Monday 28 December 2015

Reeve Headless Bass - Nearly There. . . . .

More progress has been made!



















I tend to save old strings to mess around and do a basic set up.
I don't do it every time but this seemed like a good candidate.
These came from a Jazz bass and I think I may have cut them  
a little short!!


















Never mind, they are only temporary, I'll correct that later on.

Having fixed the broken joint and fitted a new battery, it was time
to plug it in.
Very nice, indeed!!

On passive there is quite a big sound to it with some tones that are
more than acceptable - turn on the active - Wow!
As you have seen from the previous post, it has an "old fashioned" 
looking circuit but there is a lot going on in there.
The rear control knob operates a five position rotary switch, which
takes you from a deep, powerful thud, though to biting highs.
After playing around with it for a while, I think my favourite is
position two - big bottom end with some mid bite. Nice!
I must have taken the strings of the Jazz, as they were loosing their
edge but on this, they seem just fine!



















The bridge is totally floating and to be honest a bit of a fiddle but
seems to follow the design of some other Reeve basses I have seen.
The action and intonation aren't set at the moment - I'll get around
to that soon, as I think I will leave these strings on for the time being.




















The frets have come up really nicely and the wonderfully "hand made"
string anchor works a treat, with the setting being done with the little
tool screwed into the bottom. How thoughtful!

A few minor jobs to finish off and then time to plug it into something
big and powerful!

Back next time with a full report.

Cheers. :)


 

Saturday 19 December 2015

Reeve Headless - The Re-build Continues. . . .

Hi to all you patient readers. :)

Right, where are we up to now?




















Here!!

The top shot show the tuners finished and re-fitted and the
one above shows it when I took the cover plate off it.

As you can see, in red marker, it says "Derek".

















I have no idea who Derek is or was - or what the arrow is for, 
unless Derek was the engraver and the instruction is "this
is the top"? 

All cleaned up inside with a dab of white grease, to keep it
running smoothly.


















The other day, whilst I had the iron out, I sorted out the 
wayward wire, which was the only thing that was wrong
with the electronics.



















And finally, for this post - I cleaned up the board, making 
the frets and the brass position markers stand out very
nicely - all shiny.
One coat of lemon oil, job done.



















Currently, I am in the middle of cleaning the body and 
refitting the bridge, then the string retainer and the knobs
for the pots and selector switch.

So, back next time with more details and pics.

Cheers. :)