Hello from the Deep South.

Hi Guys,

My Name is Dan I'm new to the Forum. I'm a 57 year old ex Bass Player, unable to continue gigging due to family and Shift Work commitments. (almost killed when I fell asleep driving home from a Gig).... I sold my working Bass, a Musicman Stingray Five a long time ago and miss it immensely. I kept my amp, however and my Ibanez Musician Fretless which I bought New in '82. I have also owned a Fender USA (they all were back then) Jazz Bass, which at times was fitted with a Tom Anderson Fretless Neck. (love that Jaco Sound)....

I've been admiring Pitbull Basses (and guitars) for a while now and although many hints were dropped prior to Christmas, there was none to be found under the tree this year. I did, however acquire a Squier P Bass which will be receiving some upgrades in the near future.

I look forward to checking out further your build threads and discussions. Night shifts can be pretty handy there....

Cheers,
Dan.

Welcome Dan.

Welcome Dan, given we are a very global community here which deep south are you in

Oops.....

I'm from Hobart in Tassie... Tasmania for those offshore of the great Land of OZ......

Welcome Dan. Plenty of kits to pick from where the hardest decision will be which one to start first. If you are into fretless there are a few recently introduced ones worth having a look at otherwise plenty more fretted 4, 5 and 6 string versions too.

Thanks, it's nice to know that way local advice can be given and the rest of us can stay out of the way

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Welcome Dan. Plenty of kits to pick from where the hardest decision will be which one to start first. If you are into fretless there are a few recently introduced ones worth having a look at otherwise plenty more fretted 4, 5 and 6 string versions too.

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Thanks Waz...... Got my Eye on the IB5. Unless a MM5 comes along. Fretted, though, there are too many limitations on where a Fretless suits.... so one is enough.... for now.. :)

Hi Dan, Welcome to the forum...order a kit and re-kindle that love;)

Hi Dan welcome to the forum. I've built a PBH-4, IB-5 and IB-6S and they are all fun to play. Ask any questions you have and order a kit so you can start your new obsession haha

Welcome Dan, great to have another Taswegian here! I was starting to feel lonely!!

Plenty of IB5 build threads to look up for guidance and inspiration. Nice axe and keen to see how things pan out.

Welcome Dan

You Guys are right about the popularity of the IB5. I was on the Pitbull website last night and noticed that they had sold out, so if I do manage to scrape the funds together I will have to wait until May.

I do, however, find myself asking the question, "what new kits might arrive in the May Shipment????"

The mind boggles, doesn't it???

Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what surprises the boys at PB have in store for us???

Maybe more of the others that have also sold out too?

Hi Dan, there are a lot of cool bass players on this forum that are only too willing to help when you make your first plunge

I have noticed the large percentage of Bass Players / Builders.....

Usually the Bass Players/Builders have been in the minority. Might just be a few more Bass builds on the go at the moment.

Funny thing is, now I have a JB5 on the way, my sights have turned to a STA1 for my Daughter. Its about time she started a collection..... Might need DB to knock me up a nice Turquoise or Aqua Blue....

something like this perhaps?

Attachment 17321

Yes Waz, very much like that.....
I'm thinking of the Ocean for inspiration. Yours has that in spades. I'll probably finish it off with Gold Hardware and a pearl pickguard.....
Gotta start saving my pennies all over again...

Hard to get Turquoise colour and this is pretty close but leaning more towards aqua.

Ended up using Cyan Ink Jet ink diluted down, 4 parts water to 1 part ink from memory and with using Tru Oil as the top coat added a slight greenish tinge from the natural light amber tones inherent in TO. Clear poly or acrylic may have kept more of the aqua look but had plenty of TO at the time that needed to be used.

Very close to what I want, maybe a touch brighter. Would that mean less ink?

Yeah, just a bit more water to dilute things a smidge.

These were the colour test strips with one coat of TO....
Attachment 17325Attachment 17326

Far RHS shot is 1 part ink to 5 parts water.

The red in the timber takes away a lot of the blue, is it possible to bleach or limewash the timber first. Maybe fill first so you don't lose the grain. Even maybe a red fill to pop that grain a little more...
Dunno, I'm new at this...

What timber do you intend to use?

Above samples were done on standard green shed pine plywood which is closest match to basswood. Ash & Alder are different colours where Ash can display a slight pinkish tinge and Alder has a bit more of a red hue.

Experimenting on pine helps to differentiate the different sample strengths and when moving on to the actual timber body best to apply a small bit of colour in the neck pocket rout or PUP routs being areas that will be covered up to see how it looks and what adjustments might need to be made to the brew.

On my 5 builds only one has come out close to what I was after and that was the Red J Bass but still had to make adjustments on the run where 2nd stain coat needed to be a fraction deeper in colour. Sometimes the unexpected surprises grow on you and has others commenting how good it looks when in fact it was nothing like how you may have envisaged. Practice makes a huge difference and helps you to understand what ratios of each part affects the end result.