I’ve recently rebuilt my Peavey T-40 bass, having had it for over 40 years. Bought in Colchester in the UK in 1983 possibly from Hodges & Johnson. It was actually built in 1979 and sold as ‘new’, so who knows where it had been before landing with me?
I’d not played it for a long time, the two switches had broken off, the bridge pick up wasn’t working and there was a large ding on the body. Many years ago I had changed the pick up selector switch for whatever I had to hand, hence things weren’t working as they should.
Having retired at 60 in April I had the time to strip it down, sand out the ding, re-wax and varnish the body and look into the electrics.
Thankfully the internet is a wonderful resource and provided the schematic and circuit diagrams, as well as the original owners manual. One of the switches was quite hard to come by, but ebay came to the rescue and I re soldered everything as it should be.
The electrics are all hidden under the scratch plate, so it was a bit annoying to find that it didn’t work first time after I had just put the 100 screws back in! All sorted I bought a set of Elites Detroit Flats Stainless Steel 45-105 Strings and a new strap. The tone is fantastic, and overall it plays so much better than I remember. Now I have my bass I can start my B2B journey!
When we were young (1974) and broke, my wife traded in her Martin D28 so we could pay rent. She settled on copy of that guitar made my Aria. “Just as good” she said. 15 years later I was in a music store and found another Aria, this one a hollow body short scale bass. It’s beautiful. This month as I made a commitment to take this course and actually learn how to play, instead of play around, I treated myself to this MIM Mustang PJ - after trying all the short scales at Eugene Oregon GC. I’m in love.
I decided to return to bass after a 12-year hiatus. I wasn’t a complete beginner, but I struggled with fundamental technique and was always causing problems for the band during gigs and recording sessions (flying fingers, imperfect plucking and so on). So I decided to start from scratch and pick up an inexpensive and comfortable Ibanez SR300E (I used to play a Dean 5-string). I liked the look of it, and I’m very pleased with its low weight and thin, comfortable neck - really good for long practice sessions. The sound is also decent, although I had to adjust the neck and bridge (I did it for the first time in my life and I’m very proud of myself ). I also decided against a combo amp because I move often, and instead bought a Focusrite Scarlett Solo audio interface – I’m very happy with it.
Not leaving, just expanding upon. My medium scale multiscale Dingwall SP1’s got me hooked. The Henrix Constance 5 bass sits right in that sweet spot with a 35” B string, but without the extra reach of a 35” long scale bass.
). I also decided against a combo amp because I move often, and instead bought a Focusrite Scarlett Solo audio interface – I’m very happy with it.