Godfrey

My policy is two of everything. My usual rig involves two cabs anyway so unlikely both will go down together. Spare amp head left in the car and spare bass taken into the venue but usually left in the case. Also carry a bag with spare guitar strap, strings, batteries, cables, fuses, tools, insulating and gaffer tape, etc., etc. To me it's just another element of professionalism. Having never had a problem in years, I let the habit of taking a spare bass slip until I got well and truely bitten in the backside - a failure in the internal wiring meant a 25 mile drive home to get another bass then back again, and the band had to do the first set without me. You can't cover every single possibilty but I think it definitely pays in terms of peace of mind and even cost to do as much as you can.

I didn’t realise quite how rare these seem to be, so thought I would show it here. I imported it directly from Bolin Guitars in 2004 as a fretless but, as I could never get it to sound exactly as I wanted, I had it fretted about 18 months later by Andy Viccars. The body is alder with very nice quilted maple top, maple neck, 35” scale ebony fingerboard (no marker dots as it was originally fretless), EMG Dual Coil pickup plus Fishman piezo bridge and Fishman 18v preamp. The UK list price with the quilted top was £2,218 but by importing it I paid £1,856 including shipping and UK taxes. Below are the ratings given in the product review by Riaan Vosloo in Bass Guitar Magazine dated June/July 2003, each section rated out of 20. I would definitely agree with all the comments except the one about good quality control. Mine disappointed as it was delivered wrongly wired making the batteries drain straight down, and with a significant flaw in the finish on the lower edge of the body. [attachment=99668:2BolinNS5.jpg] Click on pic to enlarge Build Quality – 19/20 With excellent detailing, everything on this bass feels right. Solid, with very good quality control, it feels like a hand built instrument should. The only gripe was some slightly irregular spacing at the nut. (This obviously only applied to the particular instrument being reviewed.) Sound – 19/20 Simply the best fingerstyle sound of any bass I have ever played: warm, round, smooth and sensual. Getting a convincing slap sound takes a little more experimentation though. Playability – 19/20 Again, for fingerstyle, the NS plays like a dream; chordal work is easy, as is tapping. Value – 19/20 When spending this sort of money, this is the sort of quality you would expect. Good looking with a sound to match and tons of features. Wow Factor – 20/20 A great looking bass. Whether on a stand at home or performing on stage, this bass will grab people’s attention. It looks more like a traditional acoustic instrument, a beautiful bass. Total Score – 96/100 Truly one of the nicest instruments I have seen and played for a long time. Poised and beautiful, with a wicked sound

Very good advice which I will follow - thanks again.

Again - thank you both [b]warwickhunt[/b] and [b]icastle[/b] for your help - think I've cracked it! First, thanks [b]warwickhunt[/b] for confirming the battery wiring is right. Second,[b] icastle [/b]prompted me to look at the internal wiring again. I decided to go through it all again and carefully check the ends of each and every wire. I took off the EMG pickup first, sure enough push fit connections underneath it but apparently OK. After first checking all the other easily visible ones, I took the preamp board off it's mounting and discovered that amongst the bunch of wires attached to the back of it, one end has come off. I had looked before and not seen it, but this time I was inspecting everything with a magnifying glass. All I need to do now is get it repaired. The soldering required is far too fine for me to do so I'll get my local guitar tech to look at it. At least I'll be able to point him straight to the fault (assuming it's the only one!), so he won't have to spend time looking for it. I really am grateful for your help and inspiration - thanks again. Godfrey

Inevitably one of the Wilkinson tuners finally failed - the E stripped which, looking at various forums, seems to be a fairly common problem with them. Replaced them with the V63 singles which do indeed leave a hole, or perhaps more accurately half a hole, visible. You could do the job properly and fill them before fitting the new ones but I haven't bothered as they're not easily seen. When you see the two types side by side, the poor quality of the Wilkinsons is plainly apparent. The Hofner ones are much more robust and have a more positive feel about them. Bought the new ones from Thomann in Germany by the way - about £20 cheaper than UK price.

Really appreciate your help. Below (I hope) are a couple of pictures. The battery box shows what I repaired - the connection on the loop wire to the left - hard see how that could be wrong or cause any problem with the volume or tone circuitry? Is this the same as your battery connections? The other shows inside the main panel. I haven't altered or disturbed (knowingly) anything in there, nor can I see anything loose or dislodged - mystery! Godfrey[attachment=99571:BatteryBox.jpg][attachment=99572:Preamp1.jpg]

Hi icastle The preamp is made by Fishman if that helps.

Hi warwickhunt - thanks for your reply. No - I imported this bass directly from Bolin Guitars back in 2004. It was originally fretless but I could never get it to sound just as I wanted so subsequently had it fretted. The only thing I've done is solder back the loop wire on the battery box to where it seemed obvious it had come from, but I somehow seem to have upset something by doing that, which I find a bit of a mystery. The thing that would be most helpful if you could be bothered, is to ease out the battery box and photograph the connections so I could check I have got it right. I'll fully understand if you don't want to do that though. Cheers

I have a Bolin NS5 that suddenly stopped working - no signal out. I checked in the main cavity and behind the double battery box (it's an 18v preamp) and found a wire off behind the battery box - the loop between the two batteries. I soldered that back on and the bass started working again, however, neither of the volume controls for the main pickup or the piezo under the bridge will turn down to 'off' and the tone controls have minimal effect. I've had a look in the main cavity again and can see nothing obvious - has anyone any ideas about what I might have done wrong please? (It was working fine before so it must be something I've done). Any advice gratefully received. Thanks.

Can anyone advise on this please? I have a Hofner Contemporary series violin bass (Chinese built) which I quite like however the original fit tuners are not good. The plastic buttons are beginning to show cracks and I suspect the metal gearing parts are of not of particularly good quality. I'm wondering about trying to replace them with some all metal tuners, preferably proper bass ones, and if anyone has any experience of this and can make any recommendations or highlight any pitfalls. As the bass is a reissue and not worth a lot of money, I'm not worried about modifying it's looks (I've already done away with the pick guard). I'd rather have it upgraded to something I feel is a bit more trustworthy. Any help appreciated - thanks.