Jono Bolton

All resolved now. Rotating the socket didn't make a difference, so I'm not quite sure what was causing it to short; possibly one of the lugs on the jack was making a connection with the wall of the cavity. I've lined the tail of the cavity around the jack with electrical tape, including the floor of the cavity, so there is zero chance of it shorting anywhere. I'm not sure what's happened for it to start shorting, it wasn't an issue before. I'm not really sure why the jack on a P Bass is so close to the edge of the cavity; there's minimal clearance in there which could be remedied by the hole for the jack being moved a few mm closer to the tone pot. An email is currently winging it's way to Fender's R&D dept.

Cheers, that was my first thought but it wasn't an issue before. The jack socket is firmly secured, so I don't think it would have turned at any point. I added some additional tape around the jack spring so that any part that potentially could have made contact with the cavity should be protected. I'll try and rotate the jack 180° and see if that works.

I plugged my bass into my amp for the first time in ages today, and noticed that the signal was crackling and cutting out. After checking the usual suspects (lead, amp head), I worked out that the jack was the culprit; if I moved the lead around the signal would cut in and out. I thought that the jack was possibly touching the cavity and causing it to short, but when I opened it up the jack "arm" has electrical tape on it. I checked the position of the jack in the cavity and screwed the scratchplate back on, but when I plugged my bass into the amp, there was no output. If I listened closely I could hear a vague hint of a signal, and when I turned the amp up, the volume of the signal didn't increase by much, and was soon drowned out by the hum of the amp. If I hold the jack in the socket without pushing it all the way in, I can get the full signal, but when I push it in until it clicks, the signal drops again. Any thoughts on what it could be?

That looks like it neck-dive a lot. I like it though.

Its actually for a Jazzmaster, but I thought I'd ask on here if anyone knew where to get one made up. I had one made for a P Bass by the Bass Doc many moons ago.

Does anyone have a recommendation for somewhere to get a proper celluloid pickguard made? I find a lot of the "cheaper" printed ones look a bit flat.

It's possible they're designed to accommodate through-body stringing, which is why the string doesn't taper where it meets the post. The Fender flats are the same; on the E string, it makes almost a full wrap of the tuner post before it starts to taper. I find it odd that the JMJ Mustang comes with Fender flats as standard if the E is too long for a 34" scale bass, given that the Mustang is a short scale bass. On the Dunlops, I've had mine on a week, and I'm very happy with them. They’re far smoother than the Fenders, and although some of the Dunlops are a heavier gauge than the Fenders (45-105 vs 50-100), the flexibility makes them feel a lot lighter.

I had a set of Fender 9050M (55-105) on my P Bass for a while and they were far too stiff for me. I swapped them for a set of 9050ML (50-100) and they certainly had more give, but the D and G strings in particular made fretting a bit of a chore. I stuck a set of Dunlop 45-105 flats on yesterday, and the difference is like night and day. The Dunlops have far more flexibility and makes playing much easier. The Dunlops also seem to have some sort of coating on the silks at either end, so hopefully there won't be any fraying.

Added a gold anodized pickguard to my Squier and put in a Kiogon wiring loom with Bourns mini pots because the stock mini pots had a smaller thread size and wouldn't have fitted. Having a decent tone pot makes a huge difference! The eagle-eyed will notice that there's a screw missing between the knobs because the hole sits over the cavity slightly, but I'll sort that eventually.

Squier Matt Freeman Precision > Peavey Century 120 > Ampeg B115E (and a Fender Champ 600 just edging into the shot (not for bass)).

Is there anywhere that sells or makes wooden Fender-style thumb rests/tug bars? I'd like an ebony one or similar dark wood rather than the cheap rubbish plastic one I've got as it's cracked at one end from over tightening, but I can't seem to find them anywhere.

It's just a very expensive Ibanez Talman

IIRC, that shape was used for 12-string Teles, but it doesn't really work for a 6-string. It barely worked for a 12-string. The only good Fender 12-string headstock was the one on the Electric XII

Maple neck, black blocks, binding. Absolutely rancid. I've no idea why it's so popular. Rosewood and pearl isn't far behind, but maple and black is particularly awful. I don't mind binding and dots though on a rosewood fingerboard.

I think the Tele headstock works best on a Telecaster. It looks ok-ish on a 51-style P Bass but I think it best suits the Telecaster body shape. That said, I absolutely detest Telecaster-shaped basses. You know the ones; a standard Tele guitar shape, blown up to bass size. I think Squier made them as part of the Vintage Modified range, and I've seen a few rubbish home-made jobs too. it really, really doesn't work for a bass. And that's not 'IMO'; it's stone-cold fact.

Nice. I always wanted one but never managed to pick one up. I always thought that the 2 Jazz pickups look much better in these than a P/J combination. Ditto the chrome switch plates; whenever I see the modern ones with a big expanse of empty pickguard, i think they look naff, and pretty cheap. they always put me in mind of the cheapo Stagg ones from about 10 years ago. The MIJ Jags are the original and best.