Jimryan

Afternoon all, Sorry it's been a while, although, not a lot has happened recently. This morning however, I received a few bits I've ordered. First up a push/pull pot from allparts to allow for series/parallel switching. To go with the pot? A new pickup arrived this morning too. After spotting them on here, I snapped up one of the Delano pickups in the classifieds. Out of the two I opted for the ferrous plated one with ceramic magnets. Although many would argue I should've stuck with Alnico for his kind of project, I've got ceramic musicman pickups in two other basses and love them. Over the weekend I'm going to attempt to wire this thing myself (received a soldering iron about a week ago), so hopefully I'll be using it by next week. Exciting times.

I've got the SPB-3 quarter pounder in my P and it's ballsy as hell. Would recommend to anyone.

Best bet is halfords, I used halfords paint on one of my resprays with no problems at all. My stingray respray has a light blue primer coat (primer and colour in one can), might not be pale enough for what you're after though. Check in my build thread and if it's what you're after I'll find out the colour I bought.

Also, why is removing the tuner non-optional? It's a five minute job with a screwdriver.

Depends on the type of tuner I guess. A few I've played around with have the keys firmly in place whilst others they come out. Have you got a pic of the back of them?

Afternoon all, It turns out I didn't go to work today so thought I'd sit in the sun and work on the bass. Yesterday morning before being picked up I used up the last of the clear paint I had and let it dry over night. Today I sanded/smoothed the body the best I could with wet/dry and wiped away any gunk from the sanding process. It turns out the body is slightly textured still but not as bad as before, for comparison it's quite similar to the old musicman SUB basses but not as rough as those. After all the sanding was done, I gave it a wipe done and a bit of a polish. After all that was done, I got a tad excited and started reassembling. Over time I plan to change the bridge, but stuck with the stock one for now until I can figure out whether or not I want a mute kit on the bridge. The neck was put back on and then had to pick what scratchplate to use. The choice was between the White pearl and a black abalone one and the White won buy a landslide. With that burning issue settled, the back of the scratchplate was covered with copper foil as was the entire pickup cavity (should've got a pic of that but forgot, which is a shame as I'm pleased with how it came out). Cavity shielded, the pickup and scratchplate were put in position. Next up, control cavity. As suggested in the instructions I placed a small strip of foil up the cavity wall to meet the control plate and painted the rest with graphite shielding paint. That's currently drying and waiting it's next coat. With all that done, I've also restrung it to let the neck settle. As I've already stated, all the stock parts have been installed for the time being. As and when I can afford the parts I'll get myself a status neck, the pickup will be replaced with a Seymour Duncan Ceramic model (still need to decide on Series, parallel or both) and the pre will hopefully be replaced with a genuine EBMM one. Managed to get a nice pic of the bass in the sun and took a close up one that shows the paint texture as I've left it. [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/image_zps9mlaiifs.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/image_zps9mlaiifs.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/image_zpsu0u6yi6i.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/image_zpsu0u6yi6i.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Evening all, Sorry for going quiet. As for the respray, I have been plodding along, but didn't think me adding several clear layers warranted a post. All I'm doing at the moment, is building up the clear coats until it's level (nearly there) and from there I'll start sanding and applying a hard lacquer over the top...and then the spraying will be done. In the mean time, here's a pic of my progress with the clear coats... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/image_zpsk4dqerre.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/image_zpsk4dqerre.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Im hoping to have the body ready for shielding by the weekend and useable again by Monday, but who knows. For now I'll just stick the stock pickup and pre back in as I miss playing it and I'll upgrade those over the coming weeks.

Mornin all, On Saturday I met up with Steve in Romsey for the final handover. We sat down and had a little chat (he's a lovely guy), did the handover and went our separate ways. The bass is now back at mine and one night this week I'll count up how much is in the collection pots and donate the total. When I get a chance (and if there's enough interest), I'll scan/type up the travel log, print them and have them binded and send them out to anyone that wants them for a small donation to cover costs. Thank you once again for everyone that has helped out with this project, getting it up and running and seeing it this far... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/image_zps6he4uddc.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/image_zps6he4uddc.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I've got two and working on a third. So far there's this... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/553318_10151948982745294_1868364211_n.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Facebook/Mobile%20Uploads/553318_10151948982745294_1868364211_n.jpg[/IMG][/URL] And this... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/image_zps44d7706e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/image_zps44d7706e.jpg[/IMG][/URL] And they've become... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps0k98nc1x.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps0k98nc1x.jpg[/IMG][/URL] They've both had Seymour Duncan QP pickups at the neck and a Seymour Duncan MM ceramic at the bridge. Both have hipshot ultralites and extenders fitted along with schaller straplocks. The White P has a hipshot bridge and status neck, whilst the orange jazz has a Seymour Duncan Blackout pre and a custom scratchplate from the bass doc. I'm also currently working on this... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsf3525545.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsf3525545.jpg[/IMG][/URL] And so far I've done this to it... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsb19c83e4.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsb19c83e4.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I'll play! My oly white VM precision... Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder, Seymour Duncan Ceramic MM wired in parallel, All pots changed to 500k, Schaller straplocks fitted (3 of them), Hipshot A type bridge installed, Hipshot ultralites fitted and angled back for comfort, Hipshot extended fitted, Knobs replaced with black ones and jack socket moved to the side of the body, Status graphite jazz profile neck fitted Rotosound Nexus coated strings fitted 40-100 gauge [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps0k98nc1x.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps0k98nc1x.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I've currently got one fitted on my jazz along with an SD QP Jazz in the neck position and an SD MM at the bridge. Great pre and takes up little room. There are better out there, but for the price and size they're pretty damn good. Nice deep bass boost and pushes the treble nicely too. You can great a great slap gone out of it, more aggressive tones and some great jazz tones too. It's a good all rounder. Make sure you have it installed properly though, mine was done by a tech, but it can't be installed right as it eats batteries. Even without playing it my batteries last about 3 days...so I tend not to use it as often.

A little message from my local CRUK Fundraising manager "At Cancer Research UK we believe that innovation is essential for success. Whether it is our researchers, scientists or our fundraisers, we know that looking for new ways of doing things and by embracing technology we can speed up progress to beat cancer sooner. The Bass Relay has inspired us at Cancer Research UK because a brilliant sum, £2,300 and counting, has been raised through supporters all over the country who have worked together as a virtual group united through Basschat. This virtual way of fundraising is relatively new and you’ve given us a glimpse of the future and the way that online groups could impact our work. We are so grateful for everyone’s support with the Bass Relay because every pound raised will mean a step closer to the day when all cancers are cured. And there are all sorts of ways that your fundraising could help… For example, the sum you’ve raised is more than half the money needed to help us to buy a clever machine that can make 80,000 copies of DNA in just one second, like a turbo-charged genetic photocopier! If you want to understand what makes a cancer cell tick you need to get your hands on the cell’s DNA- and lots of it. Scientists can use these machines to scrutinise individual sets of instructions in the DNA to work out which errors in the code lead to cancer – helping to diagnose patients sooner, saving more lives. Thank you so much to everyone at Basschat who helped to make the Bass Relay such a fundraising success. One day we will beat cancer, thank you for helping to make that day sooner. Best wishes, Hayley"

So far I've bought 200g of 350 micron flake (50g bags). Bearing in mind I used a fair bit of one bag on my test panel (and to the wind) it goes VERY far. At some point tomorrow I'll dig out my order and post where I sourced the flake from.

Glad you guys like it. The pictures don't do it justice (even at this stage), it's a very difficult finish to photograph. Can't wait until it's completely finished.

Right then, I finished work a little early again today so thought I'd make a start sanding down the blue coat with some wet & dry paper. It was around about the time I finished this, I realised that there wasn't much wind and could get away with attempting the flake. Throughout the week I put a bit of thought into this and considered I might lose some of the flake when the excess falls off. Fortunately, my dad had a tray in the back of his truck that was perfect for the job. This got a thorough clean at the weekend and was ready to go. Without the use of a spray gun, my method was going to be spray an area, chuck the flake on, shake off loose and repeat. Once I've tackled that I'll start the clear coats and (maybe) sanding flush. When buying the clear coats, I bought two varieties out of curiosity (as mentioned before, one is clear the other is clear/glitter). It was as I made my test piece I noticed that the glitter spray, had a tendency to turn some of the flake black (not ideal), so I thought I'd use this as the "bonding coat" as it were. Orignally I was only going to do the horns and the cutaways this evening, but got excited and thought I'd use the rest of the bag off...and a second bag (I'm not even sorry). The front is pretty much done as is the sides with just a little left to do on the back. After using what I have, I've got two bags of flake left, one will finish it off, the other will be saved for touch ups later (or down the line) and possibly a matching headstock on the status neck (highly likely). Although earlier in this post I stated there was no wind, with metal flake being as light as it is...it will find a breeze and it will get everywhere. This is not finished yet, but thought you lot would like to see the progress so far... This is the catching tray I used (highly recommended if anyone is going to be silly enough to attempt this... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps1ab56473.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps1ab56473.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Out of direct sunlight... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps7717efc2.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps7717efc2.jpg[/IMG][/URL] In direct sunlight... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsb19c83e4.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpsb19c83e4.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

I've been considering getting an EB pickup and pre for this. The status neck should be a direct swap. On their site they say the necks will fit a Ray 34 and don't really mention the SUB series, but here's hoping.

I got it off ebay, but the sellers website is www.catmusic99.co.uk/category/guitar_shielding

Nothing too exciting, this morning I added another coat of the blue paint. Hopefully it'll be dry enough tomorrow evening for sanding if not it'll be Tuesday night.

In other news, my shielding kit has arrived [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/image_zps40be6e01.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/image_zps40be6e01.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Primer/base coat applied... [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps5c8eeb1d.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps5c8eeb1d.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps3b901d72.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps3b901d72.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Conductive paint/copper foil kit ordered.

Something along those lines. Going on my little test piece I did, I've decided I like the heavy handed look with the flake so it'll either be blown on wet paint, or sprayed and dipped in flake whilst wet. Once happy I'll apply a clear coat (I've two, one is a standard clear spray and the other is a clear/sparkle/glitter thing) and sand down and start again with clear coat then flake. Unless I like the texture finish in which I'll skip the sanding phase.

Well, despite my last post I got some done today. Due to a late Tarmac delivery at work and an early finish, I managed to sand down the top of the body and finish filling and sand the back too. Originally I was just going to aim for a smooth finish but decided in the end to do things properly and remove most of the existing base coat too. As a result, the bass is now ready for painting and things are quite exciting. As I've mentioned above, this isn't my first refinish. My first one was too rushed and although looks ok from a quick glance (the orange bass in the pics), up close you can tell it's been done by an amateur. Although it's not perfect, I'm glad I've done it once before and learned how not to do it. This time I'm being patient, I'm taking my time and with much more care and attention. One thing I will state, is that I'm not bring as strict to the middle of the bass Whilst sanding. This is solely because I know that it's where the scratchplate is going. Due to not owning a spray gun and the nature of the metal flakes, this bass will most likely have a textured finish (but I quite like the idea of that and let's face it some flake finishes do look textured). With a textured finish in mind, I am considering not using the flake where the scratchplate goes. Not only will this be less work, it'll also make installing the scratchplate a little easier. [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpscc191147.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpscc191147.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps5b4fbc3e.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps5b4fbc3e.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Nothing too interesting tonight I'm afraid. All I've done this evening is applied some filler to the top of the body. It's looks quite rough as I've added a little extra than necessary but will sort all that when I sand the body down prior to painting. I've also filled in the screw holes for the scratchplate as the holes on the new one I've bought don't line up. Tomorrow night I'll apply filler to the back and sides and I'll probably sand it down either Friday or over the weekend on the morning I decide to paint it. [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/image_zpsd73f5036.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/image_zpsd73f5036.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

So I finished work a little bit earlier yesterday and with an hour of sunshine left, I thought I'd get in the garden and strip the remaining paint off with the heat gun. Last time I used a heat gun, it was a lengthy process that took me a couple of hours each night for a week with lots of sanding and I wasnt 100% happy with the results. This time, I remembered my previous attempt, took my time and managed to get the whole thing done in an hour. Where last time I thought it'd work with holding the gun on one bit at a time, this time I used a sweeping motion (it's also worth noting to hold the gun so it blows across the body, not straight down onto it). Constantly back and forth over large areas and the paint just came off in minutes. Once through I took to holding a scraper on the body against the paint and used the heat gun down the blade of the scraper. As expected, the horns and cut aways were a nightmare but it all got done in the end. Whilst using the heat gun, I did notice that the blue-ish filler coat isn't used everywhere. There's a few spots that hasn't got any of it or the resin either. These were the only parts that are relatively perfect. Areas where the blue stuff has come off are in desperate need of filling and sanding, unfortunately, the nitromors did work on that but I've bought filler ready for the next stage. [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps2d92301c.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps2d92301c.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1258.photobucket.com/user/jimryan88/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpseaa10f82.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1258.photobucket.com/albums/ii527/jimryan88/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zpseaa10f82.jpg[/IMG][/URL]