Bassfinger

My mob are pretty sensible. We talk it through, check that any given song isn't going to cause issues for any of the musicians or singist, and in it goes. If the audience are lukewarm to it then it comes off the list. Nothing goes on the list simply because one of us likes it, and there are no set list changes once we're within 1 week of a gig. It's all pretty grown up and not at all fraught. If we agreed some songs as a collective and then someone didn't learn them for whatever reason I think the rest of us would be pretty offended and they'd likely be out the door. Fortunately, once the decision has been made we all go at it seriously.

No, not really. I leave that to people like cannon and ball. You having stated that items do not have a gender I was simply pointing out that it took but a picosecond to think of an item that does have a gender, albeit one arbitrarily assigned by its manufacturer. The hilarious bit, as inadvertent as it was, is disproving your statement so effortlessly.

Not even Action Man? Action Thing doesn't have the same sales appeal.

Mrs Bassfinger wears hearing aids. I can only go by what she tells me in that it makes a significant improvement to not only her ability to hear but the quality of her hearing, so I think if my hearing were sub par I'd sooner be mixing a track while wearing them than not.

It's like those car ads, "good condition...for age". Is it flipping good condition or not? The moment a seller starts qualifying a statement with weasel words you know its time to move on the the next advert.

I fingerpick on the guitar and have tried a thumb pick but never got on, just use my thumb. On the bass I use Tortex Triangle, big old things that take some effort to mishandle and drop.

Mrs Bassfinger bought me a mandolin for crimbo. I'll be playing it live for the first time in March .

Thanks team. I'll do another Precision first - I fancy a light ivory colour and dark tort pickguard - for the next one, and then after that might do them to spec for customers.

I've been chatting it over with Mrs Bassfinger. This project using used parts and spares has well exdeeded my expectations. Just imagine what I could do with virgin components, specifically sourced for each build? That being the case I am going to start making these for sale, not as a business but as a self financing hobby. I imagine I could do 3 or 4 a year and sell them at a price that would cover my costs and still significantly undercut certain other relic bass brands for a product of easily comparable quality. I'd detail each build on here and then post the finished product for sale, making the necessary donations to the forum for doing so. I think I'll stick with the Grimelight brand name, as it have several different meanings and describes the finished product to a T, but mwny thanksmto those that took the time to make naming suggestions. If I'm selling them for money I might not use Fender headstock decals, but seeing as I did some fencing (sword play, not erecting fences) as a teenager I may get some "Fencer" once made, perhaps Premium Bass and Jizz bass - similar enough that a casual glance won't spot the difference, but different enough my conscience will be clear. So watch this space...

Flight Basses? GrimeFlight Basses? I'll sleep on that, it's certainly a good suggestion.

Update. Survived a 2 hour rehearsal tonight. Dropped the EA side of the pickup as output was a touch high on that side, otherwise it plays nicely. It could do with the action dropping a touch but I'll wait another day or two for the truss rod to settle before making fi al tweaks. It sounds fantastic, very solid mid range but deep and full, not a bit thin sounding like some precision can be, so I'm extremely happy. One of our guitarists brought his Jagstang in Daphne blue with a pearl pickguard and I was very pleased at how close a match the paint turned out to be, a pleasant fluke. He in turn was impressed with how realistically worn the Grimelight looks.

Thank you! I might go into business making them. Lemonlight, or Limedark, and you could be damn sure my bridge saddles wouldn't be seized! Edit - Grimelight! I'm giving serious consideration to this. So long as I didn't make a loss I'm not interested in it as a business opportunity, could do 2 or 3 a years as a hobby.

I think that can be arranged.

I recall reading BITD that Beggs used to wash his hair in Lenor to get it all fluffy like that. Thankfully he's a better bassist than hair guru.

Yes, Painters Touch. Sounds a bit pervy...

I'm really impressed with it. I use it in gloss for my lawnmower restos and the coverage is really nice, bit this is the first time I'd used satin and was super pleased. The do a good range of colours too, many not that far off the classic Fender shades.

Thanks Rushbo. I must've looked at pictures hundreds of relics and real vintage planks in order to decide how and where to apply the 'wear and tear.' I hate nothing worse than seeing a top contour sanded back as it invariably looks like someone had simply sanded the top contour!p and nothing like wear or damage from use. I left it hanging in the kitchen over the Rayburn for about 24hrs (Mrs Bassfinger surprisingly said nothing!) and the paint had dried rock had faster than I had expected. The edge wear was done by carefully dragging it along the brickwork of the house! Smaller nicks and dents were the olde fashioned throwing of a bunch of keys method, with a sparing amount of scalpel action. I then rubbed these areas back with 800 grit wet and dry to soften the feel, and then rubbed in Black Bison wax to simulate dirt and grimes also rubbish g a little bit here and there on the paint. The biggest bit of damage was already there, so I rubbed it a bit so as not to feel rough on my forearm and then rubbed the wax into that too. The top contour I carefully rubbed down with the wet and dry until it had just gone through to the primer, to make it look like forearm wear...something a Black and Decker job never achieves! I then rubbed the whole thing with the 800 wet and dry, spending longer in areas that might be in contact with the player when in use to make them a little bit warmer and shinier. Bridge and tuners were already a bit corroded from storage, so left them as it. Knobs were cheap jobs I had knocking about, rubbed through the chrome finish, dipped in salty water and left outdoors for a few days. Ditto the neck plate and pickup cover. Pickguard and pickup covers had a light smoking from my Zippo (being a pipe smoker has its upsides) to make them look grimy. The pickgard had been in the sun and had already darkened unevenly so already looked fairly well used. The pictures are taken in my tablet and the camera isn't the best and it does kinda bleach the images bit. The neck is one I had aged previously with Danish oil and is a nice amber colour, the wear on the neck being down by scrubbing the finish with a brillio pad and rubbing in boot polish. I fancy maybe building a Jazz in this manner so I have a matching set, although I'll have to buy some parts to complete another.

I learned from their mistakes and all the screws got a dab of machine oil on a cotton bud.

Well, I've been a busy boy And it plays...luvveerrrlllyyy! I'm a big fan of Warman pickups and this one has been no exception. That lovely clear, thumping precision tone with just a lick of growl when digging in. Just how I like it. I've done a set up and will fine tune it in a day or two once the truss rod has settled down. I was a little worried how convincing I could get a poly finish to look on a relic, but it's turned out very well. Aside from the lack of nitro cracking it looks respectably tired and worn, and I'm guessing it being a satin finish paint has helped there. Incidentally, it dried very hard and tough so I can recommend Rustoleum for anyone considering a painted finish on a DIY project. So there it is, my very own Limelight clone, and I'd happily put it up against a real one for both sound, feel and finish, and for the 25 quid it cost me in pots and pickguard screws I think I did very well. I'll take it to rehearsal tonight and may even gig it next weekend.

Factor in the cost of the correct screws (Fender P/N 002-1422-049) and that's still only 30 quid. A bargain indeed.

Headstock relic'd, tuners fitted. Neck aged with wire wool and boot polish. Body paint and hung over the Rayburn to dry. Good things Mrs Bassfinger is at work because it stinks! Just about to start work ageing the pickguard. My Zippo,.patience and a dab of luck should do the trick. Fortunately it's already darkens quite a bit with age so it just needs a bit of 'wear' adding to it. Pics to follow.

I run very little. Tuner first, overdrive (used only for one song, I prefer to use other controls for a bit of grit), Drop Box (I'm not lugging my 5 as well for only one song) and then put the preamp last as that feeds into our mixer and the 2nd feed into my monitor. As suggested above, there isn't a 'proper' order, on,y what works best for your circumstances and equipment. I have a Zoom multi effects job as well but as great as it is its too easy to pink torpedo up on stage with it, even I can't go wrong with just a minimum of pedals in front of me.

The 1200 was slow although, bizarrely, when I had mine the 1200 was the fastest of all the air cooled Hardlys.

A story. Somewhat off topic, but I hope I can be forgiven. Back in my Hardly days I looked after a friends full dresser Harley whatever glide while he was on holiday. He had a garage but didn't want to leave it there with the house unattended, so he said I could keep it at mine an and use it so long as I cherished it. Fair enough. This one also had a stereo, and I was blasting along listening to Bruce Springsteen on the radio and feeling cool as you like when I decided to pull in for some fuel. At that exact moment, just as I rolled onto the forecourt, Bruce Springsteen made way for Spandau Ballet's True, leaving me panicking trying to quickly figure how to turn it down or off in my chunky Frank Thomas gloves. By the time I'd managed to shut down the infernal racket everyone on the forecourt had heard and must have thought I was a bit of a berk.