rushbo

We’ve all had horror stories with online customer service…’It’s more than my Jobsworth”, “ It’s not my department” “your issue will be dealt with in 3-5 working months,” yadda yadda. So it’s nice to see a good example for a change… I purchased a set of Fender flatwounds online (for a very competitive price…) from Sounds Live a week or two ago. They arrived promptly and I set about putting them on my lovely Mexi Jazz Bass. That’s when the fun starts. The ‘D’ snapped at the peg end while I was stringing up, leaving me just enough for one wind around the peg. I’ve never snapped a string whilst tuning (and only three or four during my 27 year “career” as a Bassist…) so I thought there may be an issue with the string. I still hadn’t ruled out ‘pilot error’ at this stage. So, I dropped a line to Sounds Live asking if I could buy a single D. Within the day, I received a very apologetic letter from Tom Cleugh at Sounds Live who told me he’d got in touch with Fender to sort out a replacement. I then received a number of emails tracking the process of the order. Yesterday, I received another, equally courteous and apologetic email, this time from Tom Gardner (a very safe pair of hands as it turns out he’s a Bassist…) at Fender saying that the strings (a full set, not just the dodgy one) were in the post and to make up for any inconvenience, he’d included a couple of custom shop patch leads. The strings arrived this morning. I reckon that’s customer service above and beyond the call of duty.

I'll be there on Saturday...earplugs at the ready.

My twopence worth... I went from using Maplins cheapos to Planet Waves patch leads after I had one or two fail on me. I'm also using a couple of George L's on the board which are excellent. But expensive. They do crop up second hand from time to time, so they're worth looking out for. being able to trim them to whatever length you need is a real advantage. Moral of the story...if it ain't broke (etc).

I’m putting this up on this esteemed forum as both a cautionary tale and proof that with a bit of patience and ‘this much talent’ you can bolt something together from bits, which is greater than the sum of the parts… I started off with the best of intentions – inspired by all the amazing work I’d seen here, I thought I’d have a go at my own humble project. I’ve always loved Precision ‘specials’ – there’s something about the look and the sound of them that really appeals. And for some reason, I’ve always loved inverted headstocks…I blame Jimi Hendrix for that. Anyhoo, I found a Squier PJ on Gumtree for £80 (with a Hiscox case and spare strings too), so I was halfway there. The only drawback was it was pretty heavily dinged and a rather nasty metallic purple to boot. The only solution was to strip it and paint it. That’s when the fun started. I read a bazillion instructions from a bazillion websites about what to do. The Reranch site had some incredibly detailed information, but it looked pretty intimidating. The Manchester Guitar Tech site had some more great advice, but it was all a bit scary. Eventually, I bit the bullet, ordered some primer, some Olympic white nitro and a can of vintage tint lacquer and off I went. Stripping the Bass was a bloody nightmare. When they finally drop the bomb, the only things left on Planet Earth will be Keith Richards, Cockroaches and whatever is coated in the godless substance that was layered all over this Bass. Nitromors, my industrial sander and all the swearing in the West Midlands couldn’t shift it, so I flattened it, filled the dinks with woodstopper, smoothed it off and primed it. The spraying was done in my kids’ old playhouse which meant I had to kneel down in a tiny wooden hut to work - not the kind of place a Lakland is finished… The primer went on nicely, as did the Oly white. So far so good. I’d followed the instructions to the letter and it seemed to be paying off. Only the lacquer left to go… The lacquer made my lovely, off white Bass look like someone had thrown teabags at it. Blotchy and horrible. I don’t know what I did, but it was pretty profoundly terrible. To make matters worse, I’d gone out and bought a lefty Squier PJ (from Preloved this time, but for £80, I got a Bass in great condition, a Marshall practice amp, a tuner, a stand, a decent lead and a ‘beginners guide to Bass’ book – bargain!) and I was beginning to think I’d wasted time and money on a bass which at very best was going to look like a smokers lung. So, I did what any self-respecting grown up would do. I sulked. Then, in a fit of pique, I sanded the thing down to flat(ish), jumped in the car, found the nearest Auto supply shop and grabbed two tins of red spray paint and some clear coat. Without even considering the shade, I blitzed the Bass with three or four coats of red and I was amazed when it started to look really rather good…maybe there was hope after all. I decided not to clear coat it in the end as I really liked the matt satin effect that just the rattlecans gave it. I sanded the logo off the southpaw headstock – not because I have no love for Squiers (quite the opposite in fact) but because it looked odd. Then I bolted it together, which was surprisingly easy – thank you Squier (Indonesia) manufacturing! Then the hardware went on (black – I love black hardware). Most of it came from BC including a loverlee Schaller bridge and a smart, bespoke scratchplate from the legendary BassDoc and voila! A pretty groovy and very distinctive, useable Bass. I’ve had a great night tonight setting it up and with a tweak of the truss rod and two goes at soldering the pups back in (I suck BIG TIME at soldering…) it lives! The Squier pups sound really ballsy, so I’m in no hurry to swap ‘em for something ‘better’ right now. The nobrand machine heads are a wee bit stiff, but seem to be working well. I LOVE the colour (a sort of pinky Fiesta Red) and the neck is a dream. Very similar to my Mexican Jazz. I’m still playing about with it, but it’s just minor cosmetic stuff. I think it’s great and the colour neatly symbolises my mid-life crisis. (If you’re paying attention, you may be wondering about the fate of the other bits of Bass –I bolted them together and flogged them to one of the Music teachers at the school I work at, who just happens to be a lefty. Now that’s synchronicity…) I’m braced for the brickbats, ladies and gents, so feel free to tell me where I’ve gone wrong. I know a year or two down the line I may regret not lacquering my ‘masterpiece’ but I think my previous experience made me a bit too wary. It seems pretty resilient, but I may change my tune… Oh yeah, when I’d gone down the rattlecan route, I found T[url="http://www.bradsucks.net/archives/2006/05/29/guitar-painting-part-1/"]HIS [/url]on the Interweb. Informative, easy to follow and funny as hell. The guys a star. The moral of the story…have a go. Maybe not on that 1969 Rickenbacker 4001, but most of us have a ‘beater’ don’t we? Get down to Auto World, buy something garish and frivolous, fire up the sander (after first praying that your bass isn’t slathered with Fullerplast or whatever the hell mine was covered in) and get busy. What’s the worst that can happen…? [url="http://www.bradsucks.net/archives/2006/05/29/guitar-painting-part-1/"]htt[/url][url="http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn268/rushbo1/PJ%20Bitsa/IMAG0165.jpg"]http://i306.photobuc...sa/IMAG0165.jpg[/url] [url="http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn268/rushbo1/PJ%20Bitsa/IMAG0164.jpg"]http://i306.photobuc...sa/IMAG0164.jpg[/url] [url="http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn268/rushbo1/PJ%20Bitsa/IMAG0163.jpg"]http://i306.photobuc...sa/IMAG0163.jpg[/url]

Nice looking Fender here, but the description is...unusual. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Jazz-Bass-Special-Guitar-E932805-4-Stringed-Precision-Triple-Displacement-/330859809771?pt=Guitar&hash=item4d08c80beb"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fender-Jazz-Bass-Special-Guitar-E932805-4-Stringed-Precision-Triple-Displacement-/330859809771?pt=Guitar&hash=item4d08c80beb[/url]

The sheet that the Bass is photographed on has the most appauling stains I have ever seen.

[quote name='Myke' timestamp='1358646054' post='1942881'] I just read that and laughed the whole way through! [/quote] Cheers Myke. Not an experience I'd want to go through again, but as someone one said 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. Or something.

A friend of mine did some backstage work at the former NEC and caught Mr Fieldy relieving himself into a one of the lighting rig flight case. This has coloured my opinion of him somehat.

Only ever did it once. Here's the story: [url="http://bigplansforeverybody.blogspot.co.uk/p/part-six-worst-gig-ever-1-bolton.html"]http://bigplansforeverybody.blogspot.co.uk/p/part-six-worst-gig-ever-1-bolton.html[/url]

Ambititious price, but apparently it's a real head turner [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fender-precision-bass-/261157928188?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cce39bcfc"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/fender-precision-bass-/261157928188?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cce39bcfc[/url]

Plate arrived today and looks lush. Thanks to Conan for the heads up and Howard for a classy job (well, as classy as red pearloid can be, which isn't really classy at all...) Choc ices all round. [quote name='Johngh' timestamp='1358194476' post='1934705'] So now we know he had a few issues during the building work, if your orders late, pick up da phone and call him. Simples. [/quote] Amen.

Just got in touch with Howard today re a scratchplate I'd ordered a few months back. It turns out mine was one of the orders that got orphaned from their details when he had some building work done. I called him today, he dug it out of the pile, phoned me back and he's on the case. Hopefully, this means he's back on track - it sounds like he has a bit of a backlog (and a few jobs which have come adrift from their addresses etc) but it's all good.

Ian Rushbury- Halesowen, West Mids (...sounds a bit like University Challenge....)

If it goes around in a hard case, it needs to get a sticker of either the place or the band....

I've got a hard case that you're welcome to use if this baby has got a lot of traveling to do...

What a ridiculous idea. It'll never work. I'm in.

[quote name='w_joe' timestamp='1357764753' post='1928150'] Hi This is the latest layout in my pedalboard: Cheers [/quote] There's a classic sort of elegance about this, which the Art School bore in me is really digging. Lovely.

I believe we were promised some salacious imagery, possibly involving visible ankles. I've locked the door and made myself a pot of tea...

Quick transaction, speedy delivery and great comms. I'd let him date my sister (if I had a sister...) Buy and sell with confidence

YAYY!!! Thanks for the heads up Lifer! Watt is one of the most distinctive Bassists working today - I too saw fIREHOSE in the 80's and with The Missingmen at Supersonic. Incredible both times. A true pioneer too - The Minutemen combined the most bizarre influences with Punk to make a truly unique sound. Here's a little something from my blog, featuring a very tasty fIREHOSE live set: [url="http://bigplansforeverybody.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/firehose-live-austin-alternatives-may.html"]http://bigplansforeverybody.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/firehose-live-austin-alternatives-may.html[/url]