Joe Nation

Make it a lefty, then you can use B which is clearly the better side. That know might make drilling the neck screw holes tricky, hopefully you have a pillar drill and a fresh bit.

The Why

His advice is to buy something dirt cheap and a bit broken, then fix it up. That way you won't ruin your prized and valuable antique instrument. Head to car boot sale or charity shop and find a battered acoustic and build some confidence with it!

Washin' And Wonderin' - Stroke 9

It's definitely a neck-off job. Depending on the design it's sometimes easier to convert to bolt-on and add a shim, or you can reset the angle and glue it back on. Check out twoodfrd on Youtube, he has a bunch of great videos about neck resets and the geometry involved (he's more fly-on-the-wall than how-to, so you have the just watch a bunch to figure stuff out, but he's brilliant).

There are loads of wiring diagrams on Schaller's Megaswitch website. It's a bit awkward to navigait, but once you're figured out what set-up you're after it should make sense.

The carpet should always match the drapes.

CHVRCHES. Oh, wait...

Why one earth would they want a used component back when you buy a new one? I know they're pretty sharp on protecting their copyrights, but that's going a bit far isn't it? Have a look at a cerakote finish. Apparently this will go straight onto chrome and it's tough as balls. Not sure how much it'd cost though, you'll need to find someone to send it to.

Nine Inch Bails - renowned maker of novelty oversized cricket equipment.

Is the nut further out than it used to be? If it suddenly appeared after years of being hidden, then it may well be a broken rod. Or the nut has stripped off the rod. Technically they are replaceable, but remember Leo's original idea was just to bin the neck and get a new one if it needed any major work. You can either drill a hole at the heel and push them out, or take the fingerboard off. Neither is a good option.

You can do it perfectly well with a hand drill, just get (or make) a drilling guide so the holes go in square to the face. Use some sharpie or tape around the bit as a depth gauge so you don't go too far. As far as making necks goes, just try it! As long as you're starting off with a cheaper piece of wood and are prepared to risk it turning into scrap, what have you got to lose? You don't need a bunch of expensive jigs, just lay it out carefully and take your time. The first one might be a bit wonky or maybe even unplayable, but you'll learn a lot and the next one will be better. Remember, if you wanted the best possible bass you'd buy something, but you actually want the best bass you can make!

Could the magnet have affected the active circuitry?

I have watched a bunch of his youtube vids, but I decided to put my money on the TalkingBass course instead (just felt a bit more polished and complete to me). I think Josh gets a lot of good press around here, so certainly not a bad choice. My tip would be this (which ever course you go for): set aside a dedicated timeslot in your diary to work on the course - I'm a terrible planner so haven't done a lesson in a couple of weeks now and I feel like I'm forgetting it all already.

I've had a re-think about the shape and I'm going to go with a more faithful recreation of the St V after all. The Explorer version looked alright in smaller sketches, but at full size it just didn't look right at all.

Weeder. Weezed. Weeper. Weeber. Weezel.

Cardiac Arrest - Madness

Spiral Tap (for cutting threads).

He ruined his name all on his own.

For a one-off job, cutting by hand with a scroll saw is probably best (easiest/cheapest/safest). Get as close to the line as you can with the saw, then file the edges smoother if needed and use a razor to scrape down to the final shape and to do the bevel. A router works well (template bit for the outline and a chamfering bit for the chamfer, obvs), but only if you have a template to work from. 12mm MDF at a minimum, 20mm or more is better as it's stiffer and gives a more solid footing for the router base. For a one-off this is more work than just doing the plate by hand, but even if you only need two the same it makes more sense (so they'll be exactly the same shape).

Reading through this thread gives me the impression that most people don't get into bands with people they are actually friends with, more like people who are conventiantly situated and want to play similar music. Perhaps it's out of necessity, if you don't have any musical friends. But personally, I'd much rather be hanging out with people I like making music I don't like, than the other way around.

Finally made a start on building my second bass, about 25 years after starting (but never finishing) my first. I've decided to buy a neck for this one to save time, money and effort. But I am aiming to make a neck next time... This is going to be a replica/reimagining of the Musicman St Vincent guitar - there were rumours they were going to make a Pino-backed bass a few years ago but it never came to be. I've only seen two other homemade ones, both look very nice but I'm going to try and go one better. Firstly it'll be a 5er, partly because I've always wanted one and also I got a deal on some Fishman Fluence 5 string pickups. The neck I found (£70 on Reverb) has a reasonably good MM-shaped headstock so the overall look should be fairly authentic. The body shape may however be slightly different, as I don't happen to have a genuine St V lying around to copy. I've looked around online at all the plans and photos I can find, and I think it'll be somewhat closer to a modified/truncated Explorer, rather than a straight copy of a St V - no particular reason for this, it just felt like a nice shape to me (I wonder if that might be where they started with the original St V design process anyway). It's still all on paper anyway so who knows? I'm also going to do front and back binding, partly thanks to Basvarken and his beautiful Explorers. Colour will be a deep metallic; I'm undecided between red, blue, green and purple but red is currently in the lead. After watching a bunch of Matt Estlea's videos about sharpening and setting up a plane, I've started smoothing the top and back of the ash body. Feels good to actually move some wood around - I recently redid our front hall with some lovely herringbone T&G, the woodworking genes kicked in hard. Next step is to finalise the body shape and geometry - any tips for establishing neck angle? (saddle height is 12-17mm over the body according to Schaller, bridge is a 3D-5). I've also got a bunch of other things to work out and research, like doing the binding. Everyone says to use acetone for gluing, leave it a hair's width proud of the wood and scrape it back, and do the finish after the binding is on. But should you scrape it flush then do the finish, or finish then scrape? And clear lacquer over the binding or leave it plain? I'm also going to paint the headstock to match the body, should I bind it too? Progress will be slow so don't expect weekly updates! If I've got the body routed out by New Year's I'll be happy.

Yet another stunner. I've decided my new project is going to have a bound body thanks to you!

You made the right choice, although the gold looks pretty cool too.

See also champ, colcannon, bubble and squeak, and about a hundred other things probably - mostly from cold/wet/inhospitable places no doubt.