durhamboy

It's looking very nice. Great that you're liking the new job too.

Black for me too, though I have to disclose a bias. I'm old enough to forever associate fake pearl with 1950's Formica kitchen table tops and everything that was terrible about the 50's.... Of course others opinions may vary. 😉

Thankyou. Very nice, love the top and the nicely done subtle burst. You do very good work.

As Andy said, top class job and great attention to detail.

PS. Interested to see where the ash(?) backed body in one of your pics is going. Is it another build going on at the same time? (Sorry if I've missed where you've mentioned that one at some point.)

I'm assuming CTS is another victim of the pandemic upheavals? Supplies of some of their pots seem to have been patchy for months now. When I was looking for stacked 250k pots a while back, the only seller I could find with stock was in the US and wanted $15 plus $25 AUD each to ship them! Ouch! 

Hope you eventually track down what you're looking for.

The birdseye in that fretboard is looking lovely with some finish. I do love a bit of birdseye.

Beautiful work, I like the ebony truss rod hole trim, a small thing, but very nicely done. 

Looking good, nice finish on the neck.

Possibly new stock pickup, now with wire gauge stamped, but old photo used in ad? If the pickup arrived in  a sealed box, the seller probably doesn't know that anything has changed... If you're worried about the pickups you received, perhaps contact the seller and see what trey know?

I haven't tried them, but I remember that Entwistle Pickups had J bass pickups with adjustable pole pieces with ceramic magnets or neodymium magnets. They used to be listed on ebay UK, so hopefully someone will chime in with some info about them.

Watching with interest. Like the fretboard by the way.

The back looks cool, like the silver on black string ferrules and the Strat type jack on the control cover. I've often looked at Ritters, etc. with those jacks in the back and wondered how they work out in practice. Does the plug and cord sticking out at an angle ever get in the way? Have you had a chance to plug yours in yet and try it out?

Looking good, really like the pickup covers.

Great information. I certainly wouldn't be expecting ABM machining tolerances from a unit costing less than a quarter of the price, but nice to know the bridge is functional and pretty durable.

I've just come across these individual bass bridge units, clearly Chinese made, but these days that doesn't necessarily mea, poor quality. They might be worth a try as the price is similar to what the "Overloard" bridges and similar, are listed for.

How's that cheap 'Overlord of Music' bridge held up over the years, especially given you used that bass as your main gigging bass?

I'm considering my first headless build but the price of Hipshot, AMG and the like, with exchange rates, duties and shipping making them around 500 of our Australian Dollars, has made me look for cheaper options. Nova are about half that and get good reviews, so at the moment they're where I'm leaning. I've avoided the cheaper options so far, but maybe they are worth considering, at least for a first, 'see if I like it', build...

You've got my interest. Following.

Great, I've been waiting to see these builds progress. Like the neat and tidy workshop too. (Mine might look like that one day..... Na, probably not.)

Interesting looking piece of wood you've got for the top. Flame, but stripes too and with some irregularity to the flame. I'm often drawn to the more unusual, or less than perfect grain patterns like that. Triple A flame and quilted tops and bodies can look stunning, but sometimes they just seem so perfect that it's almost boring, like I've seen that on PRS guitars and the like so many times.... (Maybe that's just me?)

Anyway, looking forward to seeing your build progress.

Following this one. Love the range of woods you're using. Nothing wrong with working with less tried and true woods, regardless of the species, as long as the wood is stable, why not use it, especially if it's visually attractive and used in the right places. (Figured caps etc.) . Being as I live in the land down under, I've used a lot of local woods since the mid 70's and most I've tried are more than acceptable. (especially when neck laminations of different species are used, that can make up for any slight less that optimal attributes. Many had been well proved, having been used by companies like Maton and these days Cloe Clark, and Taylor use woods such as Tasmanian Blackwood.)

Anyway, looking forward to your build progressing.

Always a good move to include the future owner/player in a few decisions, especially if it's a younger player. We all need to do our bit to encourage any children who are interested in playing an instrument to get as much enjoyment out of it as possible.😉👍

Looking forward to see how this turns out for you. I have an Allparts maple Strat neck that's been sitting in a cupboard for years and was thinking of using it for a 25-1/2" scale bass for one of the grand kids.

So, definitely following your build.

Very pretty and I love the clean minimalist look.

Looks nice, I always thought the only thing wrong with an early 50's P bass was the slab body and sharp edges. Will be interested to see how a noiseless 51 style pickup goes. I heard good reports about Jess Loureiro's split coil 51 P pickup and of course there are several other makers doing either stacked or split coil versions.

Looking forward to how your build pans out.

Really usable range of sounds and a stunning bass too Andy, which I'm sure adds it's own colour. But really impressive EQ and that's only part of what's available. Wow!

Despite being fairly tall, I find a smaller body more comfortable. Even with guitars my preference is a Tele or SG sort of size. I'm also no fan of sharp edges or slab bodies, even the Tele 6 string I made for myself has forearm and belly cuts and deeper round overs on the edges.

With basses Warwick Thumbs, Corvettes and Streamers, Spector N4's and the like tend to be in my happy place, just have to be careful about the choice of woods, some of those beautiful timbers can be pretty heavy and overly heavy basses are another thing I try to avoid. (Hey, I'm 69 with lower back issues I have to take care of. Growing old is a right royal pain sometimes.)