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Topics - Alanko

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1
Gibson Basses / Kahler'd Victory bass for sale in the UK.
« on: November 28, 2023, 02:09:53 PM »
Seller is quite infamous in the UK for optimistic pricing and dubious back stories, but this might appeal to somebody here?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186144482308?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=I6kQUce0SWq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=74jSvcDiTL6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY


2
I've had this project bass hidden away for a while.




It's an aftermarket P Bass body I routed for a MM style pickup. It sounded ok, but too bright and scooped. I also didn't like the neck.



I've stripped the pickup and pickguard off the body and replaced the neck. This is a Fender Jazz Bass neck that I added a '66 style decal to:




I also bought a Gibson Thunderbird pickup from EBay, and cut a new pickguard from ivory pearloid material. This brings me to here:



I need to wire it all up and probably do a lot of additional setup and tweaking, but so far things look ok.




4
The Outpost Cafe / Zep take a Bath!
« on: October 02, 2022, 02:12:18 PM »
This footage has been rumoured to exist for years. Finally some decent film of Led Zeppelin at the Bath Festival in 1970 has surfaced.

https://youtu.be/LYJUN9V6q5A

https://youtu.be/Va6ovMsJvnA

https://youtu.be/hlbdKOyEdgU


There was a rumour that the camera crew were spiked with some psychedelic treats, which resulted in dark, unusable footage. One camera operator is a bit too interested in the band's shoes, but there is a lot of interesting stuff in there.

5
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / NBD - Rivoli with restomod.
« on: August 30, 2022, 08:37:14 AM »
I tracked down a 1997 Epi Rivoli locally and took ownership of it last night. It is in generally good condition with the exception of the electronics.



The baritone switch doesn't appear to work and the pots and output jack are worn out. The pickup is one of those 1.4 k ohm imposters!

The bass has been to a luthier for some fret work, but not recently. The nut has been cut as deep as you can get away with and then shaved down and oddly rounded over.




The frets have been visited by the roundwound faeries and are pretty tarnished.



The bridge is pretty dirty.



The inductor is still present.





I plan to cut an EB-2 style pickguard as I don't like the profile of the Epi guard. At some point I might try and cut an Epi-profile guard from thick tortoiseshell material.


The wiring is a head scratcher. The switch makes or breaks a connection from the hot lug of the volume pot to the primary of a small transformer and then through a cap (22 nF) to ground. This is essentially like having one switchable setting of a Gibson varitone switch? More of a passive notch filter than a bass cut?

I might preserve the stock wiring harness and require the switch to put a 4.7 nF cap in series with the pickup as a bass cut; more of a baritone sound than a notched mudbucker tone.



You become naked.




6
Gibson Basses / Odd RD Bass on Music Go Round
« on: August 21, 2022, 02:28:50 PM »
https://www.musicgoround.com/product/columbus-oh/40012-S000252678/used-gibson-rd-bass-70s-bass-guitars-red


Anybody know the back story on this? I'm thinking insensitivity modified rather than exciting prototype? Is it even a Gibson?

7
Rickenbacker Basses / One off 3503 bass.
« on: August 05, 2022, 02:33:27 PM »
Per the Rickenbacker Facebook page:

"3503 one off headed to the boutique soon."





I quite like it. It seems to not have enough controls, and the oversize pickguard looks like the ones folk create when they ruin a regular 4001/4003.

Could this be the 4000 reissue?!

8
I had a look on an old portable hard drive today for the first time in several years. I found some photos of my early bass modification projects. Some results were quite good, some were quite terrible. Learn from my mistakes!



So far so safe. A nice Westone Thunder I body mated to a Samick shortscale neck from a 'Greg Bennett' bass. This is where I learned that if you chop four inches off the scale length of a bass you have to move the bridge inland.



The body of the Samick bass was paired to a Squier Bronco neck. This bass was wired in stereo, with the option to mute the D-G coil of the P pickup. I was interested in stereo bass rigs, pushing the extremes of treble and bass response from one instrument. I think this had dual concentric pots, so one volume and tone per stereo channel. A rough bass but a fun idea to play around with.



An Aria Jazz Bass copy bought for the sole purpose of installing two Artec mudbuckers.



My poor Jazz Bass. This was my first "proper" bass, bought when I landed my first serious job after college. My love/hate relationship with Jazz Basses started as soon as the bass was home. I wanted more meat, more girth... after much modding and pickup swaps it ended up like this. The neck was a left handed Fender Mexico neck I bought from Italy. It had had a ski jump shaved down at some point as the fretboard got thinner above the 15th fret. The pickguard was a custom job I paid a guy in England to make and the pickups were bought as used Dimarzios, but almost certainly weren't. I've seen the body for sale twice since I sold it on. I should have kept the bass for sentimental reasons I guess, but I just don't enjoy Jazz Basses enough.



An OLP Stingray copy with two Epiphone Thunderbird pickups in Rickenbacker 4003 pickup locations. This bass sounded outrageous.



A Cort GB Bass with an Epiphone Thunderbird pickup installed in the neck position. I ditched the stock preamp and had an Alembic Stratoblaster clone in there. This was my one attempt at giving active basses a shot. The damn thing ran down its battery overnight, so I ditched the Stratoblaster circuit and had some exotic mix of bass cut and coil split controls going on.

To make sure I didn't go back to active electronics I filled stuck a toy car in the battery box route and brimmed the compartment with blue epoxy resin. The dye in the epoxy turned green due to the heat of the stuff curing:



Finally, a Tuscany 'Bird' bass. This was the worst bass I've ever owned, due to the cheap construction and finish. I tried to make it closer to Rickenbacker specs/aesthetics with a toaster pickup. I also opted for a simplified wiring harness.



This bass ended up getting attacked with a saw until it could fit in a bin. Around this time my wife asked me "why do you keep buying basses that look like Rickenbackers or modifying basses to sound like Rickenbackers? Why not just buy a Rickenbacker?"

If you tally up how much I spent on shit basses she maybe had a point!

9
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Project Mud-Star.
« on: October 08, 2021, 06:47:24 AM »
Once again I've slightly overpaid for a worn out end-of-life bass guitar. This time it is a Dearmond Jet Star 'Spel'. At one point I owned the upmarket version. It was sparkly pink and had two "Mickey Mouse" style pickups. A series of poorly judged and poorly executed things happened to that instrument...

I still have my Dearmond Starfire that I documented here previously. This 'Spel' bass is clearly the ersatz model, as it has a bolt on neck and generic P Bass pickup in place of any repro heritage pickup.



The selling point for me was that wide open expanse between the pickup and neck, crying out for pickups various. I'm going to install a Mudbucker for sure, then weigh up my options.


Realistically though, every inch of this bass has scratches, chips and dents galore. It has clearly sat on a concrete floor as the points at the bottom of the body are heavily eroded. I could strip and refinish the bass, but that turns weeks into months, in my experience. I will try and sympathetically rejuvenate the finish but not lose any sleep over it.


10
Other Bass Brands / Chowny SWB-1
« on: September 03, 2021, 01:33:24 PM »
I bought this white Chowny SWB-1 earlier this week. These are the brainchild of Scott Whitley who plays, or has played, for the Animals and Big Country. For a long time he was the lone visible proponent of shortscale basses online, running a website that collated as much shortscale info as possible. The original SWB-1 bass was a ritzy custom bass that Scott commissioned. He then developed a production model and, at some point, Chowny took over production. Mine must be a later model as it has individual bridge rails. I also don't think too many white ones were built. I actually reached out to Stephen Chown at one point to get one of these basses built and finished in 'Chris Squire cream'. We got the ball rolling, but I think the delivery time was going to be upwards of six months and I found a Mustang bass in the interim. Perhaps that cream bass is out there somewhere?



I have a thing for white basses. Next to my P bass you can see just how shrunk down the SWB-1 is.



I can understand Scott's motives. When I first wanted to look at shortscale basses, the options were mostly limited to vintage or retro designs. Floating bridges, huge hollow bodies, pickups mounted right at the end of the neck, etc. A little too much period charm! Scott's vision is to provide a bass with modern performance and ergonomics, and I think he pretty much achieved this.

Ultimately however this is a budget instrument so some mods are required. I'm upgrading the very weak stock pickups to Dimarzio Model Js. At the same time I'm applying a good quality shielding paint and building a new wiring harness. The factory shielding paint has no electrical continuity going on, and the paint in the pickup cavities isn't connected to ground (not that it makes much difference).



The headstock outline appears to be a straight lift from Hofner! I'm going to make a red tortoiseshell trussrod cover to give the headstock a bit more contrast.




The frets would benefit from being leveled and the fretboard has a weird blotchy issue that I'm going to try and rectify.




11
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Project Thunderstang!
« on: March 03, 2021, 06:43:16 AM »
The deeper I wade into the Hondo restoration project the more I realise it is going to need considerable time and energy to complete. If nothing else, using Stanley blades as cabinet scrapers really ruins your hands for a while!

I bought a circa 1995 Gibson Thunderbird pickup as a candidate pickup for the Hondo before settling on the double Dimarzio route. This means that the Thunderbird pickup needs a new home.



I firstly decided to clean it up a little as I don't like those ghostly string marks that black plastic pickups tend to get over time.




I then started thinking about my other basses, and which could be a good candidate for the pickup. The clearest choice, for me, was my Mustang. This bass is a mashup of a Fender Vintera Mustang neck, Squier Classic Vibe body, Hosco pickguard and Nordstrand NM4 pickup, with most of the Vintera hardware retained for the body. I didn't want to chop up this bass, so I started looking for a second candidate.

The best value option for landing a Mustang bass body, bridge and control plate (and knowing they will all fit together) was to buy a complete Squier Mustang bass and parting it out.



Like the first Squier 'Classic Vibe' body in my possession, the finish is a bit rough around the edges. The metalwork, fretwork and neck in general lack a certain finesse. The electronics are also clearly comprised of the cheapest pots, jack and pickups out the parts catalogs as well. I know people hail Squier CV stuff as being secret Fender-killer grade equipment, but I always think the subtle downward shift in quality is pretty apparent. Using tinted lacquer on the neck or the other occasional nod to period accuracy doesn't make up for rough fretwork or garbage-tier electronics. Don't tell Talkbass I said this!

Due to being stuck at home in lockdown I've tried to give myself a proverbial kick up the rear every few months, either by buying a 'breakthrough' tool or piece of equipment or, six months ago, taking up the flute. I finally caved this week and bought a little router. I've modified many bass bodies with chisels, Dremel tools and generally inappropriate methods. I plan to make a template out of 5mm-thick acrylic, use my hand drill and forstner bits to remove the 'meat' and then tidy everything up with the router, using a number of shallow passes.



This is the general proof of concept. Fender Vintera neck mounted on the donor Squier body, with the Thunderbird pickup roughly situated in the right spot.




12
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Hondo H 1015 resto-modding.
« on: February 12, 2021, 07:01:14 AM »
I saw this "Vintage Professional Bass" listed on Ebay and had to take a punt.



I recognised it as being the same bass as one I owned about a decade ago, namely a Hondo H 1015.



The seller didn't know what it was. Somebody somewhere has had a lot of fun with it, leaving it in fairly horrible aesthetic condition. Luckily though, the frets and wood itself are okay. Even the bridge is in good condition visually, though I will take the bass apart and appraise it fully once the EB-1 is finished.

This is a turn up:



My old bass was black, and I assumed this was black as well.  I've done some test sanding of the body. I can tell that it was sprayed red with the black 'ombre' sprayed over the top. Under the red is a black layer, which I assumed was the factory lacquer. The sunburst headstock suggests this was originally a sunburst bass, albeit a very mild burst overall. Maybe the black layer I uncovered is a primer of some sort, or maybe the body and neck are from different basses? Time will tell.


My plan is to strip this back to the bare wood, with the exception of the headstock face. I plan to learn to route on this bass, so it will be getting a Dimarzio Model One pickup up near the neck. The 3-pointer bridge will either say or be replaced with the big brass bridge I posted about in the other thread. I will keep the original pickup as it is either a Dimarzio Model P or some sort of licenced/OEM facsimile, and it works! It just needs new covers.

Wish me luck!



13
Hi Gang,

I bought this chunky brass bridge off of Ebay last week:



With a bit of loving I was able to get it pretty cleaned up:



Does anybody recognise it? It is sort of patterned somewhere between a Badass I and II, but probably bigger in every way. It is drilled out as an 8 string bridge (I think?) as it has smaller holes at an offset angle to the main string holes. It is a toploader only design, with four mounting holes at the corners of a rectangle.

I've had to re-slot the saddles as it was an ugly mix of random grooves on each one except the low E.


The build quality reminds me of the bridge I took from a Westone Thunder bass. The longer you look the more you realise that none of the geometries are perfectly square, and the flat surfaces are all wee bit 'wobbly jelly'.

It is a punishingly heavy bridge at 372 g (13 ounces).

Anybody seen one of these before?

14
Bill's Shop: Projects, Mods & Repairs / Epiphone EB-1 resto-modding.
« on: January 14, 2021, 01:22:49 PM »
My last few projects, the Tokai EB-3 and Fender P Bass with neck pickup, have gone to new homes. I still wanted a mudbucker-only thumpy bass, so I bought a used but not abused Epi EB-1 from Ebay.



These things aren't really perfect. Bolt-on neck, weird Hofner shape, etc. If you are an EB-1 historian or purist then you will spot the issues a mile away. Chrome mudbucker, one F-hole, no pinstripe around the body. Its a facsimile of an EB-1 realy.

I didn't want an Epi EB-0 though as this seems a bit too... obvious? Not sure. I've had an Epi EB-0 before, so this is something new.

I plan to refinish the bass. The original finish it heavily worn, and being a satin finish it has turned glossy in some places. Like I've seen on some other Epi basses, the neck is maple but stained red. The body is mahogany of some flavour, with a black grain filler and red lacquer over the top. This looks almost purple for whatever reason. Red neck, purple body filled with dents = no good.

I've started stripping the finish and the body looks like decent wood rather than a veneered chunk of pallet-grade wood. I think the grain might be real!

15
I've been working from home for 28 weeks now, and starting to hatch bad ideas.

My P Bass has sort of 'split in two'. The neck on it is now on my Jazz Bass, and I replaced the body with a white P Bass body.... so that leaves this sunburst body looking for a purpose in life:



I've been messing around with neck pickups in basses for years. I've chopped up a fair few basses to add extra pickups. My plan is to install a Roswell-branded mini humbucker in the neck position on this P Bass.



They've cheekily made it look just like a Rickenbacker Toaster pickup. I already have one of these pickups in my 4003 and it sounds pretty good! Darker than a normal Rick pickup, but in such a tonal 'dead zone' this isn't really a problem. It delivers lots of low end.

I'm sticking one of these in the bridge position:



Its a Roswell 'QPA' pickup, which looks like a SD Quarter Pounder copy, with chunky alnico poles.

I'm going to wire it like a Jazz Bass, with three controls. I will use a 4.7 nF capacitor as a treble bleed on the bridge pickup volume control. This means that if I roll back the volume to 8 I should get a tone that is like the 'vintage' setting on a 4003 bass.

I will update this thread with photos when I get round to doing anything.


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