Axes and Axes and a Shovel

Different Type of Axe

NEW OLD BASS

Axes are all sharp as you'd expect and the newest is a different breed completely! Ness suddenly decided she was going to take up the bass guitar after a gap of of about 25 years. I think everyone's needed something different during the Lock-Up, as I like to call it, over the winter. So we went Axe hunting on the internet, eBay, Gum Tree, Craigs List, FB and all the ones she liked, mostly cherry red, were vintage and £450 minimum!  I said bit of an expensive new hobby specially as it might not really have been played a great deal - Ness is so deaf she seems to feel music through vibration and Jimi Hendrix is her hero - perhaps it's the loud full of life sounds.  Eventually she put up a 'wanted' post on our local Epping Forest Freegle and after about six weeks a bloke got in touch from Loughton saying he'd bought a bass brand around 1975-80 in Romford, played it twice, decided it wasn't for him and, of all places, it was stored in the airing cupboard!

 

 I went that afternoon to collect and as Ness said it's FAB - one of her favourite colours, Surf Green, full length neck very banana shaped but otherwise looking brand new in a professional gig bag.  It's a JD Vintage made in China with a full length neck. 

      

 

 Next I made a neck support, got the allen keys out and adjusted the truss rod. Can't remember the amount it move but it was a lot!

I found after fiddling with truss rod that the nut was completely rubbish so ordered a new on from eBay.  That took about two weeks to arrive and someone was getting a bit impatient!

Then after a quick strum we both thought that the airing cupboard had caused the neck to shrink quite a bit so a fret file was essential and again eBay came in very handy!  That arrived in a couple of days but filing the frets took over the kitchen table for quite a while rather than the workshop because I wanted to watch Ronnie playing snooker!

The frets were a pain in the proverbial but I got them done and it sounded great - absolutely brilliant through the amplifier or accoustic.  Really got a great bass sound but Ness decided something else was needed...

All the bits and bobs here and neck resting in the support - good job I made that straight away - made everything much easier.

She wanted flat wounds!   

So again another bit of online shopping.  We tried some that were cheapies at around £16 for a set - seemed all right until I tuned it up then the blooming things unwound and we even had a snappage.  that really bothered me - I didn't want to be cut by a string and I certainly didn't want Ness playing until I was sure I'd got a safe set.  We had 3 sets from the same company but eventually enough was enough - you only get what you pay for so I stumped up the £35 odd quid to different shop.  they were great and I must admit flat wounds are very good to play.

The upshot of all this is Ness is gonna be a Rock Chick at 60 if she gets a chance to strum because I've decided it's mine now and I love the sound and play every evening!

Just a link to something else Ness liked the Shovel Guitar 

 

 

 I've been so busy in Lock-Up my feet haven't touched the ground - just looking forward to going out and seeing folks a bit more and plenty of chat!  making loads of stuff in the workshop and you can see some of it here in Treewrights Shop

More soon - Robin....