neepheid

That's some expensive firewood.

[quote name='Sibob' post='1366308' date='Sep 8 2011, 12:51 PM']How schmexual are these two?[/quote] Not very, not to me anyway. Sorry

Invisible. No reflection on music shops in general, just the ones (well, one now) up here. There's nothing up here for my tastes. I have had to learn myself what is good and what is bad using information available online (specifications, soundclips, pictures) and trial and error. I bought my first bass in a shop but since then buying at distance and selling my mistakes is the way I have operated. I am organised enough to not need strings the same day so would much rather take advantage of online prices. Because of this, it never really occurs to me to visit a music shop. Even if I am somewhere where there is likely to be better stock available.

[quote name='bremen' post='1362838' date='Sep 5 2011, 01:25 PM']No I'm not. VAT is 20% on everything. Import duty is (mumble)% on everything above £18 (thanks Chris).[/quote] VAT is 20% on anything above £18 (commercial) or £40 (gift). Import Duty (Customs Duty to give it it's official name - separate and distinct from Excise Duty) is only payable on goods of a greater value than £135. It is waived if the Duty works out at less than £9. Copied and pasted from the horse's mouth: If you order or send purchased goods other than alcohol, tobacco, perfume and toilet water from a country outside the EU then you: don't have to pay Excise Duty may have to pay Customs Duty on goods with a value that exceeds £135 will have to pay Import VAT on goods with a value that exceeds £18 Note that on all goods from outside the EU, Customs Duty is waived if the amount of duty calculated is £9 or under. If you're sending or receiving a gift from outside the EU: Excise Duty is payable on any alcohol or tobacco products. Customs Duty is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £135, but will be waived if the amount of duty is £9 or under. Import VAT is payable if the value of the gift exceeds £40. To qualify as a gift: It must have been sent from a private person outside the EU to a private person(s) in the UK. The Customs Declaration must be completed correctly (see link below). It must be for the use of either you or your family. There must be no commercial or trade element and it must not have been paid for by the recipient either directly or indirectly. It must be of an occasional nature only - for example for a birthday or anniversary. If it's perfume or toilet water it must be within the allowances described in the earlier section 'Perfume and toilet water'. If the allowances are exceeded than charges apply on the excess. See [url="http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/buying.htm"]http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/customs/post/buying.htm[/url]

[quote name='bremen' post='1362800' date='Sep 5 2011, 12:55 PM']Are you sure? I thought it was more like if the item was worth more than £20 or so, £40 if it's declared a gift.[/quote] You are confusing VAT with Import Duty. They are two distinct and separate charges.

Just delete the wiki now, I mean seriously - what's the point in it? Not only does no-one look at it, I haven't been able to log into it since the VAT rate increase to change the sums in the article which covers this very question. Hmph.

Why not do something different? It's not different enough to pique my interest, but hey, at least they're trying.

[quote name='2pods' post='1360143' date='Sep 2 2011, 05:18 PM']The thing is that it was a cheapish guitar that was delivered to day, and I'm bit reluctant to send it back, though I was thinking of asking for the price of the repair off the price. I don't mind a bit of fretbuzz, as it rarely comes through the amp, unless I dig in and I want it to, but this is a total no note. I'll get in touch with DV24 and see what they say Thanks for the wisdom again [/quote] If it's new, send it back. Instruments should be free from these kind of defects from the get go.

The notion that an instrument is somehow automatically better than another because of where it's made is nonsense in my opinion. There are only two types of bass - good basses and bad basses. Good basses can be made anywhere, as can bad basses.

Well, I'm not out of the woods yet, there was some spring back from the first steaming/clamping session and the G string began to buzz on the second fret when playing the first. Have since steamed the bend for about 10 mins then clamped it in a slightly forward position again, it's still ok, but in the mean time I have secured an identical neck in case this one doesn't work out. Will have to wait for a few weeks to know if the straightening is more permanent this time.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1350638' date='Aug 24 2011, 07:40 PM']Awesome sir! This is fantastic. I'd love to see a shot of it next to a standard thunderbird, just to see the difference in upper fret access. I'm aware it's early days yet, but do you think this would be possible to do, to a 5 string thunderbird, ideally with a 24-fret, graphite neck? And at EH, no I won't be doing it to that and I just sold it anyway o.O[/quote] Anything's possible. It just might not look much like a Thunderbird afterwards - you'd need some serious cutaway modification to make 24 frets useful. It's bad enough contemplating making this one look like a JAEbird

This really is the end of the story now - I managed to snag a genuine truss rod cover to replace the bodge job I did. Final headstock pic coming tonight

I haven't sold anything on eBay for over 3 years. Greedy fees, their inability (or willingness) to act on reported auctions and the unfair feedback system are my main bugbears.

Good news: the clamps are off and it is now possible to play the first and second frets. Whether or not it will stay remains to be seen. I think I'll leave it under string tension for a while.

Starting again, with beginner's "not sure if I want to make a go of this or not" funds - probably a Yamaha BB of some sort - 414 or 614. Or anything with a chunky neck that I liked the look of.

I'm not sure it matters much beyond practicality - having anacondas of cables in there will be difficult to work with, difficult to bend into position, difficult to fit into holes drilled for earth wires etc. The E/L/N wires out of household power cables is probably a bit too thick. Best get yourself to Maplin and get stuff that's a bit smaller than that. Gibson have been known to use stuff as thin as telephone wire (like in my G-3), but I'd say that seems a bit flimsy to me. So (and I'm sure someone will come in with actual dimensions) somewhere between household power wire and telephone wire will suffice.

I have a fretless P in bits waiting to be finished and put together, so the answer to the fretless question is - kinda. I've had three acoustic bass guitars. One was a horrible £50 eBay cheapy which was horrible to play, horribly finished and didn't even work properly (A piezo element was quiet). I gave it away on Freecycle - I couldn't in any good faith ask for money for it. The next one was a Takamine G series which was big and beautiful. I must confess that I bought it because it looked gorgeous above any other reason (quilted maple front, back and sides) and I never really used it much (I wasn't playing much at the time). I moved it on to make some cash. The last one was an Ibanez AEB-10 - I bought it because I had a covers gig coming up and I wanted something I could practice on in my lunch hour with minimal fuss. This did that very well (loud enough for solo playing, built in tuner etc.) but ultimately it wasn't any use to me once the cramming was done. Took it to a practice with a singer and a single acoustic guitar and I had to plug it in. What's the point? Sold it. The only thing I miss is the looks of the Takamine. Nostalgia: Sigh. OK, I think I'm done with them now. From my own experience I can say that (in my opinion) their only advantage over a solid electric bass is aesthetics if you MUST blend into an acoustic type ensemble. But even then I reckon you could get away with using a suitably trad looking semi acoustic bass like a Rivoli/EB-2/Starfire/Jack Casady/etc.

Well, there's good news and bad news. Good news 1 - got the thing assembled: Good news 2 - project objective achieved - no neck dive: Bad news - neck has a back bow, frets out below the third fret. Oh dear. Wish I had spotted that. Truss rod loosened off and still no chance of a straight neck, never mind relief. I have tried to fix this by loosening off the truss rod completely, clamping it to a flat surface, used a small shim in the middle of the neck to induce a very small amount of forward bow, tightened it so the back bow is dialled out and then applied some steam to it. I'm going to leave it clamped for a week or so and see how I get on. I really hope that this works. The way things are though, I couldn't really make it any worse

[quote name='Wayne Firefly' post='1340816' date='Aug 15 2011, 04:09 PM']Its not an Epi, it would be for my Gibson...[/quote] I believe that question was aimed at Delberthot

As long as you're not expecting a Precision neck on this Precision (it's Jazz width on these Squier Precision Standards) then you'll be happy. I know a guy who plays a red one of these in a soul covers band and he's more than happy with his.

I thought that string spacing was what annoyed me about Jazz necks, but it turned out to be a combination of neck profile and width that did it. I can do Jazz width if the neck is suitably chunky front to back - the Warwick Rockbass Corvette taught me that - but I still prefer a chunky P sized neck any day.

I presume you've tried adjusting the height of the bridge pickup closer to the strings and all that nonsense? Also check the state of the wiring/soldering?

[url="http://cgi.ebay.com/140591040751"]http://cgi.ebay.com/140591040751[/url] Ouch. Anyone need some spare Grabber parts?