The Bassist and Guitarist thread

[Oldhippy]

Mrs D tutted and asked me how many basses I can play at once.

"Nine", was my immediate reply.

Roland Kirk did the 3 sax thing so why not.😁

 

[delb0y]

He not only did it (Roland Kirk) but he did it so well - it was far from being a gimmick.

 

[MontyVeda]

another small update on the hollowcaster bass build...

I wasn't happy with the first template i cut for routing out the chambers, so made another one which I am happy with. It'll also be used for cutting the slot for the pickups in the soundboard...

View attachment 604574

In other news... I made a shooting board for getting the glued edges of the soundboard perfectly straight...

View attachment 604575

Which was a lot easier than I'd expected (getting the join perfect, not making the shooting board)

I think the time spent restoring my plane was time well spent... it's never run so smooth, or been so sharp.

After fitting a nice new chunk of ply to the top of my tatty old bench, i got ready to glue up said soundboard...

View attachment 604576

There's lots of ways of doing this, some with ridiculous degrees of complexity. I went for the simplest looking method; a baton to raise the inner edges about 5mm off the bench, a row of nails down the outer edges... apply glue to inner edge, remove baton and the two halves should be held tightly together whilst the glue does its job. (and not forgetting some baking paper to stop me from gluing it to the bench!)

...pile loads of crap on top and leave over night.
View attachment 604577


It's gonna be a scary moment tomorrow when i check if it's worked

Another few days of (slow) progress...

I dug out a set of forstner bits to remove the bulk of the chambers. They weren't cutting very well so after an hour or two of them jamming and the drill-press getting a bit too hot, I gave up, went home, watched a YT video about sharpening forstner bits, returned the next day, sharpened a couple of the bits but being a cheap set, they weren't keeping their edge for very long and the drill's motor was still getting a bit too hot for comfort.

The last thing i wanted was to wreck the drill-press so decided the best thing to do was leave it half done and order a quality forstner bit (from Fisch).

I did have a play with my template and one of the (relatively) expensive guided router bits...

...and what a difference spending £25 on a single bit makes (previously I've spent no more than half that on a full set). Cuts like a knife through butter, not a single burn mark and a nice smooth finish

When the Fisch forstner bit arrived, I finished off removing the bulk in a quarter of the time i spent using the sh!t bits; no jamming, no worrying amount of heat coming from the drill press... again, what a difference spending a lot extra on quality cutters makes!

Went in with the other expensive router bit to finish off and...

I've only gone down 27mm so far. Since this is a small body with a long bass neck, it don't want it to get too light otherwise that neck will dive... I put the body on the scales and it currently weighs 8.4lbs! I don't think that neck'll be diving so will probably take the chambers down another 5 or 10mm as 8lbs is probably a bit on the heavy side ( @Drago or @DCBassman might be able to advise me here )

 

[Drago]

Being a big, wide mofo I never pay too much attention to weight and never suffer neck dive issues unless playing seated.

I would suggest that 8lbs is perhaps on the lighter side of middling.

 

[DCBassman]

8lbs is probably a bit on the heavy side

8lbs for the bare body is on the heavy side of heavy! If you only sit to play it, no biggie, but trying to stand and play for any length of time will not be pleasant, unless you're the size of @Drago...
My lightest Precision, complete, was a tad under 7lb, neck dived a little but not a problem.

 

[MontyVeda]

8lbs for the bare body is on the heavy side of heavy! If you only sit to play it, no biggie, but trying to stand and play for any length of time will not be pleasant, unless you're the size of @Drago...
My lightest Precision, complete, was a tad under 7lb, neck dived a little but not a problem.

I might be the height of @Drago, and a lot more handsomerer, but I'm not that fat... i mean err... broad .

The section between the saddle block and neck still needs to come out (plus the neck pocket itself) and taking the chambers down another 10mm might get it down to around 7.5lbs (currently 8.4! ).

My initial idea was to remove as much wood as i dare from the chambers... but having learned a little about how acoustic instruments work, the amount of air inside isn't gonna make any difference, so i may as well focus on making sure it stays balanced.

 

[Drago]

Doing a bit of maintenance on the P bass I built last year.

Its having Warman pickups and a new pickguard, so old items removed.

Tuners and bushes removed and will be cleaned and lubed prior to refitting. Headstock being re varnished.

Done a little bit of work on the nut slots.

A week to 10 days for bits to arrive and stuff and itll be ready for gig-iddly-igging again.

 

[MontyVeda]

Careful with those Warman pickups @Drago... they're really hot, so oven gloves might be needed.

 

[Drago]

I like hot!

 

[Drago]

Precision upgrades are going well.

 

[Badger_Boom]

Good to see you're using an appropriately sized tapper.

 

[Drago]

Precision tools!

 

[ColinJ]

It will have to wait until next spring, but any suggestions for the best sub-£150 (preferably sub-£125) bass for me to potter about on?

Thomann look hard to beat for deals...

 

[DCBassman]

It will have to wait until next spring, but any suggestions for the best sub-£150 (preferably sub-£125) bass for me to potter about on?

Thomann look hard to beat for deals...

As you say, Thomann, the find someone to check it over and set it up if need be. Always remember it will have roundwound strings on, so if you like the idea of smooth flatwounds, you'll need to budget for that. They are not cheap. But, particularly if you're just a home noodler, they will last decades if you keep them clean!

 

[ColinJ]

As you say, Thomann, the find someone to check it over and set it up if need be.

Jack's Guitars in Hebden Bridge would be handy for that...

Always remember it will have roundwound strings on, so if you like the idea of smooth flatwounds, you'll need to budget for that. They are not cheap. But, particularly if you're just a home noodler, they will last decades if you keep them clean!

DECADES? They would probably outlast ME!

I would almost certainly be no more than a home noodler, unless I were to discover some real unsuspected musical talent.