Bassfinger

Here, drink this milk!

I fancy a Limelight. Reports are they sound great, feel nice in the hand, and you don't need to be precious with them as a few knocks and bangs only adds to the character. Problem is I've spent 3 grand on Ricky and Sire basses in the last few months and even the easy going Mrs Bassfinger might raise an eyebrow were I to spend more. So, it's time to see if I can make my own version of a Limelight, making it cheap while making it also good and convincing. A tall order. So, today I've been raiding Barn Of S***e looking for the parts I need. As is the case with many of you chaps, when one upgrades a bass one ends up with the original parts as leftovers, and in my case I have many basses worth of such spares. I also have a few bodies and necks from previous projects where I've chopped and changed or upgraded them over the years, and after rummaging came up with... A precision neck. Maple, rosewood fretboard. Not sure where this one came from but I suspect it was Chinese in origin. I do recall giving it a minor fret dress in its previous installation and it being a decent player. A jazz and a precision body. Both Ash I believe. The precision is unpainted, bar a thin poly clear coat, and that better suits my plans. Warman precision pickups in white. Several precision pickguards. A pearl one looks the best fit on this body. An assortment of neck plates, including an ebay "Fender" item. Squier Classic vibe tuners, string tree and bridge, all in nickel. Even better for my purposes they've corroded a little where the barn is a touch damp, and that suits my needs. Tired looking pup cover, that I may or may not use. And I'm sorted for strings, various control knobs, etc. Rummaging though my paint box I've found a can of Rustoleum blue spray which is a fairly close finish for daphne blue, originally intended for sprucing up the cast iron ends of a garden bench. Also some reds and greens from my lawn mower restoring, but the blue would go best with the pickguard methinks. Even better, it's a satin finish. Nitro would be better as the aged finish is easier to achieve, but that means more spending, so the Rustoleum. Fortunately I reckon I can age the satin finish quite convincingly. So that's everything I need, except for pickguard screws and pots. I've order a set of the former, in a slightly dull stainless rather than shiny chrome, and CTS are supplying the pots. So I shall start work this week and titillate you with pictures as it progresses.

Ours went well. Our singist is recovering from flu and his voice isn't quite there yet so I got to sing Common People. I quite enjoyed it. Playing was tight, no major clangers, and we got paid on our way out the door, so it went as smooth as they come. Singist, bassist, guitarist, guitarist, drumist.

Perhaps a good time to mention that 50 quid you owe me...? Seriously though, has the doc recommended anything useful medication wise that might help? I suffer with my hip and was jolly pleased to discover that it responds pretty well to good old fashioned ibuprofen. Very gratifying, as not on,y is it inexpensive there are no side effects for me in moderate doses of the sort I experience with the prescription cocodamol, naproxen etc.

I owned a Harley for a while, a 1200 Sportster. Every panel was beautifully finished, albeit in a slightly different shade from the next. It was not well bolted together. My 4003 is beautifully finished, although I understand that is not always the case. The Harley got up the road with all the aplomb of a 1 legged cat burying a turd on a frozen pond, whereas I think the Rick-O sounds great. I can see where the OP is coming from, and there is certainly some overlap in the idea, but having owned a Hardly Daybison I can confirm they are (or were, it was 18 years ago) so appalling in function that they stand head and shoulders above Rickenbacker for style v substance.

Bandocracy is the best I've personally experienced, but we're all now old enough to behave like grown ups and leave our egos at home.

I rather like it too.

Depends very much on your build and how high/low you wear it. The broader you are and the higher you wear it the less it is prone to dive. If you're a 5'4" punk player that wears it round you're knees you'd be more likely to have hassles than me with a 53" chest and accordingly wide shoulders wearing it moderately high up.

New strings on a bass?!

Writing 'fragile' is surely akin to painting a target on it.

Yesh.

And ask to see their PAT test certs for the gear.

I was once mistaken for Sean Connery and asked for an autograph. She was a bit tipsy, but I hammed up the accent and played along.

I like prog a lot, but being a true believer I'm too deep in naval contemplation to talk about it.

Sorry, living with an ex copper I kind of pick up the lingo as she sits there correcting every dibble drama on tv. Criminal Records Office, I was suggesting there's a good likelihood he has a record for sticky fingers. The staff turnover on these firms is far too high for them to do a DBS check on most of them.

"This microwave is not for the drying of wet pets" is also ridiculous, but ask yourself why they issue the warning with every one sold? It's not just a different country, it really is a different country.

I'd pay to see that! 🤣

Pound to a penny the driver is CRO...

I use the Behringer BDi, it's very good, although I run it dry with the overdrive completely off and leave kverdrive duties to a Boss pedal. I almost always go to the PA, on which we run one or two subs, and use the second output from the pedal to drive my monitor. I prefer to feed my monitor directly and get it sounding how I want to hear it, rather than drive it with an output from the mixer and get what our sound man thinks I should be hearing, and I get enough ambient sound from my homie's monitors to hear what they're up to. That's what works for me personally, although the next person along would doubtless have great bouts of head shaking and disagreement. To head off any questions I use an Orange Crush 50 as a monitor, I just think it sounds nicer to listen to for 2 or 3 hours than a proper monitor and is kinder to the ears. I have tried in-ear monitoring, but I'm a bit down in my right ear (my time in the army was the era when ear defenders were considered effeminate by the NCOs and anyone asking for them would be scorned a a bit of a [insert politically incorrect term] and sent packing) and never felt totally at ease with them.

The Warman pickup almost went straight in. I duplicated the original wiring rather than fitting a switch and going 3 way switchable. I had to file the cutout on the pickguqrd ever so slightly, but otherwise was very easy to install. It turned an amazing bass for the money into a brilliant sounding one at any price, although string choice will have an impact there.

We only do Facebook now, but we're at the point where word of mouth generates most of our bookings so let the website go as superfluous to requirements.

Never looked at my P5's innards, but it's quiet as regards hum and unwanted noise.

Oh don't start that old malarkey . Everyone knows they gauge of finger puppets has for more influence on sound than the tone puppets.

Mine is an awkward arm break that left me with nerve damage and 2 fingers that I can no longer feel. I was a guitarist and being unable to fingerpick any more was seriously upsetting, so on Mrs Bassfinger's insistence I switched to bass on the basis there is 33% less real estate for my remaining digits to cover. Sure enough I could play finger style much better on the bass but was prone to errors so for live playing always used to revert to a pick. However, years of bloody minded persietence and practice paid off and my brain has rewired itself sufficiently for me to be able to fingerpick normally again (I still use a pick for those songs that suit one) even with no feeling in 2 digits, and I'm back on the guitar as well. I can even pingerpick on a mandolin. No trick, just years and years of hammering at it, 90 minutes to 3 hours a day, every si gle day. I even bought a Hofner shorty so I could pradtice when wkrking abroad. The only other concession I make to the inury is that I tend to practice standing. Sitting down quickly becomes uncomfortable on my nacked elbow and shoulder and the pressure on the nerves starts to make my right thumb numb as well, although that is transitory and quickly rights itself when I get the arm moving. I've had 3 operations, and nearly died in the last one due to an unexpected reaction to the general, so unless my life depends on it I'll pass on any more surgery and put up with the symptoms.

Never travelled on Ryanair for much the same reason I won't buy life saving medicines from Poundland, but my Steinberger just fits into the overhead lockers on a Virgin 777.