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And as promised, some fancy pics

Well, the good news is that you don't hate Tobacco Sunburst. You hate Three Tone Sunburst.

It's 4 years since I bought my first PB-50. I'd just signed up on BC and had no idea who Thomann were, that soon changed First time I viewed their site the PB-50 caught my eye but it was £76 and £76 buys you nothing remotely playable. Bought one anyway just out of interest. 2 1/2days later a big box of goodness arrived. Now I don't have a list of conditions when it comes to basses, I like a decent neck, a bridge that holds strings,tuners that hold a string in tune and a pickup to convey bassy sounds. PB-50 delivered that Interest in these spike everytime @discreet posts one of his mods and I will post headstock templates out to any BC'er who fancies having a go themselves. The templates started off for use with a router and guided cutter but as yet no-one seems to have used one. @MrTea suggested I do a post on shaping the headstock so here goes First thing I forgot was to take a before photo so here's the Thomann link. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pb_50_sb_vintage_series.htm I use the Mike Dirnt headstock shape and print on 200gsm card The set up on the newly delivered PB was great so the neck was left attached. Removing the tuners was first job. I'm working from the back so left the bushings in place. The screws can sometimes be awkward so if you've an old PH1 screwdriver,file the tip down and it'll seat itself into the screwhead better. The printed template has the tuners marked so align them with the holes and draw round the template. Remove the large areas with a copingsaw or in my case a pullsaw. ( in the photo is a router template made from doubled up floor tile) This is the rough cut, then I used a rasp to clean and round the shape. Sorry I forgot to take a photo after the rasp stage. After getting close to the pencil lines it's sanding next. Make sure you check the front face when sanding as you may not be sanding vertical. If you veered away from the lines you can hide it by sweetening the edges of the headstock. At the tip there it looks irregular. I managed to chip a bit of the front face so it's actually tape holding the glued in chip you're seeing The boss reckons I should tackle the 2 saddle bridge next. I masked off the edges so I had witness points then removed the bridge. Lady Luck came calling and the centre screw on the 2 saddle bridge matched the centre screw on the PB's bridge but I glued and plugged the other 4 holes.After fitting the bridge using only the centre screw I added the new Herrick pickup,this way I could run a string from saddle to nut and see they went over the pole pieces. Another thing was the bridge base was smaller then the PB one so the machine screw on D&G got swapped for a longer one (just robbed it from the PB's bridge) All lining up the back got masking tape before I drilled for the through body holes. Thought I'd a picture of the 4mm pilot holes but guess not The string ferrules had a 9.5mmm body but the rims were 12mm. Marked the depth on a 12mm flat bit and drilled for the rims,then swapped to a 9.5mm countersink. Tapped the ferrules in with a mallet and it was ready for strings and set up. I really shouldn't have bothered with the 2 saddle bridge, intonation is a hassle and I've decided to fit an ashtray There's also a bit too much shiny wood showing so I'm thinking about a scratchplate. Still undecided about the logo, I wished the HB logo had been in a different area so I didn't cut into it Looking at it now I'll get a Benton logo printed up and fit that. No shame in playing the HB

Strong word isn't it? Hate? A couple of years ago I had a dream (nightmare) that I was driving around my locale, visiting friends, in a clapped out old Austin Metro. The jalopy in question had been finished in tobacco sunburst by a previous, semi-professional, pensionable rock guitar wombler, who needed to express his intrinsic love of everything rock and/or metal to absolutely everybody he passed on the street. I'd found myself the owner by virtue of being unable to afford anything else. Each body panel had individually been resprayed tobacco sunburst... the roof, wings, doors, hatch and bonnet each had that brown middle moving into red and then to black along its edges. The stanchions that held up the roof were black, as were the bumpers. I woke up and was awoken to a basic internal disgust for any guitar with a burst finish. At first, I thought it a mildly amusing figment of my imagination, one that I would soon forget. But I can't. My dislike tobacco sunburst has since extended to any type of burst finish, surpassing my previous best dislike of coffee table basses... even more that the nausea I feel when I see quilted maple, which looks to me like baby has just vomited a Farley's Rusk on my shoulder. I despise it. I see perfectly good basses that I'd like perhaps to own, but couldn't entertain the thought of buying just because of their finish. Is it just me? What is my problem?

I'm not a carpenter and use a drill guide like this one.

The law's been pretty clear about two tone sunbursts for the last 9 years or so. Here's a breakdown of what's legal and what isn't: The sentencing tariffs vary from community service (for a RW board P-Lyte) to a minimum 5 years custodial (for an unbound Ric 4000).

I've no time for that bandy legged, aren't I hard, Poundland Stevie Wonder-U-Like dwarf... but my God he always got lucky with rhythm sections.

Remember to set up a dedicated user on the laptop and have all internet, notifications, alarms and updates switched off. Otherwise prepare for embarrassing hour long waits whilst it updates and unmistakeable windows themes tunes coming in at will. Even a usb going on and off will cause the alarms. And set so your screen saver doesnt kick in and lock your laptop mid playing.

Had several brown bursts at the weekend - poorly tummy.

When was after a Yamaha Bex4 it seemed all anyone had bought were the trans orange or blue. I'm so glad I hung on until a tobacco burst one came up for sale. I've seen plenty of blue and orange but you don't see the burst one very often. Isn't it a beaut!

‘Tasteful Slapping’

So my white one, up there ^^, can stay as it is. As today I traded my Musicman Stingray, that wasn’t being used much, for this (that I didn’t even see was on here, Hi Dave!). I’ve been after one for decades. Just never managed to nab one until today! I’m beside myself with joy, just looking at it gives me a huge smile!!

Can you read SPL charts? This compares response of a Simplexx 15 sealed and ported with the Eminence BP1525 driver. Note that if you want to get the same response from the ported as sealed you can, just back off on the bass EQ, which also reduces power draw from the amp. The chart only extends to 200Hz because above that they're identical. The ported advantage in low frequency sensitivity is there, but it's not huge. Now consider this, a maximum SPL chart, which takes into account the response, the driver thermal power handling and driver excursion limit: The sealed cab doesn't even come close down low. The difference is attributable not only to the output added by the port but also the reduction in cone excursion that porting results in, and it's excursion that primarily limits how loud a cab will go below 70Hz or so, not the thermal power capacity. You can get a ported cab to sound like a sealed cab, but you can't get a sealed cab to deliver the low end output of a ported cab. There will be those who say otherwise, but in controlled double blind listening tests when EQ'd for the same response listeners are unable to tell the tone of one from the other.

To echo what the others have already said, I had a great time. It was great to meet a bunch of bass players with all sorts of backgrounds and interests, and play some really lovely and diverse gear. Thanks all for a great time. See you next year!

The Gig with Dream Tröll was a massive success, we almost hit the venue cap. Made tons of cash and paid every band and I'm 80 quid up. A fantastic night all round.

There's some excellent bass playing waiting for you when you get there.

At one point with the Pogues covers band, I was swapping between banjo, bouzouki, fiddle and mandolin for different songs, all 4 instruments routed through the same acoustic guitar amp which I used as a monitor and then DI back to the desk. Something like this would have been very handy - I cobbled something together using an LS2 and both inputs of the amp if I remember rightly.

Well, it's getting closer. The last bits always take an age but I'd be surprised if I can't finish it this week. Final weight, putting everything left to fit on the digital scales, is looking like a touch under 5 1/4 lbs

Ooh, you're going to Hell for sure!!

The Rutles: "Ouch!"

That... rippled beige texture. It reminds me of quilted maple. Gross.

Top Tips: If you think you sound good with 1 cab, use 2 you'll sound even better. If you think you need 300 watts, get 500 watts, turn up and play lighter.

Also, everyone should invest in a roll of ProGaff - you can tape leads down with it and it doesn't leave awful residue. Comes in numerous colours! Lots of flight cases on the tour, all of mine have a white strip of tape on, with my name and what each case is for. Same with the guitar stands, plus, strip round the bottom of the legs, show up under minimal light so you don't trip over them!

I hate TSB and also hate gold, except when they are together on a '57 P, when the sum is greater than its parts:

It's John Carpenter's own soundtracks for me, Halloween,Assault on Precinct 13, The Thing, Escape from New York. They fit the film's mood perfectly.

Great post, but in my experience it often really is the drummer's fault.

Nice Zon @ Bass Direct http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Zon_Sonus_4_LH.html

Status Graphite something 😁

I’d still love an 80’s Integra like Billy Gould’s

This thread has got me interested in digging a bit more into the quality Aria basses ... here's the SB series in all its glory from Matsumoko's website: http://www.matsumoku.org/models/ariaproii/bass/sb/sb.html My Aria Pro II with a P/J set up (actually my missus' - but it was the one we had around the house and what I learnt on!) was one of the entry level ones I'm assuming(?), so I've yet to try out one of the higher end models. Anyway as we're reminiscing, here's one from the archives...

I agree 100%, we had some 50 year old coke heads at our gig on Saturday, they think they are great and providing the entertainment, they're not.

See the "well known " bit has missed a bit on this thread

I don't think anyone serious uses Windows for live music for exactly those reasons. ;-)

Great album and the type of thing i did as a young Stranglers fan,tend to just pick the licks up on TOOL stuff and jam them at soundcheck these days

If they sound and feel as close to as genuine '60s TBird as seems to be the case, it's still a saving of about £5k plus.

Two little gigs this weekend, Sat and Sun night. Snow and ice on the roads. I was surprised they weren't cancelled and even more surprised that both of them were really well attended. Nothing stops Brummie music lovers from getting out it seems :-) Saturday gig - a little spot at a Country and Americana evening. This is with my number 2 band, who are a lovely bunch of chaps but anashamed hobbyists. Banjo player who is usually very reliable had been celebrating Paddy's Day all afternoon and was feeling quite mellow, shall we say. He was playing all the same songs as the rest of us, but not quite at the same time. Nevertheless it all seemed to go down quite well. A friend of mine in the audience said to me afterwards 'Well done for keeping that all together Shell. I don't know how you knew where they were going to go next, you must be telepathic!' I took that as a compliment, as he is an excellent musician himself. Sunday gig with my number 1 band. A much more professional outfit who do mainly 50's and 60's covers. The challenge this time was to rise to the top of my game, as they are all really good musicians. We do some quite fast and furious songs like 'The Letter', 'Claudette' and 'Rip it Up'. My fingers are a blur, haha! Then I can relax on the trippier bass lines like 'Days' and 'Itchy Coo Park'. Had a load of fun and it went really well. The thing with both these bands is that they were originally acoustic trios who asked me to just guest on a couple of numbers that would benefit from a bit of bass. Before long I was a permanent member of both bands and playing the full set. The moral of this story being, keep your eye out for any opportunity, you never know how these things will develop

I have, and I think they were steadily getting better from about 2005 - mid-to-late 90s was a bit duff, but then I owned Leigh Gordon's late 90s model (Morcheeba) and it was at least "okay" quality even then. I think they got an undeservedly bad press since 2000.

Sicario, music written by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson. Very organic and powerful with that Purcell, Grieg and of course Varèse approach. This guy was a genius who passed away too soon at 48 years old.

Top bloke to deal with. I bought his Yamaha Attitude II. He was very flexible with me, whilst I sold my other instruments to buy off him. He faced the strong winds and the snow of the ‘mini beast of the East’ to meet me half way for the pickup. Super nice guy too. The bass is in great condition and has clearly been looked after well. It was a pleasure to buy off Lewis and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Cheers for the sale!

Yummy.

I think it's a combination of passion and a journey to discover what gets the sound in our heads.

I kinda agree about the TSB, but unfortunately my go to bass for the last few years has been a P-Lyte in that colour. Tried a few others but the TSB just feels right. ( Bought another one as a backup too!)

I don't think GAS is limited to bass players. I had a friend who was keen on golf and photography. He changed golf clubs and cameras more often than his socks - just looking for the perfect set of clubs or camera. We've all seen the people who sleep out overnight to buy the latest iPhone, which turns out to be not much different from the one they bought six months ago! I love cycling and read plenty of cycling magazines. I could spend thousands on the latest bikes but then I pull my modest road bike out of the shed and within a mile or so realize that that my alloy framed Bianchi just suits me fine. I don't have GAS for another bass guitar. The one I have (Chowny SWB-1) is ideal for what I shall be using it for - playing in church for those who asked "who goes to church"! I'm still getting to know it but I like what I have. Sometimes I think we need to spend time with the gear we have and appreciate it. I made the GAS mistake a few years ago when I was playing the chromatic harmonica. I now have drawers full of the things in my quest to find the one. I enjoy reading reviews on bass guitars and bicycles and can appreciate the high end of the market - "Cyclist" magazine has just featured a bike costing £22,650! I'll stick with what I have and try to get the most out of it. Having seen what Scott Whitley can do with the SWB-1 it should be more than enough for me to handle!

I've always found that the degree of GAS is proportionally related to the number of gigs, i.e., 2 or more gigs a week, no GAS. No gigs, enormous GAS!

I always include a thank you card too, and original artwork photographs. People seem to like recycled where possible, sleeves etc.

Having had another thought about this, I'm reluctant to suggest DIY print on demand unless the OP has some serious graphic skills. For me and I suspect a lot of people who buy physical product, one of the main attractions of this over simply getting a download is the packaging. So unless your creative skills are up to designing something extra special and then being able to produce it perfectly yourself every time someone orders a copy of the CD, I'd be tempted to leave this to someone who can do the job properly. For me a CDR in a jewel case with a home printed cover an insert simply doesn't cut it as a desirable item. Besides I know from experience that cutting and creasing tray inserts by hand to fit perfectly in the jewel case base isn't the simplest of jobs.

nimbit.com will also sell physical merchandise, although we've never used this. It's likely to be relatively expensive for small numbers of CDs.

Was it an orange natural wood colour? If so, then yep, I sure did 😊