Dom in Dorset

I built myself an acoustic fretless with fribre glass body partly inspired by a Godin guitar. There is a sound clip here : [url="http://www.myspace.com/dominicallanbagpipes"]http://www.myspace.com/dominicallanbagpipes[/url] It's the last track on the media player, you have to scroll the tracks down to find it. At that time I was using new , roundwound, cheap strings, since then I've put Picato black nylon flats on (the guy in the video looks like he's using something similar). IMO the black nylons have a less DB like sound , but they are far nicer to play. This bass is now my main instrument. I tend to play nearer the bridge for a more focused tone , but the neck end still has a more DB feel.

This might be useful: [url="http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/bass/equip-entwistlegear.html"]http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/equipment/ba...wistlegear.html[/url]

I've recently realised that "I know what I like" - I'm in the process of designing my next bass, one of the things that I've agonised over is pick ups. I went to a couple of shops and tried out different basses, I kept coming back to passive , twin humbuckers. It does it for me, no batteries , natural but big sound , high output. I'd second the Ibanez SRX 360- not tried one but I've been impressed with all things Ibanez. I tried a Jet King and loved it- nice touch of metal in the tone, retro look. Also tried a Dean with two humbuckers, very nice, it was about £160? The body didn't have much contouring, a big slab of wood , lovely to play, big T bird sound, maybe a bit more edge to it.

I'll throw my 2p worth in with the Epiphone T bird, usualy about £199, huge fat tone and looks that only it's mother could love. Not everyones cup of tea, but most certainly mine.

Socks it is then.

I'm hoping for a twin neck t bird, 4 string fretted/fretless. I can't even find a pic of such as beast so I may have to make do with Keira Knightly again or some socks.

In the CD booklet it does apear to be the P bass that he's using.Many of the pics of Mr Entwistle + P bass that I can find with google appear show him playing with a plectrum. My personal choice would be to build a "Fenderbird" hybrid.

[quote name='Killstarz' post='663679' date='Nov 24 2009, 01:14 PM']I found replacement pickups impossible to find when i had one...that is why i got rid of it. Lovely bass though.[/quote] Is that really an issue? Unless you do some serious damage to the bass, the pick ups will last for ..? (I've never had a pick up die on me in 20 years) It's a £200 bass, by the time anything dies of natural causes the whole thing is likely to be giving up the ghost and you'll have probably moved onto an even more gorgeous bass. Generic soap bar pick ups are available (not easy to find , but they exist)

If you like the look of a T bird then a bit of neck dive is a character trait , not a design flaw. I got back into bass after a long abscence when I found a second hand T bird. The neck was curved big time but tweek of the truss rod and it's superb. The string spacing at the bridge (outside of E string to outside of G) is 55mm, so I doubt that there are many replacement bridges that would fit ( P bass is about 62mm?) This gives an almost paralel feel to the strings on the neck that I like a lot. I prefer a passive two soap bar set up but I'd have an active Tbird pro if you forced me. I like the Epi so much that I'd buy an Epi pro or Gibson without trying it (if I had the money and a good excuse to spend it)

"Stoned to the tangs"- sounds like you were prety wasted. I play a home made acoustic fretless , with lines (black lines on dark brown neck) I would have liked just side dots, no idead what it's like to play such a beast but they do look the part.

What pick up(s) do you have on yoiur fretless , why? What do you wish that you had? Active /passive? I'm thinking of making a fretless , I was wondering what the most popular pick up regimes were.

i've found that throwing in the odd open string is a good way to check your intonation when learning fretless. [b][/b]btw DEREK SMALLS IS GOD!

I'm trying a set of Picato Black Nylon strings on my acoustic fretless. They are a flatwound string with a black nylon coating. The acoustic sound is very quiet, I put them on just before a rehursal last night and didn't have time to hear them through my amp before i went. I was a bit concerned that the tone would be rather wooly. They sound and feel great!, I was also worried that visibility would be a problem ( black strings on rosewood fretless neck) -it's not. I've always avoided flatwounds because I don't like the fel of them, these are "silky" my fingers slide effortlessly with no hint of drag. has anyone else tried them, how do they age?

I had something very similar, natural finish. It was quite loud acousticaly, but very clanky. it was short scale and I found the strings too bendy (whatever type i tried) I spent a lot of time fiddling with the set up and got it quite nice. I got p#ssed of with the E string being quieter than the others. Mine was £120 in a shop, might be worth a punt at £50. A friend of mine turned his into an extra long bouzouki. November 5th is coming soon.

It's been interesting to note that there haven't been any "wow, just get one , no other bridge comes close" responses.

[quote name='Roffa' post='632886' date='Oct 21 2009, 09:57 PM']Actually, I think its a 8-stringer and a 4-stringer [/quote] You're right! Derek Smalls isn't the god that I thought he was. Oh well there's still his 5 string ,6 pickup , exploding earth Lakland.

[quote name='Mikey R' post='632750' date='Oct 21 2009, 08:09 PM']have you considdered the shaller 2000 bridge? Im really happy with mine.[/quote] I'll look at that one too.

Two identcal necks, Derek Smalls is a genious.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='632574' date='Oct 21 2009, 05:11 PM']Here's mine and my cooker: and here's one that includes the kitchen floor: The first pic is a better representation of the actual colour.[/quote] An amplifier with a gas hob, now I've seen everything!

It's an option I'm considering on a new build.

are they worth the extra money? I was thinking of putting one on my next bass.

Stumbled on this while doing vital research on Derek smalls: [url="http://www.lakland.com/the-decade.htm"]http://www.lakland.com/the-decade.htm[/url] I love the look of the body shape , TBirdesque , but not actually that much like a TBird when you look closer. Only in America as far as I can tell, about $2000 mark. about £1200 Dear Father Christmas...

I'm probably being no help at all when say say that it has to be pre-1984 if that pic is from the film. I don't recognise to two guys right at the back so it might not be. He's been playing Lakland for a long time now. Saw Tap at Glastonbury, life has been downhill since then.

That would be great! I intend to do the whole thing with cheap and salvaged bits until I hit on the perfect recipe.

Thanks for all of the advice. it's all part of my master plan to build my "ultimate" bass. I'm going to test various pick up types, positions and combinations as well as body shapes , necks etc. Then build the perfect bass for me. Easy. I like the idea of a humbucker at the bridge that could be split and maybe a p bass pick up at the neck, who knows. I'll see what I like best.