new Warmoth build

[joeyl]

I used graphite paint that I bought on ebay, I believe the brand is Acheson Electrodag, it is pretty similar to the one sold by Stewmac.com. I think it easy to use, just use a cheap 1cm (1/2") paintbrush and brush at least 3 coats. You can also thin and clean up with water, which is great.

If you do a search on ebay for acheson, I believe the only seller is now selling the other kind which is a metallic suspension paint, I have never used that but I'm sure it is good also

[Lakland55]

Subscribed...This really is an awesome build.

Everyone's gonna be browsing Warmoth parts now to build their perfect bass.















Yeah...including me.

[Big John66]

That's one killer jazz. Nice job of the finish. I'm voting for black or maybe cream covers. I'd like to know the total weight just for future reference.

[joeyl]

Originally Posted by Big John66

That's one killer jazz. Nice job of the finish. I'm voting for black or maybe cream covers. I'd like to know the total weight just for future reference.

will weigh if I remember when I get home. The body according to Warmoth is 4.1 lbs and the neck with tuners (I weighed myself) is about 2.4 lbs

[joeyl]

OK bass is exactly 9 lbs, not light but really not heavy, my ash bodied MIA Jazz is 10.2 lbs, and you can see in previous pics, the bass balances perfectly on a strap.

put in the aguilar OBP-1, much quieter than Audere all controls flat, however the Audere is much more flexible and transparent, the Aggie is more aggressive and the boost is crazy, the bass will shake the room and maxxing the treble makes the bass sound like a guitar; so I took out the OBP-1 and rewired the Audere back in I was running the Audere at 18v, tried 9v this time and it made no difference at all in the sound, I like the simplicity of 1 battery so I removed the extra clip

[joeyl]

BTW soldering the little stacked volumes pot was quite interesting



Aggie installed, it has since been removed in favor of the Audere



BTW how do you guys strip tiny teflon coated wires? the automatic stripper would not do it, it just slides on the jacket, and the regular stripper just stretches it. I just ran the exacto knife lightly around the wire until I could see the wire and then pulled the jacket, my fingers still hurt.

[joeyl]

loud buzzing when touching the polepieces, even when playing, the Aeros are the first single coils that I have that do this, probably due to the construction of the bobbin, but it is a small price to pay for their aggressive sound. Decided to ground them like this, the copper foil's adhesive is conductive, and the ground wire is connected to the common ground point inside the cavity, nothing better than more wires inside! after soldering I realized I could have just ground the copper foil to the shielding paint inside the pickup route itself.

[Hagelslag]

Oh man, I got a Warmoth build on order and this is giving me the some seriously itchy impatience issues... Zen and the art of waiting for parts to arrive.

Awesome bass btw!

[kcolyar]

A great thread. This is what I like about this site, info on how to do something, a seemingly humble person sharing an experience, a beautiful bass and some technical tips. BRAVO By the way I think the black PU's are fine, they look like they belong IMO.

[joeyl]

Originally Posted by kcolyar

A great thread. This is what I like about this site, info on how to do something, a seemingly humble person sharing an experience, a beautiful bass and some technical tips. BRAVO By the way I think the black PU's are fine, they look like they belong IMO.

thanks! And along with the general consensus of posters, I will keep the black covers. I also asked my co-workers at the office and they like the black. I should trust them since I work for an architecture and design firm these cats have the eye! (they also know how to bring a network down too unfortunately )

[joeyl]

decided to sit down and calculate how much this bass cost me, for people who are wondering here is how it breaks down

Body 265
Neck (includes corian nut) 188
Hipshot ultralites 80
Hipshot vintage bridge 54
Hipshot 3 strings retainer 12
Aero pickups (used) 130
Audere Classic 4 band 130
Dunlop Straploks 15
misc (shielding paint,screws, neomagnets, Abralon pads, sandpaper, finishes and solvents, some items had shipping cost)
200


Total: $1074

not cheap, but it is exactly what I wanted. Sad to say that I will probably not buy another new mid-range priced instrument again

[joeyl]

Originally Posted by bassclef112

I just wanted to pass that along FYI because you mention the Audere. They weren't around when I had that conversation so it could be a hand in glove for all that. It looks like your build is off to a very nice start - good luck with it!.

Hey you were right,, I loved the sound but the Aeros with the active preamp were overly hissy, looks like the preamp was emphasizing the frequency where they sizzle. Swapped them out for Nordstrands and the hiss is much lower. The Aeros in a passive setup sound great and are dead quiet, so I will use them in my MIA Jazz

[Simon Langley]

subscribed

[bassclef112]

Hey you were right,, I loved the sound but the Aeros with the active preamp were overly hissy, looks like the preamp was emphasizing the frequency where they sizzle. Swapped them out for Nordstrands and the hiss is much lower. The Aeros in a passive setup sound great and are dead quiet, so I will use them in my MIA Jazz

Can't go wrong with passive Aero's IMO.

[joeyl]

finally got some knobs for the 3 stack pots (stack pot knobs are expensive )



Full Bass shot



Cavity is also done, I may put a strip of copper to ground the pots since graphite paint have a slightly higher resistance than copper, this may be a cause of the minor hiss I am getting.
The wires are a mess but I won't redo it until I can find a way to strip teflon insulation cleanly like pvc. Mainly the wires going to the pots are too long.

I was going to use epoxy to attach the battery clip but decided to use 3M VHB tape instead, the kind you can use to hang mirrors, it is super strong and flexible.

I also bought a box of 12 9V pro-cell on ebay for about 18 dollars shipped!



A few more shots of completed bass.

[joeyl]

little update: replaced the Audere 4-band with an ACG EQ-02 from Skelf (luthier here on TB) I really liked the Audere but the ACG makes your instrument sound very different at the twist of a knob. It is a filter type EQ just like the Alembic and Wal preamps, but it has both a bass filter and a treble filter as compared to the Alembic lo-pass and Q switch.

[grobe]

Nice work! Is that hiss gone now?

[Sterling_Bass]

You did a great job. The whole bass looks really good.

[jongor]

Sound files!

[J. Crawford]

Whatever happened to the pickup covers, the veneers, idea?

I was excited for that.