Rexel Matador

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 🙂

23 minutes ago, Dread Bass said:

Love that neck wood combo. I’m going for the same on a build in the near future. How wide is the padauk strips? Looks well balanced to me.

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...

6 hours ago, tobiewharton said:

The company seems to actively avoid innovation and puts very little effort into marketing new products

Playing devil's advocate for a second (though to be clear I agree with everything you said), when they do try something new nobody wants it. Remember the dimension bass?

No, I'm still not getting it, surely then once you're at the point of radiusing a glued up fretboard the truss rod will already be in there, so you would have had to cut the area for the spoke wheel before that? I feel like I'm getting my wires crossed somewhere an hijacking your thread unnecessarily though!

Back on topic - I did once do a heel end trussrod adjustment on a neck through IIRC. It wasn't a spoke wheel though. Perfectly doable in any case, I think.

11 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

 

Couldn't agree more re Fender Japan. I've had several over the years and every one of them has been excellent. Superb build quality. 

I didn't even know there were different models coming out of Japan until now and now I am desperately coveting a California Blue Aerodyne Special Jazz Bass.

Isn't the point of a custom shop that you get something made to your spec and pay accordingly? How is a master-screwer-together-of-parts selecting a body and neck from a pile of bodies and necks 10 grand's worth of different to what happens in the Mexico factory?

I don't understand why you'd have to do it after the fretboard glue up. I'm sure it's obvious but I'm not getting it 😄

Edit: ok should have given this some more thought before posting - would it be because of glue squeeze out? Could carefully placed masking tape mitigate that?

Looks to me like a fret job and/or trussrod tweak would probably sort it - hard to tell without getting one's hands on it, but I very much doubt it needs binning. The neck relief is visible in one of the pics so it might be a bit too much - if that's the case, tightening the truss rod might be all that's required.

That said, I think I can see a bit of fretwear too, so if the trussrod adjustment isn't enough, a level crown and polish might be in order.