Jean-Luc Pickguard

It used to annoy me in a previous band when I'd spend time designing & money printing posters for the pub to put up, a band member would take the posters in a week or two before the gig, and we'd see the posters are all still rolled up behiund the bar when we turn up on the night.

I'd never seen the headphones before - I must admit, for a second I did wonder whether it was an April Fools joke that leaked out early. I'd feel a right pillock wearing anything that looks so daft.

I'm trying to work out why it would have been necessary to remove the frets

The description says "was brown & worn" – makes it sound like the seat was secondhand when it was thrown together. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BIG-BUTT-004-BASS-made-in-USA/173186521681 – just noticed its that overpriced chancer in Germany who is trying to sell it for £888. Ridiculous.

Thanks for the generous offer, but I think I've managed to find a good solution. I've now swapped out the bridge for my spare badass II. it was already grooved and I haven't needed to deepen the grooves. I managed to lose one of the (imperial size) grub screws so I now have some on order, but I've found that I can get the action slightly lower than I achieved on the original bridge by removing the grub screws from the G & E saddles, so I probably won't need the ones that are on their way. The D & A saddles are raised a smidge and as the badass uses 3/16'' long grub screws they only protrude by about half a mm. As an added bonus, I think the badass looks rather good on this bass.

Also post photos here - there are a lot of BCers who can spot a fake Fender a mile off.

Thanks Yardicus - I found some on ebay that look much like the drawing with the dimensions shown, so I've taken a punt and ordered some. I'll report back when the arrive – which could be some time as they'll be coming on a slow boat from China.

Argghh! I'd lost one of the hex grub screws to adjust the height of a badass II. Anyone know the correct dimensions or where I can get a replacement (& some spares) in the UK?Insert other media

I've not been there for several years & I'm in South London so I can't help with knocking on their door, but I imagine this weeks snowy weather might have something do with there being no one in on a Friday afternoon. If you google 'brandoini guitars' & get their google business profile shown on results page, it appears that someone added a new five star rating within the last week – which suggests that the company is still active. Maybe they'll respond if you send them an email? Can you report back if you do get hold of anyone - I'll be needing some bits & bobs sometime in the near future, so it might be worth a visit in a few weeks.

they both look much better with the pickguards swapped - particularly the burst/tort. if the white one is only a smidge too big, you might be able to get it to fit by loosening the screws holding the control plate, pushing the plate down and tightening the screws back up, this might cause the screws to go in at a slightly jaunty angle, but if the discrepancy is tiny that won’t be noticeable. Or it may be possible to relocate the screw holes for the contro plate slightly south by packing the existing holes with toothpicks & glue & redrilling.

I changed the stock tort pg on my '07 CIJ mustang for a beautiful custom-made chandlers (us) aged pearl one. The pickup is mounted on the pickguard, so the two screws holding it will need to be removed, but no soldering/unsoldering will be necessary.

I've just rediscovered my long-neglected daisy rock daisy rock elite bass, which is basically a schecter in a skirt. I set it up at the weekend and have been playing it a lot over the last few days. The duncan-designed soapbars and active eq can make a lovely clanking rock tone through the micro cube RX even with an old set of thomastic flats. I'd prefer it to have a bolt-on neck so I could shim it, but I've almost got the action as low as I'd like. Its cool to see schecter/daisy rock similarities in that the model T has 'piano-key' block markers shaped like the pearloid ones on my daisy rock and the eight string schecter has a daisy rock headstock shape.

Halfords stock JB Weld - they also sell a metal epoxy putty which looks interesting.

Cheers Ped. I never though of filing the groove deeper in the BBoT-style barrel saddles, but it sounds like a great idea. I'm using a spare set of saddles on the bass at the moment which will be easy enough to replace if I do make a mess of it so I'll try that. I don't have access to a router and sinking the bridge into the body isn't a reversable mod so I'm not keen to try that, but thanks for the suggestion HZ.

I've been setting up my old daisy rock stardust elite bass. Its has a gibson-style set neck & a hi-mass fender style bridge with barrel-shaped saddles. The relief is set correctly and to bring the action down I've had to swap out the bridge saddles for ones with a smaller diameter. The action is still a tiny bit higher than I'd like - particularly on the E & G, and the saddles are all almost touching the baseplate. Also the grub screws are protruding out the top of the saddles between 3 & 5mm which could be a hazard if I catch my hand on them. If this was a bolt-on I'd whip the neck off, chuck in a slither of card and it'll be job-done, but as it is a glued in neck that isn't an option. I do have a spare badass II, so I could try repacing the current bridge with that, but I expect I'd need to file the existing slots a fair bit deeper, which might ruin the saddles. Or I could try to get some shorter grub screws of the correct type and file the bottom of the saddles flat so they go lower. Or maybe file the bottom of the saddles and put a bridge cover on - eg one the cheap ebay copies of the ones Gibson had on their 60s basses. What might work best? Any better ideas?

Gibson has sold the Cakewalk brand & assets to bandlab https://cakewalk.bandlab.com/

This hasn't just been hit by the ugly stick, I think it actually might be the ugly stick.

Writing the word status on the headstock of a cheap & nasty 70s plywood Jazz bass copy that probably belongs in a skip (or was found in one) does not make it a status. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/status-vintage-bass/152910250941

If the bass will have a solid finish, get whichever is cheaper if there is a price difference but ash will look much nicer with a sunburst or clear finish.

Blimus he's also selling a racist money box collection https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/11-x-VINTAGE-CAST-IRON-MONEY-BOXES-STARKIE-CLOWN-DINAH-RINGMASTER/132503719119

£350 for a woolworths jedson telebass - hilarous!

Junk! The tuners are back to front - except for the wacky 'G' tuner where the baseplate is overlapping one of the others. It looks like this has been put together by someone who doesn't understand the basics of how a bass works and didn't plan the project properly. What are the odds that it is impossible to intonate?

I pronounce it correctly as 'Epiphone'

This condition of payment, the no returns policy, and the disclaimer about it being left in a garage seems to suggest that the seller might know about an expensive issue like a twisty neck. I'd explicitly ask if he's aware of any faults and insist on checking it out in person, then pay by paypal if thats what he wants only if it is OK.

I've variously used separate pedals and changed to multi fx for previous bands, but never mixed the two - ie when I used the Boss GT-6B or Zoom B3 I didn't add any separate pedals, however for my current band I'm using my VT bass which I prefer to anything similar in the B3 but I also need a compressor and a boost pedal. I don't own a separate boost pedal so I'm replacing the stand-alone compressor with my zoom B3. Its always struck me as odd that the input & output sockets an pedals are on the right & left sides respectively so chaining pedals means the signal goes right to left, however on the B3 the FX go left to right, so putting the B3 with the VT bass means the signal flow is not represented in an obvous way when looking down at the two pedals. Obviously this is not a massive issue, but it does seem a bit weird. So why do pedals have the input and output on the opposite sides to where they should be, and if it is the standard for pedals to feed the signal from right to left, why do multifx units chain their separate fx in the opposite direction?