BassBod

Any light coloured wood veneer, but I have heard of people using plastic strips (ice cream carton to be exact!). A hard coating (epoxy, poly or superglue) will give more of a "jaco" tone and prevent damage from roundwound strings, but you lose some of the woodiness. If you use wood veneer the only thing that can go wrong is splitting the veneer along the grain, so it ends up below the fingerboard surface - use a really sharp knife when you trim it downbefore sanding flat.

Sounds silly, but are the pin connectors reversed or damaged? There isn't much you can do to an EMG to kill it..so I can't think of anything else. I'd expect a faulty one to be completely dead. good luck - and tell us what the answer turns out to be?

I played on for ten mins in a shop - the body digs into your chest, but otherwise it was pretty good feeling and pretty light. I had an inkling you could get used to the body shape and even get comfortable if you played it for a while? Sound was ok, but hard to judge even in a quiet shop...but I liked it straight away. From what I saw on the interweb the current basses have little in common with the ones they made a few years ago. Seems like a waste of a lot of design work to me?

I suspect your bass isn't oil finished, but has a thin coating of something that would stop beeswax from working its way into the wood? I could be wrong....

I've got a circuit drawing, but not sure if its the version with the ECI (earth continuity indicator?) I wouldn't use it until fixed?? Shoud be in your email in a few mins....

I'd go for epoxy - glue the buggers in.

Looks like Mark IV to me, mid eighties? I've got the GP11 preamp - very nice, if a touch hissy by modern standards and a very good all-rounder.

I used one of those on a Kramer (years and years ago!) good pickups - but not as cool as a Dark Star....with TI flats....

Look up Mo Clifton (cliftonbasses.co.uk) based in Blackheath?

About time.....90lb 4x10's aren't fun to work with, even if they sound great.

Mine used to fit in a standard Hiscox - not the long version (but that would have a bit of room to spare). Not cheap, but very good protection. I also had a Levy's canvas type bag that was a good fit ( the one the Gallery show on their site for £40? but I didn't pay anything like that much..)

I had the AH150 (series 6?) head years ago and it developed a bad but hard to find hum after two or three years. Trace took it back and fixed for nothing (including carrier) because they knew what the fault was - the plastic connector block between the pre/power amp shrunk with heat/age and pulled the wires a bit. I never looked inside, but that was what they told me, and I never had a problem with it again (another two years before I went SWR). Sounds like a tech job - good luck!

Looks great! One quick warning - I've been using one of those Sadowsky cases. A great light case, but mine has a screw/pin or something sharp down in the corner/jacksocket area. You can't see it but its scratched up two of my basses recently, until I worked out what it was and stuck some extra velcro over it....looked like woodworm damage!

I am a very happy EA500 user, and a former EdenWT300 user. Can't speak for the current WT550 version, but my 300 would go into thermal shutdown very quickly when given a 4ohm load. Also it does always sound "warm/dark" or whatever you choose to call it. The EA500 has lots of power, the eq isn't as complicated as it looks and generally feels like a real improvement to me. I find it a lot easier to have a clean sound I can warm up with eq settings. The other thing that always niggled me with the WT300 was the valve thing - I could never hear any difference If I changed the valve. With other amps (SWR, Alembic) I can hear some change. Nothing you'd notice in a gig setting, but a slight character change. I couldn't help thinking it was there for marketing rather than its contribution to the sound of the amp.

Well, there's three or four of us customers in this discussion (and many more viewers) who will think again before buying from Overwater - you couldn't ask for more direct feedback than that. I'm sure Status or any other supplier would produce 36" sets if they had enough interest. Mo Clifton used to supply Picato strings (they were ok, also used by Wal) and there are others. I tried some Mansons recently that were cheap and good...

Sad to read this - I've always found them to be pretty together. I noticed their website/ordering has been down for a while, I guess they're changing things around? Still no excuse for crap service - did you talk to Chris May?

Magnetic pickups can be good in really loud situations, but to me they just sound too much like a bass guitar. I've used a Kent Armstrong and tried a Schaller (mounting was terrible...rattled very badly) neither was the sound I wanted. Watch out for phase issues if you're mixing pickups - if they cancel each other out rather than reinforce, you've got a problem Good luck!

I think they've always been made by Picato. I've used them with a mag pickup, no problem (except I don't like mag pickups). BB

Second vote for Saitenkatalog - they used to be fair bit cheaper (£17 a set) and I've found their service to be very good. Pickup some Thomastik superalloys while you're at it - my second fav string, like a cross between a DR Sunbeam and a Roto...

Have a look at Bob Gollihur's site - he's selling a new(ish) mic holder/bracket that allows you to use any mike (?) without damage to your bass. Again n good for loud situations, but doesn't tie you to a particular microphone. I'm sure there's also plenty of discussion on Talkbass...

Again - PM me if you're interested in some lessons...happy to teach here at mine (but usually teach in a College)... BB

From memory its a standard Switchcraft stereo jack socket, that screws into the housing - look them up on WD or Allparts?

Radial is the safest bet - I use one with a very "hot" Alembic preamp with no problems at all. The Orchid is also excellent (and much better value). I've used mine with active basses, no problem (my old one had two inputs, one lower level labelled "line"). John at Orchid is a very helpful chap - give him a call or email and I'm sure he can give you some advice.

Nice stuff - never tried a Smith, but they always look great (and unusual). As for the cabs, it all depends on the room/stage - I don't think there's a definative answer.

Give it a few weeks, get more comfortable and see which you play more. After about ten years, I'm pretty happy with either, but if I'm honest I still "think 4". I play 5 for projects where I can hear a use for the low notes, but otherwise I stay with a 4. I think its worth putting any decisions off for a year or two......