The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[Cycleops]

Just a thought for John Entwhistle who died this day 2002. Truly innovative bassis, one of the greats.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

I was in York yesterday, whilst daughter had a Hospital appointment, & went into the music shop on Lendal (Banks)

I almost bought a guitar, but it was the wrong colour
It was in the 'gold-dust', I could have gone with the 'riviera blue'
Although, I do know if I had bought it, I'd have had to take it back, after phoning Senior Management to tell her I almost did



Oddly. I thought I'd be praised for showing the strength of will to not buy it


Now, if they'd had one of these in stock, I might have risked the wrath

 

[Drago]

Trying to think how I can persuade Mrs D that I need Rickenbacker 4003S mahogany in my life.

 

[Cycleops]

Never seen the appeal of Rickenbackers but I’m sure the pull of Lemmy might account for @Drago ’s need

 

[DCBassman]

Rickys are overpriced and not that well-made. Nice to look at, though.

 

[GuyBoden]

I've played guitar since my school days, I played double bass for years too, beautiful instrument.

Here's a bit of my improv.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gcfE2Vkplo

 

[Drago]

See, I've lost the feeling in fingers 3 and 4 so switched to bass as theres less real estate to cover. I pick play, but can't finger pick any more other then very slowly and carefully while intently watching my right hand, which just doesn't work.

Been told by more than one musician that the resulting style ive developed is vrry reminiscent of Phil Lynott, which worries me not one bit.

 

[MontyVeda]

Thought I'd give you an update on my lockdown project (which still is a long way from completion)...

it started with a cheap P-style neck:

...that I butchered years ago and drilled a new tuner hole in completely the wrong place.

I've had various ideas regarding reshaping it over the years, evident by the marker and pencil lines.
Finally settled on a shape, plugged up the holes and redrilled for a smaller set of tuners...

and got to this...

I'm gonna put a veneer on it but having bought a selection of random veneers, I can't make my mind up which one

Next came the chopping board...

...which I threw to one side and got some MDF out to make a template with.

screwed the template to chopping board and started drilling...

A band saw would have come in handy but i don't have one, so after god knows how many holes, time to play dot-to-dot with the jigsaw...

and back to the sander to grind off all the nobbly bits.

...and repeatedly back to the sander with finer papers to get it more or less to its final shape. But here's a picture of my bike instead.

Next step is to join my two sheets of cedar for the top, make yet another template for positioning the bridge, pickup slot and neck pocket, cut those, then hollow out the chambers...I'll report back in god knows how long with some more photies.

 

[Cycleops]

You're a very brave man Monty, full respect.

 

[MontyVeda]

You're a very brave man Monty ...

especially with my uncanny knack of being able to measure twice and cut once... in the wrong place .

Once I've cut the neck pocket (hopefully in the right place)... it should be plain sailing (and an awful lot of fine sanding).

 

[Drago]

Never seen the appeal of Rickenbackers but I’m sure the pull of Lemmy might account for @Drago ’s need

Indeed. If its good enough for God, it's good enough for me.

 

[Cycleops]

Did you get the idea from here @MontyVeda ?

 

[MontyVeda]

As @Drago said, plenty leave it [the truss nut] hidden away. I'd have a slot, personally, unless the adjuster is the old slotted type. If a hex head, I'd go for a slot.
Just my personal thing, though.

I found this little widget that solves the 'to slot or not to slot' the soundboard (lid) quandary...

a truss rod wheel adaptor!

Only problem is, the hex on the nut is 5mm and the hex on the wheel is 4mm, so i figured I'd just buy a new nut with a 4mm hex.

But the thread on my trussrod is M6 and all the nuts i can find with a 4mm hex are M5.

And I'm struggling to find a truss nut with the wheel in M6... so am now reluctantly toying with possibly gluing the two together

Epoxy is the obvious guess since there's a good half mm gap to fill between the hex fitting and socket... but I'm open to suggestions.

The nut, when just engaging with the truss is flush, so I'm supposing I'll have to make/leave a little playroom for the wheel... but how much? I've never really touched any of my truss rods but I'm guessing I won't ever need more than a couple of turns on that nut??

Q: does the nut even wind in at all, or is the rod being pulled through it??


edit... instead of glue, i'm gonna try this:

an M6 threaded connector that's 25mm long and 9mm dia. (same as my current truss nut) with a hex screw in the end.

initially i thought an M6 grub screw glued into the cylinder would work, but they have a 3mm hex... and cap screws have 5mm but luckily countersunk M6 screws have a 4mm hex, albeit a shallow looking one. Can't see why it won't work... but i am making it up as i go

 

[Drago]

Been here before...heart says Hofner violin bass (Cavern or Ignition), but head says the better made, better equipped Epiphone Viola is the one to go for.

 

[MontyVeda]

Been here before...heart says Hofner violin bass (Cavern or Ignition), but head says the better made, better equipped Epiphone Viola is the one to go for.

But can you cope with bemused Beatles fans saying "yeah but Paul played the Hofner."