kodiakblair

Hardly, quite a few tread that path before me 😀 The T-series designer, Chip Todd, built one years after he'd left Peavey. It must have wound it's way to Meridian as a good friend of mine played it, said it was awful 😁 Along with being a fine bass player ,Ronnie was chief engineer of Peavey's mechanical dept. Since he'd easy access to QC fails and stuff smuggled out the door, he decided he'd have a go at a 5 string 40; I followed Ronnie's advice. His method was keep the bridge base plate but scrap the saddles, photo shows just how little coverage 5 strings get with blades. Sweet bass. My bass had toasters, same width of blades just hidden under plastic so doesn't look as tight. Another convert I know went with a different bridge, Welsh Tim used a Kahler👍

Aye, slapping a T-40 is best done unplugged 🙂 Thing is I was being serious, what does a T-40 sound like ? I've owned a few and through my Peavey collection have spoke with 100s of Peavey owners, none of us could give a definitive description of 'T-40 Tone'. That's a major failing for a "Iconic/Highly Regarded/Sought After/Revered/Classic" 😄 Plenty of words about the tone circuit and the basses it's supposed to (but really doesn't) copy, not a peep about having a signature tone of it's own. Luke Matsumoku were using CNC a few years before Peavey, Hartley's "First in the World ! " was BS self promotion. While not groundbreaking, Hartley's problem solving skills were impressive. Fender puts pressure on music shops selling Peavey amps, to sell Fender guitars they must also sell their amps. Hartley decides to counter by giving stores Peavey guitars to sell alongside his amps. He's painfully aware neither his workforce nor local labour pool is up to the task of guitar building. Solution, he gets machines in. Spray shop is inexperienced. Sod it, we'll only do natural matt until they get experience. There's other examples but you get the gist 👍

Peavey may have applied for a patent but it wasn't an original idea, my 1968 Wilson Sapphire has a 'bi-laminate' neck. As the years have progressed it also turned out not such a hot idea. Split glue seams are not uncommon, micro tilt puts pressure directly on the glue seam, TR arches up towards fretboard; again directly on the glue seam. Their bi-laminate also wasn't that stable, "Warped Necks" in the US does good business straightening old Peavey necks. The 'spin-a-split' tone pot was another recycled idea, Dan Armstrong had used and discarded it back in 71 or 72. The 'chainsaw' case started life as a Peavey product though I doubt they intended the fur to fall off so easily nor the foam to degrade into sticky goo but that's what often happened. A nice touch was a labelled scratchplate overlay film, trouble was when left too long or in sunshine it bonded to the scratchplate. Stapling a pie tin inside the control cavity for shielding wasn't such a great idea 😄

It's a chunky unit. 6lbs of metal on a T-40, bridge accounts for 1/5th. No 5 string version, Peavey didn't venture into 5 strings until after they'd scrapped the T-40.

How does a T-40 sound exactly ?

On the T-40 it was 3/4" closer the bridge than on a Stingray. Passive tone pot vs Stingray active EQ is another thing entirely 👍

Many make that connection but delve no deeper than the T-40/Vallory advert. Journey got a backline/PA deal from Peavey, part of the deal was Ross play a T-40. Apart from the live album made on that tour, no Journey tracks feature a T-40. I've owned a few, mainly for masochistic reasons since TBH I don't think they play or sound that great 😄 The 'secret sounds' thing is mostly bollocks, suggestion more than substance. You'll likely need to make new pickups too, the blades don't lend themselves to wider string spacing. From memory the steel used was 63mm long. I kept the original neck for my 5 string conversion, not a wide neck to begin with. Think I got 15.6mm

So you feel like a can of Gammon ? I suggested the can as a substitute drawing aid for those not owning a French curve set. Thread is concerned with how you reshape a peghead; the why has no relevance .

Last time I bought any vinyl was the late 80s. Of the 10 CDs purchased this century, 6 are still in the wrapper. Can't stand the radio, the drivel spoken by presenters drives me up the wall. No streaming services either. I've an MP3 folder in the PC and a duplicate flash drive in the car, those 998 files are more than enough for the rare times I listen to music now.

It is with me, apart from from my headless slab body, most of my builds get the 51/Telecaster peghead 🙂

@Beedster 6 maybe 7 years back reshaping the Harley Benton PB-50 peghead was a popular thing. I'd done a few and when the peghead topic popped up would send those interested BC members templates. The original templates I knocked up were like this, for routers, a bit OTT since I learned none of the BC folk had routers 😀 A quick rethink saw the printed templates stiffened with vinyl floor tiles from the £1 shop, I used vinyl in my "Reshaping Peghead" thread. Vinyl is much easier to trace around. Prep work is a doddle, stick printed PDF to tile, score and snap straight lines using a ruler and craft knife. Curves can be cut freehand or you could use a 'French Curve' set. Don't fancy freehand but no French Curve set ... handy alternatives. An aerosol can is great for the tighter curves, while the large Ye Olde Oak Gammon Ham tin is perfect for the longer curves.

You don't move the actual unit, just the string height blocks. There's not a great deal of sideway room in the slot, flat file to the block's edge solves that. It's the method I used on my T-40 5 string conversion. Whole process takes about 30 minutes, that's including removing material from the bottom for lower action.

Bridge saddle blocks can moved on earlier models with mono saddles. Later models shipped with Sung IL BB285 bridges, spacing on those is fixed at 18mm.

Peavey Grind ticks all your boxes. Control cavity on the back has ample space should you wish active EQ, pickup cavities accept EMG 45s. Probably pick one up for £250 tops.

Ebonol. Wore roundwound for the past 35 years, very little evidence of marking. I'll take ebonol over ebony every time.

Apart from there being absolutely no reason to, you'd be at it forever. You have the pencil and template, mark outline on the back of the peghead. Take a pullsaw or hacksaw and cut away the meaty bits, don't try and cut curves; just a series of straight cuts getting closer to the outline. Clean away the peaks with a flat file then sandpaper smooth. Whole task takes about 15 minutes.

I'd have worn a disguise too 👍

Nice. Went Fender shopping in Denmark St summer of 85. After playing 8 meh Fenders, I tried a Hard Puncher 🙂 Cracking bass, the the others to shame.

Naw. The alcohol evaporates so you're still left drinking crap coffee.

My choice would be a pine 51 slab body P-bass but resale for such a niche model would be difficult so I'd go for "Fender Cliche". Cliche would go up for sale, I'd build my own pine slab then take a holiday with the change. "Master Built" was around £5.5k, even if I went daft my build wouldn't cost more than £600 so it'd be a bloody good holiday 😀

By law Chinese and Indonesian workers must have a contract after 12 weeks. They're also legally entitled to severance pay, medical ,sick pay, maternity leave (also paid for a miscarriage) and paid leave for family funerals. These are benefits beyond the ken of most factory workers in the USA. In truth workers' rights are pretty poor in the US and as @Woodinblackmention business actively looks for ways to avoid them. The reason Gibson moved their factory from Kalamazoo to Nashville was 'workers' rights'; Kalamazoo had a union whereas Nashville is in a non-union 'Right to Work' state. It was more than a stigma. Cor Tek's 2007 closure of their Korean factories caused a major uproar. They were cleared of any 'wrongdoing' in 2012 but corruption claims lingered, the judge who cleared them was later arrested and the Korean president was impeached. Sacked workers ended up being compensated but it took 12 years.

Are USA labour costs high when you look at the big picture ? When FMIC had 360 staff they were knocking out 360 units per day. Zhunyi Shenqu are an Ibanez builder in China, 600 staff producing 600 units per day. The Cort and Samick factories in Indonesia have similar ratios of workers-guitars/basses. Roughly 1 instrument per staff per shift. $200 labour + $200 parts/materials from a $1500 - $1800 makes for very happy investors. Last time I looked G&L were paying $19, which fits nicely towards their $2k average retail. EBMM buck the trend, their going rate is $16.50 against an average $2500 to $2900 retail. Most US production line instruments are expensive because the bosses know Americans will pay the price.

Lazy research on Googles part 😄 Fender careers do list $56k as top whack at Corona but the small print tells applicants that's its unlikely they'll receive it, screen grab is from today's 'factory floor' vacancy page. Rate for 'guitar inspector' is lower, $26.6k to $48.9k. $18.50 to $20 per hour might appear great compared to the $6 earned by Chinese factory workers but loses the glamour when you consider cost of living. Average costs in the USA are between 75% and 80% more expensive than even places Shenzhen.

If you do a search on TalkBass, there's a fella called 'kohanmike' has built a few. He's part of a Uke ensemble, has 54 bass ukes in classic guitar/bass styles. To save you searching here's a link 👍 https://www.talkbass.com/threads/sub-short-scale-talk.644956/page-92#post-27365955