Iron Maiden Rocks!

What a good gig!

Chewie & me booked a couple of tickets about 6 months ago to go and see Eddies mates. As luck would have it, Mayfield & Bruce were going too, so we managed to hitch a lift to Twickenham with them. Their tickets were for seats, ours were standing in the madding crowd. At the time I would have given almost anything for a seat, but you get a better view down in the thick of it.

The support acts did alright, but didn't seem to connect that well. The IM boys (ok, not boys, they must be well into their 50's) did a great job belting out all the 80's classics including Aces High, The Trooper, Revelations, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Powerslave and even the lengthy Rime Of The Ancient Mariner to name but a few. Oh, and not forgetting the song about £6.66 of phone credit!!!

With the IM gig fresh in my mind, I was soon back to working on Moon Bass Alpha. This doesn't really count as useful, but I had to give it a go:

I was talking to Pete (who regularly beats me at badminton) about the origins of Moon Bass Alpha from the old sci-fi series Space 1999 (another funky bass-line to use one day). It's lucky I wasn't thinking of the Muppet Show at the time or I could be developing a Gonzo Bass.

OK, back to the plot. Everything was now glued inside the neck and the various LEDs were tested. The alignment betwen LEDs and fboard was also checked so it was all ready for the next big step of sticking the fboard on. This is one of those times that requires a drum roll.

It's a bit final, and if it doesn't work once stuck together it will be a bad day indeed. The good news was that the fboard was placed in the correct position and the LEDs all worked afterwards.

The bad news was that the fboard didn't seat down evenly along the length of the neck. There was definite high and low spots with over a millimetre between them, and quite a few gaps along the edge. This was a bit unexpected as I had used several clamps and a block to spread the load. With the benefit of hindsight I think that the fboard itself is a bit too thin, and that sanding the radius onto the top is best left until after it has been glued on. Next time...

The following photo is carefully staged to avoid showing those bits (but I know they are there).

I decided to put the tinted perspex 'windows' over all the LEDs before I start filling and sanding. All the perspex shapes had been cut earlier and all need to be sanded flat once glued in. A small amount of clear superglue did the trick for all eight pieces. These lenses were rough sanded back down to about the same level as the ebony.

A mixture of PVA wood glue and water based blackboard paint was used to fill the gaps along the edge of the fboard and around the perspex lenses. This has a tendency to sink back in places, so these had two or three layers built up. This was then given a final sanding down the grades using a 1m rule as a straight edge and eventually finishing off with 1200 grit paper.

Looks like the fboard is ready for the 'f' s.