HazBeen

Glued up the BASS body yesterday  ...... will post some progress on that in the next few days.

I will just leave this here.... progressed the thing that shall remain nameless.

On 23/05/2021 at 13:28, Matt P said:

I'd have to lose a few frets to make space and probably sell a kidney to fund the pickup bill!

 

 

Just ask them to send you empty pickup covers, faux pickups is all the rage.

1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

We could burn it whilst stabbing it with pitchforks .., 

Well, if you look at the shape, you might be able to use the guitar to stab stuff.

I glued up some bodies yesterday, so will be posting some rough body shapes soon

6 minutes ago, bagsieblue said:

It's a quandry - pretty sure that there would be times I'd be digging in hard on the B string at times if I had one of these.......

Nail on head, it will happen on occasion. Question is, will it be annoying or not.... not sure.

3 hours ago, bagsieblue said:

Wonderful.

Next step to lower the pickups?

For me irrelevant, I was digging in extra hard for the forum not my normal playing style. For me they sound fine, but I do not like the fact that this limiter is there. I would like to decide, not some electronics if that makes sense.

I will keep using the bass with Fishman’s, but if I find any issues later down the line they are coming out and I am slapping in EMG DCs as I intended before becoming trapped in the hype  

Okay, so I used the Fishmans in anger yesterday and listened to the band recording (I cannot post as it is not on my laptop). When you really dig in there does appear to be an audible limiting effect happening. The pickup design clearly is a bit quirky in the sense that very high amplitude/heavy input seems to overload the signal and the note loses weight due to the limiter. Much like D class power amp designs. Probably never an issue for guitars and 4 string basses, but not so on 5s.

Tone wise great pickups, and admittedly under normal circumstances my touch isn't heavy enough to trigger the limiter, but I have to admit I am a little uneasy on the Fishmans now. 

Clearly just an opinion/obervation from 1 person, but it does seem to be in line with some comments others have made. 

25 minutes ago, Kev said:

Nice one for going to the effort of recording that.  What a bizarre pickup design. 
 

To be honest though, I’m not sure this explains the issues away that I’ve heard with the Spectors? The limiter issue would not result in a generally quieter B string, more just quieter on initial attack?

Depends, it looks graphically as if the limiter kicks in after the limit is reached, squeezes down hard and then releases. What Fishman may need to do is have  a quicker kick-in and faster release to sort out the wavy B if played hard and in any case Spector will need to give better instruction on the absolute necessity to have your bass setup in line with your playing style.

46 minutes ago, bagsieblue said:

Great - thanks for the effort on this.

This just gets more and more interesting.

Admittedly I was hesistant to go with Fishman as they were an unknown and I would normally have used EMG DCs for a bass like this one. If the B indeed clips “in the real world” when using in a band, then to be frank the pickups (although they sound great) are a bit stinky poo design wise. Perhaps this bass will end up with EMGs at some point....

So I did the B bend think (which should mean it gets louder when you bend) and the low B with increasing volume to get it to clip. I turned down the input level on my Focusrte to ensure input could not clip. Clearly there is some extra noise of muting and I need to do a final setup once the wood is settled but I think it is quite clear. 

No volume increase when bending, so it it is not a magentic field thing perse, I do very clearly see a difference in the levels when playing the B hard. You can almost literally see it clip, limiter kick in immediately and then release in waves. There is a certain wavyness in how the signal is released from the limiter. 

I bought the Fishman's based on internet reviews. If I had a hard touch and encountered this wavyness, I would be dissappointed I think. Clearly if that can be fixed by the correct setup for your touch, then no issue. To me it does appear to be the pickup/setup not the location of B string, which would sort of confirm what Spector is saying. Wonder if there are any Sheckter SLS owners out there who could confirm....

Thoughts?

Fishman B bend + limiter check.wav

Just now, bagsieblue said:

Nice! - on this "onboard limiter" - can you replicate this?

Play softly, then louder and louder until the limiter kicks in?

Sure, I will do it after my calls (working from home). I have a medium touch naturally, not the lightest but certainly not heavy either.

Will also update after tonight’s band practice of course.

As you can see my B string is as close to the edge as the Dimension.

I just recorded this quickly (apologies for the sloppy playing). It is from a solo bass piece I am working on, this section covers all strings which seemed handy. Doesn't appear to be an issue with B string volume compared to other strings to my ears.

35.5" scale B, 33.5" scale G. No pan, flat eq, recorded via my Focusrite directly into Ableton Live with a Bass Amp and 4x10 plugin. 

The pickups are quite close to the strings (as I always have them really).

Fishman Flat No pan.wav

I am reading this with Interest. I just built a 5 string multiscale with the Fishman’s and used the Spector as a visual reference on how far I could go to the side of the pickup with my B.

My string specing is a little narrower than the Spectors, but my design benefitted from placing the pickups off centre a little.

Not noticed the weak B so far, but am trying it in anger with the band tonight. If I do have an issue, I have stuffed myself by using the Dimensions as a visual reference..... I have a fix if so, but man.

Will report back.

Lovely!

1 hour ago, songofthewind said:

Interesting, might work for a project of mine.

What are the nut and neck butt dimensions, please?

28.6” scale, 38mm at nut, 59mm at last fret

I recently acquired a new (replacement parts) Ibby Mikro bass neck, totally unused and not drilled. Unfortunately for the project I was planning the nut is not wide enough, so looking if I can make someone else happy.

Looking to get what I paid (50 quid) price excludes shipping.

1 hour ago, Si600 said:

Shouldn't a Gheetar build be on Gheetarchat?

It should be banned from existence, but such is.  

Did some stuff on the “GEETARRR”

Trussrod installed, rough cut the neck, slotted the fretboard. Made my first mistake by slotting 24 frets and needing only 22 .....thankfully not an issue.

Certainly the drop in value on custom builds is astronomic, you literally lose 40% on most makes with very few exceptions (certain US brands I would say) instantly. So worth keeping in mind.

I think the OP mentions “loosely based” on a J, I would therefore certainly advise to speak to a luthier.

I am lucky as I build my own custom instruments (plus the odd commission for others), to my specs and being able to choose whatever you want is a wonderful, although sometimes daunting feeling.

Contact @Andyjr1515, he has done things I do not see other luthiers take on. Simple fact is that the more you rely on building as your main income, the less willing you will be to go outside the box unless you can charge a fortune to do so. 

16 hours ago, spacecowboy said:

The Wenge? 

I find it very nice to work with, not too hard, the worst bit is how brittle and splintery it is when you first cut and carve in to it! But it smoothes down wonderfully and isn't hard to shape, I don't find it dulls any of my machines or tools any quicker than other wood either! 

It's my favourite wood, it's why I use it all the time! 😉

I would say the only drawback of wenge is that it is quite varied in hardness. Some of the grain is surprisingly soft, some quite hard. So you do need to be mindful of that, especially on intricate carves. Other than that, great wood to shape and work with.

Looking at it again, am doing a cap.... wenge probably, and I will als make a matching cover for the trussrod cavity.

Btw, the plastic will much more evenly mat, this is just 1000 grit. I will take it to 2-3000.

I started with the Ibby neck. The headstock looks ugly as, so I decided to reshape. Nothing spectacular.

I also routed of part of the facing (some sort of plastic) where the logo was.

The plan was to add a maple cap to replace the bit I routed off and take the shine off the remaining plastic (as I will be doing the same with the pickguard) for a mat finish.

That said, I think it looks quirky as is, so may just round off the plastic and leave the wenge/bubinga exposed. Sometime a bass designs itself....

Thoughts?