Matt's soapbox http://www.wheeee.org Sat, 10 May 2008 02:18:42 +0100 I hope not all in one sitting :)

I am in need of a disgustingly large tin, perhaps one in which some chocolates or cookies were once contained. The tin should be at least 10" in diameter and 6" deep, but the bigger the better. Been eyeing up the 2.75kg Roses tin:



Anyone have something like this lying around? I'd like to reassure you that I am in no way interested in your chocolates/cookies, just the tin :) http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=660 Wed, 7 May 2008 09:24:14 +0100 Yes, I know. I've been a bad boy. I can't say I've been lazy, more ... distracted. OK, OK - the painting got boring and I shelved it.

After guilt kicked in (some people on the bass forum Basschat (http://www.basschat.co.uk (linky)) were asking what was happening with it) I got going again. In my defence, I had primed the face of the headstock and my sister currently has it in her possession.

Well, the painting went poorly - I started brush painting this before I discovered a place where I could spray paint and it was brush mark city :(

That was until I discovered wet sanding. Wet sanding is ace for many reasons, but the main ones are

- You can sand in your living room without dust going everywhere
- You can wash out your sandpaper to stop it clogging
- It gives a much smoother finish in my opinion.
- It's quicker too

Well, here she is so far:




I've done the back and sides, the edges are proving a little more tricky, I've sanded through in a couple of places, so they might need a touch up then re-sanding.

Still, I thought it was high time I got on with this - the last time I did anything was January. Oops. http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=659 Mon, 5 May 2008 23:46:49 +0100 Hello from Windows Vista land. I've rigged up a test computer and I'm checking Vista out. So far it's been... annoying. http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=658 Thu, 1 May 2008 08:50:23 +0100 I popped up a Feugh Fest 2008 logo on my site last night, so it would be an idea to explain why.

Feugh Fest is a 1 day music festival being held in Banchory, which is not too far from Aberdeen. Basically there'll be music, food, booze and camping if you would like to crash over.

Music comes courtesy of

The Brand New Heavies
Sandi Thom
Bad Manners
Popup
aka-SKA

and many more.

A mere £40 for a whole day of musical shennanigans! Go to the site for more info - http://www.feughfest.com (linky) http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=657 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:20:11 +0100 Started work on the neck, basically the beginning of the conversion from 6 strings to 5. Chipped off the nut, then got to work on filling holes:





Got a flush cut saw arriving tomorrow so I can chop those dowels to size:



The veneers arrived the other day, so I'll be able to crack on quite quickly with this :) http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=656 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:46:53 +0100 Been a while since I did any updates on this project. First off, the name. I have decided to call it the "Zebrano Wideboy 5". The body is Zebrano (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebrawood (linky)), it's going to be a 5 string bass, and it's a "Wideboy" because it will have a wide neck, taken from a 6 string bass and customised. Or it's a dishonest trader who works by guile. Maybe the Zebrano will distract from my playing skills ;)

Well, the donor 6 string arrived last week - a cheapy eBay special called a "Harper SB-180". Got it for £120 delivered - less than some 4 string necks on their own.



Anyway, it's been butchered and the neck + body looks like this:



The next steps are to doctor the neck. The steps are as follows:

1) Replace the nut with a 5 string. Will need to be made from scratch. Got a Tusq (man-made ivory substitute) nut blank ordered.

2) Sand off finish on front and back of headstock, plug the existing tuner holes with hardwood dowel, flatten down. Dowels ordered.

3) Apply zebrano veneer to the front of the headstock, maple veneer to the back to cover up the hole filling. Veneers ordered. Perhaps take the time to work in a logo of some sort, maybe inlay the zebrano with some spare maple veneer?

4) Mark and drill the holes for the 5 replacement tuners.

5) Make a nice cover for the truss rod adjustment holes, the existing one is a crappy bit of plastic.

Some interesting work ahead. http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=655 Fri, 25 Apr 2008 10:06:39 +0100 Thanks a lot for the mounting screws ...

Oh well, it's another piece of the puzzle I suppose. http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=654 Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:15:15 +0100 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7364422.stm (linky)

The first blow against punitive bank charges, a palpable hit! http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=653 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:51:50 +0100 Finishing continues on the Hagstrom neck. There's 3 or 4 layers of lacquer on it now and it's starting to impart a healthy glow to the wood.




This week I hope to complete the respraying of the neck (2 more all over then building up the front of the headstock so I can bury the Hagstrom logo in the finish). After that, there are some issues to solve on the body (a couple of broken screws in screw holes to extract somehow) before I can begin to refinish the body. http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=652 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:47:14 +0100 When: Saturday 26th April 2008
Where: Cafe Drummond, Belmont Street, Aberdeen
Doors open: 8pm
Door tax: 3 pounds



Look, it's a ska band! Everybody skank! http://www.wheeee.org/main.php?i=651