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Another good one! Thanks.

That’s good to know.👍 Yeah, it looks like FleaBay, or the dreaded Amazon can oblige with the tubing.

Thanks for that! Great idea! I will definitely use that. Wonder where you can get the surgical tubing without having to buy a massive quantity 🤔. I hope I don’t have to remove the pickups but I guess it depends on whether I can get the pots through the f-holes. P.S. It looks like Amazon is a good source of the tubing.

I’m thinking about fitting a varitone style tone pot to my Guild NS Starfire 1. I can’t afford/not prepared to pay for a Stellartone Tonestyler but I found this on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256589834315?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=kOM5mf7iTRe&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=4_PGIYs4SqC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY. I’ve used this guy’s stuff in the past and it was good: much easier than doing it myself and I can’t see how I could do it cheaper buying the components. I have done plenty of wiring myself on solid bodied guitars and basses but I have never tackled a semi. Has anybody replaced pots on a Starfire or similar bass? Apart from putting pieces of string through the mounting holes, how do you ensure you don’t lose the pot inside and how do you get the shaft into the mounting hole without being able to put your hand inside? Am I going to be able to change the tone pot without having to remove the volume pot and jack socket? (TBH I don’t mind removing the jack socket as I was thinking of changing it for a Puretone while I am fiddling with the wiring.) Are there any tools out there made for this purpose, or has anybody come up with their own hacks? Any experiences and advice gratefully received.

Has anybody tried the Positive Grid Spark Cab? https://uk.positivegrid.com/products/spark-cab?variant=47614717657321 I have a Spark 40, which I use a lot for practising to the recording for songs we are going to cover. I find it very convenient, especially as the Bluetooth connection is very reliable for streaming from phone or tablet. The bass amp voicing is pretty good but the built in tiny speakers do not do it justice. I have on occasions hooked it up to one of my EV active PA speakers (12” woofer) and it sounds great but it is a bit of a faff setting it up and the sloping top of the speaker means you can’t put the Spark on top. The Spark cab looks like a pretty good solution: plenty loud enough for home practice and can also be used with any pre-amp, not just a Spark amp. The Spark 40 sits on top nicely, making it look like a mini stack. It might even be loud enough for a quiet band practice (140 watts, 110+ DB max). Plus it makes an OK acoustic and electric guitar amp (my other interest). There aren’t many reviews about though. Plenty say it has enough power and tends to be a bit bass heavy but there were a lot of complaints about the initial batch being noisy on idle. It’s not clear whether that has been sorted out in later batches but I don’t see any complaints about it in more recent reviews. There are plenty of complaints about Positive Grid’s customer/after sales service though. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone has tried the Spark Cab with a Spark, or preamp for bass duties and what it was like?

Wow! There must be some considerable value in your collection there! Which one day you dare to play out?

Sorry to muddy the waters further but if you are looking at these kind of cabs, I would recommend you check out LFSys as well. There are several threads and reviews on BC and @stevie might still be offering a discount to BCers. https://www.lfsys.co.uk/bassguitarproducts.

Interesting: https://www.basscentre.com/british-bass-masters/bbm-snakebite.html

I had to have a look at the Thomann website, so now I have GAS again. Thanks guys! Must resist the temptation. Fortunately, it says not available for about 9 weeks. I notice they are offering a bundle deal with a semi-rigid case. I couldn’t work out from the dimensions whether it is a bespoke SS case, or just a standard case. If the latter, I imagine the bass is going to rattle around in it. It would be nice if they were selling a SS case. I would buy several. I can’t understand why nobody is offering a reasonably priced SS case, given the popularity of shorties at the moment.

Well I have four of them at the moment and I don’t feel like selling any but I might have to. I would find it very difficult to decide which one to cull, as they all have their own distinctive sound. Current favourite is the Guild NS Starfire 1. Least used is the Acinonyx, after being my “go to” for a couple of years but I don’t feel I could part with it. Apart from any thing else, it is probably the bass I will be able to continue to play the longest, despite creeping arthritis in my left hand. P.S. A friend is on the look out for a Sandberg Lionel, if anyone wants to part with theirs, I can put you in touch.

You can spec a Maruszczyk Elwood with a wider nut width. Someone was selling one on BC recently. I’m guessing it was a P profile neck, as on their Jake. Probably cheaper to put a P neck on a Jazz, or make a bitsa.

Dangerous place to visit! I went there 10 years ago looking to PX my Martin D28P for the (then) recently released Martin 00018 with the performance neck, which was about £1,700. I walked out with a Taylor 712 Fall Limited Edition 12 Fret, which was way north of £2K even then. Reality hit me on the drive home when I started to think about credit card interest! I have hardly played the Taylor for fear of marking it and would never dream of playing it live. I don’t think I would have had the same qualms with a 00018. Good salesmen are dangerous for your wallet!

I wish I could but being a lazy s*d, I never learned to read traditional music notation. At pushing 69, I fear it is now too late to learn. Are you going to put us out of our misery?

I eventually took a punt and bought a 32” Jazz style neck from China off eBay. It wasn’t as painful as I had imagined. It took over 3 weeks to arrive but when it did, it was in good condition and the import duty had been sorted. It was unfinished but had a nut installed and the frets had been nicely executed. The heel proved to be a little wider than the Fender standard, so I had to ease the neck pocket on a Precision body to fit it. Anyway I’m at risk of straying into build diary territory, so suffice to say I now having a working, lightweight, medium scale P bass with Jazz style neck. It sounds pretty good IMO, if a little bright (full size P body, so pickup is a little close to the bridge). The whole thing, including Tonerider pickup and Schaller machine heads cost me a little more than £200, plus a lot of finishing work. I still think Squier could sell a lot of medium scale P basses if they would only bite the bullet. Here it is in action:

Hi, I’ve done this with my Two10 and LFSys Monza (10” with compression driver). It does release the extra power from your amp and I thought a bit more bottom end overall but that could be because the Two10 was getting two thirds of the extra grunt, so that is what you hear predominantly. In my case, the Monza’s compression driver fills in the top end that is missing from the Two10. The Monza is pretty good at dispersing sound close up anyway but with it sitting on top of the Two10 in vertical mode, I had absolutely no trouble hearing myself on a comparatively narrow “stage” (a trailer). I leave it to you to decide whether my experience with the Two10 and Monza has any bearing on a Two10 & One10 combo. My guess is, unless you get a One10 T, you are not going to get the top end filled out as much but you would get the impression of extra bottom end by dint of moving more air. You also release the extra wattage from your amp but how much that actually gives you in DB I couldn’t say. In my case, I have a smaller cabinet for gigs where I don’t need the oomph of the Two10S but want the clarity of an FRFR. It just happens to have a higher power rating than my Two10S but I don’t have an amp that can use that at 8 ohms. It seems to be plenty loud enough at up 250 watts for most pub gigs we do. The ability to stack it on top of the Two10 is just a bonus faciltated by my Blackstar U700. If you like the idea of that flexibility, a 10” single might be worth considering. It gives 3 cab permutations out of two cabs.

It’s the same story as the EDS Reidmar 700 WRT output. There aren’t that many amps that will handle a sub 4 ohm load, so I guess this appeals to those who need it. I like the flexibility of being able to put my 8 and 4 ohm cabinets together when I really need the extra grunt. As an aside, the U700 has a separate balanced out to run a powered cabinet. I think this must be aimed at their powered 15” extension cabinet but presumably would do equally well with any powered speaker: Headrush, active PA cabinet, active sub, etc.

Got to say it again: amazing rig. I feel myself working up to a second Monza. Just a question of getting the dosh together.

I have the U700; bought off this very forum with the optional multi button footswitch (with digital display). I think it is a great amp. The emulations seem very good and with 3 different preamp and 3 power amp options you get a lot of permutations. The compressor is one of the best single knob compressors I have come across. It’s not noisy either (unlike Flyrig 2 for instance). The chorus and drive effects are decent as well. There are three variations on drive: overdrive, drive and fuzz. The mids are sweepable too. Everything I will ever need in one amp, with a discreet foot switch (a bit smaller than a Flyrig 2), which even has a tuner (slow). I have used it with an 8 ohm LFSys Monza (brilliant combination), 4 Ohm Barefaced Two10 and the both of them together running at 2.7 Ohm. The latter was loud and full. At 8 ohms and 4 ohms it is as loud as my Mark Bass LMIII with the aforementioned cabinets. Louder than I need for most of the gigs I do. It’s not as aggressive volume wise as some amps maybe but typical of all the class D amps I’ve used from Mark Bass, TCE, Orange, Peavey, etc. The only one that seems louder watt per watt that I have tried, is the Warwick Gnome I-Pro but I think that is more because of the baked in EQ at supposed equality (far from it in reality). I don’t know how robust it will prove over time but it seems to be holding up well at the moment. It feels reassuringly solid to me and the gig bag gives reasonable protection. The little 3 position dip switches don’t seem too flimsy and are the type that appear on quite a few amps but I mostly use the foot pedal for these settings anyway.

Had the gear borrowing issue several times but in less exalted company. I have no objection if I/we are asked in advance but when an act just turns up and expects to use your gear, that is taking the widdle. The worst I experienced was doing a New Year’s Eve gig with a band (I was depping). It was a shared billing with one of those vocalists who sings along to backing tracks. She just turned up and said where do I plug my phone and mic in. To make matters worse, we finished our second set and then the landlord was expecting her to go on for another hour or so after midnight. Band leader said, well we are packing up, so it’s going to be unaccompanied acoustic. Landlord said he wouldn’t pay us, if we did that. I left it to the BL to sort out but in the meantime an exchange of views ensued between said singer and BL’s Mrs (also a band member) who was a pretty direct Brummie. Midlands game, set and match in that encounter! I think we might have been more amenable, if we hadn’t had to pay for all our drinks and some rubbish food. Karma struck the landlord later when he went bust and the pub was closed for several years. Come to think of it, so did the BL when the band broke up. I’m still waiting for my full share of a wedding gig I did with them about 8 years ago. Pretended there was something wrong with the bank details I gave him. Palmed me off with a few notes.

Thanks. Yes, I posted in the wrong thread by accident. It was indeed a 33 1/4”. I’ve moved the post. Thank you for the response.

There was a guy at the Norfolk Blues Society Jam in Norwich yesterday evening with an Ibanez Rickenbacker copy. It’s the first time I have seen one. It appeared to have a mudbucker type humbucker in the neck position but sounded great. He reckons it dates from the 70s and had been well used when he bought it. He had to have all the frets replaced and some repair done to the rosewood board but apparently it plays like a dream now. I immediately got serious GAS but this was extinguished when he handed it to me: a proper boat anchor but I guess through neck and maple is going to give you that. Anybody else come across these before?