Jabba_the_gut

Found this at Thomann showing the three grooves for the E and A, and the four groves for D and G as @BreadBin suggested. https://m.thomann.de/gb/fender_american_deluxe_bass_bridge_4.htm

Nordstrand do a Big Splitman that has small staggered pole pieces in an mm shell. They also do a p with poles to match. Never tried them though so can’t comment on that. If you were to consider anything active Delano do a p with small poles and a hybrid pickup in an mm shell which is half large poles and half small. The hybrid is designed to work as a passive single coil but active as a humbucker. Mught be worth contacting Herrick pickups as they do an mm with single small poles pieces. I haven’t tried them but seen some good reviews.

Ah! Maybe - that would make sense. Just seemed strange to me!!

Interesting. This seller seems to use a minimal amount of letters in the titles of their things for sale and not even ones associated with it! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/her/164002074647?hash=item262f491017:g:jh0AAOSwslJcYB~4

Lovely, in particular the lines on the volute. Marvellous stuff!!

Just packing the car. See you at lunchtime!

That is really lovely - the binding really sets it off Very nice job indeed. Just a shame it has the wrong number of strings.....😉

Liking the look of this build! I like the look chrome pickups - was recently looking at those Lace Aluma pickups that are available as J and P types. Look completely different but not cheap!! https://lacemusic.com/products/aluma-p-bass-pickup

As others have suggested, I would be inclined to look at the heat and moisture approach. It is quite surprising how big a dent it can fix, and those on your neck are small. I've removed dents before with a soldering iron and a damp cloth though generally from bare wood. It does feel like a strange thing to do and is definitely worth practicing on another piece of wood to give yourself confidence!!! Some folk will use very fine abrasive such as 0000 wire wool or a very fine sanding pad to take the shine off the back of a neck to give a satin finish and make it feel a bit more silky. As usual there seem to be opposing views - there seems to be some people that like using wire wool and others that will say not to use it ever!! If you do use wire wool, just make sure you cover everything you don't want it getting in - pickups being magnetic are always a favourite! Again, you should find details of this on YouTube.

Attendees and gear! 01. Silverfoxnik - BC Rich Eagle, Ander van der End JB5, RBV5, Ampeg V4BH head and matching cabs. 02. Hamster - Tea, Coffee, Pastries, the Wife - might bring a bass! 03. @Frank Blank 's Acoustic Corner - Rob Allen Mouse, Godin A4, FRFR setup (QSC K12.2, HX Stomp and HX Edit). 04. RodFunnell - '78 Stingray, Assorted Warwicks, Vanderkley Spartan, Mesa Prodigy 4:88, Barefaced Big Twin T and it's still a few months away so maybe more! 05. obbm - only items for sale 06. Cetera - Spector USA NS2, Spector USA NS2X 'Spectorbird', Spector Euro LT, Hamer Impact, Hagstrom Super Swede, Italia Imola GP, Fender FSR PJ, Fender FSR 70's Ash P, 80's Gallien Krueger 400RB, GenzBenz Neox 2x12 07. @NancyJohnson - Lull JAX/NRT5, Spector Euro LT, Darkglass A/O Head, Barefaced Big One (the #000) 08. Rumblefish - Rumblefish bass,Wal Bass, MB Mpulse 600,Berg CN212 09. Steve Browning - SVL & Fender Precisions, Mesa Walkabout 15 10. @Stingray5 - MM Stingray5, MM Stingray fretless, Tune TWB-6, Tune SWB-4; Trace Elliot GP12SMX or Eden EC15 combos; Boss GT-6B. 11. ChunkyMunky - Builds of mine (P5, J5 etc), SWR SM900, a Greenboy/Fearful build or two and some other assorted goodies.  12. samcrabtree00 - Warwick Streamer Stage II, USA MM Sub, Genzler Magallen 800, Barefaced BB2, Various effects 13. TrevorR - Wal Custom and Pro, Aria SB700, MarkBass LMII & Traveler 2x10 14. @Graemeross - 4 Ps, 3 Js, 2 Aria SBs , Darkglass MT900, 2x Barefaced BB2, HX Effects with Line 6 G75 wireless. 15. prowla - Rics, Warwicks, Statii (whatever I chuck in the car!), Markbass EVO 1 & 1x12. Maybe a Minitaur & 12-step (if I've got 'round to figuring out the 12-step by then). 16. OrangeFriday - Third build - J bass - may contain LEDs... 17. Wolverinebass - haven't decided what to bring yet. 18. MacDaddy - custom Shuker/s, Snapdragon Folding Bass, Rob Allen Mouse. 19. G-77 - [Possible attendee] Can bring 2 of the following, D-Bird (purple shift) Anaconda Crusher CXE (green), Status King Bass Prototype #4 (left in photo) or Status Streamline. "If anyone got a preference let me know." 20. bassace - Kolstein travel EUB (ex Clarky, ex Dave Swift). Plus a Genz Benz combo. 21. thestick - Ken Smith, Wal and Markbass ninja head and ninja cab. 22. pete.young - Yamaha BBNE2 Nathan East, Duesenberg Starplayer, Yamaha BB800, HH Studio 60 Bass combo 23. @mangotango - Spector Legend Classic 5, Spectorcore fretless 5, Aria SWB-04 EUB, GenzBenz Streamliner 900, Barefaced Compact One Ten 24. JHK Yamaha trb6p,GBSpitfire 5,.USA stingray 5 fretless,USA sterling 4, EBS hd350,EBS neo 15 cab 25. Jabba_the_gut - A couple of semi-hollow own builds, RH450 and RS112 Cabs, and whatever else I have to hand! I'm hoping to get there even if only for a couple of hours - cheers.

Location was really good as it seems accessible to a good number - attendance of the event was excellent as was the venue itself. Weekends either side would be good in my opinion.

Rothko and Frost look like they do custom inlays, might be worth a look. I seem to remember @Norris getting some inlay made somewhere that looked really good.

I'm quite looking forward t getting this one done. Just trying it with the neck template in the pocket it feels quite comfortable. It's the first time I've tried using a solid slab of spalted beech for a body and, so far, the grain looks interesting where the body has been rounded. I will shape this one a bit so it will be contoured for tummy/belly and forearm. I've also got the Sapele one to continue with. I will probably stick with a 23" scale for that for comparison - if I prefer the 25.5" scale I can always make another neck later.

Had the opportunity to do a little more work on one of these today. First up was drilling the holes for the neck bolts. This was followed by routing the pockets for the neck and for the bridge using the template I posted previously: Next up was round the edges of the bass. I fill in the pockets whilst rounding the edges to reduce any chances of splits or bits going missing!! So this is how it looks next to the headless version. I'm quite liking the way the grain is flowing on this. Should be nice when finished.

Bought a pedal board of Simon. Excellent all round. Many thanks!

Bought some tuners from Dave. Really friendly communication - top bloke. Many thanks!

Quite surprising how many templates I've ended up for these mini basses whilst trying different things out!!

I wanted to put a thumb rest on here but something that could be removed if wanted. I like the look of basses with the extended fretboard but obviously a bit late for this one so I looked at trying to it with drilling and holes in the top. Came up with the idea of using the truss rod adjustment slot on the principle of once it is set it could be covered. Messed around with a few shapes and came up with this from an offcut of the original fretboard ebony: Took a little while to shape but it fits nice and snugly into the slot like this: It's a push fit so can be removed anytime if needed.

I'm in the process of trying to move house and it is really dragging - hopefully this will be sorted in the next couple of weeks!! This has meant that I have had very little time to get on with building anything. I had a day off and thought 'Stuff it' so I got some tools out and had a couple of hours doing something. My last post on here was to do with fitting a new bearing on my thicknesser - that worked out a treat but was an absolute pain to put back together. I've sorted out some fretboards ready for this build and a couple of others I'll start as soon as I move house (that's my priority but Mrs_the_gut might disagree and want jobs doing on the new place when we get there - I'll cross that bridge then!!). I bought some custom length strings for this build and laid them over my templates and bridge and they looked fine. I did notice that I could extend the neck slightly to 25.5" which still looks in scale with the rest of the bass. Benefits of doing this are that you can use a standard guitar fret slotting template which would speed up that part of the process or you can buy ready slotted fretboards of that length. The other thing I'm going to try on this is a scarf joint on the neck. I've only tried this once before but it turned out well so thought I'd give it another go. This would give easier access to the truss rod at the head end I think. I've made a new neck template (very satisfying after no being able to do anything for so long) and cut the body template for the bridge. Here it is with a Bonsai tree for scale... Overall length is 33". I liked the previous mini-bass I made that was fitted with an EMG 35DC so I've got another one of those and a 2 band EMG preamp but I also got hold of a Bartolini M34 dual coil pickup (new-old-stock for £30 - bargain!) which I can try passively with a couple of different switch options.

Here's one by Le Fay using an angle grinder - you get the idea of how much dust!! https://binged.it/2LCnfPER

Lucky that!! Just order stuff and get it delivered to a mate..... I do like the look of the Status necked P.

Lovely build. Really like the binding. Be interested to see what you make of the pickup - I got given a L R Baggs Anthem SL that is sitting in my parts drawer waiting...

I presume this will be finished for us to try at the Midlands Bass Bash next year......