Maude

I'd normally say it's, for me, the pickup that denotes what bass it is, as the above will sound like a P. But the Aerodynes throw all that out the window. The Aerodyne Jazz and Aerodyne Precision both have PJ arrangement but the correct respective body shape. So Fender must think it's body shape, not pickups

I'd never compromise the biscuit aisle. It happened in the bakery section once though, poor lady left with a pair of floury baps.

How about quickly snogging someone as you go past? Although I did promise the judge I'd stop doing that.

I've got a question that's not specifically Stingray related but I'll ask it here as this thread got quite a bit of traffic. I started work on the Prejazzray today and need to order a control plate, everything will be budget with this build as I'm mainly using up parts. I've got a Warman pickup with the four wires and have decided to wire it with a volume, tone and a series/parallel switch, I can really see any point adding in the single coil option as it'll just be a weak jazz tone, if folks know better then I'm open to being educated. What I want to do is use a rotary switch for the series/parallel so it looks the same as the volume and tone knobs, but does such a thing exist (cheaply)? I know I could add a push/pull pot or a mini toggle, but I like the idea of just the three matching knobs. So what's out there folks? 🙂

My P with Chromes, though the silks are beginning to fray as they're so old and it's my home go to bass. So the best advice so far has to be get a set of Chromes. There is no way, short of physically trimming the silks away, to adjust how the silks line up. The string is anchored with no adjustment in the bridge, how far along the string the silk starts is up to the manufacturer, whether you have two inches or two foot of string after that has no bearing on it. You can have one wind of string around the post or five winds, it has no bearing on where the silk starts. Just for the absolute pedants among us, raising the saddle height will minutely bring the silk towards the nut, but that's just rediculous. 🙂

Yeah, and he started at the headstock!

£21 still with eight days to go, and for that reason, I'm out! With £15 postage I didn't really want to go much more than the one pound opening bid. What the hell do people see in this shite?

Thanks to both of you. I think we have a winner. The mirror was edging it in my mind before I made them, but the shape of the plate is odd so I wasn't sure if making it stand out was right. I have actually fitted the mirror one but thanks for confirming I'm not weird. 😁 It also means I don't need to make another clear one, every cloud and all that. On to the Precision one then. 🙂

I want this. I'm not even kidding. That's a Squier Bronco bridge and I need one for my Kay I've just restored as it's 17mm spacing. He can save on postage by burning the rest and sending me the bridge.

That's my thinking as well. Just not totally sure as the whole point if the clear on the originals is so you don't really see it. Not sold on the control knobs either. The lower part is very dark brown and the top has yellowed as well. I did think of concentric metal Jazz type knobs but I don't know how they fit and don't want to spend out only to find they won't fit. The tuners buttons are the same yellowed plastic so they have something to match to. Here's another pic of the mirror one with some reflections which kind of shows how it will fit with the chrome as well.

I've just made two plates for the Longhorn, one clear as per original and one mirrored, to go with the sparkle sides that I did instead of the standard Danelectro white tape. Firstly I put some masking tape on the acrylic and drew around the old scratchplate. Then carefully cut out using a coping saw. To cut the pickup recess I ground down a stone disc from a 'dremmel' type tool until it had the radius of the end of the pickup and carefully cut into the plate. I used my Parkside one from Lidl, I do like a lot of the Parkside stuff, it's cheap but stands up to a fair bit of abuse. Once cut I sanded to shape starting with 180 grit and ended with 3000. The more grades you use, the quicker you can get the job done as you're not spending ages trying to sand out scratches with a paper that's too fine, and the finer you finish with the less polishing needed. Two plates ready for polishing along with the original which has yellowed badly, on a vintage white I'd like the old plate but not the mint green. A quick polish up and we have these two. Unfortunately once polished I noticed that the clear one has very fine cracks around the pickup recess. The mirrored one is 3mm thickness as you can't cheaply get thinner, the clear one is 1mm as per original which is probably why the cracks appeared. I suspect they are from the grinding stone. This picture makes them look much worse than they appear but I might make another one tomorrow with a different method. It depends on whether I prefer the mirrored one. This is the clear one in place, no screws yet. And this is the mirrored one. I don't know which I prefer but just for reference this is the side of the bass which made me think a mirrored one would be good. What do you folks think, clear or mirror?

😁

Thanks for your input, I'll try the Roto's as they already used and see what they're like. If they're dull I'll probably just stick with the D'addarios and save the DRs for something else. 🙂

Well it's not a build, refinish or anything exciting like that but I thought I'd do a little thread as it'll shame me into actually finishing stuff off. I've got a P bass, Hofner Club and a Danelectro Longhorn that all need scratchplates making for them. The P is a Hohner Arbor series fretless which I've just refinished in vintage white and want a mint plate for, it has an odd shaped plate so I can't just buy a replacement. The Longhorn has also just been refinished and needs either a clear plate or a mirrored one, so I'll make both and see. The Club bass is an Ignition model and comes with a very cheap looking white pearl scratchplate and control plate. I've made new plates for it out of cream acrylic sheet as I've never been a fan of pearloid and it matches the binding. This is the original white pearl. I've slightly exaggerated the curves of the scratchplate and slightly rounded the ends and corners of the control plate as I think it suits the shape of the bass better, still iconic Hofner but a bit of personal taste as well. Also added a little Hofner decal and a pair of old knobs I had in my spare bits box. I cut these out with a coping saw and finished with sandpaper and files, then polished. The three slots in the control panel were drilled in each corner and the filed out. You don't need any fancy tools, just a bit of patience. Danelectro coming tomorrow. 🙂

Ha ha, well that's me done for then 😄 Tension wise, the Roto's would be my best bet then. What is it you don't like about them? The Roto's I have are used, albeit fairly new, they were on a bass I bought but the owner had only just fitted them so I kept them when I put half rounds on. I might just try them and see what they're like as they're used anyway.

As with the others, I've ordered bits and bobs, strings etc, and a Hofner Club with issues at all. Nothing for a year or so now though.

I don't want to go buying any strings, I have those three sets in my above post at home. Just wanted to fit whichever set would feel the stiffest. Also, I'm assuming the Hi-beams will be the brightest sounding being steels, just whether they're floppier than the D'addarios as I really don't like anything floppier than them.

I've got a choice of three different sets of strings strings to put on a bass, I have the strings here and don't want to buy any more. Now my string of choice is D'addario half rounds and I don't like floppy strings, the stiffer the better for me, but I want to put rounds on this bass for a brighter, growlier sound. So I would like to know who's used the following strings and which are perceived to be the stiffest, assuming they're the same gauge? The strings are D'Addario exl165 (45-105) DR Hi-Beams (45-105) Unknown but I think Rotos, red, white, blue & red balls with red silks at the tuner end. Very grey looking string compared to both the other two, but not old. I know I could try them all but that's a pain, so any ideas folks? 🙂

I used to use strings that cost a fiver a set, for around a ten year period of gigging. Can't remember the brand but the packet was black with cerise writing and a lion on the front. Had no problems at all with them at all, good tone and lasted a long time. I now prefer half rounds.

That's an optical illusion I'm afraid. I think the two tone and stripe on the side make it look thicker than it really is. I've just measured it and it's 27mm thick, and 2mm of that is probably paint (1mm either side). It's never going to be a good bass but it's a fun bass. It sounds really good with a pick palm muted.

Back off you!

Only five? 😆

Wow, thank you Andy. It means a lot when someone with your eye for detail makes a remark like that. 🙂

My MM pickup arrived this morning but I had an email from work two days ago saying we won't be back to work before July so I've got nothing to paint it with. I might have to think up something crazy if I can't go for a standard paint finish. The body is already in primer so can't be left as it was.

It'll probably be a never sell bass as it's just not worth anything, but never say never and I'll bear you in mind. 👍