JPJ Posted May 16, 2007 Share Posted May 16, 2007 (edited) This all started with a daft bid on eBay that resulted in me being the owner of a brand new Mighty Mite five string precision bass neck for £40. I later bought a set of those P'bass plans also off eBay. After thinking about it for around a year, I finally purchased a slab of swamp ash from www.craft-supplies.co.uk and set about making a sort of five string precision with the Fender Stu Hamm pickup arrangement (2xJ + 1xP in close formation). When finished, she will be vintage white ('cream') with a tort board. These are pictures of the body and neck, plus the first string-up to check alignment. [attachment=3:P_Hamm_V___Full.jpg] [attachment=4:P_Hamm_V___Body.jpg] I also wanted traditional elephant ear tuners, so its a bit crowded round the back, and I had to route the 'G' tuner into the headstock and slot the baseplate of the 'E' tuner to allow access to the 'G' tuner mounting screw. Well worth the effort in my opinion for the look of the elephant ears. [attachment=5:P_Hamm_V___MCs.jpg] Tools-wise, I have used a router, a belt sander, hand drill, bench pillar drill, B&Q own make dremel thingy, power file, and an assortment of hand tools. I am currently cutting the pickup slots in the tortoise shell plastic and will post some pictures of this when its done. Electronics-wise, I have bought a John East circuit comprising of his BTB stack & MID SWEEP stack along with a volume, jack socket and battery clip (all pre-wired because I am an electronics numpty) which will be coupled to a pair of Bart J's and a Bart P all via a stock Fender five-way switch. I'll post some more pic's at the weekend when I hope to finish the scratchplate and start on the body finishing. Edited June 25, 2007 by JPJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 Hey! Lets hear it for 5 string Precisions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB90 Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 This was the topic that forced me to join to see pics!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 [quote name='MattyB90' post='860' date='May 17 2007, 09:41 PM']This was the topic that forced me to join to see pics!![/quote] Hey Matty! Really glad you changed your mind ... Pictures? you can actually come and see / try mine in the flesh sometime if you like .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattyB90 Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 Yeah I'll take you up on that offer sometime over the holidays. I'm actually intending to create my own Precision bass as soon as I can get hold of the parts. I want to have a Precision body but with the lovely Fender Jazz neck. Perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted June 3, 2007 Author Share Posted June 3, 2007 Time for an update. The electrics arrived from John East (thanks John) so I was able to finish the body route. Then started the sanding and sealing. First lot of sealer just showed what a crap job of the sanding I had made, so I sanded it all off by hand and re-sanded the body and applied several coats of sanding sealer before flatting it back to result in this: [attachment=419:P_Bass_S...ed_Front.jpg] [attachment=420:P_Bass_sealed_rear.jpg] Then I applied three coats of white primer (wet on wet) like this: [attachment=421:P_Bass_F...t_Primer.jpg] [attachment=422:P_Bass_Rear_Primer.jpg] and will leave this for a week before flatting back, adding one more coat of white primer, flatting back again and then adding two or three coats of finished colour. After letting that cure for a week in the airing cupboard, I'll flat it back and apply probably three/four coats of lacquer to bring up a nice high shine. The lacquer will need about two weeks of curing before I can flat that back and polish with a 'T-Cut' to a perfect smooth shine. All in all, she should be ready for assembly by the end of June. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 Hiyah Loadsa work eh? So what Bart P Pup will you have? Will it be equal sided or lop-sided like mine? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ali-stare Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 looking forward to the end of this cant wait!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 [quote name='ali-stare' post='11676' date='Jun 4 2007, 08:42 AM']looking forward to the end of this cant wait!![/quote] That makes two of us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted June 4, 2007 Author Share Posted June 4, 2007 [quote name='OldGit' post='11668' date='Jun 4 2007, 08:07 AM']Hiyah Loadsa work eh? So what Bart P Pup will you have? Will it be equal sided or lop-sided like mine?[/quote] I got mine of a guy in the US on eBay. Mine is the old equal sized cases with the uneven coils so that the top half covers the B,E & A and the bottom half the D&G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 [quote name='JPJ' post='11694' date='Jun 4 2007, 09:41 AM']I got mine of a guy in the US on eBay. Mine is the old equal sized cases with the uneven coils so that the top half covers the B,E & A and the bottom half the D&G.[/quote] OK .. I saw a numnbr of those but I like the quirkyness of the odd sized "pair" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazy_olie Posted June 4, 2007 Share Posted June 4, 2007 I will be keeping my eyes on this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted June 25, 2007 Author Share Posted June 25, 2007 Look Egor, it lives.......... Well, as at 1am Monday, the beast is complete. [attachment=902:P_Hamm_V...Finished.jpg] [attachment=903:P_Hamm_V...Finished.jpg] [attachment=904:P_Hamm_B...Finished.jpg] [attachment=905:P_Hamm_V...Finished.jpg] [attachment=906:P_Hamm_V...Finished.jpg] Only played her through headphones so far, but wow, am I happy The five-way switch (Schaller super switch) is wired to give me: 1) (Neck J - 25k ohm) + Bridge J 2) Neck J + P 3) P on its own 4) P + Bridge J 5) Neck J + (Bridge J - 25k Ohm) All switch options work really well, although I had to set the P pickup considerably lower than the two J's to balance out the power of this beast. The John East circuit is fab, and the variable mid helps smooth out the edge from the Bart's. I originally built this to be a back up to my faithfull J bass, but somehow I have managed to build something equally as good imho. I can see this rock monster getting as much gig time as the J now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted June 25, 2007 Share Posted June 25, 2007 Congratulations! Looks lovely .. I think it has your eyes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 apart from the fact that it says "jazz bass" when it's clearly a P-bass body, it's a very nice bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bass_ferret Posted July 3, 2007 Share Posted July 3, 2007 Nice job. Did you consider hipshot ultralight tuners? Look like ears from the front but much smaller at the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGit Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 [quote name='bass_ferret' post='26761' date='Jul 3 2007, 10:39 PM']Nice job. Did you consider hipshot ultralight tuners? Look like ears from the front but much smaller at the back.[/quote] Yeah, keeps the headstock weight down too .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted August 9, 2007 Author Share Posted August 9, 2007 (edited) Well, Blondie got her first gig a couple of Sundays ago, and boy am I pleased with myself! I intended to use her for the first half and then my trusty East equipped Jazz V DLX for the second-half but somehow, Blondie got both halves to herself. Playing through my SWR rig (750x, Goliath & SoB) she sounded absolutely awesome. Since the build finished, I have modded the switching options so that I now have position 1 as both J's on full (no resistor) but the best position live is definately the P + the bridge J, that position really cuts through in a gig scenario and still has loads of balls. In truth, the paint job could have been better. Using car spray paints means that they need a long long time to harden fully on a wood base, so I have some marks in the finish where my new strap rubbed against the edge of the body at the bridge end. Similarly, I managed to stick the back of the bass to a cheap tee-shirt transfer thing, and in getting the gunk off, I have rubbed through the lacquer. In time, I will probably have her professionally resprayed as she has turned out so well, she is probably worth it. But for now, she'll do, and as I have more gigs at the end of the month, she'll get plenty of stage time before any respray. Edited August 10, 2007 by JPJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
douggy Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 awsome man! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanOwens Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Your 'battle scars' on your bass. That must be a comforting feeling. I let my basses get bashed to hell, it makes them feel like 'mine'. Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 [quote name='EdwardHimself' post='26699' date='Jul 3 2007, 08:14 PM']apart from the fact that it says "jazz bass" when it's clearly a P-bass body, it's a very nice bass.[/quote] Oops, Sorry EdwardHimself, I missed your comment. Your right, it says Jazz on the headstock but is a Precision shaped body. The story is that the neck was originally advertised on eBay as a five string jazz. As a child of the sixties, growing up in the seventies, I am a huge fan of the 'TV' series logos from precisions and jazzes of that era. But with the five string hardward, there was no way I was going to squeeze the full 'Fender Precision Bass' logo on there, so I went with a Jazz logo instead. I still had to cut the transfer up and apply each letter in turn to try to make it follow the contour of the edge of the headstock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted August 21, 2007 Share Posted August 21, 2007 ah yes well looking at it again i suppose your right. Nice rig btw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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