A little TLC goes a long way

[JIO]

Nice save, G! Well done.
Especially like all the headstock accents (baby, panda, crown.) Were those done by you or the niece?
Regardless, major props to you.

I put on the stick-ons and wrote "Baby" with a silver paint pen. I figured if she wanted to take the stickers off she could (she's 14) but she might like them as she's fond of big stuffed animals and all things sparkly.

 

[JIO]

Oh yeah, I'm not saying the tone of basswood is bad. I just have had a few times where a bass just barely tips over on my rack and then puts a small ding in an adjacent basswood instrument. It was always my P with an ashtray that was the culprit (the ashtray would make the dings) until I learned to stick it on the far edge of my rack away from everything else. That never happened to my ash or alder instruments, meaning they were hit by the same tipping instrument but nothing ever happened to them.

Still, it sucks that something small like that would put noticeable dings on an instrument. I actually don't have any basswood guitars anymore but yeah.

Anyway, very cool project! You turned that into an even better player for her. The pickup alone is going to take that thing to a whole new level. I'm sure she'll love it.

The bass has a few small dings but otherwise is in pretty good shape. Fretboard needed some cleaning, which made me smile because it shows it's being played! Once I visit I'll key her in to basic maintenance of her 'baby'.

 

[TheLowEndMedic]

Great story, I love stuff like this!

Not to thread jack, but I have a similar story. I have a young student (just turned 12) who really loves playing bass. He was playing on a dean starter bass that he really beat up (wasn't particularly fantastic to begin with). I had an older Squier jazz bass that someone gave me as my first bass lying around. I cleaned it up, adjusted the truss rod, bridge, saddles, put a fresh set of My favorite La Bella tapewounds and a Gruv Gear fretwrap on it, and gave it to him for his birthday. He was so psyched! I signed my name on it, and told him that when he got older and got some better gear, he had to sign his name and pass it on to the next young kid who was just starting out.

 

[JIO]

Great story, I love stuff like this!

Not to thread jack, but I have a similar story. I have a young student (just turned 12) who really loves playing bass. He was playing on a dean starter bass that he really beat up (wasn't particularly fantastic to begin with). I had an older Squier jazz bass that someone gave me as my first bass lying around. I cleaned it up, adjusted the truss rod, bridge, saddles, put a fresh set of My favorite La Bella tapewounds and a Gruv Gear fretwrap on it, and gave it to him for his birthday. He was so psyched! I signed my name on it, and told him that when he got older and got some better gear, he had to sign his name and pass it on to the next young kid who was just starting out.

Thanks for your story - like you offered for your student with the sign & pass-on bass, I'd like to hear other stories of related encouragement to aspiring players (of any age!) If you think about it, look how many people who couldn't play an instrument joined bands through the punk movement. Some actually became serious musicians! So point is that there's many ways one can be drawn to our devotion of bass playing!

 

[jamro217]

God Bless You. What a great thing to do. If everybody in the world was as kind as you, it'd be a much better place. Now, if all the basses in the world were as pitiful as that Bronco was in its original state, we'd all be miserable indeed.

 

[JIO]

God Bless You. What a great thing to do. If everybody in the world was as kind as you, it'd be a much better place. Now, if all the basses in the world were as pitiful as that Bronco was in its original state, we'd all be miserable indeed.

Thanks to all, but I'm feeling undeserving of such praise - I mean, like @InLeoWeTrust pointed out, I had fun with the modding challenge of gilding a lily! (I can say that being a gilder!) So I got something out of it also! When I first heard she wanted to play our chosen instrument, I was happy but had a wait-and-see reserve. She could easily change her mind once getting into it at her age - and that would be perfectly understandable. So as time went on (19 months now) and after taking lessons she was accepted to play in her school Jazz band. That's when I knew she was 'one of us'.

No one made me play bass, I was to only one in my family to play an instrument. I wanted to be part of the music I was hearing as an early teen on the radio and frankly I chose bass because it was bigger than a guitar and only had 4 strings! Her family is the same - no players, and she chose to play bass. That is what it's all about!

 

[jamro217]

Thanks to all, but I'm feeling undeserving of such praise - I mean, like @InLeoWeTrust pointed out, I had fun with the modding challenge of gilding a lily! (I can say that being a gilder!) So I got something out of it also! When I first heard she wanted to play our chosen instrument, I was happy but had a wait-and-see reserve. She could easily change her mind once getting into it at her age - and that would be perfectly understandable. So as time went on (19 months now) and after taking lessons she was accepted to play in her school Jazz band. That's when I knew she was 'one of us'.

No one made me play bass, I was to only one in my family to play an instrument. I wanted to be part of the music I was hearing as an early teen on the radio and frankly I chose bass because it was bigger than a guitar and only had 4 strings! Her family is the same - no players, and she chose to play bass. That is what it's all about!

We're not taking it back now that everybody read it. Besides, when did a bassist ever get too much positive recognition? Oh, that must be it...conditioned reflex.

 

[JIO]

I forgot about this poem the Ginny (Virginia) wrote for her Jazz band. I found it looking for a vid of her a couple lessons in. I'll post once I figure out how to do that!

BASS

The smooth cool neck the highstrung strings

playing softly in my room as I sigh and yell at

the sheet music I can't figure out


The funky bass lines I learn after many errors

The repetitive rhythmic notes, and the

satisfaction as I hit the right note


Cautiously setting down, but always falls

Leaving me in a furry of apologies and

yelps of pain

The mixture of sweat and blood on my

fingers as I hold the fretts down


The bass is like a timer

Most people think the drummer keeps the time,

but the bass can speed and slow the beat

Without a good bass line the song isn't

catchy


Bass the seemingly invisible player behind the band

But one of the most important

 

[Imaginary Pony]

Great Story.
"Nobody puts Baby in the dumpster!"

 

[zontar]

I put on the stick-ons and wrote "Baby" with a silver paint pen. I figured if she wanted to take the stickers off she could (she's 14) but she might like them as she's fond of big stuffed animals and all things sparkly.

I was going to ask if you did that--it certainly sounds like it's much better now.

 

[Brundlefly]

Great Story.
"Nobody puts Baby in the dumpster!"

LOL! Classic!

 

[ZenG]

My gf's niece is a young aspiring bass-player. Her parents started her out on a Squier Bronco Affinity series (CII). She is 5'2" (full height-so petite) and the bass is a very light 6 lb short-scale so it was a perfect starter bass for her. It developed a problem electronically and the store where it was purchased just refunded $200 and didn't want the bass back. Apparently to them it wasn't worth fixing and was disposable. They are in Portland and I'm in the bay area SF, so I found her a new Squier SS Jag P/J on-line for a good price and they ordered it for her. She's over the hump of it being a novelty and is serious about playing so it's a nice incentive to own/play a nicer instrument. Remember your second bass and how much better it was?

Anyway, I offered to get "Baby" (her name for the Bronco) working so she'd have a back-up and they shipped it to me. Turns out the ground wire on the jack was dislodged due to a loose nut - so an easy fix. Speaking of "crafted", the jack spun loose because it never had a lock-ring installed from the Indonesian factory. (!) After installing one and while I was at it, I looked through my bin and discovered I had some nice upgrade parts for Baby. The Bronco pu is a wht Strat pu (smooth cover/6 poles) and I had a Seymour Duncan Bassline single to install, which fit w/o modification. The Bronco bridge is a crappy 2 saddle "vintage" type which I removed and installed a standard bent-plate/threaded saddle Fender bridge. Better side-to-side alignment was achieved and besides, you couldn't 3-point tune the original if you tried - 2 saddle bridges were replaced by 4 saddle bridges for a reason. I also had a set of small plate open-gear clovers (like on Fender Aerodynes) to replace the cheapo boxed-gear/small keys. Needed to drill the tiny tuner pole holes larger, but once done - much better looking and better working. Along with the size, the body is why it's so light - the wood is very soft and screw holes are easily stripped. But aside from that, the neck (1 piece maple w/skunk stripe) is like any other inexpensive maple neck - decent enough to adjust and play. So once 'hot-rodded', and after tweeking the neck and setting the action (new strings are ordered and on the way) - it sounds/plays like any good (ss) P-bass.

So to some disposable, but with a bit of TLC - a bass perfectly suited for keeping the flame alive in a young players heart!

Yes...this Fender bridge looks like a good option....because the string spacing is adjustable.....

I might give this one a go instead of the Schaller......on the Schaller Roller bridge the intonation screws have limited travel......

 

[BTL]

Great Story.
"Nobody puts Baby in the dumpster!"

I was sooo looking forward to posting that...

Great story, JIO...

 

[JIO]

Yes...this Fender bridge looks like a good option....because the string spacing is adjustable.....

I might give this one a go instead of the Schaller......on the Schaller Roller bridge the intonation screws have limited travel......

Yes, it works well for spacing and is cheap. The Schaller is a bit more but a fair price for such a well designed bridge. They should have sufficient travel for most applications - I've used them on a couple of my builds. The spacer/riser option is another nice feature.

 

[ZenG]

JIO.....no problems with string height on that Fender bridge?

Enough "up and down" travel on saddle to get whatever's required on the Bronco?

 

[JIO]

JIO.....no problems with string height on that Fender bridge?

Enough "up and down" travel on saddle to get whatever's required on the Bronco?

It was easy to 3-point intune it - pretty much a drop-in (much improved) replacement. If you look at the pic on page 1 of the bridge - you can see the indent of the stock bridge at the top left corner.

 

[ZenG]

I didn't mean saddle travel lengthways ......I meant being able to adjust string height (distance from fret to string) and having plenty of adjustment room up and down (vertically) to do that.....

No "bottom -outs' of saddle touching bottom of mounting plate before correct height is attained (vertically).....

if you get what I mean......

I just ordered one off the net so I guess I'll find out eventually anyhow......

 

[JIO]

I didn't mean saddle travel lengthways ......I meant being able to adjust string height (distance from fret to string) and having plenty of adjustment room up and down (vertically) to do that.....

No "bottom -outs' of saddle touching bottom of mounting plate before correct height is attained (vertically).....

if you get what I mean......

I just ordered one off the net so I guess I'll find out eventually anyhow......

I set it up for a nice string-height over the board. Not super low - but very comfortable. As you can see in that same pic, saddle adjustment screws are even with tops (so adjusting lower is still available) and the G-string is set lower but still not bottomed out.

 

[JIO]

Update: Here's a pic of Ginny posing with "Baby". I also set up her (all black) ss Squier Jag with DiAddario flats and adjusted the 3-point tuning on the bridge - all the while having her witnessing it and helping to do it so she knows how to in the future. With 2 basses we are working on a trilogy of Henry Mancini soundtrack songs; "The Pink Panther Theme", "A Shot in the Dark", and "Experiment in Terror" - fun!

 

[JIO]

…and on the SS Squier Jag on Dec 25th - Merry Christmas!