Andyjr1515

It's been suggested that I do a bit of a precis / clarification of one or two of the myriad finishing techniques available, especially relating to Tru-oil slurry filling (I call it slurry and wipe), Tru Oil used for a satin final finish (Slurry and buff) and also wiping on old-fashioned polyurethane varnish (specifically, Ronseal Hardglaze). I won't cover the use of Tru-oil for a gloss finish as I don't really do that variation although I have seen very impressive results from folks who do. For natural wood, I tend to use Tru Oil as my filling and preparation method (if it's going to be glossed) or as my preparation and finish method (if it's going to be satin) Tru-oil 'Slurry and Wipe' for filling and preparing Take this camphor laurel top. Now that's what I call a filling job! Yes - some of those voids go right through to the other side! I use Tru-oil as the Wet part of a 'Wet and Dry' sanding job. And, personally, I start fairly coarse - 250 grit emery cloth or even 120!! I basically slosh the Tru Oil on and sand to my heart's content: Very quickly I end up with a wood-dust /Tru-oil sludge. once I have plenty of sludge, I use an old credit card to get that sludge into all of the voids. I let that dry overnight. The next day, I repeat, adding more sludge into the remaining void depth. This is day 2: I then move to finer paper - around 350 grit and do the same again, but this time, I wipe the excess sludge off while it is still wet with kitchen roll / old t-shirt. Maybe a repeat after it's dried. It gets me here: And, for Tru-oil Slurry and Wipe, this is where I would stop, let it fully dry and then varnish it. Sneak preview (I'll cover a couple of poyurethane 'bedroom builders' methods tomorrow), this is good old fashioned Ronseal Hardglaze wiped on: Tru Oil for Slurry and Buff Satin Finish ...is exactly the same as above, but you keep going. The slurry and wipe is done a few more times with finer and finer paper. And the 'wipe' is now used to remove pretty much all of the oil Then the final couple of goes, is Tru-oil with c 400 grit wet and dry, but now I not only wipe it all off, but I then vigorously buff it as dry as I can. I usually let it fully dry overnight and repeat. What you are left with is a silky smooth surface that is protected, but feels VERY organic to the touch. This is a Bubinga bass done that way. 8-9 years of playing later, it still looks and feels the same! I do pretty much ALL of my necks using this method. There are some if's and buts involved and some practice. However, the above methods require neither fancy equipment nor facilities.

Two things arrived this morning, the 3mm inserts and the decals The inserts look to have a decent thread to spread the load for both the jack plate and pickup height screws. Here one is, along with my inserting screw and spanner: The best way of inserting them is, after drilling the holes in the body, to put the 3mm screw into the insert up to the locknuts and then use the spanner to turn the locknuts, which turns the insert and cuts the thread, driving the insert into the timber: A few minutes later, we have two usable inserts: It will be the same process for the pickup height adjustment screws. The decals are the gossamer-thin ones from Rob at www.guitardecals.co.uk: These will be dust coated with clear nitro, to prevent them melting, before the final gloss coats.

I like that design very much. Very much.

No, it will be chrome, Mick. If you remember, the starting point was the finished neck fully loaded with Chrome Hipshot Ultralites - so it was always intended to be chrome hardware. Trust me - it will look splendid when it's all put together But those dice knobs Jack's set his heart on...hmmm.... Naaaah! On more basic items, I've decided on the hardware fixings and I'm going for threaded inserts and machine screws throughout. M3 allen-socketed A2 stainless for the bridge and jack plate from the 'kiddies in a sweetshop' experience that is the ACCU website : The machine screws for the pickup will also be M3, but with smaller crosshead tops to fit in the pickup recesses. Use of inserts should mean that the inherent softness of the paulownia doesn't become a problem with the fixtures and fittings.

Perfect! And, there might be a few wires showing but, those with LED's drilled and fitted into them!!!

Lovely job

Yes - it's not perfect (this shot is probably a little flattering!) but I'm really pleased - and quite relieved - how this is looking: And before strings and strap buttons, but everything else included, 6lb 9oz, of which the painted body itself is only 2lb 7oz . So probably the playing weight will be just a couple of ounces over the target 6.5lbs

DON'T put ideas into @Happy Jack's head

Well, it wouldn't get any plaudits from a professional outfit but in terms of 'fit for purpose' the final clear gloss coat has been applied and I'm both pleased and relieved. It is already dry enough to handle but will now carry on hardening for probably a couple of weeks before I buff it up to the final gloss finish. But in the meantime, I can sort the fittings, headstock decal and suchlike ready for final assembly. The camera lies a bit, colour-wise. In real life it looks a bit more flesh coloured (the Canon SLR always did have problems with reds) but just wait for the disco lights!

Yes - but entirely down to the distance from the strings that the pickup ended up with the additional thickness and clearance of the cover. With 'normal' clearances, the DiMarzio PJ set is pretty much as you would expect it to be

Who needs a wallet when there's the magic of BACS & Paypal

Well, if it was my own bass, I wouldn't. And I know that's rich when I mod most of my own guitars and basses and even my website is called ajrguitarmods.co.uk But it's such a pretty model of bass straight out of the box - and even doing that small change would reduce the resale value. But it's not my bass and there's no such thing as 'you mustn't'

It depends. You can gently warm it and sometimes it sorts it but often it doesn't. And starting again for a 'clear over natural wood' is relatively straightforward - just sand back that layer and re-do. But starting again if it is one of the first few coats over a freshly painted finish...that really would be starting all over again There's plenty to be getting on with, though. As long as I am careful not to scratch it, I can start fitting some of the machine screw inserts for things like the jack plate and pickup screws and hatch magnets, etc. Which is tomorrow's job if it's damp again or whenever if it is dry enough to start the clear coats

The clear-clear varnish is here but I won't be spraying it today. One of the 'joys' of clear nitro is that it is affected enormously by moisture in the air - it goes milky which is guaranteed to ruin your day - and, even though it has brightened up a touch in the last hour, there was just too much in the air to risk it. So, in a guitar builders' version of 'talk amongst yourselves', here is something completely different I've been waiting for a spare hour to get sorted: I'm planning to offer up my camphor single-cut for sale at the forthcoming South West BassBash and there's one thing that has been bugging me. It is fitted with a DiMarzio PJ set, which sounds great but there has always been a problem with volume balance. Basically, the P pickup has always been too quiet. "Just raise the pickup" Well, easier said than done. It was spec'd to have fully covered pickup and, while the bridge cover doesn't interfere, the neck cover would if it was any higher. And so I spent a happy hour this morning taking out the Dimarzio, fitting a Seymour Duncan SPB-2 Hot for PB (similar EQ as the standard SD p/up but almost 2X the output) in the neck position and then balancing the two pickups by adjusting the bridge p/up height: Done - and what a difference: A few tidy up jobs still to do before the Bash but that's the sound sorted

This ^ Bear in mind that pretty much any mod reduces the resale value, however well it's done.

Thinking about it...most of my builds look better in the dark

Ah...but you haven't seen it in the dark

Actually, one isn't enough so here's another one

And so...to the colour. As I said above, the 'clear' coat can make a difference. Manchester Guitar Tech offer not only the Shell Pink, but also a lightly tinted clear finish that adds a touch of older varnish browning. Problem is, that with clear-clear final varnish, it looks pink and with the tinted-clear, which I did on the hatch to test, it was heading much more towards flesh/peach. So my question to @Happy Jack was 'Which do you prefer?' Never as simple as that... Another challenge. "Well, it will never be seen in daylight, so choose whichever looks best in the low / coloured lighting of our gigs..." That evening, I turned the lights down low and compared the clear-clear body(pinkish) with the tinted-clear hatch (peachish). Hmmm...the pink body looked like a white bass in low light. But the peach hatch looked pink!! I took a punt and sprayed tinted-clear over the body. But, to be certain, I needed a better test. That Saturday Night Fever dress up and disco light kit that MrsAndyjr1515 bought me when we were still on speaking terms... At last! So I donned the white suit, dyed my hair, got all the floor stuff down and plugged in, parked the painted bass up against the included Bee Gee's framed picture (it's the Deluxe disco kit) and turned the lounge lights off and the disco lights on! Yup - it was pink!!!! So here it is, looking decidedly peachy in the daylight, with just the clear-clear coats left to do:

It's looking good! Lucky break that it would chip off

The clear coat will actually determine the final depth and tone of colour but shell pink is certainly the plan. I've got a good feeling about it too

Well, no cigar yet...but close Final pre-paint carve work was to inset the jack plate: Then trial 2 with the primer and pink: The back is completely grain-free now. At first glance, the top looks OK too: But there's still a bit of grain showing: But that's it I will be able to fill and sand that back and then start on the final coats. Oh, and headstock

Love the black and natural. Very classy indeed. Great finish job

This is 3/4 through sanding: Basically, anything shiny means the sandpaper hasn't got to that level yet: So most of the grain is clearly filled, but here are some dints that either need sanding down to or filling more. Once all the shiny bits are gone all over, I'm reapplying finishing epoxy, albeit thinner...wiped on with a lint-free cloth: Later this evening, when the top is handleable, I'll wipe a coat onto the back too and leave it overnight for, hopefully, a final filling-sand tomorrow.

Teeny, teeny (we're talking dust-like) spheres of plastic that you mix into the epoxy as a very lightweight filler. The advantage is that they sand extremely easily and smoothly in addition to being very light weight. The disadvantage is that I suspect they are within the group of micro-plastics that the world is realising could become a significant ecological problem...