Official TUNE Club

[Thonk]

Well i just could not resist the TWB-5 that got reduced to just £500! on another forum, "Paid the man took her home" as the saying goes.

After 30+ years she did need a bit of a deep clean and a re-oil/wax though! (the amount of crap that came out of the Koa grain was somewhat shocking) ..Im just waiting on some strings to arrive as this one is going E-C and i'll get around to CNC'ing some Mohgo/Ebony Dot top Knobs for it asap, more pix once she's up and playing

 

[deanb1043]

Nice! I have a similar 6 string!

 

[Thonk]

OK quick question for you guys (this might have been answered be here in the other 100 pages...im looking)

Has anyone replaced the bridge on their Tune 5'er with a narrower string spaced unit?

I don't mind 18mm as a rule but as this is getting strung E-C so id prefer something like 17mm or 16.5mm for it

Anyone have any recommendations for a drop in unit (im betting it's a big fat no )

I have one of these these guyker unit's on another bass and it will adjust to 17mm (need to check the screw spacing) but id prefer to not put such a cheap brdige £30 on such as Bass as a Tune..(that said they are solid nicely finished units for such a low price)

Cheers

 

[kodiakblair]

but id prefer to not put such a cheap brdige £30 on such as Bass as a Tune..(that said they are solid nicely finished units for such a low price)

Guyker hardware isn't cheap, price reflects their status as an off-brand.

Fender's Hi-Mass bridge is a copy of Leo Quan's Badass/Omega, Guyker's GB-506 is a variation having adjustable string spacing.

All 3 have die cast bases and saddle blocks and all 3 are manufactured by Sung IL in Korea.

Fender version costs £45, £40 for the Guyker yet over £100 for the Badass/Omega.

Difference here being Badass/Omega is an established aftermarket brand, using pricing to secure it's position as "a quality brand".


If you fancy pushing the boat out, £80 + shipping, ABM in Germany have some 'shop soiled' 3565g bridges on clearance.

Adjustable 16.5mm spacing, 24k gold plating on bell brass (same materials as the Tune bridge).

ABM 3565g16,5

ABM 3565g16,5 : Rollenreiter! Sehr solide Bauweise, starker Ton! Saitenabstand: 16,50mm. Material: Glocken-Messing. Finish: 24K Gold. Achtung: Es ...

abm-guitarpartsshop.com

 

[woodyng2]

Well i just could not resist the TWB-5 that got reduced to just £500! on another forum, "Paid the man took her home" as the saying goes.
After 30+ years she did need a bit of a deep clean and a re-oil/wax though! (the amount of crap that came out of the Koa grain was somewhat shocking) ..Im just waiting on some strings to arrive as this one is going E-C and i'll get around to CNC'ing some Mohgo/Ebony Dot top Knobs for it asap, more pix once she's up and playing
View attachment 7476132

Beautiful! Looking forward to the pics with the reunited neck!
Was the shim (if that’s what that is) already in the neck pocket?

 

[Thonk]

Beautiful! Looking forward to the pics with the reunited neck!
Was the shim (if that’s what that is) already in the neck pocket?

Still waitting on string for a final setup ...UK postal service is a bit of a joke atm (royal fail) string should have been delivered on friday but tracking isn't updating....

That is a shim, 0.6mm and i cut it to try because even with the saddle bottomed out the G String (soon to be a C) was about 3mm off the board at the 24th, not something i was expecting to see on such a well crafted instrument (it's not a relief issue as the neck is dead straight under tension)

I'll see how the shim goes with the E-C set, ireally dont want to do any reversible mods but the only other option(s) i can see are a bridge with a lower profile/thinner base plate, recessing the bridge into the body by a few mm, or milling some new lower profile saddles (with tighter spacing while im at it)

I'll pull & post some of the pre clean pics the seller posted.

Cheers

 

[Thonk]

Guyker hardware isn't cheap, price reflects their status as an off-brand.

Fender's Hi-Mass bridge is a copy of Leo Quan's Badass/Omega, Guyker's GB-506 is a variation having adjustable string spacing.

All 3 have die cast bases and saddle blocks and all 3 are manufactured by Sung IL in Korea.

Fender version costs £45, £40 for the Guyker yet over £100 for the Badass/Omega.

Difference here being Badass/Omega is an established aftermarket brand, using pricing to secure it's position as "a quality brand".


If you fancy pushing the boat out, £80 + shipping, ABM in Germany have some 'shop soiled' 3565g bridges on clearance.

Adjustable 16.5mm spacing, 24k gold plating on bell brass (same materials as the Tune bridge).

ABM 3565g16,5

ABM 3565g16,5 : Rollenreiter! Sehr solide Bauweise, starker Ton! Saitenabstand: 16,50mm. Material: Glocken-Messing. Finish: 24K Gold. Achtung: Es ...

abm-guitarpartsshop.com

thx, as i say i have a few guyker units on various guitars and basses and their Headless Hipshot full unit ripoff bass bridge is about 90% the quality of the HS, the only area that lets them down i think is the final finish, after just a few month use the finish is warring off on most of them, it's a common complaint in a lot of the feedback/reviews for this brand on Ali/Amazon etc...not that im that bothered about the finish for 75% cost saving!

I'll give the ABM a look thanks

EDIT: Took a Look at the ABM 3565g bridge and with a discount i snagged one for £65 (74 Euros) Shipoped ! Seems like a great buy so thanks again to @kodiakblair for the heads up,Pretty sure this will fix x2 of my issues, the string height/shim and allow for a narrower spacing, great

Pics incoming once it's here and installed

Cheers

 

[kodiakblair]

i snagged one for £65 (74 Euros) Shipoped !

That's brilliant.

Right glad I replied to your post

 

[Thonk]

That's brilliant.

Right glad I replied to your post

Again many thanks for the reply and recommendation on the ABM unit, i really hadn't given them a though simply because of the cost of getting one in the UK is crazy....dealer's here who carry their stock tend to add a 40-50% markup (well 70% when you add UK VAT) to what i consider to be an all ready expensive unit (yep no doubt they are solid and super well made and finished but when they cost 25% of the bass they are going on it can be a little off putting!)

So how does one get a Club Number/Badge ?

Been reading back though this very helpful thread and i thought id add to the clean re oil/finish posts...for me/myself and I i use hand sanitizer (mild some about 70% ISO) which i rubbing in with an old toothbrush, let it sit for a few mins to help break down the grime/oil and then i wipe off along the grain with bio degradable non scented/oiled baby wipes

Once all the gross stuff is off i re wipe with a baby wipe with sanitizer, then with just the baby wipe's till nothing is coming off the surface (that's the great thing about the wipes, they are white and do not scratch the surface at all) after that i use boiled linseed oil (which sits for 10 mins is wipped off, reapplied sits again for 10 mins them is wipped/buffed) and finishing wax which is buffed to a semi gloss, pretty standard for these non clear coated bodies.

i might be tempted to use some Osmo hard/poly wax in the future as im a sucker for a higher gloss finish/look on basses (anyone done such a mod?)

here you can see how dull the Koa top had become (no doubt some UV fade as well) and how much grime was in the grain.

the Mohog body wasn't quite as grimy but it still needed a few passes..ugh

BTW anyone know what this kanji (?) means ? it's in the well under the trussrod cover...i did ask an LLM/AI but it couldn't make out the txt due to the shadow (A.I. Will take over the world!) im pretty sure it's not just 14

Hopefully the sun will be out when my strings arrive tomorrow so i can get some pics, im itching to get this TUNE up and playing !

More updates once the new bridge it here and installed!

Cheers

 

[kodiakblair]

i really hadn't given them a though simply because of the cost of getting one in the UK is crazy.

Thanks to owning a few Peavey Cirrus basses ABM sit pretty high on my aftermarket bridge list

They're quite affordable too, official TUNE bridge costs $214 from WSC Music then you the 20% VAT and shipping.

I've bookmarked that Guyker bridge, it's a pretty nifty design, thanks for bring it to my attention

 

[djscax]

Now the Big question..

Does a Bass Maniac 6 Strings has ever existed?

I remember when I was a kid playing with my red Maniac 4 string looking at video on MTV feauturing a big funky bassist playing what could have been a red Maniac 6 strings..

is getting me crazy guys..remembering that player and that bass and still never having seen that kidn of instrument on the bay..(maybe it was a Zi Somnus?)

cheers

It took me "only" 10 yrs of searches to "buy" the answer:
It does! and it as expected it had a very tiny spacing compared to a TWB6..

See pics of the "new" Big brother with some of the little ones.. now the search for the medium brother (5 strings) has started.

 

[Thonk]

Beautiful! Looking forward to the pics with the reunited neck!
Was the shim (if that’s what that is) already in the neck pocket?

Took a few days longer than expected thanks to a bit of a pulled back muscle... but i got her re-stung this morning,

I was hopping it would be a simple restring and slight rod tweak but...Seems that who ever leveled the frets last missed a few spots, so rather than do a spot (which i find can be hit or miss) i decided to just level and redress the whole fretboard..2 hours later im So glad i did as now it's so buttery smooth ! you only have to look at a note to fret it!

pretty much what i wanted in this bass as it's for Tapping and chord/solo stuff, I'll still be swapping out the bridge for a tighter spacing, it's not like it's unplayable for this style atm but im just used to a slightly tighter spacing on my basses

Now this printed serial was rubbed off before i got it, Im going to see what it looks like under UV/blacklight later on to see if there is any trace of the missing front section.

Slight changes i have in mind (once i can get back into my workshop) is to make a set of Mohog/Ebony Konbs a Mohog/Ebony ramp & a Mohog replacement back plate because that sea of plastic is Fugly!

.Updates to all these things will be posted once action-ed

Cheers

 

[Thonk]

Wow fedex are on fire this week! x2 packages both deliver 5 days ahead of ETA!

ABM Bridge has arrived ,,,,,, (finger marks are mine...) the only thing i can see that might cause this to be classed as 2nd rate/B-Stock are the sight striations under the adjustable wheel (something you will not see under a string) it's a very nice unit.

Base is overall slightly smaller than the TUNE bridge but im hopping it should cover the default screw holes, we'll see.

Mapped out the rear plate in CAD (i stuck it to the monitor and traced the vector ) And did a test profile print oin my FDM printer before i cnc it...,I Need to tweak a few Radius/curve points but 95% there...I think i'll engrave the Center of the plate with the TUNE logo and Made it Japan Modded in England

I can throw up the 2d vector/DXF once its ready if anyone else needs it?

Laters

 

[woodyng2]

I love those ABM bridges.

 

[kodiakblair]

I love those ABM bridges.

Have a few of them myself.

 

[woodyng2]

Have a few of them myself.

View attachment 7480270

Love the top load design on these. Wish that Rickenbacker had used them…..

 

[Fillbinnzz]

Again many thanks for the reply and recommendation on the ABM unit, i really hadn't given them a though simply because of the cost of getting one in the UK is crazy....dealer's here who carry their stock tend to add a 40-50% markup (well 70% when you add UK VAT) to what i consider to be an all ready expensive unit (yep no doubt they are solid and super well made and finished but when they cost 25% of the bass they are going on it can be a little off putting!)

So how does one get a Club Number/Badge ?

Been reading back though this very helpful thread and i thought id add to the clean re oil/finish posts...for me/myself and I i use hand sanitizer (mild some about 70% ISO) which i rubbing in with an old toothbrush, let it sit for a few mins to help break down the grime/oil and then i wipe off along the grain with bio degradable non scented/oiled baby wipes

Once all the gross stuff is off i re wipe with a baby wipe with sanitizer, then with just the baby wipe's till nothing is coming off the surface (that's the great thing about the wipes, they are white and do not scratch the surface at all) after that i use boiled linseed oil (which sits for 10 mins is wipped off, reapplied sits again for 10 mins them is wipped/buffed) and finishing wax which is buffed to a semi gloss, pretty standard for these non clear coated bodies.

i might be tempted to use some Osmo hard/poly wax in the future as im a sucker for a higher gloss finish/look on basses (anyone done such a mod?)

here you can see how dull the Koa top had become (no doubt some UV fade as well) and how much grime was in the grain.

the Mohog body wasn't quite as grimy but it still needed a few passes..ugh

BTW anyone know what this kanji (?) means ? it's in the well under the trussrod cover...i did ask an LLM/AI but it couldn't make out the txt due to the shadow (A.I. Will take over the world!) im pretty sure it's not just 14

Hopefully the sun will be out when my strings arrive tomorrow so i can get some pics, im itching to get this TUNE up and playing !

More updates once the new bridge it here and installed!

Cheers

I think that the number of your first post is your number

 

[Thonk]

So after some string back a forth i've decided this will not be getting a bridge change and will instead be going back to B-G, I've picked up a 5 string thru neck cheap (a Vintage V1005) that is already already 16.5mm spacing, it plays really well but the poly is dinted in a number of places and the maple veneer is a horid shade of brown so that will all be coming off to expose the neck stringers (i might even give it a new posh wood top...)

Got the control plate cut and engraved today....

and as you can see my 3d printer and CNC have a slight 0.5mm or so calibration drift between them so it's just a little over sized....not to worry as i have 6 sheets of this Craft wood Mohog 3mm ply to play with, this one i'll use to get a better staining match.

 

[kodiakblair]

I've picked up a 5 string thru neck cheap (a Vintage V1005)

Regret selling mine.

 

[hambrew807]

I have what appears to be a Tune TWX-51, but it's fretless. I don't think it came that way from the factory (if anyone knows if they did, I'm interested in knowing the actual answer, I reached out to Tune almost two months ago but received no response). The nut (which may or may not be original) is about a mile high.

I bought this used and had to clean it up a bit (there were stickers on the fretboard that were pulling up, and most of it needed a little bit of cleaning). The one thing I haven't got around to yet is re-gluing the Tune logo on the headstock.