rubis

Hi everyone I am about to start on my first bass build and would like some advice on laminating the necks. I plan to build a Stingray style bass, 34" scale but with a more exotic look about it (a Blingray!). I will make two necks, one fretted and one fretless, to be interchangeable and secured with inserts. I have two matching macassar ebony fingerboards and I want to make the necks from flamed maple with walnut stringers, in a 5 piece laminate fashion. I appreciate that laminating will increase the rigidity of the neck, particularly when using figured wood, but how exactly is it done? What I mean is, when I'm starting off with a figured maple neck blank do I cut it into 3 pieces and then flip the centre piece 180 degrees (or end for end if you like) and do I also need to rotate the centre piece by 90 degrees to further vary the grain direction? (in which case I would need to make the centre piece square dimensionally). I hope I've explained my question well ! thanks Harry

Here's mine, I've owned it form new, got it in the 90's and it's been rock solid since. I take the point about the sound letting it down a bit, it's not a bad sounding bass, it just lacks a bit of versatility, so I had mine retro-fitted with a 3 band Kent Armstrong eq which transforms it sound wise at very reasonable cost. The standard pickups are Kent Armstrong soapbars so there is a good sound potential in there and they are extremely well made. I would keep mine for good but I need to raise some funds for a self build "Blingray" so if anyone's interested...........

McNach you are a gentleman, sir Stirling advice (fnar fnar)

Hi everyone I am about to start on a self build bass and would appreciate some help frome any Stingray owners out there. I have plans/blueprints which are easily obtainable for a P bass and figured that would be a good place to start (everyone who followed Leo Fender did in a way anyway!)........ and then just tweak the shape to make it more elegant looking. I am going to build a 34" scale bass with two interchangeable necks.....one fretted and one fretless (I'll be using threaded inserts to make changing over easier) and have began gathering bits and bobs and exotic pieces of wood as they catch my eye. I wanted to make the shape a bit more attractive than a P bass and always liked the look and sound of Stingrays.....they look more curvy at the bottome like the Wal I used to have, and the 3+1 headstock looks more elegant and practical too. So a Blingray it shall be! Now here's the problem..........plans or blueprints for a Stingray are seemingly non-existant, so I copied a picture of a Stingray body into MS Paint and scaled it up till it more or less fitted into the dimensions I have already found, IE body width 34cm, neck width at the heel 63mm. Then I traced out the body shape onto clear plastic and did some more measuring, and this is where any Stingray owners out there can be of great assistance in confirming or correcting some of the dimensions I have taken. The thing which struck me (and has me wanting to double check the dimentions, which I,m 90% happy are correct) is how much smaller the body looks when a tracing is placed over that of a P bass, about 5cm shorter in length, and yet when you see someone wearing a Stingray it doesn't look "diddy". This is even more pleasing to me as it will reduce the overall weight a bit........the body blank I have is a nice one piece american walnut lump but it weighs 9lbs.......my dodgy shoulder's aching already!! Anyway, am I right? I make out the length of the body from where the bottom strap button is to the end of the neck pocket to be 37cm? The length of the neck pocket to be 10cm? The "mythical sweet spot" for the pickup position to be 85mm from the centre of the saddles to the centre of the pickup? Obviously this will not be a direct clone of a Stingray and will not be badged up or passed off in any way as one ( just in case there are any Musicman lawyers reading!) but it will be noticeably influenced by one and will have other features not found on a Stingray I will be grateful for any help or advice

Thanks voxpop, its a very nice bass, here is a pic of it

Hi everyone, I have a Patrick Eggle Milan bass which I need to sell to fund a bass build project. Its a 1993 model in natural swampash with two Kent Armstrong soapbars, the electronics have been upgraded to Kent Armstrong 3 band eq. I appreciate they are very rare and as such dont come up for sale very often, but does anyone have any idea what its worth these days. There are two identical ones for sale on US ebay at the moment, they are the other model with passive eq and set neck, the used one is @£500 and the other says "new" (??????) and is, I think @£1500 any comments or advice most welcome

[attachment=72482:bass_wiring_2.jpg] .......and the second attachment!!!!

[quote]this is what you get with kents pickups. not much use[/quote] ......yeah, i found that as well....no good at all......the pickup wiring colours are different anyway...but thanks for looking mate.....love your work by the way! I also found this on talkbass......does this look right to anyone?........he says it works, I'd probably opt for the one without the switch to keep it simpler at least.....unless there are gains to be made form having one? [attachment=72481:bass_wiring.jpg]

I have just got a Kent Armstrong MM3.......a 3 band eq unit to put into my Eggle Milan bass to replace the woeful stock tone control. Problem is, it didn't come with a wiring diagram and I can't find one for it. Now, most of the wiring from the MM3 seems obvious....this is how its laid out, correct me if I'm wrong:- +9v...............goes to the red on the battery output............not sure treble............supplied wired to the pot middle...........supplied wired to the pot bass..............supplied wired to the pot switch...........not planning on using one at the moment but may later(I presume its an active/passive switch) I will tape it up ground.........goes to a common ground input............not sure Its the input and output which I'm confused about, on the original active tone box there is a blue wire which comes out of it then goes to a lug on the blend pot and then from the same lug to the volume pot. There is a a yellow wire which goes form the active box to the middle lug on the blend pot and ends there. There is a white wire which comes off the active box and goes to the bass/treble control, which has a couple of jumper wires on it and two yellow wires which then go the the volume control. I'm wondering, does the blue wire correspond to the output for the MM3 unit? If so, that leaves the white and the yellow, one of which must be the input......but what to do with the remainder? any advice is gratefully recieved

Hi Shonks I've got a BLX130, which I recently got for £30!!!..........albeit with a blown speaker and missing back panel. I'm thinking it could be an ideal candidate for your 'mod'. Could you post some pics of the new panel you fitted please? Does it still perform as well, I appreciate the sound will alter to some extent, but is it a better option than say, adding a HF horn. Have you tried it at volume at all? Thanks for sharing your tips

Evening Gents I have a Trace Elliot BLX130....the one with the odd vented front.......and it needs a new speaker. I have read lots of threads here about "speaker science" and I am baffled......no pun intended. What would be a suitable replacement or upgrade speaker......the original was a Celestion so I'm guessing one of their drivers would do, although I also believe they used Fane in their cabs. I like the idea of one of those lightweight neo speakers, its heavy for a little bugger........so how do they compare performance wise? I'm considering the Celestion BN10 (neo?) or a Fane Sovereign.......anyone got personal experience they would care to share? thanks Harry

thank you very kindly gents

Hi everyone, this is my first time at posting on here, although I have been reading it for some time, and I need a bit of advice. I have just bought a Trace Elliot BLX130, which is in need of a little bit of work to get it up to scratch, the main problem being the input gain potentiometer which has disintegrated inside and has a snapped shaft............its definately Donald! The markings on the pot are 50KB and 325a and it has three terminals. Firstly is the 325a significant in getting a replacement? Could I go along to somewhere like Maplins and ask for a 50KB pot and would I get the correct one, or do I need to be asking for something in particlular? thanks in advance H