Thank you. I love input. In fact, from a question above, I am changing out the entire bridge idea to make it easier to mount the bridge pickup without the cover. More to follow!
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$100 Bass Challenge - Texas Jelly
- Thread starter TinyE
- Start date
Didn't have much time this weekend, but have been playing around mixing up some stain colors. Going for hand rubbed tobacco burst. Been watching youtube. Who knows if I can pull it off. You probably can't see it in the picture, but the grain is taking on a 3D effect. Looks really cool. Hand rubbing stain should put me around the $5 mark for finish. 1st coat of stain on.
The tuner holes in the neck were 5/8, yet my bushings were 11/16. Took me a while to come up with a creative way to bore it. Bought a 5/8 fender washer, which is 11/16 inner. Clamped it and used a sander on the dremmel to ream it. Worked perfectly.
@k31bassman. Thank you for the idea!
The tuner holes in the neck were 5/8, yet my bushings were 11/16. Took me a while to come up with a creative way to bore it. Bought a 5/8 fender washer, which is 11/16 inner. Clamped it and used a sander on the dremmel to ream it. Worked perfectly.
@k31bassman. Thank you for the idea!
i did uncover one issue, that is now too late to fix. i mounted the neck pickup in the '51 P template location, which is down a little from the jazz location. I noticed it when i was measuring the location of the bridge pickup. I can raise it a little by routing a little more of the PUP cavity, but wondering if 1/2" or so is going to make a huge deal on tone?
- May 1, 2014
- 2,494
- 2,341
- 56
- Disclosures
- Owner Melodious Resonance Constructs
It will change the tone, but whether it's a bad or good thing is in the ears of the listener.
Hopkins
Commercial User
The closer to the bridge you get, pickup location makes a bigger difference. So in the neck pickup, it will make a slight difference, but it probably wont be all that noticeable.
Been thinking about the headstock. I'm going to match it to the body finish. Then there's the logo. I have this old branding iron my wife bought me years ago to use on steaks. It fits. Might be cool but will have to give it a test burn or two.
well, not that anyone's watching my psycho-babblebut i ordered the china pickups. i can't fit in under the $100 ceiling without them.
the good news is, i have the N3's on the way, and am going to wind my own single coils, so look for a 3-way pickup shootout to come shortly after the bass is finished
total price
6.88 - wood
13.38 - pickups
11.84 - bridge
18.68 - tuners
33 - neck
total = 83.78
so much has changed in my plans since the beginning.
the wood is still the same cost. i ditched the barnwood, but figured that cost could go towards my neighbor's wood donation (if i go over the 100, we might have to talk!
)pickups same, but i ditched the individual bridge idea and decided to make my own. i'll figure out some cost on it, but it should lower quite a bit. the metal i bought was under $3.
i'm bummed that after i bought the tuners, a whole slew of them came up for sale on the classifieds. that's the way it goes i guess!
here's my current total.
total price
6.88 - wood
13.38 - pickups
3 - bridge (this is an initial estimate, but fairly close)
18.68 - tuners
33 - neck
finish - so far, maybe $0.50 of the stain(i haven't used much yet), but this cost will go up if i put more stain and lacquer
total (so far) = 75.44
- May 1, 2014
- 2,494
- 2,341
- 56
- Disclosures
- Owner Melodious Resonance Constructs
After hours and hours of watching "how to stain" videos, I decided to go for it. Here is the first coat of my hand rubbed tobacco burst. One with the copper I'm going to make the bridge out of for a color contrast.
I'm going to try and get a little darker edge on the 2nd coat.
I'm going to try and get a little darker edge on the 2nd coat.
- May 1, 2014
- 2,494
- 2,341
- 56
- Disclosures
- Owner Melodious Resonance Constructs
Long weekend of work, with tons of sit and wait for some process to finish. Got all my tuners copper-ized. After learning how to copper plate, I discovered that the copper plating stuck better if you sanded the surface a bit. After over sanding the test tuner, I discovered that beneath the chrome lies copper. It turns out it is very common to copper plate first, it makes the chrome stick better. Go figure. Tired hands, but I have 5 copper tuners.
Top stain didn't look right. Resanded. Will try again. :/
This shot gives you a look at the bridge pickup cavity. I don't have a router, had to use a dremmel with a sanding bit.
This shot gives you a look at the bridge pickup cavity. I don't have a router, had to use a dremmel with a sanding bit.
I am getting better at this staining business.
I have a question. I am going to brand the headstock. I am assuming I do that before the poly finish, but not sure. Input?
I have a question. I am going to brand the headstock. I am assuming I do that before the poly finish, but not sure. Input?
A little more progress today.
First coat of poly, and finished the rest of the bullet inlays. I started working on the bridge but my back got tired from leaning over for so long.
Going to try and finish the wiring today.
I also started cleaning and rubbing moisturizer into the old saddle. It was pretty far gone, but I suppose that's why it was free eh?
First coat of poly, and finished the rest of the bullet inlays. I started working on the bridge but my back got tired from leaning over for so long.
Going to try and finish the wiring today.
I also started cleaning and rubbing moisturizer into the old saddle. It was pretty far gone, but I suppose that's why it was free eh?
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