DocTrucker

Would like to have a 6 to try at home. I would like to limit spend to the minimum required to get a good student model, so reliable but not necessarily going to stun with the tone! I'm playing a wide range of styles at the moment and none which the 6 is especially common in. I appreciate the desire to try 6 won't sit well with common logic. My Squire Vintage Modified J Bass has a string spacing of 19mm at the bridge and around 10 at the nut. I appreciate this may make a 6 a beast but are there any bottom end models that are similar to that? While the 6 and 4 are going to feel very different any way I would like to try to keep them in the same ball park, so probably give fanned frets a miss for example. This is more a curiosity rather than an imminent plan. If anything it's likely to wait until the end of the year, unless I see a reasonable example second hand. I'd like to have a crack at a kit build too, but vapour builds continue for the time being!

I understand the view point. I found it interesting to tie together where the instruments came from as while they may be able to cut price, they are limited to how well they can build instruments by their machinery, tooling, and Luithers. I was vurious to see hiw wide spread the practice is, but it does seem in house is on the rare side. You'd likely never find out the detail but knowing where the design expertise reside would be telling.

That's quite a list, cheers! I spotted some of the kit built guitars shared a common manufacturer and wondered how comon it was with the big brands. It almost looks like an easier question would be who makes their own, although apart from the manufactors above I'm guessing thats the £££ options!

Caught a comment in a post in this forum which in retrospect makes sense, but I hadn't given much thought to. Some of the major brands selling bass guitars are at least out sourcing the manufacture of their budget to mid price ranges to other well known, but uncredited sub contract manufacturers. Do we have any collection of who makes who's guitars? I appreciate the situation is likely fluid, and somewhat muddied by Fender / Squire like branding where the affordable brand could either be using less expensive hardware/material, sub contractors, or other cost cutting measures - not suggesting Squire is definately sub contracted rather than built by squire. These arrangements are not wholesale bad, I just like transparency. I see them a bit like signature models of basses and gear. The brand could be doing anything from changing a label through to negotiating a specific/higher spec at a cut price based on their buying power. Are there big bass guitar brands that don't make any of their own basses?

Sorry, bad writing on my behalf. I was guessing the cost of the pedals together. I have the DB-Pre on order for a bit under 150.

Mine's on order now. Maybe I'll see it next week. Boss pedals on the loop at the moment; overdrive (odb3), octaver (oc3), and limiter (lmb3). The Digbeth pedals look great but can't justify what I'm guessing is around ~£360 at the moment!

Nice! I've been waiting for a price from my local music school for one of them. I'm a newcomer to performing but liked the idea of getting my tone sorted on my pedal board making use of the fx loop on the pre amp and leaving the rest to largely just volume.

Thanks all. For once chatting on online forums has resulted in a relative reduction in the desire to hemorrhage cash! Just got an urge to move the guts of my BC Tich Warlock p bass to a standard fender style precision bass body body & neck. The former isn't quite right. Nice feel on the neck, but action is too high, and the body shape is a pain. Standard bass stands don't don't work!

Great to hear, thanks. So get the basses you have playing well and tackle niggles that arise.

Feel like I need to find myself a book on the bass guitar to go alongside my tutor books! Ok, so the prime two types of bass guitar that I'm aware of is the Precision and Jazz. On the Jazz front I've seen them with split coils, single coils, humbuckers, and occasionally a mix of split and single. The precisions are far less varied but I have seen guitars with a split in the precision position and an additional coil close to the bridge. So what are the key types (extra strings aside for the time being) to look for with the Blues Rock through to Metal spectrum? I've currently a twin single coil Squire Jazz and a Precision bass with a single split coil. Do the Jazz basses with two Humbuckers sound different enough to the Squire Jazz to warrant an early inclusion, or are they more often pulled out when noise issues plague the single coil instruments? I'm expecting a lot of it to be personal taste, but interested to hear what the key types are considered to be.

I got that for my P bass, got the same stuff lined up again. Just need to double check left overs before ordering.

Just had a little look at the electronics and thought I was onto something. Reasonable quality pots - alpha 250K - but the ground seemed weak between the pots and the ground pin of the cable. Measured 1.5-2 Ohm. The ground between the volume pots, tone pot, and jack plug is all made through the control plate to avoid ground loops. Stripped back and wire brushed the threads for the pots and the jack plug. Resistance dropped to around 0.5Ohm which is as good as zero with a normal meter. Alas hum still there. Almost certainly picking up noise from something in my room. Unplug the guitar, or put both pickups on full and the hum disappears. Drop the tone right down and the hum sounds like the characteristic 50Hz hum! I'll get on with the shielding.

The building is part of the fun for me, although I appreciate the recommendation. Pleny of food for thought here and builing it all up on a seperate panel means it can drag on a bit without leaving me bass less. Thanks again!

I thought the Duncan Designed pickups - made under a license I think - weren't as well recieved as the standard Duncan ones?

Great. So ditch the bridge option and use the cash on the nerves of the guitar. Logarithmic pots on both volume and tone, or just tone? I like the idea of a series/parallel switch.

I'll focus on curing the noise and not go mad on spend.

Great, I was hoping the bulk of the guitar was about that mark. My playing is currently about Sunday cyclist level with beer belly, but with aspirations to loose the gut and ride with a club! 😄

Thanks. Back about ten years I knew my bicycles, and up to about £800 it was clear the difference you were getting over cheaper models. Ligher frames, stiffer, better gear change etc. I don't have that knowledge of basses. What is the sort of price point deminishing returns become obvious?

Thanks, will look into the suggestions. As far as I could see the Indonesian Vintage Jazz Modifieds were well recieved, maple bodies and necks with reasonable hardware. What would I be gaining from a more expensive model? I expect the spend to be about £60-70.

Fairly certain my bass is a Squire Vintage Modified in natural (lacquered finish) with Duncan Designed pickups. I've got a bit of noise on this when plugged un and considering adding some shielding (something I did for my P bass, that wants a bit more work) and swapping out the pickups for some Entwistle JBXN pickups at the same time. Is it worth looking at a high mass bridge at the same time, or is that really just an aesthetic choice until your a real Bass wizzard?

Hello! Been 'learning' the bass far too slowly for many years! Was taking lessons at a local music school, but had to rest that due to redudancy in 2018. Just before the C19 lock down they called me up wondering if I was up for joining one of their bands, and managed to get one practice session in before the lock down - I was re-hooked! My gear is a stock Squire Jazz Bass, and a BC Rich Warlock Bronze that I gutted and rebuild with new electronics and Warman pickups. Like tinkering and aiming for a kit build for a 5 string H-H bass this new year. Amp wise just a Laney Combo practice amp and a Scarlett Solo USB interface with the computer. Knuckling down now to fill in a few scale shaped holes in my knowledge!

I've found a few more companies supplying the kit (or variations thereof - reverb and fretwire) and the original manufacturer's website. Minimum order of 10 units, so not a route to a cheaper unit but nice to see the full catalogue! I had spotted a pre built one that had been left in natural finish on ebay, but the seller had treated the wood with petroleum jelly. As one of the UK suppliers offer the kit for ~£115 I decided £75 was my limit for something that wanted stripping and a lot of work before I could lacquer, which is also a lot of work! As you may have guess I missed it, it went for 76, implying someone had put in a bid higher still than that. I'll browse the whole catalogue and see if these UK suppliers are willing to add a specific model to their next order when I'm ready to go - or just go with the same one discussed on this thread. http://www.byguitars.com/

Great read that thanks. I was airing towards grain filling, maybe stain and lacquer. How has your finish aged? If this build goes ahead the spec and build is something I enjoy. To date I've fingered alsorts of bass lines on my Squire Jazz, and rebuilt BC Rich. Recently took the opertunity to join an 'adult' group at my local music school and it has resparked my enjoyment, but equally showed my knowledge of scales is left wanting. This build is both for the pleasure of the build and as a consolation for the hard slog needed to drop back to the begining of a learn bass book to slowly fill in my gaps!

Found the pitbull forum thanks. https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au/ Next step for me is to find the VW/Skoda level manufacturer of hardware rather than the Bentley/Mclaren! 🙂

Great, thanks @StuartD is that community on here or a forum from their website? @Mottlefeeder Good spot. I had spotted that the rear cover is not the same. Bad phrasing on my behalf. Different iterations of the same kit rather than identical. I've found somene showng pictures of a kit from Guitar Fabric with the same rear cover from the pitbull.