Yet Another Bitsa P-Bass Build

[Velarian]

Today I got the pickup backing plate trimmed and filed, so the pickups are test-fit mounted. I’ll shield the cavity and refit them later. Also did a dry run with a cereal box control plate.

 

[Pea Turgh]

If you widened the plate around the jack, then took it further out in a narrower shape at the opposite end, you could mimic a stingray style plate.  Always bugged me the way a P plate doesn’t follow the shape of the body at the jack extremity!

[Velarian]

The thing is I’ll be using a cut-down p-bass pick guard so the shape is what it is. I’m ok with that. The advantage of this is that the screw holes will allow a full standard pick guard to be fitted later if necessary. The plate will be cut from this:-

 

[PaulThePlug]

14 minutes ago, Velarian said:

...did a dry run with a cereal box control plate....

 

Lookin' Grr-r-reat!..

[Velarian]

I’ve got a new bone nut to fit later but for now this is a rough repair of the existing nut using the super glue trick mentioned earlier. With a bit more filling and tidying up it should be good enough to do a basic set up when everything else is done. 
 

[Velarian]

On 12/09/2021 at 23:01, PaulThePlug said:

 

Lookin' Grr-r-reat!..

Call me obtuse but I’ve finally got the cereal / Tony the Tiger reference just now 😂

[Hellzero]

I'm no tiger, I'm a lion.

[Velarian]

I cut the control plate from the mirrored pick guard yesterday. It’s really hard to get the bevelled edge right and it needs a bit more filing around the curve. It’s not as good as a proper metal plate but it’s getting there. 
 

I also double and triple checked the bridge position and marked the hole centres with a bradawl along with the holes for the control plate. I’m pretty happy with the positioning now.  I just need to actually drill the holes now but I must make sure I use the right sized drill bit. 
 

Edited September 19, 2021 by Velarian

[PaulThePlug]

Subtle... Real nice... Plate looks so right.

Real nice almost brown burst...

No yellow and only a hint of red.

Looks more tobbacco burst... 👍

[Velarian]

Holes drilled and cavities shielded, all ready for final assembly. Unfortunately I’m going to be away for a few days now so it’ll have to wait until I’m back next week. Nearly there now.

 

[Hellzero]

Don't forget to link each copper shielding to ground otherwise it will be useless. And it's really very often forgotten. So solder a wire between the two cavities and a wire from the main one to the grounded pot. Use star grounding for optimal results.

[Velarian]

On 22/09/2021 at 22:05, Hellzero said:

Don't forget to link each copper shielding to ground otherwise it will be useless. And it's really very often forgotten. So solder a wire between the two cavities and a wire from the main one to the grounded pot. Use star grounding for optimal results.

As suggested, I’ve connected the pickup cavity with the control cavity. I did this using a length of copper shielding tape folded into a narrow strip which I fed through the connecting hole and then taped to the cavity walls with more copper tape. I hope this method is OK?

 

As the pickups are attached to a backing plate with the ground wires soldered to it (see pic), can you confirm that this will be sufficient given that the ground wire will also be connected to the wiring loom and therefore to the bridge? I’m thinking that there doesn’t need to be a second ground connection in the control cavity itself now that the two cavities are connected and the grounded pickup plate is in direct contact with the shielding in the pickup cavity. 

[PaulThePlug]

Sounds like a plan...

Have you got a multimeter to check continuity?

 

If the grounding plates are in contact in the pickup cavity... and then grounded in the control cavity, earth to pot to body n bridge then the extra thru hole link may not be needed but should do no harm..

 

I used screening paint and used a cotton bud to paint the link hole and checked with a multimeter.

 

Need more pics mind...

Did the nut tidy up OK after the build up?

Edited September 28, 2021 by PaulThePlug

[Velarian]

I don’t have a multimeter unfortunately (I used to have one years ago but I’ve no idea what happened to it). Maybe I’ll buy one as it will come in useful for all sorts of other stuff. 
 

I wasn’t planning on a specific ground connection in the control cavity if the connection through the hole is good enough. In effect the control cavity should be grounded via the connection to the pickup cavity and the pickups, which in turn connect to the wiring loom, bridge and jack socket. I’ll take some more pics tomorrow. 

[Velarian]

I think the nut will be ok; certainly for an initial quick set up. I hope there are no issues with the neck and truss rod. Assuming everything is ok then I’ll swap it for the new bone nut I have. 

[Hellzero]

I did the holes shielding method once on a Jazz Bass, took ages, but it's working as good as a wire soldered.

 

Furthermore, the grounding plate of the pickups will be "earthed" too, so it's more than enough.

 

You should invest in a cheap multimeter, after all, all you need is being able to check continuity, pickups impedance, pots, a few tensions here and there and maybe check a capacitor or diode. It's only a few quids well spent.

[Velarian]

I got myself a multimeter today and checked the continuity between the cavitIes and all is good. I therefore cracked on and completed the assembly. I used copper foil to secure the bridge ground wire. After finishing that I checked the continuity again and was able to confirm that there there is complete continuity from the bridge, through both cavities and the back of the control plate. 

 

There’s a significant amount of adjustment needed from a set up point of view but I’m quite pleased with how things have turned out so far. I was able to plug it in and it worked perfectly first time. It sounds pretty good even though it’s not very playable in its current state. It felt a bit like that bit in car SOS where they start the engine for the first time. 😁

More tweaking tomorrow. Here it is:

 

 

[Velarian]

And here it is with its Jazz cousin:

 

 

[PaulThePlug]

What a colour... and to think too often half of that is covered in bloody tort! 😉 Great the body had no PU route. 'lil plate looks realy elegant... Good Darts!

Nice enjoying your journey with you.

You Happy?

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by PaulThePlug

[Velarian]

Cheers, I’m very happy. I just hope the set up works out OK and the truss rod behaves itself. 
 

It’s been great having you along for the ride. In fact more than that; you seemed to have a knack of anticipating what I would need next and answering questions that I didn’t know I had. I’m really grateful for your insight and the other contributors too. 👏

[benh]

19 hours ago, Velarian said:

I got myself a multimeter today and checked the continuity between the cavitIes and all is good. I therefore cracked on and completed the assembly. I used copper foil to secure the bridge ground wire. After finishing that I checked the continuity again and was able to confirm that there there is complete continuity from the bridge, through both cavities and the back of the control plate. 

 

There’s a significant amount of adjustment needed from a set up point of view but I’m quite pleased with how things have turned out so far. I was able to plug it in and it worked perfectly first time. It sounds pretty good even though it’s not very playable in its current state. It felt a bit like that bit in car SOS where they start the engine for the first time. 😁

More tweaking tomorrow. Here it is:

 

 

Looks great! I agree with the above, much prefer the small control plate & no scratchplate 👏🏻