Rexel Matador

I used a hand drill for the original holes. It's always worked in the past. Pillar drill when I was hogging out wood to remove the screws/make the router's job easier. I don't think a forstner is necessary at this point. I'm just going to use the router to cleanly cut out the offending area and fill it with a new piece of wood. It'll be fine 🤣

Disaster! I worked out the position of the bridge and drilled the two outer screw holes. They land right on the join between the poplar and the wenge, but thankfully my glue joints were up to it. So far so good. Time to drill the other three holes. Wait, did that drill bit just snap? Wow. Ok, I'll drill it out, make a bigger hole and fill it with a dowel. It'll all be hidden anyway. Now the screw has snapped. Ok, four will be plenty. Not ideal, but whatever. In screws four and five go. Both snap. This is a new one for me. Is there some metal in there that I've forgotten about? Either that or this wood must be harder than diamonds. So... I drilled a few more holes so I could yank out the offending bits of screw/drill. Next job will be to rout out the area and stick in a new bit of wood which can take the remaining bridge holes. Again, it will thankfully all be hidden in the end. This bass building lark really is a roller coaster. It was all going so well!

They could just use a truss rod that doesn't require a hole big enough to accommodate a massive spanner. Or a scarf joint. But no doubt the purists would complain and a neck that cracks when breathed on will remain a prestige feature for the foreseeable future.

I thought they only put it on higher end ones. If they're doing it across the board I applaud them.

I would like Gibson to invest in some sandpaper. I don't own any of their instruments and never will, but it really annoys me that people just accept sloppiness at those prices. And the whole thing of the headstocks breaking off being almost part of their brand. Insane. I also think Fender and anyone making similar designs should have a string tree that includes the A string (or one of those A-string retainer things) as standard.

I could probably do with a more reliable amp, but buying an amp is like buying a fridge for me - they don't really excite me and are just necessary.

I was desperate to "make it" from around mid teens to mid 20s. I assumed I'd get a record deal and make a living. I assumed that any touring band, however obscure was paid a living wage for their troubles! I eventually got involved in the DIY punk scene in Birmingham and the penny dropped - all of these bands are scraping by and fitting this labour of love around their shitty jobs, just like me. I've been thinking about this a lot lately as my wife is pregnant with our first child. At my school, it was a case of get good A-Levels and go to university, or nothing. It would have been nice if, rather than telling me that only a miniscule fraction of bands ever get anywhere so it's better not to bother, someone had helped me seriously look into all the more realistic ways I might have been able to combine my passions with earning a living. Not that I have anything to complain about. If I had "made it", I would have succumbed to the cliches of rock 'n roll excess pretty much immediately and probably wouldn't be telling you all this today! I'm arguably more into building basses than playing them these days - so now the dream if for someone else to "make it" on one of my creations!

Started on the nut - I need to keep busy while coats are drying! Brass is so easy to work with, I love it. I filed the big slot just to see how hard it would be. The slotting proper can wait until the frets are levelled etc. Control cavity cover from a scrap of the wenge from the neck: And this... I drilled one of the tuner holes a bit too close to the edge. I was going to leave it but decided it would annoy me, especially if the other strings run perpendicular to the nut, which was my intention. I plugged the hole and redrilled it. It's a bit ugly but will be totally covered buy the tuner 🙂

I think they were 10mm when I got them, and ended up at 7 or 8 ish after going through the planer

Wife's 40th and Mum's 70th were a week apart, so I've been incredibly busy, but I've finally found some time today to finish sanding and apply a coat of oil. Once the finish is done I'll start on the frets. I'm also going to have a bash at making a brass nut, but I've got a graphtech blank as a backup! On the first pic, you might be able to see a dark patch in the upper cutaway. Its an odd one. It seems to be some kind of discolouration in the wood that really popped out as soon as the oil went on. Ah well. I'm looking forward to getting it strung up and plugged in, in any case! Probably won't be ready for Friday's gig, sadly.

Jamaica?

I had it all sanded and was looking forward to posting some pics - but I made a stupid mistake. I didn't have it clean enough and went to add a coat of oil, and basically ended up washing a load of padauk dust into the poplar, leaving ugly pink stains on it!. So, I'm sanding it back as best I can. Hopefully it will end up being an improvement - I don't think I'd done a good enough sanding job to begin with, so I'm going to try and do it better this time. Using poplar was a mistake, I think, but I had it there so went with it. It's not a good wood for oiling, while the neck woods absolutely love it. So in the coming days I'll do the best I can to get it looking as nice as possible. I really don't want to be messing with wipe-on poly or anything like that with a through neck build, because I wouldn't want it on the back of the neck. Hey-ho, I'm learning as I go. I'm either too stubborn or too blinded by the barrage of information online to do anything other than trying things out and then getting annoyed with myself when they don't work! Sorry - not a particularly exciting update for you all. Next one will hopefully be more colourful!

Weird - no idea how this showed up on the front page for me if it's that old - sorry all!

I know I'm not helping (beyond moral support, perhaps) but this kind of thing makes my blood boil. They know perfectly well that no-one outside of the logistics industry knows what it means.

I dare you to tell DJ Yella it's not ok

For reasons I cannot begin to fathom, I've always had in my head that this is only ok for drummers.

Nail polish remover on a cotton bud will get rid of it. And yes, the imperial threaded jack is annoying - I'd forgotten about that!

I can't comment on how it compares to the CS 62, but it's definitely a lot nicer than the QP. I play in a loud blues/classic rock trio and switched over to the GZR from the stock pickup in my 2015 MIM P, whatever that is. The band love it. The easy install is a massive bonus. To my ears, it's heavy but not modern. It sits beautifully in the mix and can do pretty much whatever I need it to do with the requisite tone knob tweaks. On the other hand, while the solderless system is cool, there are definitely better pots out there - of course the pickup wires could easily be stripped and soldered to your pots of choice.

We take a couple of these to gigs in case the lighting's rubbish. Just stick it on the floor.

I wouldn't go and see my band (classic rock covers) because I don't massively love going to gigs in general these days, and on the occasion that I do, it's not to see a band like us. On the other hand, It's improved my playing no end and the people that do come to see us seem to dig it, which is a lovely thing to be a part of. After years of trying to impose my creative will on others and/or playing to empty rooms in originals bands, this band suits me down to the ground as I gently lower myself into the sagging but still reasonably comfortable armchair that is middle age. As I write this I realise how completely redundant it is because a) the OP has already made a decision and b) I'm already playing in the exact kind of band the OP is looking for. I'm going to post it anyway as rambling on Basschat beats working. Your blues/classic rock band will turn up shortly - they're like buses.

I love a good hooked horn - looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Not so sure about the angled tuners - I think perpendicular always looks better. It's your bass though! And that compound radius trick is potentially brilliant - can't wait to see the results!

If just polishing doesn't work, you might be able to do a drop fill with superglue https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-ideas/online-resources/learn-about-instrument-finishing-and-finish-repair/fixing-a-small-chip-in-your-guitars-finish/#:~:text=Dan Erlewine%3A Drop fills are,I've been doing here.

Working on an excessive volute...

Hacking away...