Seafoam Green Pazz Bass, an occasional series

[amigarobbo]

Yes, only with better skillz.*

[Random picture of Swedish singer Robyn holding a guitar]

* Not.

 

[amigarobbo]

They all hide it in the exchange rate, then some charge 3%, the difference is the seller not the buyer pays for Paypal fees.

True, but to varying degrees. According to xe.com, today's 'actual' $-£ rate is 1.30438 - Paypal will charge you at 1.259 and Mastercard 1.3013 (+ a transaction charge if your card issuer levies one). This means that my $500 purchase today would cost me £397.14 via Paypal or £384.22 with my Mastercard. Admittedly not a life changing difference but I'd still rather have that £13 ($17) in my bank if I'm not getting anything extra for it.

[edit]: Based on today's rates, this makes Paypal's fee to the buyer about 3.5%

The actual rate I was charged is on my on line statement, USD 558.75 @1.2952 Visa Rate, I think the actual XE.com rate was about 1.30 USD to UKP when this went through.

I've just checked paypal,  1 GBP = 1.26249  USD the exchange may been now be 1.31, but it looks like you were right,
I'm surprised the Visa rate was that good.

I should really work out which is the better when I order from the USA,  :icon_scratch:

 

[amigarobbo]

Anyway, enough of the spreadsheet stuff.

I still thinking about the controls, I've always hankered after stack knob with a volume and tone for each pickup, but I've also always liked no-load tone controls, if I go the 3 way route I can have a P-bass volume control with a push pull to set the the P pickup to series or parallel*, the J volume to put both of the pickups into series for a no-nonsense loud thick sound, and a no-load tone for tone for maximum clang.  :headbang:

Also I've recived notification that the neck and body been sent, and are now in the UK  :bananaguitar: I'll probably get a nice letter off UK customs telling me how to pay them this week. Incidentally that M*sikraft neck I ordered on the 15th of May is still in 'Sent to Paint shop' Order Status . Just sayin'


*I've just been messing about with a Shergold Marathon which has P style pickup in parallel and I really dig the almost Rickenbacker hollowness** to the sound, well, like a cross between a single pickup Rickenbacker a P bass.

** Like an amplified plastic drain pipe is the best description I've heard of the Rickenbacker 4001 sound.  :icon_thumright:

 

[amigarobbo]

Neck's turned up, still waiting on the body.

Unfortunately I'll have to pay separate a Custom Duty (£7.51) and Clearance Fee (£11.25) on the body. As the neck and body are sent separately  :icon_scratch: Hmm.. If I'm ordering two big items I'll go for UPS not USPS. They charge more at customs but you only get charged once.

Anyway, nuff' whinging, the third picture is show in the Custom T body, just for scale, that neck is not for this body...  ccasion14: It doesn't quite match.

The finish is very thin, that's a good thing.  :turtle: and I like the smooth feel of the Pau Ferro, this one really does look like rosewood.  That's a good thing. In this case.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[Cagey]

The last time I shipped something down under, the difference in cost between UPS or FedEx and the USPS was huge. Like double. Also, UPS and FedEx only cover $200 in loss unless you buy additional insurance, while the USPS covers your declared value. I'm generally not impressed with the USPS, but when shipping overseas I can't see using anything else. It scares me a bit because they seem to be especially brutal package handlers, but you can compensate in packaging and the stuff's insured, so it works.

 

[amigarobbo]

Actually the USA to UK sending prices are about the same,

I've just had a quick go, a bass neck and body:

METHOD RATE
UPS Worldwide Saver $119.02
USPS Priority Intl $107.25

 

[Cagey]

I was talking about Australia, but I've seen huge differences to other destinations as well. England is not so bad, but I imagine there are some economies of scale involved. I'd guess there's quite a bit of stuff traveling between here and there, and once it gets there how much farther would it have to go? On the other hand, Australia is sorta like Canada, in that you have a huge land mass with a relatively small population spread out pretty thin. Getting there is only half the battle. Once you're there, you still have some major logistics issues getting to the final destination and there's not much else going to the same place to share trip costs with.

 

[amigarobbo]

I've just had another delivery! (well, I actually had to go down the road  to pick it up, but anyway...)

No, not that!

Nice! Looks slight less blue and more green in real life, you can even see the effect on the iPhones screen when you're taking the pictures.

 

[amigarobbo]

I think gold would be washed out by specific shade of turquoise, or teal or whateva, chrome seems to be the best bet,

I've also compared to to my gold hardware Wudtone strat, I think the gold works with the deeper green on that, but not on the bass.


I think I'm overthinking this.  :turtle:  :laughing7:

 

[Hendrix]

The only thing putting me off is the fact I've already used Alumitones in two builds, they're great pickups, but I don't like to get stereotyped.

Although I have just found out you can set the P pickup to series/parallel this provides options,  :icon_thumright:

if you want  chrome look , I think about spray paint the pickup cover with chrome spray paint.

 

[amigarobbo]

I must admit I'm leaning towards the Alumitones, I've also been looking at the the stocked volume tones, and it looks theres quite a bit of interaction between the controls, and it's not ideal, so I'm going back to a trad 3 knobs version.

With push-pull options a'plenty! (one on the P-bass pickup to put the P-pickup into parallel, and one on the J-pickup to series both pickups for maximum output), and a no-load tone control for maximum non-tone rolloff)

Shame I'm so poor I can't afford to progress with this...

Back to hibernation mode...

 

[amigarobbo]

Temporary wake up,

I've decided to go for these tuners:

I was quite tempted to get a Badass style bridge, specifically the Fender take on it, which I believe is slight heavier and more rounded than the ye olde Badass II, but I've been over listening to these,

[youtube]lzUD9rO61M8[/youtube]

[youtube]p7raZQIlzrQ[/youtube]

I like the clang of the Badass, but I like the deep, deep bass of the Babicz.  :icon_thumright:

Now to find someplace to get them cheap.  :icon_scratch:

And instead of the Chrome Paisley, how about some of this Op-art eye bending beauty?

???

back to sleep now..

 

[amigarobbo]

Right Lollipop tuners bought and fitted, not 100% straight, but I never seem to quite get it quite right.. c.f. the fretless T-bass ones, always just a tinsy-winsy bit off. Anyway.. Here's the circuit diagrams I'll try and blend together to get the switching configs I want..

I think I can get my head around combining the two, only thing that's confusing me is that the signal on the P-bass schematics goes to the outside lug and out from the centre and the Jazz goes to the centre lug and out from the outside lug. And it's all P/Jazz schematics. 

I'm still trying to get my brain around if that matters or not.  :icon_scratch:

 

[Fat Pete]

If you're not using a selector switch, you need to wire the volumes like the Jazz because otherwise they'll work interactively - turning one pot right down will kill both pups.

 

[amigarobbo]

Oh, right, that's how it works is it?

I shall go for the Jazz bass lug arrangement. Thanks for that.

Slight update, my DVD clear out on eBay went better than expected, I've ordered a Babicz bridge, Lace P and J pickups from the USA.

Gotoh tuners with the lollipops fitted! A bit heavy, but that's what you get for going for the retro look and being too much of a tightwad to get the low weight ones. (Just as an aside I put some Gotoh lightweights on the fretless Custom T bass and there's a whopping great deadspot on the 9th fret semitone on the G string)

Also got a neckplate, really couldn't think of anything better, I hope the word 'Technically' makes it funnier.  :turtle:

 

[Cagey]

Foam green makes more sense anyway. Who's ever seen a sea foam that color? Maybe in Mexico, where there's no EPA, if they had a sea, but otherwise...

 

[rgand]

Nice. Well, what kind of foam is it, then? Leaves more to the imagination. :icon_biggrin:

 

[amigarobbo]

Actually, I don't think Dupont called them anything, well just things like "2253L" but Buick called it Foam green,

as did Fender, err sometimes,

http://www.vintageguitar.com/24640/fender-custom-colors-in-the-1960s/  :icon_scratch:



"So what was the colour of the car that you hit you?"
"Bittersweet"

 

[Cagey]

Man, they really had some ugly car colors back then.

 

[rgand]

That Apricot would look good on... well... nothing! :icon_biggrin: