Leaderboard

I thought the whole point of brexit was to leave eurovision. The people voted leave. Out means out. It's the will of the people. No deal is better than a euro pop deal etc etc. Let's be honest, Britain could dig up Lennon and Harrison, bring them back to life and they could write the best ever Beatles song and Britain would still come last.

All the Moog iOS apps are free today in celebration of Bob Moog’s birthday. The Model D is a brilliant app recreation of the Minimoog. You can also pick up the usually pretty expensive Model 15 modular app. https://apps.apple.com/us/developer/moog-music-inc/id396776421

My Reverend Dub King. Sounds like it looks. A great deep tone for dubsters, acoustic or light rock! The previous owner put the pup covers on it.

personally I wouldn't bother going custom for something based on a classic "off-the-peg" design like a J-bass. There are already a multitude of manufactures all doing their own take on this instrument, so unless you have very precise and specialised needs, there really ought to be something already available that will be perfect for you. I'd suggest a trip to one of the big mainstream retailers to try every J-type bass in the store, followed by outings to both Bass Direct and The Gallery to do the same. If you really can't find a ready made bass that suits you, then at least you will have a much better idea of what you want from a custom instrument.

Hanging up to dry. I've now applied the sealer coats and the first white base coat.

'No Quarter' for me - favourite Zep tune by a country mile.

This is one of those ideal small jobs for 'in between the bigger stuff' jobs. Well, mainly I say 'mainly' because I ended up spending most of this morning getting the finish off the fretboard!! Yes, you live and learn! Most builders will tell you that stripping finish off a modern bass body can be a nightmare - but necks and fretboards are straightforward. That's because, on a body, many modern makers put a viciously hard undercoat under their poly finishes and you would go mad if you tried to sand it off. Generally industrial-grade heat guns are the only way! On the other hand, necks are always lightly finished and hand sanding is a breeze. And even more so for fretboards where generally they are not finished in the first place. Or so I thought before today... Because Yamaha clearly don't play to the same rules. This fretboard had the viciously hard undercoat - and you can't risk dig-ins and burns on a fretboard from the fairly brutal heatgun and decorators scraper approach, so it has to be basically sanded. One hour in: One and a half hours in, realised it was going to need some help with the help of a razor used like a scraper: Two hours in...there's some wood showing! (but only at the edges so far) : Two and three quarter hours later - we're down to wood : And a quick damp cloth check to make sure that there's no residual in there: So that's the easy bit done, then

Picked up this Thunder 1A a couple of months ago from @geoff90guitar . Could see it was fundamentally a solid instrument that just needed a bit of fettling. Had a neck shim in which wasn’t actually needed so that came out, & there was a stuck solid pick up screw that my local guitar shop (Kempsters) sorted for me. Other than that, just a load of elbow grease on all parts. It’s 39 years old with some just right minimal mojo - very pleased with the end result! 🙂

A , P bass with flats is heaven, I played one for years then switched to jazzes, but I like both, if you haven’t tried one @bubinga5, I’d recommend trying one with flats and one with rounds, they do sound different, you might not like either but it’s nice to try different basses 🙂

Is there such a thing as an obscure Led Zep track??

Nice, I had one from this era with the comp stripe. Lovely basses.

This Young Chap used to be on here occasionally

My first time looking through and listening to submissions. I'm impressed by what you guys get up to! I've dabbled with more traditional composition - nothing serious. I need to give some thought to having a go over the coming months.

Everything I love about them. Like an early Toyota Landcruiser. Does what it was built to do, no pretensions or BS and won’t let you down.

A lot of them are very small outfits and put most of their resources into making instruments. I think it’s worth a call before writing them off completely.

IMO DS were vilified in the 90s mainly because they were so huge (and to be fair, they got a little bloated). But really they were a hell of a band.

Yeah, we’d talked about darkening it, but it looks great as it is.

Mark Knophler did the soundtrack to "Princess Bride" One of my most favourite movies EVER and a beautiful soundtrack to boot.

Not a huge amount done today but I managed to get an hour and a bit in, trimmed the fret board down to profile and got the frets in, thinner fret profiles than usual to help with the spaces between frets on this 30" scale, no headaches should be able to get the other wing glued on soon!

😁 Just a little sideline of mine..... As I have all the equipment and the know-how, I help speaker builders out by custom winding hard-to-find inductors at very reasonable rates. It's not going to make me rich, but it's very satisfying.

I'd have to lose a few frets to make space and probably sell a kidney to fund the pickup bill!

I was listening to the album Showcase by Triston Palmer during the week, he’s known better for Joker Smoker, it’s from 1982, it’s worth a listen, there’s some really great Flabba Basslines on there that I’d forgotten about, here’s a few The album has 6 tracks with vocals and 6 without

I've been having a blast from the past and listening to some Scientist tonight.. Tracks like this were very influential to some of the post punk bands too, especially the likes of Killing Joke etc, so influences go round in all directions.. I believe this track has Ansell Collins on keyboards.

And here's Peter's Zoot Funkmeister 32" 4 string body now routed and ready for it's sealer coats before applying the final colour.

Physical Graffiti is my favourite LZ album and one of my fave albums of all time, I don't think there's a duff track on it. Technically, a recording session compilation album (includes tracks from LZ4 & HotH) but none the worse for that. Recently, I've come to appreciate Houses... much more, so much quality on there, but much overlooked (maybe just by me) because of its placement between 4 & Graffiti. Too much focus on 4 has taken the shine off of it for me these days, but it was the album that finally got me into LZ after years of ignoring them (I was young and a Purple fan).

https://youtu.be/GZ3DWnkILbY I missed the 6 music stuff but I've enjoyed this YT vid and the 2 that accompany it, great to hear the multitrack broke down into instruments. Yet again, sorry for the derail, hopefully the clip attaches OK. Martin

Presumably because the original builder didn't respond to emails??

Jimi Hendrix had to light his guitar on fire because he was following Pete Townshend on stage at Monterey (he warned Pete) He didn't have to do that at Woodstock. They both can play the guitar pretty good. There are a lot of people out there with basses and guitars who can play really fast and pop and slap and Joe Random goes, "Whoo" but it gets old quick. One note. That's all it takes to give me the shivvers...

It’s a bit like asking what is the point of museums or art galleries? Historical significance, scarcity, value… the more well known and culturally significant the artist is / was the greater all of the above become. Why do people flock to look at the Mona Lisa and walk past many other equally well painted pictures? People with the cash to buy a guitar like Hendix’s don’t have a lack of funds.

Having been in a similar situation, I would echo most of the advice so far but also say that sometimes, the huge drop in value from new of a custom instrument has its own special kind of buyer’s remorse that I certainly didn’t feel ready for. Tastes change very quickly and if that coincides with you wanting (or more likely, needing) to sell it, it’s tough to take the fact that you’re likely to only recoup half of what you put in to it. It is an incredible experience though, especially (if like me, who was lucky enough to go to a few big brand factories with work and pick up multiple kinds of instruments every day) you’ve had plenty experience of tone wood choices and scale lengths, neck radius etc and can feel confident that what you pick will suit you. If not, I’d imagine it’s quite a nervy experience! Good luck and don’t forgot to enjoy the ride!

Nothing new, just a snap of the “big” and the nano board together.

I agree with the other replies in that going and playing some instruments will help identify what you want. The chances are you may even be able to find some secondhand examples of uk luthiers work at The Bass Gallery and Bass Direct like Status, Goodfellow and Sei. I have owned and played a lot of custom made/bespoke/hand crafted instruments from small luthiers and two of the best I have ever played for feel and quality were a GB Spitfire and a 5 string Rob Elrick Mark at Bass Direct put in my hands many years ago. I also played a Sei Jazz briefly and it was phenomenal as were my old Overwaters but they were pipped slightly by the Spitfire (some of that could have been the hypnotic Birdseye neck though 😄) You may be able to find a great bass from a small custom builder in stock somewhere so go have a few days out and play a lid of basses.

And, in my view, Alan at ACG is pretty much at the top of the 'luthier's luthier' list...

Hah, just found this. It looks like Andy found his favorite tone!

I wanted something to complement my Fallout which I love but is like an angry wasp and saw this one come up so took a punt on it un-played. My plan was to put flats on it as I wanted something deep sounding. It came with flats and to be honest I struggled as it was so deep that it lacked presence in the mix. The original rounds were in the case so I put them on and was blown away with the resulting tones. The sound is as the name suggests "dubby" and very musical. The controls are vol/tone/balance. I tend to set the vol and tone where I want them and then change the sound with the balance. Neck pup is very dark, bridge is brighter and there is no noticeable change in volume when changing the bias between the two. You can hear Andy Irvine exploring one in the same way here: The playing position very comfortable either standing or seated. Yes it is wide but it isn't much thicker than most solid bodies. Fit and finish is great. The only thing that I may change is the plastic balance knob, which spins a bit to easily for me but that is minor and easy to resolve and to be honest I have got used to it. Overall I'm delighted with it! I would love to get my hands on a long scale Reverend to try sometime.

1987: bought my first bass, an Antoria Jazz copy. It was secondhand and from the early 1970s. No idea of its worth now. 1993: bought (new) a rubbish fretless bass, I think it was an Encore? 2012: sold the Encore fretless 2017: bought a secondhand Jap Fender Jazz (the Antoria had developed a few issues and I fancied a change - I know, daft/outrageous reasons to go out and buy another bass) 2019: bought a secondhand Squier Jazz fretless - because the band I'm involved in - big band - could really benefit. It was that or an EUB

I think the OP mentions “loosely based” on a J, I would therefore certainly advise to speak to a luthier. I am lucky as I build my own custom instruments (plus the odd commission for others), to my specs and being able to choose whatever you want is a wonderful, although sometimes daunting feeling. Contact @Andyjr1515, he has done things I do not see other luthiers take on. Simple fact is that the more you rely on building as your main income, the less willing you will be to go outside the box unless you can charge a fortune to do so.

I started off on a Squier P/J which I owned for maybe a day or two before it became apparent even to a total beginner that there was a lot wrong with it. We took it back and the guys at the shop agreed, so by way of an apology gave me a great deal on a Yamaha BB which they said I'd have no problems with - and they were right. Rightly or wrongly, that experience negatively coloured my opinion of Squier and, by association, Fender and anything fenderesque for the next 10 years. But then Fender seemingly upped its game massively and released the revamped MIM Standards so, having read a lot of good reviews, I went and tried one. It was a 4 string when I'd played 5s exclusively for years, it was white/white/maple when my main basses at the time were all black and pointy (a BTB, a Warlock and a Vampyre), and it was light and ergonomic at a point where I was suffering back/neck issues that worsened with every rehearsal and gig. It was smooth and tactile, singularly the most comfortable instrument I'd played in ages, completely honest in all its limitations and just sounded great with both controls on full, so I bought it there and then. I pretty much instantly connected with it and the more I played it, the more it felt like the way forward.. so I proceeded to ditch all the black, pointy, heavy, uncomfortable instruments that I'd amassed, re-imagined all my original bass parts for 4 string and started to really enjoy playing again without always being in pain. So yes, a good P can be a revelation and even dig you out of a hole - probably literally if required!

I'd just bring the usual setup, nothing fancy...

I just got this from Mark. Great service, fantastic price, amazing bass.

Yep , Simple Minds were very much New Wave and Derek Forbes' bass is pivotal on all the albums up to and including New Gold Dream, IMO the last great album they made. As for Stuart Morrow I've long been bigging him up on BC. Check out the bassline to 'No Rest'.

Metal Box - Jah Wobble That is all.

Fender Mustang Bass, crafted in Japan sometime between 1999 and 2002, sporting a Fiesta Red finish and an aftermarket brown tort pickguard.

I use it, and then add in higher mids for clarity. In my band we’ve a humbucking guitar and keys so I keep out of their domain this way.