Delberthot

I've never played an Alembic or a Zon so can't comment on those but apart from that the best brand for me is Warmoth. So many choices. i was able to get everything I wanted. My choice of woods, components etc. Made in the USA and all for second hand MIA Fender money. When i get the cash together I would really like another Spector Euro 4. I owned one briefly but had a faulty truss rod and couldn't get another like it and ended up getting something else. I do remember that it was insanely good but that may be the rose tinted specs.

Damnit. Exactly what I want to try- where's money when you need it?

That one's been on there before. It looks very clean except for the bridge which does look old. The older ones had compressed fibre saddles which this one looks to have. He says that it has been looked after but basses at that time would've had bakelite scratchplates which all disintegrated after a while. I would have to say that this also looks like a refin with the original screw holes for the bridge cover filled prior to this. There may be variations but normally the ones I have seen have the string retainer a lot closer to the F of the Fender logo. I'm not trying to say that this is not original but for the kind of money this would be worth if original, I would be going into a lot more detail about the bass or trying to find someone who could tell me more about it as most people, even non-musicians, know that old Fenders are worth a fortune. Much as I hate to see it done, the best way to accurately date this bass would be to see the date on the heel of the neck and any other markings. The stackpole pots didn't come stamped with dates until late 1958 so we can't date it from those. The scratchplate doesn't have any holes for the tugbar. I'm pretty sure that a 1953 would still have only 1 screw hole for the wooden rest. I'm also pretty sure that the string ferrules on the back sat proud of the body and the later reissues from the late 60s such as the Telecaster had flush fitted ones. Yes, I do need to get out more

When I was just a nipper I put a bit of foam under the strings in front of the bridge cos I'd seen John Deacon do that on an old concert video. Didn't like it though. A few years ago I had a fretless stingray and the original mutes had disintegrated so I bought a Rickenbacker one and cut it into the pieces needed. It had double sided sticky on the back so it was dead easy to attach. I used them occasionally for certain songs.

tomorrow I'm going to take the Badass of and put the original bridge back on so I can get the chrome cover back on it. I'll also put the original nut back on - it's still got that nicotine glow but its better than it was. I don't like having so much material in the neck pocket as a shim. More pics to follow

How about cleaning it up and then selling it on to get something that you really want. They're not worth a fortune but people generally pay more for something that is in original condition. That's what I've done with my Melody Gibson Grabber copy. I was going to go nuts and change everything but a good clean up and it looks really good considering its about 30 years old. I'm going to gig it and if it turns out that its not for me then I'll get more than if I'd butchered it. Incidentally, I had a Hohner PJ professional fretless a few years ago that also had a plywood body. I can't remember what i got for it when i sold it but it was a fair amount for what it was. Had really bad neck dive due to the light body

Rickenbackers are fitted as standard with Rickenbacker strings

Damn, spotted. Yes, I managed to snap one of the screws of the 3 holding it on. Must get their screws from the same place as Gotoh

My gold Warmoth is on the heavier end of the scale and feels like it weighs about 1cwt

Ta da No, I never get tired of posting pictures of it

The strings that come on Rickenbackers feel like rubber bands to me but they're something silly like 45,55,75,95

Full body shot One problem I knew I'd have is that the Badass sits quite high so I've used a couple of piecces of worktop end stuff to shim the neck but clearly its not enough I changed the nut and its sitting too high but I have a Graphtech one that I am going to use but that's all for today. I was amazed that the E string didn't snap as the thick part just past the nut is beginning to wind round the tuning post. I may try a set of rounds instead edit - now that I've had a look at it, I don't think that the Badass goes so I may just take it back off again and work out something with the original bridge

Started to put her together today. First on go the tuners. i can't believe how well they turned out. remember that these were practically yellow with cigarette tar. One touch meant that you stank like an old jakey. They look brand new now. The bridge didn't quite clean up as well as the restof it but it wasn't chrome like the rest unfortunately one of the adjustment screws was broken meaning that I couldn't easily adjust the height of the strings so I have to make do with one of these instead I also solved the problem with the warped scratchplate by putting in an extra screw. The pickup was black but the paint was peeling off it. I took a kitchen scourer to it to get the rest of the paint of and finished it of with some steel wool and its come up really well. Strung Up

I think it is a maple body. there's certainly little difference between the body and the neck. The original ones, apart from a couple of years had maple bodies. I've just emailed Alan at Pickguardian for a quote for a custom guard. I have thought about a darkstar before but I want to keep the cost down and can't imagine having a use for it on another bass if I sell this one in the future. I have to think of these things cos I have a tendency to sell stuff on the spur of the moment.

[quote name='Huggy and the Bears' post='231163' date='Jul 2 2008, 10:33 AM']I change a standard Duracell battery in my Stingray about [b]once per month[/b] and have never had reliability problems. Simon. [/quote] I've owned a lot of Stingray's and gig regularly and maybe have had to change a duracell battery maybe [b]once a year[/b] or longer a lot of the time. Do you keep your bass plugged in all the time?

The hardware has been soaking in cheap cola all afternoon and its now clean. I'm going to leave the bridge in overnight cos its really dirty I've found this site full of all kinds of crazy crap but can't see this bass at all. [url="http://www.fetishguitars.com/"]http://www.fetishguitars.com/[/url]

The one on Ebay has a different logo to mine and the tuners look a lot cheaper. Mine are more like Schaller type ones. [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Melody-70s-lawsuit-Gibson-Grabber-G3-vintage_W0QQitemZ110387245696QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item110387245696&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A4|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A0|293%3A1|294%3A200"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Melody-70s-lawsuit-G...3%3A1|294%3A200[/url] Its also a lot more expensive than what I paid - either that or i got a really good deal on mine

Just finished cleaning it and its come up not bad actually My TV is a rear projection and the sun is shining right in the window so I've probably over exposed these on photoshop. I've given the maple board a going over with 000 grade steel wool but haven't got all the marks off. I don't want to go too hard on it in case I introduce any dead spots

Now I have a fantastic idea - The scratchplate is warped nearest the bridge so I'm going to have to get one made. I'm thing about putting something else in there instead of the original pickup. There's a huge gap so pretty much anything else will go in there. I don't want to spend a lot of money but i would really like to do something. I may put a single coil P pickup in there as its my favourite but may go for something else. I'm going to give it a good clean and see how well it scrubs up and that will decide whether or not I'm going to paint it as well. More pics to follow as this progresses.

lovely. Off comes the scratchplate complete with pickup And I'm left with this

I treated myself to this fine Italian copy as i quite liked the look of it. Call it mojo, character, funk, whatever - this bugger is filthy and smells like a 60 a day smoker who's not washed their clothes in 30 years so I've decided to strip it down and clean it. First off are the tuners this reveals a hairline crack Not too much to worry about - I'll probably fire some clear glue down that to make sure it doesn't get any worse. Just as i thought - someone has taken the E tuner apart and put it back the wrong way round so now it slips when you're tuning it. The E is on the left and should be like the one on the right Check out the funk That's 30 years of mojo, or dirt as i would call it.

And replied

I bought prosteels for a Rickenbacker once. I got my usual 45 gauge but they were mental high tension. amazingly I didn't have to adjust the neck. I'm actually enjoying my Hartke strings just now - about £15 delivered for 3 sets. Makes a change from £35 for a set of my gold Optimas.

It it wasn't live I would've said the jack socket but the only place I can think of down there it between an intonation screw and a string on the bridge. Certainly a bit different than the usual place under the E string at the headstock

I began playing when I was 12 and until I was 14 I only used the E string and fretted with my thumb cos i had no clue that i was doing anything wrong. It wasn't until I got into my first band at 14 that i began to change to the conventional way of playing. When I was 15, 2 things happened: I began getting lessons from James Finnegan, formerly of Hue & Cry and before Stiltskin. The other thing being that I discovered Eric Clapton's 24 Nights album. Getting the lessons enabled me to learn about scales and that album showed me how they could be used. The version of White Room on there was absolutely phenomenal. Nathan East's playing on this just blew me away. So much so that I learned it note for note until I perfected it then did something that you can't do anymore - I flicked the lever from 33 1/3 rpm to 45 and played it like that until I got that as well. I did get some double bass lessons when i was 16 but didn't stick at it long enough to get any good at reading until i joined a big band at 17. I called the band leader up and he asked me if I could read so I lied and said that I could. When I got to rehearsal, I realised that i would be taking over from my old double bass teacher who was leaving. Before I knew it, a gig came up and I was still rubbish so one day I stood in the middle of the living room with my music and taught myself to read properly. It took the best part of a week but I was able to learn the basics and enough to get me throught that first gig. I ended up spending 2 years with that band and did get a lot better at reading but somethings I still learned by memory rather than reading. Since then I've only ever not been in a band for about 6 months and that was when I was 19. I've been fortunate to have been playing constantly for over 13 years without a break. I would say that lessons helped. The only things I've ever learned from an instructional video are Popeye from the Nathan East video and a couple of Lary Graham tunes from the Paul Westwood video. Its a bit like driving a car - when you get lessons, you're being taught the basics and the theory behind it but you only really learn properly when you are yourself and able to put those lessons into practice for yourself. Sometimes with an instructor/teacher/etc you may hold back through lack of confidence but on your own you can give it everything without fear of someone telling you you are wrong or whatever. I would say that I am for the most part self-taught with maybe 9 months of lessons out of 22 years of playing. The lessons definitely helped me to an extent but most of the work I've done myself by playing at every opportunity, absorbing as much music as I can and always trying to be in a band that allows me to try new things. There's definitely value in having lessons if you learn something that you can use and expand on - with me it was major and minor scales. 22 years on and I still find myself playing stuff and having no idea what it is that I actualy played but it fitted into the song.