Zebrano Wideboy 5

[charic]

qparts have some pretty nice knobs

[neepheid]

Nothing much, it's been downtools for Christmas pretty much. Got back into stuff by doing little jobs like shielding my Bronco and repairing a (factory done) squint pickguard screw which blew past the edge of the wood.

I have also discovered that there are a few dodgy frets on the neck which will have to be either reseated or replaced, a bit of a setback there but hopefully it'll come good. Actually it had better come good because the neck pocket is done for this neck now

[neepheid]

After some pottering around (like shimming the neck of my Fecker Imprecision) I got down to some serious sanding. I'm pretty happy with the neck heel area now:



I also decided (influenced by Warmoth's Gecko neck again) to try and make the neck a little asymmetric in profile, hopefully increasing comfort AND reducing a little bit of weight. Win - win; if it works...




I got myself a rubber/plastic faced hammer and with a few initial smacks (too noisy for doing it in the house much though!) it looks like I might be able to tame the unruly frets.

[neepheid]

Quick update - spent an hour with the mouse on the neck and body. The neck is now slightly asymmetric in profile and sanded all over apart from some fiddly bits around the volute which will have to be done by hand, and the body back and front is now (mostly) devoid of existing finish.

No point in pics, unless you want to see the difference between where I sanded and where I didn't

[Prosebass]

Just some words of encouragement , good to see you having a go at this and learning as you go along.
There is only one way to master this art and that is to do it.

[neepheid]

[quote name='Prosebass' post='420485' date='Feb 26 2009, 11:03 PM']Just some words of encouragement , good to see you having a go at this and learning as you go along.
There is only one way to master this art and that is to do it.[/quote]

Thanks mannie, I sometimes I get the feeling that this whole finishing off other people's aborted (and half messed up) projects is a whole different game from building from scratch. More cunning required.

[neepheid]

Body and neck sanded down to 80 grit, all previous finish removed.

Looks like I'll have to refret the neck though, on a few of the frets the crown has broken away from the tang and cannot be hammered down. Oh well, a new skill to try and master!

[wotnwhy]

good to hear progress is being made again, sorry to hear you'll need to re-fret. though as you say, will be a usefull skill to master!

any more pics?

[neepheid]

Well, here's a pic of me planning out the template for routing out.

[neepheid]

Quick update - got some fretwire
Next - grind a pair of nippers flat for fret removal

[neepheid]

Actually got off my butt and got some work done on this:

- Ground down the nippers and removed the frankly pathetically installed old frets
- Hammered in my first fret
- Started to make the template for the pickup/ramp routing

[Buzz]

Whatcha gonna do to that angled J-pup hole chap, fill it in like the other or is the pup going there as well?

[neepheid]

[quote name='Buzz' post='478730' date='May 4 2009, 01:55 AM']Whatcha gonna do to that angled J-pup hole chap, fill it in like the other or is the pup going there as well?[/quote]

I'm going to cut out a hole large enough for 2 EMG 40s and a zebrano ramp inbetween them (which will end up being almost exactly the same size as an EMG 40 pickup, funnily enough). These terrible holes will be completely obliterated in the process.

[Buzz]

Ah, I see! That'll look quite good then

[neepheid]

I'm pretty slow with this fretting business. I've done 10 frets tonight in an hour and a half and I got bored and went home from the workshop.





Which brings me to my next question - what on earth do people use to cut fret ends down to size? They're bloody hard. I've been using the Dremel to cut them but even it takes its sweet time to cut through, and I don't fancy a spinning wheel of death next to my fingerboard.

[d-basser]

think luthiers employ wolverine freelance for such trimmings.

seriously though this is looking great, gonna be a beast!

[Mikey R]

[quote name='neepheid' post='479498' date='May 4 2009, 10:37 PM']

Which brings me to my next question - what on earth do people use to cut fret ends down to size? They're bloody hard. I've been using the Dremel to cut them but even it takes its sweet time to cut through, and I don't fancy a spinning wheel of death next to my fingerboard.[/quote]

I used a pair of pliers to get close then taped off between the frets to save scratching the board and attacked it with a file.

[neepheid]

It's amazing how much quicker you get on with the right tools. Got fret nippers from StewMac. Well worth the wait. That's the frets in. I put the bass together to check out the frets and surprisingly for a first fret job there were few issues. I just have to file the ends down now.

[steve-soar]

Good job on the fretting.

[wotnwhy]

yay! good to see some progress being made looking good!

[Tait]

this is really going to look fantastic when its done, hurry up!

[neepheid]

Sorry guys, but I'm abandoning this project. No time and even less inclination to complete it, I'd rather spend the time playing than building.

If anyone wants to take it on, PM me.

[wotnwhy]

so is the only thing left to fit electronics or am i missing something?

hopefully someone will take it on and finish it!

[neepheid]

[quote name='wotnwhy' post='648689' date='Nov 8 2009, 12:17 PM']so is the only thing left to fit electronics or am i missing something?

hopefully someone will take it on and finish it![/quote]

Nah, there's still routing to be done for the pickups, the fret ends need filed, some sort of ramp needs to be created, a rear cavity cover needs to be made and fitted. Then there's finishing to be done of course. I just don't have the time to do this stuff any more.

Some of the parts are up for sale in the forum (see link in sig). Anyone wanting to take this on should buy the Badass V too, as the body is drilled to fit such a bridge.