Leaderboard

This build is my first and was 12 years in the making. I started on carving the body blank with my dad, and after he died I lost the nerve to complete it. It has been knocking about my garage ever since. Lockdown inspired me to finish it. Pleased with how it turned out. Only the wiring and a setup to do and it's finally done, all these years later.

Slightly unorthodox setup and my technical supervisor/cushion odoriser

@Ltsal Thanks so much!, i cant wait to hear them together. ill have to see if i can find a good way of making some recordings to share on here. ive realised that its just going to be a long job of getting component values just right to get the best sounds, but i dont mind a bit of soldering I carried on working on the neck transition for a very long time. its a tough area to sculpt as the neck gets in the way of getting the tools at the right angle to remove much materal at a time. thankfully its still good fun and seeing the shape come out the way i wanted it to was a thrill. i also started carving the back of the body, a simple scroll carve at the top of the upper horn and the belly carve: you can see the big sweeping curve that i was going for here, and the sketch of where the volume control cavity will eventually be: before i got the fretboard on, i decided to give the top a quick wipe over with some alcohol: this should give you a good idea of the colour contrast in the body, but also the "swan matched" effect i was going for, with the flame of the redwood meeting up at the thin veneer strips in the body. im very pleased at how this turned out, and hopefully one day in the furutre ill get to repeat this experiment with some more exotic woods! im thinking maybe a maple burl on one side and a darker (maybe madrone or amboyna?) on the other side... oooh and maybe a snakewood freboard with brass and abalone inlays.... Focus.... with that job well underway, i decided to get on with getting the fretboard on the bass. the first step here is to sit the truss rod back into place and get the top surface ready: i used a small square block made of some of the rosewood at the bottom, and 2 very thin pieces of carbon fibre at the top to hld the truss rod in place lengthways. with these how they are the end of the truss rod nut is pretty much flush with the top of the carbon rods one slight peculiarity with this construction is that the surface of the neck that the fretboard will be glued to will partly (about 50% by area) be carbon fibre. and carbon fibre and wood glue dont make the strongest of bonds. as such i glued a black "sacrificial laminate" to the back of the fretboard with normal titebond, and then the whole thing will be glued to the neck with an epoxy. this means i can remove the fretboard in the future and plane off the laminate if theres any issues with the truss rod a long way down the line. based on what i can feel now though, this neck is STIFF as hell. im not sure there will be much need for truss rod adjustments once all is said and done. i neglected to take any pictures of the whole lot clamped up, but once it was all in place, you can see how far the carbon extends beyond the fretboard at the neck end: you can also see there the first strip of maple veneer binding that will border the fretboard. i cut the sides back by 3mm all round to make room for binding on all sides first the maple all the way round. good thick superglue makes this pretty easy to do without getting it in the fre slots and the second layer is kingwood binding all round. unfortunately i managed to do some minor damage to the inlays at this stage, which im kinda annoyed about, but its not a deal breaker. i think nexk time around id probably go with a thicker banding, as the contrast here is kind of hard to see. its certainly moving in the right direction!!

Thanks for the comments all. Few more photos for you guys....

Took the plunge on an additional Modulus FU4; hope you all enjoy looking at this one! Imported from the US of A. 2019 model in a matte black finish.

More of a refurb than a creation, but here's a bench from my bench. We bought some very tired cast iron bench ends last year, and I had them all blasted and powder coated. The slats are iroko. I had to plane off a chamfer because the flanges on the ends were tapered, so the chamfer allows the slat to sit better into the recess. I also cut in some small square rebates into each hole so the head of the coach bolt sat nicely into the hole and was also held tight when doing up the lock nuts. Only three more to complete now... In situ

I can’t think of any off the top of my head, but I’m pretty sure he’s had a couple of other hits which are a little more well-known.

Think I'm getting close to the final design now... liking this.

For me, groove doesn't get much better than this. He's not from this planet. And yeah, he got the note about the dress code... but nobody dresses MonoNeon in just green.

This ^ I genuinely don't understand why some vendors edit their ad after it has sold to remove the price ... why on earth would you do that? The prices achieved by previous sales on Basschat are one of the best guides in Europe to the genuine state of the pre-owned market.

Ok I succumbed! Seller kindly offered to knock the cost of a replacement Glock pre off his previously agreed price and left me with nowhere to go in terms of excuses! Quick review There was a huge amount of fret buzz on 4 out of the 5 strings, when I first got my hands on the bass, but this was easily sorted by raising the action on the strings a little and it's still very comfortable to play. I needed to order some imperial Allen keys, as it's a USA Sept 2005 model predating my other basses. 1/16" was supposedly the right size, but turned out to be too big; fortunately the immediately smaller thread (1.27mm) in the mini set I got from Amazon did the honours nicely. Followed that by adjusting the pup heights to balance the volume from each of the pups and also adjusting the internal preamp trim pot and she was good to go. The preamp does need replacing, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, but set flat on active both pups individually deliver a full, meaty tone which I really like. There's a slightly sweeter mid-scooped tone with both pups engaged, but the B string is then correspondingly weaker, so I'll likely be using it on either solo'd pup for now. At just over 10 lbs she's at the heavier end of my basses, but the extended horn is there to provide really good weight balance, which seems to work well. 34" fretboard is what I'm used to and makes it easy to play and has 24 frets with very easy access to the top end, which I'm a fan of. I always love a neck through for that additional touch of sustain and ability to make the bass sing, but mostly 'cos it looks great (ok I'm shallow - haha!). Block inlays on what seems to be an ebony fretboard are a nice touch and I'm very much a sucker for anything white sporting a "BB" moniker 😁, and in common with my Yamaha BB1025, the Carvin also offers the option of body through stringing.

Hello from Future compact HQ! The last few months have been tough, and I had to stop making the housings for longer than I had anticipated and i have to neglect the community, for that i apologise. But we are now able to start taking orders again!!!! I have new processes in place which means not only will it be easier to track orders at my end, it will be easier than ever to take orders and i can deliver them much faster than before! our email address has changed to enable us to track orders more easily, please do NOT email [email protected]. OUR NEW EMAIL IS [email protected] The housings will cost £48 posted in the UK, and £59 posted to the rest of the world. All postage will be tracked and insured. custom colors are available at an additional £15 Supercompacts are available (side button version) To make an order please send the appropriate ammount via paypal only to [email protected] Then please send the details of the ordervia email Email to [email protected] please include in your order email... Housing color (see below) text color full name address Current color stock is...... White Black Grey Orange Green Violet silver Yellow Magenta Blue Lead times are now expected to be no more than 2 weeks within the UK and 3-4 weeks for everywhere else. Orders will be fulfilled strictly in the order they are received. its great to be able to offer these products again and we look forward to hearing from you and seeing them on your boards again soon!

It's beautiful, isn't it.

Golden Brown is The Stranglers biggest selling hit so anyone trying out Rattus on the strength of that could be in for a bit of a shock

Neck inserts done. I can’t get these screws in black, so it’ll have to be chrome. Neck volute carved, and I slightly chamfered the headstock edges to reveal the black veneer, same as the body.

I hadn’t planned to purchase anything this year but I just scored a working Fostex X-14. Cassette 4-track recorders never came much more basic than these. I’d bought one for my wife about 20 years ago and we had both used it loads, but it stopped working and we couldn’t find anyone to repair it so I sold it for parts. Always fancied another one, and here we are. One of my band’s forthcoming 7” singles was done on our original X-14, and even though they’re obviously a bit lo-fi you can still get away with it. Yes, they’ve got no EQ controls but who needs EQ? EQ is just for posh kids with no funk isn’t it? Or summat? Anyway, tapes for days! Flame away, flamers 😂

A lot depends on the way you approach the music you're making, and, to a lesser extent, which genre(s). Some are very good with manipulating samples, others are more adapted to 'live' takes, and the use of MIDI and/or virtual instruments counts, too. I can't speak for all the other uses, but I've been using Reaper for well over a decade, and it's done everything I've asked of it, whatever the genre. It didn't come easily, the first day, but is possibilities are far in excess of anything I'll be able to come up with. One advantage I've found (for me...) is that Reaper does not distinguish between types of track. Any track can be recorded audio, or samples, or MIDI, so, when mixing, I just have to do the faders, and not think about how the sound was made. It takes all the virtual instruments I need, including orchestral ensembles and suites, several drum simulators and any samples I care to use. I create a very diverse, modest load of nonsense, and Reaper allows me to try all sorts of stuff, for very modest cost. Hope this helps (but it's unlikely...).

My tuner works, and its super easy to use! The app I was using on my mobile phone was not very good and seemed to be unable to tune the E string, this is sooo much quicker and easier, and it was only £12!

Pachelbel. He was an organ and fugue composer of note, and his Canon and Gigue (jig) in D was lost and forgotten until the 1920s, when a single manuscript of the piece was discovered. As far as the public are concerned, it is his only hit, and was for 3 violins and "continuo" (bass) rather than organ. Tarrega was a virtuoso guitarists and composer, but is best known for two bars of music on a mobile phone - the Nokia ringtone, which forms part of his Grand Waltz.

Built a USB Midi host based on a design I found here. Works a treat! Nice alternative to the Disaster Area Midi Ghost. It's my first proper attempt at this kind of thing so I'm pretty chuffed.

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Ralph McTell - Streets of London

I think what demos are missing is Patrick Hunter. Without his presence demos will sound different which will lead to bass players all over the world scratching their heads like confused plumbers. Soon, Patrick Hunter will be doing all effect pedal demos. Everything will sound the same. One clip of him gurning like a hyena with a particularly unpleasant rectal problem will become interchangeable with another. All pedals will sound like Darkglass. Later, a sub culture of bass players who could remember the days before Patrick Hunter gather together round outdoor fires trying to pass on knowledge that bass doesn't always have to sound hyper distorted and played like a seal having a stroke. After elderly bassists try to teach the next generation how to use a chorus pedal properly, all bass pedal companies are bought over by Darkglass with Doug Castro selling a range of pedals which are all B7k Ultra pedals with stickers over them that say "flanger," "delay," or even "ring modulator." Patrick Hunter is brought in to ensure reviews are conducted in their usual "dog chasing it's tail" way. Soon Patrick Hunter becomes revered as a bass playing god by the younger generation. Any review causes Darkglass shares to increase by 10% in value so much that Doug Castro is able to buy Amazon and turn it into a bass pedal shipping company. The population's needs are soon insatiable for more reviews and pedals. Dissent from anyone not playing a Dingwall/Darkglass combination is crushed mercilessly by Getgood stormtroopers. Anyone over 40 playing "Mr. Pink" on a Status Kingbass is executed immediately as an enemy of the state. Patrick Hunter is elected as Secretary General of the UN which by this point is nothing more than an extension of the Darkglass empire. All music is now controlled with Patrick Hunter limiting it to only songs which have Darkglass products used on them. Djent and Metalcore experience a resurgence in popularity. However, underground, a small group of p bass players using flats have managed to survive. Classified as terrorists, these bass players have avoided the Getgood kill squads and are now trying to bring down the system, by exposing the population to Jaco Pastorius and Kajagoogoo. Despite information being tightly controlled, they plot furtively in the shadows for the end of the Darkglass/Hunter hegemony imposed now by Getgood stormtroopers. As part of their published manifesto, they insist that all "Youtubers" will be prosecuted for crimes against humanity with trials being held in Silicon Valley. With these revolutionary ideas gaining traction, the one pedal state is planning a crackdown....

No, silly, there are 1515 incarnations of him, that’s how he builds so many basses. They’re all crammed into one workshop under Dickensian conditions. They all share the coloured dust collection and sing sea shanties whilst working long hours for a pittance and a plate of thin gruel flavoured with varnish and superglue and finished with a powdered trussrod topping Andyjr15 is an early incarnation, judging by his serial number but nobody kept proper records and so it’s a guide at best - worth looking at the date stamps on his component parts to get a not-later-than idea of his place in the incarnation timeline

Jeff Beck........

Last one of the front, I promise (edit - I lied 😁). Played around a little more and I've got it to where I'm happy with everything. Messed around with scale lengths (as you do) and decided it just looks better as a 32" scale with 21 frets, rather than 34" scale with 24 frets. A few more decisions to make then I reckon I can start making firewood gluing and shaping the body blank.

Drummer in our band was the drummer of The Toy Dolls. Not a lot of people know that he went on to play for quite a few years with Richie Blackmore!

Mesmerising. I have to admire your ambition on this one. I'm hoping it becomes a solid player for you.

I remember seeing a bloke on Jools' show. I can't remember the band. The chap looked very much like he was throwing one up his bass throughout the whole performance. I can get behind a groove but if that's what I look like, I'd sooner have a blow-up sheep than a bass strapped to me.

But having a real selling price database is better than removing the ads...

It's looking interesting now. Careful you don't over-egg it and end up with a Bongo. [Checks to make sure underwear is flame proof]

Nice one – you can't rush these things 😉

Which surely mean this has to get posted. Love it. 😄

And it turned up today. It was a pain, after deciding to get one, everyone was out of stock. Well, almost everyone, bax had one, and after my previous experience with them I thought I wouldn't use them again, and they had shipping with hermes so ditto, but it was also cheap at £193 inc vat and shipping. So what the hell, I did get my money back last time. Ordered it on the thursday night, a bit dismayed to look when I got the shipping on friday that it was currently in Holland, being shipped. But looked late friday night and it had cleared customs. Looked this morning adn it said delivery tommorow, now in bristol, looked half an hour ago and it said left outside, so I went outside and there it was! Luckily, because I don't want to have to deal with bax that much, it seems perfect, very unibanez neck, but seems really easy to play and sounds great (especially the b string).

Yes and Owner of a Lonely Heart might qualify, but it could be argued that it was representative of their output at the time.

Superb!

Well said James. I feel the same way and hope that Neil reconsiders and maybe even puts out a book at some stage. One of the most under rated players that there is.

Lindisfarne - Fog on the Tyne (with and without Gazza).

Somebody's just showing off....

It's 2021.. Everyone has a smart phone or is connected to the internet at the hip. Ebay sends notifications to pay instantly, and with paypal - transactions are completed in seconds. If it's been a day or two and the seller hasn't paid, he's probably got 'buyers remorse' a tad early and has no intention of making good on his bid. Count your blessings, you dodged a bullet!

Chumbawamba - IIRC they're a left wing protest band.

Joy Division - most people know them for "Love will tear us apart" which is nothing like anything else they recorded.

This almost broke my heart. What you have given us here so far Neil is gold dust. I write bass-only custom content for Rocksmith (anyone who isn't familiar with it, think Guitar Hero but for real instruments). When putting together a custom, I need a Guitar Pro file. This gives me two choices - I can either use a GP file found online, or I can spend an hour or two putting together my own file note by note. Given the quality of the GP files which are online, the second option applies 99% of the time. I've made customs of many Whitesnake tracks over the years and they're a lot more complicated to chart than your average bass line, so when I saw that you'd posted your own transcriptions of what you'd played on the recordings, it was like my birthday, Easter, Christmas and a Lottery win had all come at once. I could go back and fix all the parts I'd struggled to pick out. Some time ago, there was a request for a bassline on another bass forum. By chance, I'd previously produced a GP file for the song, so i posted it. I was torn to shreds by the Music Police there who said I'd got the time signature wrong (12/8 not 4/4) and I'd made the cardinal sin of not displaying the notes properly just as you did. I wasn't best pleased, as I thought I was doing someone a favour. At the end of the day, the guys and girls I produce the Rocksmith customs for don't give a toss about key signatures, time signatures or whether it's a single note or two tied together. All they want to know is where to put their finger and for how long. I guess quite a few people here feel the same way too. For what you've done so far, I really cannot thank you enough, and if you don't feel like posting any other scores then I think you have been more than generous enough to the bass playing community.