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Halfway through my little stint depping with the Stones covers band. Three down, three to go! All went well. Loads of people in and all seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it..including a few die hard Stones fans, wearing all the appropriate gear.🙂 Many thanks to our own KevB for coming along! Really nice to catch up. A good friend (also a muso) was kind enough to give me a lift in his van and help me load in and out which was much appreciated. On the way home, we stopped for a curry which I paid for out of my earnings for the night. My friend declared this made me a proper musician at last. Another milestone reached! 😎

I am finally there and 100% happy. Barefaced 6x10 is mighty sounding and super light. Aguilar DB751 same but not light. Fender P ‘69 or ‘64 depending on rotation. Incredible sound and people always comment how good it is, so must be doing something right.

I like this one but fear our lead guitarist may take it too seriously

It means that, given a starting point (a note..?) the possible 'harmonically correct' notes are calculated, such as root to fifth, or root to third etc. These 'note choices are then sorted in order of preference; as suggested next note to play. This 'next note' is then, in turn, used to suggest a third note, and so on. The 'harmonically correct' part stems from music theory; the preference ranking, too, is based on well-accepted principles. All of this is based on music theory anyway, and so one's own studies would tend to confirm the suggestions made. It would, potentially, save time over working out theoretical note choices from scratch for those wishing to compose using these 'standard' guide lines. Most experienced composers would have this type of reasoning ingrained from their own experience and studies, but it could help either those starting out, or those wishing to 'break the mould of habit' and see what alternatives could be used. Not for everyone, maybe, but an interesting exercise in combining music theory and programming skills. That, in itself, is no mean feat. Some folks climb mountains for fun, others like scuba diving. To each their own pleasures in life. Subject to completion, correction and/or contradiction from others; hope this helps.

LOL Looked at this a few times and I think it has been pretty much nailed! 'Personally' I feel the pre 91 basses were generally made from/of better quality woods and materials (other than the chocolate output jacks... buy a Switchcraft and be done with it). Why W can't role the fingerboard edges on new basses is beyond me mind, that would make such a difference. Electrics are pretty much standard now, though I did prefer it when you could have EMG, MEC, Bart, SD even Alembic. Neck profiles are so personal that it's a case of meat/poison; I have to admit to having some pretty skinny neck Wicks but also possess a very full (maple) necked 07 NT Corvette and I love the feel. I agree the whole catalogue is pretty messed up and dilution of the brand has occurred. Replaceable truss rods were a good thing BUT you shouldn't need to do it anyway and tbh the stories grow bigger in the telling, I've had basses with issues (2 out of 40+... is that good/bad ratio) but all are fixable (unlike some manufacturers). Oh and one shouldn't place 'too' much faith in the official emails/info supplied by Warwick... it may not contain 100% accurate info. Finally, never buy a new Warwick; you may as well drive down your street throwing tenners out the window.

Loving this thread. I did not realise that people still liked Warwicks apart from handful of us. Nothing sounds like a Warwick and this thread has made me want to gig my Thumb next weekend.

A friend of mine does the same to his Marshall cabs. The ply they used in the 70s and 80s was nicely grained, finished in a satin finish they look more like a piece of furniture than musical equipment. Peterson have the right idea.

Not much of a start but this is the wood I have in for these builds, messy workshop, I will have a good clean up before I start work again. I'm going to call CapitalCrispin on Monday and see what they can do in the way of constructional veneers for use as contrasting laminates in the neck. Gibson use Walnut or black Walnut as it's known over here but I'm tempted to go for something like Beech or Maple/Sycamore. Again Gibson use four Walnut laminates, I think I'm going to add another one dead centre to make it a total of 11 laminates for the centre section So without further ado.... the wood!! Doesn't look like three new basses does it?

Now then, I know what some of you are thinking. You're thinking - 'Yes - 25 feet is a tighter curve than you imagine. And surely he's going to run out of wood to get that X-brace to fit?' Which is why I'm splicing extensions to the four ends of the X-brace struts... Another one for the Andyjr1515 bloopers DVD, @LukeFRC ?

My kids bought me this T shirt years ago - I've even worn it at gigs

You cannot beat getting hands-on with the instrument. Some good points in this thread, but all to be taken with a pinch of salt unless they're referring to the bass you're looking at. I've owned a few Warwicks made between '94-'04 (SSI, SSII, Thumb BO, Streamer BO, Streamer Std), 1 was a dog, 1 was a gem that I shouldn't have sold (the one that got away!) and I was reasonably happy with the others. All played differently though... you need to get hands-on with it to really have any idea what it's like.

Very good questions! I'll try. This will be a bit long :-) Yes, the cost of pedal steels is high, and sadly cheap "beginner" models can be as much of a hindrance as a help. Back in the day, newbies used to start on basic models with "pull-release" changers (as opposed to all-pull, eg. pro-level Sho-Bud and a hundred other brands, or push-pull, eg. Emmons) steels to keep costs down. Vintage examples (such as the pull-release Sho-Bud Mavericks) used to be gettable for about £500 but they're a bit of a pain, to be honest. Stay away from the Carter Starter, the mechanism is made of cheese and the knee lever stop design is a joke… they're bad enough to put you off playing for good. TL;DR; buy a pro-level pedal steel or be prepared to want to throw the thing out of the window. Yes, 8-string laps exist (as do 10-strings, though they're uncommon). A six-string is probably the best way to start. You can easily and cheaply experiment with tunings… open E or A for rock, blues and some Americana, then maybe a C6 tuning for traditional '50s country/roots, then, oh, about a hundred others. Eight strings really expand your options and make other tunings such as 11ths worthwhile. With any tuning, though, pros are balanced by cons… you just need to pick one (or two, hence double-neck lap or "console" steels). The E9 sound on lap steel conundrum… players have been battling this for decades. On lap steels with no levers at all, it IS possible to partly replicate the E9 PSG sound, and this is done by a combination of selecting certain voicings to trick the ear and by slanting the bar (bloody difficult). But really, lap steel is potentially so much greater (and better) than just a pale E9 imitator. It's a brilliant instrument - and it also encourages the player to understand and use the whole fretboard, as opposed to pedal steel, which tempts you with so many (often corny) licks via pedals and levers without moving the bar. But I digress… B-bender type rigs can be found. The off the shelf solution is the Duesenberg Pomona lap steel, which costs nearly as much as a very used pedal steel. Luckily, the bridge, the Duesenberg Multibender, is available separately for about £200, and can be fitted to a regular six-string lap steel (as long as it has enough body behind the bridge… the Gretsch lap is a popular victim for this mod). Main problem: having levers sticking out over the bridge slightly hampers your picking, and also your blocking (the art of silencing unwanted strings). The Multibender comes with two levers that can be applied to any two strings. It's raise-only, no drops. Three levers can be rigged up, but that makes it much trickier to operate; two is enough to replicate the basic "classic pedal steel move", which is to raise the 5th to a 6th (this also gives a relative minor chord) and to raise the 3rd to a 4th. Used together, these change the open (no-bar) I chord to a IV and, like a pedal steel, give you a I chord at the 7th fret. Bingo. There are a few Multibender demos on YouTube, but bear in mind that you may very likely be better starting on a plain six-string lap steel and thinking about a bender later. There's so much to learn and have fun with in terms of bar control alone. Am I making sense?! Happy to try again if not.

Here she be. And a jolly nice ramp it is too, well finished to my exact spec, inc fingerboard matched curve. Indian rosewood. Cheers to Toby, whom I have no interest in promoting other than that he's a good craftsman who may be of use to other members. Affixed with double sided tape, should you ask.

I disagree. Wenge definitely looks better most of the times, and has a snappier more maple-ish sound, Ovangkol is mellower and not as beautiful, but sounds great. And it feels good to my fingers too. I have to say I prefer having Ovangkol in my 2007 Streamer Stage II. It sounds and looks amazing and it doesn’t need any more snappiness or clarity to its sound. Neck is massive, but you get used to it, I find it more comfortable for my hand, in fact. It feels a more natural ergonomic position for the hand. I have a 2003 Corvette Fna jazzman too, and the neck on the SSII is even chunkier, specially when in the upper frets. Not a problem, just a different design, you may like it and get used to it or not I have a 1987 cherry Streamer with slim wenge neck and is gorgeous looking and sounding, and you can feel it’s been hand made and unique. Love the sound and feel of that bass, though the routing of the pickups is not great, much tighter in a 1983 matsumoku I have. But you can definitely feel the difference between 80s Warwicks an 2000s. And yet, the Jazzman and SSII are amazing basses with its own voice. I like that. I’d like to play one of the new ones, but strangely lately I find I only want used, well played basses, with years of gigs if possible. My latest purchase was a 1982 Ibanez Roadster that sounds completely different to a Warwick and has many scars on it. I wouldn’t change it for any new Wick, no matter how shiny and great sounding. I guess I’m getting old. ovangkol on a 2005 SSII I traded some years ago:

I have a Thumb 5 BO, 2004 or 2005 (I can't remember which, 90% sure it's 2004), ovangkol neck and body, ebony fingerboard. Supposedly the worst of the worst for Warwicks, but it sounds amazing and plays beautifully - the action is lowest out of all of my basses, if it was fretless you'd be able set it up almost impossibly low. It is brighter and growlier than the all bubinga Thumbs, so it's probably not to everyone's taste. Just about the only upgrade I would make would be a brass nut but given that it only affects the tone on open notes I just don't think it's worth the hassle, not when it sounds and plays like it does now. Maybe I should be worried that the nut will snap, the neck will warp or the truss rod will break. Maybe I'll just keep playing it and enjoying it. If you've never played a Warwick, don't be put off by the "baseball bat neck" stuff. Sure, they're not Jazz thin, but they're more ergonomically designed than a tradition P bass neck, they have been made with the form of the human hand as a consideration. I was playing a Fender P this morning and couldn't get over how blocky the neck was. That said, I'm of the opinion that if you're of the right mindset, you can adapt to any neck type - I've got a Peavey Palaedium that makes a Jazz feel fat and I've got a Raro 6 string that is huge and I don't struggle on any them. If you can cope with a 4 string P bass you can play any Warwick without issue, as long as you have good left hand technique. If you tend to let your thumb slip over onto the fretboard you might have issues, but I think that would be the case if you were playing a 5 or 6 string from any manufacturer, not just Warwick.

It could be interesting on here for a while if you lot decide to go for a Rickenfaker

You're riding on the late bus / Trying to find your way back home / Darkness falling round you / Can't see ahead to where you're going You may be riding with whores and gamblers / You may be riding with the lonely and insane / Some of you may be laughing, some are crying / You're all trying to get home just the same

I actually wrote a song called "The Late Bus" as soon as we chose the name - a gospel-style take-off of "This train" - "The late bus ain't no train to glory / Them iPods ain't playing no gospel song / And when the wheels come off the late bus / Tell me how are you going to get home?" Turned out to be prophetic 😞

If you've got a Tool shaped hole in your life, Soen are probably the closest thing to it, they have former Opeth drummer Martin Lopez and the first album has Steve DiGiorgio on bass

Onto the installation of the rosette and purfling circle. This is a bit scary because it's got to be spot on. And it involves routing a couple of mm out of a top that is only 2.7ish mm to start with! First was to use the asymmetric holes in the centre of the cut out rosette as the template for a couple of similar holes in the top: Then remember not to cut out the centre until I've routed all of the other bits! First I routed the edges of the rosette - the inner using one of the pivot holes and the outer rout using the other one : So - what's going on on the right hand side? Well - it's a good illustration of a little tip for acoustic guitar rosettes: leave the join lines / gaps and test the rout position always at the neck end of the circle. Why? Because that will be covered by the fretboard And so if you pink torpedo up your measurement, measuring from the wrong side of the router bit: ...then you can correct it for the full circle and the pink torpedo up won't show because the fretboard will be over it Anyway - trying to remember which pivot hole to use far which area, I indexed the router a couple of mm each time each way to clear out the wood in the centre so I could fit the rosette Then a 1mm slot on the outside for some purfling: Then installed the purfling - it bends easily round this kind of radius dry and cold - and then some very careful scraping to bring the whole rosette down to top level and finally a deeper rout to cut out the sound hole. And here we have it: It's lucky that the c**k up slot is going to be covered, otherwise I'd have had to have added another piece of laminate as a 'feature' But luckily, on an acoustic, the fingerboard (or in my case it will be a stick on end magnetic pickup from a Shadow dual system) goes right up to the sound hole: I've said it before. Many regular builders will agree that we still make as many c**k ups as when we were beginners - it's just that we get more skilled at sorting out the consequences and hiding them!

Freshly roasted coffee. I was unknowingly drinking crap coffee for years until I found a great quality, freshly roasted coffee.

Superglue. Most definitely superglue. Looks quite spectacular from the photo! Good luck 👍

Thanks for that recommendation, excellent. I skipped around a couple of their videos and landed upon this. I shall be playing it every morning before breakfast for the next while.

Ola peeps. I was initially attracted to Basschat by the excellent build threads for cabs. I was planning to jump in with a build, but then decided to go Barefaced instead. Ended up with two One10’s and they were great. Then I caught a nasty case of skintitis and had to sell them. Fow shizz buying a Two10 next year when funds allow, but for now, I have an excellent old Peavey cab loaded with Beyma ‘s, assembled by our own @fleabag. Today the sky, he cry. I got restless and was looking for something to mess with. I started tugging at the carpet covering on my cab after rehearsal and now i’m committing by posting this! I’m going to sand it down and if it looks half decent, I’ll put a dark stain on so it looks a little like my Peterson combo. If the wood ain’t that sharp, I’ll get some of that Tuff Cab in anything other than black.

Result! I convinced my mrs to take the kids out for the day so was able to make some progress. Routing done, scratchplate cut and routed but still needs some sanding/finishing/screw holes etc. Notice the control cavity (freehand route), the acoustic foam is clearly visible. Amazing stuff, it is incredibly dence and even behaves like wood when routing. Plastic is still on the scratchplate in case you are wondering why it looks “dirty”

Indeed - I expect the tone will be completely wrecked OK - laminates (I prefer to call them scarf joints ) fixed means that the braces, fully shaped, now fit snugly in the radius dish: So with a final scrape of the top to get the harmonics back now the stiffer rosette is in, I can mark the position of the braces on the top: And then get out the SUPER HI-TECH GO-BAR DECK! Yes...your eyes aren't deceiving you...can this really be just two pieces of chipboard held apart by a quartet of threaded rods with the radius dish vaguely plonked on top. Yes it can! What's it for? Well, how else are you going to clamp down a set of different size braces across a .5mx.5m area, with enough force to press the top into the radius dish while securing all ends and middle of the braces for a strong glue joint....other than with something like a bendy dowel??? Aided and abetted by a few more bendy dowels and a herd of bendy fibreglass rods: And to everybody's amazement the first time they try this - it works!

This. I blew the thick end of a grand on my current mattress and ohhhhhhhh god it is wwwwwwwwwonderful.

Interesting! Well, I think it is. Some of the innovations that emerged out of World War II are well-documented, ranging from the microwave to the atomic bomb. But there's one small tool whose WW2 heritage is lesser-known: superglue. Superglue was first developed by scientists at Eastman Kodak who were trying to design gun sights for the military after they found that some of their failed attempts had other useful properties. While the adhesive has become known for fixing pottery and clothing, during the Vietnam War, it became life saving. "If somebody had a chest wound or open wound that was bleeding," inventor Harry Coover once told the Kingsport Times-News, "the biggest problem they had was stopping the bleeding so they could get the patient back to the hospital. And the consequence was—many of them bled to death. So the medics used the spray, stopped the bleeding, and were able to get the wounded back to the base hospital. And many, many lives were saved."

Pink Floyd's 'The Final Cut'..?

A bit of explanation in this post of some of the design and build features of a 'typical' steel string guitar for those who haven't ever built one but might. I stress that, after building only two acoustics before, I'm no expert but it's OK because experienced acoustic builders will have 'unfollow''d this thread long ago . In my defence, this is still firmly in the basics territory, but it is info I would have appreciated understanding prior to embarking on my own first acoustic build. First of all - what plan am I following? Got one of the Elite Guitar Plans because it was easier than printing off the numerous versions on the internet and stitching together so many A4 sheets. The design is the pretty ubiquitous one based on the Martin X brace design of yesteryear. The plan is pretty good too, other than the spelling. So the basics: The top is spheroidal, like a slice of a 25 foot radius football The braces not only transfer the string vibrations, via the bridge and underlying bridgeplate, to various regions of the top, they also form and hold the top in the 25' radius spheroidal shape. So the bottoms of the braces need to have a radius appropriate to were they will sit on the sphere And for that, we use the 25' radius dish again In pictures: First the braces are cut to profile. These are flat bottomed at this stage so allowances need to be made in terms of the thickness. I also leave them long so I can trim to my planned final length based on my actual sides assembly. The plan shows where each of the braces will be positioned: But, at the moment, they are flat bottomed - and they need to sit unstressed in their final positions in the radius dish so that, when they are glued down into the top - done also in the radius dish - they will force and hold the top in that spheroidal shape. And at the moment they don't...yet: It always surprises me just how curved 25' is! So - the next step is to curve the bottoms of each of the braces so that they sit in the dish with no gaps. Then we can reveal the black magic of the go-bar deck Hope that makes sense to those who are interested...

+1 to KK's post. I play lap steel. I have an 8 string and two 6 strings all tuned differently. The 8 is tuned to E13 right now but I may return it to A6 as I seemed to gel more with that tuning. One 6 string has a multibender and is tuned C6. I use this one the most as it has humbuckers, the other lap steels hum to no end. A great resource for info and advice is The Steel Guitar Forum. Pedal steel, whilst amazing, is not for the faint hearted. Costly and heavy but worth the effort if you put in the time. The British Steelies often has pedal steels for sale and is another great source for info and advice. The hardest thing I've found is picking a tuning and going with it. There are sooo many options. Get stuck in and enjoy

A folding aluminium hand truck wheelie thing. Wish they made them with big sand ready wheels for the beach gigs but not complaining. Best €24 investment you can make for the gigging crowd.

Next things got silly 😀 The neck arrived and it took 20 minutes to reshape for a Tele headstock but I was still messing about trying to cut covers. I also decided to cut the scratchplate myself😱With a hacksaw 😱😱Bloody stupid idea and one I don't recommend. £18 for the 3 ply and maybe 3-4 hours cutting/filing.All the while disaster is watching over your shoulder. Scratch-It charge about £30 odd to do the job right. It's really not worth the hassle just to save £12,and that's if you don't botch it. Dumb luck saw me get away with it.

So the worst of the cuts (index / main plucking finger) is healing quite well. I’ve let the air at it and haven’t done anything with it since Thursday’s rehearsal. It’s still a bit sore but if I can keep it out of trouble until tonight I’m hopeful it shouldn’t be a problem. (Our wisecracking drummer suggested we play something by Badfinger. That was quite good for him...)

There are so many things wrong with this transaction from both the buyers and seller's PoV that I hardly know where to begin. 1. Why did you wait 3 months before making a claim? IME irrespective of where in the world the item was posted, if it's not with you within a month from the posting date it's never going to arrive at all. 2. Why did you pay using PayPal Friends and Family for what is obviously a transaction to buy goods? F&F offers no protection to the buyer. 3. Why did the seller not insure the items for the full amount? As a seller I never send anything with getting it properly insured. That is factored into the selling price in the first place. All the prices you quote are in Euros, so I assume that the item has come from somewhere outside of the UK. Where? Unfortunately some European mainland countries have notoriously dodgy postal services. For those countries I would never buy or sell without knowing that the items was going to be delivered by a reputable courier service like FedEx or UPS. Personally I'd take what is being offered while it's still on the table and chalk it down to experience.

Have you or the seller tried contacting the lost parcels people? They’re surprisingly good. I sold a pair of quite expensive headphones on here a couple of years ago, they were posted by special delivery (I always use that, it’s cheap and they are fully insured), anyway they somehow got lost. I refunded the buyer, even though it wasn’t my fault, but I also emailed the lost parcel place which is in Belfast I believe. It was quite a distinctive looking parcel; I’d sold the travel case too, and that was wrapped up with the headphones. I described it and they promised to look for it, I was sceptical but low and behold they did locate it and sent them back to me.

I’ve ordered one. Be here on Monday hopefully.

True dat, but most of the time it breaks my heart coz it's in the wrong hands. 😉

Both risky. Depends if you want to be in a band or make some money. You can't do both.

Nice subtle touch there. Stay in the good books with the "current" girlfriend. Dave

And yes, Florence is flipping you the bird @Al Krow

Reverberation Time The classic ‘RT’ measurements (RT60/30/20) are designed for concert halls and don’t apply with any accuracy to small rooms. However, REW has its own clever interpretation (called Topt) which is designed to give a better representation of reverberation in small spaces. Industry standards (such as EBU Tech 3276) suggest a reverb measurement of 0.2s rising to 0.4s in the lower frequencies, so Pete’s room is already performing well in terms of reverb time. Happy days. As mentioned above, this is almost certainly helped by using smaller speakers.

. . . and don't forget the lube!

taken from the MU National Gig Rate April 2018: For casual engagements for groups performing in pubs and clubs of up to 3 hours: £121.50 For casual engagements for groups performing at functions of up to 4 hours: £162.00 https://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Files/Rates/Live-Rates/National-gig-rates

I play, pretty much, nothing but Warwicks dated from the 2000 to 2011. Over all I've owned 9 and only ever had minor issues with any of those, except 1. Most of the Warwicks I've owned have been with me more than 5 years. The minor issues have been the silly nuts with the tabs on the sides, a knob that had poor gold finish and a jack socket. The 1 bass with a major issue was a neck through with a twisted neck. The neck had spent a long time without tension on the truss rod. So what happened was a result of poor ownership. I regularly go to Bulgaria and there's a shop I visit with an amazing array of brand new Warwick basses. I've tried a good few out and wouldn't swap any of mine for a new Warwick. The tone just isn't there. The new ones simply don't "sing" for me like my older ones do. Upped their game? Not in my estimation. The new ones all feel like plastic to me.

Tecamp BlackJag👊