New project - P/J build

I've been wanting to put together my own bass for a while, and spent a lot of time debating about features and colors. I would have preferred a wider neck, but settled for J-width. I'm expecting the balance of my parts to be in by early next week.

Parts List:
Body - Fender MIM P-Special
Neck - All Parts
Pups - Lindy Fralin P & Split J
Bridge - Hipshot Vintage
Tuners - Hipshot Ultralite
Pickguard - Fender 62RI (Tortoise)
Controls (passive) - CTS pots & Switchcraft jack

Neck & Body
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First problem...
The neck pocket will need a bit of trimming to match the shape of the neck heel.
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Completed:
- Bridge and straplocks installed
- Neck pocket trimmed to fit neck heel

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Next tasks:
- Round fret ends and polish frets
- Oil fretboard
- Drill for neck screws

Due to the length of the bushings for the Hipshopt Ultralite tuners, the holes in the headstock will need to be drilled completely through at 11/16" dia.

Latest steps completed...

Fret ends shaped and polished, binding edge rounded, fretboard oiled
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Tuners installed
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Neck installed
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Next tasks...
- Shield body cavity
- Install pups
- Controls and wiring

Thanks for kind words, IC. I have enjoyed seeing your projects quite a bit. Since nut work is currently beyond my area of competence, I'll be leaning on a local shop for that work.

Shielding completed, pups and pots installed...
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Next up...control wiring

Me, too. The anticipation of getting this project completed is killing me, but I'm forcing myself to be patient, take my time, and do things right the first time.

I just found out that the Hipshot bridge will fit under a standard P-bass bridge cover. Now my head is spinning with the option of bridge and/or pup covers.

needmoney said:

Either way you have to grind something down, and I find it much easier to use a really small flat file to precisely grind the binding to create a proper nut slot, as opposed to trying to mess around and grind the ends off a tiny nut.

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I suspect leaving more nut material is better in the long run. Trimming a sizable chunk out of the underside of the ends of the nut would leave it more susceptible to breaking.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics of my latest work.

Completed...
- Control wiring
- Binding trimmed at nut slot (nut set in place, but not finished - see below)
- Strings installed
- Trussrod adjusted
- Intonation set (to be fine tuned later)

Next tasks...
- Finish nut (this is the only thing I'm having someone else do - I'm hoping to pick it up today)
- Install string retainer (the one thing I forgot when I placed my parts order)
- Final neck and intonation adjustments

I hope to have some sexy bass pr0n photos to post this weekend.

Holy crap - this thing sounds great!!!

After work yesterday, I picked up my bass from the local shop that finished the nut for me. At home, I installed the string retainer and did a quick intonation check (pretty close - it will need a tiny bit of tweaking this weekend).

Last night at band practice, I gave my new girl a real run. Here's my impressions...
- The neck is skinny. I've been playing my 57 and 62 P basses pretty much exclusively for the past 6 months, so this J neck felt pretty small in my hands. However, after a few minutes, it was fine. There are a couple of things I found a bit easier to play due due to the narrow neck. I wish the neck was a bit thicker (more like a 62 J) just to fill up my hand a bit more, but that's a minor issue.
- The P/J pickup combination is quite versitile (I already knew this, but confirmed it again). Having the bridge J-pup tone to mix with P was able to get me a lot of the tones I was trying to create with EQ setting on my SansAmp, but this sounds way better.
- As I've found every time I use them, LINDY FRALIN PICKUPS ARE FREAKIN' AMAZING!!!! The tones are full and defined in every way I would ever want. For a vintage type of sound, these pups just bring it.
- It's been a while since I've had new rounds on any of my basses (D'A EXL165s, in my case), and I forgot how muzh zing they have. In a week or so, they sould be settled down just a bit and should be perfect.

Overall, I'm super-duper pleased with how this project turned out. Everyone in my band commented on how good the bass sounded, as well.

Pics are coming...

Final photos...
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ibanezcollector said:

looks killer I really enjoyed this thread.. You did well.. I love it now send it to me

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Thanks! I'll be happy to send it to you. PM me for the price.

This project was a lot of fun and tremendously satisfying. Now my head is spinning with a whole bunch of other basses I'd like to build.