Wil

I remember being so excited to get mine, first proper bass amp and I'd been pouring over a Status/Trace Elliot catalogue I picked up from the music shop where I got my first bass. Served me very well as a practice amp but 10 year old me really struggled to heft it up the stairs to my bedroom so that's my overriding memory of it. Heavy!

Had one as my first amp. Gutless thing, but ok for home practice. I always found the best sounds came from cutting the extreme lows on the graphic and boosting the low mids a bit. It's never going to set the world on fire though..

I like a jazz with the bridge pickup rolled down a touch, seems to fatten up the sound, as soon as both pups are up full it's like there's a mid scoop. The neck I can't abide though, gives me hand cramps - just too thin for me.

I was amazed how effective the little vaccum cleaner attachment on the router was - it's the cheapest router B&Q had too. It spread less dust than I would make after a few minutes of hand sanding, brilliant!

I got a bottle of tru oil in the post the other day so once I've routed for the control cavity I'll be cracking on with the tedious task of hand sanding the whole thing in preparation for finishing.

Some progress - shaping where the neck meets the body, routing for the pickups, and I've done a fair bit of sanding (still lots to do...). Worked out I could attach my vaccum cleaner to my router, so didn't make any mess at all (besides the appalling routing - it's not a great deal tidier than the pic above, but as it's covered by the pickups, who cares? Well, I do a bit, but that's what happens when I'm allowed near power tools...

True, that might be a bit weird. I might just live with my wonky fret tangs, as long as they're glued in snug and dressed the only person who'll see them is me while I'm playing the thing.

I havent really looked that far into using binding, but I did read this which made me think it would be possible to do after the fretwork - http://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_Resources/Binding/How_to_bind_a_fretboard_Gibson-style.html

Really I'm not fussed on the look of binding, I just figure it'll look neater than my slightly wonky fret tangs and slightly-too-deep-in-places-but-now-filled-with-superglue fret slots

Ha, yes, the pride flag my dear mum brought me back from her holiday in San Francisco came in somewhat handy for catching dust, although it didn't really make much difference - working in my bedroom I am now resigned to dust getting everywhere. Tried a bedsheet but that was a nightmare to clean off afterwards, dust just stuck to it. Oh well, my carpets are rubbish anyway!

The shape is definitely inspired by the BC Rich Mockingbird (I've had a couple of Mockingbird basses in the past) but tweaked to my own taste (I love the lower half of the mockingbird with a shorter lower horn but the top half makes it look a bit too over the top for my liking). The tail is a little bit like a Fernandes Ravelle too.

I'm actually not 100% decided on the pickups yet - I'm thinking probably a humbucker at the bridge and a single coil at the neck, but I don't have any guitars with P90s so that's another option to consider. Could also go for a pair of humbuckers but worried it might be a bit muddy at the neck.

Great watch. Love Brian May's playing and his sound.

I had a Status neck and it was beautifully made, very stable and the bass hardly ever needed tuning once it was fitted. It seemed to increase sustain. What I didn't like was what it did to the tone, but I have a theory that too much sustain isn't a good thing with bass guitar unless you want to sound like an organ.

So, I took two years off this build as shortly after my last post I split up with my long term girlfriend, had to move house and lost my work area (not to mention my incentive to work on it). It languished under my bed during that time but now I'm nice and settled again, a few weeks ago I thought "I'd quite like to finish that". So, I've been working in my bedroom and making a right old mess, but I'm enjoying it again and it's coming on nicely. I'm still terrible at woodwork but given enough time I'm sure it will turn out alright!

Progress made - I've cut out the lower half of the body and glued the body wings to the neck - jointing those with a number 5 plane was an excercise in patience and lots of squinting at a straight edge, I can tell you. I'm now shaping/contouring the body with a cabinet rasp and tidying things up with a cabinet scraper - again, burnishing that without a bench and vice has forced me to be creative with some clamps and block of wood between my legs, but it's all part of the fun

















That's all for now... I'll try and remember to update this thread as I go. A few niggly bits of contouring/shaping to complete around the back of the headstock and where the neck meets the body, then routing the control cavity/pickups, then a loooooooooad of sanding that I'm not particularly looking forward to... The fretwork isn't exactly pretty either so I need to glue in a few that are jumping out then may apply some binding to keep things looking tidy.

Isn't the P pickup on the Hoppus reversed also? Always seemed a more sensible way of aligning it to me.

I have owned some quite expensive basses over the years but considering the quality of the cheap end of the market these days I just can't imagine doing it again. My current P bass is made of MDF with some decent pickups in it, probably worth less than £200 all in, it plays great because I whacked a second hand mighty mite neck on it and it's set up how I like it... providing you're not after a holy grail tone only achievable with a Bongo or a Rik or an Alembic, I just dont see the point anymore in spending huge sums on an instrument. Probably better off putting that money into your amp.

Come to think of it my bass amp cost more than my current car. I think this might be an indicator that as I'm getting older I'm becoming more of a tightwad. The years of fancy Status basses and flashy motorbikes are in my past along with large credit card bills...

Thekla was towed away recently to be refurbed. Louisiana is a good venue if you can pull a crowd/get a support with someone who will (same with Exchange, don't expect punters to attend unless you coax them there). Old Duke is cool, more likely for passing punters to check you out there, although it's small and caters for jazz bands and the like most often.

Sadly The Croft, once a thriving music venue, has been replaced by a craft beer bar.

If I were you I'd try the Exchange, or next door at the Stag and Hounds, in old market.

Incredible.

I had a Korean made NS2000/5 and it was a lot of bass for the money. Through neck, sustain for days, punchy tone, played really well. Wasnt a massive fan of the high mid/treble response from the EMG HZ pickups, quite harsh, but besides that it was an excellent bass.

Bought a Hartke LH500 from Alex, smooth transaction and wouldn't hesitate to deal with again

I bought Mikey R's Barefaced Compact - excellent communication, the cab was well packed and sent quickly. Wouldn't hesitate to deal with again, top marks!

That I do like. What do people make of ESP/LTD instruments? Well built? Play/sound any good?

PMd a few days ago but havent had a response, presuming it's gone?

My current main guitar is a Gretsch Corvette I picked up used for around £300. Wonderful thing, great tone, bridge pickup excels for rock and the neck has a full, plummy tone which is great for blues, bigsby (which I far prefer to any tremolo system I've used), set neck, fairly flat neck profile which plays beautifully. Also looks the bomb. I was considering a Les Paul but very happy to have gone with this.

I had a re-issue CC2 with wharfdales and it sounded fantastic. No idea how much different these were to green/blueback celestions. Great amp, best guitar tone I ever had, don't miss the weight though.

Entirely depends on the sound of the band as a whole, no reason a smily EQ can't work in the right setting. If it sounds good it is good, so make sure you EQ with your ears and not with your eyes.

Blue is amazing, great songs, and her voice is something else.