NSSBD

[Chienmortbb]

Well due to injury, and therefore necessity, I have succumbed and bought a shorty. 
 

I have no idea how much movement I will get back in my shoulder but for now I can reach the 3rd fret pf a 34” bass. Back of a cornflake packer calculation says 30” scale length is ideal so off I went a-hunting. 
 

I did no want to spend an awful lot, I am already £250 down on a U Bass so It was an Affinity, HB, or Hartwood. 
 

I did not get on with the Affinity ‘Tang, the HB has been showing 1-2 weeks for about a month and now showed a bit longer so  a Hartwood Delta finally showed up. 
 

So far I am delighted. Feet work is some of the best that I have ever seen and there are lots of little touches that please. 
 

Machine Heads -Smooth and precise 

Control Knobs- Not the push on, splined type but held on with grub screws.

Body-Flawless, at least on first look. 
Action- Higher than I like but playable out of the box. 
Frets- I do my own fretwork and these are wonderful, the best fret ends on a bass or guitar I have had in 60 years. 
Screws-Pick-guard and control cavity screws sit well down. They are domed but sit well into the countersink. 
Nut-Could go lower but I will not be touching it for now. 

Criticisms?

The neck has what look like ran drops in the finish. However you cannot feel it under your hand, 

 

The pick-up selector switch is not straight up and dos but angled. Oddly when playing it seems more natural then if it were more like a Les Paul. The switch may be the first thing I change thought as cheap ones fail quickly IMHO.

 

Bridge- BBOT. However That does not matter to me, It is a well proven design and it works. 
 

Strings - Shiny and bright but may have more finger noise than I like. 

[Lozz196]

Congrats, hopefully this will work well for you, I like the fret markers.

[Chienmortbb]

11 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Congrats, hopefully this will work well for you, I like the fret markers.

Me too, I forgot to mention those. They are more visible than the usual dot from above. 

[martthebass]

Congrats.

Bear in mind this can be a rabbit hole.....I started off with a second hand Mikey Way Squier Mustang and I've ended up with, what I consider to be, 2 expensive shorties.  So the journey has involved money, but I got there in the end and the shorties take 90% of the gigs these days.

[Obrienp]

Congratulations. I have its Hartwood stablemate, the medium scale Satellite. I was very impressed with the neck on that and the fretwork. The general fit and finish was excellent for the money. In fact, the only things I wanted to change straight away were the strings: far too clanky and very rough feeling. 
 

By all accounts the Delta is the better of the two, so I think you’ve snagged yourself an excellent value bass there. Enjoy!

[Chienmortbb]

2 hours ago, Obrienp said:

Congratulations. I have its Hartwood stablemate, the medium scale Satellite. I was very impressed with the neck on that and the fretwork. The general fit and finish was excellent for the money. In fact, the only things I wanted to change straight away were the strings: far too clanky and very rough feeling. 
 

By all accounts the Delta is the better of the two, so I think you’ve snagged yourself an excellent value bass there. Enjoy!

Set the truss rod and lowered the action a bit. Really plays well now, and I agree about the strings. Father Christmas is bringing me a set of Newtone Shorties.

[police squad]

those fret ends must be finished like that before installaion, otherwise how could it be done

I think I'd be tempted to roll the fingerboard edges too

[Obrienp]

2 hours ago, police squad said:

those fret ends must be finished like that before installaion, otherwise how could it be done

I think I'd be tempted to roll the fingerboard edges too

I had a go at that on the Satellite. It was crying out for it, given where the frets end. I’m not sure I have achieved Sire levels of smoothness but it definitely feels nicer.

[Chienmortbb]

2 hours ago, police squad said:

those fret ends must be finished like that before installaion, otherwise how could it be done

I think I'd be tempted to roll the fingerboard edges too

Using a fret end file, and care it is not difficult.

[Chienmortbb]

5 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I had a go at that on the Satellite. It was crying out for it, given where the frets end. I’m not sure I have achieved Sire levels of smoothness but it definitely feels nicer.

I will see how it feels for a while before attempting any mods. Did the finish on the neck change when you rounded it?

[Obrienp]

23 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

I will see how it feels for a while before attempting any mods. Did the finish on the neck change when you rounded it?

No, fortunately but I really didn’t go that deep, so I don’t know if it is genuine roast maple, or just stained to look like it. It required a bit of care when it came to those fret markers. Rounding them off too much reduces their visibility from above.

 

P.S. It’s probably the other side of the neck from the fret markers that really benefits from rolling anyway. I probably needn’t have touched the fret marker side. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Obrienp

[Chienmortbb]

3 hours ago, Obrienp said:

P.S. It’s probably the other side of the neck from the fret markers that really benefits from rolling anyway. I probably needn’t have touched the fret marker side. 

Thanks for that, it makes a lot of sense. What did you use to round over the fret board?

[Obrienp]

I just used various grades of sandpaper on a cork block, plus the paper held in my fingers to get the roll off more rounded. A bit hit and miss TBH but I’ve seen my local luthier do it that way. Of course, he has infinitely more skill than I do but I wasn’t too disappointed with the result.