ped

The neck pickup being that close to the fretboard would be a bit muddy. Better to have the additional pickup near the bridge to approximate jazz spacing. Imo obviously

Cheers, the 66 has two Gemini pickups, the front is a dual coil 'Degenerate' with one extra hot. It gives a lovely P sound. The bridge is a 'Surfrider' and it's very powerful, so the honk is amazing. There are a few audio clips here and the build diary for the bass is here - you can see it was modified already when I bought it, so no crime has been committed. The fretless build diary (more of a parts assembly thread) is here

That's cool, it's like a Fodera Monarch and an Ibanez JEM had a lanky baby

Welcome to BC @DanDoesBass I'm a paid up member of the Mustang Brotherhood - which is weird, because a few years ago I would have laughed at the idea. I bought the '66 Mustang on a whim and fell in love with it, especially with rounds. Since I had it modified with new pickups it's become my favourite bass. I realised that short scale would be really well suited for fretless, given the additional weight afforded to the higher strings. I bought the '72 Musicmaster and a fretless Mustang neck to test that idea, and it's fantastic. Shortly the bass is going to a local luthier who is doing a few other bits such as correcting the electronics, replacing the bridge and possibly epoxy coating the board.

The thumbnail will automatically generate from the first picture in your advert, if that's easier.

I must admit, when it comes to music, I care not a jot for anything beyond the music itself. I don't really listen to the lyrics or care what a song is about, and have no interest in the band member's affiliations or predilections beyond their stage and studio gear.

If it had more than 250bhp then it’s ok 👍🏼

Someone in my band has a Nissan Juke and I’m perfectly ok playing with him

I like your thinking - lets get some

I've had some of them too, big box Cali (I actually sold that to Scott) and some 3 leaf stuff (proton and wonderlove). I have no need for a pre/DI. I'd like to try the MXR at some stage though experience with the FI and C4 tells me I wouldn't actually use it.

Same, he's a really nice guy. He'd be just as enthusiastic about your setup no matter what you had in your chain.

I'm surprised it fits over the bridge, but now I think about it, it probably seems as though it's designed to fit! I do a lot of palm muting on my stang so I haven't tried one, but it does look good.

Absolutely stunning job. Interesting that you replaced the non original bridge cover - is that a Daryl Jones nod?

If you don't own one of these, a Noble/Capo and a Cali 76, are you even really a bass player

Thanks for the comment. I'm glad it sounds OK. Better to be consistently wrong than all over the place - as you say, perhaps it's partly the bridge intonation. The strings are really light gauge so I can't quite get enough relief on the neck with them as things are - once I have the new bridge installed I'll do a proper setup with my usual strings. Currently with the truss rod slackened off, there's a verrrry slight back bow giving some rattle around the first few frets. The parts are all arriving over the next few days - the bridge and decal are here, the pickup surround and loom are in the post - so we're nearly there.

Hm I’ve gone from graphite necked midi equipped basses to vintage wooden short scales. Probably about as opposite as you can get!

Unfortunately the slant is so slight that I can’t really make that argument 😂 it did cross my mind though

Thanks - I must admit having never taken a tuner apart or replaced one before I'm fully ignorant in the ways of the tuner. I'll have a look at how things fit together and see what needs doing. Another option is to have the Musicmaster neck defretted, giving me the option of the Mustang ebony neck which I could leave as-is.

Better now I've attached a strap to it that goes around my head

Thanks to the most excellent @Burns-bass I am now ready to celebrate the hootenanny!

Yeah I think it'll really show off the wood nicely - but will see what the luthier says. I'm only interested in it because it looks so nice but the more I read about it the more I'm leaning towards leaving it alone - if it needed some work anyway then I'd be leaning towards it but as it is - I'm not 100% sure. The material varies so much so I'll see what Steve says, what he has experience using, and go from there. Currently the relief is about right but I'll wait until it's finished to put my favourite and slightly heavier strings on it, and the new bridge. These strings are OK but I've forgotten how 'grabby' non coasted strings can be. All in all I'm really glad that the main parts function so well before the modifications/corrections take place. It also needs shielding, badly. Lots of hum when not touching anything but silent when you do. So: - Bridge is on the way - Neck needs coating - Musicmaster decal to be applied - Pickup surround on the way - New wiring loom being discussed (likely pan/tone with series/parallel option and possibly second capacitor mode - Shielding - investigate using original tuners (maybe) - Learn to play

Care to test that theory? 😄

I’ve got a dilemma now though. Recently picked up a fretless to match the fretted but it’s faded to nearly yellow. It’s going to be impossible to match a strap to it, and because I use a Backbeat it’ll be easier to have one strap for both. Gone for my old 90’s ‘Slapstrap’ which is super comfy and a bit of a classic