Henrythe8 Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 First off, I apologize in advance to all the fine luthiers and Woodworkers here as those barely qualify as "building" basses. I bought on a whim a Harley Benton PB50, fiesta Red, Lefty, so I could make a Dusty Hill kinda bass. https://images.app.goo.gl/mq4ggnT6psE7B3v7A The thing is, I was so pleased and suprised with this that I bought a second one, sunburst, lefty, so I could toy around. I did play a bit on the second one, but the neck dive was too much, and the controls were in the way, so i decided... to buy a third Harley Benton Fretless, and swap the reverse maple neck on it. And, instead of selling the lefty body, well... I bought a Squier Mike Dirnt neck. So, what we've got here is three project basses, with a total starter investment at 400€. One Full Lefty (body and neck) P51, to be modded with a quadcoils pickup assembly. Probably be Sparkling Gold. One Lefty body p51, modded with Two side by side P51 pickups, wired through a Telecaster Control plate, with a Right hand neck Will probably be beaten to deth be Relic'ing. One Jazz Bass, wired with EMG X Vol Vol Tone + Bass/Treble Stacked, with a reversed maple Neck. Will probably end up with a coat of shel pink and light relic'ing to show the Sunburst underneath. Further investments are the lipstick single coils for the quadcoils setting and the Telecaster plate (50€, thank you China and eBay) a full set of EMG Jazz with plate and everything, 120€ Three sets of lightweight tuners (AllParts, 150€) And most probably new bridges (150€ again) About 30€ for the painting cans Will it be worth it ? Economically speaking, sure no. But the fun doing this is immense. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted August 16, 2021 Share Posted August 16, 2021 Welcome to the mad world of taking bits of basses apart to make new basses Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted August 16, 2021 Author Share Posted August 16, 2021 Here's the Jazz with reverse P-Neck. The Shell PInk should be just fine. The P51 with a white pickguard, for the Sting touch. already routed : And the Fiesta Red That has been partly sanded and is also routed. but the work is still to be done... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted August 18, 2021 Author Share Posted August 18, 2021 OK, thank you Basschat, now I have a fourth bass comiong up as I found a Flea Roadworn Body as I was looking for a bridge. I'll have to check if the HB necks are Fender Compatible. If not, I'll wait until Christmas to get some money back and order a Roasted Maple P-neck from Warmoth. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted September 5, 2021 Author Share Posted September 5, 2021 Ok. The first one is Amber. Amber is a JB40fl body, with a lefty PB50 maple neck. I reshaped a bit the head into a PB style. Really nothing fancy here, just a bit of sanding and a neck swap. For the Side Dots, I had ordered Luminlays, but installed those on the other neck. For this one, I thought I could be creative. I shouldn't have. So I drilled some 3mm diameter holes, 2/3mm deep. I filled those with a dark purple nail varnish my wife allowed me to use. I did several layers, so it'll dry nice. Then I filled the remaining with some Phosphorescent paint. I saw the TruGlo product but couldn't find them here in France, so I settled for another paint on Amazon. That stinky poo never quite dried up, even after 3 days, and made horrid smudges while sanding. Anyway, the result if devastatingly ugly. So I left it as is as a reminder of never settle for less. The bass itself is really good looking (thanks to the photoflash veneer), and the contrast between the Sunburst and Maple is nice. AllPArts Light Left Handed tuners Strung her with some plats, she sounds pretty great for a budget instrument. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted September 5, 2021 Author Share Posted September 5, 2021 Hazel is AMber's Evil Twin. It's a lefty HB PB50 body sunburst, equipped with a Squier Mike Dirnt Neck I found on Evil Bay. Some challenges here. The "comfort chanfers" are reversed, so when you rout the body to place new cavities... well, you have to be cautious, and find the good spots with the right depth. I sanded the body as I thought I was going to respray it, but opted for the raw ugly look. Tuners are again AllPArts light. Strap button is higher also to help counter neck dive. Controls are the one from a Telecaster I had laying aroundI used the plate to cover the hole of the original controls, and added some lights just to show off. I even found a switch that fille dprecisely the output jack :-) pickguard or no pickguard... Soundwise, this one is a lil'beach. Like a bad tempered wirehaired dachshund. The difference between the coils is subtle but present. Neck is a bitt deeper, bridge is Twangier, the HumBucker mode if surprisingly modern and Slap-able. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted September 9, 2021 Author Share Posted September 9, 2021 And Finally... Goldie. First bad Idea on this was to remove the varnish. Stupîd as instead of a nice smooth surface, I have bare wood. I realized this and stoppped there. Yeah, I'm pretty good at Half-Assing something. Insertion of luminlays in the neck. And that hard Thomann Maple made my saw bend backwards... And then it was Routing time with a frien of mine. We used a handmade jig to route the pickup cavities. . And then routed a bit more for the cables. Thank you Rothko for the Decals. I used two cans of Pébéo : Gold hrome and Gold glitter. Of course I messed up. :-) And then I messed up again, and again, and then I had no more paint so it stayed messed up. Added a bit of transparent varnish on the headstocks. The final result of paint is "it's so ugly it almost becomes interesting" ugly. Like the others, light tuners from allparts and a vintage bridge so I can adjust the string spacing with the pickups. The Pickups... I hate those. Hate. Chines chepies form the bay. I followed great advice in order to wire them in two parallel duos, then wired in series. Didn't work. All series, neither. Only the first pickup. All aprallel was way too quiet. And then as I was contemplating the very smal amount of cable left attached on the pickup... I realized. Hot, Neutral AND GROUND ! So I rewired everything pseudo correctly, Grounding done two by two in parallel, then in series, and it worked out OK. The signla is still low, and I still have a buzz. I blmae my lack of competencies and the chinese crap. :-) Alas, in the process of wiring dewiring rewring, I broke a screw in the wood, hence messing my alignment. The original cavity for the controls is covered by Plectrum celluloid. So here's Goldie. Pin strap relocation and light tuner counter the reverse intrument's neckdive pretty good. If I had left the varnish and only painted Gold Chrome, I would have an "as new" instrument. I kinda like the "used" feel and looks this has. The sound is... pretty unique. Very vintage-y and tubular, Kinda P-bass but not really. Output is still low. But the concept is validated for me. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted September 9, 2021 Share Posted September 9, 2021 Nice... Having a few for a dismantle and reassembly... those HB's can offer value for a bit of sh!t n giggles... Motivates others to have ago which is a good thing... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 I am able of assembling and disassembling, but not able to build from scratch. Those are really great in order to experiment. A bit like Fender Alternate Reality, although pushed a bit too far. The process is rather enjoyable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlungerModerno Posted September 13, 2021 Share Posted September 13, 2021 Looking at those end results, I imagine you're capable of building almost anything you set your mind to, certainly you could build a working bass. Like most builders it might take a few attempts of course! Well done, those look and sound grand. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrythe8 Posted September 13, 2021 Author Share Posted September 13, 2021 Thanks. I appreciate the compliment :-) I might try to do things properly, as opposed to do them quickly :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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