Huge Hands

I received mine last week - have only tested them so far but all seems good. Forgot to take them to rehearsal last night - hopefully will remember next Monday!

John made me a passive Vol-Blend-Tone loom for my 5 string Precision build. Dead easy to install (even if John was super-fast in delivering it and you've lost the wiring diagram in the weeks it took for the pickups to arrive) and sounds great. Thanks again John!

That is one sentence we can definitely agree on. I do remember working with a pantomime dame who insisted on using his own costumes he had built up over the years. He had a Christmas tree dress that would be lit up when he walked on stage, then turn off. I assumed it was some sort of battery thing until half of the lights stopped working and he asked me to take a look at it. There were fully mains 240V bulbs wrapped around him on 2 circuits. He would walk out with himself connected to mains, then he would disconnect it by pulling an in-line 2 prong connector apart with one hand and getting the crew to pull the cable back off stage. The two prong plug looked like it was made of bakelite and the socket side could have easily been bridged with a finger when pulling them apart. When I started going through the dress cabling, I could see where bulb holders had been removed, the wires twisted back together and wrapped (badly) in dried out electrician's tape. He was a heavy smoker, so a coughing fit and slapping his chest would have probably killed him! I condemned it there and then and forbid him from using it, which he wasn't very happy about, but I slept better during the run!

Hi Tim, I think we are kind of agreeing in different ways. If the amp was faulty, or causing a PD to its own earth, then yes it would need looking at before it caused itself or the guitarist any damage. Remember, it is the current that kills, not the voltage, so in some schools of electrical thought, what you read on your meter may have been inside some sort of tolerance (although I doubt it). Did you get it fixed, or just leave it as was? What I did with the mic cable in my case isolated the guitarist/amp from the PA. so I think, especially as we had a rubber floor on our stage, isolated him enough to stop it hurting his lips or grounding himself in any other way. I only guessed it was his amp as we didn't have that problem again in the same venue. However, as I said I vaguely remember him coming the next year with the same amp, so assume he either had it fixed or wasn't faulty either.

My point is, I am not a qualified electrician but am qualified in audio tech and have worked with it and single/3-phase electricity enough over the years to have the experience to know it is not direct mains electricity flowing through these people. If it was, they would definitely know about it and would have probably bitten their tongue off at the very least! However, I agree that precautions are obviously best and having socket testers/inline RCDs is good for peace of mind. What these people experience is a static and sometimes impressive looking small blue flash like you would get from Nylon trousers, or poor shoes, or a balloon.. It is caused by small static or potential build up on a ground plane, because for whatever reason any inducted voltage caused by nearby noise or whatever, thinks your mouth is a faster route to earth than its current connection. It is not caused by a fault causing the live mains to somehow connect to the casing of the microphone. It is also worth noting that with the example I quoted, the guitarist did the whole gig with no problems. He then turned up the next year with the same setup and never mentioned his amp killing him in that time. I have also seen this issue with RCDs in place and they don't blow as it is not seen as a leakage to earth from another conductor.

Hi @TimR, most DI boxes I have opened up over the years just have a simple switch that causes a break in the connection to pin 1 of the XLR, there is no resistor. I think it would have to be of a pretty high resistance to give the same noise cancelling effect, which would be the same as a break in the connection. Mic cable shielding is not designed as a safety earth plane. It just happens to connect to earth in the mixer to aid with signal shielding if there isn't inherent noise being inducted it on the run. I have seen installations with all shields removed at 1 end on multi-channel snakes in noisy environments before. It wouldn't be my choice as it limits your options for noise issues, but I have seen it done.

Hi @LawrenceH - I don't know if that was aimed at me, but I was not suggesting moving physical earths from PAs or equipment. I was suggesting disconnecting the signal shield from the microphone. This would avoid a "bridge" between varying earth planes (existing or not) in various equipment plugged into various sockets in the building. A signal "ground lift" is a common option in DI boxes to isolate this to stop hum and no different to what I am suggesting here. I totally agree with the safety precaution of carrying a socket RCD and have one in my gig bag too. However, I think people need to understand the difference between serious electrical faults like mains voltage/current shorting to earth and small potential differences caused by less resistive paths to earth, which can happen due to bad connections, or some poor wiring in venues. Still not great and should be looked at by the venue and resolved, but if a microphone genuinely had mains voltage flowing through the casing, your mouth would have to be peeled away with a wooden pole once you'd burnt to a crisp (assuming a RCD hadn't tripped and saved you). These shocks are generally like static from your shoes or when you used to rub a balloon on your jumper. I am not belittling them by the way, I know they can bloody hurt, I have had a few myself in the odd venue over the years.

I saw bits of it, so didn't see the start or any context of what it was fully about. I agree that Beverly Knight was her usual amazing. For me. it lost a little in some of the arrangements and song choices, as though some were trying too hard to embellish or change the feel of the original songs. I also agree some of the vocalists seemed a little off. I recently saw a video on Youtube of a house band including Will Lee on bass playing a Curtis Mayfield tribute with the WDR orchestra and Ledisi/Bilal singing. Much more well done and true to the feel of the originals IMHO

Hi TIm, Agreed. I think you're arguing the same points as me, but probably in a more succinct way. The problem with potential differences between ground planes on different sockets in a room is usually that they are not commonly earthed, or the connection for one is not as good as the other or is not there at all. In my example you quoted, I assumed it was his amp/guitar setup as we had a multitude of guitarists using the same setup in that venue without issue. We kept the doctored cable marked up on a peg in our office, but don't think we ever used it again (probably until he came back the next year).

Hi Tim, The point of what I suggested is that you isolate the ground to the mic itself. I assume in the example you quoted, someone has lifted the ground elsewhere, so the mic is still connected to the PA ground via the cable shield, and therefore any potential in the PA earth plane is earthed through your mouth and guitar/amp. I think this is more likely than it travelling from your guitar earth to the PA earth if you're saying the ground was removed? If you remove the shield from the mic, the casing of the mic should not be connected to earth and therefore stop you getting belts. Maybe I have misunderstood what you meant.

In my experience as a former sound engineer, these shocks are caused by potential differences in the earths between your mixer and your PA, backline amps etc. If it is a small system, and everything is plugged into the same socket, it is usually fine. The problem comes when you have your on-stage gear plugged into one socket/ring main, and your mixer out front in another and they don't have a fully shared resistance free common earth. Any potential difference then takes the fastest route to earth via you and your mouth when you get close enough to the mic, especially if you're holding a guitar. The best way is to take a marked up XLR cable for the mic with the ground (pin 1) disconnected at one end. This will act as a ground lift (like the switch on a DI box) and should stop the belts in the mouth. Obviously this may cause the mic feed to be noisier in certain venues as you've removed the ground, but that could be the better of the two evils. I remember doing this about 25 years ago with the band Nine Below Zero at the venue I worked at. The venue was desperate to open but the lead singer was still soundchecking, strumming his guitar and getting shocks. I got one of the crew to open up his XLR, cut the connection to pin one, tape it up and put it back together in front of him. He stood there and watched in disbelief thinking we were idiots. He put the lead back together just as the venue manager decided to close the curtains and let everyone in. As the crowd ran in to get their positions, the lead singer strummed behind the curtains with just the monitors on (that were still loud in the venue) and went "Hey mate - either that was lucky guess or you're a f***ing genius!" We kept that lead but hardly ever had complaints that would mean we needed to use it again - I assume it may have been something to do with his amp, perhaps earthing him faster through the mic, rather than the other way round.

I have 2 of the very P5s that @synthaside mentions, both mine are/were Sherwood Green too! I am in the middle of modding one for the 2nd time (with a different colour), so the measurements are fairly fresh in my head. It has one of the widest necks and nuts out there, so not sure if all Fender 5s are guaranteed 19mm? Although not a Fender/Squier product, the Sire 5 string V7 I have is 18mm and won't appear to fit wider spacing on the neck. I think string choice could also factor your experience - I have found different strings give different results, I have always assumed due to tension? In summary though, I have played some more high end basses and the B string does feel tighter and less flubby and loose on them than my Squiers - but I mainly want mine to rumble the floorboards when I hit the lowest notes, so it doesn't bother me too much. I just love the cricket bat necks! Not enough to buy another one at that price in the link though!

Thanks @tauzero - I've had a punt....

...er, what did you guys do there.....? BBC News - Brewdog to close 10 pubs across UK, some 'within days' https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmw0mmxpjlo

Drove down to meet @GisserD (Darren) today and buy his spare Sire V7 bare wood body. Had a nice chat with him about bass building and car paint colours and he put up with me waffling even though he was suffering a bit from the night before! Great seller and all as described. Deal with confidence! All the best, Stew (Huge Hands)

I appreciate your advice on this. I'm still thinking about the decal! I don't think I want a fretless - I have the DB and EUB if I want to scratch those itches. As for the Chinese neck, I was looking at it tonight and realised I may have been a bit unfair to it. I am not an expert on neck profiles but it is quite deep so assume it probably is a D type profile so not really Jazz like at all. I also now assume the original nuts were not that wide due to the headstock profile so it may be more faithful to the original than I thought. I wouldn't know if course, as I've never seen a real 51 in the flesh, I just love the look. This neck is really straight though and has not needed much adjustment so far. Very happy!

I just remembered that I forgot to mention the tuners. Again, these were Ali Express left handed ones. I can't remember how much they were but I think it was less than a tenner. I will edit my earlier costs post. ..

I used to play in a band with a lady whose husband was a DB player and she told me he used to transport his DB in a 1999 Fiat Punto. I think it ended up looking worse than the OP's for gearshift access. As a 17 year old I used to transport my 4-piece drum kit and hardware in my original shape Mini too!

Hi @PaulThePlug - just had a look through your build - you were certainly more adventurous than me! I have toyed with the idea of putting a decal on the headstock, but not sure if it should also be upside down, or the right way up for the way it is played. More obsessive thought required methinks! Did you just lay that on the top, or lacquer over it? My Chinese neck has a really shiny lacquer on it so don't really want to spoil that by sanding it down or over spraying. It's my first mod/build that I haven't really ballsed up in any major way and therefore for the first time I am pretty satisfied and not feeling depressed about it lol! I tried a more modded version of my green Squier P5 (the other one in the pic) but the supposedly identical model I used had a banana neck and could never get the pickup placement right....

Here's a rough idea of costs (from my rusty memory so not exact). Estimates include delivery per item. HB PB-50 - £105 Neck - £70 Covers - £70 Inserts and Bolts - £25 Lefty tuners - £10 So I reckon I am into this for £280 (ish). I already had the Makita, tools, rubber mallet, files, sandpaper, pack of plasters, eye drops, paracetamol etc.... I know I wouldn't get my money back on it, but that is not the point. I suppose I could sell the original HB neck but I'm not that bothered to be honest, it can sit on the shelf as an ornament!

Ok, so last bit....the pickup cover. Getting a bridge cover had been pretty easy online. There appeared to be lots of sellers that had them. Pickup covers were not so easy - only options I could find were shipping from abroad and adding about £25 on to the bill for delivery. Eventually, I found someone on eBay selling one they had bought but not used for about the same money as I paid for the bridge one (£35). I added this using the same inserts and knurled bolts technique as I did the bridge cover. My original idea being that if I was playing it and the covers were getting in the way I could get them off quick without tools. As mentioned in the earlier post, I did have to add a foam spacer under the feet as the 4mm bolts tightened all the way into their inserts but it still rattled slightly. All was solved after that. That left the finished guitar! I love the look of it and use it as my noodling bass at home. I like the fact it is exercising my brain and muscle memory into being able to flip more easily between 4 strings and my gigging 5s, and I have even taken it to a couple of gigs to try out on the odd song.

..and before anyone asks, I did eventually take the protective plastic off the pickguard!

Yes, it did! Apologies, ran out of time last night! I kept my eye on the internet but wasn't seeing anything with a proper lefty headstock that wasn't silly money. At the same time, I had become obsessed with trawling Ali Express and finding dodgy looking but very cheap little electronic gizmos that I didn't need but wanted to try out. It was on one of these sleepless nights of constant scrolling that I noticed there were sellers on there doing various necks. After more eye-dehydrating hours, I found a maple neck with the correct looking shape headstock, but a right handed nut, all ready to go for about £70 delivered. In my lack-of-sleep delirium I decided it was worth a punt. I hit order, and waited....and waited.... Eventually, about 2 weeks after the due date, I got a message to say it had been delivered, which it hadn't. Figuring I had been scammed, I messaged the seller. They said it would be there soon, and fair enough, it turned up a few days later...Phew! The neck turned out to be really straight. I did file down a few rough fret edges again (no worse than the HB one) and there was a slight smudging of one of the 12th fret edge markers, but apart from that it was fine. I found the heel of the neck was a little wider than the HB body's pocket, so had to sand the pocket edges a little. I probably should have been patient and sanded a little more off, but with a confident tap with a rubber mallet it squeezed home fine. My only gripe with the neck was the nut was only 32mm wide, so the neck has more of a jazz feel than an original P bass, but it is still nice to play even though my personal preference would have been to be wider. It wasn't mentioned on the listing, so "beggars can't be choosers" as they say.... I put a cheap set of flats on it, and it sounds awesome! The stock pickup in the HB (I think it is a Wilkinson?) sounds fine to my ears The final thing I had an issue with was the circular string tree. As the neck was brand new and not drilled, I nicked the one from the HB neck and guessed the best placement. Due to the longer length, bigger thickness and tension of the E and A strings that were now under it, it started to pull the screw from the wood After searching my bits box I found a suitable wider and slightly longer screw that fit still fit through the tree. Once it was all done, I loved the look! The neck is really straight and definitely looks the part!

So I had it like this for about 12 months. The bridge (and later pickup cover) were opportune Fender branded buys from eBay and such like which were about £35 each. The inserts and bolts were a bit of a bulk buy only thing so came to about £20 if memory serves.

First I added a bridge cover. I've not had covers on any of my basses before, apart from a really cheap thing as a kid which had threaded bolts sticking of the body that you spun a knurled nut on to. This made the cover much more easily and quickly removable than having screws through it. I was discussing it with some friends and started looking online. We came up with the idea of threaded inserts in the body, with knurled top bolts that screwed into them. This would avoid having two prongs of death sticking out of the bass when the cover was off. So, off I went (as gingerly as I know how) with my trusty Makita. I was worried about drilling too far into the body so think the thread was only about 4mm deep. It worked great but if I had my time again I would have ordered a longer insert and kept the 4mm bolt as I had to add some foam as a spacer to the pickup cover edge to allow it to fully tighten against the body without rattling. (Pics of that later).