Dom in Dorset

Many years ago i made an ultra rough thing that was a primitive version of that. I also used half P bass pick up. i used to play it with a bow and put it through a distortion! It sounded evil.

At one time (C19 and earlier) most woodwind instruments were made right or left handed (most were still RH), todays mass production makes this commercially unviable. I do know someone who made a left handed modern clarinet. Also it's now acceptable to be left handed, at one time it just wasn't allowed.

I occasionally work in a shop and if anyone asks for a left handed guitar or bass we always ask if they have tried right handed first. many leftys assume that they just wont be able to play a standard bass. If you can play right handed you have a greater choice. some left handed players can and some can't play right handed. I have a friend who is left handed , he plays classical guitar right handed , that's how he was taught at school. Later in life he took up bouzouki, he says that his left hand has a better sense of rythm and as he primarily strums the bouzouki he plays bouzouki with a pic left handed. Left handedness isn't clear cut , one of my daughters writes left handed, my mother (also a lefty) bought her some left handed scissors and she couldn't use them! It's just a matter of choice, I would always recommend trying a right hand bass first (our shop gives a good trade in if you don't get on with it). as I point out to new players , we have over 100 guitars and basses in stock , 10-15 are left handed ( and we stock more LH stuff than most and don't charge extra if possible.)

I've done two de-frets, the first one I used super glue and african blackwood dust (it's the stuff they make clarinets from). The second one I used scraps of veneer plundered from a scrap piano. The results are far neater and it didn't take much longer ,I glued the veneer in with wood glue and left it overnigh, the finishing took far less time than the wood dust. There are pictures in build diaries (twin neck project)

Probably something by Hawkwind Thin Lizzy's Dancing in the moonlight is a good one because it's prety much the same all the way through.

PM me with your address , I'll put a couple in the post on Friday. I'll be seeing a piano tech on thursday afternoon.

A black key off a dead piano would do as a blank, they are ebony and not far off the required size.I can send you one if you fancy the diy route

Remember that when you play live the stage lighting may not be as good as in rehearsal. Trying playing your set in poor light conditions to make sure that you can play without looking.

I did wear a mask but the fumes are so acrid that it made little difference. If I did it again I'd wear my gass mask , do it outside, use my workshop vacuum cleaner as an extractor.

Why not just make a new boby rather than filling and re-routing the old one? Also you may not like what you find under the laquer, starting from scratch is a bit more work , but you sound confident with a router.

I've done a bit more: I've de-fretted one of the necks and put on a super glue coating. I put on four layers , cut it back and polished it with T cut. I'm going to base the body on a jazz bass, this is an idea of what I'm planning: Next step is to make a dummy body to experiment with control positions , neck spacing, strapping points etc

A lot of tuners don't like E strings, it's too low for them. I tend to tune the E by the harmonic at the 12t fret.

I've got one of these, it's one of my regular gigging basses, I love it: [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/ibanez-aeb8e-electro-acoustic-bass-guitar--35479"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/ibanez-aeb8e-...s-guitar--35479[/url]

It varies a bit from bass to bass but, I do string height at the nut first. Then look down the neck if there is too much or too little relief adjust the truss rod. Lastly the bridge, you can file it down, but you can't put it back! Be prepared to take it on and off 10-15 or more times, also be aware that you need to keep the bottom of the saddle ivory flat to make a good contact with the pizzo strip. Some saddles have "teeth" in the bottom to meat up with the crystals in the pick up, only file the top of the saddle.

[quote name='yorick' post='768840' date='Mar 9 2010, 08:35 AM']I used to work in the mother of all music shops, Musical Exchanges. Aaaahhh, all the second equipment Luckily, i never worked saturdays, so never got the animals or weekend warriors in the shop.[/quote] I saw Dave Hill from Slade in there once!

I have worked in a music shop on and off for about ten years. Mostly repairs, I'm actually a qualified woodwind and brass tech and took a part time job with a Frome shop during a slack period for my own (instrument making) business. The shop is now in Westbury and I'm now down to one afternoon a week, more out of loyalty than need. Most of the stock is aimed at begginers, there is the occasional second hand thing that takes my fancy.

Hi Jules! where abouts are you?

If you have to ask, you'll never know.

I'm one of the six (YES SIX!!!) who voted for Shepton Mallet. At the end of the day it's the guy who gets off his @ss and organises it that chooses the location. So go on ....choose!!! (Shepton Mallet)

Do we have a date yet?

oddly enough I keep my bass in a secret launch pad under my swimming pool.

I went for the Ibanez because it was the cheapest big brand bass that I could afford. I wasn't dissapointed , all the basics are bang on. I had a cheap no name bass and it had a clunky tone , the E string played at a lower volume than the other strings and it didn't hold it's tuning well. The Ibanez has none of these problems, sounds amazing plugged in. For unplugged I can recomend Echo and I tried Fender about 15 years ago that was head and shoulders above anything else at the time.

I'm probably the last person in the universe to know about this but there is a facebook group for Thunderbird bass lovers! You're either thinking "booooring!" or " wow! now I can belong to something!" [url="http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=49340842357"]http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=49340842357[/url]

I'm almost a specialist acoustic bass player, just because that's what I get asked to play. I've got the same Ibanez as you, not that loud unplugged but the amplified sound is wonderful. Even plugged in the acoustic bass is a different sounding beast, warm and full. One of the bands I play in I use my home made acoustic fretless and a fretted bass about 50/50. For a while I did use my solid body but I've gone back to the Ibanez for the sound. The acoustic pizzo pick up sound blends so well with other acoustic instruments. Having said that I'm planning on going over to a solid body twin neck to cut out the change over between songs, who knows what I may favour in a years time.

Cheap acoustic basses can be a tad clunky and suffer from uneven tone/output (IMO) . I got an Ibanez for £160 new on special offer about a year ago. It's the cheapest one they do but all the basics are right. This is the one [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/ibanez-aeb8e-electro-acoustic-bass-guitar--35479"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/ibanez-aeb8e-...s-guitar--35479[/url] Go for a trusted brand name. As for six string acoustics , the guy from Jethro Tull has one (David Goodier) No idea what it is.