molan

[quote name='Rick's Fine '52' post='1323049' date='Aug 1 2011, 01:34 PM']Pics look great, been looking forward to seeing this. Is there any of the date stamp left at all? I´m a sucker for sunbursts, although it may look odd on this, if the grain shows through too much on the finish, as its a 3 piece body, which is probably why it was Oly white in the first place. Depends how good the repro guard is, but if it looks good, then you can´t go wrong with oly white, also you can be satisfied at restoring it back to its original appearance. Difficult to date accurately, without stamps, but from what you say, and the pot codes, late ´64 seems right, looks like the decal was replaced during the neck refin also, so hard to tell from that, although its right for a late ´64/´65. The tuners are also correct up to early ´66. Good luck with the rest, if i see anything around that may be of use, I´ll let you know. Nice project.[/quote] I haven't removed the neck yet Previous owner said it had been mostly obliterated with the first refinish which was, apparently, really very nasty indeed!

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='1323112' date='Aug 1 2011, 02:20 PM']For a late '64/early'65 I would have expected the neck to have pearl dots. And maybe the 'tighter' headstock logo. Any neckplate/number?[/quote] Good point, totally forgot the neck plate number it's L64953 which I think would be a '65? I have to admit I don't really know how to tell the material of the dots but the restorer in the USA said they were clay. Maybe this is why he thought the neck was a late '63 or early '64? He also specified the logo and said it was the correct one for the year - in fact I think he said it was a '63 - '65 logo but can't remember offhand.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1322563' date='Jul 31 2011, 10:14 PM']Lovely! Looking forward to this one. If it were mine, I'd be tempted to forget about the tort guard and go with mint instead.... I've yet to see a repro tort guard that looks right. But that's just me. [/quote] I'll get some pics and see what you think. From what I can make out it was made in the '70's and fitted to a bass until quite recently so it's got a bit of a worn-in feel. I've looked at original guards with back plates but they are kicking around the £375 - £450 level. I won't own up at the moment how much I paid for the parts I've bought but a £400 pickguard would represent a pretty hefty percentage of the total cost

[quote name='JimBobTTD' post='1322519' date='Jul 31 2011, 09:29 PM']Very nice fingerboard! I understand why you want to refinish the body. I'm a sucker for white, but sonic blue isn't really a million miles off the original colour. I'm looking forward to seeing your choices and watching this one progress.[/quote] I must admit it was the 'board that really sold me on this one. Previous owner fitted the neck to a black MIJ P bass to make sure it was working nicely under tension with strings and that dark board looked great against the black body

Having taken the plunge recently into the world of vintage Fender P basses, and buying both a '72 (for the second time) & a '63, I've decided it might be fun to restore a bit of an old wreck of a '64 (or possibly '65) P that really needs some care and attention It had a really nasty wood stain finish to both neck and body and the previous owner put the neck in for a complete 'as new' refinish. Unfortunately he ran out of money at this stage so the body still needs some serious work. Luckily it's all original apart from the refinish without any additional routing or screw holes. The neck and fretboard are really, really nice - especially the very dark brazilian rosewood board with clay dots Original parts that came with include: Tuners, ferrules, string tree, neck plate, control knobs, thumb rest, brass shielding plate for the pickups, intact wiring harness with cloth wiring and some other mounting screws (including some for parts which are long gone!). Missing parts include the pickups, pickguard and shield, pickguard screws, pickup and bridge covers, strap buttons (including the headstock button) bridge and bridge screws. The original case came with it as well & is just beautifully knackered! Really no use other than as a storage item but it's great that it's still, mostly, in one piece and lived with the bass for so long Precise dating is complicated as the neck date stamp has been mostly erased from the first refinishing project. The guy who recently refinned it is a real vintage Fender pro and he says he thinks it's late '63, early '64 (God knows quite how he can tell this but he's been restoring vintage Fenders for years and seems very genuine). The pots are Stackpole and dated Dec '64 and the neckplate is also dated '64 so I think it's a safe bet to place this as a '64 bass, although it's possible it wasn't finally sold until '65. Either way it's definitely pre CBS sale. For the time being I've already sourced a Fender relic'd vintage bridge replacement and an old ('70's I think but designed for a '60's bass) aftermarket celluloid tort pickguard. Neither cost a huge amount and both look 'period correct'. Next stage is to get the body sorted and to think seriously about pickup replacements. Ideally I'd like to source something from '63 - '65 but prices for these are often crazy. May fit some modern vintage replicas for now and then watch out for something original. The next big decision is about body colour. It was originally Olympic White and I do quite like this colour. I had been thinking of trying to build a bit of a Pino replica in vintage relic'd Fiesta red but now I've seen how the neck has been refinished I may re-think this. The neck looks like how Fender describe NOS so the body obviously needs to be sympathetic in finish. Sonic blue has always been my favourite old Fender colour but Oly white would certainly look pretty cool - especially against that, very dark, rosewood board So - here's some pics as it currently looks:

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1308297' date='Jul 18 2011, 07:33 PM']Alas other prior commitments mean that I can't make it again. Bugger. Pete.[/quote] Looks like I'll be away again this year - almost always off end of Sept into early Oct

I see Phil has announced the new location now Short walk to Twyford Station which just happens to be about 20 minutes from me - hooray! He told me that quite a lot of business had come from overseas customers who flew into Heathrow so he'll be really close for them. Also got a fair bit of business out of London, & Twyford is only about 40 minutes from Paddington (it's where I have to change to come home from town on the train) and should be under an hour driving from central London too Looking forward to the shop opening & hoping some of the 'relocation sale' stuff is still available He's just lent me a Tone Hammer 500 to try out against my Aguilar AG500 & Thunderfunk TFB550 - spent an hour or so this evening playing them back to back with a series of different basses. Great fun and the TH500 at £600 for such a good tone from a small package is pretty tempting. . .

The AG 500 comes with a handle designed for it to be stored vertically - I don't see how this can have caused a problem? If it is then I'd get on to the 'two Daves' at Aguilar and ask their opinion. In fact, I'd email them anyway and ask for some advice: Dave Avenius is usually pretty helpful [email protected]

Always quite fancied an old Ray but some of those old 'clubby' necks really put me off. Just spotted this one has a 'smaller jazz bass neck' I didn't even know such a thing existed on a Ray! Of course I have no idea about prices on old Rays - is £1,550 a good price or just general 'market value'?

I played a couple of Ritters earlier this year and was really impressed by the workmanship and feel of them. Unfortunately they weren't amped up so couldn't hear what they sounded like. Heard on the grapevine that there might be a UK distribution deal for Ritters coming soon which will actually see some in stock for demo purposes I saw via another site that the Smithsonian really does only have one bass currently in its collection. Some places said it was one of the very first made but their own site says it's a '55 / '56 model. Meanwhile they have about 30 different six stringers. . .

Looks like black wins despite a late rally from tweed

[quote name='JTUK' post='1316963' date='Jul 26 2011, 01:08 PM']Classic black DB series for me. Best looking cab around by miles, IMO. and not half bad sounding either..[/quote] Interesting to see Black is romping away with it so far. I'll own up that I bought Chocolate Thunder, with a matching coloured head, as a replacement for the Hot White. This was partially based on a recommendation from a bit of a 'name' player that said they looked cool as a full set but also because they just happened to pop up here for sale! The brown range looks really nice in the flesh but tough to say what I would have bought if I'd been given 'free rein' to choose any colour.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1316934' date='Jul 26 2011, 12:56 PM']White, of course. [/quote] Funnily enough that's the colour I just sold - looked very cool though

So I've recently swapped colours of an Aguilar DB112 rig and absolutely love the colour of my new ones. Meanwhile the person who bought the old ones also really likes them so we're both very happy Given that many speaker cabs are just plain old black I wondered how many people would prefer a different colour if given the choice? I'm not sure how many Aggie dealers actually stock anything other than black so maybe the others are custom orders only? Here's the current range anyway:

I remember reading a book that was really helpful in terms of how you 'think' about playing which basically said if you concentrate too hard and try to think about every note then you'r playing can become worse. It was more or less saying, as others have, that relaxing a little and trying not to over-think about everything can lead to a much more natural and organic feel to your playing. Really helped me to overcome some live performance barriers at the time

How about one of these: Or these: Love this product shot, lol: Sorry - forgot product links: [url="http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2010/06/the-heads-up-strap/"]http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2010/06/the-heads-up-strap/[/url] [url="http://www.neckheavy.com/index.html"]http://www.neckheavy.com/index.html[/url]

Not that far away from me & my new bass playing neighbour - maybe 80-90 mins I guess. Make sure you don't clash with SE Bash though.

Loz is yer man - currently has both

Sounds great, Pee Wee has a pretty impressive history. Pretty sure he was Van Morrison's main horn man and MD for quite a while as well as his stints with JB & Maceo etc.

Anyone watch the Hawkwind programme afterwards? I once monitor engineered for them at a gig - absolute hoot & they kicked some serious ass live!

[quote name='Sparky Mark' post='1313435' date='Jul 23 2011, 12:47 AM']As well as the Sansamp BDDI, you should also consider the Tech 21 VT Bass pedal. It's great for classic Ampeg blues and rock tones.[/quote] +1 to this - the VT pedal is really cool & the Deluxe version with foot switchable options is even cooler! [url="http://www.bassgear.co.uk/products-page/accessories/sansamp-bass-driver-deluxe-preamp/"]http://www.bassgear.co.uk/products-page/ac...-deluxe-preamp/[/url] Now that Phil has moved south he's probably not that far away if you want to try the various Sansamp Tech 21 pedals

Looks like a 'must watch/record' to me [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012p5vv"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012p5vv[/url]