Circle_of_Fifths

[quote name='Torben Hedstrøm' timestamp='1340636371' post='1707378'] Well, ok... Maybe it's more daylight really than sunlight. And perhaps I should be more worried about humidity-related issues than the figured wood fading... A pointer or two would still be appreciated though, as us people in the grey & rainy north are not really used to the effects of UV-radiation . ... In terms of cleaning, I am actually more worried about marks on the body (thumb resting above pickups etc.) than the fretboard... [/quote] Light - sunlight or otherwise that comes through glass is almost devoid of UV - it's more of the IR that you're getting and if you have dual-pane windows, then even less of the UV is gonna make the trip. Fast Fret according to the label, is mostly white mineral oil, so you're safe with it on the fingerboard. I really question that any of the wood is truly naked though. It's just too risky for humidity factors to warp the finished (or in this case: unfinished) body and/or neck. True lemon oil is very acidic, and as such it is usually a [u]lemon fragrance[/u] that's in it - same with orange oil. The main/basic ingredient is (again) mineral oil. So ---- there's either a conspiracy afoot, or mineral oil is the product of choice to protect the wood. Just be careful that you don't soak things too much or there can be some very undesirable side effects that you don't want to happen. On my Ibanez SR500, I haven't yet used any oil, but I have righteously waxed the be-jabbers out of it with pure carnauba paste wax. Many applications. Many times. Lots of wax build up. Lots of shine now too.

ALL fuses on gear in the US are rated at 250Volts - at least the AC-house current types are. 125V fuses are usually automotive - not for the voltage which is really somewhere between 12VDC and 18VDC in a car/truck, but that's just the standard. It's the amperage that's important, well, that and the type of blow speed-timing value. Some are Slo-Blow (AGC & ATC types) and some are Timed (the T-types). Standard Blow fuses are either SFE or SCEs and there is even the old German GBC types here, but they are more rare these days. I'm not too sure if you have single phase current there, and if so, a 240 AC system will take 1/2 the Amperage per leg, so the fuses you might need are half the Amps and yet need to blow after a certain amount of overload is detected and then the open (blow). We use half the voltage here - it varies from 115/117VAC to 123VAC to 177VAC to 208, 213, 230, 288, etc - but those are specialized voltages. Most US homes have a twin-leg Single Phase ([size=3][color=#000000][font=sans-serif]Ø )[/font][/color][/size]115+115VAC 200 Amp service which gives 230VAC when both legs are combined. No US homes have 3[color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3]Ø [size=4]480VAC - it is an industrial standard. [/size][/size][/font][/color]

When I had the money in pocket and wanted to buy an Ibanez SR500, I found that even in the cookie-cutter type basses, there's a big difference in feel, persona and attraction. They had no less than five of the exact same model SR500 - without the Mid Switch - and I was playing one and tried all the others at the same time keeping an eye on the one I liked most. That's the one that went home with me, as the others didn't 'fit' as well. I dunnow what it was - just different I think. I also played another SR500 WITH the Mid switch - and I don't miss it at all.

Twin truss rods and a nice patina and I GUESS they look all right enough. Still - kinda cheap for that many strings - no? It has a lot of the SR-series (Ibanez) eye appeal, and I like that, but maybe only in face-forward profile. I'd like to see the back and the sides first. Ergonomics as shown look kinda harsh though - no arm relief and I'd prefer a lot more sculpturing for my tastes. Oh --- and too many strings. Other than that - looks interesting, but I've never seen one. I also notice: No user reviews. That's a red flag to me.

Here's one way I took out a couple of fudged-up screws out of a headstock once - it will work and if you keep the diameter of the drill to a minimum, you can use a small enough plug to cover it totally with a new string tree:::

I don't know about where you guys are, but all the custom tiny bottles of guitar special waxes ARE automotive waxes. I worked for a summer in a wax company - no kidding - and we made guitar waxes and cleaners, but they were only smaller portions of the automotive waxes and cleaners. You pay a lot more for Dunlop and Fender polishes, when the same product can be bought in larger tins and bottles. OK - the best wax is carnauba. It's a very hard bean wax, and it's also one of the most exensive waxes too. Carnuba is not carnauba - check the spelling! The former is a patented wax product that mostly has beeswax and/or paraffin wax in it and some cleaners and a nice fragrance. So - and if you can find this brand: Mothers' California Gold or PRO-Wax - are two names of real wax withe the correct ingredients. Turtle Wax, Simonize or any other product - but mostly liquid waxes contain little or no real carnauba bean wax in them. Most rely on the shine of paraffin and mineral spirits to impart a shine - or worse yet, silicon to do the same thing. Silicon is a giant [b]NO[/b]. It will ultimately damage your bass, your car and it's not good for humans either. Beware.

[quote name='StevieD_FenderP2009' timestamp='1335610846' post='1633673'] My vintage modified jazz bass. As circle of fifths pointed out, the pickguard was the only thing that needed slightly modifying on the bit that joins up with the control plate. Mine is the VM '77 jazz which came with pearl blocks and white binding on the neck so I swapped the neck over with Dave (Nibody) on here for his one from his VM which has the black blocks and binding as I'm a huge Geddy Lee fan (but I prefer my blue pickguard) Then I added the official Fender pickup and bridge covers and they work a treat. I'm a "metal" bass player but I like using my Jazz bass for softer / less rock things that I play. Other things I changed were the neck plate as I fitted an official Fender "F" stamped one, Schaller strap locks, Graphtech PT1214 black tusq top nut, copper shielding on all cavities and skirted jazz bass knobs instead of the strat style ones it came with and a black plastic thumb rest. Currently strung with D'Addario chrome flatwounds 45-100 gauge. Bass: £275 from Music Center, Bedford Schaller strap locks: Freebie thrown in as I always buy stuff from there Pickguard: £3 off ebay Pickup and bridge covers: £15 altogether from 2 users on here Neck: swapped with Nibody Fender neck plate (F stamped official one): £5 from ebay Copper shielding for all cavities: £3 for the whole roll, enough to do 4/5 basses with Skirted jazz knobs: £6 off ebay Black thumb rest: £4 off ebay D'Addario chrome flatwounds: Free off here (thanks guys!) Graphtech PT1214 black tusq top nut: £7 from strings and things Total: £318 and it's my go to bass for everything at the moment. By the way, yours is an absolute stunner CoF! I love the tort pickguard on it. Contrasts really well on the natural body. [/quote] Thank-you. I like the pearl PG on yours, and I have another bass I am really considering getting a pearl version in white. I also have a very warm spot for tort on black too. Wow - you sure get a good deal on pickguards over there.

[quote name='jackhammer' timestamp='1335537989' post='1632862'] Wow, thanks for taking the time to reply like that! Really really helpful, do you think if I simply moved the control plate down slightly instead of cutting the pickguard it would be easier? [/quote] I prepared that whole album a while ago to chronicle the installation - so I have it on recall via Picasa. But - the length isn't the whole problem - at least where one verses the other, since the angle of the VEE and the acuity/sharpness of it on the Squier as compared to the Fender version, is obviously different. One COULD conceivably just change out the control panel too, now that I think of it. A real Fender-geek can spot a change like that from the 20th row of the audience (JK) - but there will be an angularity that will show as you try to fit one to the other. A real Fender-Geek can also spot the different screws in the PG too - as the Fender screws have an ever-so-slightly-different head to them compared to the MII or MIC or even the MIJ versions. Japan and all the other 'Oriental' countries use the JIS-Industrial standard for threads, pitch and head design. The Euro versions either use SAE (Society of American Engineer's) standards or the German standards, which if memory serves me - is either DIS or some other amalgam of letters that I can't remember at the moment. The US uses the SAE or ASME elements in design. There may be some other standards to which I am not privy - it won't surprise me. I digress. The interchangeability factor of Squier to Fender and vice-versa is rife with sometimes miniscule and sometimes gross deviations in size, shape or design. The PGs are one outstanding case for that happenstance.

[quote name='dave_bass5' timestamp='1335539762' post='1632904'] Actually both are 9.5". I really must try one as i think other than the CV Jazz all the VM's look nicer. [/quote] I could swear that the one I tried - the CV - was a smaller radius. Ah well. I bought the VM because the frets were seriously smaller/shorter and I like the larger ones better. But I still FEEL the CV had a smaller radius. Just me - maybe. It was uncomfortable anyway. Ya know - I might have the neck on the CV confused with the Marcus - which I decidedly disliked although it is very good looking. The only G.A.S I have at the mo is for a Reggie Hamilton, CS version!

Both are great - but I prefer the larger frets and larger neck radius on the VMs. I think the CV radius is 7.5", whereas the VMs are 9.5". I can either live with or without the glossy surface on the fretboard, it's a tossup there for me. Sound-wise, I find them both to be excellent, however they are naturally somewhat different.

[quote name='jackhammer' timestamp='1335487140' post='1632200'] Both looking awesome! Where did you get your pickguard for the jazz?? [/quote] [quote name='johnDeereJack' timestamp='1335510166' post='1632264'] Mate that's stunning! I do think my '75RI will soon be wearing a tort guard! [/quote] Sorry to be so late in responding, but I'm in a totally different time zone than you guys. I had obtained a Fender Gearhead part number: [b]0992157000[/b], which is a [b]10-hole[/b] PG without the predrilled tug bar holes and the extra support hole just above the neck p'up. That's the hole that was there for in the days when nitrocellulose pickguards would buckle and warp and generally bubble-up at that point. For nostalgia purpose, I used that hole too even if I wasn't going to go full nitrocellulose and it wouldn't have that problem. The [b]0992157000 [/b]PG was already exhibiting that nitrocellulose 'creep' when I bought it, and although I drooled over using it, it seemed to be risky to install, as it wasn't dimensionally stable, if you understand me here. I love the smell of real nitrocellulose material though. BTW: both are 4-ply, white/black/white/tort. So the PG I ultimately used ([b]0992022000[/b]) - had all the original [b]13-holes[/b]. This is the bass, stock::: The actual instllation is easy with that one 'VEE' intersection. Just trim it slowly and carefully and all'll be fine. The screws aren't gonna align, so there's that to consider too. The other thing is adding the black knobs, and I also put a Push-Pull series/parallel pot in the tone position so I can switch the pickup wiring.

[quote name='Emanew' timestamp='1335482885' post='1632166'] My first good acoustic bass was a Godin. Canadian luthier. You can have it fretted or fretless. Incredible look, very minimalist. A long thumbrest upper the E string. Beautiful LR Bagg's amp and Piezo pick ups. It needs to be amplified, of course. But the sound once plugged. Thanks the owner for lending this beauty [/quote] I've copied and saved/printed a copy of that bass in my picture book of things I wanna play some day - my Bucket List if you will. As it is, I love my Ibanez AEB10-BEK-B - and every time I play bass - I take an amplifier. I want the voice, and I feel amp'ing it is a natural, so why would that bother anyone? Basses need amplification - no?

VM-Jazz ::: VM-Jaguar::: I'd say YES. They fit well.

Tug bars and covers on all my basses with a few exceptions:::

The MIM Reggie is my next bass purchase. Not in the next two months or so - but soon. It has a mystique and a capacity about it that is pretty individual - even to to other P/J combos out there by either Fender of Squier. My first P/J was the VM-Jaguar, and I've fallen in love with the whole concept. Lots o' grunt and smoothness when needed. You can blend or play either p'up solo for such a tremendous amount of voice variety. I don't know how to answer you query to Fender - and it might not fall upon deaf ears as I am sure they watch the posts on various sites. Just don't put your hand where the sun don't shine waiting for anything to happen - you'll prolly get a skin graft first.

I\'ve started biting back at the building bug myself. So far I\'ve built three - one was a selection of parts that I finished and assembled to see just how it goes and I had so much fun, I just took off from there. My first bass, a P-clone is made from parts I cherry-picked from a couple of guitar parts sites::: I call this my Tuxedo Bass #1::: It has Guitar Fetish AlNiCo p\'ups, olde style with no over-winding. I finished it with a hand-rubbed stain and several coats of clear urethane and many coats of hard paste wax - carnauba bean wax. Right now it has some MII Fender Squier 7250 NPS strings on it and these are NOT the strings that Fender says they are. These actually sound good. The next one was my own body made out of scrap construction lumber that I picked up at a job site where I was rewiring the electrical panel::: Here\'s the wood BEFORE:: and in the formative stage::: ....and after::: This \'50s P-clone has a single wound antiquities p\'up and a single-ply PG. I added ROTO 77s for some serious thump and it really sounds nice. At the moment, I am in the final stage of this bass - my own design. Kinda a cross between a Fender Jaguar and an Ibanez SR series::: Here\'s where the body sits at the moment::: ...and the headstock::: I triple bound the head with individual Black/White/Black binding strips from StewMac, but I can get a better price by buying it in bulk from a plastic store in another town --- MUCHO CHEAPER! Next on my plans is to actually make my own neck for the new bass I\'ve laid out already. So - you too can build your own - although I suggest getting a neck that\'s already made until you get your feet really good and wet!

Dremel makes several different sized rotary tools. Most everyone knows the standard hand-held on but the one I like the best is my Dremel 'Advantage' model for most guitar work::: That pix was staged, as I had to hold the camera too - but NEVER USE LESS THAN TWO HANDS TO HOLD A ROUTER! They like to people or ruin the work The plunger router attachment is very nice to have and these units take the standard size router bits. although I wouldn't swing a 3" round-over in it. I save that work for my 1- and 1½ horsepower units. But there IS work for the smaller Dremels too::: Here's the body to the moment (Sunday, July 10th) Typically I use a chisel to finish or make small adjustments to something and don't bother with actually trying to take much material out with it. Chisels can get you into trouble pretty fast! Here's the full link to my latest bass build::: [url="https://picasaweb.google.com/vreeland.joe/TuxedoBass3?authkey=Gv1sRgCJfqloamvo_CpQE#"]https://picasaweb.google.com/vreeland.joe/T...Jfqloamvo_CpQE#[/url] And here's the last bass I built - a '51 Precision clone::: Not much chisel work at all - just an occasional corner to clean up, that's all.

[quote]RhysP Posted Today, 12:54 AM That's a beautiful colour! bartelby Posted Today, 12:38 AM That is one nice looking bass!! Fantastic job!! Mike Posted Today, 12:01 AM Looks superb - congrats! KiOgon Posted Yesterday, 11:58 PM Good job! Looks great & I'm sure if Leo had got hold of that colour paint we'd see plenty more like it but your's is truly unique - outstanding cool.gif A bass to be very proud of ::biggrin.gif[/quote] Thanks all you guys for the accolades. The building was very easy, and although I learned a lot more about building a guitar, I am still not going to consider myself a luthier. That was never my intent; just building for fun. In my mind is another idea for a bass - one that is in the mental-formulation stages right now. It involves a surfboard foam core with strategically placed/hidden spars for support to the neck and bridge, but will have a typical surfboard resin and glass surface. What I'm thinking of will be sunburst lime color, blending to either deep brown or possible black as in a tobacco-burst. I've got some ideas for the headstock, although it will tend to lean toward the Fender-bulb design, as I think it's very distinctive. Anyway - at 0-4:30 I realized I left off a most important part to the '51-er - the tug bar. So I got up and installed it. It's nice to be retired and have your own time schedules. No pixs yet - but I got a small collage here:

[quote name='Bassman Sam' post='1274329' date='Jun 18 2011, 05:37 PM']That looks really cool and I love the logo, can you post a better pic of it.[/quote] Of course! I registered this as a trademark and I'll be putting it on all my basses from now on. BTW: I finished the bass today too. I got the strings on it and set the neck truss rod and adjusted the string height and intonation, and now I'll wait a few days to see how it holds everything. I expect it will go somewhat flat with the strings and I'm not really sure that the truss is set right yet - but it sure feels good and it sounds even better! Just for kicks and giggles, I put the bridge cover on the 'right' way for a few pixs or a while - whichever comes first.

[quote name='Roland Rock' post='1274212' date='Jun 18 2011, 02:33 PM']That's quite an unusual timber to make a bass! It'll be interesting to see (or hear) how the tone turns out. I absolutely LOVE that green - is that a genuine bona fide Fender colour?[/quote] I seriously doubt that Leo used Packard green - but he did specify many automotive colors for his paint jobs on his basses. I've just had the jaws for a bass this color as I once owned a 1956 Packard Patrician and it was two-tone with this as the basic color. The bass with all the gear, but save the strings, is exactly 8lbs, or 3.62873896 kilograms. It's right in there for a decent weight, as I've got basses from 6lbs to 9 lbs 3 ozs. Not being a believer of magic woods and their tones, I am whomping up a fiberglass bass in the next batch I make. I've got one more of wood to build/finish and then it's on to the glass one.

[quote name='tony_m' post='1274226' date='Jun 18 2011, 02:49 PM']Very nice, love the green! I'd prefer it with the bridge cover the *right* way round, but hey, that's just me... [/quote] I am exercising the old way of taking the factory mutes OFF the strings, which most players did by switching the bridge cover around backwards. The mute material was mounted in the top inside of the cover.

[color="#008080"][size=3]I decided to build one of my own - a 1951-type Precision bass with the single-wound p'up and utterly simple design. I added a few personal touches like a deeper ribcage cut-out and a nicer (I think) arm relief with some nice 1/2" round-off routing around the periphery to take that slab look away from it. I started with a multi-lam'd bunch of common house construction wood and then planed it down to what I needed. I've got some pixs, and most are fairly self explanatory::: 1 - 2 - After some routing and rounding-over, I got to this point - Oh yeah, it's gonna get that classic color paint, so don't worry about the knots::: 3 - 4 - Some cross-drilling for the wires::: 5 - I won't bore you with all the primer/painting details, but here's an 'in color' shot of that ribcage cutout::: 6 - Here's the color I decided upon: 1956 Packard Green and this is just with the parts sitting where they will go later for a mock-up::: 7 - And another pix for you - this time with the neck and my trademarked logo::: 8 - Today I am buffing the paint out and adding some clear three-part urethane for depth, then tonight I wire it and tomorrow - maybe I get to play it for the first time. [/size][/color]

All the Squire VM Jaguar lines seems to be working out pretty good. The new Hummers are great, although the EQ is just two-band. But it can ADD or CUT freqs, and that's all good. The finish is deep and seriously overkill - even though these new VMs come in under a very low price! Like all recommendation, play one first - but I own a couple of the VM series Jags now and they are not a disappointment in any way. At this time, and since the Hummers are so new on the market, I'll wait a short while to get mine, although the cherry red is my choice! Rumor has it that Fender is gonna jack the prices after a short introductory time - and if you owned one of these, you'd wonder how a bass can sell for so cheap and be so good. Put about 50% faith in that rumor though as I don't see this economy getting well for the next 50 years or so.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1259970' date='Jun 7 2011, 09:30 AM']Hello, I wondered if someone knew something bout this.... I quite like a nice curve on my bass body, I sold a lovely valenti as the thing had fairly sharp 'modern' corners. My JV squier has very round body, and feels more round than current fenders. Then looking through that john entwhistle bass collection book I noticed the early '60's (is that pre CBS?) ones seem more curved than the late 60's ones, which would make sense as my JV copiied a late 50's bass. It's not a massive difference, just a slight one. or am I talking dogs poo poo?[/quote] The '51s are about 1/4" or just enough to break the sharpness of the edges. Then with the sculptured/offset bodies they they went to 3/8" or close to 10MM. The somewhat later versions are about 1/2" or 13MM.

[quote name='deanbean502' post='1256368' date='Jun 4 2011, 04:04 AM']I have been thinking lately about building my own bass has anyone done it? can you recommend a kit?[/quote] What are your limitations? Can you run a router? Can you cut the profile of the body? Do you want to cut and install your own frets/truss rod? The first bass I 'assembled' was from GuitarFetish in the US. It wasn't one of their 'everything included' kits, but I picked components from various pages on their site and as everything was roughed-out, I just proceeded to build from their body that included full routing and their neck work which was quite good. Their neck, like I said was pretty good, the body was pretty bad. One a scale of wood quality, Balsa wood being a 10 and corrugated cardboard being a 1, their wood was somewhere below -5. Their hardware was decent enough - the p'ups were excellent though! The completed bass weighs 3.41kg because of the body. Actually it's quite nice to play and very light on the strap. I did the normal fret wire clean-up and dressed the headstock and back of the neck in ultra glossy polyurethane which I like::: The p'ups aren't completely installed in this pix yet:: I have some other pixs of the finished product ::: (don't say nutthin' about the headstock decal - I just had one lying around - OK?) My next build used the same GuitarFetish neck, although this time I really worked it over and this time I cut my own body. The job is still in the works, but I have gathered all the hardware and parts I need to finish it now. I used construction-grade wood, laminated several pieces together and shaped my own body with modifications as I saw fit. Here's the roughed-out shape showing the end grain of the wood::: ...and other pixs here:: Here's after the routing is done - Notice the knots, which will not show once the color coat is finished:: The body will be painted with aviation butyl-nitrate dope as was used on fabric covered aircraft, in a 1956 Packard Green. Like I said - it all depends on what you are capable of as far as how completed the 'kit' has to be for you. At this time I am not really interested in building my own necks, although I see that as something to which I can aspire later on this year.