RonC

Conversion and adjustments might be the beginning! That’s how it all started with me at least..😉 It’s not that difficult..

Are you gonna build a bass or convert the side dots of an existing one?

I’m building a fretless 5 string at the moment and yesterday I placed the luminlay dots on the side. They light up directly in the dark! I bought the original ones from Japan. never a problem anymore playing fretless on a dark stage! Much easier and cheaper to install as LEDs!

Depends how handy you are yourself. I would loosen the strings and trussrod and see if the gap closes. If it does then turn the trussrod again so the gap opens again a bit. Fill the gap with titebond (maybe mixed with a bit of water to make it more fluid). Then loosen the trussrod again so the gap closes.

Haha, that's a good one!

I’ve made drawings and had these made by a toolmaker out of aluminum. Then I found someone who anodized these in black for me..

Rounds for me. I used to use DR Hi-Beams but lately I use DR Sunbeams(nickel plated) on my Fretless Wal. On my Safran semi acoustic fretless I use La Bella Black nylon to come as close as possible to an upright sound.

Wow what a stunning bass, love the clean and minimalistic design!

Thanks! They got nice stuff there!

wow! another great build! beautifull finish and i love the luminlay side dots, @Basvarken where did you get those? they would be great on the fretless 5 i'm building at the moment~.

Excellent choice! 🤘

The position of the pickups on a Stingray determine a large part of the sound..

As I read your story I can hardly believe that it’s a Neutrik as the quality of Neutrik is superb. Just as good as Switchcraft. They probably use some cheap Chinese copy now….?

You could add some water to the titebond if it's too thick to run into the crack, maybe a little "pumping" with the headstock to let the glue run into the crack.

It looks like a neat crack with no wood missing. Just pull the strings off so the crack won't crack any further. It's not a difficult repair so it sure is economical to repair it.

Exactly! The headstock should have 2 extra holes as well and should be black.

Love Morphine, no bassist was ever as original as Mark Sandman. What a sound! I’m glad that I’ve seen them live several times.

Axl is great! Fantastic bassplayer and a really nice guy!

Scott's bass lessons is very good, you'll learn a lot there but if i were you I just would take a couple of lessons to start up from a good teacher. When i started on bass there wasn't internet and I started with a bad teacher.. I took lessons for half a year before i realised this teacher wasn't very good.. So i found another teacher and it seemed i had learned a lot the wrong way. Do I had to unlearn that and learn good techniques. So to learn more efficient, find yourself a teacher (at least for the beginning) and just continue with Scotts bass lessons. Have fun, keep on practicing and good luck!! :)

As i said before, just take lessons... Video's on YT are nice but they will never correct you which increases the chance that you'll learn the wrong techniques. Besides that, there are lot of crap lessons on YT too.. And when you've finally learned the "wrong/bad" techniques you'll get stuck someday. Its harder (and takes more time) to "unlearn" bad techniques then to learn the good ones rightaway.. Succes!

It truly doesn’t matter what instrument you put in Barends hands, it always sound great with him! 😉

Just PM me or contact me by email: [email protected] I'm setting up my workplace at home this year and will finish luthiers school by June 2026. Until then I unfortunately don't have time to take orders... So by the end of 2026 I've planned to start building, One day a week besides my daytime job.

My dear friend and extraordinary bassplayer Barend Tromp offered to make a demo video of my bass! I'm very happy with the result, Barend played some killer grooves and is able to really push an instrument to the limits! So finally you guys can hear my "black beauty"! [youtube] Also check out Barend his solo work with contributions of Michael Manring, Pat Mastelotto and Trey Gunn! Barend Tromp spotify

The best way is to find yourself a good teacher.. He can actually see what’s happening and help you. Also important so you don’t teach yourself wrong techniques. It’s harder to unlearn wrong techniques (and a waste of time) than to learn the right ones directly.

Wow, that’s a nice piece of wood! I can’t wait to see more of it!