rushbo

I’ve lost count of the number of bitsas I’ve bolted together. Some I’ve punted on for a modest profit - generally just enough to cover the cost of a Balti and a can or two of Root Beer- and some I’ve kept. It’s great fun. My advice to a prospective bitsabuilder would be: Don’t just look for parts - if a whole bass comes up for a good price and you need just a neck/body/hardware etc, get it anyway. Then you build up a store of useful spares. Facebook Marketplace is great for budget basses. I’ve scooped up all sorts of nice things (Squiers, Harley Bentons, Epiphones) for not much money. Get a Dremel (or similar). They’re brilliant for drilling, sanding details and ghetto routing. I have a Tachlife Dremel knockoff and it’s ace. Don't worry about getting hardware that’s an exact fit for the neck or body you’ve got. Use hardwood dowels or toothpicks to fill any existing holes and re-drill. More often than not, the old holes will be covered by the new hardware. The same goes for pickguards- even the cheapest Chinese P Bass plate can be bullied to fit a bass with some sandpaper and a bit of patience. If you’re stripping paint, get a heat gun. Getting a poly finish off a Squier bass is no fun at all with anything else. Tru Oil is great if you don’t want to paint a body. You can get a really deep gloss finish, or a lovely matt sheen. Don't worry too much if the neck isn’t a snug fit to the body. My main gigging bass of the last 8 years has a 1mm gap between the neck and the body and tuning and sustain are great. Entwistle pickups are cheap and utterly fantastic. Prewired looms are useful if you’re nervous about soldering. An alternative is to use heat shrink tubing over twisted wires. Wilkinson hardware is great and occasionally pops up on BC or eBay for good prices. Don't turn your nose up at budget basses- I’ve had great successes working on things like Encores. I’m not fussy about bodies- if they’re in decent condition and my hardware fits it, I’ll use it. I’m much fussier with necks. Welcome to the wonderful world of the lo-budget bitsa!

That's great, that is. The tuners are a wee bit sticky-outy (technical term) but I would seriously rock the snot out of that bad boy. The "inlays" look ace too. Even the rather idiosyncratic pseudo-headstock looks very cool, in situ. Have a cup of tea and a biscuit. That's a job well done sir.

Here's a pretty crappy pic of my lovely Precisions... Top left is my current main squeeze - two Squier basses bodged together with a a Kiogon loom (V/T/3 way toggle), Entwistle pups and a comedy decal. Next left is another FrankenSquier with a Wilkinson bridge and a gen-u-wine Fender P pup. Middle is Old Red - same as the white one (almost) but with a gorgeous, skinny, left handed, Jazz Bass Neck. Far right is a cruelly molested Fender Cowpoke. Active circuit removed, toggle switch and V/T loom installed, Entwistle pickups and a custom Tort plate. Front and centre is a Bass Centre Bruce Thomas Sig with Deep Talkin' flats fitted.

Stalk Talk

There is so much going on with this bass, that a piece of exotic, highly figured wood, would have just added to the chaos. It's a bit like ordering a pizza - you choose two or three toppings, so you can really taste them - if you just heap everything on it, you get a weird, unpalatable mess. You can still eat it, and bits of it will taste great, but you'd only ever order it once.

Some people will look upon this bass and their hearts will be filled with joy. I'm sure it sounds great and the build quality is magnificent, but it really is my worst nightmare. For context, when I see a nicely worn in Fender Precision with the early 70's logo and a tort scratchplate, I get a warm, tingly feeling.

When I die and go to hell, possibly because of all those Joni Mitchell albums I borrowed from Birmingham Music Library and taped without permission, this is the instrument Lucifer himself will hand to me. I will then join four other doomed musicians holding dreadful, unsuitable instruments and will be condemned to play "Mustang Sally" to a half full room of bored partygoers, until the end of time.

"It's 2050 and the three former members of Primus entertain the other residents of their retirement home with their latest composition 'More Mashed Banana Please, Nurse.'"

Intention: Appeal to everyone Outcome: Appeal to no one This is what happens when the seven-year-old child of the SEO of the company has permission from Daddy to "design" an instrument with no idea of ergonomics and absolutely no sense of aesthetics. Rickenbacker and Fender should take Jackson to court over this - not regarding copyright infringement, but about crimes against humanity.

Everything about this is true. I used to retch, every time I saw one of those Fodera-style single cut things and run to the safety of my P-basses. Nowadays, I'm still not a fan, but they don't make me suppress my gag reflex like they did earlier in the century. I'll probably end up selling various body parts and organs to fund the purchase of one in a year or two. For a brief moment I was the proud (?) owner of this, which polarised the opinions of my nearest and dearest...

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Have you tried your local Wilko? I bought a set from there when I had a similar issue and one of them did the job. Currently £2.50.

Stick a chorus pedal on there, unfollow this forum, then just walk away. You'll save loads of money. Pedal acquisition is a very slippery slope - you start off by buying a cheap Flanger "to see what it sounds like" but before too long, you end up selling all your kids' shoes on FaceBook Marketplace to fund the purchase of some boutique pedal that will "take your playing to the next level," which turns out to be just a Tube Screamer in a different box. A bargain at £275.

I really think there should be a section of this forum, purely devoted to incredibly neat boards. I feel a Zen-like sensation of calm and stillness when I see a well ordered, compact pedalboard. This is lovely - kudos, sir.

This looks brilliant. I have no idea what you've done, or how you did it, but I'm delighted it works. I thought I was being super-technical when I hotwired an external patch selector switch to my Zoom B3, but this is next level. Or even the level above that. My FX needs run as far as "a bit of chorus" on a song or two and that's about it, but I love seeing stuff like this and I'm a bit in awe of anyone who can bend their brain to configure a selection of bits from Maplins [citation needed] to make it work so well for them. Shouldn't you be working for NASA?

A few year ago, I saw The Posies in London and Matt Harris was playing a Squier Dimension bass.* It sounded pretty good to me. Having inherited a "make do and mend" attitude from my parents, I've always bought and used second hand or budget instruments. I like the process of fixing any faults and upgrading them as and when finances allow. This means I have a collection of oddball instruments that are all modified to my own specs. I feel a real connection to these instruments, and I love playing them. On the other hand, I enjoy gasping in awe at the shiny custom creations and (whisper it) Rickenbakers. I guess the bottom line is, play what you like. If the instrument fulfills your needs and you can still afford to buy a few tins of beans, then all is good. (* I think it was a Dimension, but it was definitely a Squier.)

I like it!

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of the bass! I have teeny, Trump-like hands, which means my pinky on my left hand gets used a lot - mainly for playing octaves - and if you don't know what an octave is, listen to almost any seventies disco tune and you'll hear plenty! Most adult males have regular sized hands which means that most of the notes they'll use can be covered without the pinky getting involved. This seems to be a more straightforward option than trying to flip your brain around to play left handed. I don't know any left handed bassists who play right handed, but Mark Knopfler and Nils Lofgren are lefties who now play guitar right handed, so it can be done. A short or medium scale bass may help you play passages which might ordinarily involves a "four-finger" stretch. Good luck!