My First Project... Diary of sorts and general advise

[Ander87]

So. 75% of my basses gravitate around Precision basses or Stingrays, 90% FSO's.

I'm in a new band and I enquired about some builds with folk we all know and respect.

A fair £1300 quote came back, that even if fair, is much more than I want to spend these days.

 

So... I budgeted about half of that to build my own - I've seen past guitarist spray nitros and do a decent job out of it, but I want to open this thread to triple check as I'll have questions (plenty, mostly surrounding paint).

 

First, the inspo:

 

 

An update on a Precision bass, mid relic in Sherwood Green.

 

DISCLAIMER: this is NOT an accurate period correct project.

 

Ingredients:

 

* Roasted maple jazz neck with rosewood board. From eBay China, I had my reservations but 4.9/5 stars and a description that the maker provides for 'other factories' kinda won me over. For the money, I'm willing to take the risk - thinking the worst thing with it may be a fret edges sanding? Not too pricey if all else is in place.

 

* guitarbuild.co.uk 3 piece body, in swamp ash, classic P shape, 1.8kg. A bit steep, but again happy to 'indulge' on this, especially for the weight. Research tells me most alder is around 2/2.2kg, and other swamp ash bodies I've seen were a heavier 2.5kg.

 

* Thomann order: Gotoh res-o-lite tuners, EMG Geezer Butler P, knobs, neck plate, Gotoh 201B bass bridge.

 

Now paint/finish, and here comes my first questions - after looking on northwest guitars info:

 

* Rustins Grain filler, natural - recommended since swamp ash has lots of grain uniformity

* Rustins Sanding Sealer vs Clear nitrocellulose sanding sealer - are both of these the same? do I need one and not the other?

* Nitro gray primer, instead of white, hoping that helps the sherwood green darken? I want that 'almost' racing green look like the picture.

* Nitro sherwood green - I went for the V1 here, as opposed to the V2 which looks a bit more turquoise. 

* Nitro clear gloss, for the body, as I want that glossy sheen rather than matt (again, picture for reference).

 

Some simple questions:

* How to apply grain filler? Planning to rub it in with a cloth

* Do I need both sanding sealers? Rustins and/or aerosol one...

* At which stages do I sand the body? Thinking

1. Once I receive the body, as it comes
2. After applying the grain filler
3. After applying first primer (how many coats?)
4. I understand no need with the sherwood green nor clear coats (how many of each?)
5. High grit ala 2000 after all is finished for the glossy effect?

 

I will then proceed to age the hardware and sand down areas rubbed, scratches, dings and dents etc but won't consider that until that is finished. Same for the neck, I don't think I'll rough it up much but good to take that in carefully.

 

Some pictures of what I've got on the way.

 

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 14:51 by Ander87

[MichaelDean]

I've been thinking about doing the same sort of thing but charcoal frost metallic. I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts on the neck.

[Ander87]

2 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

I've been thinking about doing the same sort of thing but charcoal frost metallic. I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts on the neck.

I’ll keep you posted! I love a charcoal frost but I feel I need to indulge a Sherwood green I’ve never had… add a tort pickguard and it’s just lush class!

 

so, the body arrived and it’s a whole slab! Not contouring which in all honesty it’s okay as I’ve never had a slab body and many times I almost pulled the trigger. 
 

For review on guitarbuild, happy with delivery times and weight as stated on the nose, 1.8kg. I do have a strong feeling the body has been gap filled already as I can feel it smoother than on the wood sample, but will still apply a thin layer of Rustin’s gap filler for certain. 

Will have to align pickup screws and I do hope the cavity is deep enough for standard EMG P pickups, same as pickguard holes of course. Nothing my little hand drill won’t do. 
 

 

now that I feel parts arriving and the ‘you can rough it up anytime, but can’t add the mint finish back on’, and with 70+ gigs next year, I feel I may just gloss (nitro) finish it and keep it stock, or New Old Stock with lacquer cracking and no relic’ing, as all those gigs will sure do its part. I can always rough it up sand down areas and add chips etc at the end of next year if I like…!

Edited 14 hours ago by Ander87

[PaulThePlug]

Tell us a bit more about the neck...

Looks good, fret ends etc. Fretboard edge looks lightly rolled.

 

Remember to drill nice pilot holes - size and depth - for the machine head mounting screws, with a scrape of candle wax or block soap on the threads lto lube, and use a good fitting screw driver.

[Ander87]

Hey Paul! Not in my hands yet but on the way… will report once it’s here. 
 

so far this is gonna be a jazz neck, slab body and precision pickguard/electronics. What a FSO celebration 😅

[Pea Turgh]

That neck looks really nice.  Do they do a P width nut?

[Ander87]

Most positively, yes. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all options! Blocks, dots, maple boards or rosewood over precision and jazz necks

 

23 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

That neck looks really nice.  Do they do a P width nut?

 

[PaulThePlug]

Good luck and most of all enjoy putting it together... My first, a P Bitsa with a J Nut Neck