Rumple

Quickly swapped the strings for the only set I had and that was some Status Half Round, strings I know pretty well and the bass now has even output, the B might be a tad duller and quieter but that could be the Status strings as they have been known to suffer from that in the past, also adjusting the pup a tad might help. I need to live with it for a wee while but I'd say it's a perfectly usable bass, I do feel that the string spacing is even narrower then a MM but I'll have to check that. I have to do some work now but I'll sort some pics and pup measurements soon.

It's here! 1st impression is how the hell do they make something like this for the money! it even came with a cheap gig bag, 3 picks, strap, lead and an extra set of (4 ) strings. Fit and finish are great, as stated above I'm not really a fan of sunburst but it's done well and the wood appears to be one piece rather then the usual 2 or 3 bits, I'll double check that though. Weight is just over 10lbs which is a bit on the weighty side for me but not terribly heavy for a 5er. Quickly measured the neck pocket and it's 70mm thereabouts I think MM/OLP is 68mm? so neck swapping and Status necks should work but possibly with a tiny gap, I'll check this properly when I get time. Obviously the body and scratchplate would need modifying the take the pin wheel truss rod adjuster on a MM/OLP neck. Talking of necks the 505 one plays very well, intonation is out at the moment but the action is set nice and low and the frets seem well finished with no sharp edges. I don't like the idea of the t-bar string retainer and the way the string are routed to the tuners, it all looks a bit awkward. So to sound, tuned it up plugged it in and E-G sound nice and bright with some punch but the B string is so dead I actually thought there was something wrong with the pup but tapping the pole pieces confirms the pup is working fine it must just be a rubbish B string, I'll change the strings if I can find a five string set in the 'bass bits box' under the bed and see if that helps. Stock electronics are a tad odd as it seems to have two tone controls and one volume?? my passive OLP has two volumes (one for each coil) and a single tone which makes far more sense to me. Feel free to ask questions and I'll try to answer them as best as I can.

[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1426364311' post='2717423'] Very interested to see what you think of these basses... [/quote] It should arrive by Tuesday, I had a look at the tracking info and it's in the country. I'll post my thoughts on here when it arrives.

I was meant to be out today but it got cancelled at the last minute so with some unexpected time on my hands I decided to have have another look at the neck on this beast, after watching a few YouTube videos about truss rods I now know there is such a thing as a dual action truss rod Neck is nice and straight now and the action lovely and loooooow, I've been playing the bass for an hour or so now and it's really great, the neck doesn't suit me and will be replaced with a Jazz Bass neck at some point, which is a real shame as it looks the business.

Removed the old shielding and masked out the cavities and neck pocket today.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1426247217' post='2716090'] Just dry and still....so July, then lol [/quote] there will probably be a one hour window on a Tuesday afternoon!

You'll have to post some pics when it's done, I believe Nitro takes a month or so to harden properly once all the coats are done. I'm still thinking over what route to take, I've been watching a lot of videos by [url="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl5TLlEtAHzMUsXyEmbmw-w"]Brad Angove[/url] on YouTube which are proving interesting and informative viewing. I have a build diary for the bass I'm working on [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/253154-frankenfanny-jazz-bass/"]HERE[/url]

Excellent, how much paint did you have to use? I've just stripped a Jazz body and I'm thinking of using car paint to refinish it. I do love Nitro finishes but I thought I'd see how car paint turns out on my 1st attempt at a refinish.

I did some filling and then sanded the body down over the last couple of days, the next step is to wait for a dry and still day to add some filler primer, I'm guessing it doesn't have to be perfect conditions as it's a layer that will be sanded back?

They did do it for the same money otherwise I wouldn't have bothered, I might get lucky and it's a decent enough looking bit of wood used on the body, I'm not holding my breath but at least I'll be able to see the wood without stripping the finish off.

Got a message today saying they don't have any black ones in stock I'm not a fan of sunburst basses but as this is for a possible future project bass I've accepted one and it should arrive by Tuesday next week.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1426090213' post='2714268'] The gouges will want filling and sanding down, but the scorches should cover OK with the primer coats assuming you are still planning on painting it a solid colour. The first one I did looked like the remains of a BBQ! [/quote] Cheers, I'll try and find time tomorrow to do some filling. It's a nano second between the finish starting to flake a bit and the wood burning!

As it was a nice sunny Spring day in London Town and work was thin on the ground I decided to remove the finish on the body with a heat gun, it's my 1st attempt doing this and I was a bit too heavy handed to start with so the back is a bit gouged in places I'd got the hang of it by the time I tackled the front so that is a lot better but a tad scorched in places. [attachment=186056:IMAG0732 lr.jpg]

[quote name='GregBass' timestamp='1426079584' post='2714116'] I had the same issues with an old Telecaster/Precision bass I built up. No matter what I did to the truss rod, it rattled at certain points on the neck. I took it to my luthier, who immediately spotted that the truss rod was just not biting. I let it with him and he just lowered frets to get the profile I wanted. The action is now superb. [/quote] It needs a more qualified person then me to work out what's going on, I'll get the bottom of it on the end

This place on Ebay say they will mix any colour if you give them the code, as suggested above find a car you like the colour of then get them to mix it for you. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310828308880?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT"]Paint[/url] I'm not sure if they do older colours though. Both Austin and Ford did cars in a pale blue in the 60's that might be what you are after. [url="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Ford_anglia.jpg"]Ford Anglia[/url]

Thanks for all your kind words, advice and encouragement during this build, much appreciated. I'll update the thread again if I do change the neck in the future.

So it has! at least no one else will get caught out now Fair play to PayPal it was easy enough getting the money back.

Ha Ha you might have to wait for me to finish sulking if it doesn't have a MM sized neck pocket.

[quote name='synthaside' timestamp='1425574356' post='2708761'] Alright let me know , if its feels good value and worth the 10 miles of London traffic through mitcham i'll bring the status for neck appreciation , there ... different ;-) [/quote] I've ordered one £108.00 delivered made it too hard to resist!

That's a great colour.

Finally got my money back today after PayPal found in my favour, I'm not sure Estuary ever replied to PayPal either. If they are still in business I'd avoid them like the plague.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1425749034' post='2710350'] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/244071-fender-precision-lyte-body-refinish/page__fromsearch__1"]This is probably the most relevant thread for you, Rumple[/url]. It was the refurb of Paul S's black Precision Lyte, pictured above. Hope it helps. Andy [/quote] HI Andy, I finally got around to reading your finishing thread this morning, it's very informative and well written, thanks for the link.

As promised here's some pictures of the bass, as mentioned above I'm loving the look and sound of the bass but can't decide if I can live with the wide P bass neck so I'll live with it for a while and see how I get on. [attachment=185909:P1010384 lr.jpg] [attachment=185910:P1010386 lr.jpg] [attachment=185911:P1010388 lr.jpg] [attachment=185912:P1010390 lr.jpg] [attachment=185913:P1010394 lr.jpg] [attachment=185914:P1010396 lr.jpg]

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1425749034' post='2710350'] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/244071-fender-precision-lyte-body-refinish/page__fromsearch__1"]This is probably the most relevant thread for you, Rumple[/url]. It was the refurb of Paul S's black Precision Lyte, pictured above. Hope it helps. Andy [/quote] Fantastic, I'll sit sown with a coffee in the morning and have a good read of that thread. Dave