henry norton

I used to use wax repair sticks for furniture (when I worked in the furniture industry, not on musical instruments). They work well for small to medium cracks or nicks. Regarding the Wish bass, it depends on what you're doing with it. If you're sanding it to give it a sprayed on finish I would avoid wax sticks like the plague, but if you just need to repair a small ding in a naturally finished body, then I don't see why not. [url="http://www.axminster.co.uk/liberon-liberon-shellac-filler-sticks-prod23270/"]http://www.axminster.co.uk/liberon-liberon-shellac-filler-sticks-prod23270/[/url] This is what I used to use.

Ahh, I happen to be a short scale user. Let me know if you want to move it on

Looks like the law of diminishing returns to me. If you're plugging it in you might as well go for a smaller body - once they get to this size you're more than half way to a db anyway, a body that big will still sound like an acoustic bass guitar and looks like it still needs an amp to get reasonable volume out of it.

Kind of like a modern take on an Ernie Ball Earthwood. It would be interesting to see just how loud this is when it's played acoustically.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1319061650' post='1409596'] I'm thinking I'd be as well to move the Darkstar on and stick another Kent Armstrong toaster in instead. [/quote] Well, I dont suppose you'd have much trouble moving it on - at least until/if these new Swedish copies finally hit the market. What pole spacing is your one?

I love the telebass but if it was a toss up between a Burns Bison and a Squier Telebass I would go for the Burns simply because it's more adaptable - the telebass has one very bassy, quite muddy sound whereas the Burns has quite a few options. On top of that every other bass player uses a Fender.

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1318877014' post='1407323'] If the bass was a custom build the board could be designed for the inlay in advance cutting the costs of that right? Thanks for educating me though! [/quote] Yes it's easier to cut a board for inlays before it's been cambered, attached to a neck and maybe even glued to a body. Binding is much easier too. That doesn't mean it'll be cheap though

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1319018002' post='1408860'] I've got one in my four string - it's a good pickup but I don't think there's anything magical about it. I wonder if I should eBay it for silly money while they're still scarce! [/quote] Yeah they do go for allot on the odd occasion they come up. The main reason I like them is because they look good, sound ok and they aren't P's, J's or soapbars. They aren't going to turn anyone into a rock god but if you use them some people might just think you are

[quote name='krispn' timestamp='1319008333' post='1408728'] I thought that Dark Stars were going back into production? Might have read something on the Lakland forum.. [/quote] Yeah Fred resurfaced a few months ago, fulfilled a couple of back orders then promptly disappeared again. So far as I know a few people on this forum had placed orders that have, up 'til now, not been fulfilled. The mystery continues, let's just hope the Swedes get their act together.

Yeah they're singular in look and sound. Allot of people seem to either have no time for them at all or be totally mad for them. I kept meaning to get a pair for my semi but at $400 a pair it wasn't something you could go and buy on a whim. Wish I had now...

I've read some interesting news on the Dark Star situation. Over the past year or so many of you probably already know Fred Hammon (maker of Dark Stars) has done a bit of a 'Lane Poor' (ie stopped making pickups and all but disappeared). However, In the last week or two on TalkBass someone has posted news about a Swedish organisation that has been working with some of the old Hagstrom employees to re-recreate the Bi-Sonic, including a 5 string version. There's no more news than that for now but fingers crossed Bi-sonics will be back on the menu again! Incidentally, has anyone got a Dark Starred bass (or better still just a pickup, or even better still, a Bi-Sonic) I could have a look at sometime???

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1318870182' post='1407200'] I LOVE massive inlays, if one was already made how much would adding it to a fret board be (roughly in vague terms) because i'm tacky/trendy! My brother likes plain fret boards, and i like big 'ole inlays so each to their own! haha [/quote] Well, the board would usually need de-fretting, then on top there's the cost of putting in the inlays themselves. So for example, if you wanted a dot neck upgraded to standard pearloid blocks, you're probably looking at a hundred and something to cut the (cambered, therefore difficult to work with) board, add the blocks and smooth, then maybe another hundred or so for the de/re-fret, smooth, level, re-profile and polish. On top of all that, you'd be looking at an extra hundred or thereabouts more for the extra bling of fingerboard binding to set your beautiful inlays off should you be so inclined, (and why not????) A fair wedge to pimp yo bass but some people would consider it money well spent

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' timestamp='1318841506' post='1406614'] How hard are massive inlays to do for those of you who build basses? Like ones spanning the board and such? Or does it depend on many things? [/quote] Yes it does depend on allot of things but any one off, custom designed inlay work will add a significant amount to the cost of the bass. It's different for the likes of PRS or Gibson who use CNC mills to cut out their inlays and holes. CNC means it doesn't cost them much more to fit standardised inlays, even quite complicated ones. One off inlays are usually cut and fitted by hand, so it can cost a fair bit extra just to make the bass look tacky (oops, I mean[i] trendy[/i]!).

Used to use milliput allot when I worked as a model engineer. Considering it's epoxy (like some fingerboard coatings) with a hard filler (which makes it even harder than straight epoxy), I guess it would be ideal for those kind of repairs. I like the idea of building up the nut especially.

Aww Man! Grand piano and double bass in a big, modern looking rehersal space? That scenario would be like a wet dream for most BC'ers. I don't suppose anyone on here is going to top that!!!

Bought an EB-0 off Steve an age ago and was very pleased with it. He's very patient too (sorry it took a while before I posted feedback - I didn't know I could 'til this afternoon)

[quote name='bass_by_name' timestamp='1318616162' post='1404494'] I think there was a 454 hemi as well. They must have gone some to get 427 cubes out of a small block. But then Ford dont do the big block any more. Same as Caddy probably dont do the 500! [/quote] Yeah the Fords went up to about 460 with the bigger blocks but they were mainly used in trucks and boats. You can still get massive Hemi's based on the old Chrysler - something stupidly big like 600ci - used in top fuel dragsters, but I don't think anyone does anything much over 300ci for road use now, especially an iron block overhead valve V8. Funny thinking 427ci (7 litres) being like an ultimate muscle car capacity equating with a 400 Watt valve amp head. Are Ashdown telling us their 427 is the ultimate 'Muscle Bass' Head???

I like them but that pickup ring grates on me really badly - to the point where I'm building myself one but without the pickup ring and the bridge pickup moved to the (MM) sweet spot. It's nearly there for me but not there enough....

Ashdown are probably referring to the GM Chevrolet 427 big block. Fords big engines never seemed as popular with hot rodders as Chevy big blocks, although if Ashdown [i]really[/i] knew their American V8's they would have called their most powerful amp the '426 Hemi', made by Chrysler. I agree about the cheesy graphics though.

Flats, like everyone else said. I played a Precision (fretless) in an acoustic band and found the growl fitted in well when I played a bit further up resting my thumb on the edge of the neck. Have you tried altering your playing style?

Looking really nice. I'm pleased to see no fake Fender logos too

Yeah the Earthwood. I forgot about those. They are truly giant although not too bad to look at. They're very collectable too so sadly I won't be rushing out to buy one.

Thanks for the replies. The general consensus seems to be no acoustic bass guitar is actually loud enough acoustically to be usable. Unless it's a double bass and therefore not a guitar at all... Half the problem seems to be they all have regular sized dreadnought type bodies, so they'll never move enough air to be heard over a loud acoustic guitar. The bridge is too far back to move the soundboard properly as well, presumably because the neck would be sticking out a mile if it was in the optimum position. I guess the problem with making anything much bigger than a dreadnought with a long scale is that you'd end up with something not much smaller than a DB, but without the flexibility and the kudos

Does anyone know of any purely acoustic bass guitars? I mean an acoustic bass guitar that doesn't have (or at least doesn't always need) a piezo pickup and onboard amp. I used to play in an acoustic pop trio but played a fretless Precision through a practice amp. It worked ok but I always hankered after a purer sound (as well as only needing to carry one case to smaller clubs).

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1318425099' post='1401966'] i'm going to ask this question as i always think that if you want to know the answer to a question, then someone else will. what's t cut ? [/quote] It's a liquid you can buy from places like Halfords that restores the shine and colour to faded car paintwork. If you were into cars (and car cleaning) in a big way, you'd probably already know about it. If you're not, you probably won't ever need to