Maude

Another cheap option if you want to try flats.

It's not just 'what sounds great' but what sort of tension you like. Some flats are very stiff, others aren't.

And yet people here still claim they can't play a Precision because they've got small hands

Here's another couple of great simple lines.

I've just made a great little mash up without really realising what's going on, good old insomnia. If you start the Savages one and then bang on four seconds start The Screaming Blues Messiahs one, the first minute is great.

We had a great gig last night. We hadn't gigged for 6 weeks and the end of this band may be looming due to a few factors, so I had been thinking maybe life without this band wouldn't be so bad. Wrong! We had a brilliant night, great atmosphere, everyone up dancing and a good showing from a couple of the local scooter clubs. I was buzzing but my knees aren't thanking me today from all the dancing. Another thing that made it great was the new PA speakers we tried. We pay our own soundman who provides all the PA, we normally use subs, with tops and four floor monitors, all powered. Our soundman is getting on and has expressed his need to pack it all in soon, he has given us a deadline next year, one of the reasons the band may end. The subs are just too heavy. He bought some powered Yamaha speakers, I don't know which ones, and we tried them last night. He gets panicky about new stuff so I said I'd bring my amp in case they didn't put out enough bottom end and he ended up bringing the subs and it was all wired up just in case, and it put him at ease. He's a brilliant bloke, just gets a bit on edge sometimes. Well they were fantastic, incredible bottom end and clear mids and treble, so we now know we can gig with just a pair of tops with everything, including bass and drums, through them easily, obviously we'll still need floor monitors, but this has hopefully got him reconsidering jacking it in, as he's as much as part of the band as the rest. Someone in the crowd who was in another band came up to him to complement him on the sound and said it was the best sound from a band he'd heard in a long time. When our soundman told him my bass amp and and the subs weren't even on the chap had to come over and see as he couldn't believe it. To our soundman that's like someone coming up to me and complimenting me on my playing so hopefully he's back in the game. Our drummer who has arthritis issues in his shoulders said he may call it a day when John (soundman) quits as it hurts him to play now even didn't mention the arthritis last night and was quite positive about the future. So from trudging to a gig convincing myself the end was near and I'd be OK with it, to finishing the encores with everyone buzzing and looking to the future of the band in the space of three hours. Gigging is definitely a lifeblood and I need it 👍

I've always had great service from them and although I really, really don't want to get into 'that' debate, I do hope they're still going to be a viable option in the near future.

I have noticed that, even blatantly described as 'Ric style bass', which should've caught the attention of the Schutzstaffel.

Absolute sh!ts. I'll keep my eyes and ears open down here 👍

I think we all know the selling of Rics (real or fake) isn't what this site has issues with, it's the threats from RIC that result from the selling of Rics that are the issue. Maybe if Fender (or any other manufacturer) made similar threats then Fender sales might be banned It's not a moral problem, it's a big fat John Hall shaped problem.

I'm guessing that's aimed @Bassassin more than me as mine is just a rectangle ordered cut to the correct size. I just filed out the 'pinky recess' and the rounded the edges, corners and recess with sandpaper. Whenever I have cut any acrylic I've used a pneumatic reciprocating saw with a standard hacksaw blade, albeit cut down to about a third of its length. I turn the speed down and use a fairly course blade (14tpi) to combat melting and clogging, if the acrylic is thin then I'll lower the angle I cut at so I'm cutting through more material to prevent cracking, obviously a curved cut will need the blade to be more upright. It only needs to be close to the desired shape as acrylic sands to shape so easily with sandpaper and a block.

Yes, we're all individuals.

Who makes them? Hmmmm baby! A very sexy lady friend of mine, Foxy Fye-ona, contacted me yesterday with regards to building her a bass guitar. She said she needed an instrument that she could feel throbbing , deep inside her. Well, I gladly obliged. After having been at it solidly for a couple of days I pulled it out and she let out a little squeal of delight. She declared that I had completely satisfied her urge, but she'd still quite like to try it standing up with a strap on. You know, the bass guitar like. AYE! I'll tell you what, she didn't half squirm around when I plucked her G string. 😉

I'm so glad you posted that picture. I've had this pickup knocking about at home and now I can see it's a Delano musicman style. 😉

I don't understand why any manufacturer would take a beautiful, prestine instrument straight off the manufacture line and paint it bright red, but I suppose some folks like it. 😉

She scares the sh!t outta me!

This YouTube vid always puts a smile on my face. Devon Bradshaw giving some tips but the real treat is his drummer, lovely laid back feel and some killer fills. On the subject of the Hofner, my Club with LaBella flats is superb for reggae, well trad ska in my house but it's close enough. 😉

After a bit of investigating I think these speakers are from the late sixties from the Rola Celestion labels, in 1970 the company was merged with another company and renamed Celestion Industries, then later in the seventies to Celestion International. I've found a page of serial numbers with dates so when I take the speakers out hopefully the stamp will still be on the gasket. It doesn't matter but there's something cool about have speakers a similar vintage to the amp rather than modern ones.

I've noticed in the pictures that the bridge pickup is not square and quite noticeable now the ramp is fitted. I might have to realign that as can't unsee it now.

😆

@Bassassin Those look lovely, nice organic shapes. I'd have liked to have done more shaping but for what I needed the straight edges worked best. It's a fair old slab and does add a bit of weight to the bass but it's relatively light to start with.

Ha ha, its not just my little finger that's weird 😯 I think it's something I've developed to keep my plucking hand in place as I get a bit lively when playing.

I've just measured and there's still 8-9mm clearance between the ramp and strings, and the ramp is 15mm thick. So just to give an idea of the issue I had, imagine being used to playing over a pickup, most of us do, but that pickup being nearly 2.5cm from the strings.

I'm a panelbeater so it's always whatever we're using at work. At the moment we're using Farecla G360 super fast compound followed by Farecla G360 super fast finish using a mini polisher. I was surprised how easily it polished up. I filed the cutout out then sanded it with P180, 320, 500, then 800 wet n dry, 1000w&d, 1500w&d and finally 3000w&d, then the polishes. Seems a bit laboured but it only took thirty seconds or so of each grade.

I was just typing a post in the recent ramp thread as I've now made my ramp which I mentioned in said thread, and I thought I'd do a very small build thread instead as it was a bit overkill for a reply to the ramp thread. My Rickenbacker 4005 copy has a massive gap under the strings due to it's design, the toaster pickups on Rickenbackers are mounted straight on the surface with no routing meaning the strings have to sit really high compared to a conventionally designed bass. This feels very odd when going for the occasional pop or when playing octaves with thumb and forefinger. Also the pickups are so far apart that neither one is really suitable as a thumbrest for my normal playing style, and the huge string to body gap make it weird to play resting my thumb on the body. So I've made a clear Plexiglass ramp to act as a full length thumbrest and to make the string to body clearance more like every other bass I've played, so it isn't a ramp as such. I just bought a rectangle of Plexiglass cut to my measurements on ebay for £6.50 and cut the strange shape in to the top right corner. This is for a weird quirk of mine where I always seem to rest my thumb on a pickup but hook my little finger down the side of it, I don't know why but I feel comfortable that way so I cut this chamfered bit to accommodate my pinky. The edges and corners were rounded of and then all polished up and it really is crystal clear. I'm hoping that under stage lights it will virtually disappear rather than trying to make a wood one that will never match the colour and grain of the top. The lower edge butts against the scratchplate to hide the edge and the top edge looks darker in these photos because of light refraction, or lack of light. I've fixed it with two screws under the strings which I don't think are out of place with the scratchplate and tug bar screws. I was going to use clear doubled sided tape but it looked odd and would collect dirt, this way I can remove to clean any dust that may get underneath. So there you go, a clear ramp/thumbrest/faux top thingymajiggy. 🙂