Matt P

I'm interested in the method for removing the fretboard as at some point I will be doing it myself (on a very cheap neck luckily so if it all goes wrong I will simply find another less butchered neck) as I don't have a spare iron i will be buying a cheap one for this job, Wilco offer a couple under a tenner, will 1200W be enough or do I need to push the boat out for the 2200W version? also, what thickness is the steel sheet you are using for this? If i ask nicely the kind gentleman that runs our workshop will furnish me with some shim steel but I'd need to know how thin it should be. as I don't intend to reuse the fretboard either would removing the frets and thinning the board with a plane be worth the work or will leaving the frets in be better? thanks Matt

what actually happens when you press the footswitch? does it switch then switch back when you release the button or does nothing happen? I am just going on my experience with a marshall (guitar) amp then needed a latching switch, when a non latching switch was used it would switch to the second channel as long as the button was pressed, switching back as soon as the button was released. if it's not doing this then more investigation is needed. exact wiring of the switch or an issue with one of either switch/cable/amp. Matt

the slight brassy colour is usually just a mixture of tarnish and general grime and is quite common, there are brass frets available and the Evo Gold but the frets on your Ibanez will just be regular nickel silver i'd expect, so when clean they should be a nice shiny silver colour. Matt

I can't give any help on the suitability of a Ric for your band except to say they can be a bit marmite, personally I love the looks and the sound but the ergonomics are just totally wrong for me. my main concern would be that when bringing it back into the UK you most likely need to pay the VAT and the import fees, also I believe that the fretboard is rosewood so you might need CITES certificates too (this might not be valid anymore but would be worth checking) Matt Edit - Rich has managed to type faster than me with the same points!

I'm in the singlecut loving camp, my letts is a singlecut and i think when i have the money my next custom will also be a singlecut, in fact a bass in one of the above posts is incredibly close to what i was considering (except i was thinking shortscale 5 string with a single pickup. @MoonBassAlpha posted a link to the ACG recurve classic, i think this is a fantastic shape, i seem to gravitate to upper horns (is that the right word?) that have this shape where they curve back rather than the ones that taper into the neck. this is my Letts.

have you considered getting an un-routed jazz body and then getting one of the incredibly talented people in the build diaries section to put in the control and pickup routs? the people making the standard bodies should be able to supply a blank body by just pulling it out of production at the right time Matt

it sounds like the reach to the low frets is an issue for you as well so i would suggest that a move to short scale would be a good idea, most of the basses that have been suggested are short scale, i would keep an eye on the balance of the basses too as this will have an effect on how they feel, there are also some alternatives to standard straps that can help. (i'm sure someone will be along to suggest the options.) speaking as a man with a bad back the ergonomics of the bass are as important as the weight (but i will admit that most of my favourite basses are lighter ones) Matt

thanks for that @Deedee it seems that the footswitch you have is different to the one that was posted in the first post, this seems to just be switches with what looks like capacitors across the terminals and no LED's, so the one that @fleabag has ordered should work fine. i have made a search for other pictures or schematics and it just drew a blank. Matt

yes, i admit that with momentary switches the LED's are much harder to implement but as this is an older design there is a chance that it would be possible to reverse engineer and retro fit to the new switch. any chance of some pictures of the circuits inside? i will admit that i've never had one of these in my hands. but i have reverse engineered a footswitch once for a friends amp by borrowing the OEM one and tracing the internals. (it was pretty simple though)

@Deedee do you have access to a multimeter? that should allow you to test if the original one is momentary or latching, (and what the connections should be at the plug), this would confirm which switch is the right one for @fleabag. it looks like the original one has LED's to show status as well, it might not bother fleabag but it might be possible to modify one of the tiny options to give him LED's as well (and publishing the definitive answer on here will help the next poor soul that's looking for a smaller option for a footswitch) Matt

this looks like it will be another superb bass, one day i'll get round to enquiring about one for myself! Matt

as this is a budget amp i'd be surprised if the standard speaker was anything other than something fairly generic, and the enclosure is really quite small even for the 6.5" driver, i'd be more tempted to sell the amp and pick up something that was designed for bass. they do actually make a bass version that is the same size though, it would be interesting to know if they have different speakers. Matt

I would carefully check any house insurance policy, we had ours cancelled when I enquired about instruments at gigs, they classed any paid gig as a second job and this was excluded on the policy so they gave us a week and cancelled it, luckily it was through a broker and they found us a good deal so we weren't left uncovered. I have my gigging gear on a separate policy with Allianz, the rest of my kit is covered on the house insurance with a few of the instruments specifically named due to their value, these are covered as long as I'm not being paid which is fine as they are usually only used at church. Matt

can you get any of the pieces of teak measured and weighed? that would give you a density figure, then a bit of sketching and measuring and you could work out an approximate weight for the body, the values only need to be rough in order to give you a good idea of the final weight. Matt

This, he has set up quite a few of my basses, always a great service and very reasonably priced

i have had a search on google and have not managed to find another 5 string bridge of this design, i was wondering if it was made especially for this bass, I found a mention of aria in this interview but no other images other than the ones from this ebay auction, i'm guessing this was a one-off maybe as a prototype? http://www.garycooper.biz/articles/interviews0702.html i've not had any reply from the seller so at the moment i'm not prepared to make a bid on it (no one else has bid yet either) Matt

I didn't know these existed! looks like a nice through neck bass that will be very well made if it's come out of the Overwater factory. I don't need this but the want is strong (even though i don't generally like Active basses and i'm playing short scale a lot of the time now) I have asked about the string spacing and the weight, i'm just hoping they come back and say it's a boat anchor with super narrow spacing so i can pass by. Link to eBay

ooh now that is interesting! any idea on prices? there's nothing on their website. 8.9kg and only 30cm wide! Matt

the narrowest 100w all valve head i have found is the Handbox WB-100 at 460mm, so still a bit wider than i'd like (the cabs are 380mm wide) and i think there are only aboyt 3 or 4 in the country. most valve heads seem to be about 600mm wide and around the 1100 to 1200 quid mark new, this is about what Martin was quoting me for the baby YI-200. a different cab is one option but i really do love my barefaced midgets and space is at a premium so any new cabs would have to oust them which i would rather not do. If ampeg had made a 100w version of the portaflex valve heads i would have bought one like a shot, they fit perfectly onto the cabs and having briefly used a PF-20T i'm fairly sure the sound would have been excellent, unfortunately i don't think the 50w version would have enough to keep up with our guitarist and our PA is pretty much vocal only. At the moment i have no gigs on the horizon and the house needs a whole new roof so it's all just wishful thinking. Matt

my main reason for talking to Martin was that i was looking for something that was about the same width as my Barefaced Midget cabs (15" or so) i have yet to find a valve amp above 50w that narrow, i have an aversion to amp heads that overhang the cabs (although i have an amp incoming that breaks that rule but as i am being given it rather than buying it is a little more complicated) the second reason was that i had heard so many good things about the Stoneham amps that i really fancied one myself but 200w valve amps are very much overkill for the small pubs i tend to play. If anyone can point me at a 100W valve amp at around 15" wide i would be very happy to consider one. Matt

It is possible to find out how much they paid for it, the sticker will have a 4 or 5 letter code on it somewhere, it will be 2 or 3 letters then a dot and 2 more letters, the last two letters will probably be HH, Cash converters use what is usually referred to as the Blacksmith code, to mark the price paid on each item. B=1 L=2 A=3 and so on, so the HH is 0 pence. i find this useful when i find something in the shop that i don't want to pay full price for, knowing how much they paid is a great starting point for haggling. Matt

the website is working fine for me from a computer that has never seen the website before, the order confirmation section of the FAQ states " You will not receive any further communication from [sfx] until your product is ready. if they are busy (and i think it's a one man operation) then it might be a few days before they get your order built and ready. I have one of their pedals on my board (a prototype/custom Red dragon booster) thy are really great products, i would be tempted to wait a few more days if possible. Matt

I believe that all of the various cd-63 versions all used the same laser unit, the original Philips one is not available any more but there is a good alternative, there is a guide to swapping it here. https://www.hifigear.co.uk/blog/marantz-cd63se-laser-transport-mechanism-replacement/ Matt

no problem, please report back when you get a chance to test one, i think at last count i had 11 Hiscox cases of various sizes so I might be in the market for one at some point (provided i ever get back to gigging!) Matt