Ross

[url="http://www.guitarpartsworldwide.com/Jazz+Bass+Electronic+Upgrade+Kit++PWd6TTBBRE14b0RkalZIWnZKSGM"]Something like this[/url] should do the job nicely. I've got the same bass as you, my wiring is pretty awful (though i'm sure the previous owner rewired it) so I'm sticking one of them in, but ditching the orange drop in place of a paper in oil capacitor for a vintage vibe.

Something about a black jazz, white pickguard, maple fretboard.

Same club: Part 1 - Just got a new bass, sounded great at practise through my gear, the organiser said we had to use their backline to save changing about and soundchecking between bands. Soon as I stepped on stage, all that could be heard was the E string, no other strings. And some of my parts are past the 12th fret. Managed to just about get through the gig with it and basically rewrote everything to be played on the E, took it to a luthier after, he said he fixed it. Part 2 - Same club, same bass. Flat out didn't work this time, the other bands were mainly kids and weren't exactly forthcoming with lending me a bass. Played 7 rocking originals, very bass driven, halfway through our 8th song the organiser had run to his shop and brought back a bass, just got back. Only thing that salvaged it is that half a last song and we had a huge spur of the moment jam for like 10 minutes at the end. The second one was arguably worse, that night I'd gotten about 20 friends from school to come, mortifying playing a silent bassline

Might see how it looks after it's done. I can always put a pickguard on after. Only thing I am worried about is the neck pickup pocket looks like it'd been routed a tad wide so I may end up having to use a pickguard to cover up the inaccuracies in the routing, I'll have to measure it when my hangover calms down.

It was an ebay jobby [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230611470620&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWNX:IT[/url] Just started to sand the body down (using 400 and 800 grit paper, becoming smooth as a babys ass)

Ok, so I've been hunting for parts and tools to borrow and gathering knowledge for a week. So far what I have to do: Sand and lacquer the body Lacquer the neck Make the neck fit the pocket and be straight (about half a mil out, it's too tight a squeeze) Drill all the holes (neck, bridge, control plate, pickguard, strap pins, tuner screws, string retainer. Buy pickups, tuners, electronics, strings and screws. Assemble this beast! Spend so far: Body £60.50 posted (either ash or alder, unbranded) Neck £42 posted (maple, rosewood. Also unbranded off the same guy on ebay) Neckplate and screws £6 Pickguard £5 Wood control plate £6 (still in the post) Sandpaper and clear nitrocellulose lacquer £22ish (hoping I can get away with 1 can) Bridge and strap pins, free from other jazz. Total £141.50 Planning on buying wizard 64's and using the pickups from my other jazz, might just drop them into this one though. CTS pots, switchcraft jack, cloth covered cable, PIO cap. Pretty standard wiring. La Bella deep talkin flatwounds (especially seeing as I want a flats bass in time for joining the university of Plymouth big band next year) A few pictures (the bits you really want to see) Updates soon!

If you want to play a festival you've got to play your own stuff man, I've never seen a covers band play a festival and I kind of hope I never do (no offense intended). Being good at playing other peoples songs isn't enough to sell you as much as a really good originals band I'm sad to say. Perhaps you could start throwing in some of your originals? You've gotta get the word out there, lots of ways to do it. Merchandise (things like keyrings and cards you can hand to landlords, helps with word of mouth). Flyering - Hit your target audience, students, old folk, sad 40 year old fat blokes, stuck up desk jockeys don't just hand them a flyer or pin up 50 onto a wall push whatever drinks offers the place has why it's gonna be a good night, say what you can to get them to come. Get a website going and a facebook page, ask all of your friends. I remember hearing not so long ago about a guy who set up his band on the back of a flatbed truck, went round town parked up and played gigs in places with high pedestrian footprint. Then found the addresses of many journalists and played outside their houses until they were told to go away by the police. Got them in the paper. If your agent isn't getting you gigs or being any benefit to the band, sack him, keep searching for a good agent.

Cheers bud, keep me posted

I'd be tempted to have his arm off if work had paid me on time, way overspent on my project and had extra rent to pay this month so my overdraft and student loan are running at the -£950 odd levels Waiting for the grand or so I earned over easter to hop in and fund my GAS, cheers for the info though guys

I can play the entirety of Tommy, closest thing to it I guess.

Silver solder is overkill for stuff like that tbh, good old 60/40 lead stuff does the job. None of this lead free rubbish as well, takes bloody ages to melt.

[quote name='icastle' post='1222092' date='May 6 2011, 11:35 AM']I suspect that as you hit one side of the string to compress it, it'll just spread in the opposite direction.[/quote] Next thought of cider drinker engineering, pliers in a vice, use the vice to put additional force on them and hope they don't snap.

Might wait til after exams if we're going that serious. Had to cut down my practise to a max of an hour a day, it's at this point I realise I should have gone to more lectures and then I wouldn't have to relearn most of the course

Basically I'm making progress on deciding a new rig, i'm planning on using my bass pod pro as a preamp, then using a poweramp and probably some kind of 8x10 cab underneath it all. However I'm wondering if a standard power amp for PA systems is any good, or if I should be looking at a specific kind? Probably looking to spend £200 tops but preferably less on one. Cheers, Ross

If you know what you're doing and have the proper tools for the job. My next thought would be to use a mallet and blunt masonry chisel with as little force as you can get away with to compress the string in at the end.

I reckon smoked streaky with a maple glaze would be good. Build a pancake bass, lacquer it with maple syrup. Japanese electronics, they're made of chocolate anyway.

I'll join you I'm a big Beatles fan but I've never learned any of the lines, I'm gonna have to find the transcriptions now though.

[quote]Also, it doesn't have the word "ass" written on it. laugh.gif[/quote] But how will I know which end of the bass I'm looking at? Looks gorgeous, I'm really tempted by one of these myself now.

Just now started GASing for one of these, thanks.

Not really. My soldering iron heats up in under a minute, cost me less than a fiver from maplin (think they're about a tenner nowadays). Would take a minute tops to desolder and resolder a couple of wires, it's damn near impossible to mess up. And you could put it on to heat whilst gaining access to the pickups. Even if it would take longer, why wouldn't you take a few extra minutes to do the job properly? Any crimp terminals you use are going to be an inferior connection and less reliable (more likely to come loose) and where audio quality is concerned, why cut corners on something like wiring? Anyway whenever I've used crimp terminals I use bullet connectors.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='1220553' date='May 5 2011, 06:57 AM']i guess you'd not be interested in one of my woven bacon straps then? [/quote] Would genuinely buy one of these.

Does anyone still actually own a kettle with a lead? I thought they all used detachable bases nowadays? My amp came without a mains lead, been using a lead I got from maplin for years, no idea what it's rated to, I should probably check.

19 Year old bloke 4 String Always looking to try new things (mostly unsuccessfully). I do kind of go for this whole prog rock thing but some more complex stuff I have a tendancy to be able to "kind of play". At home though it's a lot of soul music, plenty of James Jamerson. Oh and I can't slap to save my life, I've tried it so many times but decided I don't really need to learn how to play it. Also can't play with a pick. My stage prescence lies in tacky dance moves reminicent of childhood discos.

Epiphone thunderbird through a fender rumble 100 combo. - 4-5 years ago Fender Jazz through a bass pod pro, through the same rumble 100 combo. - Today Still searching for a new amp (It's a bit of a wallpaper paste amp thisun) but my project bass is coming in way over budget so it's been put off for a while. Kind of wish I still had the thunderbird though, it had a nice boomy sound and played ok sat down. I stupidly decided to sell it to a friend cheaply because he wanted to start playing, on credit at the time and he took ages to pay, saw he'd sold it on ebay a few months later, w***er.

Could you wear less clothes?