BassBus

I'm sure that would make the Gibson Thunderbird seem positively well balanced. [size=4] [/size]

It would have been a good idea if I had never found this thread, but I did. That's a MKIII on the wish list. [size=4] [/size]

Big fat old B string at 135mm. That's a steel rod. [size=4] [/size]

Lovely warm day outside so a chance to cut down the fills and sand the top. As Lorne commented the fills are going to be impossible to hide. Veneer is still an option but I'm leaning towards having the face planed and a new one stuck on. Shall inquire with a luthier friend locally this week about that. Seeing it sanded like this gives me an idea of what an ash front might look like . I like the contrast between the two woods.

I'm well aware that hiding fills is going to be difficult. That is why the idea of gluing a thin veneer on the front appeals. I have never wanted fancy wood on the front of this bass. If the front planed off any new face will be something simple like alder or ash. As for pickup routes, I would like a ramp on the bass. I'm toying with the idea of having a ramp made with the pickups inside it. That would mean less filling and just a bit more routing. I'l have to look into that a bit more though.

[quote name='threedaymonk' timestamp='1371323661' post='2112646'] Veneering the front face might be a simple and cheap alternative. People tend to veneer with fancy wood, but if you were to use something unassuming and similar to the body wood (whatever that is), it should blend in pretty well, and won't increase the thickness by more than about 0.6 mm. [/quote] Interesting you should mention that as I was just looking at that being done on youtube the other day. I've had a look around for supplies of 0.6mm veneer and there's plenty available. When I sand the face to remove the finish that will probably remove about half a milimetre. [quote name='rubis' timestamp='1371328774' post='2112698'] Very nice sound clip, why not fit a piezo bridge if it sounds like that Best of luck with your project Bassbuss Harry [/quote] The strange thing about this sound is that it only comes from the top horn. I tried the pickup on different bits of the body but nothing produced the volume or quality of tone that the top horn had. I can't even hear the same tone from any of my other basses, even my Spectorcore which is also strung with TI Jazz Flats. [quote name='Lorne' timestamp='1371333371' post='2112767'] Got any better pictures of the Badass, I bought one off t'internet to replace the original one on my 1987 neck thru B.C.Rich ST bass, and when it arrived, it wasn't BLACK, it was, well, Chocolate coloured! [/quote] I'll see what I can do. It won't be up for sale for a while as I have to find the right piece of wood to fill that hole. New bridge has been ordered.

Senior moment. [size=4] [/size] [size=4]Been there. The magnetic pickup on my beloved Status Electro stopped working last year. Had to have some work done on the nut so thought I'd have the pickup looked at at the same time. Repairer asks what the control setup was. Two volumes and two tones I said with much confidence. He starts tapping away at pickups, as you do, and lots of sound from the mag and the piezo. "There's your problem" he says, "that's a blend pot not a volume". I'd had the bass for about two years by that time. I knew it had a blend pot. Not for the previous few weeks I didn't. And since when has Rob Green designed a bass with two volumes. Never to my knowledge. [/size] [size=4]It's a long slippery slope.[/size]

That thought has crossed my mind. It just does not fit this bass.

Managed to get things stripped down to drill out the old control holes to 12mm. I decided to drill the small screw hols in front of the bridge too and fill with 6mm dowel. I'll leave it like this to set for 24 hours. Last night I was just playing around with it acoustically and happened to put the top horn up against my ear. Couldn't believe the sound that came from it. I dug out my old Fishman BP100 DB pickup and attached it to the top horn with masking tape. You might not believe it but [url="https://soundcloud.com/bassbus/acoustic-upright-or-is-it"][i][b]THIS[/b][/i][/url] is what came out. There is a small sticker inside the control cavity which looks like a serial number, 881970.

Because you're worth it. Obvious really. [size=4] [/size]

Like you need to introduce yourself here. [size=4] [/size] [size=4]And "...in case there's any interest". What? From a real bass player, not like the rest of us who just think we are. Well except wateroftyne and Guy Prat and Kevin Glasgow and...[/size] [size=4]Welcome on board.[/size]

Sir Bobby would be proud. Sound fantastic. Well done all.

Nuts [size=4] [/size]

This might help. [url="http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=beatles+full+album&oq=beatles+full+album&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l10.9908.16769.0.20708.18.11.0.7.7.0.95.966.11.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.TH4_YZp7HD4"]http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=beatles+full+album&oq=beatles+full+album&gs_l=youtube.1.0.0l10.9908.16769.0.20708.18.11.0.7.7.0.95.966.11.11.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.TH4_YZp7HD4[/url]

That really is lovely with the plain satin finish.

I've dealt with both. Bought my current DB from the Violin Shop. Beautifully set up for my playing. The thing about both shops is they are staffed by players so they understand the instruments very well from a players point of view. I think the Violin Shop would be worth trying first.

Either [url="http://www.theviolinshop-glasgow.co.uk/"]The Violin Shop[/url] in Glasgow or [url="http://www.stringersmusic.com/"]Stringers[/url] in Edinburgh.

Everybody knows... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQmhQyCMvig"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQmhQyCMvig[/url]

For those who follow this thread, I have started a restoration project on a wrecked SB301. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/209095-sgc-nanyo-bass-collection-rebuild/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/209095-sgc-nanyo-bass-collection-rebuild/[/url]

I recently bought a new fretless ESP. It came with rounds on it (still don't understand why people use rounds on a fretless rosewood board). I tried all sorts of different strings on the bass and the TI Jazz Flats just gave the best sound out of all of them. Even my trusty Status halfwounds. The TIs were really quite an old set too. So, to sum up - I like the sound.

This is the start of a long term project. I bought this wreck of a bass on Ebay for £52 complete with Gotoh tuners and Badass bridge. Nowt else. The neck was a bit of a banana so I clamped that on a number of occasions. I had almost given up hope of it ever straightening but got there in the end. There is still quite a bit of play in the trus rod. I strung it up with an old set of Thomastik Jazz Flats and acoustically it sounds pretty good. I suppose that is the best way to tell how a bass will sound amplified if you get a good tone acoustically. Roundwounds had been used on the bass so you can imagine the state of the finger board. Full of gouges. I bought a 12" radius sanding block and set to removing all the gouges from the rounds. Cut it down with 80 grit paper and finished it off with 330 grit. That's left it smooth enough. Can't decide if I should give it another run with 600 or 800 grit. couple of applications of oil later and there is a lovely sheen to it and it is playing without any buzzes. Next job is to replace the bridge with a Gotoh 201. Other plans: I had thought of having the entire face planed off and a new one applied but that might not be worth the money. I'm more inclined to fill all the holes with dowel then sand the whole thing level to remove the old finish. Stain the face with a dark coloured wood dye and then apply coats of finish over that. I quite fancy Tru-Oil for that. I have a couple of EMG-HZ pickups and would quite like to fit an East U-Retro preamp. I want to fit a Roland GK-3B too but that will be externally to avoid the extra expence of more routing. Still trying to work out what to do with the pickup routings and where to set the EMGs. I know I want the back pickup about 3cm from the edge of the bridge. This will take a while so don't expect regular updates.

Have a look at the UK Distance Selling Regulations. Might be something in there to help you. [url="http://www.out-law.com/page-430#When"]http://www.out-law.com/page-430#When[/url]

[i]" A bunch of downloads stuck to a piece of vinyl" [/i] Brilliant.

But surely that can and is done on YouTube already.