3below

Counterfeit instruments is one issue, are there more vintage Les Pauls (bursts) / 63 strats than the production figures suggest exist? Having been playing since the early 70s I have seen cheap copies cause change for the better. With a bit of care in choosing, the quality of (cheap) copies is now outstanding. Young / impoverished / beginners / experienced musicians can get good kit for next to nothing. The American companies had the market largely to themselves in the late 60s / early 70s, my view is that competition forced them to improve. New designs - yes please.

Bought a pair of DiMarzio ultra jazz pickups from Nick. Excellent communication, really well packed to survive the post and dispatched the next day. An excellent smooth transaction.

Bought a Hipshot string retainer from Dan. All good, excellent communication, posted next day and arrived rapidly. Many thanks.

You know when you have one of those days that you would like to press the reset switch. Due to a stupid blunder on my part (doubly stupid since it is a mistake I made a long time ago on another build). Undecided at the moment whether it is quicker to start again or to 'cut and shut'. Having had time to reflect I think a repair may be possible.

Peavey bass combos, also heads e.g. Centurion, Standard of the early 1980s had a parametric mid.

Sapele (mahogany) body & neck. I purchased some reclaimed snooker table parts several years ago. I should have bought more, it was an utter bargain. The bridge design will be an adaptation of the ideas here : https://liutaiomottola.com/instruments/libellula.htm. I am aiming for a more 'uprighty' bass sound, what will transpire is another thing.

30.5N at sea level.

Just thinking about whether I can do that on my current build whilst using a 'just a nut III' slotted in Fender style. Given that I build with deep fingerboards, probably, possibly, maybe - goes to get measuring kit.

The curved fingerboard at the nut end is very elegant and classy to my way of thinking

Your answer may be here:

Little progress to report, waiting for ebony fretboard(s) to arrive and having a dental extraction 5 days ago I have been less than 100%. Normal progress should be resumed soon.

Trumpet then Sax orchestral stuff in my youth. Result was/is discipline, listen / watch to what is going on outside the music, wait your turn, tune up rapidly (silently on bass), sight reading (when I get it back up to speed), scales and keys, listening to what is going on with the music. Wish I had learned piano/keys and could sing. When asked "do you want to do some vocals?" my reply is "only if you want to finish the band off".

Does all the copper foil make it any good for metal?

An interesting solution, what problem is it solving? The scratch plate (if you envisage having one) construction should be trivial based on progress so far:)

The second bass of this type (I also confess to having built a 3 string version for mrs 3below). Aiming for fretless, 30.75" scale length and hopefully 7lb or thereabouts. Routing done before assembly this time, makes life much easier. Only 3 new mistakes so far, none of which are show stoppers. Chose to rout the preamp recess much more deeply in this version, then decided I did not like it. Sorted by inserting some wood strips and re-routing. I routed the the inner hole after the outer recess, it would have been much easier to do the inner through hole first. Routed a small clearance slot for the preamp cable on the inside at the wrong end. There are now two cable clearance slots. The above shows a rough idea of where this is going. I will use an extension bar at the back to move the strap anchor to a suitable place, not going for the 1lb of lead this time. A year ago I bought some katalox fretboards (harder than ebony and far cheaper). Tried planing this today with the electric hand planer. Not good, it cracks easily and the planer pulls divots out even at 0.25mm depth. Will get the Scheppach planer/thicknesser on it next which will do 0.1mm. Being idle I started to glue the box up without using my dowel jig. I had forgotten the joys of wrangling butt joints and wet titebond.

Built from unobtanium, however I still reckon I can manage it, lol.🏋️‍♂️

I can wear it, 3.5 hr set (which I used to do, seriously..) no problem, man up chaps. Seems a bargain with the band 'yes' included as well.

The look is completed by wearing crocs.

I just need to go and lie down, I am at a loss for words.

Machine head arrangement. I must get out and have a life.

I am surprised at the choice available (I am just out of touch) https://producerhive.com/buyer-guides/bass-guitars/best-12-string-bass-guitars/