Random Guitarist

I'd respectfully disagree. I've never had an aftermarket neck that didn't benefit from at least some fret dressing. You might get one that is good enough out of the box, but you might not, and I seriously doubt you'll get one that's so excellent it can't be improved. On the bright side, you can put it all together and decide how much you like the feel and the sound before committing to the nth degree. I bought a Strat neck from Northwest earlier this year. It is absolutely excellent quality, and built up into a really good instrument. The neck was playable as delivered, but the frets were not perfectly even and had a couple of minor sharp edges. I found myself being so happy with the overall sound and quality of the instrument that I got a local luthier to do the frets and file the nut slot for me. I just didn't want to mess this one up, because the rest of the instrument, including the neck the frets attach to, was so good. I have a fender Ultra as well, it's a good guitar but in the burning building scenario I will rescue the partscaster first. Northwest necks in my experience are good.

Budgets do that You could save a little by using the rubber washer strap locks instead of the Schallers. I have used the Schallers on everything for years and finally tried the rubber washers recently. They have been a revelation, cheap/secure and fit any guitar/bass, no faffing with the buttons or straps. They are not as ultimately locky as the Schallers but still pretty darned good and much more pleasant on the instrument. I will never buy strap Schaller strap locks again.

I applied it during the warmer months, using very thin coats that dried very fast. Then buffed it after about half an hour and hung it up out of the way. I think applying any thickness of this stuff would be a disaster.

I'm quite surprised by that, I have done an ash bass and a couple of guitars with that lacquer and been happy with all three. Admittedly I have low standards

Go for it, it's a world of fun. As far as second hand parts go one thing you are likely to hit is that the existing screw holes in your body and neck don't align. You can drill a bigger hole in the neck and plug or you can drill holes and pit in threaded inserts. I joined a fretless s/h neck to a Squier body a few years ago and went down the threaded insert route..

Just to follow up on this little beauty/eyesore . . . It's now my number 1 bass. It's light and easy play, the tone is not massively versatile, but I like the tone it has. The flat fingerboard has turned out to be very comfortable. The deep flat back profile is comfortable in the hand. I have had a lot of positive comments going out and playing it. The only downside is that I can't strip it down and put a finish on it, I need it available to play The obvious answer is to build another . . . Mrs Random will not be pleased.

From my limited experience of cutting it open wood changes with age, I have some old 50 year mahogany that I saved from a staircase. When I chisel or saw it it has a lighter drier characteristic then any new pieces. I believe that the rate of change slows down so there is more changes in the first ten years of the fifty then the last ten years. To that end I have a few blanks stashed in dry places around the house that have been sitting a while. How mush real tonal difference it makes I'm not sure, but the wood itself does seem different.

For use as a body or neck? Body would be fine, neck I'd be cautious unless it's going to be chunky. (Or put in carbon reinforcement?)

GAK in brighton lists the MMT5TW as avaialble to order, might be your best bet

It's beautiful, the colour is really not my taste but it is very nicely done.

Played at a local acoustic showcase. This was our first set played as a new band. We were OK, but the audience was mainly family. We hung around for a couple of other acts after playing and then left, taking the bulk of the audience with us. Was a good gentle way to get started.

Seeing the packet of zap zpoxy reminds me of building model airplanes. It was common (and probably still is) used to use that epoxy in combination with a very light woven glass cloth. By applying top layer of epoxy and micro balloons it was possible to get a superlight but very smooth and tough finish. (I wonder if that would be any good for a bass?)

This makes me feel so lazy. I did a Tele' with a paulownia body earlier in the year. I rubbed it down a bit, stained it blue, put two coats of wipe on lacquer on it, and declared it to be a 'self-relicing' model. Your dedication and industry is making me feel so guilty.

Liking this a lot, that ambrosia is beautiful.

I used proper washing up gloves, and accepted that one set of fingers would end up fused together with brushes and cloths. With the marigolds I was confident the glue would stay on the outside of the glove.

I'll be very interested to see how you apply the finish, the one time I tried doing something with a lot of superglue the brush I used went solid very quickly. I made up a spreading pad with cloth, but that didn't work terribly well either. (I did mmy application outdoors with a respirator)

Thanks, that's an interesting comparison, I hadn't seen these basses before. I must admit (a little egotistically) that I prefer mine. I wired it fully at the weekend and couldn't be happier with the outcome. I have D'Addario XL Chromes on there and the combination of strings & pickup produce a big punchy tone that I really love. The blend wiring for the second coil is pretty nice as well , although it seems like all the tonal change is at one end of the control. Balance on a strap is good and it's very comfortable to play. I prefer to play standing or sitting with the strap in place, so the lack of knee balance doesn't bother me, I still have a pretty thick neck shape and a flat fingerboard at the moment. I thought I could experiment to see what I like and then shave it down. So far I'm finding a flat board very comfortable but I think will try radiusing it at some point. The Richlite makes for a very good feeling fingerboard. For an all in cost of £175 I'm very happy, I made a list of over ten mistakes I can learn from. My next steps are to refine neck and fingerboard profiles, apply a finish, and work out a refined design for the next one. Building the next one may be a while away though

Really sorry to hear of this. Glad you and everyone else got out with relatively minor physical injuries.

Right now I have not wired controls, just a jack socket. The Wilkinson pickup sounds really good, plenty of bass with really good definition as well. For some reason Amazon decided to offer me it at half price, bargain of the year so far, but would be worth the full price for sure. The bridge is an overlord of music one, mine is decently machined and lightly painted. Despite some of the negative comments it seems pretty good to me for the cost. Lubricating the threads with a decent grease is essential to be able to tune with your fingers.

It lives!. Lots of learnings and mistakes, but it plays and sounds good.

After a range of wood bashing activities I am making some progress. The neck is almost to it's final shape and the wings are cut, although the top one will be cut a little shorter. I have assembled the core with bridge etc and briefly put strings on it, no problems with strength or alignment appeared. I am actually very happy with the shape that is emerging, probably proof that beauty is in the eye of the beholder! To be honest I have made some silly mistakes on this build. So far none are critical, but if I decide I like the end result I will almost certainly built another with better timbers. The Rose Gum (or red Grandis) is OK for prototyping. The grain is straight and it cuts well, but it tends to break out strands more easily than conventional timber. (I have not built many guitars yet, but I have some woodworking experience)

Happy H2 user here. The four mic mode is great for rehearsals in the round. My H2 pretty old so I don't know what the software is like these days, but mine records two stereo tracks, one each for front and back. I import the tracks into Cubase with the split option so I get a 4 track recording that I can edit/adjust. The out-takes can provide excellent blackmail material as well!

That's a great question, and I don't know. I think it will be strong enough for 'normal' use, especially if I make it reasonably deep. It won't survive being thrown out a window or down the stairs. I intend to get this prototype built and then I will shorten the horn to whatever minimum length allows it to balance well on the strap.

Ich würde Splitter bekommen

Thanks, I read that before gluing, and approached the glue up with all due trepidation. I used a fresh tube of the recommended epoxy, and just placed a few weights on the board as it dried, no clamps for excessive squeeze out. I sized the finger board before gluing to the neck blank. Once dried the fingerboard was my router guide for the neck. I also superglued some small wood pieces in place before gluing to hold the finger board in the correct location. This weekend I hope to fit the string retainer and bridge so I can get junk string on to check out the bassic (sic) alignment. Once that's done I need to cut and attach the wings, finish fingerboard and neck shape, final sand and finish. Nothing to it. TBH I am a little worried about the wood I am using shrinking. I'm doing this one the best I can but am regarding it as a prototype build for the 'good' one.