Andyjr1515

Looks a nice kit, John

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1499975543' post='3334964'] How have you secured the pickups in place? Or do they just float in their respective holes? Well done by the way! Definitely on the home straight now [/quote] They will be seated with discs of soft foam, pressed down by the cover. That, and the effect of the magnetism, is why that cover will need to use screws rather than be held on with magnets. I'm going to remake that cover, by the way - not happy that the stripes are sufficiently lined up with the neck...

[quote name='nightsun' timestamp='1499957153' post='3334823'] LTRFTP.......I've been following this since day one. You sir, certainly have a talent. [/quote] Thanks!

[quote name='nightsun' timestamp='1499955530' post='3334807'] [/quote] It certainly is! I connected the bridge earth to the circuit which has had the expected result of quietening the buzz significantly. It is now already less buzzy than my P90 single-coiled LP Jnr. I'm happy it basically is working properly so tomorrow I'll be seeing if I can hook it up to the piezo blend and sort the proper earth and jack connections....

...and we have sound! Not great sound yet - then again, I am going straight into the amp and it's a guitar amp so I'm getting a lot of buzz, but there is a decent tone coming from each of the strings

[quote name='cheddatom' timestamp='1499949088' post='3334740'] good luck!! [/quote] Thanks, cheddatom ! OK - they're in. So this afternoon, I'm going to pop the strings on, hitch up the jack and see if I've got any sound...gulp

Why do I post as I'm going along? Because in describing to others, I'm basically sanity checking to myself I've routed the new cable channels and, happily, found the hidden main cable channel in the right place! ...and done the next trial fit: I really, really don't want to move this around too much so next time I fit it, hopefully it'll be the final installation. The tasks are:[list] [*]Check out the top coil that isn't sinking into its chamber quite as deep as the others [*]Solder the four earth wires on [/list] My plan, once they are fitted is to try them out directly wired, temporarily, to the jack socket. Then I will have a base (or even bass!) reference before I start adding the piezo complication. Wish me luck

There are actually very few jobs to finish off. So, will it be finished very soon? Well, not necessarily! The remaining ones are going to take considerable care and lots of fiddling about. Not least the pickups. Here are customstocker's (aka Martin Herrick - have a look at the great stuff on his website [url="https://www.herrickpickups.com/"]https://www.herrickpickups.com/[/url] ) custom coils: They are wound individually with different resistances to balance the output of each of the strings. The pole pieces have been put in so that they can be adjusted from the back. And, by golly, this is a delicate, wibbly-wobbly, highly magnetic assembly! "Be careful with the blue wires - they are very delicate", Martin wisely advised... So probably Martin has to look away at this point - because the first thing I needed to do was get the soldering iron out ...and desolder the one stable thing on the assembly - the stiff copper earth wire running across the four coils. Why? Well, these coils have to go down into separate chambers so what I will do is solder 4 individual earth wires from the shields to hook up with the collective earth on the output cable. Having removed the copper wire (but not yet added the individual earths) I did a very careful trial fit: Looks good for a first go. I marked the position of the cable runs to rout some slots for them to slot into and the join up to the pre-routed cable channel that's sitting under that ebony strip: Next job is to get the router out!

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1499844426' post='3333938'] Halfway between marker pen and new board is wood dye; many DB boards are blonde but dyed to look like they're a darker (and more expensive) wood. Go careful! [/quote] As Grangur says, the best route is probably to do nothing - pretty much all mods will reduce the resale value assuming the bass is in original spec. However, if it really bugs you but you really like the bass and intend it to be a keeper, I suspect it's the position of the side dots that are the issue more than the board itself? If so, as Beedster says probably the aesthetic issue can easily be sorted with a proper dye (proper so that it isn't going to come off on your fingers!) The side dots, if they are set into the ebony only, would be a case of drilling out the old ones and filling with epoxy mixed with ebony dust (which can be collected while preparing the board for its dye or I could send you some for free) and then new dots installed in the new positions. Not a job for someone of no experience in these sorts of things, but not actually a particularly difficult or risky job. Hope this helps

Beautiful!

Thats looking really good, Bastav

Re-weighed it, by the way. It's going to end up around 7lb 4oz

The expression 'tight as a tick' comes to mind ...but the cover still fits! : ... and, perhaps surprisingly, the controls are not impacted. I think it helps that the pot nearest the jack has stacked knobs. From the front, it's all pretty discrete: I need to make sure there is no shielding anywhere near the hot signal parts of the jack or pot tabs and also have another look at the security and shape of the back cover. It is supposed to follow the curve of the back, but the magnets aren't really strong enough to hold the curve on the very thin and wide cover that - left to its own devices - straightens and curves depending on the weather! So I might have to rethink the best way of doing that. In the meantime, I need to take that all the above electrics out again and do a proper job of the relief channels at the back of the knobs and jack. Then a bit of re-finishing those areas Then a bash at installing the pickups!

[quote name='customstocker' timestamp='1499803848' post='3333779'] wow, the Bass looks totally amazing, the Osmo gear is impressive to say the least. There is a German product which is very matt & used for base coats but even this stuff darkens the wood . I need to try this stuff myself. really interesting thread, Ive had about 10+ pages to catch up on as we have just got a proper internet connection. [/quote] Great to hear from you, Martin and good news that you've finally sorted the internet Your timing is perfect - your pickups should be being installed in the next few days Andy

Thanks, folks - always appreciated The next four photos belie the significant number of hours spent... First the bridge earthing is sorted. I don't know what other people do, but I solder the earth wire onto a small patch of copper shielding for my bridge earths - ensures a good connection and no lumpy bit holding the bridge off its seating: Then it's the battery clip and the pots - here we have two done and one to go. Note the locators on the pots that stop the pot twisting: Still go to install the jack socket and tidy up the knob clearance cutaways, but here we are with all four controls and the tuner block installed: Fully accessible (and very easy to use....phew! ) but completely hidden from the front:

That body wood looks really, really nice

One of the finish off jobs before doing the final finish on the headstock was ferrules or no ferrules. Decided they would be a good thing: The cut outs should be deep enough and long enough to prevent string marks so later this afternoon I can do the last coat of finish on the headstock.

That's a wonderful looking and very well crafted bass. A delight to see

OK - maybe a BIT of an exaggeration There was also another band between us and the gods, but we were first on, opening the festival on the main stage, using The Blockheads' sound system and with exclusive use of The Blockheads' sound guys (who were brilliant) - so, for an old-gits-ropey-at-times-band, that's pretty damned close We were on that early, I reckon we were the 'need someone on stage to see if the sound works OK and the emergency escape provisions are up to scratch' band, but hey, still does it for me! I'll try and post some shots. The sound was great and ohhhhh what a luxury to have someone else worrying about the set up for a change (I'm usually the Head of Knobs ... or was it Nobs) in our band. And The Blockheads - they were brilliant. And Norman Watt-Roy....there were some stupendous bass sounds coming from his fingers....

Gig went well (phew) I really like this Osmo Polyx. Just got to do the final tidying up in one or two places, but the finish is pretty much all on and sorted. It's held the colour of the sanded wood to a remarkable degree: ...but the wood is gorgeous to the touch: I have a bit of a crazy week coming up, but it's now all about the electrics installation and the final hardware installation and set up. Always takes longer than you expect but the end is now well in sight

Just got the pictures - it looks GREAT by the way - and the action doesn't look so high... Other thoughts - I can't remember the scale length of your build (my guideline measurements above are what I use for a 34" scale bass) but could it be that the strings need to be different gauge? String tension will impact on the bending effect of fretting down - on a fretless, you need to make absolutely sure the string is contacting the fretboard at exactly the 12th fret position. Just placing your finger on the fretmarker isn't accurate enough. I use my fingernail, and double check the gap between the fretboard and the string to make sure it is exactly right.

[quote name='Bastav' timestamp='1499580576' post='3332258'] So I strung it up to do some final intonation testing before installing the bridge. It's a little strange but I've got it intonating decently at around a cm longer than the anticipated scale length, anyone know why that would be? There's some neck-dive, we'll see if I can counter that with some weight-thing at the butt end. For string anchoring I'm using some drill stops [/quote] My ipads playing up and I couldn't see the pictures, but in terms of the intonation, I would generally be expecting the upper strings to be 1-2mm back and the lower strings 3-5mm back. 10mm doesn't sound quite right and you probably need to track down the issue before you fix the bridge. It will usually be that either the: - action is too high. The string is therefore bending excessively as you press it down to the fretboard and thus raising the pitch as it would if you were doing a conventional string bend. - the strings are very, very, very old To intonate, everything needs to be pretty much set up as you will have when it's ready to play - truss rod set, nut height there or thereabouts, action at playing height, strings in reasonable condition and of the same gauge as intended for playing. Hope this helps

I'm still very pleased with the Osmo Here you can see the difference between the body - that has had one straight coat & wipe and one slurried coat & wipe - and the fretboard north of the 24th fret in the pic that hasn't: ...and here you can see not only that wiping minimises the impact on the ebony, but also that the maple and sycamore are now pretty indistinguishable! : Anyway, better get off to what is probably the biggest gig our old-sods'-band have done. It's maybe a bit of an exaggeration...but only a bit...we're supporting The Blockheads! A crime against humanity or an absolute triumph for care in the community? You decide.....

It's often a bit of a conundrum... The problem is that any irreversible mod - even one clearly for the better - will generally reduce the re-sale value of the instrument. And for a neck re-shape on a classic high-value brand such as Warwick that would be certain and significant. If you are never, ever, ever, under any circumstances going to sell it, then, as Jecklin says, it isn't complicated and shouldn't be overly costly, particularly if it's an oiled finish. As he says, basically the centre point is not touched at all - so there is no issue with breaking into the truss-rod channel. With a check that the neck will not have originally been fitted with additional carbon fibre rods, then basically the luthier takes away the meat from the haunches (actually heading away from a D towards a C or even V), usually with nothing more severe than a cabinet scraper, sandpaper and re-oil. But if - as is more likely - you [i]might[/i] sell it in the future, then the only sensible option (assuming that selling the existing bass and buying one that suits better isn't the preferred route) is to make the change reversible - and that means swopping out the existing untouched neck and fitting a custom-made neck / bought neck / bought and modified neck, transferring the hardware, etc.. Then when you come to sell, you just swop it all back again. For something like a Warwick, this can be quite expensive (the woods alone can be eye-wateringly expensive) - and you might find custom neck makers reluctant to reproduce the design-registered headstock shape exactly per original - but at least the original instrument retains its value. Hope this helps

[quote name='walshy' timestamp='1499263600' post='3330381'] Firstly, excellent work! I use Osmo Polyx oils a lot, make furniture, kitchens, shepherd huts etc... And it is as good as they say. Doesn't stain, heat ring, wipes clean with warm soapy water. Super flat Matt finish to glossy. You can certainly buff it up to a sheen, we use lint free cloths or woollen mit. It's a wax oil so you can put a finish underneath, we have painted, waxed, oiled underneath but always do a test first. Happy to help if I can. Can't wait to see the finished build. [/quote] That makes me feel even better about it Thanks for the confirmation that they seem to be mighty fine products