blablas

My thunder I.

I'm the original owner, bought it new in 1982, over the years I've modified the crap out of it.

Yes the tape I'm using looks similar, only the one I'm using is a 1/2 inch wide.
I assume that the tape you can buy in the UK is the same kind of quality as the one we've got over here, so I would advise you to buy it in the UK.

Never cut myself with this tape yet, but I work with metals for a living and should know how to handle the stuff.
Tape is indeed a bit fiddly to use but gives the best shielding result, as long as you work with some care with this kind of tape you don't have worry about cutting yourself.

It's copper tape with a conductive sticky side (bought in a Dutch online shop, I can give you the address if you want), the green wire is the ground wire for the bridge, the copper that is on the cover will touch the tape that's just bent over the edge of the cavity and thus create a connection.

Shielded.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/b8Y1Rmf.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/L3sFBf5.jpg[/IMG]
And dated & signed.

Thanks.

Mounted some hardware.





In the end I made my choice to go for the black variation of the truss rod covers.
I already made them, together with the silver colored variant I showed here before, at the time I thought I preferred those, but now together with all the other mounted black hardware the black ones look better.

I generate my templates with [url="http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/"]Fretfind[/url], print this out and glue it on the fingerboard with a glue stick.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KfyxMfF.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Qt4UYqY.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/rdmjWJV.jpg[/IMG]

Finished oiling.

Finished oiling the backside.

There is a detachable cover on the back, this will make the wiring a relatively easy job.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/bDZS1SD.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qLk7CXB.jpg[/IMG]
Ready to be oiled.

It's only a final touch up, I was already at grain 400 before gluing the neck, after that I'm going up to grain 600, that's smooth enough for a Danish oil finish.

I've already drilled most of the holes, the last ones will be done during assembly.
Tomorrow I'm going to do the final sanding and start with the oiling which probably will take all week, and hopefully next weekend the final assembling can begin.

The neck is glued in the body.




The end of this build is coming in sight, I still need to drill some holes and after that give it a final sanding session and then I can start the oiling.

Finished sanding the back of the neck and the headstock.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/j6j9S2E.jpg[/IMG]
Before I did that I decided to modify the neck profile a little bit, it's slightly asymmetrical now.

Also put on a layer of Danish oil (except for the still to glue neck heel), now it won't get dirty any more, and I was just curious how it was going to look.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/I7cx1Dx.jpg[/IMG]

The final routing is done, made the hole for the battery box in the access cover.

A few close-ups of the fretwork (someone asked for them on a [url="http://www.basgitaarforum.nl/index.php"]Dutch forum[/url], might as well place them here to).
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/tBI5IiO.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/RyDKR3A.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/R8saHXo.jpg[/IMG]

Crowning and polishing the frets.
The ones with tape are already done, the ones without not.

How the back will look once the neck is attached to the body.
It's not yet glued in here, I still need to finish the back of the body and crown and polish the frets.

The same principle, the thing you want is already in there, all you need to do is expose it.

It's only a matter of taking away the material you don't want.

Shaping of the neck is done.

Sawed the neck to thickness and finally could get a go at doing my favorite part of bass building: The volute.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qdwuKpc.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Yy4UpBc.jpg[/IMG]
Still in a bit of a rough shape though, further refining will come once I start final shaping of the complete back of the neck.

The sides of the frets are finished and the tops are leveled.

It's done to hold the frets really tight in place, even though the fit in the groove is already okay, it's just a extra measure.
This will also fill any visible holes between the fingerboard and the frets.

I use cyano acrylate (funny glue) for this, it will creep in the left over space between the fingerboard and the fret due to capillary effect and if done properly will fill the entire grove.

I prefer a flat fingerboard so there is no radius to follow.