blablas

Routed the cavity for the pickup.




And battery box.

Of course I can, if I want to is another matter.

Made the new pickguard today, looks ugly due to the protective foil that's still on.

Feel free to do so.

It's a long time ago I updated something on this build, been busy with other small projects and fooling around with another new toy, a NS-NXT-5 (lefty).
I also did not feel the urge do something on this build, it's finally starting to itch again so I'm hoping to start doing things with this one later on this month, but first I need to finish my Harley Benton PB-Shorty to MMB-Shorty conversion.

Filled.


Leveled.


And filled again.

Now the tuners are on straight and aligned.

Yes, that's also why I go for a black pickguard so it won't be noticed too much.

Bass and parts are in (only waiting for a black series/parallel switch).

The plan.

The pickguard will be replaced with a black one.

The parts.


First things to do.

Align the tuners and remove several sharp fret ends.
I seem to have a patent on this with HB basses, or I am more critical than most people because I also build my own instruments.

The 'MMB-Shorty' goes for real, ordered the bass and parts.

Most of the time I use Fender 5250XL, and sometimes Höfner HCT1133R.
Both are nickel rounds.

I'm playing around with the idea to make a third shorty variation, think "big humbucker and preamp".
But first I have to finish my custom 12 string before I'm going to do more with this idea.

Should be no problem.

Not at the moment.

[url="http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rick-enbacker-Vintage-Toaster-Pickups-2pcs-Free-Shipping/1105163883.html"]AliExpress[/url]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/0WRLWKU.jpg[/IMG]
It already fits inside the existing cavity, that's something I didn't count on!

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/k4WVqJZ.jpg[/IMG]
Mounted in place and wired up properly.

The muddiness is gone! This pickup sounds way more to what I want then the sidewinder.

[size=5][b]Update time![/b][/size]

I never developed a affinity for the mudbucker bridge pickup, whatever I try it stays a muddy sob and I can not get a sound out of it I like.
A couple of weeks ago I finally decided to replace it and started a search for a pickup that could fit underneath the mudbucker cover because I did not want to spoil the current appearance. In the end I went for a Chinese toaster replica which it arrived today.

Fresh from the box.


Removed the toaster housing, it's a genuine dual coil.


It should fit underneath the existing cover without any major problems.

My Harley Benton's.

PB-Shorty.

Straight from the box: It only needed a proper setup and shielding and grounding job, I replaced the stock pickup with a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder because I did not really like the sound from the stock pickup.

Another PB-Shorty, converted to JB-Shorty.

This one was made nowhere near as good as the first one and a bit of a lemon.
Straight from the box: Two damaged bridge saddles (striped allen key hole for the height adjustment on one saddle and a stuck intonation screw on the other saddle), a lot of sharp fret ends, neck needed shimming, the tuners needed realigning since they were not mounted at an straight angle and also were misaligned from each other, and of course it also needed proper grounding and shielding.
Since I bought this one to convert to a JB version all these defects didn't bother me and were fixed while doing the conversion.

As part of this conversion I also made a new pickguard for both but the stock ones were okay.

L-400 GT. (not a bass but still a HB experience)

Straight from the box: Two high frets and a weird bumpy varnish on all the frets that needed removing, I leveled the frets and crowned and polished them to fix this.
Also needed a setup and a grounding and shielding session.

The fingerboard wood on all three was really dry and needed some oil.

All in all they are very nice instruments after some TLC and are a lot better than the price might suggest.

Over on TalkBass there is a topic on Harley Benton's and someone over there just bought a P-kit, maybe it's interesting for you to take a look there.

The wood for the body is fine, a bit on the soft side, not that strange given that it's poplar, when I machined the pickup cavities I came up to no bad spots or anything else that was out of the ordinary. What I could see of the wood after I milled it was that it actually looked very good and had a nice grain to it.
The neck is made of flatsawn maple, no knots or anything, fingerboard is a nice looking piece of rosewood.
The fretwire is something that time will tell how good it is.

All other hardware is okay, and to my eyes and experience doesn't need to be replaced, the only letdown is the stock pickup which sounds rather bland and boring and is really cheap muck.

That's why replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder on the P version, which more than doubled the price.
For the bass I converted here this stock pickup was not a factor at all because I was planning on putting in Jazz pickups anyway.

All in all I'm tempted to say you get a lot more bass than you pay for with these Shorty's, there are a few little shortcomings but nothing that can't be easily fixed.

Here is the PB-Shorty with new pickguard.


 

I Like the short scale Harley Benton PB so much I decided I want one with Jazz single coils, can not be bought so I had to convert a P version.
Bought me a second one and started converting it, below is the final result.


details:






It was a fun little project to do, the end result is exactly what I had in mind, sound wise and looks wise.


The twins.

At the same time I made the mint green pickguard for this one I made one for the older P one as well (I could get two from one rough pickguard plate).

The promised pictures.

Full frontal portrait:


details:






It was a fun little project to do, the end result is exactly what I had in mind, sound wise and looks wise.