One of my early working bass I had was an active Ibanez Roadstar in electric blue sunburst with bright red binding. (Considered cool in the 80’s) The pickup selection was a pan knob. Superb. I wish I could remember what I did with it.
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A great way to learn the guitar by touch is come out of standard tuning into open tuning or dadgad or something that forces you to experiment with the intervals your fingers can make. Working out how to/Playing a song can be simplified to just a small group of strings makes the guitar a great source for diy midi controllers.
I’ve been playing since I was eight and can play by ear and rarely think in chords, notes and shapes now. And then you have to work with others… or DIY synths
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The violin is my daughter’s instrument. She bought one because of a certain telegenic television detective. It’s like ice-skating backwards wearing a blindfold while juggling eggs.
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I would still advise you to watch your fretboard at the beginning, in order to develop muscle memory to develop strength, distances, precision …, and for that I think all the senses are welcome for faster results, then after with this base start to work without looking.
Unlike the right hand (or left for left-handed people) where I recommend working almost from the start without looking (a bit obvious since we look at the other hand;))
But there are always people who do not follow a “standard” “conventional” apprenticeship, which has made them develop something special and unique 
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No camera photos because I forgot to do that before I left the house. Here’s the wireless dongle set I bought: Getaria GWS-8 Upgrade. It arrived early this afternoon.
My first impression: guitar leads are in my rear view mirror and that’s where they’re going to stay. The physical freedom is important to me.
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Delivery from Thonk curtesy of their free postage weekend. I needed the pots and knobs so topped it up with a few odds and sods because a £4 order felt a bit odd.
Does anyone have a top for tightening these tiny knurled nuts on thonkiconns? Does the Befaco banana nut thingy tool fit?
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Befaco tool won’t work. This one from Mouser is the right size:
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That’s not even £EXCUSE ME, though mouser postage is under £33. Sounds like an excuse to build an order though.
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I do love to waffle on about interesting things, so in case anybody wants to talk to a musical ingenu (c’est moi) about guitars and whatnot, I started a new thread.
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Ive used these. Their range drops suddenly as the power goes down. Keep the receiver plugged in to power if you can.
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Thanks. It may not be a game stopper for me as I’ll never be far from the amp. Still it’s good to be forewarned.
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Got all my Through Hole Braids parts! Enough to build two, for now, I cannot wait to get started.
Gotta design and laser out some faceplates, too.
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Speaking of batteries, this active bass guitar (Ibanez GSR200) has a power switch on the jack, so if you leave the plug in it runs the battery down. I suspect this may apply to many active electric string instruments. Of course it makes sense to remove the cable when you’re finished playing, but with the wireless dongles I at first thought of just using the power switches on the dongles.
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I looked on eBay. The price really hits a sweet spot for me. I live very near the coast. It’s a 20 minute walk, close enough that you may have seen quite a few pictures and videos of Neve our greyhound gambolling in the sea on her daily walks. Not so far away there’s Marsden, a bird sanctuary thanks to tall limestone cliffs and numerous sea stacks (Wikipedia link). So there are many natural sounds that just cry out to be sampled.
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Won’t the active circuitry still be on if you leave the dongle in?
The sleeve of the mono jack completes the circuit in your bass, even if the dongle is on
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Yes, I didn’t make my meaning clear, but it’s that leaving any plug in the jack runs the battery down.
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The active pickup circuit in the bass is usually activated when an inserted jack plug bends a bar to make a connection. The live and ground of the jacks circuit are rarely involved.
That said disassembly of the transmitter and inserting the gubbins inside the body or on it might solve the issue and be fun.
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I think it works by connecting the battery negative to ground (sleeve) via the ring terminal.