JPJ

Doesnt look like ash to me. The redish hue probably means its from the mahogany family, and I remember those old Hondo II's being quite heavy and that would support this theory. Nice project btw, love the proposed new colour.

This weekend I've finished stripping the last of the black lacquer off the edges, tidied up the joint line, opened out the control cavity and battery box openings and rebated both. Next job comes from the perfectionist in me ;D Because of the re-thicknessing, the jack socket hole wasnt central and too near the face of the bass. Now being a bit of a hoarder, I still had the off cuts from the blank the body was made from. So I decided to make a plug to fill the jack socket hole so that I could re-drill it on the new centre. So I set about routing out the old hole. Sunday morning was spent finishing off the jack socket relocation. First, I finished routing out the old hole. Then I shaped a piece of the original body blank to fit, trying to line up the grain as best I could (anal I know ). Then I glued the block in place Finally, once the glue had set, I sanded the block to the body shape and re-drilled for the jack socket (I'm using a neutrik locking jack). The project is now pretty much on hold waiting for the veneer to arrive as there is no point doing any of the finishing until all the wood butchery is completed.

I had the VS Musician head with a matching 4x12 that was about four foot tall! Must have been very early 80's. Replaced it with a Carlsbro Stingray Pro mega rig (300w head, 150w slave amp, 2x10 cab, 2 x15 cab, all bi-amped).

Progress has slowed again due to work commitments. I did get the back of the body rounded over and the 'belly' contour roughed in: Since taking this photo, I've refined the joint line across the belly contour removing the last of the black lacquer at the same time. I'm now spending time sanding around the edge to eliminate the joint line. I've also stripped the front of the bass (again) and now that the body is the right thickness (you know when something feels right) my optimism for how this bass may turn out has risen again. The only possible drawback was going to be that big "dutchman" in the front. So to get around that problem, I've ordered some quilt maple 0.6mm thick veneer to apply over the front of the bass (overkill given that the front is already quilted maple). There should be enough veneer for 4 bass fronts so I may decide to veneer the flat surface of the back as well and only have the japaning lacquer on the edge/belly contour.

My two'penneth I would not recommend those cheap Behringer mixers for live work as the noise floor is pretty high with an annoying hiss. I would recommend a PJB bass buddy as a practical single channel preamp, and don't Radial do a dedicated pickup/microphone blender in their line of DI boxes? I've also tried the Mackie SRM450 as a bass monitor and didn't really like the lack of clarity, I found it just too 'muddy'

Wow, just when you think you've seen it all, somebody comes up with an unusual but spectacular choice of colours. Makes me think Danelectro for some reason but I really like it

I had a candy apple red metallic one purchased new for £450 around 1990. This had the PJ config, active two-band eq and gold hardware. Twas a very good bass, lovely tone, I just found the neck to be a little 'flexible' and I felt like I was constantly tweaking the truss rod.

Well after another protracted period of thinking about this project whilst doing other domestic projects, a similar build thread on a local forum spurred me to return to this project. The problems with the three-way switch continue in that the dutchman when fitted, left the three-way switch sticking out of the back of the body. A quick check with the calipers revealed that in my haste, I'd ended up with a body that was only 39mm thick instead of the more musicman-like 45mm hence why the three-way was too deep for the body! The only solution was to a) remove the dutchman and laminate another piece of swamp ash onto the back of the body to give me the correct finished depth. First step was to order some 18mm thick swamp ash to laminate to the back and then to machine off around 10-12mm of the existing body in readiness for the lamination: That done, I routed out the defective area around the three-way switch in the front: Then I made an insert to go into the new 'hole': Then sanded this smooth: Finally, having laminated the new swamp ash onto the back of the body, I rough cut the shape with a laminate trimming bit and then thinned the body to 46mm total in readiness for final sanding. As I've also been able to source some black grain filler, my plan is now to finish the back in a trans-black finish with only the solid japaning lacquer on the edges. Tonight will be spent finishing shaping the back of the body including the belly area and rounding over the edges. As I now have a large non-matching dutchman in the face of the bass, I'm not going to be as particular with the finishing. If the bass works as well as I hope, then I'll make another body (using the lessons learned).

We played a local bike club rally the other week (i.e. big tent in a field) and the headline band were a sort of rock/punk covers act. The bass player fell off the stage (think farm trailer about 4ft high) towards the end of their set and knocked himself clean out. On coming round he was found to have four broken ribs and a suspected broken neck, and would have been airlifted to hospital had the air ambulance not been busy that night.

[quote name='TheRev' post='1271716' date='Jun 16 2011, 04:01 PM']Ultimately, I think it's more in the hands and ears than anything else.[/quote] [quote name='Beedster' post='1271706' date='Jun 16 2011, 03:55 PM']Pick your sound and your instrument and learn to be as articulate as possible with both, it's what many of the great players do.[/quote] Agree with both of these. My "db" experience is around 1 month and my reference point is my Stagg EUB but already I've found I can get quite different results/sounds from how I 'attack' the bass. It appears to me that the longscale is particularly more sensitive to the nuances of your playing than the electric bass. In fact, it reminds me of my conversion from fretted to fretless some twenty-five odd years ago, there is so much more expression available and the instrument is so much more sensitive to your touch/technique.

[quote name='Mikey R' post='395243' date='Jan 30 2009, 11:58 AM']Hi Al, Could you tell us how you routed out the Jazz pickup? Did you square off the corners with a chisel? Im just wondering if I need to buy a new router bit for those pesky singlecoils. Cheers![/quote] My sneaky solution is to drill the four corners with a 4mm drill in the bench drill, stop the router bit about 1/8" short of the corners and clean out the the residue with a sharp chisel. Saves the needle file bit and gives a professional rounded corner with a much tighter radius than the router bit alone

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' post='1261747' date='Jun 8 2011, 08:17 PM']Good luck with the build, great resto work so far. Not familiar with him, but from these pics, Dave Wilson's obviously a name to remember[/quote] Dave is a bit of a legend up in these parts and most of the North East bass playing community are aware of his pedigree. Theres a bit more info on him and his work [url="http://www.dwilsonguitars.com/"]here[/url].

[quote name='JPJ' post='1267273' date='Jun 13 2011, 01:36 PM']and another useful tip is to warm the rattle can before spraying by standing it in warm water, it helps the lacquer to fully atomise in the nozzle meaning less droplets hitting the body. Just remember to fully dry the rattle can with a cloth before spraying as wet lacquer and water dont mix [/quote] Oh and by the way, I had one these in the same candy apple red. Was a great lightweight bass with powerful active eq. The only downside was a rather flexible neck, I felt like I was constantly tweaking the truss rod.

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1266853' date='Jun 13 2011, 12:35 AM']Oh yeah, and the key to getting a decent finish with the rattlecans from my experience is in putting down a decent amount of clearcoat, in really thin layers, with plenty of waiting between each[/quote] and another useful tip is to warm the rattle can before spraying by standing it in warm water, it helps the lacquer to fully atomise in the nozzle meaning less droplets hitting the body. Just remember to fully dry the rattle can with a cloth before spraying as wet lacquer and water dont mix

Wow, very nice indeed. I might just crack on and do this to mine (and a defret at the same time). Good work that man

[quote name='dood' post='1259182' date='Jun 7 2011, 12:12 AM']Hmmm... interesting - See what Carvin are bringing to the table in D Class world! [url="http://www.carvinworld.com/bassamps/bassheads.php"]http://www.carvinworld.com/bassamps/bassheads.php[/url][/quote] That BX1500 looks tasty and only weighs 10lbs Somebody send the schematic to SWR please as my SM1500 weighs 67lbs Seriously though, I'd like a nice mono power amp, preferably in a module for that I could build into a cabinet (possibly my Schroeder 21012) to pair with my PJB Bass Buddy. Now that would be a nice little rig

[quote name='Bigwan' post='1244209' date='May 25 2011, 01:28 PM']Try getting yourself a forearm clasp from a phsio. Great job and helped me a lot when I had my tennis elbow problems (and you get to look like yer man Greenwood from Radiohead to boot!). I'm afraid to say you'll be lucky if it clears up in a few weeks...[/quote] Big +1 to the Epi Clasp Having suffered from Epicondylitis in my left elbow for a number of years and tiring of endless bouts of painkillers and anti-inflammatories, I purchased one of these on a friends recommendation. Within two months the symptoms cleared up and now only both me after a severe bout of DIY but the clasp counters this within a day or so.

I've just picked up a Stagg from a fellow basschat member (thanks Ash) and I'm completely blown away by it. Mine seems to have none of the known issues mentioned by others and plays really well. All in all, Im finding the transition much simpler than I thought I would and, get this, even Mrs JPJ likes it! (that has got to be a first!). The tone is a fairly convincing DB with the sub-bass backed off just a little from full on, and I'm loving playing it, although I understand its fitted with a much better set of strings than those originally fitted at the factory. For anybody contemplating the move to DB from bass guitar, I'd recommend the Stagg.

Red for me too. I've never liked those blue to turquoise 'bursts but I bet it would look absolutely wicked redone in a black burst

Consett Stonedskis bike rally. Massive PA, and you can't beat playing on the back of a farm trailer in a marquee in a field in the middle of absolutely no where We don't gig regularly but played last weekend so we were in the groove almost from the first note. I did manage a couple of jazz notes when one biker kindly exposed his girlfriends breasts to me when I went on my customary crowd walkabout I love playing rally's, good job as we've four more this summer On a sadder note, I'm hearing rumours that the bass player from last nights headline band fell off the stage and was knocked unconscious and suffered a suspected broken neck. Heres hoping he's ok!

If it's strung through the bridge, I'd say normal longscale strings will be fine. I notice that Overwater recommend long scale for up to 35" thru bridge basses and extra long scale for 35" through body strung and longer scale instruments. I use the standard long scale nickel Overwater strings on my 35" Jazz with no problem.

Well I'd like it, but with a reverse headstock (a la left handed neck on a right handed bass type of way) for those ZZ Top moments. I might just have to head down the shed and knock one up now its got me thinking....maybe a five string.....in black with a tort plate.....hmmmm