wmsheep

I`m with the OP on this; personally I`d like to see sub forums for

"Someone else is doing ALL the wood work" eg Shuker builds etc,

"All my own work" ie I did EVERYTHING woodworking wise, and a

"Kits`n`Bits" type forum for kit/parts builds/rebuilds.



As it is I find that the Shuker type builds are, to be blunt, boring.

Mark

Have you tried [url="http://www.wood-finishes-direct.com/products/wood-finishes/wood-stains/concentrated-wood-dye-solvent-based.htm"]HERE[/url]

They are pretty helpful bunch and more than willing to answer any queries about products by e-mail.



keep us informed about progress.

Mark

Them pup holes (I wont call them routs or cavities as that would imply a certain amount of thought went into them) look somewhat asymmetrical too.

I`ve seen Marco play a couple of timed now, once with Coverdale`s TrouserSnake (errr, sorry; I meant Whitesnake), and once with the re-vamped Thin Lizzy. Both times I saw him he was playing a 4 stringer.

To be perfectly honest, he`s nothing short of being the best "Bassist for hire" in the business.

Just my 2penny`s worth


Mark

paul, I think it`s more down to Carvin AND Rock-star guitars (OK, and maybe Fed-Ex) for sorting it out; I`ve heard tales of stuff being stuck at airports for a week or so at a time.


Not sure about a headstock decal yet.

I would certainly stick with it.

As previous posters have said, turn off the excess bits and bobs and just play it as a passive instrument till you are more compitent/confident at changing tone and volume just by finger position/pressure. THEN you can start to experiment with the active side of things.

My Grandfather told me years ago to "Always get the best you can afford, as the less expensive stuff WILL cost you in terms of performance and upgrading in the longrun".

How true that has turned out to be on a number of counts for me.

Jono; the price I paid was all inclusive. ie it covered

The price of the Bass
Shipping
Import duty
and VAT



I didnt ask for a full breakdown of things, and I`m not about to.


Mark

[quote name='jono b' post='179170' date='Apr 17 2008, 07:02 PM']Did customs sting you for this wmsheep?[/quote]

Well, there was no extra to pay on top of the original cost, if that`s what you mean.

The price I paid was an "All inclusive" price.

Beautiful.

[attachment=7747:IMG_0789rs.jpg]Roughly an hour ago there was an expected knock at the door, and I nearly wet myself with excitement!!

OK, as you read this I am now in possession of a Carvin BK4A bass kit, all the way from the good ol` US of A.

Yee Haw and all that stuff.

So, for my money, what did I get?

Well, I got a beautiful alder body, a maple neck (both unfinished), black hardware and all the pickups/wiring/electronics etc; all for the sum of...lets just say ABOUT £320. I could have dropped the price to around the £300 mark if I`d just gone for passive electronics

I have to say here and now, that the Carvin dealership that I went through, [url="http://www.rockstarguitar.co.uk/"] Rock-Star Guitars [/url] have been nothing short of brilliant throughout the whole process, giving me a very good price that included carriage costs, import duty, VAT etc, and keeping me informed of any updates as and when they happened. As it happened, I was quoted a delivery time of about 8 weeks (give or take a week or so), and that`s what time it`s taken from original order to delivery. The kit I ordered was not actually advertised on their website, but they were more than willing to help and sort out a price/deal for me. I would really recommend them to anyone here.

Of course, the Carvin was not the only kit that was available to me; I could have gone for a Thomann kit or “Musicman” kit (about £100), or I could have gone for something from WDMusic (about 450), or even done a “component” build from Warmoth (the sky is the limit price-wise there); however, after a couple of weeks lurking on various forums, I generally found that the Carvin forums were flame free (well, mostly flame free!!), and just a great place to hang out and swap build tips etc (Carvin do guitar kits as well, and there are some great builds/finishes there despite the flimsy strings they use).

Oh, I imagine you would like to see the as yet un-named beauty, wouldnt you.

Here you are.

[attachment=7746:IMG_0785rs.jpg]

[attachment=7748:IMG_0794rs.jpg]

[attachment=7749:IMG_0795rs.jpg]


As for the packaging that it came in; brilliant - the wooden components were in paper bags, which were then wrapped in bubble wrap, and then individually boxed before being all boxed together, and all the other hardware is in nice individual placcy bags.


Even as it arrived from the factory, there`s a bloody good finish on it; I could probably get away with giving it a quick rub down with some 400 grit sandpaper and slapping a couple of coats of paint on it and away I could go. But, that wouldnt do the kit any justice at all. So, what I`m thinking of doing is roughly as follows;

I) Enhancing the grain patterning with a black stain
II) A couple of coats of a dyed tung oil .
III) Giving the body & headstock a finish of a water based polyeurathane varnish (wipe on) that`s been dyed either red or blue (cant make up my mind yet – may even cover all bases and go for a purple finish)
IV) Polish like f**k

Of course, I`ve missed out a couple of steps there, but that`s the general idea. I think I`ll be documenting EVERY step during the build.

In an ideal world, the finish I would get is somewhat like this one



Of course, I dont have the flaming in the wood, but the colour is close enough.


Now, of course, comes the fun part of trying to make a dust/crap free place to do the work.

Join me soon for the next exciting episode in a couple of weeks or so, kiddywinks.



Mark

Re Radiohead


My mummy said if I cant say anything nice about someone, then say nothing at all!!

End of conversation

Great, that`s 3 minutes from my house.

Not so great - I`ll be at a wedding in London that weekend

I`m the third owner of a shortscale `65 of unknown origin; a bit of an enigma as she`s not a jazz and certainly not precision.

She`s due for some cosmetic work to the body soon (a problem with one of the curves on the body), and hopefully this will suit us both.

Soundwise, she has a tendancy to be very loud, and emits a horrible whining noise when ignored for more than 10 minutes (less than 10 minutes if I`m seen eyeing up newer models).

It`s one of those trick picture thingies, isnt it?

You know - "Hidden in this pic is a bass guitar - can you spot it?"

WOW, that neck is dated 3 days too early for me to be interested (but wouldnt it be so cool to have a bass dated on the day you were born!!)

Yup, plan to do things myself (like the mad fool I am!!).

OF COURSE I`ll be doing a blow by blow account of how things go

Mark

OK, so I took the first step in building a kit bass today, and have ordered a [url="http://www.carvinworld.com/products/single.php?ItemNumber=BK4&CID=BKT"]Carvin BK4a kit.[/url]

Yes, I did look at other kits (ie the Thomann kit and the various other "Saga" style P bass kits out there, and stuff from Warmoth, WDMusic etc), but in the end it mainly came down to something my grandfather instilled into me - "Always buy the best possible". Of course, there were other factors taken into consideration, the main ones being availability of support from the supplier/manufacturer of the kit, and support/advice from other builders; Carvin ticks these boxes very nicely as they have a good healthy community on their builders forum.

So, all I have to do is to wait for the kit to be delivered - the guys at [url="http://www.rockstarguitar.co.uk/"]Rockstar Guitar[/url] have been great with helping me order the kit, and they reckon that it`ll be here in about 4 weeks (yeah, I know how things work, so I`m thinking closer to 8 weeks if not more - any earlier will be a bonus)*.

Of course, there will be some more money to be spent on finishing products as I`m not getting any finish on the delivered bass at all; I`m thinking about a tung oil finish on the neck and a polyurethane varnish for the body, tho` this might well change as ideas flit in and out of my head.



Mark


*= had an email from Rockstar guitars this evening confirming the order with me, and confirming the order with Carvin - it`s gonna be 6 to 8 weeks.

Just looked at it for the first time.

As a noob looking at it I think I would be rather discouraged as there`s only 1 out of the first 6 bits of the section I would go to first (ie Buying) that is in any way finished.

maybe we need a concentrated effort of sorts to at least start thinking about getting it completed.

Oh, I will keep you updated, dont worry.

At the moment I`m just trying to figure out what finish I want on it (and more to the point, what stain/oil/varnish products to use in which order!!!)

I finally have the cash available to build myself a bass too. Not thinking of going down the Warmoth route tho` - thinking of getting a [url="https://www.carvinguitars.com/products/single.php?product=BK4"]Carvin BK4 kit[/url].

Should cost about £300 to get it here (that includes carriage, import tax etc)

mark

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='121941' date='Jan 17 2008, 08:39 AM']Not a playing mistake, but something that ended up on the released version that usually goes unnoticed:
On Hey Jude at 2:58, one of the band says "f'kin' 'ell" under the vocals.[/quote]

Yeah, Lennon`s headphones fell off.

[quote name='7string' post='101515' date='Dec 8 2007, 09:40 PM']Doodles lil sister....!!!

[b][u]The "Doodliness"....[/u][/b] [/quote]

Doodlette??

[quote name='OldGit' post='86045' date='Nov 9 2007, 04:48 PM']9's not so big

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNYrPKO06c0&NR=1"]14 string bass project[/url][/quote]

Seems he aint the only one

[url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=375139"] 14 strings on Talkbass [/url]

I know which one has more chance of success!!

Can I put my 3 pennyworth in (again) and suggest that you also look at [url="http://www.wdmusic.co.uk/"]WD Music [/url] if you are after something in the more traditional fender style.

Get a copy of the catalogue as there`s more stuff in there than is on the site.

Mark

Hmmm, maybe a sub-forum could be created for "Kits`n`Bits", covering component/kit builds & stuff from [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/layla_bassguitar_kit_pstyle.htm"] Thomann [/url] through to [url="http://www.warmoth.com/"] Warmoth [/url] and all stuff in between.

Mark