Grangur

Why, @Marc Day do you have 2 threads to ask this question?

As I've said in the other thread:  

Use your right hand to hold the stick in place and fret the string with your left. When you push the string down against the fingerboard,  behind the stick the pressure will hold the stick in place.

Let go of the stick with your right hand and pluck the string.

If all this is still too complicated for you, use sellotape or Scotch tape or masking tape to hold the stick in place.

Use a cocktail stick under the string at the line position,  with your finger fretting the string behind the stick.

Looks nice. It could be a type of rosewood. Its not walnut or wenge.

White spirit will do it without any damage.

You do appreciate, @moley6knipe, to be sure you don't have GAS,  it's essential that you still peruse the Market threads, just to make sure you don't have even a little bit of GAS. 

@FinnDave £7!  Wow! The owner of the Vox wanted it back after a while as he wanted to sell it. He wanted £40 this then! I was earning £2.65 a week doing a paper round. £40 was an astronomical sum to me.

I'm not 100% sure if I had 1 or 2 pups, but they were pretty useless. 

58 minutes ago, pete.young said:

I haven't seen the program but if it was a pre-CBS Jaguar, it was a 6-string guitar. The bass didn't come along until much later, early 2000s? and originated in Japan.

47 minutes ago, Quilly said:

Yes it was a guitar 

Sorry, i have to confess to having not see the program either.  I'm just being a cynic

In the 70s at about 16, I wanted to learn guitar. One day saw a Vox Clubman under my brother's bed. He'd borrowed it from a mate and done nothing with it.

The body of the bass is ply. The neck was beech; as flat as a pancake and with no truss rod; made by the Ercol factory in Dartford. The "jack" socket was a co-axial socket.

My first "amp" was a broken-down reel to reel tape recorder that I wired the bass into. It did nothing but make "fart" noises. 

No, @leschirons, his loyalty is bought and paid for with about £10k per show. The production company wouldn't be excited about following him around the country on a wild goose chase for a price for "some old guitar". After all, it's not like it was played by Brian May. Plus its not even got 6 strings!

Just look how often the bass player is on camera on music shows. Often they even show the lead guitar when the bass is playing a solo! Sorry, I'm very cynical about TV.

It's all about ratings. Beeb are the same as ITV making Kyle and these home make-over shows. It's got absolutely NOTHING to do with "helping" members of the public. It's all about doing a show that gets ratings and filling time between the ads and the News. Even Ebay is more likely to get a more true price for the bass, but it's not going to get the viewers excited, they'd rather see all the family "silver" go in a sale room with hands going up and hammers and such.

I recently made one as a thumb rest, from ebony, for another BCer. The obvious problem with a 1 screw mount tug bar is it can swivel.  So it can't be very long because, as it gets longer, leverage increases.

If you want it purely for show, there's no problem at all though.

Someone just mailed me asking about using coloured oil and if to use another oil afterwards to finish it.

Here's my answer.

To apply the oil, put some on a pad of cloth/kitchen towel and spread it over the surface and work it to the wood to make sure it gets into crevices in the grain. As you finish, wipe the oil off a bit, so it's not drowning in the stuff.  Application of coloured oil is the same.

The coloured oil will give you a finish that has the colour; which you can keep applying until you get the dept/intensity you're looking for. When this is done, you don't need to apply other oil. The coloured oil is enough. Leave the oil to dry and buff the surface up with a soft cloth. If you want a bit more of a sheen than the oil gives, use beeswax and buff it to a sheen with a soft cloth. Old t-shirts are good for this. Beeswax can come with a colour. I try to use a fairly neutral one. I'm using one from National Trust at the moment. I also have one on the go from Colron that's got a dark colour to it, but the dark does't seem to do a lot, but  the wood I've used it on so far has been a dark grain laburnum.

For a bass I'd use this one, getting the clear version. https://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/product/liberon-beeswax-paste-with-pure-turpentine?gclid=CjwKCAjw8e7mBRBsEiwAPVxxiH91jYOcc9fLPfhsNk7sWTjY4SA8NkUeJPX9UPAaWAiI6WPsWxlYPhoCa0AQAvD_BwE

Don't EVER, ever, ever, use any spray polish on ANYTHING ever. Spray like Mr Sheen or Pledge are "silicon polishes". The silicon stays damp and makes the surface sticky to attract dirt from fingers. It also makes the wood almost impossible to re-finish at any future date.

16 minutes ago, Unknown_User said:

I think that a difference between Danish and Tru oil is that Danish oil gives more of a satin type finish while Tru oil is more glossy.

I will happily stand corrected on this.

You might like this thread. It gives an interesting comparison.

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/danish-oil-vs-tung-oil-finish-vs-tru-oil-a-neck-finish-report.281490/

I use Boiled Linseed oil. It's very similar to Danish oil. The difference is Linseed oil contains components that aid quicker drying. Danish oil contains varnish that will give more of a gloss.

@YouMa all oil of all types will darken the wood to some degree.  Generally lacquer will make it less dark. When I was in the wood finishing business, the usual way to we checked what difference lacquer would make is to rub some saliva over the surface of the wood. This gives you the effect without actually doing it.

For an oil that makes almost no difference; I once got a pathetically small bottle of genuine Fender Lemon Oil. This made very little difference to the look of the wood. It made it hard to see where i had applied it and where I hadn't. It was also stupidly expensive for the volume I got, but this might be the answer. I don't know how effective is is at protecting the wood against dirt from mucky fingers penetrating the wood. I didn't trust it and used boiled linseed oil instead, but I suspect it doesn't do a lot. You might like to give it a go.

Another finish, probably better is wood wax. Osmo do a clear one.

https://www.osmouk.com/sitechaptern.cfm?bookid=Products&chapter=82&page=373

@lou24d53, making wood darker can be done in a few ways. I don't really like wood stains and dyes. They are made in different ways.  Stain is a liquid with coloured particles that sit on top of the wood.  Dye soaks in to the wood grain. What I don't like in stain, is that when looking at the finished wood, the effect isn't very convincing to anyone who knows wood.

When Warwick are colouring their basses they use a water based stain and then lacquer over the top.

Another way to get a dark finish would be coloured oil, as @YouMa says.  You can use the same link as above.

Hey @Ant1972, we have a thread here  about BCers prepared to help folk get their basses set up;

Now we know where you are, we can see there are 2 gents who're not far from you. I'm sure they would be happy to take a look at the bass when it arrives, if you wish. To make sure it's set up to play well.

@obbm Obbm Farnham, Surrey
@neilp Neilp - Crawley

There will be other BCers about too. Good luck with the bass.

Post deleted

Take some time out to read this thread too:

14 minutes ago, Ant1972 said:

Thank you all for your advice. 

If I can't get the second hand Music Man Stingray Sub 4 I was looking at, then I think I'm going for a new Yamaha TRBX174... Feels like a relatively safe/solid choice for a budget end bass (even though I'm not so keen on it's aesthetics).

Prob going to go through Thomann.de as their prices for the guitar and for the various accessories I need are good... Plus I hear they have good customer service.

Feel like I've dodged a bullet, as a nearly went for an Affinity bass a couple of weeks ago.

Affinity basses aren't as bad a you seem to think they are. There's nothing wrong with them. The pots and tuners could be better, but there's nothing really bad about them. I've had a couple and they were pretty solid.

Yes, the customer service at Thomann is really good. If you do take to bass, the first one could well get sold on at some stage, so I'd buy a used bass. That way you can sell it on for the same money you bought it for.

Even some used basses for about £100 will be good, very playable instruments; leaving you more £ to put towards an amp; an important part of the setup, for you to get a sound you like. Don't skimp on the amp. It may not seem as inspiring as the instrument, but it makes a big difference to the sound you'll get out.

On 11/05/2019 at 12:43, mcnach said:

 

I don't think he means the mid-scoop sound, but the thin trebly weedy bottomless sound you get when you wire the pickups the wrong way around. 

I don't know if I'm talking about mid-scoop, but IME when you turn both volumes to full, the total output takes a dip in volume.

To know the size of the shaft, get a vernier .  I hate Ama... but at less than £3 inc postage, you can't go wrong.

20 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Er, I think you’ve missed the point there blue.

6/8 as in the time signature.

20 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

LOL! I meant 6/8 as against 4/4 🙂

Yeah, Stub was taking the **** out of me saying "6/8" meaning 6 or 8. I almost posted to point that out, but thought, "nahh... he knows".

Blue also knew what I meant. 
Enjoy the rest of your day, guys.

On 03/05/2019 at 08:06, BigRedX said:

Personally I would wind the saddles at least three quarters of their travel forwards before placing the bridge to give the most useful adjustment. You will never need to shorten the string from the scale length to get your intonation right (if you do there is something wrong with the string and you should replace it), but you will need to lengthen it and the lower pitched the string the more you will need to increase the length. Therefore the more "backwards" travel you have on the saddles the better.

Yes, I've had the E saddle bottom out in backward movement, but never had a problem with not being able to shorten enough.

Lovely looking bass too.

The standard practice I've had on both occasions I've auditioned is to be given 6 songs to learn.  Then at the audition don't play those, but play 6/8 other songs. 

Pleased to hear others like being in bands, but I don't do bands.