ped

Fretless neck is here. Bolted on (first time I’ve done that) and tuned up. It’ll need time to settle but it sounds brilliant! I’ll leave it for a day or two as currently there’s a bit of back bow so once the strings add some force the other way it’ll either be right or need some truss rod adjustment. The fit and finish of the ebony board replacement is great, I think it’ll come up really nicely with some epoxy.

I'm going to have a fretless bass again soon, so I'm thinking about my pedalboard setup. My current pedalboard contains the following: Filter - OD - Fuzz - Bassballs - Comp - LPF Occasionally I put an octaver in the loop of the filter. Thing is, apart from the comp and LPF I probably wouldn't use many of these with fretless, but I don't really want to make a second board and have to bring both. I don't want to bring several extra pedals to put before or after my pedalboard either. Ideally, an all in one fretless pedal would work well, that I can bypass for fretted but switch in things as required. I've been toying with the idea of a multi fx, from the Zoom Multistomp through to a Helix, but those options are either possibly under or overkill! In my search I found this Trex 'Soul Mate Acoustic' The selection of effects are exactly what I'd like on fretless. Reverb, chorus, looper, comp, para EQ... this could happily go between my fretless bass and my pedalboard. It seems as though it would be great for bass - the para EQ frequency centres make sense and none of the effects are necessarily ones which would rob low end. What do you reckon?

If you haven’t seen it in ‘build diaries’ I’m about to turn this modified Musicmaster into a lovely fretless.

I’m not 100% sure but I might be right in thinking these dimarzio pickups are hum cancelling? I can’t solo either pickup to check but I think I read somewhere that this is the case - a happy accident if so, particularly as I’ll likely favour the bridge pickup for fretless. Can anyone confirm?

Musicmaster arrived today (amazing service from Rich Tone Music, Sheffield). Plugged it in, and it’s a blast! The weird electronics mean I get both pickups only but at least I know they both work. It has a really rich growly sound and it feels great. Neck is straight, possibly one or two high frets but no major issues. I can get the action very low and even the janky bridge allows near enough intonation. It’s a bit heavier than the Mustang but still light. The finish is really very yellow indeed which is lovely in person, more yellow than I expected but quite faithful to the pictures on the listing. The cream pickups look lovely against the body and I can see why the dimarzios are so well regarded. The finish seems to be a polyester coat although it must be quite thin as it’s worn away in places. It definitely fees and looks more like poly. Being ‘72 I think that checks out. It’s clear that the bass has been loved and thoughtfully modified thus far. It’s definitely been played and loved, and even though I’ll be making a few changes I don’t feel like I’m rescuing a basket case. Looking forward to the next step - fretless neck comes tomorrow, so I’ll put that on and give it a go although without pickup pan it won’t be ideal, but enough to give me an idea of the final sound. I have the new bridge on the way from the USA and still thinking about the wiring. Early Sept I’ll pass it on to my luthier and get cracking. In short, I’m relieved that the bass is ok. Much better than expected and I’m super excited to see how this ends up!! Not sure what sort of strap to get for it, as I have a wide RightOn strap for the mustang which matches perfectly. Maybe the same in black with a yellow stripe. I’ll also need a spare clip for the Backbeat. Then another pedalboard. Yellow stage clothes. The list goes on…

Take a crime number and bye 🙋🏻‍♂️

I ended up getting the Albridge linked in the first post as they messaged back and said they had one ready to send. The Halon guy is away from today for a few weeks so even though I’m not in a rush I went for the Albridge which worked out about the same price.

Where did you get these?

Ah I see you mentioned 17.5mm.

Brilliant, I will drop you a line if things don't go tits up before we get to the logo stage!

TC Electronic Spectradrive? Love the comp, never tried the drive

If the same as my 'Stang they're 6mm push fit, I think. I don't necessarily mind using different knobs of the same style, or adding a third. I have some the same type which fit with a set screw which might work depending on the pots required. I'm just wondering were a third one would go - I'd like to keep the front mounted jack, and I'm not sure where else would fit with the existing routing, or where there might be space. Maybe a third in line with the others before the neck pickup, though it would be quite close - not a problem for my playing style but can't tell if there'd be room until I have the bits in hand.... For everyone else, I'm toying with the idea of a bland, tone, and varitone control with two different caps which would be quite tasty on a fretless. I think @devinebass has a similar arrangement on his Lull Jazz, using a push/pull to switch between the two, which is a good idea.

I’m talking to Steve at Chapel Guitars http://www.chapelguitars.com (found via the recommended luthiers thread here). He’s made the potentially fatal error of accepting the challenge!

Some gut shots: Plenty of wiggle room to adjust the neck pickup. I’m talking to BC legend @KiOgon about a loom, probably balance/tone (maybe a varitone style selector somewhere, tbc. I want to use the original knobs and I’m allergic to stacked ones)

I think I got lucky with the neck on my Mustang; it’s perfect and the fretwork is impeccable and it’s solid as a rock. I’m not sure if Musicmasker necks are basically the same or not? Of course for a fretless the neck needs to be spot on so hopefully the more modern Japanese neck will be fairly decent

Oh I need to save too!! I’m not sure yet - probably if everything goes to plan.

The bloke who makes this particular logo is in the US, and won’t post to the UK (bit odd, I asked and he still said he wouldn’t) - do we have a good UK source for transfers? Prefer this like the one on the original neck as opposed to the later design.

Thanks. Yes I wanted to use the word ‘ferrules’ but wasn’t sure if I’d dreamt it. Ok - one to stuck in the maybe pile. The tuners on the Mustang neck are probably functionally just as good/better and as I won’t be playing it in tune anyway, it might not matter a great deal!

...and is it possible to use the rear part and tuning key from the Musicmaster with the Mustang neck? The Mustang neck has the bigger string posts which is obviously much better, so wondered if I could combine the two (or is that being silly)

If I want to put a Musicmaster decal on the Mustang neck, is that a mission? I guess the original needs stripping back and re-varnishing or something? Maybe not a massive headache if the neck is getting a glam up anyway?

Wot, the shiny one? Nice isn't it - though not mine. Just an example of the sort of thing I'm going for (hopefully possible with a decent starting point)

Hi guys Since I had my '66 Mustang modified (Resto-modded, I think is the term) by the amazing @Andyjr1515 I have found it to be an absolutely wonderful instrument in every way - it's properly floored me, so much so that I sold my other 4 string basses. Now I'm looking to create a fretless version with the same sort of vibe. I say create, but I basically mean buy the bits and stick them together, and ask a competent luthier to fill in the vast gaps in my knowledge and skills. To that end, I have started a conversation with a recommended local luthier who will do some of this work. So what am I working with? Rather than de-fret a Musicmaster neck, I was lucky enough to score a Mustang (MIJ) neck on Facebook, which someone had already worked on. The truss rod has been replaced with an aluminium one and the fretboard replaced with ebony. The guy sounds quite experienced and I think it'll be a decent job. It cost me £200. As for the rest - well, I was always going to need a pickup near the bridge, which Musicmasters don't have. Either I'd need to get something routed or try and find something pre destroyed. This came up on eBay, Reverb etc from Rich Tone Music in Sheffield. I have spoken to them about it a bit and decided to go for it. I think it was slightly over valued but I think it'll be pretty spot on for my project. It's a 1972 Musicmaster that someone has put DiMarzio pickups in. The installation at the bridge is quite neat - indeed the neck is done quite nicely too (I saw pics under the scratch plate) but it is slightly wonky. But that's OK - I have a plan. So the neck will come off and swap easily. The neck pickup can be wiggled to straighten it (there's a bit of space around the pickup, happily not a massive swimming pool but just a slightly looser cutout than the bridge, looks like an OK job). The electronics are, weirdly, vol/tone. One vol for both pickups (no pan). I will re-wire it instead to blend/tone as per my Mustang. I say I will, someone else will with me pestering them. Once the pickup is repositioned I'll either need a new scratch plate or to work around it somehow. I have a plan for this too - reissue scratch plates have too many holes, and It would be nice to use the original. I don't have to be precious as it's obviously already been hacked away. I will widen the cutout to accommodate the moving of the pickup by a few degrees, then put a bezel around the new position, covering the gap left. Original guard stays on, and the neck pickup will gain a bezel, which I'll do in probably 3 ply w/b/w rectangle. Or, that fails and I get a new guard made using a tracing of mine. Next - the neck. I'm after a glossy finish, so we're talking about epoxy coating/polishing. Of course this can happen later if needs be. I will be using rounds, so something hard to compliment the ebony, but something that can be re-finished eventually. Finally - I might put a new bridge on, one with four saddle adjustability. I play in drop D (yes it works really well on the Mustang, even at 30") so independent adjustment for intonation is a must - I will probably need longer saddle screws for the fattest two strings, too. So the bits are arriving over the coming weeks - I have a couple of weekends away and so forth but I will update here as I go, if anyone is interested! I will see if my luthier is interested in updating here too, though if I'm able to move the pickup and do the pick guard bit myself he might not have too much to do except this kind of thing on the neck: So, a little bit crazy, potentially daft - but it went so well last time I thought why not? Cheers, looking forward to tops/advice/commiseration as appropriate! Crazy thing is that I'm not even any good on fretless

Hi there, which spacing did you go for/what's the standard spacing? Cheers

I have the red one with white stripe. Great straps - I like how the excess is hidden when the length is adjusted.

Did someone say large pedal 🤗