bloke_zero

Nothing to apologise for! We've all been a 5th out. I was really struggling with the main riff. This is a much clearer version for bass. Thanks!

Forgot to say that the string to string balance is really amazing - much better than on my other P-basses where the DG side feels weak. That was half the point of the excercise!

That makes sense. I think, given the over enthusiastic chiseling I might just get a p-bass style pickguard made that fits the pickups. It'll probably just be a notch out for the bridge pickup, but I think it'll tidy it up a lot visually.

It's not pretty, but I do like it. I need to dig another 2-3mm out of the cavities as the pickups are a bit close to the strings for me. And the neck pickup is way too loud compared to the bridge. The EA half is too 'high' on both PU's I think a bit more hacking and a pickguard will neaten it up. And a custom pickguard - my efforts so far indicate I need professional help there! Sounds good - doesn't have the real growl of a P, but it does have a lot of presence and clarity. I mean a lot of presence - the neck pickup is very rich and in your face. I'll see if I can get it recorded.

We all know that 3 on E gives the best possible start to a bass line! But it's a fair question. Maybe positioning the pickups by ear gives that particular combination of neck and body the feel that you get from a hand made suit? (Not that I have a hand made suit...). In which case it wouldn't be specifically the harmonics, just a sense of the timbre? Me too! I feel like I've really learnt a lot about what I like and why. I like the fact that there are only a few variables, and they all make different contributions (the pickups arguably being the biggest) but they all do make some small difference, and pickup position makes a big difference. You sir are a scholar and a gentleman! Thank you! I was worried about the neck position as that is so far out of the normal jazz range - good to have confirmation!

I’m sure you’re right. Small changes in position make a really big difference. As it’s hard for me to experiment with just the kitchen table for a work bench I’m really interested in getting the measurements that are known working ones!

If you could that would be great! The best would be from the 12th fret to the centre of the EA part of the pick up.

Got Monday off. My chisel might get an outing. Looking like: Bridge: EA 375mm, DG 347mm Neck: EA 250mm, DG 220mm Give or take a few mils! Lee says the pickups are in traditional J position, but the neck PU is much closer to the neck as far as I can tell. I stole this from the other place: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/lee-sklar-type-double-p.665361/page-4#post-16567455 Sort of chimes with some of the figures here, but the neck pickup 20-25mm closer to the neck...

This is great! The only thing now is how do you mute that open D? With the open A after my normal right hand muting strategy isn’t working and left hand muting is hard because of the open string?

Sam Wilkes plays it on 'Like Sugar'. Legend. Brings somethig different to it. https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2019/02/21/chaka-khan-releases-hello-happiness-with-sam-wilkes-on-bass/

Wow, thanks - that suddenly makes total sense and sounds right. I saw about 3 other youtube 'covers' that were resolutely not right!

I know it's only a handful of notes, but I'm struggling to work it out. There are a bunch of youtube versions all of which don't seem right except this guy: But I can't quite see what he's doing. Anyone know a good transcription, or where I can buy the sheet music? Thanks!

Nice. A lot cleaner than the original!

Lovely! Lots of visual recognition value too - easy to remeber which pedal is which on a dark stage!

I've ordered a couple of times. I'd say it takes 2 weeks normally. Is it the post office strikes? 2 weeks is a long time in customs, but I've waited a long time for stuff that has got stuck in the sorting office. Last December I waited over a month for stuff posted within the UK!

I was suprised at how much I like the merenti - very light, very resonant. Makes me think I'd like swamp ash as well.

Yeah, @PaulThePlug is right, that is the standard Fender placement as drilled by Guitar and Bass Build. It's like the Badass bridge - there is a whole lot of bridge going on!

You're hearing the same thing as me! But unfortunately for the wrong reason 😞 The first one is the Merenti, the 2nd the Alder, but the neck wasn't fully tightened. Sorry - proper school boy error. This one the Alder is first: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nrtl7gyi92e6fll/bassbody_2.wav?dl=0 Just goes to show how the every part of the equation is important. And that making mistakes is still a big part of my day to day!

A new day a new body. I feel sorry for what this will go through. It's a 2 piece alder Guitar and Bass Builds body from ebay in a rather fetching copper leaf (no, it's NOT rose gold, no matter what my wife says!). It's very nice feeling, well finished Waiting for the pickup routing template before doing anything too drastic to the wood work, hence the bulge in the pickguard where the battery is. For a bonus round anyone care to guess which badly played eight bars is the alder and which the merenti? https://www.dropbox.com/s/l7567zasojgkwco/bassbodies.wav?dl=0 They feel pretty distinct to me, though maybe not as much difference as I'd thought. Recorded straight into a UAD Arrow interface through the HI Z input with the vol and tone on max. We'd be supposing that the hi mass bridge would abstract out most of the body effect (yes, yes, I know, tone wood schmone wood).

Interesting! That seems like a pretty obvious QA checklist - is everything the customer paid for done?! Still, I guess mistakes happen and it's always the problems that get the air time.

I just put together an EMG based P bass with a roasted maple neck and, I think, a Meranti body from Gear4Music. So far so fun! The body is very light and resonant, the EMG's clear, authoritative and very unforgiving of bad technique (uh oh!). I was really inspired by ead's limelight build: Though I'm not there yet I do have 2 EMG p pickups, so this is step one of getting somewhere close. I think I'll need an alder body with the double reverse P routed in. Or maybe a body blank as I found the drilling of the bridge and neck pocket much less difficult than I thought. Anyway, some pictures (I know it's not exactly a looker...):

Monster indeed - that last video with the low - is it B? Sounds like it would shake the floor!

Nice one - looks like we agree within a milimeter.

And if anyone wants to check my maths on the pickup placement before it goes into production I'd be grateful!

I've just ordered a custom bass body from guitar and bass build. Pretty exciting! James there was very good. He was nice enough to talk through what I wanted in excruciating detail. * Capri orange nitro finish as new * MM and P rout with MM in the sweet spot and the P reversed so that EA is in the traditional spot * Stingray body shape * 2 piece Sapele I've a roasted maple neck, pickups and Luistand Preamp from the previous incarnation. Just waiting to see how long it'll take - I expect in the new year sometime. MMP body pickup placement.pdf