von Braun

Aye, truly some player. I don't think it gets better than "Soul Man" for pure bass drive. Johnny Walker is doing something of a tribute on his Sounds of the Seventies slot at the moment.

For some reason, always thought it was The Damned's "New Rose"....I can remember it being a celebrated event among the cognoscenti at school. But hey, I've just celebrated my 48th birthday and things is getting hazy! :-)

Some band! Did a bit more digging on Keef's bass playing career, looks as if he did a fair bit of Exile on Main Street, probably because it was recorded in the basement of his chateau and he couldn't be a*sed waiting for Wyman to arrive!

Just read that Adam Clayton bit in work and burst out laughing....getting some serious glares now. Time to hit the road I think. Just finished reading a John Lennon biography, apparantly after the Beatles split up, Keith Richard stood in on bass for him with Clapton on lead for some televised gig he'd contracted to do. Mind you, I'd heard that Keef (allegedly) re-recorded a lot of Wyman's parts anyway.......so not really news that

Cheers again. I'll have a google for suitable veneers tonight. I'm thinking of getting the de-fretting done by someone who knows their stuff better than I do but the old wood-working skills are just about up to the re-finish job. Any thoughts on strings? I'm thinking some sort of groundwounds or nylonwounds would be in order, failing that I've got a decent set of La Bella flat mediums around somewhere, with some decent life left in 'em.

Thanks chaps, plenty of food for thought. I got the idea watching some Scottish - American folk thing on BBC4, one of the bassists was using what looked like a Godin (or something similiar) fretless electro-acoustic. Interesting sound, not quite stand up bass but with the something of that quality about, very woody with an element of er, slappiness about it. Be interesting to know how he had it tuned. The Dean is a full 34" scale so I've got a bit to play with on that front, although it'll only take a medium guage set of strings at most. Might see if Vince Hockey is still trading down in Southampton. Might be a job for a luthier after all.

Gents, I have an urge to convert my Dean electro-acoustic to a lined fretless. Has anyone ever attempted anything similiar? Since it's virtually the size of a stand-up bass, I'd thought I'd try and make it sound like one :-) I can foresee a few potential problem areas: 1. De-fretting - can this put any strain on the neck? 2. Intonation - there is no height or string length adjustment as it's a fixed bridge. 3. Conversion of the fretboard once de-fretted - I understand there are some good epoxy resins around, does anyone have any recommendations? Any advice will be much appreciated. Cheers VB

Good call. Thanks.

Giving my Epiphone Flying V a makeover at the moment and just a set of black Wilko mini Gotoh style tuners on - £24 plus postage. Really solid and surprisingly well made. As a straight swap for the originals, the only problem was the single fixing screw is in a different place on the Wilkinson tuners, so 4 small but unsightly holes on the back of the headstock. A small thing that a little wood filler and some black gloss/lacquer will fix.

Thanks for that. Just had a look at the website. I'm going to buy a Flying V template and some black-white-black 3-ply and have a go myself. What could possibly go wrong?

Bit of a longshot but does anyone know of anywhere where I can pick up a black pickguard for an Epiphone Korina Flying V......failing that a good custom 'guard maker. Much thanks vB

This is quite pointy. Lots of fun but I'm thinking it could do with a black 'plate, to complete the stealth look. Anyone know where such an item could be found?

I'm currently working on my winter project; fixing up a slightly battered Matsumoko Westone Thunder 1A. Bridge and tuners are taken care of but I'd like to drop in a replacement (hotter) PUP, probably a SD Quarter Pounder. Bearing in mind this is the active model, can I do a straight swap or do I need to take the cut switches etc. into account. Be handy to know if I need to dig out the trusty multi-meter or not! If anyone has a good internet link I can follow, I'd be most grateful. Thanks all. v. Braun