Kiwi

Maybe Rob Green will use the hidden bridge, wide chambered body with a carved top, 3 band eq. and headless neck and call it the Electro-King Paramatrix...or something like that. OK next installment. [attachment=142746:DSC09427.JPG] So we unclamped the bodies the following morning and rough routered the jaggy tops so they were closer to the body outline. The drips of glue meant that the outline was a little bumpy but this didn't matter too much as we planned to smooth them out by edge sanding on the oscillating bobbin sander later anyway. There wasn't a clear way of doing the next order of tasks - routing for chambers, neck pocket and pickups, putting the back on and routing the control cavity. The chambering was relatively straight forward...just follow the outline of the template. [size=4][attachment=142747:DSC09428.JPG][/size] I also drew an outline of the control cavity on a piece of scrap to saw out, smooth and rout into to a thicker piece of MDF. [attachment=142748:DSC09406.JPG] This was something I later should have been more careful with bec[size=4]ause although the control cavity was made to be big enough for the electronics, it was also located in a position where the bottom F-hole was. OOPS...but more on that later.[/size] The next thing we decided to do was the neck pocket. So I took the neck and traced around the outside of it before cutting and shaping the inset. The problem with this Moses neck heel is that its not only tapered so it can be popped out the mould easily but the sides of the heel are also curving outwards and a little lumpy. [attachment=142749:DSC09429.JPG] So I set to the neck with some fine sandpaper and a steel block to shape it so its a little more consistent. We also allowed a margin around the outside of the trace just large enough for the neck to sit in tightly up to a certain depth. Then came the demanding part. We tested the neck for fit in the scrap template by inserting the neck and checking along the sides and bottom for light coming through. [attachment=142750:DSC09431.JPG] Any chinks or bumps were smoothed out with a file. This took AGES. Mainly because just when I'd thought I'd sorted one spot, another showed up. The corners were roughly filed too but the router bit for the MDF template would provide the filleting so no need to be too precise. However despite the necks supposedly coming from the same mould, Jon was adamant that both necks would need their own template. I also routed the template for the control cavity but I don't have any pictures of that.

The logic will come undone when we get to synthchat. BUt I think the colours are still cool though. Maybe synth chat can be pink instead...all the colours in a highlighter pack.

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1377806166' post='2192228'] I thought what she actually said was "It's a mystewy" [/quote] I believe she had a lisp!

I'd just build one out of spare parts and be done with it.

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1377804174' post='2192190'] Hawkwind played west ones [/quote] They didn't exist after Lemmy.

[quote name='rodacademy' timestamp='1377801596' post='2192144'] So forgot about the Thunder!! [/quote] Not important. The only band playing Westones I can remember were INXS. I wish I had photos of my Steiny XL25A to hand. Phenomenal lows. No surprise they're popular with dubsters. Dammit...I like 80's basses. OK I've said it.

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1377803197' post='2192167'] [i]So is Dr M the ebay seller too? You may not be aware of this: "[/i]This forum is for the discussion of Ebay auctions. Please do not promote your own auctions. If you have something to sell, please use the For Sale forums. (Moderated by mcgraham)." [/quote] As u might know. There is a place for selling stuff on here...

Looks like it won't be for another couple of months. The problem is that the last developer didn't record what changes he had made and now we have to download the site for Ben (our server maintenance guy) to figure out what has changed and what hasn't. Then we need to install Ubuntu updates, upgrade the Invision software and create a test environment for future development. We're also vetting a new developer which may or may not work out depending on whether Ben is satisfied they can do good work. They'll be skinning guitarchat and drumchat. Speaking of which...we don't have a colour scheme for the other sites yet. What do you think...replace the orange with blue and keep it a little brand consistent? Or go for a completely different look?

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1377800621' post='2192124'] Nice contrast? In the way dog sh*t contrasts with a paving slab? [/quote] Only in your imagination, not mine

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1377799843' post='2192104'] It's got that dreadful lower horn cutaway though, they look so ugly, an aesthetic nightmare rivalling that of the suburban amateur garden designer's split-level decking. [/quote] Nope, you've lost me. I think the lower horn cutaway is a nice contrast. The balance of the curves is different to a double cutaway but not any worse than a Fender. What's the point of an upper cutaway any how? It doesn't serve a purpose.

I think there were different basses in different markets. But definitely headless. It was a time when good design took priority over vintage snobbery. US market: Early 80's Steinberger was everywhere. Sting, Lee Sklar, UB40,Wet Wet Wet, etc. Metal - definitely Charvel and Jackson, I remember Bryan Adam's bass player playing a Charvel. Not bad basses either, the 3B's. [quote name='Samashton12' timestamp='1377762771' post='2191362'] I could be mistaken thinking this was an 80s bass, but the Yamaha BB series screams 80s to me as my dad swore by them and never played anything else around that time period, [/quote] I was thinking the BB5000 was absolutely everywhere in the late 80s...other than in the UK. Nathan East had one, Wayne Nelson the bassist in LRB, Mister Mister...etc. Nice basses too if you liked close string spacing. UK market: Status, no question, with Jaydee and Wal as follow ups. I remember reading the classifieds of NME and drooling over the Statii, Wals and Jaydees for sale. One day I bagged my own Jaydee and it was my only bass for 12 years. It still sets the standard in terms of what I'm used to and feel comfortable on.

There are a few very nice looking single cuts out there...Fodera Beez Elite for example. A Telecaster is a single cut BTW...so is a Les Paul and a Gibson Byrdland...I've yet to hear guitarists moaning about how they look so bad.

The basses I am making are probably dorky. I'm not bothered though, I'd still play them in public if they feel right and sound the business.

Abe Laboriel put down some blistering and growly basslines on a stringray as incidental music for the later series of CHiPs. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CBnzDWkBn8[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbuDiq4VHs0[/media]

There are many hidden Steve's on here. It might be the most popular name for bassists. Oh yes.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1377526918' post='2188463'] I don't think you can be OTT enough when it comes to planning. If you have good planning and foundations it makes the rest of the job so much easier in the long run. Fascinating so far. [/quote] Well I guess thats one of the unexpected lessons I took away with me! I started to feel pretty frustrated by Thursday morning because we were both fatigued from having worked until 8:30pm the previous two nights. The measuring of pickups and aligning them to the neck taper was taking so long, it was threatening whether I would have anything to take home..very much a case of measuring three times and cross checking then measuring again...and it all had to be within half a millimetre!! I moaned about how long it was taking me to get it right to Jon. He replied "well you also care about getting it right...and you also don't want to make any mistakes. These things [the measuring] take their own time and shouldn't be rushed". Which was fair comment...so I got my head down and kept my eye on the prize...and then made a complete mess of the pickup template!

So the gluing up happened over night for jointing the bookmatched cores and tops. [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][/font][/color] In the morning the blanks were rough sawn to a few mm within the template line and then routered for clean edges. Jon and I had a looooong discussion about chambering...the effect of mass and density on the sound in conjunction with the graphite neck...and the increased mass of a wider body. I reached the conclusion that the primary role of the body would be to dampen the graphite neck a little (not that the steinberger necks need much dampening) and needed to be as light as possible but without over dampening. So the mahogany core eventually became a frame over which the stiffer maple facings would become a skin. I had to rely on Jon's experience with his Artist basses and the chambering he did on my 6 string for the call on how thick the walls of the chambers were. So we rough cut the tops to the body shape (again a few mm within the outline I'd drawn) and then glued the tops to the cores... (yes, too much glue!) and left them that night to dry after clamping up.

OK so the first installment is going to involve the template making: I can be a bit "Alan Partridge" when it comes to detail I'm interested in...so feel free to let me know if I'm going OTT with the process. I cut out the body outline from the CAD drawing I brought and traced it onto a piece of MDF. Then rough sawed the shape out and sanded the edges smooth on the oscillating sander and then finished by hand. The shape was then transferred to a second piece of MDF for rough sawing and edge sanding. One template was going to be for the body shape, the other for the chambering. We then sawed out two body cores from a plank of honduran mahogany trued up the edges for a super close fit (this took a LONG time...Jon wanted nothing less than zero light getting through the joint) and talked about the top wood. Originally I wanted flame maple for the front and back but Jon didn't have enough flame maple in the extreme level of figure I was looking for...one of the basses would have to be something else. Because the finish was going to be blue burst, we needed a pale wood or the blueburst wouldn't have enough intensity. Jon happened to have some stunning quilted maple. Although the effect wasn't quite what I planned, it would mean identical instruments and a satisfying level of visual impact.

[quote name='matski' timestamp='1377521355' post='2188398'] I saw a bloke play a Fodera at a gig once. Only for one song,mind you - for the rest of the set he played a Fender. Go figure.... [/quote] To my ears Foderas sound very similar to jazz basses!

They are very good and I've been looking for one since I bought the guitar in 2006. I've found it doesn't bend to the point of where the strings are floppy like a floyd rose though but I don't do much dive bombing so no great loss.

He's a very talented producer and probably doesn't get the recognition in this capacity that he should.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1377449547' post='2187667'] I think anyone buying a high-end bass as an investment is a little bit daft. [/quote] [quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1377449313' post='2187664'] I keep seeing these threads about "high-end" (i.e. expensive) basses, but I'm betting that well over half the people posting on these threads routinely spend WAY more on their bog-standard box-with-four-wheels than they'd ever dream of spending on a bass. And the bass will routinely hold a fair bit of its value for a long time, if it's rare & vintage it may even appreciate. Not many cars do that. [size=4][/quote][/size] +1 [size=4]I could have bought a very nice car at one point around 2006 but I decided to buy basses instead mainly because I don't like losing value with depreciation. Most of my basses have kept up with inflation and a few of them are collectable and will go up a little in value when I sell. On reflection though, the cars I thought about buying have become very desirable in the last 3 years also...so maybe there are some similarities when it comes to [b]classic[/b] examples of both cars and basses.[/size] I think there is potential for a lot of confusion between collectability, investment potential and rareness. Sometimes the three don't overlap with one another in respect of various brands and models of instrument. There are some rare instruments that are very collectable and will probably increase in value...near mint, custom colour preCBS Fenders for example. There are some instruments that are not very rare yet are very collectable and will probably continue to increase in value...early 80's Arias, Ibanezes and Yamahas for example. There are some rare instruments that are not very collectable and probably won't go up in value...Michael Spalt or Basslab instruments for example. There are some collectable instruments that are not very rare and are unlikely go up in value...Ernie Ball basses in limited edition finishes for example. There are some collectable instruments that are rare and are unlikely to go up in value...Ernie Ball NAMM graphite necked and 20th Anniversary basses for example. etc. etc. There are some rare instruments that will go up in value and aren't very collectible [i]at the moment[/i]...and I'm not saying what I think those are because last time I did that, I couldn't afford them any more. [size=4]I'd suggest that any new instrument is not going to develop investment potential for at least 30 years...and if someone could see that far into the future, their talents and time would probably be better spent in other fields of investment. [/size] [size=4]Investment potential usually comes about because of a close association with history. Fender have a close association with 60's music for example. Racing Ferraris go for massive sums of money because of their association with historic races. Typically properties that have some kind of history also go for higher sums. [/size] I don't think people who buy a new boutique bass do it for investment value. From what I've observed I think they buy high end basses for similar reasons that non musicians might buy a fancy grained piece of furniture like a table or chest of drawers. The instruments are very decorative, functional and usually high quality pieces of craftsmanship.

I scored a Wilkinson VS100C convertible trem in March - rare as rockinghorse poo and a great design for locking the trem when not in use. But it was in gold so I set about replacing the chrome hardware with gold. Mr Shuker also installed and routed for the trem so it floated properly. Apart from pickup screws still being chrome, the rest of the guitar is complete. [attachment=142345:DSC09487.JPG] When I got the guitar in 2006, it looked like this: [attachment=142346:DSCF1200.JPG]

Nice work Jim.