rwillett

I'll get the top box out. @neepheid can ride in that and that's space for at least an amp and five basses saved. I'll put a duvet and empty bottle in the top box so you are comfortable. Bluetooth to the car underneath will work so you can hear my music. If you get too hot, open the lid a bit. Job solved.

Dunno but it's all got to fit in my car...

Here's all the bits on a untidy bed Control panel all wired, pickups recased, pickguard printed, bridge holder and neck holder all printed and checked for fit. Next steps are drilling, filing, shaping, polishing the aluminium into shape. I may not get the chance to finish the body to the level I wanted to. Its a choice between this and the six string. Decisions, decisions, decisions....

Perhaps he was the son?

Looks like a hex programmer on the bottom. Mmm... that takes me back... Might well be needed for this guitar

@Franticsmurf This should be a documentary or mockumentay or something. I shouldn't say it's great as it was probably traumatic, but it is. A collection of the foibles of human existence. Rob

I can practise scales on your behalf if that helps

Thats also a good idea. Where are you in London, I'll drop the whole lot off for you to do as you know far more than I do Rob

I never thought about that. Thats a great idea. This is #3 on my list to do: Finish minimal bass for SW Bass Bash. Finish six string for SW Bass Bash Check and if necessary, change tweeters. I have replacements from a very kind basschatter but the top two are the priorities. Do an autopsy thread on an dead Headrush FR112 Mk2. Rob

Absolutely perfect for thrash metal stage use, I assume that it comes with a dedicated stage hand as well as online manual for on-stage use in case you forget exactly which knob does what. Clearly I would interrupt any song as I searched Google for what Knob's 10 and 11 do. Instead of shoe gaze we have knob-gaze. You heard it here first I note that this is Serial number 7, so there's at least six more of these around.

Which made me think of this somewhat adapted quote from the HHGTTG "He had found a Bass-Matic machine which had provided him with a bass guitar that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a bass guitar. The way it functioned was very interesting. When the buttons were pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's musical taste, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the musical centers of the subject's brain to see what was likely to go down well. However, no one knew quite why it did this because it invariably delivered a tone that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike a decent bass tone." With apologies to Douglas Adams Rob

So two pickups. one as close as possible to the neck and one a little further back. This is the pickguard now and what you are looking for For me, that's just a case of printing a new pickguard and possible lengthening the cables at the neck pickup (or something). Pretty simple to change, just moved the sketches for each pickup. The pickguard holes are automatically generated in the pickguard, so thats it. Took just under a min to change and using Apple-Z even less time to put back. Rob

A very small amount of time...

I have, all 37 (?) episodes. That Mini will need to be restored again by the time they finish it. I think putting a 4WD system and rather large engine on an old Mini is utterly insane and stupid. Rather like some of my builds. My mum and dad used to race minis in the 70s. My dads favourite trick was to put an Austin princess six cylinder engine into a classic mini. It would fit once he'd used the rather large sledge hammer to modify the engine bay. It handled like a pig, torque steered everywhere but as it was all off-road racing, rather good fun. He had a garage business so this wasn't exceptional. He once started to build a proper stock car. The design process consisted of suspending an American V8 from the garage beams, rolling front and rear axis in to approx the right positions along with the drive shafts and then welding large amounts of lorry U-bean together to make the chassis so it all fitted (for some value of fitted). I note that the mobile library has come back again. It wasn't clear to me if they put the whole of the old library on a different chassis and engine or put a whole different chassis under the library. What's the VIN number going to be? We are into Triggers broom territory now.

Any Poles?

Ah!, Thats very helpful

I'd wait to to see if it became a massive hit before I threatened legal action. Somebody else bears the initial costs and he then reaps the rewards. Mind you the chances of this happening to me involves complex maths with the probability circling zero. More chance of Donald Trump making sense, actually no, I have more chance of writing a number 1 hit than Trump making sense. Rob

Sorry misunderstood. CAD = Cardboard Aided Design

Here's most of the bits. I need to cut and drill the aluminium backbone and floor. I've done the drill guide for this, and thats about 90 mins of work with pillar drill, tap and die set, and finger grinder followed by lots of hand work with a file. The wiring is all done, I'm printing a pickguard in white as I write this. The neck heal all fits the neck, strap buttons are done. I do need to put a small amount of maple veneer on the back of the neck, but need to source some first. I really want to do a proper quality paint finish on it, but wondering if I can do it before the SW Bass Bash so it'll dry.

And those positions in mm from the bridge are...? I can easily print two pickguards with the mounting points in different positions, so could do a 60's, a 70's position and/or a Musicman / Jazz Bass 70's bridge position. Rob

The original rail concept is long gone. Too many small hassles.

Because I'd have to have designed that in from the start on this bass and I didn't do that. I did design a pickup system that runs on carbon fibre (!) rails for my headless bass. It was very, very fiddly, very time consuming to design and build. It actually is on the headless bass now, so if anybody at the SW Bass Bash wants to see it, they can marvel at it. Part of the problem is that I had to take pickups that were designed to be screwed into a body and make them fit the sledges and rails whilst still fitting it all into the central cavity. It took a long time to get it right. Now if I did it, I'd glue the four mounting blocks in and simplify some of the other parts. Hindsight is great. I just want to make a first stab at where the pickups should go is all. I've found a site that suggest 54mm from the bass bridge for one pickup and 172mm from the bass bridge for the neck pickup. I also found sites arguing over 60's positions vs 70's positions. Thanks Rob

Just working out where to put the neck and bridge pickups. These will be hanging from the pickguard as opposed to being screwed to the body. I can put them as per my Fender Jazz, but they can go anywhere as I have a large space, approx 175mm to put them in. Any recommendatiosn or suggestions? Thanks Rob

Yes but with rubber tips over the end.

So no dancing with large cider flagons wearing hob-nailed boots? Asking for a friend...