Rexel Matador

1 hour ago, mrbacco said:

what is the best way to check if the neck is mounted properly and is 90 degrees to the body pocket and in the right position?

String her up!

Thanks again, much appreciated. I get it in theory now, so as long as my soldering skills are up to the task, it should be all good!

It won't have a pickguard, so presumably I should put shielding in the pickup cavities and have wires running from there to the grounding point in the main cavity too? Does it actually have much effect given that they're not enclosed, as it were?

Yep - ground everything to a single point on the copper shielding. Got it. Much appreciated!

Just now, Hellzero said:

Can you show that diagram?

Just edited my post to include it - brain hasn't fully woken up yet!

Hi all,

I'm building a bass with PJ pickups. I want it to have a stacked master volume/tone pot and a blend pot (to save space). I have found a wiring diagram, but I'm still struggling to understand where all those grounds are supposed to go. The diagram doesn't include the bridge ground wire.

I also intend to shield the cavity with copper tape, and that will need to be connected to ground too, right?

If someone could explain it to me like I'm a 5-year-old, that would be much appreciated. If I'm going to keep building basses, I really need to figure this stuff out.

I'm determined not to do my usual thing of just using EMGs because it's all done for you!

Edit: forgot to post the diagram...

You could go with an old school pickup cover!

That bass puts me in mind of a pig roasting on a spit. Something about the finish plus those weird little teats either side of the bridge.

Doctor said my blood pressure's a bit on the high side. I'm too stressed out and need to fret less. I assume this is what she was talking about.

Now that my last build is done and dusted (https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/481418-medium-scale-neck-through-build/), it's time for the next one.

I'm making another one the same, BUT... this one will be fretless. The neck will be maple and purpleheart this time, the wings will be walnut and the fingerboard will be ebony. I'm deliriously happy about being able to finish a project without even touching a piece of fretwire. I might add a J pickup too for some fun Jaco tone options.

Still waiting on some of the wood, so pics will have to wait sadly, but the ritual of starting this thread mentally commits me to actually doing it!

I like the idea of using a different hardware finish for this one (ie gold or black), but I suspect that chrome will look best with the wood choices.

I'm happy with the body shape and was hoping to keep it the same so they can be twins, but I might have to rethink it and extend the lower horn. It's will be a long time before this bass sees a stage as I have to actually learn to play fretless first, meaning I'll probably be mostly playing it seated and in it's current shape it just slips off my leg!

I really like the look of the sanded back top and the still finished sides - it looks like binding - you could go dark on the top with stain or paint to emphasise that contrast

An 8x10 cab. Overkill for almost all gigs, hugely cumbersome to move around, and impossible to sell on for those same reasons. I ended up using the speakers to make a couple of smaller cabs though, so all was not lost.

All that said, on the rare occasions that I did get to use it, it was pretty epic.

14 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

 

That's dancing..?  So I am doing it right..! 

Hard to say, I suppose - they're too far away to make out what they're doing.

I'd definitely go and see that if they put it on without the sh*t soundtrack and what appears to be four very expensive ants dancing around in a petri dish just below the screen.

28 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I can't remember what I saw it on but I really liked the look of a bass with just lines (fret position) that "flowed over" onto the fretboard about 10mm.

I did think about having something like this, but I'm pretty set on a totally unsullied ebony fingerboard now. I feel a build diary coming on...

Thanks all, I feel emboldened in my decision now - just the dots it is!

I've found everything I've come across that's been generated by AI, whether visual, audio, written, whatever, to be deeply, deeply, unpleasant.

There may come a time where I can't tell the difference, and then I suppose it won't matter. But for now - ugh... no. 

Hi all,

I'm sure there are many conflicting opinions on this, but I'm curious what people have to say.

I've decided I want to learn fretless so I'm going to build myself one. I'm going unlined as I think it'll a) look cooler and b) better encourage me to learn to use my ears to intonate.

The two options I'm considering are either:

Only side dots in the usual places - 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, etc - but on the fret position, like Tony Franklin

OR

Thin side markers for every fret position plus the dots in between them, like this:



I'm leaning towards the first option. The second is a bit ugly and potentially confusing? Am I making things unnecessarily difficult for myself or setting myself up to learn properly?

18 hours ago, msb said:

Why is it that some drummers have no concept of dynamics?

If this is with regard to my comment about not being able to turn down our drummer, to be fair to him, I think he plays perfectly appropriately for the music we do. Drums are loud and for some reason live music venues continue to be surprised by that fact!

2 hours ago, Boodang said:

There is one way to turn down the drummer but it’s not very rock n roll! I play drums as well and last year started using an E kit because of A. late night practice and B. small venues. As much as it’s not the same it’s made a massive difference to giging. 

He's exactly that type of drummer who would never in a million years entertain such a notion! The scaffolding gives it away, I think.

Played last night at a pub in Liverpool that we haven't played before. It was nice to be on a raised stage for once. Not so nice to be told while soundchecking that "everything will have to come down because there's a quiz in the room next door". Sigh. Why did you book a rock band then?

To be fair we often get told we're very loud. Maybe our ears are so shot we don't notice. Additionally, there's no way to "turn down" our drummer, so we just set up accordingly.

Wasn't the best we've ever played, but it was a good turnout and a nice responsive crowd. And we've been invited back.

It was also the first outing for my new homemade bass, which you can check out over in the Build Diaries form if you're into that kind of thing! It sounds great (though that's mostly down to the good people at EMG, in my opinion) and doesn't crush my spine over the course of a gig, which is a massive relief.

I was getting weird bassy feedback coming from my side at certain points though. The others thought it was coming from my amp, which did seem to be the case, but it doesn't really make sense to me. It's never happened before and feedback wouldn't swell consistently while you were actually playing would it? I'm hoping it's not the new bass, but the exact same pickup and electronics are in the bass I've been using for gigs up to now. Plus it was fine in the rehearsal room

From the sound of it, it seemed much more like feedback you might get from a PA, but again, it did seem to be coming from the vicinity of my amp. Maybe it was the room. I really hope it's a one-off.

No-one outside of the band seemed bothered anyway!

2 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

Tends to be a lot cheaper than a blank for the amount of wood you get

I'm happy more than happy to have some extra walnut knocking around.

I want to make another one of these (fretless this time) using walnut for the wings, but any actual "body blanks" I can find are crazy expensive. Where could I get a piece that I could use for this purpose. Can you go to a timber merchant and just buy one or two metres of wood, or is that just a waste of time for them? 

If Rory Gallagher, Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham, Jack Bruce, Duane Allman, John Lennon etc etc all fancy coming back from the dead and playing two 45s at Fogherty's this Friday night for their share of £200, I'll gladly step aside. Otherwise, the punters will just have to make do.

Beautiful. Definitely need to get me some purpleheart!