bloke_zero

Thanks - that is really interesting. Especially the ageing effect slowing down. Maybe reclaimed mahogany is the way to go. I don't know how much difference it'd make to the tone either! Interesting to find out.

Yes. And had a passive setup, 2 different active sets ups and different pickups. This is a 5 year project at this point. Incrementally the whole thing is moving forward. At this point the the body is the next obvious variable I want to change (yeah, I've tried flats!). As @itusays, the body just doesn't feel or sound right to me. If I could just walk into a shop and try out different bodies I would, but replacing the body is harder. The current one is very unusal body, very dense/heavy northern ash. Great for a specific tone - lots of low and lots of dense smash highs, just nothing in the middle. Makes EQ to fit in a mix really hard work. And I'm not a big fan of EQ when totally re-shaping a sound, I'd rather get the source right rather than have to fix it in the mix. The neck is roasted maple, has a different kind of snap, but is a beautiful neck to play.

I get you! For background - I've been struggling with a build where I've had 2 different bodies and multiple pickup/preamp configurations. I'm happy with the sound of the pre/PU set up, love the neck, but the body (hard northern ash) is causing me issues - it is very scooped sounding - lots of low and lots of high, but I want mids. So I'm wondering whether I get a body made and just ask for a light resonant blank, or if I can get what I want more easily by finding an old body, maybe from a 70's p-bass knock off to mod (I want add a MM pickup). So I'm perfectly ready to be dissapointed, but gathering opinion on best route.

Love spinal tap! I watched that with my dad when it came out - he was a session player in LA at the time - he said it wasn't a comedy but more like a documentary. I am glad to have finally become beyond parody!

🙂 My empirical process is in it's infancy! I am not making any scientific assertions, merely expressing a preference based on my current experience. I'm specifically NOT ruling out the other factors, just wondering aloud what part age plays and whether roasting and vibrating is an attempt to replicate something that I believe I am hearing. Sorry for any lack of clarity!

Before we start, if you don't believe that wood has any effect on the sound of a bass then please look away now, as the following question will upset you. What role do we think age playes in wood tone? I ask because I want to buy a new body. But the two basses I like the sound of most (that I have access to) are mid 70's fender p-basses. As a test I can pick up one of those Fenders, put my ear on the upper horn (suggested by someone on here, but I can't find the post) and hear the unamplified tone of the bass. The tone that I hear there is substantially what I hear, and like at the amplified output. Conversely, there is an 80's Jazz that has a pretty meh tone amplified, and placing your ear on the horn as above - yeah, it sounds pretty weak! So it feels to me like the two factors I'm zoning in on are: 1. The dominant tone of the body wood 2. It's age (This is not to down play all the other factors, neck, pickup, eq, preamp etc, I'm just interested in the body right now!) I'm thinking of attempts like roasting wood for bodies and necks, but specifically Sandberg doing that weird vibration treatment thing - they seem like attempts to replicate the natural ageing process? After all there is nothing magic about those P-basses, I've built modern versions to the same spec which sound completely different, the only thing is they are 40 odd years old!

Saw this on reverb: https://reverb.com/uk/item/54715130-sirius-alienslam-alderwood-body-blanks-no-s4-5-1989-motoslug-wacken-festival Body blanks!

It took me quite a while to find all the parts (at least an hour looking differnt places) so there is that too - along with the heartbreak of having ineveitably ordered the wrong part for something key!

Interesting - I do love an LDR build! Let us know how it goes. I'm just about to start a https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/generaltso/ Clones the ThorpyFX Fat General that has a couple of LDR in the circuit.

I'm looking to build something in that combo - mahogany with roasted maple - I'm hoping the twang of the maple meeting the middy mahogany will work. Looks like a beast! In a good way!

Lovely project - I've looked at doing something similar but not in such detail. I'm sure Leland would love to know about it. I wonder how hard it is to get those old EMG's?!

You are calling out the must haves for me! Smaller tip, de-soldering tape/wick and a solder sucker and you will be rocking. If you get into real detail stuff (SMD) then a jewllers loupe is a good buy.

I'm a big fan of low output, they feel more live or open and more responsive to me. Agree on the single coil. It even feels to me like silent 'hum cancelling' coils have a slightly deadening effect, though I could be imagining that. That said I do have high output pickups and they feel like they occupy a different and sometimes wanted sonic space, some are incredibly detailed as well as being higher powered.

Looks heavy! Never seen that before - thanks!

Not many pedals for multiband though? There is an old Akai hexacomp but not parallel.

I agree - it looks like printed decals, drill templates made in a graphics program with layers for the labeling + meticulous attention to detail. Whatever it is it makes my labels look shonky!

This popped up on my ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155131599969?mkevt=1&mkpid=0&emsid=e11021.m43.l3160&mkcid=7&ch=osgood&euid=3ab62b5c30434f839947b32ed9d7be0c&bu=43114069462&ut=RU&exe=102358&ext=240835&osub=-1~1&crd=20220824092215&segname=11021 I'd love to get it but MUST NOT. He's a bit vague on condition. Moses graphite neck from a MM

Yes, I wouldn't have thought that would make much difference, I was more thinking of the damage to the neck over time. A bass is for life - not just for christmas!

Ideally you want something that won't get compressed over time. When I did some research it seemed the ideal was a piece of maple veneer shaped/sanded down from 1.5mm (or whatever) at the pickup end to nothing at the headstock end of the pocket but covering the whole neck pocket area so you don't 'staircase' the neck: https://hazeguitars.com/blog/the-perils-of-bad-neck-shims You can get a maple veneer sample for a quid or so online and sand it down - I did that on a fretless I've got and it worked a treat. You can get different thicknesses of maple veneer depending on how much you want, but 1.5mm seemed good. Or you can get premade shims from stewmac.

Nice - I really like how the warbird came out - you could totally imagine someone hanging off the front of a mad max vehicle rocking out with that!

I definitely think it's worth trying them out - I was trying them out vs an EMG geezer butler and a handwound boutique 70's style PU and they all sounded totally different. I didn't feel like they sounded better or worse than each other but the Warman was, like I say, very full range and clear, the Geezer rounded, mid focused and the boutique was hard to describe - sort of scooped lower mid with extra low end. The magnet material seemed to be a lot of the sound - the other 2 were alnico 5 and the Warman ceramic - from their site: In the end I went with a dimarzio split-P wired parallel which sounds totally different again, but felt right for the application. Obviously the signal chain will make a lot of difference. I'm a firm believer in getting the foundation tone right for you so that its easier to get the right tone at the end of the chain. But I think that's a lot more important for some kinds of music than others!

Yes!

I'd say they are full range, clean and modern sounding - not classic round.

I thought more Devo:

I found these really useful: https://www.elixirstrings.com/tipsandtricks/setting-up-bass-guitar In addition you just need the feeler guages - bass direct do a £20 ish bass/guitar set up kit,