Hellzero

To burn them ? 😱

If there's a fretless 4, I'm interested, and even if it's not a fretless, I'll defret it. They are 32 inches scale, right ? 32,7 inches, I've seen it on your website. I'm in for one NT 4 (fretless or fretted).

I still can't stand number 2 and 4 for the same reasons. Number 3 is better now, but still a bit lifeless like number 1. Number 5 is still the best sounding, the more even in the response and the more "transparent". So number 5 again. Can you please tell me by PM what preamps are these, even if I'm pretty sure for number 2, 3 and 4 ? So, I can delete the 4 first from my list. Thanks a lot Owen.

So do we. My wife and I made an epic Motörhead evening last week listening to some of our favourites and watching some live footage. We miss Lemmy so much, he was so different and so charismatic.

I'm also in love with this Alembic Spoiler 32 inches with a full size body :

Indeed.

They were super... Ok, I'll get my coat.

Lemmy was 1.78 m tall.

It was one 412 and one 415 with a 100 Watts Super Bass head.

I'll listen tomorrow, I have to go now for a nice meal with my wife at one of our favourite restaurant.

I will be in charge of the burial, Russ, don't worry.

Don't worry Owen, I've been through this kind of feeling more than often. Sometimes I have to admit that the one my eyes love is not the best one... And I like neutrality sound wise speaking.

Here are my favourite designs and the most ergonomically basses I've ever played. Ibanez AFR, designed by Rolf Spuler : Leduc L002 : Leduc U-Basse 6 fretless :

Number one and three lack of definition, number three has even digital noises and peaks, and an even worse lack of definition, whatever it is, throw them in the bin. Number two and four sound like transformers D.I., too mellow in the mid bass region and cutting all edge of the high frequencies, making your recordings a nightmare to cut though any mix, and with a mid scoop like all American products tend to have. Number four is compressing too much compared to number two, but these two have quite similar sound, number four being a bit more mid scooped. I would discard them for these reasons. Number five seems to be the most even across the whole range with harmonics being present and it will be the one allowing you to post EQ very easily. But they do all sound very different, the first four being non natural and having a strong signature. The fifth being the more neutral and even.

Here is my newly acquired Rybski 8 strings bass (octave), made in 2016 for the Wooten Bass Camp. It was originally a fretless bass that has been converted to a fretted bass. Schaller 3D-8 bridge (19 mm strings spacing), Hipshot Ultralite tuners, 2 Bartolini's MM42CBJD3 (same pickups as early Lakland basses), ACG EQ01 5K preamp, parallel/single/series switch per pickup, rear/front coil switch per pickup, brass nut, gold hardware, Rotosound RS668 strings set. Book matched walnut top and back, mahogany core, 5 pieces set neck made of rock maple + mahogany + 4 rosewood stripes, rosewood fretboard. Satin finish. Low action going from 1.5 mm under the G strings to 2 mm under the E strings. 4.4 kilos, so very light for such a bass. Perfectly balanced, absolutely no neck diving and such fun to play, even if you need a plane pilot licence to use the preamp and switches combinations ! And for once a lovely single cut design

Thanks @nilebodgers for that discussion that clearly shows that you can't make a proper frets levelling without having the neck under the strings tension. The debate is wether the simulated tension is as accurate as the real tension. There are other bench jigs than the Erlewine model with more plungers and even more accurate simulation. Luthiers often build their own bench jig. In fact, it's all about mastering the simulated tension and the radius of the neck, just like the Plek machine : if badly used, it's, urm, useless. Being a fretless player, I can tell you that very few luthiers are able to do a perfect fretboard levelling or more precely dressing. If I talk about differential dressing, to date, I only know two knowing what it is and able to it !?! And I've owned priceless basses with factory fücked up fretboard dressing or frets levelling. Very sad, but so true.

I had the Ampeg full monty for a while, so the 810 cabinet plus the dedicated SVT 300 Watts full tube head. A right in your face rig. After moving the 120 kilos a few times, I gave up and sold the whole thingies to buy a just newly out TC Electronic RH450 + RS212 + RC4 + bag rig weighting one fourth of it... and really good sounding. That said the sound of the Ampeg full monty is awesome at high volume especially with a P-Bass, but not much indicated in a jazz context for pub gigs... 🤣

Here is mine. A 32 inches Spoiler with flamed koa top and normal size (4/4) body. As I said earlier, I love this bass.

Say you needed a new fridge for the practice room. Your drummer will be laughing all night long and maybe until the end of the week. Now you need to buy a full tube 1200 Watts head weighting another 70 kilos. Are the dampers of your car ok ? 🤣

There it is :

And here is mine, a lovely Alembic Spoiler with a flamed koa top, now fitted with Alembic CX3-45L strings (not on this photo). I love this bass !

Because I'm fed up with self called luthiers, here are 11 "lessons" on how to make a real PROFESSIONAL fret levelling, recrowning and setup using the Erlewine bench jig. I'm not at all affiliated to Erlewine, but his bench jig (especially the new one) is a fantastic tool, very well thought. Here is the presentation of the new model : And now the 11 lessons (part one being the presentation of the faulty guitar) :

I needed to find this back, here you have all explanations about the correct use of a bench jig (mentioned by the guy of Crimson guitars at 3:40, that said) and why using this for a PROFESSIONAL fret dressing. Watch until the end. It's no rocket science, it's precise work done by a real luthier, not self proclaimed luthier. You can make one of this on your own too. No need to buy one. Just watch this: In a few minutes, I'll create another thread with 11 lessons to do a real PROFESSIONAL levelling, recrowning and setup... And it's not just setting your neck dead straight without strings, bad placing the neck support and flat levelling the frets without taking into account the radius of the neck...

You can do a perfect fret job à la MacGyver, that's a good thing. Congratulations, really, and I mean it. In fact, it's even more complicated than what I've written, but I'll leave it here and won't take the responsibility for the slaughtered instruments.