FS: Project basses/unfinished bitsas/PUPs/bridges/tuners £600 Whitstable

[pete.young]

Yes, it looks great. If you have time to string it up and see how it plays, and whether the weight is truly an issue, I'd be grateful.

[Beedster]

16 minutes ago, pete.young said:

Yes, it looks great. If you have time to string it up and see how it plays, and whether the weight is truly an issue, I'd be grateful.

👍

[Beedster]

13 hours ago, pete.young said:

Yes, it looks great. If you have time to string it up and see how it plays, and whether the weight is truly an issue, I'd be grateful.

 

@pete.young I set it up and while it looks absolutely stunning and is really quite pleasing to play, it's not as resonant a unit as I'd like it to be to sell it as an instrument. It's possible that the strings are contributing so I'm going to try a different set when I have some time this evening (I was using some medium-light rounds which were already on the body when it wore a fretted nack, I suspect some heavier flats might bring it to life a little more). Might just be one of those neck/body combinations that doesn't work all that well, but I'll try the flats and report back anyway 👍

[pete.young]

56 minutes ago, Beedster said:

 

@pete.young I set it up and while it looks absolutely stunning and is really quite pleasing to play, it's not as resonant a unit as I'd like it to be to sell it as an instrument. It's possible that the strings are contributing so I'm going to try a different set when I have some time this evening (I was using some medium-light rounds which were already on the body when it wore a fretted nack, I suspect some heavier flats might bring it to life a little more). Might just be one of those neck/body combinations that doesn't work all that well, but I'll try the flats and report back anyway 👍

 

Many thanks Chris. I was thinking TI Flats or maybe Labella LTFs, which have transformed my Epiphone Century. Can send you a used set of TIs if that would help.

[Beedster]

8 minutes ago, pete.young said:

 

Many thanks Chris. I was thinking TI Flats or maybe Labella LTFs, which have transformed my Epiphone Century. Can send you a used set of TIs if that would help.

 

I've got some similar low tension flats here Pete, I'll let you know how they work this evening. Either way, if I like it and report back, you buy it and don't like it, you can always send it back 👍

[Beedster]

5 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

I've got some similar low tension flats here Pete, I'll let you know how they work this evening. Either way, if I like it and report back, you buy it and don't like it, you can always send it back 👍

 

So, TI Flats on and I rather like it now, I think the action needs to come up a little with the low tension strings, or I might put a tiny bit of relief into the neck (or a bit of both). But it sounds and resonates a whole lot better than it did with rounds for sure, especially in the higher register where the rounds seemed a little lifeless. It still needs a little sorting if it's to be sold as a bass - pickguard screws, nut screw fixed, PUP height etc, and I think I might put on a 3-string retainer which I like on FLs - but it's starting to feel like a bass as opposed to a load of thrown-together parts 👍

[Beedster]

On request some shots of the black neck, even nicer in the flesh 👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Beedster]

Black relic bass now sold 👍

[Beedster]

On 18/05/2025 at 20:43, pete.young said:

Yes, it looks great. If you have time to string it up and see how it plays, and whether the weight is truly an issue, I'd be grateful.

 

 

Hi @pete.young, I rehearsed it last night, it could use some fettling to get it closer to 100%, but it was rather nice, the P-PUP especially was really cutting through in the way I love maple neck Precisions can (J-PUP needs to be raised I imagine). It's not light at around 5kgs but it wasn't noticeably heavy to play for a 3-hour rehearsal. The neck, being lightly oiled, was actually rather nice to play and felt not too dissimilar to my Warmoth oiled maple neck that came in at a far higher price! Overall I think at £450 for the bass it's good value and is a bass that not only sounds good but really stands out as slightly different form the norm, which I always quite like.

 

Could you buy a better fretless bass for £450? Quite possibly yes, especially if you were looking through Sire's catalogue! 

 

Anyway, no pressure at all because I'll be really happy to keep it if it doesn't sell, it's probably the instrument I'll take to gigs as back-up.