MoonBassAlpha

that may be a flippant comment, but if it MAKES you rest the thumb ever so slightly nearer the bridge, then the sound will be different, regardless of what the pickup itself is doing.

pat Metheny plays fretless guitar on some albums. I always assumed it was some synrh treatment until I read the album sleeve more carefully. It's a nice sound for solos. I wouldn't like to try playing full chords though, I have enough trouble intonating one note on the bass....

Just got the Spector 5er off John (probably OldSlapper's!). Seems a straight-up guy, we had a pleasant natter in the burning sun! Deal with confidence! Cheers Jules

I play in a three-piece where the guitarist/writer demos his tunes with him playing the bass. he is just about ok on bass but often his lines are really predictable or ordinary. The trouble is, if I deviate from what he has recorded, it throws him out completely! Even playing the same thing an octave higher will earn me a nervous sideways glance. There are some songs where I get a bit more of a free rein, but mostly it is quite stultifying. I'm really only doing it to keep my hand in, as my other band doesn't play that often, and almost never rehearses.

I'd give it a go. I did a maple neck Vox standard and it came out fine, and rounds DIDNT chew it up in a hurry either. I just used Plastic Wood for the fret slots - worked fine. With rosewood- you WILL get some splinters as the frets come out - superglue them back down straight away as the fret comes out so you don't lose them. This will save time and extra filling later. Good luck, it's not that hard, just takes a bit of time, and DEFFO worth practicing on a cheap bass first.

A tiny amount of very short reverb mixed 50-50ish helps get the resonance too!

In my experience it takes quite a while for the wear to be anything more than cosmetic. I've a defretted bass, always played with rounds, rose board. No problems in 4 years. That was a Hohner Jack bass. I've got another Jack, defretted which I've finished the board in Tru-Oil which has come up really smooth and satin-y. I'm guessing this will help the board last even longer.

Your original wiring diagram will work, BUT you've missed a wire out! You just need a wire from the top right pin (looking at the diagramme) on the blend to the left (unoccupied) pin on the master. Give that a go!

Line6 Lowdown110 is small and sounds good. Should be smack in your range s/h. Good DI out too, so you can use it on gigs ifthe band isn't very loud. I had one and would heartily recommend it. I only got rid as I got a Shuttle and made a teeny 1x10" cab for practice/acoustic gigs, which weighs less than the Lowdown and goes louder (but is over your budget by 2.5 times)

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='816505' date='Apr 23 2010, 05:52 PM']Out of interest, is that an old Boys Brigade belt for the strap? Looks great - must see if I can get WinISD working again (usually just displays a flat line, except very occasionally).[/quote] The belt is a Levi Strauss bought in the States about 12 years ago. Not essential to the sound... I'm not sure how it compares size- wise to a Whizzy or whatever, but you should be able to scale it visually from the speaker, I'd have thought. Cheaper though!

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='815618' date='Apr 22 2010, 11:27 PM']If anyone asks, you offset the speaker to smooth the midrange response. It means the waves reflecting from the sides don't reach the speaker at the same time, so you even out the bumps that they cause.[/quote] Well, that was so obvious I didn't think it was worth mentioning...

[quote name='Marvin' post='815459' date='Apr 22 2010, 08:59 PM']That's brilliant. Are you going to be taking orders? [/quote] Orders! Don't talk to me about orders!

ok, it isn't really finished, but this is where it is now, and it has proved the principle. I've done several gigs with it and the Shuttle including last night at the Wheatsheaf in Oxford, and it's not bad at all. As we all know, the size, bassiness and loudness is a 3-way compromise, but this fits it's purpose, in an acoustic duo, fine, with a band with not too loud drummer, fine too, surprising really. [attachment=48066:P1010476.JPG] [attachment=48067:P1010477.JPG] [attachment=48068:P1010478.JPG] It's got a Speakon connector, the feet are halved squash balls (my other passion!) and the Shuttle retaining strap is a leather belt that the buckel had come off. It stands about 13" high, well, youcan pretty much scale it from the speaker. The volume is about 1 cu foot and the shelf port is about 8 inches long and about an inch high. I offset the speaker a bit on the baffle in case I wanted to drop a tweeter in, but haven't found it necessary so far. (it would also mean actually spending some more money, and did I mention that I'm a tight git!!)

Well, I went to Homebass, sorry Homebase, and saw the sheets of 12mm ply, much bigger than I needed and over £40, so I though "that's a lot to spend if it doesn't sound any good or i cock up the building bit", so I ummed and ahhed, and while I was doing this I saw some offcuts in mdf and chipboard, 90p and 60p respectively. That's more like it! Doesn't matter what kind of a balls-up I make of it for that money, then we'll see if if sounds any good, at least. The boy even cut them to width free! (did I mention I'm a tight git?) I'll post some pictures soon showing the almost finished item, and the other money-saving "features". I think it weighs 14lbs now.