Aspies For Freedom

Hi everyone! Happy New Year to you all!

Well, finally managed to get a better-sounding 4-string Precision Bass recently (in August). It's got better flatwound strings which are very smooth and a lot easier for my fingers to handle. I use this one to play/practice a lot of melodic rock, jazz and 70s disco bass tunes, and as a solo melody-line instrument.

And - guess what - I now also finally have my very own 5-string Squier Precision Bass! I got this one just a couple of days after Christmas and I use this one for slap-bass as well as for the lower B-string notes (it has roundwound strings but sounds very funky). I also use this one as a solo melody-line instrument.

I really love using these two bass guitars very much. I'm looking at playing bass soon for any local live family/community entertainment activity that needs a bass guitarist and find that these two will come very handy indeed (along with a Topaz Jazz Bass that I also have in my collection).

Cheers,
Steven.

Not bad at all, however you can get a much better instrument by building it yourself from parts. Whenever you feel the need to get another Bass guitar, you might want to take a look at what's available here:
http://www.warmoth.com/

I'm currently waiting on an older multifex processor to add to my guitar rig, and old Bogen tubePA amp to convert into a practice amp, and a Celestion speaker that will return my 22 year old amp back to stock. --I may also get an old Ampeg V-4 chassis to restore as well.

more bassists... yay

I'm running a crate 220W 15 inch combo, and an Ibanez Ergodyne. much fun. great for metal, although it's not a traditional "metal" sound.

now, to make you jealous...

I'm partway through building one from scratch. Maple/black walnut thru-neck, ebony board, crotch figured black walnut top and back, walnut body wing cores. 4 string, 36 inch scale, wide string spread. Bartolini J at the bridge, Kent Armstrong P in the middle position. unique body shape. right now, it's all glued together and ready to be cut down into a bass. also, the truss rod and carbon fibre reinforcement rod channels are cut, and the wiring routing is started.

I'm actually a guitar player. Though right now I'm not playing much currenly, as Amp one (Seymour Duncan 100 watt Convertable)  just malfunctioned, and needs to be taken in for servicing. -- I think it may be the power tubes.

Amp two (Bogen CHB-35 PA amp) arrived on my doorstep DOA. I pulled it apart and and noticed it had incorrect preamp tubes, a loose output transformer, and most likely dead power tubes as well. There was a scorched smell inside the chassis, though al the electrolytic caps seem to be fine with no leakage or blistering. Also, the inputs need to be converted to .25" tiprings, and will most likely need tonestack modification. The clips that I've heard of these yeilded up a tone quite similar to a real plexi panel Marshall though with a tad more bass and gain.
--I'd do all the work myself if it wasn't for the fact that I'm useless with a soldering iron.

Nice. Is it going to be a bolt on neck, or are you going to use neck through construction? I currently have two pieces of 8 quarter honduras mahogany that will become a guitar body at some point.

neck through. got to hold it today, out of the clamps. it feels like a bass, albeit a REALLY heavy one. balances nicer than the one I'm using now, but more than half the wood is going to removed yet, so that may be subject to change.

advice for the guitar body build thing:
-plan. lots. you're an aspie, so I don't need to stress this as much as with an NT, but remember that a poor plan well executed still looks bad, while a good plan inexpertly done looks good anyway.
-a good place for information/how-to type things is http://www.projectguitar.com . I'd recommend browing the forums for a bit too.
good luck when you do it.

Thanks for the info, I havn't seen that forum before. --I've only been to one other guitar forum.

The guitar that I plan to build will follow gibson specs as far as the neck attachment, peghead angle, and scale length. I'll probably have the neck made separately by a luthier, as I still feel uncomfortable with trussrods, fretboard radiusing/mounting/fretting. --My skill levels are not currently up to doing that.

As far as your bass is concerned, Maple and Black Wanut are quite heavy woods to work with, however with the woods that you are utilising you should get great sustain out of it.