G & 'ell of a bass

[machinehead]

Very nice work Rich.

It's inspired me to have a go at bulding my own bass. I'm an electrical engineer but I have a fair bit of experience and knowledge of mechanical engineering and I'm OK at the DIY woodworking too.

I've just got to start thinking through what I'd like to do and making a few plans.

Thanks for taking the trouble to share all that information.

Frank

PS. Your old jazz is still getting lots of love.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='gary mac' post='1054098' date='Dec 10 2010, 02:43 PM']I found the simple p bass enough of a challenge to wire and solder, so hats off to you.

Have you trimmed that filler piece off yet or been too busy with the wiring plan?[/quote]
I must say it was touch and go there for a while while I hammered the different types of DPDT switches into my old brain.

Not yet. I've had a couple of dust free days.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='1054104' date='Dec 10 2010, 02:46 PM']I always love to see a circuit diagram with question marks on it. [/quote]
It instills great confidence doesn't is.

[quote name='Wil' post='1054153' date='Dec 10 2010, 03:28 PM']Looking good! Glad to see you've got the P pickup coils arranged the sensible way round too [/quote]
Yep and I think it makes even more sense this way round being closer to the bridge too. I've got it in the Stingray sweet spot too which I hope will pick up some nice harmonics.

[quote name='machinehead' post='1054168' date='Dec 10 2010, 03:39 PM']Very nice work Rich.

It's inspired me to have a go at bulding my own bass. I'm an electrical engineer but I have a fair bit of experience and knowledge of mechanical engineering and I'm OK at the DIY woodworking too.

I've just got to start thinking through what I'd like to do and making a few plans.

Thanks for taking the trouble to share all that information.

Frank

PS. Your old jazz is still getting lots of love.[/quote]
Good luck with that mate. Any thing I might be able to help with, just drop us a line.
It's never too soon to start a build diary, even when you're just thinking about it.

Good to hear it.

[Ou7shined]

Time for a quick update.

I'd been a bit worried about the 50th aniv neck bought off ebay because of a noticeable twist. Having never personally experienced a twisted neck before, deep down I kinda hoped it might disappear under tension from the strings so before going any further into the build I decided to set the bridge and find out.



Lovely jubbly, perfect alignment.



I drilled the tuners and strung it up..... Beyoing.... Disaster!



Surprisingly it set up and intonated fine but I couldn't get rid of fret buzz on the dusty end on the G string with the low action I like. Too much hassle for now. Time for plan B.
Here's how it looked for about 45 minutes. Oh I contacted the seller... surprise surprise no answer.



Plan B.
I recently acquired a P width SX neck which had received a shoddy antiquing and fret job. Apart from a vicious attack in the nut slot with what looks to have been done with a hand saw to accommodate an oversized brass nut and some deep gouges behind the nut from the groves being filed in situ and the very loose frets (most of which came out 5 minutes after I received it) it looked good.

I managed to reconstruct and tighten up the slot with layers of maple veneer.



I noticed the trussrod access was a bit rough and also squint so I decided to give it a new lease of life too.
I glued some sandpaper to a dowel and opened out the hole just enough to accept some handy plastic tubing (actually it was the rocket launcher tube that came with my fireworks this year ) which I then superglued in place, trimmed and sanded to shape.



I'm very happy with the results... but as I'm painting the headstock on this bass unfortunately no one will ever see it. Still, something to remember for future projects.



Here it is prepped for lacquering. The fretboard has some sweet figuring.
(just trying out the tuner bushes for size)



Surprisingly a lot of my 'tronics got here through the xmas post. I'm still waiting for a capacitor coming from Holland (yes folks a Dutch cap ) for the bass pot and my 3 way switches from coming from Japan (I've substituted the 3 ways with 2 ways for now so I can get the wires cut to length - they aren't soldered).
I'm very chuffed with this... let's hope it works.



As you can see I've kind of tricked it out with unnecessary Spragues, CTS's and waxed wire. All luxuries but what the hey, it's only money.


Tschuss the noo.

[gary mac]

This reallly isn't good enough, you still haven't tidied up that filler piece and you can't even use the excuse of having a dust free period anymore.




Looking good though.

[eude]

Looking good Rich!
Shame about the neck, but every cloud I guess, the figuring on the SX fingerboard is lush

So you think you'll have this up and running by February?

Eude

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='gary mac' post='1067511' date='Dec 23 2010, 09:54 AM']This reallly isn't good enough, you still haven't tidied up that filler piece and you can't even use the excuse of having a dust free period anymore.




Looking good though.[/quote]
Haha yes. I'll get onto it boss.

[eude]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1067547' date='Dec 23 2010, 10:29 AM']Haha yes. I'll get onto it boss. [/quote]

Good man
You've unfortunately set a precedent after bringing along yer awesome Pingray last time. Some of us have come to expect a new creation each time now...
Seriously though dude, you're scarily good at this, loving watching it come together.

Now get back to the shed!

Eude

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='eude' post='1067517' date='Dec 23 2010, 10:01 AM']Looking good Rich!
Shame about the neck, but every cloud I guess, the figuring on the SX fingerboard is lush

So you think you'll have this up and running by February?

Eude[/quote]
Yep. A pox on the pikey scum that puts a fecked neck up on the the bay with all the "straight as a die" BS in the description.

It'll definitely be coming to Moffat.... but as Matt rightly predicted, I'll probably be still building it the night before. .

[eude]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1067555' date='Dec 23 2010, 10:36 AM']Yep. A pox on the pikey scum that puts a fecked neck up on the the bay with all the "straight as a die" BS in the description.

It'll definitely be coming to Moffat.... but as Matt rightly predicted, I'll probably be still building it the night before. .[/quote]

Looking forward to seeing it dude, and of course catching up with your good self

Eude

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='eude' post='1067563' date='Dec 23 2010, 10:42 AM']Looking forward to seeing it dude, and of course catching up with your good self

Eude[/quote]
You too man.

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='eude' post='1067550' date='Dec 23 2010, 10:32 AM']Good man
You've unfortunately set a precedent after bringing along yer awesome Pingray last time. Some of us have come to expect a new creation each time now...
Seriously though dude, you're scarily good at this, loving watching it come together.

Now get back to the shed!

Eude[/quote]
Ah yes I like to think me and Jon Shuker have a lot in common.... neither of us will win any Build A Bass Quickly prizes.

Btw I have another build over on FB you might wanna have a wee butchers at.

[eude]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1067622' date='Dec 23 2010, 11:27 AM']Ah yes I like to think me and Jon Shuker have a lot in common.... neither of us will win any Build A Bass Quickly prizes.

Btw I have another build over on FB you might wanna have a wee butchers at. [/quote]

Ha ha, yeah, know what you mean.
Still, Jon built my 6er in 12 weeks all those years ago, things must've gotten a lot busier for him since then though, which is no bad thing I guess, I big wait time means he must be building basses folks are willing to wait for.

Found your other thread, very interesting.
I might bug you about helping to fix up a shorty next year if you're willing and able, or maybe just some advice, we can chat about it in Feb if that's cool with you, and that's assuming I can find something worth doing up/modding...

Cheers,
Eude

[Ou7shined]

Aye totally man. We can have a chin wag at Moffat.... if we can stay sober long enough.

[Ou7shined]

Time for a quick update as I'm nearing completion.

Since last we talked I've carved out the control cavity (you can make out the footprint of the old one)....


... wired up the on-on-on switches (blue) and my "dutch" cap (the coffee coloured one)....



... and re-radiused the neck. 10" for those that care about these things.



I reached a final decision as to what colour to go for.... drum roll... Vintage White.
But it couldn't be like every other off white bass. I decided that as the wood grain on this '78 body was so beautiful that I'd experiment with an open grain finish, so although it is painted and lacquered you can see the grain. Also to add to it's uniqueness, I applied a very light (almost imperceptible) sunburst effect with tinted lacquer - I also placed some splodges in strategic places around the pup routs. The effect is subtle and yet it without it it would look very plain. It gives an authentic aged look, which is a kind neat for the 30+ year old body to have.

The grain.


Primed. (I didn't like this pickguard shape 100% so have made another one with slight differences - more about that later)


Finished and shielded out. On my monitor this looks very white. In reality it s very creamy even yellowy.
It's hard too to capture the subtle sunburst on camera, you really need to see it in person. I'll try some outside pics to see if it comes over better.


Here you get a sense of the open grain effect - again it is much more obvious seen in the flesh. I'll try and capture it better later.



I've still to "final fit" the new pickguard, fret the neck, finish the matching headstock + decals and drill it for the tuners then solder it all up.

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel I see ?

[neepheid]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1111400' date='Feb 1 2011, 06:23 PM']Time for a quick update as I'm nearing completion.

...

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel I see ? [/quote]

Looking good man. Don't go towards the light!

[sk8]

you're going to be setting this up like you were the pingray jazz when we had the last moffat bash

[gary mac]

Very impressive, that's looking so good.

[eude]

Oooo oooo oooo
Will we be seeing this one Saturday?...

Eude

[Ou7shined]

[quote name='neepheid' post='1111485' date='Feb 1 2011, 07:25 PM']Looking good man. Don't go towards the light! [/quote]
Don't worry if I see any light I'll just hit it with some tinted lacquer.

[quote name='sk8' post='1111492' date='Feb 1 2011, 07:30 PM']you're going to be setting this up like you were the pingray jazz when we had the last moffat bash [/quote]
Sad but true.

[quote name='gary mac' post='1111508' date='Feb 1 2011, 07:45 PM']Very impressive, that's looking so good.[/quote]
Cheers. Fingers crossed it sounds as good as it looks.

[quote name='eude' post='1111687' date='Feb 1 2011, 09:56 PM']Oooo oooo oooo
Will we be seeing this one Saturday?...

Eude[/quote]
That's the plan but I think Mike's prediction may bear fruit.

Edited February 2, 2011 by Ou7shined

[Ou7shined]

I burned some midnight oil last night and completed the wiring. Somehow it all worked as it should first time, which considering the complexity and uniqueness of the wiring loom is a bloody miracle. Obviously I haven't tested it strung but my initial findings are that there is an expected drop in volume when both pups are brought in, with (I think) a slight bias towards the P pup, which is sounding very beefy. I don't think I will get time to do this before Moffat but a suitable resistor over the selector switch will even this out.



I also got my decals on and rubbed flat but I still need to age the headstock yet. (fecking camera wouldn't focus )

[gilmour]

Looking great, and the neatness of the work always astounds me to think that it's all done with hand tools.

Top Job

[eude]

Jings dude, these get better and better!

Eude

[FEND3R]

Great job, I can't wait to see it finished

[Ou7shined]

She is finished but I'm kind of dealing with a loss in the family just now and can't seem to get my sh*t together - but don't fear I'll will and I'll be back with full update on the refret, altered pick-guard design and how she sounds etc. soon.

Until then here's a wee taster ...

[gary mac]

Rich.

That looks truly spectacular mate.

Sorry to hear of the loss in your family, I can relate as we are dealing with the loss of my mum in law, found dead in her flat on friday night. We are all shocked and trying to come to terms with it.
Hope you are doing ok.

All the best, Gary