Finbar

Bass Head and Cab (or Roland combo if it's a smaller gig) Kettle lead Speaker cable 2 patch leads 2 20ft leads Strap Chromatic Tuner Wireless unit and PSU Boss GT6-B and PSU I don't take spare basses/strings/tools, as daft as that may be. I'm always meaning to take electrical tape to stick down my trailing wires, but always forget :/ Just wondering what douggy meant when he said 'spare sweatband for wireless unit'? Is this some groovy trick involving wireless units I've never heard of?

Hah, if I ever scrape the funds together for a second custom (god, Jon hasn't even started this one and I'm already on about a second? o_O), frontal LEDs may be an option. Time will tell

Well I'm getting a custom Delano MM pickup on it. No idea how long it'll take, but Jon says they're more reliable than EMG etc, so I can hope

Currently my favourite bands are looking a little something like: The Fall of Troy - Tim Ward Element of Surprise - Jean Baudin Botch - Brian Cook

Well actually, I think Limp Bizkit's bass player, Sam Rivers, always looks good with his front LEDs, but he's the only really good example I can think of They'd get lost on a 7 string neck though I think. Only question is what colour? Think I might drop Jon an email, see how things are going

Well before I had any idea how long it would take, I was guessing on something like 5 months or so? So anything around that wouldn't bug me too much. Spreading payments out over more time also eases my wallet pains I would like to see him make some kind of start though But as he's busy, and I haven't given him a penny yet, I'm not too concerned. He's just supposed to be sourcing out a bass to draw round at the moment. From what I can tell, it seems to be waiting for third parties that slows the build time down, like pickup manufacturers. LEDs are probably going on the list of things to slap on the bass, but probably side ones. Don't want to be TOO flashy

20 minutes drive means nothing to me - I do everything on foot/bus Jon said to me typical turnaround is about 10/12 weeks once he's started a bass, but I reckon mine'll probably be a fair bit longer once he starts it. I can cope though You can't miss what you've never had

Boo! I'd really rather he stayed where he is, it's about an hour's walk from my house! I don't want to be making visits out to Derbyshire I'm sure I'll cope though. Just.

I've not really been in correspondence with Jon since the flooding, but I did ask if his workshop was alright - he's not lucky enough to be on a hill away from the water like what I am. S'alright for me in that he hasn't started work on building my bass yet, though it may well knock the build time back a bit. I'll cope though. And I'm sure all his customers won't mind a week or two's delay considering the circumstances! I really hope he gets it all back on track as quickly as possible.

Well that's the general idea of them, yes. But I do that kind of chordal work with a pick in my band at the moment - I kind of double as second guitar - and it doesn't affect the finish at all. I'm sure for some people it's a practical thing (though I never see anyone replace a scratched scratchplate Why does it matter if you're not scratching the finish if you never see that bit because of the scratchplate?), but it's purely a cosmetic thing for me. Besides, I'd rather my basses have a few dings and scratches - they're working instruments - I use them, and I'm proud to show it

Yeah, I'm actually thinking about reconsidering the scale length before it's too late - I'm going to have a razz on my Conklin and my 35" Ibanez to see what I really want I think. Jon also commented on the odd neck dimensions of that Conklin, which I hadn't really noticed, but I am very used to it. Yeah, it's a double cutaway. I'm none too fond of single cuts for the most part, they look really unbalanced to me. But that's the way it seems from my observations - people either love or hate them and there's very little indifference. The burr was entirely inspired by Jean Baudin's Hideous Claw. And a piece of wood effect laminate in my local Costa Coffee As for scratchplates - yes the clue's in the name, but I've never played a bass without a scratchplate that seemed like it really needed one for that purpose. So for me, it's all about the looks of it Again, personal opinion on that I think.

I don't really see the point in a clear scratchplate. It's not going to be there for looks, because well... there's nothing to look at That anniversary Ray does look nice, you're right! But I can't help feeling it looks a little empty where the neck pup would be?

Well my reasoning behind it is that I want the whole Stingray vibe really. I was going to get a painted finish originally rather than that Madrone, but I saw it and fell in love ^_^ The scratchplate will be the last thing to go on though, so I can decide if I want it or not when everything else is in place, but I think it could look quite groovy We shall see!

Righto, First post here, took me a while to find it! I was fatbandit on BW, but I wasn't really a big user of the place. I went down to Jon's workshop with Si (OldGit) a while back, and was really impressed with the stuff Jon was making. Finally decided to get a new bass, and thought I'd go for a custom one - might only get one chance to get such a finely built bass, after all I live in Sheffield, so it seemed logical to go with Jon Anyway, we've sorted most of the stuff out by email already, but I went to Jon's place today and talked it all through, and let Jon take some neck measurements off me. So the specs are going to be (subject to change): 7 strings (BEADGCF) 35" scale neck thru 24 frets Birdseye maple neck - 7 piece with Birdseye maple and black veneers Rosewood fretboard Two way truss rod Carbon fibre reinforcement Jumbo frets Graphite nut Neck specs taken from my Conklin GTBD-7 16mm string spacing at bridge Gotoh GB707 tuners White ash body wings, black veneer between neck and body sides Madrone burr drop top & back with matching headstock Black veneer between Polyester basecoat Wet look gloss topcoat Individual bridge units Single Delano 7 string MM style bridge pickup (Probably) passive electronics Black hardware (cosmo black tuners, knobs) Recessed Dunlop straplocks The only things I'm not really sure on are... Side LEDs - Yay or Nay? I'm leaning towards yes. Inlays - None or Blocks? I'm still not decided on this yet I'm going for a vaguely Stingray 5 kind of vibe with this bass, so it'll be that general body shape, with a wooden scratchplate. Still not sure what wood to use for this, but I'm going to wait until the rest of the bass is done before deciding that - it's a bit hard to picture in my mind right now how it would look. Anyway, Jon seems like a thoroughly nice and helpful guy, so I look forward to dropping in again sometime to check on things once it's underway What are your thoughts and impressions?