rwillett

Its' a lot easier hanging it rather than bolting down. I'm going to try that first and see what it sounds like. I can make a sledge but thats more complex and I still have to make the pickguard to fit. This is the first print draft of the case to check for fit, are the spring lugs right, does the pickup fit snugly. There's a little bit of play of the pickup inside the case, but a thin 1mm foam layer will fix that, the top of the pickup case looks great, but would benefit from a chamfer on the edges. Can't find my springs to see if they fit on the wider lugs though I think the neck and bridge versions are different sizes as the strings are slightly wider at the end. I think this is the bridge pickup, but since I can't find the otehr one, probably run away with the springs, not 100% sure. Rob

Currently I'm planning to hang the pickup from the pickguard with foam undeneath to dampen it. The foam is optional. This is rather overengineered as I think it through. This is a case that a pickup goes in, so the smaller lugs hold it in place, the larger lugs screw through the pickguard into a captive m2.5 nut in the large lugs. A spring goes between the large lug and the pickguard a la Stratocaster. And here it is cross section

Does anybody have any views on mounting pickups to the body or pickguard? Am about to design something to hold the pickups and I think I have two options, I can mount the pickups downwards on the body of the guitar. I considered this in the design and have a large number of embedded nuts into which I can design a sledge to hold the pickups in exactly the right place. I can easily put the sledge and pickups in any position and move it around OR I can design a basket to hold the pickups and mount them to the pickguard, this is how I did my six string. So I hang them (shooting is far too good for them). I notice that most of the bass pickups have quite stiff foam on the bottom, sometime along with springs, so I am assuming that mounting them to the body is the preferred method. I have no preference to be honest. As vertical space is limited, I would probably remove the foam and design a slightly more complex adapter that is more adjustable, I can suspend othem or fix them. Ant guidance welcomed. Thanks Rob

I aspire to be that good 😩

Of course the other option I'd have for the 4r5e would be to log into whatever IT systems I could find with their name and destroy their credit history, burn their online identity to the ground, subscribe them to the most godawful websites specialising in adult orientated gardening sites, cancel every credit card they have, update their spotify lists with Blackpink, remove them from the local polls and update their medical record to mention genital herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhea.

Apart from that, how was the jam... I've never done a jam session, I'd love to do one, but I'm fairly sure, I'd be a complete plonker and fail miserably, or if somebody was being too cocky and a complete 4r5e, would go postal on them (more likely I'd slink away hoping the ground would swallow me up whole).

@peterjam You are most welcome. We haven't set a start time or an end time. We have the village hall for the whole day and from the previous evening (Fri) if we want it. Mentally I have a 10:00 to circa 17:00 timescale for the day, but there's nothing to stop people turning up at 07:00 and leaving at 20:00. We will need to be a little sensitive with noise after around 18:00 though as I have no idea what the sound proofing is like in the hall, suspect it's minimal I live 50m from the hall, and will have keys so if people want to arrive early, its no big deal. That's the village hall on the left from my office window .... Clapham is not a bustling metropolis with five sushi cafes within walking distance, we have a pub, a community run village shop and a cafe and thats it. We do have 10m sheep and fabulous views of the dals though. If people wanted to, we can arrange an evening of pizzas and playing, there are a few very good pizza joints a few miles away. Settle has options for more takeaways and is seven miles away. Thanks Rob

I know. I promised myself a 62 bass on the understanding that I'd never find one I liked. However that 62 Black one is utterly gorgeous. I keep looking at it and trying to find a form of words that I can tell the CFO as to why I've spent circa £30K on a battered piece of painted and scratched wood. Normally I'm good with words, this time I'm struggling.

This is a very dangerous thread to follow.

There's a world out there that I know nothing about. That article is from before I was even born

Damm it's a 62. That's annoying. Really shouldn't have clicked that link.

My knowledge of cutting aluminum is zero so assumed I needed cutting fluid. I wasn't sure so tried it. Might now stop using it and will see what happens. My experience at BAE was helping the project management team. My knowledge of building nuclear attack submarines and how to speed delivery up is a little limited, IBM sold me in as an expert and so I had to bullshit rather a lot. Thankfully I got E-Coli and escaped before I was discovered. Somewhat extreme I know but it was worth it not to go back to Barrow.

Now that the mule has a 12mm aluminium backbone in, that has moved the neck into a far, far better position and it suddenly feels better to play, even if it does have tug ship cables for strings. Some lighter strings are on order as well as some more aluminium. If that doesn't work, steel starts to become the option. Am starting to think about mounting pickups and best practises. I think I have two options, I can mount the pickups downwards on the body of the guitar. I considered this in the design and have a large number of embedded nuts into which I can design a sledge to hold the pickups in exactly the right place. I can easily put the sledge and pickups in any position and move it around. I can design a basket to hold the pickups and mount them to the pickguard, this is how I did my six string. So I hang them (shooting is far too good for them). I notice that most of the bass pickups have quite stiff foam on the bottom, sometime along with springs, so I am assuming that mounting them to the body is the preferred method. I have no preference to be honest. As vertical space is limited, I would probably remove the foam and design a slightly more complex adapter that is more adjustable, I can suspend othem or fix them. I can't find anything that indicates what best practise is. If anybody has views (and can explain why they have views) on whats good, I'm happy to listen. It might well be that suspending them from the pickguard allows them to resonate or some other reason I know nothing of. Once I have finished my guitar pickup winder, on hold as I need to get this bass done, I will replace whatever that goes in with something else, or I might do a three way pickup set. Just got a few five way Fender type switches off eBay for 0.99p and might try to use a multi-coil option Any help or direction welcomed. Rob

Depends on the time of the works event. The M6 is 20 mins away and from there, the world is your oyster. Going the opther way is painful as the road to the M1 is slow and has lots of tractors in the way. Failing that, I can write you a sick note. Rob

We'll survive and make something work for us...

Not sure I need something that sucks quite as well, unclear as to how A&E comes into this....?

Just checked and the village hall is booked for this for the day. We have the whole hall. Whether we have enough people to fill it, thats adifferent story Rob

Definite enough that I can offer you a free room....

I'm looking forward to hearing the tone differences as well - One day ... Next steps are: 1. Order some lighter strings. The E string is 3mm thick, my fender Jazz is 2.75mm, my Ibanez short scale 2.4mm and my fender Mustang 2.4mm. 3mm is 0.11in according my calculator. A set of Rotosound lightweights are 0.03in, 0.05in, 0.065 and 0.08in. https://www.rotosound.com/product/rs66la/ No idea of the tension that I have on the current strings but it feels a lot, mind you, my gut feelings have been rubbish so far. 0.08/0.11 = 72% of the thickness which is quite a lot. 2. Order some 3mm aluminium so that I can make a 15mm backbone from the 12mm and the 3mm. I'm wondering if two plates making 15mm sounds different to 1x15mm, 3. Order some 15mm aluminium to check if that works much better. 4. Check on 7000 series grade aluminium. Anything that has "aerospace" attached to it will not be cheap, even if I am. 5. Readjust my pillar drill so I can clean the workstop. Swarf and cuuting fluid is horrible, already used the "kitchen" dustpan and brush and the CFO was not happy with what I brought back, so a new dustpan needed now <sigh>. 6. Check on steel plate as the next step if I can't get aluminium to stop bending. Rob

Yep. Does anyone have any contacts with various shops such as Promenade Music that might be interested in coming along. I can definitely offer cake now 😊

I have strict limits on the height of components. Total body height is 44mm, pickups are a certain height, other parts of the body have a certain size such as the mounting plate (10-11mm). Everything is a compromise, money, strength, stiffness, complexity, technical issues, weight. If I had unlimited money AND technical ability I'd go carbon fibre. Sadly I don't have either. I'll look at the calc and see if it helps though. Rob

If I look around me, I see a few farms, a normal garage specialising in Land Rovers and approx 10m sheep. I can't imagine the farmers having any high quality aluminium on hand, they normally reuse and reuse and reuse. Suspect the sheep aren't big users either. I might make a call and check. I might also check out carbon fibre.

The bar I have is apparently Grade 6082T6 (Formerly H30TF). I am taking this to mean its Grade 6000 from here https://www.1stchoicemetals.co.uk/aluminium/grades-guide/?doing_wp_cron=1710703985.3204550743103027343750 The higher grades, 7000, appear to be a whole world of cost higher. It apparently is used for defence and aerospace, guitar making doesn't appear to be an option I cannot find a supplier who puts a price up on line. It's all "ring for a price". This tends to mean, if you have to ask the price, you can't afford it. If somebody knows different please tell me. It might mean that I can't even drill the stuff with consumer drills. I used to work at BAE Subs in Barrow In Furness and I would bet a pound to a penny that they have this sort of aluminium all around the workshops. However BAE Subs has armed guards on-prem as it does have nuclear reactors there, so suspect I can't head back up, pop my head around the workshop door, and ask them for a bit. Also I caught e-coli there and almost died, so not particualarly keen to see the old Vickers place again. Rob

Nope. Not sure at all but so far this week have learnt : 1. Calculating stiffness is pointless unless you really know plywood and or aluminum. 2. Americans need to move to SI units. 3. Plywood is stronger than I knew 4. Aluminium isn't. 5. Pillar drills produce a low of swarf. 6. Pillar drills and cutting fluid produce a vile mixture

You sound like.my youngest daughter.