Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

So now Happy Jack has a Mike Lull 5-string neck...


Andyjr1515

Recommended Posts

The control hatch will be attached with neodymium magnets - 4mm in the body lugs and 3mm on the hatch.

 

Folks tend to spend a lot of time measuring and remeasuring and sorting all sorts of ways of marking which way round each magnet goes.  I find that far too much like hard work and so I use...magnetism!  :)

 

First I drill an accurate 4mm hole in the lug to a depth of just deeper than two magnets.  I pop a drop of CA glue in the bottom and use a cocktail stick to press a 4mm magnet fully home:

hShzSNjl.jpg

 

I then make a thin ziggy-zaggy packer with some emery paper offcuts:

QPfJJwRl.jpg

 

I pop the packer into the hole and drop a 3mm magnet on the top.  Because it's magnetic, it orientates itself.  I make sure it's level, in line with the 4mm chamber and slightly proud:

Y5i3S1sl.jpg

 

Finally, I pop a drop of CA glue on the upper face and then place the hatch into the recess and hold it down for a few minutes.  I lift the hatch and, all being well, the magnet is stuck on.  Three done, three to go:

EfobsuGl.jpg

 

Finally, I wick a teeny drop of thin CA around the hatch magnet for additional security, winkle out the ziggy-zaggy packer and move onto the next one.  No measuring, no orientation problems, all 6 magnets in exactly the right place  :)

 

 

More of a challenge is the thing that I was expecting to be the most straightforward.  I noticed when I strung up the bass to check the bridge position that the trussrod had to be adjusted quite a bit to forward bow for the strings not to rattle.  When I took the neck off again, I loosened the truss rod to its neutral point and popped the levelling beam on it.  To my surprise, there was 2mm of back bow in the neck when the truss rod was fully released - more than the strings would straighten and hence the need to put forward bow on the truss rod when the strings were fitted.

 

I checked with @Happy Jack whether he had found that he had suffered any buzz or rod issues when he was playing it, but the answer was negative.   But he does play a lot of basses in a lot of venues, so it is possible - as a number of bass and guitar owners have found this year - that it took on a set during the hot weather and hadn't been played since.  If so, as the first port of call, it may well be able to be straightened simply by applying pressure in the opposite direction for a few days and get the maple to remember where it used to be!  Then the strings should be able to take over their normal job of trying to get the neck to add a bow, and the truss rod resisting to end up straight.  That's in train - this will sit on my spare table for the next few days and see if it sorts it:

BfvmTTEl.jpg

 

The clamp has been tightened to put a couple of mm forward bow on the neck - with the truss rod adjusted to be applying no force.  It will sit like this for a few days and then I will release the clamps and re-centre the truss rod.  All being well, the back bow will have gone.

 

If, however, it simply springs back to the 2mm of back bow, then Plan B has to come into play...which is removal of the fretboard, flattening of the neck and then reglue of the fretboard.  Not the end of the world but fingers crossed that it won't need that extra work :)

 

Other than that, I think it's pretty close.  I have some Dunlop flush straplock ferrules on their way, just about to order the knobs, I'll be buffing up the finish in this coming week and, all being well ref the neck, assembling it for final hook up and set up... :D

 

 

 

  

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While the neck continues to be clamped (after a day, I'm not sure there has been much change - I think I'll be taking the fretboard off over the weekend...), still a few things to be sorted on the body.

 

The built-in battery compartment works well - just need to sort a simple method of stopping it rattling round in its chamber:

 

X6EJUJcl.jpg

 

C7AkIK0l.jpg

 

 

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes - managed to track down a bit of packing foam sliver of blue polymer-matrix designed to act as a frequency-neutral sonic substrate to the battery power source.

 

And it doesn't pop the magnet-held hatch off either!  :D         Everything stays in place just as it ought to - think Harmony Hair Spray without the hair..., er, or the spray

 

V4mI9BCl.jpg

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

43 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - managed to track down a bit of packing foam sliver of blue polymer-matrix designed to act as a frequency-neutral sonic substrate to the battery power source.

 

And it doesn't pop the magnet-held hatch off either!  :D         Everything stays in place just as it ought to - think Harmony Hair Spray without the hair..., er, or the spray

 

V4mI9BCl.jpg

If M&S did bass building…

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Knobs on order, straplock ferrules on order, battery sorted, neck still clamped...well, may as well start the final flattening and buffing of the nitro. 

 

The flattening is with progressive grades of wet and dry emery and micro-mesh from 800 grit up to 6000 used wet:

Cb5hMrcl.jpg

 

After that, it's a rigorous workout of Meguiers Ultimate Compound applied with a bobbly (like a facecloth) micro fibre and polished off with a clean lint-free cloth.  It's not perfect, and it's not finished, but there are fewer areas for me to have to be judicious with when it comes to camera angles ;)

 

qTiTDLwl.jpg 

Edited by Andyjr1515
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Neck-wise, the fretboard's got to come off. 

 

Another 24 hours with major clamping and trussrod adjusted to help, still a back bow of 1.5mm with the trussrod still in tension. Just to make sure I hadn't had an aberration and originally put the rod in the wrong way up, I loosened it back to the mid point.  The back bow was back to 2mm either end - exactly the same as before the clamping.   

 

I'm also bothered that the trussrod has now been under a lot of strain for a long time so the best course of action is to take the fretboard off, take the rod out, and see what the underlying neck is doing, fix, replace with new rod and re-glue the fretboard.  All being well, the board will be off later this morning.  :)

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, JGTay said:

Would it be worthwhile adding a couple of carbon fibre rods either side of the trussrod to strengthen it? 

Normally, I would say yes.   But in this case no - not needed.

 

It will take me a couple of posts to be able to explain (I'll have to draw some diagrams) but what I've just discovered, I wouldn't have thought possible.  Good news is that it is easily fixable.  :)

 

I'll update the progress shortly...but the conclusions will take a little longer. 

  • Like 3
  • Confused 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...