apa

Love it all. Good call on the ebony fingerboard and the binding around the edges is a very nice touch. Ebony looks lush fretless but Im looking forward to seeing a fretted one

A

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1213466' date='Apr 28 2011, 07:23 AM']Not quite as much about fair/safe working conditions though I hear?[/quote]

Now you tell me! If got a bond with Arifin and Wakim (from the body QC stamp) after Bassassin and I worked out who they were!!

A

And if your a bit of a name snob who doesnt want a sheep in wolves clothing.

I took my Ray34 apart and found a birth date and ...........................



A CORT by any other name.

Still Im not complaining (Since I knew they were Indonisian) shes still a beaut

A

Sounds like you have two options:

1. Get that pot of elbow grease out and have a day in the garden making dust

OR

2. Leave it to [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=133065&hl="]the experts[/url]

A

Exellent write up J

I think they do look matched in a wings and central piece sort of way. Even with the white spirit finish its looking nice and mellow.

On the SMB4A v SMB4D thing. I thought it was the other way round regards tone!! The A being a modern sound and the D being the old skool?

Oh and best ryder mod?? Hmm never mind a ray off how about a ryder off

A

[quote name='mcnach' post='1209259' date='Apr 23 2011, 04:06 PM']Come up to Edinburgh for a "Ray-off"

would love to try that Ray34.[/quote]

Well judging by your lust for Rosie Id probably come home empty handed

A

Im realy happy with mine. Its a Natural with Maple (the expencive ones) but got it for under £600 (and Im not talking £599)

Realy love the sound but not being a Ray expert I couldnt tell you if it beats the real thing!

A

[quote name='mcnach' post='1207565' date='Apr 21 2011, 09:39 PM']That's some beautiful bass!

I'm pretty sure I still have somewhere documentation to the effect that you were willing to send it to me for very little [/quote]

Thanks Jose (again! )

Im pleased with her

Erm documentation? Im sure it was a typo So Proove it

A

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='1208624' date='Apr 22 2011, 08:23 PM']looks really good - again!

Is that fingerboard a veneer or did you de-bond and replace the entire board?[/quote]


Thanks A' Mariner

Its a replacement. The old one was machined off. I got a blank piece of ebony and machined a 11" rad. (I do have a short vid of this). Then glued it onto the neck (sort of, see above reply). It was machine trimmed back then the rosewood binding and brass side dots put on.

A

[quote name='XylemBassGuitar' post='1208551' date='Apr 22 2011, 07:02 PM']It does seem more like a p/u problem. Have you done a lot of soldering before? Maybe one of the solder joints is cold (i.e. the solder/parts didn't make a good bond)? Did you have to heat any of the parts a little longer than usual? It's possible to damage electronics with the heat from a soldering iron.

Also, how well did the new fretboard glue to the neck? Got any tiny glue lines between the two or is the joint invisible?

By the way, I really like the look of the bass after your mods![/quote]

Thanks XylembassGuitar

Im pretty good with a soldering iron even though its been a few years. Ive double checked for dry joints and no I was pretty quick with the soldering. There were two connections. The only one that could have caused damage was the earth to the pot body.

Its all a bit academic now since Ive splashed out on a Symour Duncan MM replacement pup and preamp

As for the finger board. Erm well OK I admit the bonding wasnt the best One side was not very well glued at all so I filled it with glue and filler. However She plays so well, very low action shes worth the electrics replacement. You can hear the 'Good sound' through the mud of the old pup so Ill get back to you when I fit the new one.

A

0.6mm is the standard. Thicker veneer is called structural veneer. Try googling that or 1.5mm veneer, 2.0mm veneer etc.

EDIT:

Or stick some 0.6 together to get your width

Or Use it as a capping veneer rather than trying to fill the whole thing with it

Or wait until someone who knows what thier talking about puts a reply up

A

I have the facility to provide sheets of Plastic (APET or Styrene) at set gauges. I was thinking they would be perfect to use as neck shim or string action gauges for that matter.

The gauges are available between 250um to 800um in 25um steps. That’s 0.25mm to 0.8mm. Size is approx. 60mm x 40mm. That’s about right for a standard 4-string neck pocket avoiding the fixing screws. If you have a special requirement then let me know. It’s easily cut with ordinary kitchen scissors to suit your individual bass. You can mix and match the gauges to suit.

I have no idea if there is a market for this but it’s a service Im happy to offer. If your interested then drop me a PM.

Cost is £1 each including postage to anywhere in the UK.

Payment by bank transfer please.

My feedback: [i][url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=128704"]FEEDBACK[/url][/i]

(I wont be able to start until 3rd May. Just incase anyones in a hurry! )

A

Those holes for the through body stringing look a bit 'off centre'. Going to re aline them and make them bigger so 'real' strings can go though?

The one I sanded back was 3 piece to. Nice wood but not matched.

A

That sounds (metaphoricaly) very interesting especially the way its does the mid or bass&treble boosting. This gives you loads of options I suspect. One thing I dont like the sound of is all those presets and caps tucked and screwed away inside. Id be for ever unscrewing the thing just in case I havent got something quit right lol!!

And yep that ryder scratchplate does look cool.

That thumb rest looks awfully close to the E there Jose? Never put you down as a gentle strummer hahah!

A

7 and never leaving the front room. Im the proverbial "All the gear and no idea" sort of guy

A

They are no where near each other. There are two wires. A thick one and a thin one. Now when I took it apart i did make a note of it but lost it. I do remember there the connections where and its pretty obvious. The thick one was to the vol pot body (You can see where the old solder was) and the thin one (Im assuming the hot wire) was to a white wire coming from the preamp.

A

So heres Rosie

Originally a Vintage Stingray Copy.
Modifications:
Replaced Fingerboard with Ebony - machined from blank
Rosewood Neck binding with Brass dot inlays
Scratch built Brass Nut
Head veneered in Rosewood
Body resprayed black including originally black rear cover to match
Scratch built scratchplate with Rosewood veneer and Boxwood binding
All hardwear and Pickup is stock Wilkinsons.

As always there are a few things I would do differently but its all a learning process There are a few flaws too especially around the edge of the scratchplate and the base colour is coming through on the back Grrrrr.
She went together and played straight off with just a quick shim of the neck to compensate for the lack of frets.

BUT she doesnt sound right!! Originally I could get an ear pearcing twang form the maple fretted and roundwound set up but now with the Ebony fretless and GHS bright flats (Ground wound) (Which are lovely to play and much nicer than the half round rotos Ive tried) she's dull as dish water!!!! But Im not putting it down to the change in fboard so much. It seems more a pup issue. The output muffled and sounds like its coming through a MW radio. A bit of tweeking of the korg helps but its not right. Hmmm very odd. A new pup and preamp min order I think

Anyway...... heres the pics with a 'before' for comparison. ALL comments, good or bad , welcome.........................


[attachment=77814:full_fnt.JPG][attachment=77823:body_fnt.JPG][attachment=77816:fingerbd.JPG][attach
ment=77818:body_side.JPG][attachment=77817:head.JPG][attachment=77821:neck_side.JPG][attachment=77819
:full_back.JPG][attachment=77820:body_back.JPG][attachment=77822:the_before.jpg]

[/quote]
[quote name='mcnach' post='1199888' date='Apr 14 2011, 08:28 PM']I tried the transparent doublesided tape suggestion (thanks to apa for sending me a sample!

It works!
This stuff is fantastic!
I can now think of a million uses for it!
(I think I can put some on teh drummer's stool, hmmm... )

So I'm testing the positions. I removed the tug bar on my Squier CV P-bass and used that first.
Nah, a bit too low. Turns out, unsurprisingly, that the position I really like is where the Stingray pickup is located. That means somewhere overlapping the edge of the pickguard. This tugbar is a bit too long to be fitted nicely under the bass side pickup... But I had a metal thingy that the previous owner of one of my OLPs had fitted as a thumbrest (ironically at the P position ) so I put a bit of tape under that and tested it.

Perfect.

It's the right spot, and this tape is *amazing*.

I now have to find some shorter bars or something else that would do the job and look ok. [u][b]Maybe even fashion one out of wood and paint it black.
[/b][/u]
Another great solution found at Basschat. It's good to see that it's not GAS all I get here [/quote]


Fashion one out of wood? Well why didnt you say! I have a nice bit of ebony that would do just fine. Ill pop it in the post for you if you like? Its left over from modifying [i][b][size=7]ROSIE[/size][/b][/i]. Did I tell you about [i][b][size=7]ROSIE[/size][/b][/i]? You can find [i][b][size=7]ROSIE[/size][/b][/i] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=132409"]HERE[/url] if you havent*

A

* Ha ha sorry couldnt resist and had a good excuse. Besides you told me to

[quote name='Monckyman' post='1199308' date='Apr 14 2011, 12:44 PM']Trubass arrived this a.m! ta for the replies, chimes with my thinking.[/quote]

Hope youve got your nut slot files handy, thier thick buggers

"Through something like that, and a good supply of guitars, we could get something"

Hmmm if only we could get hold of some idential basses that some one is selling off cheap with both Rosewood and Maple boards. Stock they dont want anymore at half price. Damn, if only that opertunity would come along!!!

A

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1197105' date='Apr 12 2011, 05:59 PM']I'm pretty sure I can, but to tell for sure would require swapping fretboards on a single neck and installing frets of the exact same profile/spec which is a lot of work! Especially as to do it properly would require multiple examples of each board and to set up blind tests and/or measurements.
Of course I couldn't tell for sure on a recording because you can make one sound like the other, always more than one way to skin the proverbial cat, but for a given bass I'd say if all else stays equal, maple will tend to make it sound 'snappier' compared to rosewood - I've tried enough basses to be confident that there's a trend there.[u][b] I don't know if lacquering a rosewood board would give the equivalent change though.[/b][/u][/quote]

I can verify that you do get a 'snappy' 'twang' with laquered rosewood. Did it on my fretless Ryder. In fact its a Rosewood board with a Rosewood veneer on top Dont know if it would be 'twangier' or 'snappier' with a maple but I doubte it very much. The slightest tweek on the treble pot would negate any difference between a maple and rosewood in my view. 90% difference in any sound is in the pickup.

Besides, arent all maple boards laquered in some way where as rosewood is oiled? Theres probably more of a trend there than any were else.

A

[quote name='Clarky' post='1193607' date='Apr 9 2011, 10:44 AM']There is no appointed repairer unfortunately. Overwater distribute and they told me to send to the US[/quote]

Im sure evrything will be fine. Like you say, it sounds like standard practice and plenty of pics will do the job

A

[quote name='obbm' post='1193603' date='Apr 9 2011, 10:39 AM']If it's going back to the States then they may not need it, but check with them. If you have to disconnect it then take lots of photos, make notes and a diagram so you know how to put it back together.[/quote]

And it will probably involve a soldering iron!! Im sure thats in the small print of the warranty!! Not to put the fear of god into tyou Clarky but sending it to an appointed repairer in this country sounds like a much more 'customer friendly' option to me.

A

Yep thats a mains transformer all right!!

I think its a bit bad form for them to expect you to dismantle one of their units for them!! What if you cocked something up? who would pay for THAT repair???

A

Without pics its a bit difficult but it sounds like a torus transformer. Its part of the power supply but not directly part of the power amp. Its also probably the heaviest thing in the whole thing so if you can get away without posting it you may save a few pennys!

A