Andyjr1515

[quote name='gelfin' timestamp='1484240300' post='3213905'] [URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/Snoopy%20happy_zpsi3rmoywo.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/Snoopy%20happy_zpsi3rmoywo.jpg[/IMG][/URL][URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/Snoopy%20happy_zpsi3rmoywo.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/Snoopy%20happy_zpsi3rmoywo.jpg[/IMG][/URL][URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/Snoopy%20happy_zpsi3rmoywo.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/Snoopy%20happy_zpsi3rmoywo.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/quote] Three Snoopys That's praise indeed!

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' timestamp='1484240207' post='3213904'] That looks good enough to eat. S.P. [/quote] Yes - it's got a white chocolate vienetta look about it

Yes - I think this is going to be fine....

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1484219647' post='3213597'] I do actually think a light solid colour accentuates the complex shape on this, which is nice! [/quote] Thanks! And yes I agree. I've got a good feeling about this all round The colour will also add more contrast to the reddish rosewood of the fingerboard - that kind of rosewood was again a specific request from Nic The good news is that I've done quite a bit of the flattening of the cream this morning and it's gone well. It's flattened down past the orange-peel and held its colour. On my test sample I also checked that any sanding breakthough would invisibly patch and also that it was compatible with the clear I'm going to use - and the answer there was yes and yes! I'm always cautious with this sorts of things, but I'm certainly planning to start the clear coats this weekend if all goes well.

Yes - I like the cream too

[quote name='lee650' timestamp='1484162352' post='3213212'] No it has the original preamp! I'm just thinking of replacing it,as it will have a parametric mid eq as well as the vintage voiced ray 2 band. [/quote] Ah....OK. Well I think to make both pickups parallel rather than series should be very straightforward. Of the four conductor wires for each pickup, I'm pretty sure it should just need two of them swopping around. A local guitar tech should be able to sort it easily enough and it shouldn't need any additional switches, etc..

Is it fully passive, then? (ie no powered pre-amp?)

Forgive the rubbish artificial light photos. The good news is that the colour is good, the colour saturation is good and a scratch test on the test sample says that the adhesion, in spite of the orange peeling, is good. The bad news is that the orange-peeling does have to be dealt with. The body is going to be varnished so the surface finish isn't critical, provided there are no lumps and bumps (or orange peel!) Tomorrow it will be cured enough to have a go at flattening...

For anyone confused by the above discussion, this is the cutout I need to be careful not to inadvertently cut into : ...anyway, got to my target 5lbs. Pretty similar to a semi-acoustic!: I will stick at this in terms of chambers. Next I will take a little more out of the bottom with a bearing router bit, and that should compensate for the covers I will be putting on the top

[quote name='PlungerModerno' timestamp='1484135859' post='3212891'] Bit of a shame to lose that grain (But I've a massive thing for Ash woodgrain). I'd say, as long as you're careful, you can get those walls of the chambers down to half that thickness in most places and still have enough strength - it's your call. I get that the roundovers and belly/arm cutouts are 3D and you need to hold it to know. If you go digging out more I'd look at reinforcing the walls of the cavaties (to get long grain strength where there is a lot of runout) rather than keeping it equally thick all around. Then again, it depends on how close to the edge (yes (Yes) pun intended!) you want to go with the veneer - you want to be able to hide the plugs you use to cap the cavities! I've no doubt it'll turn out lovely. If it were mine I'd have the cavities at the rear, of course - but each to their own! [/quote] Many wise words here. I will be taking more out of the sides and the bottom of the existing cavities when I rout the chambers. I've got a 3mm rebate router on the way, so the rebate can actually be quite slim allowing me to get quite close to the sides. Having said that, there will be covers on so weight wise they will offset some of that. The next big area will indeed be further back - should be able to rough that out this afternoon. However, I don't want to take too much out at the rear if the balance is likely to be affected because as we all know, a neck heavy bass feels heavier than a heavy bass! Strength wise, I have no concerns - Tom's African Bass taught me that the body itself does very little indeed to the functional strength... The veneer needs to cover all the covers (if you see what I mean), but will go all the way to the rounded edges so still a way to go My target weight is 5lbs for the body....should be able to get close

I've just deleted my previous post because, like you, I hadn't realised the early Stingrays were series. Someone else will know for sure but, based on me working on Paul_S's Sterling5, I would have thought the easier thing would be to simply switch them both to parallel like the more modern rays. I suspect that's just a matter of swopping round a couple of the pickup conductors and should be also fully reversible. You wouldn't want one series and one parallel because the output difference between the two would be massive...

To anyone who has never done this, it will probably come as a surprise that this (don't worry - just rough cut at the moment with a forstner): ...takes out less than 3/4lb. In fact, just 10 oz. It is now sitting at 5lb 12oz so almost certainly I will need to be using the large chamber opportunity just below the arm-relief cutaway. Even then, there is a restriction due to the relief cut out at the back. But that will be tomorrow - because it is a lot easier to take away material than put it back, I will be reassembling the basic components and check the balance before I take any more out. It should be fine but with these types of job it is a case always of check three times, cut once!

I'll be doing my first wood cutting later today - forstner then router or chisel. I'm going to start here and then check the weight impact and the balance: The reason the top horn area is relatively small is because there is a cut-out at the back.

Hmmmm...put the second coat on after the recommended 16 hours and, although colour-coverage was great, it orange-peeled like crazy: I just tried another coat on the sample that was done days ago and, although just in isolated bits, that's done the same. Don't you just love these products that are incompatible with themselves As it's dried it's settled down a bit but no good as a base colour coat. I've got a few ideas in terms of using it and I'll also contact the maker's product support. It would be nice to use it because I think the colour is just right, but if it needs to be sanded off, so be it. Either way, it's probably Thursday before it will be hard enough to try some of the ideas out.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1483980465' post='3211664'] Are you wiping or spraying, Andy? [/quote] New one for me - brushing! I've been doing some experiments since Ronseal changed their formulation for their varnish...it doesn't take thinners as well as it used to. As part of that, I have done a couple of varnish finishes with an artist's fan brush rather than micro-fibre wipe-on. I've got the spray version of this colour, but also picked up a tin and have tried that for this first coat (I can always sand it down and spray over if it doesn't work). So far, the finish is as good as wipe-on and, in some ways, better than spray as you don't get the 'dimples' - and if you remember, these types of coatings don't melt into previous layers like nitro would so buffing down to a dimple free smoothness isn't an option. You end up with contour lines as each coat cuts through and exposes the previous one. The testing time will be after a light sand, seeing what happens to the second coat. If it starts showing brushstrokes, etc, then for the final surface prior to the varnish coats, I might thin it and wipe-on as I would with varnish in my normal 'odd' style. In parallel, I'm seeing if I can rig a simple booth in my small garden shed to start trying spray more. But with this one, even though I'm using the fan brush rather than the microfibre cloth, I'm sticking with techniques I'm familiar with...

I've had a good look at the HB body and made a full size drawing, detailing all of the existing chambers and cutouts, both sides. On top of that I've rough-drawn the areas that could be considered for removal - bearing in mind that I need to leave room for a rebate to sit the covers firmly onto. Don't worry! These aren't the final routing areas...more looking at the art of the possible and practical: [list] [*]The area in front of the neck pickup is a useful one - I would go to neck pocket depth for the width of the neck/pickups, but could go quite deep below that [*]The area in the top horn doesn't actually do much funtionally, but there's not actually a huge amount of wood that could come out here because of the cover rebate, the 'belly' carve at the back and the radius at the edges of the horn. [*]The area above the bridge pickup and between the pickups could yield a useful amount of wood, but I want to start further forward to ensure that the balance is not affected. [/list] What I will do, apart from order a smaller rebate router cutter so I can maximise the size of the chamber vs the size of the aperture - around 3mm should be fine - is ponder a little more and then start with the first one on the list and see just how much weight it removes and what it does to the balance then decide on additional chambers as an iterative process. I'll probably start cutting wood back end of this week...

And the back - also taken from a respectable distance

Sanding sealed, grain filled, sanded down, cleaned down, masked and first coat on the top and sides on. I won't show a close up on this, the first coat, yet - it's a bit rough and uneven. I should be able to do the back this afternoon and get a second coat on tomorrow...

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1483953581' post='3211292'] Thanks Mykesbass was keeping it for myself but thought it would be good for this bass . Andy I can't really say how many coats, it varies on the wood (I don't use grain filler) . Lets say lots (at least a dozen). Many thin coats is the way to go with this stuff, brush on and leave, don't be tempted to brush it too much. as each new layer melts into the last, thin coats will help stop drips and bubbles too. Oh I don't thin it either, just schlap it on as is. IanM [/quote] Great - thanks for the tips, Ian. I'll try it on the Piccolo bass that I'm trying as the next full build - I'll find an area in the shed I can rig up a temporary brushing table. The piccolo will be natural wood finish and if I can get half as good as this I'll be well pleased

Just had a look....the chambered Warmouths are 4lbs, the solids are generally around 5...still a lot less than this one, though...

[quote name='Harryburke14' timestamp='1483894271' post='3210920'] The Pots are a Ki0gon loom so youd have to speak to him as to what they are. That being said the originals weren't bad, I just change pickups semi regularly and therefore wanted a no-faff solderless loom. [/quote] Ah...had forgotten it's a replacement loom, Harry. Good choice. The body routings are very clean and accurate, by the way. Just the two holes from the pickup chambers to the control chamber a bit untidy. The body alone, completely stripped down is 6lb 6oz. I think I'm right in saying a typical Warmouth body is 4lbs ish?

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1483820051' post='3210438'] Going to have to follow this one too! [/quote] Thanks, HowieBass OK - while Nic's Mouradian-style is letting the grain fill cure, I set about attacking Harry's Harley Benton I am VERY impressed with this bass. Let us now dispense with the proviso of 'at this price point' - it's irrelevant. Metal control plate with good quality knobs reveals a clean and screw-connector-fitted loom and pots: And before you all jump on me, I KNOW there are two levels of CTS pots, but pretty certain these are CTS pots nonetheless: Tip for those who might want to take theirs to pieces and haven't done it before - don't lever out tuner bushes, pop a socket or similar as a drift and gently tap them out: And in the time it's taken Tottenham and Aston Villa to get going in their first half, we have one disassembled bass, ready for all the bits to be bagged safely : Thanks for looking, folks

...and while all that is drying and curing, I'm off to take Harry's Harley Benton to bits. Happy Days!

The mahogany parts of the body have been sanding sealed, lightly sanded and now the grain filler is curing. I've used Rustins - not great but not as bad as some of the others...they all tend to be either too soft and just sand out again, or too hard, leading you to end up sanding back to bare wood! The grain isn't as marked as some mahogany so it actually won't be such a big issue, but the smoother the better. No shots of that...it would be a bit like publishing a sneaked shot of a beautiful lady with her face-mask on (and without the cucumber) In the meantime, I've been trialling some paint, with offcuts from the body wood prepared in exactly the same way. I've seen a number of photos of Nic's sadly-gone Ric and the colour varies considerably across the photos, but with the addition of finish varnish which will tint it a teeny weeny bit, I think this is getting pretty close: The interesting thing is that this is a brushed-on...useful for a man without a spray booth...

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1483835952' post='3210572'] Thanks guys. Yes Andy it's melamine, respirator in a well ventilated shed. I wouldn't use it indoors, that's why all my finishing is done in the good weather. Lovely and clear and polishes to a high shine ...just a lot of rubbing [/quote] Hmmm...might have to try again. I'm thinking of trying to clear a temporary area in the shed and rig up a shower curtain to do a bit of spraying so I could have a bash in there. Do you thin it? Also, approximately how many coats would it typically take? Obviously no probs if you'd rather not say. This and some of your previous ones are amongst the best gloss finishes I've seen...