I know it may sound crazy but I'm thinking about sanding back my RB 5 string corvette body to make it look more b/o thumb-like. It's a natural stain finish so just need to seal it when done reshaping & reattach the neck. Just the lower & upper horns & maybe a little in the back middle area to try for a slight body curve. Insane?? Has anyone tried this? Your comments/advise/abuse welcomed!!
Reshaping a Corvette body?
- Thread starter glefty
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Say WTF????????
It'll take a fair bit of work, including routing to get the body radius uniform.This job entails ALOT more than just sanding. As for the back, well your Vette has a fair bit of contouring for comfort, & to buggerize around with that might mean you'll get stuck with a less than usable bass, making it very hard to sell.
Dude, my advice is, if you wanna Thumb, buy a Thumb. Your Corvette balances better just the way it is.
There was a forum member who did loads of really silly mods to his Thumb, mainly just for the sake of it, rather than to give any real beneficial improvement. IMHO he ruined what was once a bass he dreamed of owning, for a long time. He even modded a guitar to look like a Thumb. Yes, he was THAT keen on owning one.
Please Glen, learn from this idiots many mistakes & trust that the bass you bought is the result of many MANY years of collective experience, & countless dollars in manpower & research & development.
I hope you take my advise as how I intended it, & that's with the best possible intentions & utmost respect.
It'll take a fair bit of work, including routing to get the body radius uniform.This job entails ALOT more than just sanding. As for the back, well your Vette has a fair bit of contouring for comfort, & to buggerize around with that might mean you'll get stuck with a less than usable bass, making it very hard to sell.
Dude, my advice is, if you wanna Thumb, buy a Thumb. Your Corvette balances better just the way it is.
There was a forum member who did loads of really silly mods to his Thumb, mainly just for the sake of it, rather than to give any real beneficial improvement. IMHO he ruined what was once a bass he dreamed of owning, for a long time. He even modded a guitar to look like a Thumb. Yes, he was THAT keen on owning one.
Please Glen, learn from this idiots many mistakes & trust that the bass you bought is the result of many MANY years of collective experience, & countless dollars in manpower & research & development.
I hope you take my advise as how I intended it, & that's with the best possible intentions & utmost respect.
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Thnx for the quick replies, gents. I do already have a b/o thumb 5 & would never change a thing on it so it was more an idea to clone it in a bastardized way using my RB5 corvy, as I find the corvette body a little awkward strapped on but have no issues with thumb "neck dive" as I wear it high, with a comfort strap & only using the horn strap lock, not the rear one so it's mega comfy. Anyway, your advice is taken on board & I'm no handyman so.... Maybe I should save up for a Korean thumb 5 pro series instead?! Cheers, gents!
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I don't know if this is what Glen means, but:
If you attach both ends of your strap to the top horn, then the bass balances pretty well, since that strap button is very near the centre of gravity of the bass.
If you use the straplocks in the normal way you can't do this, but you can do it if you take the locks of the strap, then attach the strap to the button as if there were no locks, and finally attach the lock to the button to hold both ends of the strap in place.
Personally I don't find it all the comfortable because the strap feels like it's wrapping itself around you. But I guess if you're into bondage, you might really like it.
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Hi again, let me clear that strap end pin/strap-lock thing up. I found my Thumb sat, with no neck dive, at about 35~40 degrees when I only used the top horn Dunlop strap-lock, with the rear strap end pin as is, no strap-lock, as the strap-lock itself extends the strap about 3cm, enough for a slight longer top horn effect. Using the strap-lock at the rear end as well tended to make the bass sit more horizontal, hence the slight neck dive feeling. Ideally, if someone designed an end pin extender for the Thumb's top horn, like the new Steinbergers, it would sit in the Jazz bass position & not "dive" at all. I LOVE my Thumb but gotta admit, nothing sits as well as my good ol' Squier J, bulky bugger though it is, or my Ibanez SR505. Thnx for trying to translate my original there Mart but the only bondage I'm into is following the Wallabies!
It was a bit of a wild guess.
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Yeh, I understand what a lot of thumb users mean but I don't find it too difficult to deal with & besides, I love the tone, feel, looks & everything about my lefty thumb 5er. I prefer bolt-on basses anyway so my lil girl will stay with me 'til I'm in the ground. Next will be a $$5er, RB or German if I can afford it.
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Who on earth did all that?!?
Lady Warwick
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Besides....why tear up a body of an expensive bass...vettes are beeyoootiful the way they are!
Heyglefty ; I would make another body instaed to your likings , that way , you would have your other body intact .
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Casey (Thumbin) I have a pic of the guitar somewhere. I found it on a bass website listed under the disasters heading.
Remember? The dude that did every mod known to man, up to, & including de-fretting a wenge fingerboard. Each & every mod miraculously "bought out the mids"!
The mods I can remember are,
oiled the wood with a cocktail of oils including some of his own blood, repeatedly (I ♣♣♣♣ you not)
Re-shaped the neck
relic'd the black hardware with sandpaper
ruined 3 just- a - nuts including 2 brass nuts custom made by his father in law (no mean feat this)
de-fretted the wenge fingerboard & tried to apply a superglue finish for protection (multiple times)
swapped the 2 band preamp for a 3 band (about the only sane mod imho)
Installed recessed strap locks (another sane mod but the way he did it was far from sane)
I'm sure there's more.
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Hi all,
just so you know I'm not some insane, inbred, illegitimate offspring of Dr. Frankenstein & Dr. Moreau (a feat in itself with 2 male mad scientists!), I was only going to reduce the lower horn & possibly the upper horn by 1-2"(3-5cm) in an attempt to get a faux Thumb b/o look from my Rockbass Corvette 5, & especially as it is a natural stain/satin, it wouldn't need a respray, just re-oiling/sealing from my initial idea, or so I thought. This wasn't really to change the sound, just the look but this mini project is now deep sixed after receiving the advice of the posters on here. I was just wanting to try to get the 4 string Jazz/Thumb b/o pup spacing on a 5 Thumb b/o, as I feel the passive slap sound is a bit thin-ish on my Thumb 5, although I luv the finger sound & growl. BTW, the Rockbass Corvette signal is really hot & huge, more than twice as loud as the Thumb, which seems a little subdued in both passive/active flat eq. Anybody else notice something similar & if so, why would that be? Yes, batteries are fresh in both basses, pup heights about the same. Thnx
just so you know I'm not some insane, inbred, illegitimate offspring of Dr. Frankenstein & Dr. Moreau (a feat in itself with 2 male mad scientists!), I was only going to reduce the lower horn & possibly the upper horn by 1-2"(3-5cm) in an attempt to get a faux Thumb b/o look from my Rockbass Corvette 5, & especially as it is a natural stain/satin, it wouldn't need a respray, just re-oiling/sealing from my initial idea, or so I thought. This wasn't really to change the sound, just the look but this mini project is now deep sixed after receiving the advice of the posters on here. I was just wanting to try to get the 4 string Jazz/Thumb b/o pup spacing on a 5 Thumb b/o, as I feel the passive slap sound is a bit thin-ish on my Thumb 5, although I luv the finger sound & growl. BTW, the Rockbass Corvette signal is really hot & huge, more than twice as loud as the Thumb, which seems a little subdued in both passive/active flat eq. Anybody else notice something similar & if so, why would that be? Yes, batteries are fresh in both basses, pup heights about the same. Thnx
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That must have been during my time away from the forum, Greg. I would live to see the picture!
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Yes, the Rockbass Corvette pre amps are pretty hot. Totally different to the pre in your Thumb.
Does the Thumb pre have a trimpot in the control cavity to adjust the gain? Having never owned a Thumb I'm not sure, but I do know some Warwicks do have this.
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Thnx for that Eberbachi, but no trimpot, just 3 cube shaped pots very neatly sitting there. No biggie, I usually play it passive of late anyway. She sounds so sweet fingerstyle & for slap I can add some bass in active mode or on the amp so....
