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I applied for the Music degree with Bass at ACM and I've had confirmation that I've got an audition in a couple of weeks! EEEEK. It's the day after my birthday as well so no drinking for me lol! I've decided to do Bombtrack by Rage against the machine as my performance piece, but I need to revise my theory as there's other bits I have to do to show my understanding of theory, groove, timing etc. OH GOD.

I've tried making knobs a few different ways, but this is probably the most successful method of the ones I've tried. I part-cut the bottom wood using a diamond pipe-drill: Then create the relief for the pot nut with a 15mm Forstner: Then the hole for the spindle insert: And now I have all the concentric holes done, I can re-fit the pipe-drill and finish the cut: Next is the hole for screwdriver access to the insert grub screw: And now I can (carefully) press-fit the spindle insert, lining up the grub screw with the drilled hole: Then I cut the purpleheart and ebony discs with the pipe-drill: Glued and clamped: Next is installing the luminlay dots: And finally, using a 6mm drill in the insert as a mandrel, a quick sanding and oiling:

After trying to persist in not giving up playing , due to my foraminal stenosis, weakness in my hands and arms make playing just impossible now. I purchased this to replace my ultra jazz bass, as was much lighter and smaller, but it has got to the stage I cannot do it anymore. This bass sounds incredible, plays fantastic, great feel, love the neck so much, I liked the combination of the Dark Glass pre amp with the Bartolini pickups, spot on for me. got this in the Violet Fade the pics do it no justice at all, bass is mint, has the gig bag, I have a box for shipping. Weight 3.8 kg. now £1520 my feedback on Bass Chat. SPECS https://www.spectorbass.com/product/euro4-lt/

First pass of the final sanding and another reveal coat. Bit of glue squeezout at the top and end of the fretboard/body join: Back looks OK : Edges look OK . You can see where the pickup chamber I cut after fixing the top meets the control cable channel I cut before fixing the top. Yes - the chamber and opening will be tidied up : Bit more sanding at the back to lose those grain chips: Final finish, once it's ready, will be like @Jus Lukin 's headless - a light Tru-oil gloss

Yes - little by little it's getting there

This just arrived, such a nice colour and rather hot IMHO Better pics than mine in FS ad http://davidjpym.com/page295.html

But you're no Donald Duck Dunn with some vintage Yamaha gear, curly lead, matching hair, pipe and shades.

NBD! Warwick Thumb NT 5 from 1995 with wenge neck & 18V 3-band MEC preamp.

Which UK number one single contains the best bass line. I will kick us off with Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick by Norman Watt-Roy. Also, take a drink when someone tells us it's all 'subjective'. Another drink when we're invited to debate what the word 'best' means. And finish the bottle when someone tells us it's 'impossible'.

My favourite tools for neck carving starts with a spokeshave to take some of the bulk away. Always satisfying when you get a shaving the length of the neck : I then move onto a micro-plane. I draw it along the neck with both hands (when I'm not holding the camera!) like a spokeshave. Because the cut is lighter, it is a safer option once you are getting closer to the shape: Then my favourite - and sometimes this is the only tool I use - the trusty cabinet scraper. Again, when I'm not holding a camera, I draw this down the length of the neck with both hands: For the trough, I will rough out with a mini plane and then use a gooseneck scraper: The whole process is one of do a bit, walk away, come back, measure, do a bit more. But it is at least starting to look like a neck now : There will be a bit of iteration - the neck carve affects what looks good with the body carve and vice versa - another reason why it's best to do it in stages

Fabulous handmade short scale bass but I now have a few fabulous basses and my cowpunk band, for which this was bought (a replacement for my Mustang), looks to be toast. I bought it from BC six or seven months ago (ad link below with tons of pics and specs) and have since sourced a black s/p and TRC from Serek for more of a Gibson TV yellow look. Still have the tort s/p and TRC. Very light bass and plays slickly with flats. Collection south of Hammersmith Bridge or post at cost. UK-only after some post-Brexit horror stories (2 of which I have been involved in). No trades due to aforementioned surfeit of basses and lack of opportunity to use them! This normally results in PMs along lines of "hi mate, sure I can't tempt you to trade with a xxxxxx ..." but to be clear. No trades, thanks! Previous FS link

At the moment it is cut a touch oversize and straight sided - but it's on Once the tuner holes have been drilled and I know exactly where the tuners are going to be I will carve the curves a bit deeper to tone in with the body shape : But, final shape or not, always worth a gratuitous mock-up

I love Stingrays but as my band aren't playing live I am playing a much wider range of music than in the past and while my old SR5 could do most things well it wasn't my first pick for everything. I wasn't really aware of the Stingray Special but spotted one when looking around PMT in Bristol.(see pic below). First impressions were that it was cool but maybe too bling for me. This one is a Jan 2020 model and had been in store for a while so it was still at the old price. I gave it a try and was blown away and suddenly the "blingyiness" didn't matter so much. Note: It had looked silver as it was catching the lights but is actually Ghostwood, a green, silvery/grey.😂 Impression? It was a stingray played like one, was lightweight and made the right stingray noises but there were loads of tonal variations. The sound of the 18V electronics combined with the switches and EQ is phenomenal. I could dial in all sorts of warm sounds that hadn't been there on my old ray and it just seemed to have more power under the bonnet. I was there for about an hour and remember thinking to myself "all these sounds from a bass with 1 pickup? Incredible". Now it is mine! Earlier this week I was having fun going through some of the old stuff from my defunct heavy prog band and it was like chopped beef and yesterday was learning some bass lines for a reggae audition and it was like beef stew with a rich gravy. What a machine. I may have found "the one", I feel blessed! PMT in Bristol were brilliant BTW!

Dingwall and Darkglass.... You too can sound just like every other metal bassist!

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! 🙂

Great post, but in truth you really only needed to post this sentence. 😂

Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein? Maybe they got the idea from the UK's points tally at the Eurovision? Too soon? 😉

I picked this up on Tuesday from a guy in London. It needs new strings and a setup, which should be done next week. Overall I’m very pleased with it. It’s a Stentor Conservatoire, approximately ten years old. The guy actually sold it as a Stentor Student 2, I noticed the Conservatoire label inside earlier today. The Conservatoire model is quite a lot better than the Student model, and consequently a lot more money. It has a carved front and back - the back is really nicely flamed.

I got Zon Sonus Custom to sell or swap for right Modulus Quantum 5, Zon Sonus 5 or Alembic 5 str. Near mint condition. Spalted Maple tom in high gloss Graphite Neck Phenowood 24 Frets 2 Bartollini pickups John East U retro pre amp Gotoh hardware 34" 16.5mm Ramp easy to remove.

Blue burst GB Spitfire with some prism sparkle overblown, gorgeous birdseye maple neck and blue side leds. Recent setup from Mr Goodfellow himself. It's in excellent condition and comes with full Hiscox hard case. I live in Chatham, Kent and collection is preferred (observing social distancing and mask guidelines) or can deliver locally. Alternatively meet up could be arranged if not too far with some contribution for fuel. 20210516_101832.mp4

His signature bass did inspire me to make a Bitsa. I don’t know much about him as a player though. I did weaken in the end though and went active with a John East EQ so more of a Ray/G&L combo. Has anyone tried a Joe Dart. I like the idea of a single control?

Just received my Machinist from Barefaced after winning their competition on Instagram. Can’t wait to fire it up later today when I’m free from meetings...

You shouldn't oil Maple anyway.

Seems they spend much time moaning about their awful daughter in laws who have 'stolen' their 'prince' away from them, and how very dare those women who have married their sons then not follow their well meaning but incredibly out of date pushy advice about how it's okay to leave the baby in a pram at the bottom of the garden to cry it out for three hours. Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything ... 😜

Volute nearly there: I'll finish it off as part of the final sanding...which, incidentally, has begun : I'll put in the Luminlays before starting the finishing and so by the middle of the week the finish stages will begin - and in between each drying coat, some wooden knobs, the magnetic trussrod cover and the frame for seating the hatch cover (hopefully with it being just one Superquad loom, magnets should be fine) will all be worked on. In the meantime, the bone nut has been ordered and I'm just about to order the strings I think the final furlong is definitely in play.

Up for sale is my superb early 90s Yamaha TRB 5 slapcut....bass is in excellent condition bar a few small marks, also it is presented in a lovely high gloss trans blue colour, some were open grain satin and in my opinion don't look as attractive.......Yamaha basses seem to set up really well with a great low action and this is no exception! Also, build quality is top draw. Bass comes with original Yamaha case, even still has owner's handbook.....Not really looking for any trades for now....Oh, weight is 4.25 kgs and price includes uk shipping......Cheers

COME TO BUTTHEAD

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.

I've been accumulating bits and pieces over the past couple of years and I'm getting to a point where an idea is emerging... This build will be a bit later in the years as I've got a couple of others to do first but the plan is for the following: 5 string Headless Delano xtender pickups East/ACG EQ02 filter preamp Series/parallel switching on pickups Poplar burl top Maple or swamp ash body (tbd) Ebony fretboard Neck (tbd) To be continued.....

You want cool?

Hey guys Quick back story, I've played a Tobias Toby Pro bass since I was 18 (18th Birthday present from parents). Managed to pick up the 5 string version of my original 4 string last year and was lucky enough to find another matching 4 string to be a back up to my #1 as I wanted to "retire" my #1 due to sentimental attachment. Annnnyway, recently I've been really wanting a Fretless bass again but as I don't really have the room for another guitar, I thought I'd go about converting one of my basses (I've done fretless conversions for people before and on a bass I used to own) and decided the #2 was the perfect candidate. End of the day, this one has absolutely zero sentimental attachment and I only paid £100 for it (seller had it listed as an Epiphone bass, if they couldn't be bothered to list it properly, I wasn't about to correct them). So, I had some maple veneer left over from the last fretless conversion I did for a "customer" (a few mates have paid me to do fretless conversions on their basses after playing my converted bass) and went about getting it done. Reason for the veneer strips is because I still wanted fret lines so I could see where I am! Hopefully this stops me tinkering with my basses for a while so I can focus on a new model railway I'll be building soon (should no guitar tinkering get in the way! 😂) Just as a side note, this isn't a professional job as I'm not a trained luthier but I think you'll agree the end results look great. I'll list the steps here then add some photos of the steps down below. 1: Remove frets = I did this by taking a Stanley blade and gently sliding it under the fret to lift it and remove and glue keeping it in place. Next, I slowly lifted the fret wire out with a pair of pliers and cleaned the slot by gently running a hand saw through the slot a couple of times. This way it didn't widen the slot and left it with a flat edge to push the veneer in to. 2: Veneer strips = The veneer strips were cut to over hang the sides of the neck so I could trim them flush with the edges of the board and use it as an indicator for which note I'm playing 😂. A swab of clear super glue on the lower half ensured the veneers stayed in place. Once the glue had dried and hardened over an hour, I used a Stanley blade held flush to the board to trim off any excess. The remaining bits would be sanded down later on. 3: Touch-ups and polish = Using a very soft and very fine sandpaper on a soft pad with a hand-held drill, I gave the fretboard a final sand over on a very low speed to get rid of any remaining protruding veneer then checked the board back over with a 10" radius block (which is the original radius). No change at all to the radius so no problems there. There were quite a few scratches on the lacquer down the side of the neck so I just used the hand-held drill again with a polishing kit which got rid of all the scratches and returning it to it's previously lovely gloss finish. After all that was done, I applied some Linseed oil to the board (BTW, I don't care about the pros and cons of lemon oil vs linseed oil) 4: Setup and test = I'm not going to be using Roundwounds on this as in my previous experience, they cut in to the fretboard too much so I used my favourite Flatwounds, the D'addario Chrome 50-105 but as Flatwounds have more tension than most Rounds, I tuned this down to B E A D which again is a personal preference for 4 string basses.With a little neck adjustment, the strings aren't floppy at all and have great tension and balance. I dropped the action to my preferred 5/64s, set the intonation (as close as possible without frets!) and lowered the pickups back down a tad. The end result instantly made me smile instantly. Playing fretless is so much fun and so much more expressive. Any bits that chipped out of the board during fret removal were filled with rosewood dust and glue. I am still undecided about Epoxy coating the board as I feel there isn't any need to do so because I'll always use Flatwounds on it and love how it currently sounds/feels to play. In conclusion, I was worried at first that I might regret doing this but no way in hell will I. I haven't played my fretted basses since finishing this and am just having so much fun with those lovely "muah" slides between notes. I'll get a video clip up on here in the next couple of days but wanted to share my progress with you all on here. Even had my guit*rded friend who said "why would you want a fretless?, it's an awful idea" end up saying "yeah I can see why you've done that, it sounds great" and is now pestering me to jam "Parisienne Walkways" with him 🤣 I should add that yes, there is a missing potentiometer from this bass because I haven't been able to get the EMG stacked preamp I want for it yet but the wiring has been done inside ready to just clip it in. The neck volume pot on all 3 acts as an active/passive push/pull so I can still use the fretless in passive mode (with the passive TBX tone pot) until I get the preamp and the bridge volume pot is a push/pull to swap between series & parallel. All 3 basses have had Hipshot Ultralite tuners installed, the two 4 strings have a Badass II installed, the #1 and 5 string have EMG preamps installed and #1 has had Nordstrand pickups installed. Eventually all 3 will have EMG preamps (2 band on Fretless), Nordstrand Pickups, Hipshot ultralites, Graphtech Black Tusq nuts and Leo Quan Badass bridges (II on the 4's, V on the 5'er). Anyway, enough of my waffle, here's some photos and a family photo at the end. Enjoy!

You folks are all sour. He's found a market and he's smashing it out the park. He's a killer player and would no doubt be able to sit in on most gigs and get the job done better than most (and I would wager much better than those that are moaning about him). His style, presentation etc may not appeal to all - but the stats speak for themselves. I'm sure he's not going to lose any sleep over comments on BC. You can't really be a creator if you are going to be impacted by comments. The whole of social media is built on engagement... positive and negative. He's an entertainer... that is using bass as his gimmick. Fair play for him finding the gap in the market and exploiting it. EDIT: the fact that we are talking about it, clicking and watching - engagement - shows that Davie is winning.

I sell Mayones Comodus. As new., no marks or scratches. Bartolini pickups with previous Aguilar OBP.3 1.400 euros (ONLY FOR TWO DAYS, REDUCE PRICE TO 990 EUROS). InShot_20210208_011615909_001.mp4 00 euros. Add VIDEO.·

With the neck profile just about there, it's now about adding a few more soft curves while also taking out weight. Note the essential cup of tea: Multiple checks of the thicknesses and references to the cavity reference essential at this stage! : While I do find the Crimson videos a bit...er...'long-winded', they nevertheless do do some decent and useful stuff that not many others do. This thickness gauge is a godsend for this kind of thing. Then a bit of smoothing out with the goose-neck scraper. I have FINALLY sussed how to re-burnish these wonderful bits of steel. Burnished properly, they should work like simple planes producing shavings, not dust : The back is getting close. Weight at the moment is around 7lbs 4oz with the major components included so around 7 1/2lbs still looks achievable.

A couple of weeks ago Alan sent me some options for how the book matching for the front and back should look, I chose to go with these front and back: Today he sent me these fresh out of the press: Awesome figuring that's so well fitted to the shape of the guitar. I'm proper excited now...

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.

Thanks for your insight. Any idea about that Ukrainian guy's bass though?

It's here... And it's SPECTACULAR! Edit: unlike my photography skills...

Aye.. I definitely aspire to double denim and a moustache last seen on the hunk fixing the washing machine for the scantily-clad lady in that dodgy movie. 😁

I wanted an Ibanez 4 string with Nordstrand pick ups ever since selling my six string version - too heavy for 2-3 hour sets and even after a year of playing them, I still got lost on the sixes. Picked up a VGC Ibanez SR 1200, same woods, finish, pick ups and bridge as my old SR 1206 but lighter and with the proper number of strings. Brought it home, tuned it, plugged it in and….. It was everything I've wanted in a bass - at least as good as my Sandberg Panther Special. I might talk to John East about putting one of his pre-amps in it (I'm addicted to his sweepable mid-range) but in every respect, it's perfect. I know this doesn't really fit the thread, but with someone saying earlier that dreaming of an Ibanez was indicative of very low aspirations, let me tell them they are wrong.

Carlos, you came for advice on buying a new bass for £600, and ended up with a sponge, and your old bass, and £600 in change. Surely that is the last time that Basschat will save you from spending money! All the best on your bass journey - all the above advice is good.

Classic StingRay (think it’s a 2014)

I'm pretty certain it's IKEA, from their carpoultunnoul range

I'm here, I've brought an Epiphone, what you going to do, snobby sound engineer, cancel the gig? Thought not, now get back behind that desk and do your f'n job. I really don't see the point in putting a Fender decal on a Squier or other non-Fender instrument (which this disease seems to chiefly infect, with a side order of Gibson TRCs on Epiphone Thunderbirds). It is what it is - if you play well, most of the talking is going to be about how good your playing was, not what brand of bass you were playing. So I focus on that, instead of what a minority of people deem important. I think what this inferiority complex stems from is possibly justified snobbery in the 50s/60s when the Fender Precision was seen as the gold standard in the recording/session musician sphere and all other basses were deemed to be inferior (a lot of them probably were - everyone was playing catchup and getting it wrong) because producers either couldn't be bothered learning how to record/EQ other basses, or couldn't afford to take the time to do so. Those days are long gone now but some people still cling to the ridiculous and outdated idea that if you're not playing a Fender (and more specifically, a Fender Precision) then you're somehow a rank amateur/not serious/mentally deficient/a dangerous deviant (delete as applicable). Codswallop. Instrument manufacture has improved immeasurably in the last few decades at the cheapest price point. The diminishing returns of spending more on an instrument have never been so diminished. Play your Epiphones, Squiers, Harley Bentons and whatever else with pride, they're fine working instruments and if you play well, it really doesn't matter what's on the headstock.

Finally managed a to get a few minutes of reasonable light - so here is my new SR1200 in all its glory (well, most of it, couldn't fit the whole neck in)

My idea of double thumbing is much more fun 🙂

G&L Tribute JB-2, 4 string. I purchased this new from Andertons last year, intending to use it as platform for testing my own pickups. However, I ended up using another bass for that task and this one became surplus to my requirements. It really is in 'as new' condition.. apart from a quick test when it arrived, it's never been played. If I'm being picky, the only thing that I can find fault with is that one of the bridge mounting screws is slightly marred (it arrived like this), an easy fix if it bothers the new owner, see photos for a close-up. No case I'm afraid but it will be very well packed for posting. Specification: 34'' scale, 12'' radius, Ash body, Maple neck, Brazilian Cherry fretboard. G&L designed Vintage Alnico V Single Coils, 2x vol, 1x tone. SOLD including UK delivery (mainland). Payment via bank transfer (preferred) or Paypal.

You could so easily have said you had knob envy. Well done for showing some restraint.

The same as I used for 6000-seater arena 😄

ooh, opinion as fact threads are always fun...