Dom in Dorset

Would it be good for metal?

Soundman looking at everyone else in the band and asking "which one of you is the singer?" I put my hand up so he then asks "who's the lead singer?"

Last night if an eight show panto at a theatre in a town 1/2 hour from home. I'd been in the pit band so when the last show ended I dragged my amp out of the pit, gathered up my kit and headed for the stage door. Rather than carry the heavy amp across the car park I left it by the door , went back in for my bass and lead bag, came out got in the car a drive home to put my feet up and have nice glass of something. Thankfully I didn't take the lazy option and leave my amp in the car until the morning and realized my mistake. Luckily it wasn't raining and my amp was still there when I eventually returned.

I will definitely check those out, one thing I don't like about the overlord bridge is that it's branded THE OVERLORD OF MUSIC which seems a little over the top.

I bet you were just expecting "the bridge is fine/could do better" but as I'm a proper nerd who keeps records : Between November 2015 and January 2019 I played 58 gigs on it and changed the strings 6 times. The bass would also have been used for all of the rehearsals and jam sessions etc during that period. There was only one slight issue during this time , one of the screws that helps grip the strings at the nut end stripped and had to be replaced. The screw in question is probably surplus to requirements as the strings are also bent at 90 degrees and held with an Allen key nut. I found a replacement in my bits box and carried on, it doesn't match but it does the job. I will probably use Overlord again to keep the cost of what is still essentially a prototype down but I will look into alternatives.

There could well have been a build diary for the original headless but I can't find it now , plus I've come a long way as a luthier since then.

Good morning, If you haven't seen what I do before : I build basses and guit@rs from reclaimed wood, body , neck, the whole thing (apart from an occasional bit of binding) all reclaimed , mostly from old pianos. A couple of weeks ago I was working on a bass neck for a Fenderbird that I have planned when I had one of those negative Midas touch days. I drilled the holes for the machine heads and then noticed that one of the holes was about 10mm from where it was supposed to be. Fuming I cut the headstock off and threw it on the fire so I didn't get constantly reminded of what a nerk I'd been. I was planning on prizing off the fretboard to salve the truss rod when I remembered something... A few years ago after carrying a heavy jazz bass in a hard case for miles through a crowded festival for a gig I build this: It features a chambered body to keep the weight down, asymmetrical bottom end so that a single strap button let's it lean against an amp without falling sideways, a cutout so it can be played sitting without the need for a flippy out thing and an upper horn to improve ballance. It was my main gigging bass for several years. I have some ideas for further refinements, watch this space. If anyone is interested I have also entered the Great Guitar Build Off , check out the Scavenger Music YouTube channel to follow my progress.

As a pallet junkie I'm jealous! That's really quite beautiful.

Experienced bass player with vocals looking for something interesting.... My background is a bit of a mixed bag taking in folk rock, Americana, country, country rock, folk, reggae, ska, psychedia, prog rock and even a few stints in a theatre pit band. I also write songs and have been lead singer ,and front man in a couple bands but happy to stand back too. Fairly recently moved to the area, looking for something interesting/creative /fun available for depping or something permanent. I do play guitar as well but bass would be my first choice. I'm in my 50s ,Based near Dorchester but willing to travel. In South Somerset area on a regular basis.

A least all the machine heads were turned to the same point for the photos.

I've entered, no idea what I'm going to do as yet.

I'm planning on entering but probably with a guitar. Looking at design options this morning.

I have been considering a whipe clean range.

I'll be there with some Scavenger Basses.

It plays beautifully IMO, I'll make a demo video soon.

Eronious post please delete

Dah dah!

Those gigs you thought were going to be awful but turned out nice in the end. Following on from the train wreck thread... My country rock trio (something like Motorhead playing country) were booked for Boomtown festival. The site is devided into zones, futuristic, urban, etc and a wild West zone where we were playing. Our zone was all timber facades of saloons etc complete with actors doing gunfights every hour, falling off buildings into hay carts, "ladies" plying their trade etc We'd been told that there would be backline, drum kit etc just bring guitars, pedals and breakables... We arrive to find that none of this is true. There isn't even a stage. There is a small pa and they get us to set up on the saloon steps to entertain the crowd between bands on the main stage. Everything is plugged into the pa including the guitar and as he usually uses the dirty channel on his amp it's clean sound only. Our drummer has to play standing up with snare, hi hat , ride and a suit case for a bass drum. All set to be a total train wreck but...our set coincided with the actors clocking off for the day. Still in full wild west costume they gathered Infront of us and immediately started dancing wildly waving shot guns in the air and generally having a blast. Their presence attracted more people and we ended up with a good crowd. Just goes to show that things can turn around.

A few years ago I was living in a small Somerset town , there was an annual street fair. It was a popular event attracting thousands , stalls running the length of the street, buskers playing, main stage with bands , beer tents etc. I'd been involved from the outset in various ways including dressing up as the green Man and playing bagpipes. I was approached by someone from the next town who'd been to our fair and wanted to put on something similar ...would I be interested in doing my act there? I arrive in the morning and they've closed of the town's main car park for the fair. At each entrance there is a table with people in high vis vests to stop traffic. The car park is completely empty bar a table at one end where the local cats home are selling a (somewhat poor selection of) bric a brac. It's still early I think to myself as I stand pipes in hand in the middle of an empty car park as the start time approached. I play to an empty car park. Still nobody. I hang around until 1 , still nobody. I give it another hour before finding the organiser. We chat about how disappointing it's been and I ask her what publicity she's done..... "None, I don't believe in it, you can't beat word of mouth!"

Are we nearly there yet?

Thanks, I did experiment with them pointing upwards but for some reason it looked odd at the 12th fret.

They should stand out even more as the wood darkens with age.

Fitting the dot markers turned out to be more tricky than I thought. The course grain of the oak and the tiny aces meant inlaying wasn't an option. In the end I drilled 10 mm holes and set the aces in black filler .Not as crisp as I'd intended but still in character for the instrument. And of course it's now fretted. Fretting in progress: Ready for fret leveling and polishing: The neck so far : Carving and sanding the back of the neck: Carved ,sanded and oiled: Progress so far:

Long long ago...I played bass clarinet and bagpipes in a weird folk band, all unusual instruments, bagpipes , hurdy gurgy, bouzouki etc. We had a gig Hartlepool (we were based in Somerset And Sussex) . The week before our hurdy player had to drop out due to a bereavement in the family. I drafted my brother in(Also playing bouzouki) and sent him a CD to learn our set , he had three days My brother lives in Yorkshire so the idea was to meet at his place the night before and go on to Hartlepool the next day. In stead of running through the set that night we set about demolishing a barrel of my brother's home brew.... We arrive in Hartlepool with raging hangovers under leaden skys and sideways rain. The stage was a artic flat bed done up like a castle in a car park that was more puddle than tarmac. The sound guys told us to weight in a nearby pub and unless the rain stopped we wouldn't be playing. We sat feeling damp and miserable enjoying a hair of the dog confident that at least we wouldn't have to play our unrehearsed set on cold out of tune instruments to an empty car park. Two minutes before the start time the sound man comes in and says "it's stopped raining , you're on!" We trudged out and set up , the sort of instruments we used were tricky enough to keep in tune but straight out of the case into cold damp air wasn't going to help. We started our set...we were rough. There were quite literally two men and a dog watching. They left half way through our first number. We played the remainder of the set to a wet car park.

Many years ago I was playing in a covers band. We had a gig at a caravan park. During the gig someone came up and asked the singer if we could dedicate a song to his father as it was his birthday. The singer duly obliges "this next one is for Joe Bloggs, happy birthday" We launch into the next song on the list. Half way through our rendition of knocking on heaven's door we notice a guy in a wheelchair being pushed up the front wearing a large home made badge with the number 80 on it.