D&R's build thread

[definenredefine]

Is the back flat? If so (and perhaps even if not, with tedious shimming and measuring and shimming...) router-planing it off is one method - or the old heat and a palette knife (or puttyknife or butterknife) approach.

It is indeed flat, and I definitely thought about that. Ultimately, though, I think I'm gonna back burner the Dano convertible for now. I still gotta finish the P bass and put the V4 back together.

 

[definenredefine]

I'm off next week, and home, so hopefully I'll get the P bass body stained up. I bought a Harley Benton neck for it, but the heel doesn't quite fit. While I was thinking of how to resolve that issue, I found a good deal on a Squier P bass neck with tuners, so that's on its way now. If that heel works, I'll probably end up saving the HB neck for a future project.

So...the Squier neck doesn't fit either. The heel is more or less the same as the HB neck. I think mods are on the horizon...

 

[definenredefine]

A while back, I decided I need to build a stand for my drill press so that it would have a more of a home, and I wouldn't have to lift up onto my workbench. Behold -


I built a drawer for the first time, because I wanted a place in the stand to store my bits and drivers -


...and I managed to attach drawer rails to my router table, so it can slide out of the stand -


Not too shabby, methinks -


I also finally gave the router a whirl to put some roundovers on a scrap piece of butcher block (cheese board, maybe? Or cutting board? Dealer's choice?)

 

[ctmullins]

Nice! You’ll thank yourself countless times in future.

 

[definenredefine]

Nice! You’ll thank yourself countless times in future.

I already am! Using the drill press was much more challenging before this build.

 

[definenredefine]

First 2 coats of stain went on the P bass body today. They might be the last...I may just move on to poly tomorrow.



I wanted a darker orange, but this was the only orange stain I could find (and I still had to have it mixed...definitely not an off the shelf color.) I'm pretty happy with the color, though.

I still have to mod the body for the control plate, so that'll happen before clear coating. And...I gotta figure out if the ~1/8" gap between the neck heel and the body is worth the risk of trying to mod the pocket.

Also I put 2 coats of poly on the V4 cabinet.

 

[definenredefine]

In the end, I modded the pocket so the neck would fit more easily. Came out pretty good. Also modded the control body for the control plate which did not come out well...next time I should a) use a hole saw instead of a forstner or b) actually use the drill press that I spent all that time making a stand for. Also I should probably a bit more careful not to cut away so much wood that I don't leave a place for the screws.

This was my workaround for the latter problem -



I also sanded the body with 1000 grit and put on another 2 coats of poly. Probably will repeat that once more, then move on to wiring.

 

[definenredefine]

So...didn't do any more coats of poly...decided to move on instead.

The body has a hole drilled for the output jack on the bottom. I was gonna make a cover for it since I'm moving the jack to the front. Instead, I put a bolt on the original jack plate -



I painted the control and pickup cavities with shielding paint, and ran a piece of copper tape from the control cavity to the jack plate. I'm gonna use that for the ground wire and hope it works -



I went ahead and installed that, the control plate, the pickup/guard, and the strap buttons. Getting close...

 

[Beej]

Random thought - a wall-mount bottle opener would go nicely over that side jack mounting hole.

 

[definenredefine]

Random thought - a wall-mount bottle opener would go nicely over that side jack mounting hole.

View attachment 7117276

View attachment 7117277

That's actually brilliant and I'm gonna totally use that.

 

[definenredefine]

I started working on neck mods. I'm using the Squier neck because I think the darker fretboard contrasts nicely with orange body. I sanded the headstock to 1000, then put on 2 coats of primer.



I'm gonna do another coat, then sand to 1000 again, then hit it with a couple coats of rattle black. Then a few coats of rattle can clear.

 

[definenredefine]

No pics today but a few things done over the past week -

*Installed the bridge on the orange bass

*Painted the headstock (for said orange bass) black and put on the logo and few coats of clear (pics soon)

*Fixed the electronics on the J bass. I thought it was something to do with the jack but turned out to be a loose solder joint at the tone pot's output lug.

*And last, a favor for a good friend - installed saddles, set up and intonated his Stingray. Unfortunately, I couldn't track down what was wrong with the electronics (loud hum to clear signal after wiggling the plug in the jack). No loose joints that I can see...electronics look pretty clean...So I'm not sure what's up. And active electronics are a bit out of my wheelhouse.

All in all, a fairly productive week. I'm hoping to finish the orange bass in the next few days. I think I gotta plug and redrilll the heel of the neck...then I should be able to finally put the whole thing together.

 

[definenredefine]

Welp, the P(ish) bass is put together, but I won't say it's done. The neck seems to have a forward bow. I tried to adjust the truss rod, but either my hex wrench isn't long enough to engage the truss nut or it's stripped. (Really hope it's the former...) I put a 0.5º shim under the heel for now, so I could finish the setup. Good action/intonation now, but there's a buzz (which is particularly nasty on the A string.)

I plugged it in to ensure it works, and it does, but there was a hum. Turns out the ground wire wasn't soldered down well enough. I fixed that, and now it plays well and sounds pretty good.

Next, it'll go to the local shop to see if the neck can be adjusted.

Anyway, pics or it didn't happen -

 

[definenredefine]

Welp, the P(ish) bass is put together, but I won't say it's done. The neck seems to have a forward bow. I tried to adjust the truss rod, but either my hex wrench isn't long enough to engage the truss nut or it's stripped. (Really hope it's the former...) I put a 0.5º shim under the heel for now, so I could finish the setup. Good action/intonation now, but there's a buzz (which is particularly nasty on the A string.)

I plugged it in to ensure it works, and it does, but there was a hum. Turns out the ground wire wasn't soldered down well enough. I fixed that, and now it plays well and sounds pretty good.

Next, it'll go to the local shop to see if the neck can be adjusted.

Anyway, pics or it didn't happen -

View attachment 7128587 View attachment 7128588
View attachment 7128586

Turns out I had the wrong size allen wrench. I needed a 3/16". After removing the 0.5º shim, I adjusted the neck but the action is still way higher at the heel, even though I confirmed (I think, using my own janky method of laying a ruler against the frets) that it's flat. So I put a smaller shim (really 2 thin pieces of paperboard) under the just the end of the heel. That fixed the action, and the buzz is mostly gone. Mostly, because it's still very apparent on the A string (and JUST the A string.)

NOW I can call it done.

Incidentally, how can fix that buzz??? ETA - Yes, I raised the saddle. Doesn't seem to be helping much.

 

[definenredefine]

I finally plugged in the orange P bass and man, it sounds pretty great! A couple friends heard it and agreed. So now I gotta figure out where to get those Maxon "humbucker" pickups without paying through the nose (you know, because they're "vintage.")

 

[definenredefine]

On to new projects -

First, I'm rehabbing this old GTX guitar that's been sitting at my folks' house for ages. It's metal AF! As such, no plans for a refin -


The challenge on this one is gonna be the cavity from the floyd rose-copy bridge. I hated that thing. A friend from back home put a hard tail bridge on it, but he mounted it...um...pretty unconventionally -


I've already taken the hardtail bridge off. I have a plan that involves filling in that shallow cavity (not sure with what just yet...maybe more vinyl?) and hoping that'll give me enough height to properly remount the bridge.

Second, I bought a couple of Danelectro Hearsay bodies off of the 'verb. Neither of them will get refinned either, because I like the current sparkly finishes. Anyway, I started on the black one, which I'm planning to throw a couple of generic goldfoil pickups in. That required routing out some of the pickup cavities to fit -

(no before pic)

I'm using a generic Gibson-style neck with it, but I modded the headstock to make it more...aesthetically consistent.

(no before pic on this one either)

The neck is unfinished. I've sanded it with 1000 grit, and I'm planning to use Tru Oil to seal it.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

filling in that shallow cavity

Saw and file an aluminum plate to fit, perhaps. Cover with vinyl if that suits the aesthetic, or engine turn the exposed-after-bridge-goes-on parts for really Metal AF spiffyness.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Saw and file an aluminum plate to fit, perhaps. Cover with vinyl if that suits the aesthetic, or engine turn the exposed-after-bridge-goes-on parts for really Metal AF spiffyness.

I’m a sucker for engine turning so that could definitely look cool.

 

[ctmullins]

Are you opposed to all vibrato units? Or just that (likely cheap) Floyd?

I would be tempted to mount a Kahler on it.

 

[definenredefine]

Are you opposed to all vibrato units? Or just that (likely cheap) Floyd?

I would be tempted to mount a Kahler on it.

Just that cheap floyd rose knockoff. The dano has a generic Strat-style tremolo that I'm keeping...I have no problem with it. A Kahler is way above the price point though - the end result is going to charity.

Saw and file an aluminum plate to fit, perhaps. Cover with vinyl if that suits the aesthetic, or engine turn the exposed-after-bridge-goes-on parts for really Metal AF spiffyness.

Metal working of any kind is pretty far outside of my skill set, unfortunately.

So today, second coat of tru oil went on the dano neck, and I cut out the pickguard -


I have a show out of town tomorrow, so probably nothing else until Sunday, unless I can manage to get another coat of tru oil on the neck.