Matt P

Yeah, same for me, I've even got an amazon voucher that needs spending, I'd have to modify the saddle to keep the spacing at 18mm though. Matt

@Painy I really shouldn't be asking this but what is the string spacing at the bridge? I've already got a kala acoustic u-bass but a 5 string solid body is very tempting! Matt

i tried one of these a few years ago whilst looking for a backup 5-er, they have a fretboard you could land a jet liner on, and 19mm spacing at the bridge as well i think, a totally different beast to the more recent squier vm p-5 (which is what i ended up buying) i think it would be a good starting point if you wanted to build a 6 string with narrowish spacing though! matt

That's good news, keep us updated on how it goes with the new fan, I have an ah250 of a similar vintage so I'll need to do the same swap at some point.

RS throws up these as the right size and voltage, i would check the flow and pressure numbers though to make sure it has enough puff/heft https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/hvac-fans-thermal-management/fans/axial-fans/?applied-dimensions=4294472758,4291947769,4294572386,4294378374,4294380154 Matt

a bit of googling has given this as the new equivalent (i occasionally spec papst fans at work) https://www.ebmpapst.com/en/products/product_search/productdetailaxialcompact.php?pID=53843 available at farnell https://uk.farnell.com/ebm-papst/9906/fan-slim-119mm-115vac/dp/9600949 i would suggest a bit of a search using the size and voltage specs to see if there is a cheaper alternative (the papst fans are pretty robust though, we spec them for industrial use) Matt

I'd go for the rega carbon, if you read through the reviews they struggle to find much bad to say against it, from my own experience of fitting them to a few different turntables I have to agree, I fitted one to a 70's trio turntable as a stopgap solution whilst the owner saved for a new turntable and 4 years later he is still using the trio/rega set up and loving it, the money he was saving has been spent on more records. Matt

I would suggest that a new cartridge would be the best bet, the main question is how much you want to spend now. Matt

You say that it's the original cartridge, do you know the make and model, there are still very good quality styli being made for certain cartridges. (the Jico SAS ones are supposed to be excellent) if a quality stylus is not available then I would suggest a new cartridge, modern ones have come a fair way since the 70's. what would you class as not too expensive? personally i'm running a Ortofon 2M red on one turntable and a Rega Carbon on the other, the Ortofon is around the 100 quid mark and many enthusiasts would class that as budget, the rega is under 30 quid and it is my first choice for resurrecting old turntables as it has surprisingly good performance. i am interested in the new grado E cartridges as well, the E3 is quite tempting. https://www.hifix.co.uk/ortofon-2m-red-moving-magnet-cartridge https://www.hifix.co.uk/rega-carbon-cartridge https://www.juno.co.uk/products/goldring-e3-moving-magnet-cartridge-stylus-eu/661196-01/?currency=GBP&flt=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA4NTxBRDxARIsAHyp6gDfhIwI_GVpDb8ewxTPw1JA11cdlOi7YL5MwSV0LcTOOTL7lIcZgtAaArqUEALw_wcB Matt

Yes the Hiscox cases aren't cheap compared to most gigbags but if the bass is wearing through them then the initial outlay will pay off, i bought my first Hiscox about 20 years ago and it's still in very good condition, i have bought about 12 of them now for various instruments and all but 3 of them secondhand and have rarely paid more than 50 quid (some have been as cheap as 30 quid!) unfortunately the EBP is one of the less common ones but does still pop up secondhand. If you compare to a Mono M80 (as suggested very early on) then the Hiscox is actually cheap, £127 for the Hiscox vs about 170 for a M80 gigbag or 120 for the M80 bass sleeve. Matt

I know that you asked for gig bag recommendations but has he considered a hard case? The hiscox std-ebp is 49" long inside so would easily take the bass and they are about as light as they come for hard cases and very long lasting, and if you compare the prices to bags from mono etc they're very good value. Matt

I bought Chris' LIne6 wireless, a totally painless and pleasant experience, it was posted very quickly and was better than described as he had included an upgraded cable, definitely someone you can have confidence dealing with. Matt

that's a lovely looking bass, the big plus point for me is that it was assembled by the bass doc, i have had a few of my basses setup by him and they all came back playing perfectly, he really does know how to build a "fender" bass (even a bitsa that i threw together out of 50 quids worth of bits came back from his surgery playing superbly) the top spec components of this build should make it a tone monster. Matt

I might be able to help if you want a neo Celestion, think i have a BN10-200X sitting in a box at home barely used (bought a couple of neo Celestions about 10 years ago to build some cabs but never actually got round to it) (if any kind of deal is made i will make sure pay my subs to BC obvs) M

@owen Has it nailed here, I think i have played more hours in church bands than i am ever likely to manage at "secular" gigs, one thing that i would suggest is that if you have a 5 string (and are comfortable with it) then that would be my choice, the most common bass that i take along on a Sunday morning is a 5 string singlecut with chrome flatwounds on it, this covers 99% of what i need. (although i have used ukebass, EUB, P-Bass, and fretless on different occasions when i felt like it) quite a lot of the music will have been originally written on a keyboard instrument so Eb is sometimes the key of choice. don't expect to have the music in the right key for every song, and it might be anything from proper sheet music right across to a handwritten chord sheet (quite often with 2 different sets of chords depending on who used it last and what fret they like to capo at on their guitar. i played with one worship leader who only really knew the chords for the key of g so they just stuck a capo on wherever they needed to to be able to sing. some songs might ot have any written music at all but these tend to be 3 chord songs and easy to busk. the ability to transpose on the fly is probably the most useful thing i ever learnt, sometimes the leader will forget to take the capo off so launch into a song in a different key to the one agreed upon. and if they have kids songs then i have been known to kick in an effects pedal or two (the bassballs was especially good for this) making friends with the PA team is worthwhile too, the church that i attend doesn't run the bass through the PA at the moment so i control the level on stage, i always have a word with the PA operator after the pre-service run through and make sure I'm at a sensible level, often i'm told to turn it up a bit! (I've taken ownership of the house rig as i've paid for all the servicing etc over the last 10 years, a lovely Trace Elliot GP11 AH250 head with a Peavey 4x10 and a slightly cobbled together but nice sounding 1x15) Matt

i can't comment on playing Skiffle but i can recommend the book that Billy Bragg wrote a couple of years ago https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roots-Radicals-Rockers-Skiffle-Changed/dp/0571327745 a really enjoyable history of how skiffle developed and where it led. Matt

great review! these look really interesting, what is the string spacing at the bridge please? i had a rockbass 5 string a few years ago and couldn't get on with the 16.5mm string spacing no matter how much i tried, just too tight for me. if this is more like 18mm then i might have to get searching for one! Matt

i think some of the rip-off is happening i the uk, the whole unit is $49 on the mesa site, https://store.mesaboogie.com/products/high-frequency-driver-406-with-horn.html and the driver is $19, have you got any american friends that could buy it and have it sent over? https://store.mesaboogie.com/products/replacement-diaphragm-for-406-driver.html Matt

Cleaning the laser would be my first step, failing that the next step is to work out which cd mechanism it has, there are not really that many companies making the laser units so you should be able to buy a replacement one, depending on the unit it might be a simple job of unplugging the old one and plugging in the replacement.

having been to the last 3 or so bashes i'll be up for the next one, not sure i have anything bassy to bring that people might be that interested in but i guess i could bring baked goods! Matt

i must apologise, I managed to get your plans all back to front! in my head you were planing a printed core with front and back plates of aluminium. the solid core plan is much more robust, and a single thickness through the body will certainly give a good solid foundation for everything to mount to, i'd probably go for some lightening holes in the alu plate as it would be much easier to add some mass back in than try and remove the material at home. i would still suggest that testing the adhesives on a small scale and under fluctuating temperatures would be worthwhile as the embarrassment of part of your bass falling off on stage would be pretty high, also having used a 3d printer i know how long it actually takes to get a print out (even ignoring the fact that there is a fairly high failure rate with 3d printing) having a part that took hours to print fall off and get damaged would not be ideal. the thermal co-efficients of aluminium and ABS are quite different so the testing should show up any issues that might occur. If you can design the whole thing to work without glue then that will work much better but i would still make allowances for the different rates of expansion of the materials and the vibration of the whole instrument will be subjected to. i look forward to the first parts being made! Matt

As you are planning to smooth and paint this body i would be tempted to reduce the amount of aluminium to a minimum, you only really need the high strength round the centre to counteract the string tension, the outer areas could have a much thinner skin of only 1 to 1.5mm, with a thicker central area for the bridge etc, i'd suggest some kind of bonded in threaded metal insert to take the strap buttons as well. if this was my project i would be tempted to go for a clear coat finish to show off the construction methods! a brushed or polished finish on the aluminium parts with the printed section visible at the edges could look really striking. the only thing that i would be wary of is the thermal expansion of aluminium, i seem to remember that alu necked basses were a thing at one point and they had tuning difficulties if the temperature was not stable (under hot stage lights or coming in from a cold journey) this might cause bonding issues between the aluminium and the printed parts or tuning issues. it might be worth making a small test part to check (simple printed block bonded to a small sheet of aluminium. then try warming and cooling it to see how it holds up. it would be embarrassing to have the body split or crack after all the work. I should say that i am a mechanical design engineer by day so my first reaction is usually to look for the areas that would cause a product to fail (i spent a long time designing access platforms for offshore use and they get a little shirty if people fall through them into the sea) but a little bit of experimentation before launching into the project could save you from making an expensive paperweight. Matt

I've been sketching out a case like this to house my Markbass F1 for years, i'll probably never get round to though so buying something appeals to me! my thoughts have usually included an easily replaceable front panel and an open back so that it could be modified to fit a different head if needed. and the whole thing sized to fit perfectly on my Barefaced Midgets Matt

what about making a thin (but rigid) plate to go under the bridge that extends forward enough to mount the gk3? something like brass maybe? as long as the edges were carefully smoothed and the shape was aesthetically pleasing it should work. the bridge saddles will need dropping a bit but only by the thickness of the plate, maybe 0.7mm or so?