Kiwi

Trying (unsuccessfully) to cope with a new culture that didn't like middle class people from England. With the benefit of 30 years of hindsight it was one of the worst years of my life.

Anyway, so there was a problem with the string length and after faffing about for a bit, we concluded that the best option would be to go for a headpiece that allowed single ball end strings to be used. Moses do one but they're being a bit obtuse in confirming whether that head piece will fit my neck. I suspect not but then there's a question about whether the head piece could be made to fit if all it involved was removing material. Alternatively, HeadlessUSA do an add on string clamp out of milled brass or aluminium but it's a less elegant solution than the Moses head piece. We shall see what happens when I hear back from both this week. It's almost the sort of thing that someone might take to e-machine shop in order to fabricate... But anyway, Jon rigged a set of old strings he had so they fit just so we could test the electronics. The finished instrument is here: [attachment=228636:20160925_121806.jpg] [color=#1D2129][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]When I set out with this project I wanted visually to achieve something that looked like the bastard love child of a three way between Fodera, Steinberger and D'Angelico with body width to match a Jaydee. I think the extra coats of matt finish helped to pull the maple back a bit and turn the whole thing into a much more subtle thing.[/font][/color] [color=#1D2129][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Tonally, I went looking for prominent midrange, vintage highs and solid, warm lows. That was mostly achieved - loads of snarly midrange as you might expect with a semi holllow. However the bass sounds a lot more stingray than I anticipated through all the coil split options. I may yet still faff about with resistors to change the impedance of the neck pickup in order to fatten it up a bit. [/font][/color][color=#1D2129][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]The surprise was how much sustain was on tap. I've generally held Moses-made Steinberger necks in high regard and that trust has been rewarded. I expected the semi hollow body to dampen things a little - and it has but in a nice way. The notes take ages to die off though - which suggests the next bass planned (a matching fretless in a tobacco sunburst), will be something to look forward to.[/font][/color] This bass took a lot longer to finish than I expected but the results have been more than worth it! For once, things turned out pretty close to how they were planned.

OK here goes part one before I fly back home tomorrow. Feel like I need to be doing some kind of Captain Kremen style exposition. "Hellooooo viewers! Last week you'll recall we left the bass finished but not complete! What could possibly go wrong?! Lots, as it so happens..." OK so Jon had painted the body in its colour coats and given it a couple of coats of clear finish. The grain popped way more than I expected and I ended up worried that I was going to have some PRS DNA mixed into the whole Fod-berger-gelico thing. That didn't turn out to be as big a deal in the end after Jon slapped more clear coat on it but there were a couple of issues we needed to resolve before we could make progress. 1) The neck pocket. The screw holes were out of alignment with the holes in the neck pocket DESPITE using the pointy neck bolt process to identify the locations of the neck bolt holes. So Jon and I agreed that the neck holes on the neck needed to shift instead of the holes on the body. So I drilled out the brass inserts we put in the neck last time, routed out a super deep channel through each of the rows of bolt holes and we slammed a couple of bits of wenge in, [attachment=228626:20160919_134109.jpg] Planed/sanded the inserts back, drilled new holes that lined up with the neck heel and then installed new socket inserts. [attachment=228625:20160919_170704.jpg] One problem solved. 2) Bridge Yeah Jon worked out a solution but the dimensions needed testing. So we worked on that for a bit. First a sodding great hole needed routing in the back of the bass for the tone block and to allow enough clearance for using the tuners. [attachment=228627:20160920_122719.jpg] Then I shaped and drilled holes in an oddly shaped tone-block that the saddles were fixed to. [attachment=228629:20160920_160059.jpg] After the bridge was fixed, Jon rounded the saddle edges off for me on the vicious belt sander (sorry, but I swear it had it in for me) and we set about aligning it with the neck. [attachment=228633:20160923_115857.jpg] After the saddle was screwed down, the rest of the work just involved tweaks - we took the ebony bridge cover down a few mill so it stood less proud, I lined the control cavity and tinted the back rout for the bridge, f hole and neck screw holes with black stain or paint. Then I installed the pickups, soldered connections on the pick up coil selectors and worked the rats nest of a circuit into something slightly more rational (and robust). That took a whole day as we didn't have a schematic for the pickup wire colours and I got the connections wrong before we both managed to work out what went where. After that...we discovered that the double ball end strings I brought wouldn't fit. OH f***...

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1474821580' post='3140797'] MacDaddy and Herbie, plus a colourful tuba. [/quote] I started humming "[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIM_2e4CBVs"]Tuba Smarties[/url]" when I saw this.

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1474750290' post='3140301'] And a wall of Wals with their proud owners! [/quote] That made me go slightly weak at the knees...and I was even lying down. What a line up!

Here's a teaser with the man himself.

Ped and I can't make it, just too far to drive. Have fun though chaps.

Quick bump to breathe some life back into this thread. I was back at Jon's this week and while I didn't get to even start on the fretless, the first bass is finished...save for a new headpiece and set up. Stay tuned for more later folks...

Welcome back! (We've all been waiting for you.)

I have both the G3X and the B3, and they're both flawed master pieces. With the G3X even though you can set up 6 effects, you can only switch three on and off individually at any one time which means creating separate patches for anything complicated. I also REALLY miss not having access to tap tempo button. A mod is possible where you can attach an external footswitch but it does involve a bit of soldering. The B3 is pretty good too - really wanted 6 effect slots for (ironically) effects that always stay on like compressor, noise gate and amp/speaker sims. Separate tap tempo and MIDI in/out would have been handy too for synth bass stuff and mapping other effects. As it is in both cases, I've sourced always on effects to other pedals and both Zooms are more or less relegated to delays and nothing more. Great value and more practical than my Lexicon MPXG2's but the MPXG2 still reigns supreme for everything but portability.

Yeah if his was based on a Twin, it would have rattled everyone's fillings!

Level 42 - sorry but I'd just started formal bass lessons and they, along with Stanley and Jaco, were my brave new world of bass.

The ibanez [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1471553390' post='3114015'] That's completely plausible, considering that a fair few Marshall valve heads have a solid state distortion circuit (think Boss DS1) in the front end, and their Yngwie Malmsteen signature head incorporates a DOD 250! [/quote] Ibanez took this route with the TSA line of combos and were pretty open about shoving a Tube Screamer circuit in the front end. I'm not a fan of Tube Screamers as such but I totally understand how a solid state circuit might provide a bit more midrange definition than valves. My standard for hi gain sound has tended to be Mesa Boogie, lots of djent, whereas more Fender for overdrive sounds. Not sure if the MB has a solid state drive circuit though. Dumbles seem very over rated. Especially now that companies like Fuchs seem to get so close that the differences simply aren't worth bothering about.

Oh, I didn't know yours was headed! Interesting...mine's headless but suspect the string spacing might be similar. Is yours thru neck too?

[quote name='barneyg42' timestamp='1471177358' post='3110998'] YAY!! [/quote] Please bring the red Series 1? It sounds nearly identical to mine which I won't be bringing on account of baggage allowances.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1471159519' post='3110812'] [i][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"And Spacer isn't rock-influenced either, it was produced by the Godfather of disco for goodness sakes"[/font][/color][/i] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]I think it is more a reference to the Rock Guitar solo towards the end. NR and BE were very much from a rock back ground.[/font][/color] [/quote] Nile was a self admitted former jazz snob and he met Bernard in the Seasme Street band. In the interviews I've watch and read, I've never seen mention of rock backgrounds per se, just sessions. Maybe I'm missing something?

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1471158432' post='3110803'] Final point of order, I don't think Rod Stewart was ever in Hot Chocolate [/quote] Y'got me! Should have been "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy". Brain was partially distracted mid post by step son wanting to watch sharks on Youtube just before lunch...

Don't take it down to the Pimple and Pulsar on Saturday night for the open mic either.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1458906656' post='3012010'] Yep, the early days of Disco had a variety of tempos. A breakdown of tempos and named styles here. [url="http://www.discosavvy.com/diversesounds.html"]http://www.discosavv...ersesounds.html[/url] [/quote] In terms of songs provided as examples, the list seems pretty erratic. There are loads of songs mentioned on it that noone would have heard of and a LOT of genre-stretching. For example, LovexLove isn't "jazz disco" it's upbeat easy listening with jazz guitar and disco-influenced production. It's not genre defining, it's genre following. And Spacer isn't rock-influenced either, it was produced by the Godfather of disco for goodness sakes. Yet the most disco influenced rock songs (or should that be rock influenced disco songs) ever "You Sexy Thing" by Rod Stewart, "Missing You" by Rolling Stones and "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen don't seem to get a mention...! I tend to think of disco as being three main sounds - East coast, West coast, and Philly. Philly was all romantic melodrama with those orchestral parts and many tracks were played by house band MSFB. East Coast was all about the New York scene (Chic, Sister Sledge, Sheila B, Diana Ross, Blondie etc) and looking sharp. West coast stuff was pretty much party-on, inspired by Brothers Johnson, EW&F, Kool, Quincy, Rod Temperton or any acts associated with them.

Joyo do a Blackface clone with a valve rectifier called the Beale Street. I really want to try one but for now the Effectrode PC2A does a decent job of emulating amp sag.

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1356171351' post='1907554'] I gave up trying to take decent pictures. So here's my refurbished Chandler Custom Strat, Lexicon MPXG2 + R1 and Burman Pro501 combo. Last thing I need to do with the guitar is install a decent tremolo. The only one that does the job so far is the Stets trem but I don't like how it fussy and vintage it looks. A Wilkinson VS-100C would have been perfect but they aren't made any more. [attachment=125637:DSC08941.JPG] [/quote] Geez, I don't remember taking that photo and I never saved it! I lost the modded DS1 in my frequent global relocations too. Still haven't installed the electronics in the Klein yet either, but hopefully will do it next month. Things have moved on a bit since then too. [attachment=225417:guitar gear.png] Also have the following but haven't actually plugged the GX3 into the Pro501 yet and am probably unlikely to for the forseeable future, which is a bit of a shame. [attachment=225419:burman gear 2.png] The GX3 sounds nice with the middle stage turned up - very old school rawknrawl which is another way of saying it lacks djent. The first gain stage is a bit woolly and Dave-Stewart-school-of-retro-fuzz - even less djent. But I want to find out what happens with both gain stages turned up. Should be pleasantly face melting and perhaps djenty.

Klons are a bit swaggy - supposed to emulate dumbles and the nuances might be lost in your current set up. Why not settle for something like a Joyo JF14 American Sound which is a Fender emulator and see how things go?

I've seen them played on Youtube. I've seen them discussed on Youtube. Everyone's sitting on the fence or screaming their praises but for esoteric reasons. But every Dumble emulating pedal sounds woolly to me or like a Fender emulating pedal. I don't get it. What's so great about them? Honestly, someone please enlighten me without resorting to sh*t like 'it makes you sound like yourself but more' and other crap like that.