Aidan63

what size allen key does it take, if its a 1.5mm then its probably M3 like most metric saddle screws

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Is it just me, or has anyone else found that Mustang pickups are prone to stripping the adjustment threading in their bases ? My Classic Vibe 60s Mustang bass came with really tight scratchplate to pickup cover clearance (which also caused some ghosting) and the threads in the original pickups stripped out because the cover wasn't free to move when being adjusted for height, so I ended up making some steel plates to fit under the pickups and drilled and tapped them to M3 (which is the screw originally fitted) and clearanced the guard a little so they could move a bit more freely. But I ended up changing the pickups for Nordstrands - but the holes in the Nordstrands were smaller than M3 and little spare material around the outside to allow for using M3s, so I ended up having to buy some smaller diameter US imperial screws with 28tpi, like many guitar humbuckers use, and they have been okay, but after changing strings today I found the string balance a little out so went to adjust the height and pop, stripped the thread in the EA pickup at the A end, so now I'm going to have to pull the scratch plate and probably de-solder the pickups and fanny on again making some plates to achieve adjustability. I know the Mustang was a cheaper instrument originally but for frells sake why haven't the pickup manufacturers moved to use proper metal threaded inserts in the pickup bass instead of relying on a small hole in the base which is made out of fibreboard and reliant on the adjustment screw cutting a thread and then not wearing the fine threads or the base plate splitting when working under tension from the springs. Leo did not get this right, imho, and afaic the modern pickup makers are equally culpable for not improving the basic design, just copying it, for cheapness and originalities sake. I wonder if this is part of the reason so many Mustangs from Fender now have Precision pickups in them, not because they sound better but because they are less likely to suffer adjustment failure issues. ? grrrrr, colour me pissed 😈 I'm tempted to just modify the instrument to take the Fideltron pickup I have in my spares box, but that is a big job and I could end up buggering it up completely

I actually liked groundwounds a lot when I tried them on mine, different attack to the flats, so much so, I cut them down and tried them on my Lionel fretless, now also sold, but I still have the strings if anyone wants to try them on a non through body strung shortie (ie not a Mustang) with 4 in a row headstock, though I guess you could also fit them on a 3+1 or 2+2 headed shortie.

Absolutely it can be repaired Maybe take the string tension off slightly to help ease the crack and keep it clean so there's no contaminants to interfere with the glue up All things being equal it should be stronger than ever after repair Plenty of Gibson guitars with repaired headstocks following complete breaks out there so skills are well established

is that oak/walnut/maple neck ?

if you wanted non standard string spacing Jazz pickups it wouldn't be that expensive to have them made, and you could use closed covers to mask the fact - or in this case use them to prevent ocd triggering

have you not read over the last 8+ years why Scott wears a glove ? I wonder if a playing style with lots of hammer ons and pull offs, bends, vibrato and fretting hand tapping might exacerbate it or if there is a genetic component that makes some more susceptible ? Even diet may have a role, Scott has stated being on atkins style diet seemed to reduce his symptoms so he could shed, record and gig more

went private earlier today, I hadn't finished watching it 😲 ☹️

Brian sold me an electric sabre saw from the sell anything listings; Evri were their usual slow (it was a bhol weekend) and awkward at his end accepting it but all good left in my safe space, but witjhout letting me know it was out for delivery or had been delivered so it was the next day before I found it. Top man, thank you

Initial Response Acceleration (I.R.A.) treatment basically they vibrate it to give it better 'vibe', like some do with acoustics, put a speaker on it and play the instrument different frequencies to simulate the effect of hours of play as with tone wood its a thing or hookum depending on your point of view

How different are the pickups in the BB434 and the BBP34 ? Other than the pickups and country of manufacture and the IRA treatment they are pretty similar aren't they ?

5kg would be the packed weight with gig bag, ie what is on their system for shipping weight, which probably explains the reply

Bass Gallery have a 55-02 in stock, none of the UK dealers seem to have any 5 strings in stock

Had a look at some of the picture's in Geddy's book, obviously not many close up shots of the backs of the headstocks and rarely shot square on but you can see notches on at least one of the 50s Ps and a '63 Jazz quite clearly, treble or bass side, and also evident on quite a few Reverb listings of original tuners using google search, and they vary in how pronounced they are, and often visible from the back but barely evident on the hidden front face which suggests to me the tools worked loose during the stamping runs so didn't always make properly square contact

or you could use a plug cutter to cut the wood around the screw and then dowel the hole once you have broken off the plug with the screw still inside, cheap set about £12, smallest diameter 6mm can cut something like 25-30mm deep Last weeks twoodford yt video showed him using a home made plug cutter to extract a headless 3" screw from a previously 'repaired' guitar neck joint

Marc sold me a very tidy used Flyte peli-a-like case, nice price, quickly shipped and received, all good, thank you

Bass Direct/Bass Bros are a reasonable driving distance from you, maybe give them a call and ask for recommendations

Lets face it most of us don't need ai's help to make us look like muppets, I know I don't

and likely for sale once fettled, at a loss or just breaking even, eh Andy ?

No red in the 434 Tobacco burst, painted headstock but not painted on the back of the maple neck, this one maybe a little lighter than those made now though

I don't know, I asked the Q on here a couple of years ago when I bought my Lionel s/h, and no one knew, you seem to need to interact with sandberg on facebook or twitter, they do come on here but not routinely, some of the members on here are tight with them, some maybe endorsees or sponsored by them. Maybe ask BassDirect they are a dealer/agent

especially as they fit one to the Ida Nielsen signature model