untune

Hi all Since I enjoyed my bass project so much last year I've got an itch to do it again. I've got a 1951 style Precision single coil that I bought from BC that was going to go in another bass to fix a string spacing issue but I ended up going a different route with it. According to BassDoc the pickup I bought was a rewound Japanese one by the late Jim Cairnes and I've had it sat in a box since I felt using it on the other would be a bit of a waste and I'd rather it went into something a bit more special. I envisioned making something of a Dusty Hill style tribute - the most basic bass I could think of. 1951 style slab body, rear routed control cavity, a volume and a tone. What's more, I'd prefer to go a step further this time round and make the body from scratch, including the finishing. Already got the required templates etc, but I don't have the cash right now to sink into another build like I had last year. I'm curious about using wood from a more unusual (and ideally, cheaper) source rather than just buying a blank - recycling, if you will. I've always liked those stories where someone builds a body from the bar from a closed down pub, or an old fireplace or something like that. So I'm curious - any suggestions for sources of wood along those lines? There's a local junk shop that does house removals that I might check out, see if there's any old furniture etc...

Looks incredible, bet it sounds awesome! A truly beautiful instrument

I remember seeing a video of him a few years back, he had been playing bass 20 years prior - as much as I dislike slap he does have a very unique sound! Great that he can mix it up with a primarily electronic style... proper drum and bass

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1331056585' post='1566994'] I've got one of these as well on my MIM P, I took a Gotoh 201 off it and put the Wilkinson on, I much prefer it although I personally hate the Wilkinson logo stamped on it. [/quote] That's what puts me off everything Wilkinson do, despite the great rep. I don't like seeing big brands plastered all over everything - I'd love a set of the brass saddles that come with the Wilkinson to replace the chrome (brass) saddles on my Gotoh 203, purely because they look so good!

Cheers again folks, and Merton - cool that you got to meet the Ashdown fellas! Oooooh BOC news! A PM is required...

Hey again everyone Thanks again for all the comments and congrats, much appreciated. I didn't think of going to that interview in glam gear, don't think it'll say much for my professionalism I was a bit worried because my camera is vital to the interview so I'm lucky it's not in a worse state, everything else still works thankfully! @Merton, Joe's picture was great - I had a flick through all the entries on Wednesday night and thought that one was the major competition, the Panda suit is brilliant! Looking forward to having a play with the amp though, me and a mate have got some blues tracks in the works and I'm looking forward to doing some recordings... also got a box of vintage valves (A Brimar, few Mullards etc) in a box somewhere, they'll be fun to try out!

Hi folks Many thanks for the comments, sorry I didn't get back to this sooner - it just so happened they announced it the same day I've come down to stay with my mate in Cornwall for the weekend, so been on the road all day! As requested by John! The pic is attached - had to steal it off FB as I've only got my laptop with me and the original pic is on my comp back oop North The idea was to make it look as though I was living the dream... actually took the pic in my dads shed and used a little guitar practice amp (that I ripped the cloth off and made a grille for, complete with added actylic paint rust and holes) for comedic effect.. the costume was made from bits I bought on the cheap and modified last year from charity shop finds etc.. my brother-in-law's 30th was 80's themed and I decided to go as a Vince Neil/Steel Panther inspired glam rocker and thought it might be a good idea to recycle the costume for the photo I also managed to break my rather expensive camera when I accidentlaly knocked it over with the cable remote plugged in.... landed right on the jack and forced it in, won't focus on a half press anymore... But yeah, I've never won anything and it was a massive shock, especially since I've always wanted an Ashdown and this will be my first 'proper' amp - I've been stuck with a crappy little Fender practice amp for the last 2 years because I couldn't afford anything better! Really hoping that my good fortune drags out a bit longer because I've got a really promising second interview for a job next Friday

DV247 were running a compo with an Ashdown 330 Touring 210H up for grabs, and I just won it! Well chuffed!

Cheers for that ikay, much appreciated! That's the right look (minus the rust) but he doesn't make it clear how he 'dulls' things - whether he dunks them in acid or he uses some kind of abrasive method?

Hi all Not doing a relic job here, but I have nickel tuners on my bass (which look slightly dulled, as I'd like it) but the rest of my hardware is chrome. Example - the string tree right next to the machine heads is a typical chrome job and looks new and shiny compared to the nice satin looking nickel. Same with my bridge (Gotoh 203 - can't afford the nickel version at the moment, and besides, they seem to be hard to get hold of over here anyway) strap locks and '51 Precision style control plate (probably an import and therefore chrome...) I'm aware that only nickel will age naturally and it seems that most chemicals wont really have much effect on chrome, does anyone know a way I can get the current hardware to match the look of the nickel? Without replacing it all of course... Cheers

My mate just got himself a lovely Tokai Les Paul

Yeah, isn't it the inductance that's more important than resistance?

A lot of ebay sellers are just importing cheap pickups to sell on, they don't really care so much about what's inside them. I asked a seller last week if a certain pickup had a bar or pole pieces under hte chrome cover and he had no idea. To his credit he did contact the manufacturer to confirm that they were bars but he guessed that they were pole pieces before I insisted that he found out before I considered making a purchase. Naturally, if I was importing pickups I'd want to know every last detail about what goes into their construction! As for these Stellah ones, they look cheap and I'm sure there are much better ones out there for not much more.

I had this same problem - do you know what your spacing needs to be? My bass has EB-3 style pickups and I bought a high mass hipshot style one (see my thread in the technical issues forum) from axesrus, and it solved the spacing problem I had but it's a bit too high to get a decent action from without some kind of modification. Your best option otherwise would be a Schaller with those roller saddles that you can shift left and right, I tihnk they come up cheap on ebay. Like me though you might be limited because the baseplate dimensions and screw holes always seem to cause problems depending what has been on there before

I cower at the mention of the truss rod but I might give it a go. However the bridge is still clearly much too high. From the looks of it, it should be recessed into the body a bit but I'm not sure I want to do that kindof surgery and would rather adjust the bridge or at least keep things reversible! My problem is that this *is* the replacement bridge... nothing else will work really. It took me a while to track something down that would be big enough to cover the existing holes made by the daft Korean high mass offering and still look tidy. This bass I believe is cursed - the strings/pickups never lined up, I can't sell it, the G snapped on a fresh set of strings, then last night when I was putting them back on the nut broke. I just can't win, whatever I try, and it's driving me mad, it has cost me more than I might ever get back for it, I just want to play it

Hi all Just bought a new bridge to fix a string spacing problem. It went on fine and appears to have sorted it out to some degree, the outer strings could probably be a mm closer in ideally but it's far better than it was. Anyways, this bridge was the only one with 54mm string spacing that would also cover the holes from the old high mass Fender style bridge that was on previously (that had 60mm spacing and was too much). The problem is the new one is a Hipshot styled one that uses block saddles. [url="http://www.axesrus.com/Hardware/BassBridges/BB007/BB0074StringFront.jpg"]http://www.axesrus.com/Hardware/BassBridges/BB007/BB0074StringFront.jpg[/url] So this one has a chunky baseplate and chunky saddles that can't be lowered - and they sit much higher than the old ones. The distance between the bottom of the baseplate/top of the body to the top of the saddle is about 19mm and there's also no curvature to the strings. I measured the same on another bass with a Gotoh 203 and that distance is about 13mm. There seems to be a good 7mm gap between fretboard and strings at the 12th fret. That needs to drop drastically - but what are the options? I was thinking either try grinding 5mm off the bottom of each saddle, not sure if that would work. Could try a dremel to deepen the string grooves... or I could try a neck shim, although I don't think a little bit of card will make 5mm disappear (then again I've never tried it, I don't know how drastic the change is). Any ideas? Cheers

I had no idea they would until reading this thread, so I'll get in touch later! Cheers guys

I've always used Rotosound rounds, just a shame that the most expensive set (flats) that I got, although they felt and sounded great - the G snapped before I'd even really played them, so I still have the other three practically unused sat on one of my basses

Thanks for the replies Apparently the pups I want to use, although having a bar magnet, have a span of 50mm. The bridge I'll be using will have a string span of 54mm. I doubt that by the time the strings have gone from the saddle to the bridge pickup they will have moved inwards a whole 2mm + on each side... will it make a lot of difference to the sound if the bar is a little bit too short? I'm not sure how much 'give' a bar magnet has in terms of the magnetic field... The problem I have is already down to the outer strings sounding weak and quiet so I'd like to make sure that this would fix the problem... Cheers

+1 for the Mighty Mite jazz neck, I love mine The one I've got is rosewood and tinted

Just a curiosity so I can explore another avenue with some modding... I'm looking at a straight swap for a bass mini humbucker (like you'd find near the bridge of a Gibson/Epi EB-3) for a guitar mini humbucker (rail/blade - no pole piece alignment issues) or a firebird pickup. The new pup being round about 8k resistance. Would it work, and would the low end response be acceptable - ie does the bass repsonse rely on the strings, or the winding/wire gauge, or the amplification? Cheers