Leaderboard

OH MY FREAKING DOG!!! When I studied the original circuit in preparation for remounting it I noticed a couple of cables were coax. So it turns out that the pups output a separate ground as well as a ground on the shield of said coax cable. I had just soldered the entire coax as one to the signal side of the balance pots. I did actually notice a little gunk but I had just switched solder, so I just assumed it was flux or something. I hurriedly cut one off, stripped it properly and connected it straight to the amp. SOUND! It works. The pup has a resistance of 7 k-ohm, which is much more reasonable. This is by far the most embarrassing mistake I have ever made in DIY electronics. But Oh my I'm so happy at the same time and so is my daughter. I can't do it right now but I will try and just wire it up correctly with the new preamp, and if that misbehaves (which it probably wont) I will install the old one. A million thanks to everyone who wrote here. I don't think I would have discovered my error without you. I will report back if the new preamp turns out to be compatible or not.

How about Macca, Ringo, Daltrey and Townshend all get together and call themselves The Whotles?

The Strain - Bonzos

And another reshuffle … this is it now until @lee650sells me his GR2 😂

Ok. It's time to talk about what things cost. We've put our prices up to reflect the new UK manufacturing and have already had several angry emails from potential customers. So I want to address a few things. The cost of manufacturing in the East Even if we'd kept our manufacturing in India, our prices would probably have gone up 30%. This is due to the cost of wood going up. Shipping prices skyrocketing. Import Duties (we used to get our instruments tariff free on an EU trade deal. That's now gone). And just simply the factory in India raising their price. So although our new 60% price increase seems a massive jump. It's two jumps in one. One of which we were already absorbing. The sustainability of manufacturing in the East First - it's a bit wanky - but it's not too environmentally friendly shipping guitars all over the world by ship. Ships are massive polluters. It's not a great idea. But even that aside - all the manufacturing capacity at the Indian / Indonesian / Korean manufacturers is being bought up by the big boys. Smaller manufacturers like us were being pushed to the back of the queue ALL the time. They're just not interested in manufacturing for us. A move to the UK We know that if the ONLY thing we're offering for the increased price is that it's made here - then people are going to see that for what it is. So we are taking advantage of the fact that we can now work more closely and flexibly with a UK factory to squeeze in some improvements. Chambering / Weight Relief, Boutique Woods, Better Finish, Carbon reinforcement in all necks, Blind Fretting, Rolled Edges on Fretboards, Better parts. ALL of these are included in our price increases. So you're getting a lot for our money. Come along on the journey with us. We KNOW we are going to lose sales. Spending £850 on a bass is a lot more than £530 on a bass. We are not worried however about where we sit in the market. It's a totally fair price for what you're getting. Our confidence in the market on the whole is a bigger concern. Higher bills, national insurance and inflation makes us worry that people might not have the money to buy a bass. But it is what it is. Come on a journey with us while we build a proper UK build bass brand. It's going to be fun! Thanks for letting me ramble.

Also, I'm reasonably sure Guy Pratt's been in Pink Floyd for longer than Roger Waters so that must count for something... (runs for cover)

Well, I was having a chat with Jon about this and he mentioned that he had just sent JJ his latest version which has the new in-house Shuker P pick-up set in it. Apparently they get two very big thumbs up from both JJ and his sound engineer. Jon has offered to swap out the ones in mine for the new Shuker set, which I think I’m going to do, so that might delay things a little. All being well, I think I should have it by next Friday.

Forgot the worst deal breaker - mismatching woodgrain. Man, I cannot stand something like the one below 🥴

Welcome to my narcissistic documentation journey of the creation of a new and unique bass! About me and what I’m looking for: Not a talented enough and have too many other responsibilities to be a pro bassist, but just about good enough to get the odd dep call with other pro players. So, serious hobby which I occasionally spend (edit - not waste as previous written!) money on. Upright player mainly, big fan of NHOP and G Mraz, so fast low action. Ageing back and joints. Thus wanting a very comfortable and beautiful bass guitar which sounds like an upright. Rob Allen, you say? Too coveted/rare/expensive. Jon Shuker? Now you’re talking. I’ve owned one before. It was a commission build, and although it was exquisitely sumptuous in terms of sound and quality, I just didn’t LOVE it, and in a tough financial moment let it go. Happier finances now and I’m up for a new Shuker/Rob Allen. Or…. A Shuker Artist with a deeper body, closely akin to a Rob Allen Deep 4/5. And Jon, being the throughly talented, pleasant and accommodating individual that he is, is helping me entertain this thought further.

So, it's actually officially happening! We've broken ground today on building a studio rehearsal room. It's going to be a big old beast... circa 40sqm. Time frame to completion is around 8 weeks. I shall update in due course, but suffice to say I am quite excited about having a proper studio rehearsal room! 😁 The band will be moving in as soon as its ready and will save use between £200 and £250 a month in practice room fees.

It's been a long time since I've owned a Status (the last was sold in 2006 to buy a motorbike) and is one of a couple of regrets about basses I've sold over the last 25 years. This one cropped up in the local shop and I simply had to have it - I never thought I'd get the opportunity to get my hands on another as they don't seem to come up all that often let alone at an affordable price. Whilst this one is different than my previous example (the last one was a six-string for starters), it exhibits that exact same 'instant playability' and feel - something I've found unique to Status basses and even my beloved Warwick needed tweaks and a setup to get it exactly where I wanted it. It sounds absolutely killer through the Trace Elliot 'mini mighty' rig! Super tight, punchy with that 'immediacy' that's quite tricky to put into words. Suffice to say, I'm very pleased with it and it's great to have a Status back in the collection - I feel it fits in great with the Warwick, Jazzes and Yamaha. ❤️

I like him too but he's obviously got some serious medical issues what with that claw. I wonder what causes it? Still, I guess it's better than crabs.

He's my favourite Bass YouTuber. Affable, informative, funny, no ego, zero intent to desperately show you his chops - but still a very decent player. Mostly though, he's always having fun and really loves Bass.

The C4 wasn’t previously controllable via a USB connection on a phone - it only had 1-way audio connection via the input 2 jack. It now has the same functionality as EQ2 and UltraWave in that you can plug a usb cable into the pedal and your phone and have all changes be read from the pedal - move a knob on the pedal and it is updated in real time on the app on the phone. You can also read what presets are on your pedal from the phone.

G Clampo . . . available in other keys

This beast. It ended up an Imperial with an ash body, maple neck, Amazon rosewood fingerboard, alder toneblock and a poplar burl top. I went for holly pickup covers as I always liked white pickup covers like EMG DiMarzio and Fender did in the '80s. Here's the link to the site with all the specs: https://fodera.smugmug.com/Newborn-Gallery-Vol-V/Newborn-1309/

And so out comes the plane! As a new convert to the magic of sharp-bladed planes, a proper set-up and a sturdy workbench, probably my favourite bit nowadays of guitar and bass builds And - aware that there seemed to be some scepticism of using an elastic band to attach the fretboard, I've come up with a GREAT idea. Why not double up fretboard attachment with a ready made capo!! Beats epoxy any day! Genius, I reckon. I wonder if I could patent the idea? And they do say that the true quality of timber can only be seen when you cut into it. This is a great piece of maple:

Yeah. I like it’s tone. Seems to work well with the oc5 and the seamoon. Didn’t have any issues with the pick ups I. The Shuker (active - lanepoor) I’ll try the sadowsky over the weekend

It’s finished. Before anyone says it - ‘pictures or it didn’t happen’. I’ll post them when I receive them 😂

Purple is THE Stone Temple Pilots album IMHO. In some ways a little odd that the difficult sophomore album turned out to be their best work, but I don’t think they bettered it. Tiny Music was good, but didn’t quite take the crown for me. Not a duff track on Purple though.

I think a lot of new American rock bands in the early 90's kind of ended up with the grunge label whether they wanted it or not. I don't think STP, Pearl Jam or Soundgarden were really grunge bands. They were excellent rock bands from America with a bit of an alternative sound. I always think of grunge as bands like Melvins, Mudhoney, Tad and early, pre Nevermind Nirvana. Disclaimer: This is just my opinion and not scientifically proven fact. I accept that it may be wrong.

Scaled down from the Schmidt Array, so here is the new setup on a Rockboard Tres 3.0 with a Mod 1 Signal chain is: Bass>Mod 1 Input A>Cali 76>Morningstar ML5>Origin '64 BassRig>XLR and 1/4" outs both go to the Mod 1 for feed to the desk with Cab Sim, and straight to an amp if used. ML5 Loops: A>Octamizer B>TRS splitter cable to B on Mod 1 C>HX Stomp with Bright Onion Momentary switch. FX Loop of Stomp to C on Mod 1 D>Prometheus E>TRS splitter to D on Mod 1 Using the TRS jacks on the Mod 1 with ML5/Stomp FX Loops means I can insert any pedal(s) either in front of, after, or into the Stomp's chain itself (and move it about as needed). I haven't got the required TRS splitters yet (apart from the one within the Stomp's loop) so one of the Mod 1 outputs is connected to the Headphone out of the Stomp for now, but that's how it will be used in future. Here's the underside: There's a Temple USB adpator so I can charge my iPad, and a GigRig Doubler to power the Cali76 at 18V. Everything powered by the Generator.

I've done a bit of a rambling post on the cost of making stuff in the UK. If you fancy reading me being tedious... it's here :

Hopefully no one will start looking at Blues music 🤪...what a minefield that'd be.

It won’t be a problem, I’m making the bass for Prince Andrew.

The SY-1 was delivered this afternoon. Its in mint condition well packed and in the original box, but no manual or boss sticker. I downloaded the one page pdf manual and put it on my iPad, but I've found that the controls are pretty much self explanatory. I've been wanting to play synth from guitar since I bought a Casio MG-510 back in the late 80s - which reminds me I must dig it out of the loft and list it on reverb. The casio has noticable latency which made it difficult to play with any groove or feeling I ended up using it mainly to program lines into the computer in step time. Having subsequently played and owned various guitar / bass synth pedals over the years including an akai deep impact and EHX B9, I've never been tempted to keep one longer than a few weeks. The SY-1 was cheap enough to take a punt on with a view to possibly selling it on but I think it might be a keeper. Playing a squier bullet mustang guitar and jaguar short scale bass through it was a bit of a revelation. The way it responds to my playing is amazing even without having to modify my sloppy playing technique. Layering a convincing organ sound over clean guitar was so simple to achieve. The fx loop looks like a useful feature so I'll try that with a fuzz & a klon clone in the loop and then feed the pedal output into a zoom MS50G for a bit of reverb etc to see how that sounds when I've found enough cables.

Thank you 🤩 This finally explains why I like bright red basses so much. One therapy session less to pay for 😉

If that was the case then a strat could be humbucking as well as in positions 2 and 4 it is. I wonder if it was a bit of sloppy writing when it was launched and the person doing the specs just looked at a picture and thought 'looks like a humbucker' As an aside, I do like Lobster. He's a proper bass nut who just seems to love the instrument. Of course he makes every bass sound like him, just like all the other youtube instrument demo players, but he's great anyway. And as silly as it is - I love the lobster hand thing. The world needs more silliness.

Odd, I would think anything coloured looks like a 70s kitchen.

You haven't lived until you have owned a vintage Gibson EB3 in which the inherent tone from the front pickup is utterly impervious to tone settings or pick up settings. I have owned a 1974 EB3 for twenty one years and I am still not sure exactly why!

Would you imagine. Everything works when you just hook it up correctly 😁 I still have this weird feeling of both embarrasment and joy. She's playing now and all is well. Thank you all once again. What a lovely community.

If its up to Yoko they'd probably only be allowed to call themselves the Beatles if they include her in John's place doing her rendition of a howler monkey with sudden trauma to the nuts.

If Sir Paul and Sir Ringo record together could they release music as The Beatles?

The Gilmour interview with the Guardian explains why he felt the need to record this, and use the Pink Floyd name: ‘This is a crazy, unjust attack’: Pink Floyd re-form to support Ukraine | Pink Floyd | The Guardian

I got 20 minutes with it last night and I like it. It’s more subtle than the fwonk and combined with the OC5 gives me some usable sounds for Bruno Mars tracks we do. Assuming they cut through in the live mix! 😃

Amazing stuff, nice one. My back hurts just looking at it!

And it made it out the house last night. No surprises, it sounded great even through this knackered old Ashdown. It was the first proper opportunity to play it on a strap though, and headstock dive was absent and it was very comfortable throughout.

I am a bass tart and will go with any bass.

Hardware fitted, strung my my string of choice (Black Beauties) and fitting the Wenge ramp (to match the fingerboard). It's getting super close now! Apparently the finished weight with hardware rocks in at 6.8lb (just under 3.1kg) - it's risen somewhat since the light weight body was spec'd out, I assume largely due to the hardware, but still overall very light. I'm super excited to get this in my hands!

+1 also fancy wood basses where the use of fancy wood is for no other purpose than to show off the fact that you can use fancy wood. Fancy wood where it's being used as part of the construction, or as a "tone wood" sounds good. thick poly finishes. Anything with hardware that is like chocolate on a hot day when you get a screwdriver near it. bad font choices in logos. eg Valenti with his logo in Optima EMG pickups. I've tried, not my thing

Vintage thread resurrection to share my early 80s Status brochure that I picked up from Wapping.

Though in the US Core is 8 x platinum, Purple 6 xm Tiny Music 2 x and total sales of around 40 million. Problem was critics used to bash them for supposedly jumping on the grunge bandwagon. Clearly those idiots were cloth-eared as many STP tunes are nothing like grunge.

Gold hardware: just don't like it. Fanned frets: great concept, but not for me as I found it more difficult to play some parts (particularly chords) in the upper registers. More than two pick ups: it just makes me think of those three pickup Les Pauls from the Frampton Comes Alive era. Anything with 'Fender' detailed on the headstock which isn't actually a Fender. 24 fret necks with poor upper fret access beyond the fifteenth fret. Weight and neck dive isn't a deal breaker for me, which is good because I have wanted a five string Warwick Thumb for a while.

Came across this while searching for something else, nice tune and bassline

I found this interesting take on music plagiarism

Proudly UK made basses at the show in Liverpool this weekend. Also pleased to say that our new production partner is Crimson Guitars, who will be making our basses to our specification and price point. SWB-1 / Pro / Deluxe pricing will be out soon too.