peted

1st amp was a Park (the old Marshall 'cheap' brand) 20 Watt guitar combo which was a terrible bass amp. It was open back and had two gain knobs which meant that the bass was permanently distorted and lacked all bass. Not the best start to my playing. When my first band started to gig I bought a second hand Crate 80 Watt 1x15" combo which did me for a couple of years. Heavy as anything, and quite underpowered against two guitarists, but incredibly reliable. Then bought a second-hand Hartke 3500 head and hired cabs for gigs. Put the Hartke in a 6U rack with a Samson stereo compressor. Then bought a second-hand 2x10" cab made in Norfolk by someone I knew, and paired it with a 1x15" I had made for me at the same time by the same bloke. Gigged this rig a couple of times but found myself between bands (typical! First proper rig to call my own and no band to play it with!). Sold the Samson compressor as I preferred to control the dynamics of my sound with my fingers. Then sold all the cabs for give-away prices and bought a Hartke PRO 2200 2x12" cab. Still own this and love it. I've gigged this loads with my old covers band. Fits in the boot of my Fiesta and can fill any size venue with great tone. It's a keeper. My wife bought me a Line6 Lowdown Studio for home practice. A great little combo with sounds that inspire me to practice. I'd recommend this amp to anyone looking for a little combo. Last summer I decided to build a BFM Omni10. As I'm between bands again I haven't been able to test it in anger, but at home practice levels this does sound like a very promising cab. So, final rig is: Hartke 3500 into either a Hartke PRO 2200, or a BFM Omni10. A Line6 Lowdown Studio for home practice and practice with a quiet/well-behaved band.

[quote name='thumbo' post='396726' date='Feb 1 2009, 12:32 PM']This is something like the 4th time I've been back to look at this bass in the last day.[/quote] I'm guilty of this too Seeing this bass really makes the wait for my Shuker SC to be finished all that harder, and I've probably got at least another 9 months to go

Gorgeous. Congrats on a lovely bass

[quote name='Chelios' post='394616' date='Jan 29 2009, 02:51 PM']when you say use tooth picks are you gluing them in or just placing them in the holes? Chelios[/quote] The repair I've done on a previous bass at a gig just involved putting a couple of tooth-picks in the affected hole and the pressure of the screw kept them in there. If I'd have been at home then I probably would have introduced a little glue to maintain peace-of-mind.

I put Dunlop strap-locks on mine (My Thumb BO was manufactured before Warwick put strap-locks on as standard ). I believe that I was able to just re-use the <very long> screws which were originally on the Warwick strap buttons. I've found that a good roadie-trick for fixing screw-holes which have got too big is to use tooth-picks. Don't whatever you do use matchsticks! The wood in matchsticks is too soft and the screw will just fall out again after a while. Tooth-picks are made of hardwood and will hold the screw in place.

I could get lost in that grain detail for days! Very nice indeed, I bet it looks even better in person. Do you have any issues with certain brands of strings, having a 35" scale [i]and[/i] through body stringing? i.e. Do you find that some brands of string have windings that stop a little short of the nut? Just curious as I've got a 35" bass in the making.

Those are gorgeous basses. I hope the black finish on my Shuker comes out like your stealth bass, it looks sooo classey.

That is gorgeous. I love the shape too.

I use Kyser lem-oil on my Warwick (wenge fingerboard) and Squire (rosewood fingerboard) and rate it well. As mentioned above, it only takes a couple of 'squirts' to do the whole fretboard, and only needs to be repeated a couple of times a year at most.

Got a bit too bored today, so decided to try to mock up something similar to what this bass might look like. I used Dan's Doodle as the template photo for this. I couldn't get the pickups to angle and stay as rectangles without making the strings look funny. I also couldn't be doing with trying to convert the image from a 7 string to a 6. It's just a quick hack to try to visualise the kind of thing i've got in my head [attachment=19230:shukersc.jpg]

[quote name='Prosebass' post='389434' date='Jan 23 2009, 11:24 AM']Whats your average and do you feel guilty if you don't get so many hours a week in ?[/quote] I currently only get an hour a night at most during the week as I have to fit it in after I've put the littl'un to bed. I try to make it as structured and constructive as possible, but I'm usually too tired to think straight at that time [quote name='Prosebass' post='389434' date='Jan 23 2009, 11:24 AM']Does playing more make you a better / more accomplished player or have you hit a brick wall ?[/quote] My practice sessions are feeling very repetitive at the moment and I feel like I go over the same old scales and few techniques every time. Though I'm sure that playing [i]anything[/i] more will make me a better player in the long run. [quote name='Prosebass' post='389434' date='Jan 23 2009, 11:24 AM']Whats your percentage of live / practice playing ?[/quote] At the moment I'm 100% practice and 0% live as my band aren't gigging yet (I've only had one rehearsal with them last year, and that was my audition). I'm hoping that this will change drastically over the next few months

I like it. The body make me think of Ritter and has very pleasing lines and proportions.

Having the longest scale instrument, and not putting myself at risk of clubbing a singer over the head with my headstock (as much as I'd like to sometimes!), I prefer to be on the hi-hat side of a right-handed drummer. Also encourages me to take my eyes off of my fretboard and engage the audience and the rest of the band.

Hi Mert, Any more pics of the prototype? Is it finished, and how does it play? I haven't had any more news on my own fanned SC, but I'm trying to hassle Jon too much

I'm toying with the idea of an BFM Omni 15 tallboy build this summer as I enjoyed building my Omni 10 so much last year. Definitely pop up a review here of how it sounds. Cheers.

I used Elite Player 45-105 (the nickel ones) for the first few years of playing, due to being recommended them by the guy in the shop. I then moved to Elite Stadium 45-105 (the steel ones) after hearing that I'd get better attack and output from them. Used these for quite a number of years. Now I currently use Warwick Red Label 45-105 (steel, again). They are comparable to the Elites, but a little bit cheaper as they don't have the silks on them. I like the fact that they come shrink wrapped, after receiving some new Elites which had quite obviously been sitting around in a damp stockroom for a while and were already a little tarnished. Other brands I've tried in one-offs: Ashdown, Warwick Black Labels, Rotosounds, Ernie Balls, DR Black Beauties, Elixirs. The best strings I've ever had were the DR Black Beauties. They were AMAZING, but not 3x as amazing as the Warwick Red Labels which are a third of the price.

I don't think they are a flat response, but I rate my Sennheiser EH500 (I think the model number is 500) very highly. When I was looking for a good pair of headphones I wanted them to be comfortable as I would be using them to practice for a number of hours at a time, and found that closed headphones can make my ears 'sweaty' and uncomfortable after a while. The EH500s are closed, but have vent holes to allow the air to circulate. I can wear them quite comfortably for extended durations, and I can't detect any noticable loss of sound quality from the venting.

I think my GAS stems from the fact that manufacturers keep adding new features and upgrades. I'm also a sucker for advertising. Sometimes these new features seem to fix problems with my current gear that I never knew I had i.e. suddenly my amp really starts to feel heavy for 300 Watts when I can get a 500 Watt head which fits in my bass case. The thing that stops me from buying all this gear (apart from the lack of money) is that I'm quite strict with myself on purchases. My theory is this: If I like the look of something now, I'll like it in a years time when I've saved up for it. Usually by the time I've put a bit of money together something has come out with a new feature which I never knew I was missing. I've know people who have spent a small fortune on gear and they are still unhappy with their sound. Buy something which gives you a good sound, if you like the look of something else - do you NEED it, or do you just WANT it?

I won't count my heavily modified Squire Precision as it was my first bass and I can't get rid of it for sentimental reasons. My Warwick Thumb Bolt-On 4 is DEFINITELY a keeper. I've had it since 2003 and it embodies exactly how I think a bass should feel and sound. The custom Shuker I've commissioned will be rated against my Warwick and I've included a lot of nods to Warwick design.

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='384626' date='Jan 19 2009, 02:29 AM']15 for me [/quote] [size=7]15!?!?!?![/size] I thought I was being generous preparing myself for a 12-13 month wait for my bass Guess I've got to start thinking along the lines of 18 months now to keep myself sane.

All original should mean that the bass hasn't been modified since it left the factory (save for setups and new strings) A bitsa bass can consist of all original parts, but I don't think it should be advertised as an all original bass.

I successfully joined two bands using MusoFinder.co.uk and get half a dozen messages a year from people looking for a bassist (and that's just people searching profiles without me putting out a 'Wanted' ad). The basic service is free (which is what I use). You can pay a subscription if you want to plug yourself as a true Professional or Tutor, for that you get higher profile Wanted ads and some extra features.

Loving this build Al. I'm amazed at how quickly your builds seem to progress and how the quality never seems to suffer. Looking forward to watching he final product progress.

PM'd with email address.

That is gorgeous. I love the look of light and dark woods together. I can imagine that you can't put it down. Congratulations.