Ooo, basgallery london has one of the NS uprights for a shade over £2000 :O
Wonder if they would keep it over for... a year

I've got to imagine that Rob has Hiscox or another hard-shell case for those great basses. SAVE THAT MONEY NOW!!

Hmm, possibly... A headless fretless electro does sound nice, but if I was going to be paying Status money I'd probably go for a Steinberger upright bass rather than getting another b/guitar

Do those electro's fit in the Hiscox hard cases, given the bodies are considerably thicker than the rest of the range?

I've gone down the road with projects like this and they tend to turn into..PROJECTS!! Time-consuming, headachey, endeavors that usually make you question why you didn't just have a company build one for you in the first place, rather than troubleshooting and frankensteining with a bunch of parts from various vendors/luthiers.

I suggest trying out one of the Status Electro-3 4 or 5 string fretless models, and maybe having Rob put a burl top on it, if possible. This sounds like the bass that you are essentially specing out.

Hey guys.

I'm going to be starting a bass project fairly soon, looking for some pointers on a couple of things. Ill put down the intended specs, feel free to let me know of any unwise decisions or combinations (I've only owned 4 basses, whereas by the looks of things you lot are a bit more hardcore )

Body:
Buckeye Burl (f supplier can provide this without breaking the bank)
Failing that, Mahogany body with buckeye burl facing

Neck:
Headless Status if they'll sell me an S2 neck, or a moses headless.
Plain fretless, 24 "fret"
Probably 5 string, I cant see that getting in the way to much if i dont slap on it.

Electronics:
Mute switch!
2 Status soapbar's into a blend pot (not the main one)
Fishman piezo in bridge
Status Board 301 (Vol, Blend for piezo & output of MagPup blend, Treble, Bass, Variable Mid, 3 way Mid switch, gain trim pot)

Plus a few possible onboard FX (home made - they work well out of a bass, so its just a case of scaling down PCB design a bit.) Presets with just on/off : a light chorus, light reverb, light distortion (rather than overdriving my preamp as is sometimes needed for 'heavier' jazz)

Bridge:
Probably Status headless tuners.



So thats the outline, main concerns are whether you all think that'll work well together, feasibility, etc.

By virtue of fretless, there's little or no concerns with tuning issues (as long as the side dots are in pretty much the right place, I'll be happy.

Cheers
Steve

Got it!!!

But my last question is, what do you call the lax/loose spot in the neck before it catches in either direction?

You and me both Jay

Endless hours of fun tweaking and adjusting to get the right balance !!

Glad you got it all sorted.

Cheers

Nick

Yeah, it's the forward and backward terminology. I'm one of those players that will tweak a neck for hours until it's "perfect". I tune my 6 fretless E-High F so I have to find that fine balance.

Could it just be the definition of forward and backward that is confusing matters ? The current Statii truss rods work as other basses, the old adage righty tighty lefty loosey works for them. So to decrease the relief of the neck and bring the strings closer to the fretboard would mean turning the truss rod clockwise. To introduce more relief would require and anti clockwise turn. To quote the instructions from my Stealth 2 sheet :-

"To adjust the truss, insert the 4mm allen key and turn clockwise to decrease the forward bow. Turn anti-clockwise to increase the forward bow."

From the Status website :-

NOTE : Until February 2003, all our wood necks and our graphite necks (those fitted with a truss-rod) have had a rod which adjusts using a 5mm allen key. Current models from around February 2003 onwards use a 4mm allen key.

Current models :
Push the 4mm allen key into the socket under the end of the fingerboard and turn it CLOCKWISE to bow the neck backwards and ANTI-CLOCKWISE to bow the neck forwards. This is the standard way most bass necks are adjusted.

I hope this helps

Cheers

Nick

No, those are the correct instructions for the current dual action truss rod they've used at Status since '98.

Would fitting the rod the wrong way round cause this issue? I find it hard to believe that a company of that standard and reputation would make such a fundamental mistake, however.

My Stealth-2 fretless came with a set of tools in a little plastic package.

On that package, it gives the following instructions as to how to adjust the truss rod:
TO ADJUST THE TRUSS-ROD

TURN 4 mm KEY TO THE LEFT (ANTI-CLOCKWISE) TO BOW NECK FORWARDS
TURN 4 mm KEY TO THE RIGHT (CLOCKWISE) TO BOW NECK BACKWARDS

**But when I turn the key left to bow the neck forwards, which I wanted to do to DECREASE/LOWER my action, thus bringing the neck up towards the strings, THE OPPOSITE HAPPENS, and my action increases.

Now, I know that Rob changed the truss-rod functionality at some point, but is it possible that my Stealth-2 simply was sent with an older set of instructions for the newer truss-rod turning functionality?

In any event, I'll just turn it either way SLOWLY until I get it the way I like it, but I do want to make sure I know what is up in case another bass tech. tries to set up my bass on the road and they might be unsure.

Lastly, is there a name for the "center" of the truss rod when there is total lax/loose feeling before the truss-rod catches and starts to turn again?

I saw the last week a used stealth 5 string in a shop in Paris and it was horrible. Many many scratch repaired with something like super glue, erk. Sell for 1050 €, not really expansive but looks like frankenstein, I'm so disapointed. After a long time hesitate, I let it down, waiting for an other one.

Have a word with Rob at Status as they handle the refurbishment of older models and may be able to point you in the right direction.

Be very careful if you experiment as it could all go horribly wrong.

Does anyone have a good method for repairing chips in the graphite/poly coating? My Kingbass has a chip on the end of the neck, and while it's not a big deal it could use a patch.

I know the fellows on the Steinberger site have a patch formula using a type of marine epoxy gel coat (I have the email describing this if anybody is interested), but I'm not sure the color will be a good match. I'll be looking into it as soon as I have some free time.

Until then, any suggestions?

thanks a lot for getting back, appreciate it, mark

Lmao - The bridge of my S2000

Cover it in lipstick, leave for a few minutes and rub off with cotton wool - So much better than brasso or other polishes. Im sure there is some sort of law about putting lipstick on bridges, want&destruction of public property?

you do what with cheap lipstick and cotton wool ?

and which bridge is this ?

somewhere local to you ?



P.

I use wd40 on the phenolic fingerboards as suggested (even disguises the scratch marks from using round-wound hotwires on a fretless!) and Mr Sheen original on the bodies

(maybe its just be ) but I find cheap lipstick and cotton wool works wonders on the bridge.

I paid £450 for my S3000 about a year a go.