Velarian

Dare I say frets?

Snap! I got this quite recently and I too am no guitarist. I can just about strum three chords but I plan on learning a fourth soon. 😂 For the money you can’t go wrong and it’s worth a punt just to mess about on.

I swear I’ll never fly Ryanair again. The last time, when checking in for the return flight the check-in clerk says “are you not flying with baggage today” despite standing there with two bloody big suitcases. “Yes” I said, the same bags we flew out with. “Well you’ve not paid for them”. “Must have, I paid for them when I booked, otherwise I wouldn’t have them now!” “No you haven’t, that will be €100 please” 👿

Yes, when I was checking some facts I read about that too. Sadly it appears that it may have been some Stranglers fans who were responsible. ☹️

I think you’re right, that rings a bell now you mention it. Apart from Big Country being awesome, my only other recollection of that day is that was clear blue skies and scorching sunshine. 😎

You can get a new HB in budget. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_pj_75ow_vintage.htm

I saw them at Reading festival in 1983. The Stranglers were headlining and BC were on just before them. They blew the Stranglers away IMHO and I’m a Stranglers fan! I saw them again a good few years later in a side tent at the Heineken festival in Leeds and I can honestly say it was one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. The band were really enjoying themselves and they just kept going, encore after encore. Brilliant.

Did Bill Bailey buy it off you?

I’ve just spotted the flaw with that instrument. There’s no fretless bass so it won’t be any good for Jazz.

We have a winner. That will take some beating. 😂

Thanks for the detailed breakdown. I’ll ponder it when I’ve had a couple of coffees, after I’ve done the daily Nerdle; which is about as taxing as maths gets for me these days. 😊

I was off school the day they did algebra. 😉

He might argue he’s still right because it’s not an invasion, it’s a “special military operation”. 🤔

Is that Russian? A bit of string tied to the machine heads seems easier to me. 🤔🤷‍♂️

You could try using some string or elastic from the machine head, through the nut and align it over the pickup poles then mark the position on the body at the bridge location. This should tell you what the bridge string spacing needs to be.

According to this video you wouldn’t go far wrong with a Tascam TM80, or for more money a Lewitt LCT 140 Air.

Not flying over Russia seems like a lame excuse not ship to me. There must be plenty of other air cargo routes operating e.g. via Singapore, Bangkok, Dubai etc. 🤷‍♂️

Judging by the depth of colour it’s probably more likely to be this…

I can’t believe no one has said the obvious - it’s a tobacco sunburst innit?

I recently had a new nut fitted to my fretless Precision by a luthier and although it’s low there is still a gap. A rough and ready check tells me it’s less than the thickness of credit card. I can check it more closely with feeler gauges when I have time later if necessary.

The slant hole is for the ground wire and this will connect to a suitable ground point in the control cavity. Some form of grounding will need to be maintained. One thing I don’t really understand is that if the original bridge position is correct, as designed (and I think it is) then unless the design is fundamentally wrong, why move it? If I was trying to establish the correct position I would measure the distance from the front face of the nut to the centre of the twelfth fret. Then, move the bridge saddle of the G string to within a couple of millimetres of its furthest forward position. The break point of the G string saddle should then be positioned at the same distance from the centre of the twelfth fret as the distance from the nut.

Like @dclaassen I’m more or less on board with everything on that list but I have developed a nostalgic fondness for sunburst. My first (second hand) Precision around 1980 was a sunburst as it was the only one I could get my hands on. I wasn’t that keen on it TBH, so much so that when it was eventually nicked I don’t recall being massively upset because it gave me an excuse to go and get a black/maple one; far more badass for the early 80s. Looking back now I really wish I still had that original sunburst. 😕 I’m definitely on board with the idea that “battle scars on a bass should be EARNED” One thing I’m not keen on is the whole boutique bass thing; very expensive instruments made from exotic wood, especially the ones with dozens of strings and aircraft carrier-like fretboards. The vibe is almost like you’re not a real bass player unless it has at least 6 strings and definitely not something agricultural like a P Bass. And I prefer brunettes BTW 😉

This might be useful: Present Day Productions is a great YouTube channel and they have lots of videos on things like speaker placement and acoustic treatment etc. This is a playlist for a series of videos on how to build and acoustically treat a studio: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZTEvhVjBPsquCzg-E89exPfyIGkhwwDN

A rolled up hand towel.

Any more news on this?