Dom in Dorset

I played in a folk rock band and we had a gig on a small stage at Glastonbury. That gig went well but... I can remember how but the week before the festival we were asked if we could serve as backing band for a visiting Australian aboriginal actor/musician Tom E Lewis for his gig on the Glade stage (a much bigger one than we were originally booked for) . We agreed band were able to arrange one rehearsal with him. He was an absolute gent but a bit vague about how some of his songs went. I swear he never played them the same twice. The problems started when in addition to our band a couple of other musicians were added (no idea why or by who) sax and keys I think. The rehearsal went ...ok ish and our guitarist spent a bit of time with him writing out the chords . Not feeling overconfident but hoping we'll get away with it. After all some of us have played together for years. When the gig happens even more musicians Turn up ..trombone, percussion, mandolin old uncle Tom Cobbley and all none of whom had attended the one ropey rehearsal. Thankfully a sizeable chunk of the gig was lost to the prolonged soundcheck, so long in fact that we had to start before the drums and myself had even done a line check. The descent sized crowd at the start of the gig drifted off as chord progressions went out of the window and we descended into a free form jazz exploration. The resulting gig was a train wreck saved only by the didgeridoo solo at the end. Tom was a lovely guy and it was a privilege to meet him, we were all saddened by his death the following year. I smile when I think about it now but at the time I wanted the stage to swallow me up.

I've used oak for necks and fretboard, a bit unforgiving to work with and very variable in density but worth it. Fretboards in oak look great and the oak necks I've made seem to be solid and stable with a good feel. The resulting instruments have no loss of brightness or sustain. I suspect that the course grain and variable density is why it's not more common. My current build features an oak fretboard.

I've been a bit distracted by this Back onto the bass next week, the ear studs have arrived so no excuses. ♠️

Boil your strings but don't use the water to make tea afterwards.

Depends where your piercing is.

They are stud earrings, five pairs should do it. It's going to be tricky to inlay them but I'm feeling confident 😕

Last of the routing on the bass and I've picked out the remaining white fillers from the worm holes. After a final sanding and oiling... The headstock is now shaped and the fretboard trimmed.. I can't fret it until I've fitted the dot markers that should look something like this...

I prefer it with the pickguard, it took me a few seconds to work out what it was even though it looks so familiar, a true hybrid. Without the pickguard it's just a Ric with a Tele control plate. (IMO)

Fag burn? Player stuffed his lit cigarette into the machine head only to find that the next song was a 10 minute prog rock anthem with no break long enough to remove it.

It's for me but tell your friend to get in touch via my website wwwscavengermusic.co.uk or via my Facebook page. I have lots of interesting timber waiting for the chance to become a bass.

Interesting colour but the style isn't what I'm looking for. I was debating the choice between chrome and gold , whatever I go for will also have to match other things I plan to add to it. I have customer's guitar to finish first so no decision needed just yet.

I had a spare moment this afternoon and couldn't resist rubbing some oil into my body. It will darken further in the coming weeks. Next I need to decide what hardware to go for.

Bending the binding... Bent binding by the body... Bent binding bound to the body during bent binding to body bonding.... binding on bfret board..

More progress... I'm giving the fretboard and body bound edges. The fretboard already had the rebate for this. The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that (due to a template mix up) I trimmed the fretboard too close to the 21st fret slot. On any other bass that would send it to the scrap box but in this case it adds to the character. I've added a new but of oak to remedy the situation. It shouldn't be too obvious on the completed bass , but if it is ...so what? I've sanded the front of the body, I'll oil and wax it after the binding has been installed. The worm holes are looking great!

I managed to spend Lemmy's birthday putting in a few hours on this. I've routed out the spine to accept the pickup . They are still making Entwistle pbxn and I have one waiting to go in Bellow: cutting the f hole. The f hole cut, cleaned up and slightly out of focus. Pickup hole cut and ready for glueing. This bass will have a Lemmy tribute built in but more on that after Christmas. Have a good one , see you on the other side.

Playing country music so playing half as many notes.

The first word to come into my mind upon seeing that was" abomination"

And in a few months you'll have bit left over from this build and think "ooh I could use that to make ...." As long as there are leftovers there will be more basses.

The body top is now trimmed, couldn't resist a sneak preview. Close up of a sample of oiled and waxed orange box to get some idea of the eventual finish.

I've done some trimming on the neck: Picked out the bits if orange box for the top The back of the body is made from a piano panel that had oak under the veneer, I've kept some veneer (two layers in all ) to reinforce the orange box where there are cavities in the body. Veneer reinforcement in situ on the back of the orange box.

I did the last of the glueing this morning and couldn't resist doing a bit of routing before I clocked off. I've decided on sapele for the neck, this bit looks suitably grainy. Worm eaten oak fretboard slotted and ready for glueing. I did remember to put the truss rod in first. All clamps on deck:

A bit if progress this morning... I've picked out the wood that will form the sides of the body. It's part of a garden bench, no idea what species it is but I like the wavey grain, hopefully this will be visible in the finished item. I'm assembling the pieces on the oak board that forms the back. I've already glued the spine in place , it's also part if the bench. Adding the side pieces: I'll trim the outside edge once all of the side bits are glued in place. I'm using bamboo skewers to help keep things in place during the glueing and clamping phase. I don't have enough clamps to do it all in one go so the other side will be glued tomorrow.

It would be interesting to know his previous playing history. Almost sounds like he's a classic bedroom guitarist, can wiggle his fingers but has no idea about playing with other musicians.

If you are a good enough player to cope with your guitarist's "feel" then you shouldn't have too much trouble finding another band.