Ian2k

I bought a set of Dimarzio Model P pups from Alan. Great comms, speedy posting, well packed, all as described, 100%. Cheers, Ian

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1334427353' post='1616158'] hey I've got one of these, was my first bass, got me started, bought it for £40 of a mate, still use it as a back up for my MIA P, it don't sound half bad either, good luck with the restoration, don't expect to make any money though, one of the reasons I've still got mine is it sounds far better than what's it worth, if that makes sense. [/quote] Thanks for the heads up. I wasn't expecting to make any money out of it. Good to hear that yours is still getting use and sounding good. I did think that these "puched above their weight" as it were, so thanks for the confirmation of that. Three reasons really for the project: - practise at a refubishment/restoration, including refretting and refinishing. I've done electrical stuff before and am quite comfortable with it, but this will be the first time for me for this more "woodworky" stuff. - I really like the symmetrical look, but hate neck dive, and like my existing headlesses (Washburn Status and Hohner Jack), so beheading is the way to go for me. - I wanted to try a short scale. Cheers, Ian

Work in progress removing the grout from the frets. It seems the tiny chips are unavoidable, but sanding down should make them less prominent, and with the frets in place they shouldn't show anyway. I did read a luthier's blog somewhere where he said he put a drop of super glue onto where the fret touches the fretboard, after fret installation, and the capilliary action drew it under, and he wiped off the excess with a cloth. That might be something to consider if the chips prevent stable seating.

[quote name='Rowley Birkin QC' timestamp='1334387078' post='1615419'] Jesus! I thought I'd taken on a lot of work with my Washburn Status refinish.......you obviously relish a challenge! Keep posting the updates, should be good. Oh, and when you've done with the neck, my bathroom tiles could do with the grout removing when you've honed the skills. [/quote] Cheers! Your Washburn Status is looking good, that grain has come out beautifully. I've a Washburn Status too, bought as a project. I did all of the electrics, but didn't go for the refinish that it needed as wasn't brave enough for my first attempt. Mine's black and there's no way of knowing what the grain will be like on it though. It's my main playing bass, but I must say, after seeing yours I'm inspired to sand it off to see what it's like ... maybe when the Hondo's finished. Yes, a bit of a challenge! Bathroom tiles - or you could just tile over them ... tiling equivalent of sweeping under the carpet!

Hi All, I purchased a Hondo Professional II from a certain well known online auction site for a project. It has obviously had a hard life: - parts of the bridge are missing - the original (Dimarzio I believe) pickup has been removed and replaced with, I guess, a cheap pickup - parts of one of the machine heads are missing - the neck has been poorly defretted - roundwound strings have been used on the defretted neck, marking it further - the neck has been partly sanded - and the usual knocks of a bass this age. As might be expected with this type of symmetrical design, it is somewhat neck heavy, despite the body being [b]heavy[/b]. The plan is to bring it back to life as a balanced headless: - refinish and repaint - refret - install a decent pickup (if anyone has a hex pole p bass style pickup, working or not, that they want to find a good home, please PM me) - make headless, that is strings secured at headstock end in a reduced headstock, and use Steinberger type bridge tuner. So turning my attention to the neck whilst gathering other parts. The fret slots look like they have been filled with tile grout. I've done a test slot, and with a bit of care and time I can clear the grout out of the slots. So far so good. However, I'm not sure about what to do about the sanding that has been done. I assume that the fretboard is maple judging by the colour. The varnish/lacquer that is normally present on maple necks has been partly sanded off. The gloss and thickness has gone, and is down to the bare wood in a few places. Over most of it though is what seems to be a thin almost plastic layer, which I assume is the remains of the original finish. So the question is whether to leave it as it is, or to sand it down back to bare wood. I don't know if the original fretboard radius has been preserved (I suspect not given the state of the defret job), so my inclination is to take it back to the bare wood. What do you think?

Neck dive is one of my pet hates, and I'm collecting parts for my own beheading project for that very reason, so have been following this with interest - looks great, nice job, very inspiring! Fingers crossed for the neck.

I bought a Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pickup set from TRBboy. He posted out the pickups the next day, and they arrived the day following that. They were well packed, and all was as described. He was great to deal with and I'd happily deal with him again - thanks TRBboy, it was a pleasure. Ian

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1308951' date='Jul 19 2011, 11:32 AM']A standard Telecaster diagram with a tone pot for each pup aught to do it.[/quote] Thanks for the reply. I hadn't thought of looking at a guitar diagram rather than a bass one - d'oh! I couldn't find diagram of what you suggested, but it did put me on to a more fruitful search. I found what I wanted but with 2 humbuckers, which I should be able to adapt for my purposes. [url="http://www.seymourduncan.com/support/wiring-diagrams/schematics.php?schematic=2h_1v_2t_3w"]Seymour Duncan - 2 humbuckers, 1 vol, 2 tone, 3 way switch [/url] Thanks for the help. Ian

Hi All, I'm in the process of refubing/modding a Washburn Status Series 1000, so a 2 single coil Jazz pup setup, active. It doesn't have the original pups nor electronics, so I'm taking the opportunity to replace what's there with some better, passive, pups. I want to wire it with 1 volume, 2 tone, and a 3 way selector. All the diagrams that I've managed to find online have 2 volumes. Can anyone point me to either some information/tutorial that will enable me to work out what goes where volume and tone pot wise (I should be able to work out the selector ok), or a diagram that shows this setup (or similar that I can infer the setup from)? Thanks, Ian

Myself and our two guitarists/vocalists did our first mini-gig at a jam session at one of the local pubs on Monday. The drummer who was there to jam didn't know our stuff but performed admirably (especially considering we come to a dead stop in the middle of one of our songs, only to start again at a faster tempo. Anyway, we'd been down to the pub to check things out previously, and all seemed good, with a 16 track mixer with someone permanently at the controls. All was looking good. Pitfall 1. I had my first worry when I was shown where to plug in and the tech was fiddling with the bass amp settings - the bass wasn't going through the desk, so wasn't coming through the monitors. Result, I could hear my bass, and the drums, and little bits of guitar now and again, and pretty much only could hear the vocals if I stood right by the singer and could hear him acoustically (just!). Pitfall 2. I guess this is a common one, adrenaline/nerves/drink got the better of one of the guitarists and he counted in a song much faster than we'd ever played it, and it was of course the one with the most complicated bass line ... Pitfall 3. I'd not gigged with this particular bass before (Hohner "The Jack"). It has a light coloured neck, with darker fret dots along the edge (I use the edge fret markers, not the fretboard ones). We launch into our first number and I glance down, and the combination of lights (or lack of them in my dark corner) meant that the fret marker dots had effectively vanished! Pitfall 4. Well nearly, I trod on my lead as I moved, pulling on it, but thankfully I was prepared for that one and had it running between strap and body, so disaster averted. (One of the guitarists doesn't do this - I think it's only a matter of time). That all being said it was a fun gig, we went down well, and didn't stuff up too much, despite the pitfalls. What experiences have you had, as a warning to others?!