Prostheta

Oh yes Nathan - when you're clamping up to glue, if you put a strip of greaseproof paper under the scrap used to true the edges top and bottom either end of the join, you don't end up glueing the scrap to your blank :-)

Basically, it does the popcorn trick of having the trapped moisture expanding suddenly and blowing out the shell. Not as explosive as popcorn, but enough to not get results.

Whereabouts in the UK are you based, Nathan? I'm doing exactly the same as you in doing a practice run on non-figured woods for one of my basses. Keep us informed!

That's awesome - thanks Sambo! On the topic of Ghost saddles - can you wire up say, eight?

Hmm. No idea. If you've dressed the saddles then you should be okay. Graphtecs are soft, so it's not surprising they baby your strings. I'll have a look at the bridge when it's delivered and see what I can see. It's not like there's a huge break angle over the saddles.

Crazy. My main instrument, a Yamaha RBX775 has a 23.6" radius (60cm) which is flatter than most! That said it IS a five-string. The four-strings have a 10" radius which is totally different.

Purely cosmetic reasons and nothing other! I love the way bridges and stoptails etc. look when dropped into the body slightly. Also it means you don't have to mount hardware directly onto a finished surface :-) I think if done well, it looks cleaner and a bit more refined. That's me for you though.

So am I. Any chance you can post soundclips of the results when it happens?

I snagged an EMG-45DC at less than retail. Ask around, I'm sure somebody on here knows a friendly retailer that can help you out on that. I paid about a 1/3rd less than GRP :-)

Sambo - I can't seem to find any links or information on the bridge specs anywhere, not even in the FAQ! Are you looking at a different site or am I missing it completely?

Awesome - thanks guys. I've ordered the thicker baseplate (0.175) so I might use the extra depth as an excuse to recess the bridge by a couple of millimetres.

I think that article was very much designed to poop on "carpenter's glue" and sell the benefits of hot hide. Also - there is a difference in the quality of "carpenter's yellow glue" used to glue birdtables up or glueing your wooden leg back together, to finer "woodworkers glue" such as Titebond which seems to have better clamping ability, and seems to require less product (ergo leaves less glue line potential). Plus fine woodworkers make more effort to provide clean and accurate glue joins and have better clamping practice. Last time I glued a bird table up, I can't recall sanding and trueing the joins using a planer and sanding block. I believe it was dowels and nails. Ah, inaccurate uninformed rant over :-) Here's my quick comparison: HOT HIDE Pro: Can be removed with application of heat, smells like poop Con: Can be removed with application of heat CARPENTERS Pro: Clean, not smelly, cheap, easy and simple to work with Con: Requires at least two brain cells to utilise correctly So there you go - my biased opinion also :-) In all seriousness - If you're experienced enough to use hot hide glue then fair enough. All methods have pros and cons, it's just understanding them and using each product to it's best advantage. Unless we start seeing the joins on millions of guitars around the world creeping or falling apart in the next two hundred years, I vote Titebond. Hide glue will always have it's place though. Same as Titebond. </quickly dons asbestos pants>

I don't think it's a case of "leaving the clamps on too long" ruins a joint, but I guess following the manufacturers instructions makes for a better joint on the whole. Good clamping practice would also help. Too much pressure can cause problems when the piece "releases" into a passive state. What I'm getting at is, you are unlikely to have ruined any pieces unless you glaringly went against the natural laws of Titebond, like glueing outdoors in monsoon season or applying excessive pressures from the clamps which the piece wouldn't normally have to endure in it's unclamped state :-) Anybody had any negative experiences when glueing up, so we can have a comparative result? Like a "what not to do because I did it once"...!

There are plenty of "rattlecan" tutorials out there although you'll find that Halfords paint runs high in solvents, so the last half of the can shoot more solvents into your paint than you'd prefer. This causes all the nasties, like solvent pop and all that. You'll need to grainfill your wood (go to behlen.co.uk) before you start else everything will just sink into the wood. If you make sure your wood has been sanded through from 80 to 400 grit before you start finishing you should be okay. The yellow primer filler is a good start as it's pretty high build. One thin dusting "sealer" coat works well if you shoot it from a couple of feet. You're not aiming to obscure the piece in one coat. Plenty of thin coats are your best friends :-) A few coats of the yellow filler left to dry can be wet sanded back with 320 grit till you're left with a nice uniform smooth surface. If you're using a sanding block, spray a light dusting coat of a contrasting colour (black?) from a few feet back - when you sand the surface flat, dips reveal themselves as unsanded patches, and high points as the first places to reveal the lower layer or as patches with circles of the highlighting colour around them. Plenty of patience and lots of paint work wonders! You'll end up cutting back a lot of primer if your initial sanding work wasn't up to scratch, but once you're at a smooth as satin 320 grit surface, you should prime a couple of times with white, grey or red (whichever the final Halfords colour recommends) and slowly apply thin coats of your colour allowing plenty of time to cure. Cutting back with 600 grit wet and dry between coats works well for me. Solid colours don't necessarily require a clear coat. Metallics and Pearlescents however, do. I would allow several more coats of a solid colour in lieu of a clearcoat. You might also find that if you're using (not wasting?) the last 50% of your cans, they can spit paint into your finish which needs to be cut back. Don't hang your finger over the nozzle either! If you have a colourful finger, you could end up causing spits in your paint from your finger disrupting the paint stream. When you start spraying, spray "before" the piece before moving into the area you want to spray. Equally, release the nozzle after you "overshoot" the piece. Paint can spit when you start/stop spraying. I'm not expert - these are blahs from experience in minor car repairs, a couple of body finishes and what I've read. Choose your information and I hope it helps! Oh yes, there is never any harm in letting coats cure too long but plenty of harm in shooting new paint when it's partially cured. Keep some clean cloth rags handy and remove any dust that might have settled on your piece whilst curing. If you're able to, dampen the floor of the painting room so any overspray paint dust doesn't get circulated into the air and contaminate your work. Clean is awesome.

http://www.hipshotproducts.com/cart.php?m=...etail&p=177 What does the .125 signify? They also do them in .175 if that sheds any more light.... Sorry to start what will be a very short thread. Lock away when we have a result if needs be :-)

UPDATE: Installed tuners onto the head. Last week, I did the inlaying. CLICKY CLICKY

40 coats!! That's one deep-fried bass, man.

I have the "make your guitar play great" and it's worth it for reference on the things you know, and there's always plenty of info which gives you ideas for yourself also. I presume the fretwork book is equally as useful. I'd say go for it.

Moikka Rista - that's awesome work man :-)

I presume the clamping should be maintained only for the duration of the adhesive "grabbing" and left to it's own devices under no extra pressures whilst it cures.

Yeah - that thing is just RIDICULOUS. That and the fret bender as well. I mean, a piece of solid material, two bearings and a crank!! Stupid stupid stupid. I bet you that Dan Erlewine doesn't actually use half the tools Stewmac make him out to use as well.

Glue it, try and find something else to do (like go buy tools and stuff!) whilst it's clamped. I've found that eating or going to work is a sufficient enough interlude after the glueing process :-)

I agree Postal - some things are unique and worth the convenience/expense but the kits are too padded with stuff, ie. high margin items. Some tools do the job so well, they're worth the extra expense but as anything goes, you're mileage may vary. I just bought the fret slotting mitre box and a couple of scale rules. If they save me one or two f'ed up boards from silly mistakes, then I'm more than happy with the expense. I think it comes down to balancing "investment" vs. "expense" in real brass tack terms.

Totally. The old shortcut to removing earth hum was to remove the earth connection at the power socket which means any fault that develops in the equipment can result in HT voltage on the instrument. Oochy ouchy!! Plus the thing tend to be strapped to your body at the time!! That's like, an electric chair in a different form...

I guess it would work if they used bars instead of pole pieces. The resonant peak would probably be totally different to a bass pickup maybe. Consider that the EMG35 housing is the same as used for EMG707 and EMG7-81s, and you get the idea that they need to be a bit bigger for bass perhaps. No idea to be honest. What was you thinking of?