3below

Later thought - lessons in our part of the world, no idea, self taught electric bass player 40 years, DB player (beginner) 17 years. Someone on the forum suggested this [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rufus-Reid-Evolving-Bassist-DVD-Reid/dp/B0000X02OQ"]Rufus Reid - the evolving bass player[/url] . I found it is a really good buy, I had been doing it wrong for many years, it has improved my physical technique beyond belief (sounds like an email scam).

The plywood base (9mm?) could have some angled wood wedges glued/screwed on to support the PB pickups at the correct angle. Cable tie and ply base idea came about because I do not want to put screw holes in my pristine ebony fingerboard. (if you want a possible diagram, pm me) If you had an electric bass, guitar, mandolin etc I would highly recommend Tony Revell, Montgomery, in Mid Wales. If anyone can suggest / recommend a luthier for DB setups in Mid / West Wales or West Mids I would like to know.

[quote name='oldslapper' post='1297555' date='Jul 8 2011, 07:26 PM']Not sure about that, others here may know. I think one of the advantages is that you can angle the pups to follow the curve of the board....roughly.[/quote] Absolutely correct. Make up a rectangular plywood board, same width as fingerboard and about 6" long. Screw PB pickup on one end. Cable tie to fingerboard with two ties - non damaging attachment. Adjust PB pickup heights, solder jack socket somewhere and enjoy. Cheap bar magnet types (so no pole alignment problems) are available on the bay. Alternatively wait until a Schaller appears here. Many thanks to oldslapper for mine

Both routers and chisels are nice. Try out what you want to do on scrap wood of the same type as body (guitar) with both methods. Try several times. Then make your decision and go for it. Practice four times, measure twice, cut once (in an ideal world). Router is a great tool but I am so very aware of the damage one can do, think clamps, bit snatching and SAFETY at all times.

And of course [url="http://www.weber-amps.de/en/index.html"]Mywatt[/url] [url="http://www.reevesamps.com/"]Reeves[/url] But why buy new, there are still good deals out there, just wait long enough, search hard enough. My greatest regeret, Hiwatt 100, Hiwatt 200, Marshall Plexi, all sold at silly (cheap) money in my youth (70s,80s) because they were widely available and you could not give them away at the time. Hindsight - the most exact and useless science.

Find a good woodwork shop, ask them to cut the 'cutlist' parts. Get glue, clamps etc and get sticking. If not confident ask woodshop to glue cabinet, chamfer sides etc. Blue Aran - 3015LF, 18 sound 6", T nuts etc. and Tuffcab. Speakerhardware.com for crossover, either loose components (if good with soldering iron) or pre made - easier than sourcing in UK. Paint cab with Tuffcab - I used a sponge pad, looks just like tolex, easy to do. Seal edges of plywood with PVA first, otherwise you get sinkage Get metal grille made, fit all parts, staple polyester wadding inside and way to go. You will be impressed with tone and power handling. make sure you have sufficient Watts available. Total cost £375 to £475 there is a Barefaced Big One on the forum at the moment (or there was yesterday) - might be worth looking at, it is essentially the same thing.

Looking at the DIY can capacitor, I wonder if you could fit them inside 35mm plastic piping. If so you could glue a pipe end cap on and have a low cost tidy can capacitor. Might work, might not.

Keep the details coming, I need to do some work on my (unmolested, bedroom condition, bargain of a lifetime,) SC 120. Will be interested to see how the noise level pan out, mine is noisy when not playing. Tip 1: get a temp controlled soldering iron and damp sponge pad Tip 2: Solder suckers are good, de-solder braid is also excellent for final clean up of tricky parts Tip 3: Flux paste of the correct type

Pricing / costs are going to be a serious factor, particularly in these times I thought about building a fEARful, however was able to purchase a used Barefaced Big One for less than parts cost. When I started to build BFM Omni 15 a rather nice example came up on BC for less than parts cost. Look long and hard at which models you offer and make sure you can make a profit. Business is tough at the moment as my other half ois noticing. Alex has succeeded, so can you. Good luck if you go ahead.

Hard case every time, unless it is a £30 type bass (yes I am increasingly enjoying the Peavey Milestone Jazz clone). Having seen a car go over a Les Paul in a puny case it is a no brainer.

[quote name='daz' post='1264138' date='Jun 10 2011, 04:56 PM']answering my own question. this site may be of interest (i've not looked yet. but its the cab designers site) [url="http://greenboy.us/fEARful/"]http://greenboy.us/fEARful/[/url][/quote] You got there before me, it has all the essentials. There is also a [url="http://greenboy.us/forum/"]forum[/url] and at present it has a vastly better signal:noise ratio than the other talking bass site. I can not rate my Barefaced Big One highly enough - the best cabinet I have had in 37 years of bass playing. Great sound, loud, light and small (relatively). From what I read the fEARful 15/6 etc. have the same broad design goals, I look forward to finishing and trying my fEARful (stacked with Barefaced = fill venue with bass).

[quote name='solo4652' post='1263408' date='Jun 9 2011, 10:53 PM']*Convulses with laughter* Build your own?!! For me, DIY = Destroy It Yourself.[/quote] Unlucky or A lucky break? Plan B, find a good woodworking type, give plans,exchange cash - still way cheaper than purchasing. YMMV. Like the definition of DIY, will have to get this one in circulation at work

Not that I am a great bass player but having had one I now find I can get a near enough Ric sound with my G&L. The G&L also does other stuff. It is also better built, has not started to fall apart and suffer vast amounts of paint sinkage unlike the 79 (approx) Ric I had from 1980 to 1990 or so. When they have : A better bridge for comfort and adjustment A better bridge pickup surround for comfort I might consider another one. It played very well, stayed in tune impeccably, and I really liked the tone. I just keep listening to Deep Purple, showing my age. Why do players leave them? like bicycles, guitars and amps you can not have enough.

Barefaced Big One does all my stuff, and it's lightweight. Alternatively build your own 15/6 fEARful - plans etc on the web. The Big One does like a lot of Watts if you want a lot of volume (filling hall with 900+ people - loudly).

The easy non destructive method - Jazz bass pickup - fits in soundhole easily. I made some clips up from coat-hanger wire and put felt on the top surface to prevent scratches. I just wired this to a 1/4 " jack plug, no vol / tone. You could always construct a vol & tone circuit in a metal box - just use Jazz bass tone control circuit if needed. A more deluxe feedback resistant method would be construct a wooden oval to fill sound hole (or cover it over), then fit pickup. to wooden oval. Wooden screw down/up 'tabs' to hold in place. I think I put some foam sponge in mine when I used it amped at volume. Great tone, I really like playing it. The big neck is remarkably comfortable even with my small hands.

Would love to help but 3 ~ 4 hours each way to rehearsal might be a bit much. Hope bass player arrives soon.

Used my Barefaced Big One with VBA 400. The VBA has a lot of bass, so much so that even with bass tone on amp set to 0 it was too bassy. VBA had immense volume, far more than my Peavey Tour 700 with same cab. Big One with Peavey Tour 700 gave me better tone. With the right cab the VBA will be awesome. Hope your back is in good condition

I think the voting system is unfair, I want an alternative vote rather than first past the post. Minority basses are being discriminated against - even if 2 is clearly a winner. Pickups should be blacker than a black hole and absorb light. My Kramer's cream pu covers are just an anomaly of nature.

Remembering a woodwork lesson - showing my age here - before design technology resistant materials - you will also need to use brass screws to anchor anything. Oak releases tannic acid which causes blue / black stains when it reacts with steel. My house has 300+ year old oak beams, they are hard as iron. Later pickup routes and alterations might be difficult. Oak also develops shakes, splits and is dense. However it does have nice grain and takes very pretty stains and colours. Finishing is easy, wax, wax, wax.

Watts

On the other hand (or same if you are right handed) even with small hands I just love big chunky bass and guitar necks. As ever YMMV, try and then try again for some prolonged playing time.

Practise - is that the new name for sound check?