hiram.k.hackenbacker

I di don't know that. In the land of the free as well. Doesn't that breach a Constitution of some kind 😂

Yes, modified at Roger Sadowsky's. Looks fab to me.

Lull got round that by putting the B string through the body. Works 👍

That nice one is a Monarch (I think). The other one isn’t. That’s about the sum of my knowledge on that one as all I’ve ever had are Monarch’s. @molan would probably one of the better people to ask.

....and that sir, is all that counts 👍

GAS by Proxy 😂

Agreed. Many moons ago there was a Mk1 California Hard Core Aged in that colour and it looked lovely. Wish I had bought that. I’m not sure they even do that colour any more, do they?

Yes and yes it does. I take solace in the fact that they got it right on the four string Monarch. Headstock on mine....

Great guitars though them Tyler’s.

Having said that, the shape dictates the placement to a certain extent. Could be better IMHO.

The shape of that headstock doesn’t bother me, but the placement of the tuners does. I suspect it’s a vanity thing in that they didn’t want to have the A string right across the ‘Fodera’ on the truss rod cover. That B string is barely holding on 😂

Could I persuade you to take it and give it to me? 😀

Love a plain fretboard. I just think they look classy.

I know what you mean, but I think it's because we've been conditioned to see a bridge as rectangular and anything else looks odd. I did feel the same way and then chilled out over it. Then I bought one and wow! You're missing out.

I’ve recently satisfied my lust for a P with a J neck having bought a Lakland Bob Glaub. I’ve just put a set of flats on it and wow!

That does look the business. Would David go that far with a relic job?

As much as I love MHS basses, and I do love MHS basses, I might leave the headstock as is.

Noted with thanks John. Router it is then. As unexpected as this is, the idea of routing the body is the least worrying piece of this puzzle so far.

Calling @KiOgon - do I definitely need to get the router out? 😂 @Beedster - I keep wondering whether I should go for road worn shell pink on this, but as I still have the Flea and the opportunity is there to have almost any finish I can think of, it would daft to pass on that option. Trouble is, I’m OK when asked to choose between four colours, but when asked to pick a colour from any/every colour, I come unstuck. Do you have a thread for your build?

I think the issue is that I want stack knob controls and I don’t think mini-pots are an option for those. I may be wrong. John did mention mini pots being popular with Squier owners 😂.

Episode 3: ‘Out of Control’ We’re nearly up to date 👍. Anticipating that I’ll need to source pick-up’s and stack knob controls necessitated more web trawling. The obvious choice for pick-up’s for this bass seems to be.... They appear to be readily available and would seem to fit the theme of the bass. I’m happy to be steered elsewhere of course if anyone has any recommendations? Controls - Having read so many excellent comments regarding @KiOgon’s controls and wiring, I contacted John to see what he could offer and he came back with this, which I like very much.... It has a switch for series/parallel for an extra couple quid on top of the version that doesn’t. I couldn’t think of a reason not to have that option, so what the heck. You only live once. Whilst stripping the body of parts, I kept looking at the channel which the bell plate covers thinking that’s awfully narrow. It’s exactly 20mm to be precise. By now I’m starting to wise up that it’s best to check stuff fits to cater for unexpected surprises. After a quick message to John, he reported back the his stack controls are a little wider than 20mm.... The thing is, I really like the look of this unit, plus, it means I don’t have to get the soldering iron out. They are literally screw the wires into the terminal block and you’re good. It does, however, mean I have to get the router out 😬. Given that the whole body is getting refinished, what can go wrong? One of the things is that I’ll have to strip out that shielding in the control cavity. You can’t see most of it as it’s covered in black electrical tape for some reason. On a side note, the cavity for the bridge pick-up seems devoid of any shielding at all, so that will be another lesson to learn. I don’t know what to call the next episode as it hasn’t been written yet. It will probably be neck plate related. Stay tuned.

Deleted scene from Episode 2 I forgot to mention that the holes from the neck into the body marry up perfectly. The neck plate should arrive either today or tomorrow.

I seem to remember that my Flea does have a small rout to allow access to the heel, but it’s not actually big enough to make an adjustment without digging into the body. You can’t see any of it until you take the scratch plate off. I maybe have imagined this. I’ll check later.