Chopthebass

5 hours ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

Have you concealed the strap buttons?

Waiting for delivery of Dunlop strap locks. Well spotted!!

3 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

It needn't be said but GLWTS anyway.  It's smashing looking.  Are you putting up any clips for us to hear it?

I must be old, or been away from UK for too long, but what is GLWTS? Great Looking Without Tortoise Shell 😀

Not sure how to record and post. Again, could be an age thing!

It’s amazing what a difference strings make to the look (and sound!). Now time to sell it!!

Finished, but forgot to buy some strings! 
I decided to install the BP122 pickup. No idea how it sounds yet!

On ‎09‎/‎01‎/‎2021 at 07:10, Fishman said:

It's time to make a pick guard – I've ordered a few different sheets of A4 veneer to make something laminated – each sheet is 0.6mm, so 4 sheets should do the trick

The next step will be to scan this and make a paper template, fine tune that, then make something out of thin MDF, then onto the veneer

I have done custom pickguards by just cutting the outline and don't worry about pickup and neck cavity just yet.

Then I tape in position and drill a hole through the pickup holes and neck pocket while taped to the body. This is to allow router cutter  to plunge thru. . Then use the routs as template guides. Youll need a cutter with the bearing on the bottom.

Still a good idea to make a mdf template of the outline, especially if you are trying different colours. But the above method makes for perfect aligned edges!

I heard they are pretty darn good! 

1 hour ago, Pea Turgh said:

OMG that’s my perfect bass right there!  Looks beautiful!!!

Thanks ! 
My only regret is I wish I’d made it 5 string! It started as an experiment but turned out great! I will fit whatever pickup a potential buyer wants!! 

The fingerboard has been buffed and frets pre-polished, then installed. I trimmed the tangs so that I have a gap to fill. 

2 hours ago, basse_groove said:

Maybe you can install the octaver before your comp.

That’s how I now run it, but it has same problem. It’s odd. Running on its own is perfectly fine 

I have the same pedal and same issue when the compressor is on, on my Bergantino Forte HP. I also have the new Empress compressor pedal, and same thing happens no matter where the compressor is in my chain. I don't use the octave pedal much, but when I do I just have to turn the comp off. 

1 hour ago, Risk101 said:

Couldn’t resist an excuse to post a pic of the NS5H2 - oh, and the case of course! One clip replaced where one failed !!

Gorgeous! And the correct number of strings too 😆

48 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Blimey, that's really nice and will look superb next to the satin black body.

Have you decided on a pickup yet? I've only ever built one P bass and that had an active Schaller pickup in (which is lovely). I bought a Delano P bass pickup off here for use on a passive bass at some point as I've used a couple of other Delano pickups before and really liked them. I also used a passive Bartolini soapbar for the first time recently and that was superb too!! So many good pickups out there........almost too many choices!!!

Thanks! I really like maple boards. When I ordered my Mayones Jabba I upgraded to birdseye.

I watched a you tube video comparing P bass pickups, and I have to say I really like the Seymour SPB-3. I do have an old DiMarzio I could try. But I'm not a P-bass guy (or 4 string come to that!) so not sure what it should sound like.

I just have to pre-polish the frets before installing. I like to get them as shiny as possible before they go in, as its difficult to polish right close to the maple otherwise. And this part is untouched when levelling.

I did some work on the neck. I like to lacquer before frets go in on a maple board.

1 hour ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

That satin black is really classy. Really like that.

I’m liking it the more I look at it! 
I'm still not sure which pickup to throw in. Any ideas? I want to keep it passive

Looks quite good satin black but I think I’ll do the high gloss clear coat.

2 hours ago, HazBeen said:

Great tool, but I have to note that you can buy a pretty decent CNC table for that type of money.

True, but I don’t have a ton of room, and as I already know how to use AutoCAD it is a breeze to draw up anything I need and upload to the Shaper. 

Primed and ready for color. Bit cold to spray so will have to wait until after xmas

Use superglue on your fingertips. Use the activator and it goes rock hard. I only used this when I split my fingertip and had a small but very painful tip. It actually worked a treat! Brightened up the sound too!

Berg make great gear. I have the Forte HP and HDN410. Brilliant combination. 

3 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

I missed whether you did the edge roundover with the Origin.  Also, I am assuming that you cut the body shape out with it.

I cut the outline to a depth of 8mm, then moved to overhead pin router and used this groove as a guide. Just quicker on the overhead

Did body rounding in the usual way! 
No more tasks for the Shaper on this. So I’ll post progress pics. Shame I don’t play 4 string! I’m sure someone will want it. 

To answer some questions....

placement: I have built a height adjustable table and you can see it in the pic with the tape on it. I have side wings to the table so it wraps around a body blank. On those I have a fixed centre line. When I place my body blank I line up the to the body centre line. You then scan the work area and it creates a workspace that you can name. You then upload your file into that workspace. Finally you set a grid and define the centre line (2 points) and blank edge (1 point) . You place your imported file either manually or you define a distance from the edge. Once all this is done you can come back a year later and select that workspace and cut another body. It retains everything in the workspace. So you can have numerous workspaces. Jazz bass, block inlays, control covers , etc. 

creation: the Shaper has a built in library of basic shaper like circles and rectangles etc. So you can do fingerboard dots if they are odd sizes, and you can undersize a little to get a snug fit. As long as you don’t remove your workpiece you can revisit any of the cuts. 

tracking: your uploaded file is displayed on the hi res screen and you follow this when making the cut. The motor has two built in motors that constantly adjust the X and Y to keep it exactly on the line. 
 

I just bought a Shaper Origin, which is a handheld CNC router. It’s flipping amazing! 
very easy to program and use. 
so I drew the precision outline, pickup cavity, control cavity and neck pocket in CAD. Convert to SVG, and upload to the Shaper. You set the depth and away you go. You have a visual line to follow on the screen and you can deviate by half an inch and the tool corrects itself. You can even undercut or over cut in 0.1mm increments to enable a tight neck fit for example. 
 

5 hours ago, Al Krow said:

You've got me thinking I need to remind myself how the Nathan East mid cut works! The best clue is in some of the blurb that goes with his separate pedal.

I'm guessing that as "Deep 4 is his favourite setting" that is what has been incorporated into the bass i.e. a mid scoop at 2kHz which, as you note, has a surprisingly potent effect!

Yamaha NE1 manual.pdf 85.49 kB · 1 download

Thanks Al.

And the magic knob works on top of the main mid control settings, which also affects the sound. Its just hard to re-visit a sound on the fly, as you have to remember where the main 3 knob eq is set, and then the magic knob.

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

We all know your love for Spectors and it's kinda interesting that both the OP and me have a Spector in our armoury as well as the NE2.

Of all my basses I'd say the NE2 took more design cues from Spector (sculpted back, neck through, 3+2 headstock, purely active, seriously meaty low end, 24 very accessible frets) than any other of my basses including my other Yammys. So I'd suspect you'd totally love it if you played 5ers! 

I find the magic knob has quite a small window of useable tones. Too high and it goes super thin, and too low gets a bit honky. Just my opinion. 
but you’re right - it does have a beefy low end. And the preamp just needs a small tweak to make a big change. 
I still very much love the Spector 5LT. Equally large bottom!