bass_dinger

Me, looking uncharacteristically cheerful while holding a bass guitar (which is why my portraitist snapped the photo). I might use it as my avatar.

https://www.stevelawson.net/ His website is active, and takes me to his Facebook page, in which Steve Lawson himself is very active - bike rides, meeting Doug Wimbish, celebrating significant anniversaries. I am pleased to see that he is still posting, still active, and still studying for a PhD.

They were all furloughed. The government was paying them 80% of what they usually scammed from their victims...

It seems to me that churches with musicians end up with more musicians. That makes sense - a lone bassist in one congregation, a drummer alone in another congregation, a violinist elsewhere, can't do anything much. However, put them in a single church and they all benefit.

How did it go? Good practice with the little bass? How was the Sunday?

New rota should be out by now - how's it looking, for you?

Oh you tease! While we are waiting for you to reveal your GAS, can you share a little about why you won't be getting another cello?

On reflection, I like it enough to throw more money at it. So, I press on. Next step? 1. Find someone who can apply the finish 2. Contact the company who may have made the bridge, and ask if they have replacement parts. The company is based in Germany so I shall be asking my German wife to send an email in the appropriate language 3. Decide on the strings. I have a set of SIT strings on my other bass - pressure wound - that I like. 4. Find someone to rebuild the parts into a usable bass 5. Get a Hiscox Lite Flite case for it 6. Get a strap for it.

So, time for an update. I was expecting the new neck to click into the old body like a lego brick, but there is a gap. The luthier tells me that he left a gap to accommodate the finish. However, the original neck did not need a finish to bridge the gap. Perhaps he is right - maybe the finish will bridge the gap. Maybe I am right - I wanted a wood to wood joint. Whatever, I was so disappointed that I put the bits under the bed, and left it.... Here's some photos - bank card included to show the tight but extant gap. Very pretty, but not what I expected...

I'd be all over that, if it was a 2-string. GLWTS.

The neck is due to arrive today, via USPS, HM Customs, and Parcel Force. So, it seems a good time to consider the finish on the body. I explored the possibility of using the blue of the 8 string Washburn bass shown earlier in this thread, and asked the original luthier what the colour and finish was. "Feibing’s leather dye cobalt blue. Can get it on eBay" It turns out that it is actually the Navy blue (there isn't a cobalt blue). Next I was asked "Are you going to be staining the bare wood, or spraying the color on after sealer coats? We floated the color on between clear coats at Washburn. But you can stain directly to the wood before clear coats as well. Staining the bare wood will bring out more of the curly figure." I said that I liked the idea of staining the wood - but that I would be asking an expert to do it for me! For staining the bare wood, the recommendation is that I should instead go for the Feibing’s light blue. "What I would do is get the navy and light blue. Stain with the navy, then back-sand it with 320 grit, then stain again with the light blue. Will really pop the curl." And he shared an example. "That is a combination of staining and floating color between clear coats. The bursted edges were separated." It is also beyond what I can do! I am thinking that this is way too ostentatious, and too flashy. However, the alternative (a wipe of Danish oil) seems to waste the opportunity afforded by the wood.

I was wondering too. The best that I could come up with was Jean Michael Jarre.

I had the same thing with mandolins. There's relatively little breadth of choice in England nowadays, compared to when The Acoustic Music Co (TAMCO) shop was open in Brighton. So, I planned a trip to the nearest shop, in London - Hobgoblin in Rathbone Place. None of the recommended instruments that I had shortlisted excited me - from £250 to £1,500. Hathway, Kentucky, Ashbury. However, Macs in Rathbone Place had a range of Eastman mandolins that worked for me. So, had I ordered on price and recommendation, I would have been disappointed.

That's why I prefer shops - not because they are cheaper, but because they provide expertise. That said, I have most of the high value items that I need, but I plan to buy an Eastman mandolin from the same shop that demonstrated the mandolin to me. Interestingly, the person who showed me the mandolin in 2024 was the same person, in the same premises, who took my order for a Lowden guitar back in 1992. In both cases, I was able to try before I buy, and that was worth the extra cost. The premises were Ivor Mairants, now Macs.

Unscrew strap button. Place strap end near hole in body Screw the strap button on, through the strap, into the hole. Buy new bass? Buy new strap.

https://www.barriegardner.co.uk/ I use Barrie Gardner - not because I am a classical musician (or indeed, any sort of musician!). I was in a desk job, and my back tended to lock up.

That's good advice, and quite sobering to learn that one could lose some of the value of one's property if one doesn't fulfil the terms of the court order. This, surely, will focus the mind of the luthier - and give @EddieG comfort....

And, for completists, for @Woodwind who voted for the headstock to be returned to me, and for all people who want to see a bad neck put to the sword... The old neck, totally destroyed The new neck was posted to me this Friday evening (my time), Friday morning USA time. I await its arrival.

I am liking how this build is going. Looking back, there seems to be a sense of urgency and pace to the project, which was a conscious decision on my part to let go of the detail, and allow the luthier to lead the work. I didn't expect a five piece neck, a graphtec nut, that particular fingerboard, that headstock veneer, and no serial number.... But I reckon that was less stressful for everyone involved. Far better for a luthier to work to a budget and produce an outcome, that to have me fussing about details when I have no real clue about my own requirements. I apply that same philosophy to my shirts - wife buys them and tells me what I am wearing in the morning.

The Addams Family theme.

More gratuitous photos of the neck

@LeftyJ the fear was real! My reaction was "if I wanted something without a truss rod, I would have got a ukulele!". Anyway, in the final straight now. Graftech nut fitted, aperture opened, neck sealed. I have been offered the original neck back - is there any reason why I would need it? It won't fit in the tube that I used to package it, once the new neck is in there. I could have the headstock cut off, to retain the serial number. I could leave it with the luthier - he has a wall dedicated to bad-quality Washburn Custom necks. Any thoughts?

I admire the noble and patient stance of @EddieG. Very dignified, and I applaud you. The thread has certainly helped me to decide who to use if I ever order an instrument. Lett's Not....

And now, the factory fretless XB925 has materialised (sort of)! When I bought the fretted Washburn XB925, it came with a second XB925, with a neck so bent that it was unrepairable, and in bits. So, I ordered a new fretless neck from the same person who ran the Custom Shop when that bass was made. So, as close to factory as I can get. Second Unicorn incoming! Well done @nilorius!

Scrap metal at the local recycling centre for my strings. I try to put them in with the domestic recycling, but my wife has a very narrow view of what makes domestic waste. I argue that I spend more time playing bass at home, than I spend eating soup at home - yet the soup cans go to home recycling, and my strings require a special trip to the dump....