rushbo

Nice work - I'd be inclined to round off the lower horn of the pickguard, but you've got that three-ply thing down!

Fascinating stuff... Two of my favourite bassists. Thanks for sharing.

Just down the road from me...don't think I'll be bidding, but could help with collection or courier-ing...

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1476129770' post='3151647'] A good start is to scour evilbay and Scumtree for a budget bass as a start. Then use the body and neck and be prepared to change everything else. If the neck/body joint is loose, get veneer to stick to the side(s) to tighten the joint. other than that it's all down to you what you do. [/quote] This. I love Squier basses - they make brilliant "modding platforms". They used to be ridiculously cheap, but now people have got wise to how good they can be, the prices have crept up. I did score one earlier this year for £25 tho...needed some TLC, but generally it was OK. Chinese ones aren't as good as the Korean or Indonesian ones, but the bodies especially are fine. Grab some hardware from BC/Fleabay/Gumtree and you're off - oh yeah, try Shpock too - a few bargains to be had there.

Another vote for cable ties. Not for everyone as it does involve cranking the drill out and my board was a home made wooden affair. Absolutely rock solid and easy peasy to move stuff around with some cheapo ties. Recommended if you can accommodate them on your board.

Bought a rather lovely Mexi P Bass pup from Willy. A simple, smooth transaction. Buy and sell with confidence

[quote name='DuncanF' timestamp='1476048258' post='3150879'] I think that there's an assumption that nurdling on a bass needs to be done in a band/gig context. My father played the piano but no one suggested he should look for a keyboard gig. Ditto friends who like to strum their acoustic guitars. When I told a (bass playing, gigging) friend that I was thinking of committing(*) bass, his first reaction was that I should get out and gig as soon as I could tell one end from the other. So piano, guitar, fine to play by yourself. Bass, not so much? Where do other instruments fall in this spectrum I wonder? (*) I'd almost certainly be arrested for crimes against music should I try to play the bass in public! [/quote] I guess it's because Bass is typically an accompanists instrument - ie it exists to back up another musician/s. Of course there are honorable exceptions, but for most of us who gig, we're there to make the Guitarist look good...

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1476031148' post='3150623'] I think you're being a little oversensitive. The OP qualifies the thread title in the opening paragraph. It's not a criticism of players that don't gig, although what use accurate information of this type would be escapes me. [/quote] I think this is a really interesting question and carries more weight than the usual "Overrated Beatles", "Jaco does/doesn't suck" stuff that gets posted here quite a lot... The main reason I picked up a Bass was to eventually play in a band. It was that aim that spurred me on to being the cack-handed chancer I am today. And I love it. Yep, I'd still play at home if I wasn't gigging, but with slightly less enthusiasm. I have real, sincere admiration for people who are happy just to play at home and to hone their skills with no desire to pop on a pair of leather trews and a daft hat and go and "rock out" at The Dog and Dysentary on a rainy Tuesday night in November. Good on you. That's proper Arts for Arts sake, that is. I guess for a generally shy and unassuming bloke, I'm a bit of a show off. It certainly isn't the money that drives me on.

[quote name='Wayne Firefly' timestamp='1475750679' post='3148408'] I worked in a local music shop for quite some time and I'd always try and be friendly and chatty, be helpful and answer questions as honestly as I could, trying to burst that bubble that can be sometimes intimidating for some. Guitar shops can be a minefield of horror if uninitiated. We couldnt always help, but if we didnt have what the customer wanted, I'd always point them in the direction where they could get what they wanted. BUT from the other side, customers can be A-holes too !! There was this young student guy, would come in (for months) and try out all the gear he'd read about online. He'd then plug in, turn up and play horrible versions of Hendrix and Jethro Tull riffs and the obvious GnR and Nirvana riffs for ages, only ever bought 3 picks. Then theres the metal guy who'd plug in and sweep pick for 20 mins staring at me....Acknowledge my playing you git !!!! Then you get the gang of students on their dinner hour who'd come in and show their mates the new riffs they'd just learned that week, like a little gig. Or the woman who came in and put down a deposit on something only to come back 10 days later asking for the deposit back as her husband had bought their daughter a guitar from somewhere else. Or the guy who bought a guitar from the other shop in town then turned up to show me what he'd just bought..... Then you get the guy who turned up with a '70s Epiphone Thunderbird bass' they didnt do em in the 70s says I..... Yes they bloody did, you wait and see etc etc. Then the other guy who waxes lyrical about the sonic blue 63 Strat in the original case with original bill of sale, you know, the BS types etc etc. Then the lad who came in and asked the difference between an air guitar and an electric guitar. Then the girl who asked of we sold 'fishing glass'. Then the guy who asked if I would hug him....Then the people who bring in unruly kids that run around and smack everything, then the ones who bring two dogs in, then you'd get someone who came in, was friendly and pretty normal, we'd have a little chat about whatever, I'd learn about something that I might not have known, like the local music scene in the 60s and stories about that... they'd brought something in for a P/X/ deal, gets done, everyone is happy or the person who wants a guitar who's not sure what he or she might want so I'd help them out then back off to let them make their own decision, answering any questions they might have. I sometimes go in music shops and see how Im treated for fun, Im polite and friendly but I like to see how staff treat you. The one in Manchester under the arches was A1 by the way. [/quote] This is spot on. I worked in that other bastion of rudery - a record shop - for 13 years. Another intimidating environment for the casual shopper. I was (with a handful of notable exceptions...) painfully polite and helpful, which resulted in loyal, happy customers...and a few examples of real human flotsam and jetsam, but that's another story... On a good day, it was brilliant - chatting about obscure 80's U.S Alt-Rock bands, playing Nick Drake, Teenage Fanclub, Posies and NY Disco tunes as well as the typical chart fodder. The other side was The Great British Public. Oh, the stories I could tell...from the cute but confused section... a little old lady with her grandsons Christmas list in her hand, asking for a record by the Ram-oneys, a bemused young bloke asking for a CD by Suzi Cointreau, a lovely old geezer asking for a needle for his Fertility record player...and on. People getting irate when we refused to swap CDs which they smeared jam over and tried to play because they'd seen it done on "Tomorrow's World", for example. My favourite moment was when a guy complained that a compilation CD we were selling at £12.99 (in our dinky little Indie shop) was available at Sainsburys for £11.99. I asked him (not unreasonably. I feel) why he didn't just go and buy if from the aforementioned supermarket. "They ain't got it in stock", he replied. My parting comment was "When we haven't got in stock, we sell it here for £10.99". That day, I lost a sale. Satisfying? You betcha.

Norman Watt-Roy with a touch of arthritis.

“It’s too late for me, I’ve ordered a toastie. Save yourselves.”

I defretted an old Squier Jazz and filled the slots with epoxy. I masked the neck to avoid any unnecessary cleaning/sanding - a little sanding of the board and then used boat varnish (I think...) to add a tough, glassy finish. Worked a treat and sounded lovely. A bit Lo-Tech, but then again, so am I.

[quote name='Heathy' timestamp='1474915627' post='3141523'] Things took a turn for the worse at a recent gig, when the punter responded by typing his request onto his phone. I then said "I can't read that - I'm 47". The next time someone does this to me I'm going to lick their face. I'll let you know how this pans out. [/quote] Oh man, please do...

[quote name='stu_g' timestamp='1474925079' post='3141605'] my bitsa's white slab body has 2 piece body i forget which wood either ash or alder usa precision pickup mirror scratchplate and an encore neck which is quite hefty it's not totally finished as it isnt laquered yet will get round to it at some point total cost around £150 mark second the black bass made from parts i had around, squier indonesian neck with wilkinson 70s style tuners sunn mustang body with a gotoh dimarzio style pickup and scratchplate from a silver series squier precision cost hard to work out as i had all the parts around third candy apple bass with squier classic vibe jazz neck,usa p bass body, wizard thumper pickup, usa jazz bridge pickup,vintage fender bridge wired as a fender hot rod precision courtesy of fender support wiring diagrams cost around £200 these all sound the part and the candy apple has a very funky sound [attachment=228709:IMG_0539.jpg] [/quote] Now THAT'S what I'm talking about! That candy apple P is a stunner.

I love a bitsa. The "cheap bass" thread got me thinking about the humble FrankenBass...they don't have to be made of super-mega-expensive components, just as long as they're unique and they tell a bit of a story. Here's mine.... [attachment=228707:bitsas.jpg] The green one is made out of an Encore body and an Indonesian Squier P neck, with hardware and strings I had left over from other projects. My only expense was £9.99 for a couple of rattlecans from eBay. It was originally a rather sickly sunburst, which I stripped and then replaced with an even sicklier orange. That had to go. I had to do some work to the neck pocket as it was about 2mm too wide to fit the Squier neck, but other than that, a nice straightforward job. Sounds lovely and thumpy. Total cost...about £70 The middle one is my current fave...the body is from the Squier P that donated the neck to greenie (still following this...?) and the neck is from a gen-you-wine Mexi Fender. Pup is from a 2005 US Fender P and it's got a Badass bridge - most of these bits came from good ol' BC. It's got a Kiogon loom of course. It's a monster and sounds brilliant in the context of my old skool, Dr Feelgood-esque, RivvumanBlooze band. This boys and girls, is a keeper. Cost? This is my Fodera moment...about £200. (In case you're wondering, the round waterslide transfer is the lesser crest of Birmingham. As I live near Dudley, I have the Black Country flag on the back, in the interest of balance). The Red Devil is bolted together from an Indonesian Squier body with a Chinese Squier neck. I had to get a drill attachment doodad to enlarge the holes for the machine heads, tho. I quite enjoyed that. A Warwick bridge, a BassDoc scratchplate, Wilkinson tuners and some stick on "blocks" and all is good. Originally it was a vile purple which was Hell on Earth to strip. It resisted abrasive sanding, Nitromors and loud and persistent swearing, but it finally succumbed to my heat gun on the "Krakatoa" setting. This one is strung with rounds for a bit of extra zinginess, which we all need now and again, am I right? Maybe cost about £140. Yes, it's good for Metal. It used to have an inverted P neck, but the truss rod was faulty. Well, it became faulty after I snapped it... Indonesian Squier basses are brilliant and perfect for modding. Or just playing as they are... None of these mongrels would cause Jon Shuker to miss his nap time in terms of build quality, but I love 'em all dearly. And they sound way better than they have a right to. Now, I've shown you mine...show me yours!

Good work fella! First gigs are always...eventful...

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1474747862' post='3140265'] if you get chance to hear the Backbeat soundtrack or the Beatles live in Hamburg album (wonder when that'll get the digitally remastered and re-released treatment?), I think you might agree that they weren't a million miles away from punk [/quote] The Backbeat soundtrack is excellent....and the film ain't bad either. The Fabs had more than a few Punk Rock moments....the whole Hamburg thing, the "Please Please Me" LP being bashed out in a day, Lennon sweating and stripped to the waist while singing "Twist and Shout" through a ragged throat, "I'm Down", loads of the "Get Back/Let It Be" stuff (before it got sanitised for general consumption).....Macca too- recording your first LP on your own using a single mic and then forming a band and playing guerilla gigs for 50p ticket prices in front of students who couldn't believe that they were watching a Beatle. I think that's pretty Punk Rock.

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1474729068' post='3140110'] I wonder if anyone in the music business has ever denied being influenced by the Beatles. And if they did, was it a career ender? [/quote] Back in ye olde Punk Rocke days, the vast majority of Popular music was deemed "boring", including The Fabs. A famous and possibly apocryphal tale is that Glen Matlock was booted out of the Sex Pistols for declaring his love for the Beatles, among other things.... If you were the Who, the Kinks, the Stooges, the New York Dolls, the MC5 and Reggae, you were OK. Oh, and Bowie and a bit of Krautrock. But Punk was all about shock and there was nothing more shocking than criticising Monarchy and the Beatles....blasphemy! Heresy! There are a few old skool punx still doing the rounds (Hi Johnny Rotten!) and topping up their pensions. PiL are still well worth seeing. Even though Johnny doesn't like the Beatles...apparently.

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1474708875' post='3139949'] B strings make an effective drain unblocker [/quote] Word.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1474566343' post='3138895'] A bass is a bass, is a bass. As long as it's set up OK, what does it matter how much it cost ? It's how you play it that counts surely ? I recently did a dep jazz gig on the drummer's £60 Aria bass. [/quote] I could not agree more.

I love putting together bitsas...my current favourite is a Pretend Precision consisting of a £20 encore bass body and the neck off a £25 Squier P bass. Hardware and pick up are from god knows where and it's strung with a set of ancient flats. It's painted seafoam green with two tins of rattlecan paint from Fleabay (£9.99 for two...) I absolutely love it and it sounds like a Motown Machine. I may splash out a tenner for a white pearl pickguard, but I'm afraid I might upset its thrift store mojo...

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1474569296' post='3138919'] I've got the same - also pimped with teacups! What do you mean by flip the pickups? As for the strings, seriously, whack some flats on as soon as you can - it will bring the bass to life! Mine's got the Hofner flats with the dark green silks. Joyous thump. [/quote] I'm in the market for some flats at the moment... The 500/1 has the pickup reversed for some reason...hopefully a Hofner geek will be along in a moment to tell us why. I painted the switches cream and put a thin piece of sticky vinyl around the headstock to look like binding. Pretty convincing, too. I painted the nut to get the striped look (fiddly as all hell...) and put wood filler in the bridge to get that "stepped" look. I like fiddling about with basses - it's fooling no-one, but it amused me. The great thing about them (apart from the incredible value for money and lovely thumpiness) is that you don't even need to plug 'em in for low level, home practice!