I picked up some copper shielding foil on Ebay direct from Hong Kong. The thing about is, while I paid about double what I would have paid to buy it at Stewmac, I got 30 meters of the 18mm and 50mm width tape while stewmac would have only given me 6 meters of 55mm and 19mm width. That's 2x the price for 5x more material. Since the last batch from Stewmac lasted me about 5 basses, this one should last me darn near forever if I finish it at all.
Leveling and crowning on #4 went smoothly. . . nothing new, so I figured it'd be a waste of bandwidth to post pics. . . except I got a new fret file from Ebay. This one is a diamond file with 150 grit on one side and 300 grit on the other. The quality of this particular tool is a bit meh, but it does chatter less than the standard Stewmac fret file. If I had to do it again, I'd probably just get the Stewmac diamond file from the get-go. The machining quality and dispersion of the diamond particles is not exactly top notch on this tool, but it works and it's cheap to buy (same cost as the standard fret file at Stewmac).
The new copper shielding foil went in without issue. . . some observations. The foil is noticeably thinner than the stewmac stuff which makes it easier to install in certain ways and harder in other ways. It's a bit more prone to tearing especially when you want to make a clean crease into a corner, but it's easier to position and make turns with. I think installation in general went a bit faster than with the Stewmac stuff. The adhesive is non-conductive, but since I found the Stewmac conductive adhesive does not work as well as soldering, I soldered all of it anyways. On that level, this Chinese stuff actually solders better than the Stewmac stuff. I don't know why. It could be the thinner material heats up faster, or when the conductive adhesive on the Stewmac tape melts, it creates nasty gunk that clutters up the solder joint. This stuff solders great at the seams and the solder seems to just flow on nice and smooth. Copper is copper though, right? It still gets the job done the same even if it's slightly thinner.
I then wired up the bass as much as practical without new pickups (waiting on Nordstrand order to come in). P-bass. . . so much easier than the series/parallel jazz bass setup.
And just like that, #4 is pretty much done except for Nordstrands and strings. I made an order for 6 more sets of the medium gauge Stainless Steel Dunlops as I think they work great and the price is phenomenal.
The one next it is possibly #5 which I picked up on Ebay last month. This one is going to be another stunner I think in terms of tone because it's also a super lightweight hovering just a hair over 8 lbs. It does have cosmetic issues though with a few good dings. Hey, it's "road worn".
I've gotta take a moment to thank my friend Marc Games from Marcelo Guitars:
Link Removed He makes high end custom guitars and was the guy who suggested I try a Rondo bass when I first went about looking for something cheap to record with. . . which in turn put me down this deadly path of SX bass impulse purchases in quantity. I found out the "good ones" were being discontinued, and also found out there were no p-basses in stock (the one I wanted all along), and went crazy buying up a stash of Jazz basses (seen on this thread) which turned out amazing. I don't think Jasaman would have been as impressed personally. . . for his playing style with a p-bass. So the universe conspires to let me dive back into messin' with basses which I would not have done had there been a nice Rondo p-bass available for me to buy at the beginning. Going back on topic, Marc from Marcelo guitars recommended and is helping me get Nordstrand pickups for the continuing builds here. We worked together for years in the recording studio and I trust his ears and instincts. The fact that a maker of high-end custom guitars would recommend a sub $100 bass to me says a lot for both these low-end instruments and his guitars which do play and sound fantastic at a premium price point. That is, coming from someone (me) who can't play squat on a guitar. The demos on his website were tracked with one of my SX basses. . . that one, a blonde swamp-ash P/J just kindof just sits around in the studio making its way onto every recording.
It comes full circle then with my Rondo adventure. I will keep #4 and use it as my main bass (along with my crazy 6 I made in college) that is unless someone gives me enough money to pry it out my hands
. But, I have 3 more fretless p-basses 2 of which I still need to find fretted necks for and 3 more complete jazz basses to build. . .so this thread still has some life left. Every person who has had a chance to play Jasaman's #3 has wanted one of these for themselves, so I'm confident I will be able to move all of these basses and that some of them may actually find their way past the professionals who are hovering like vultures and make their way to "the children" who I originally targeted these builds for.
Stay tuned. . . I am super excited about the incoming Nordstrands and will most likely be posting up some more sound clips for reference and comment.
