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First Build - "Lucifer"
- Thread starter TerribleTim68
- Start date
When I scrolled down and saw that last pic, I made an involuntary Homer Simpson-sees-a-donut sound. 
Well, I decided I was done putting finish on this one. It was somewhere around 12 coats of Tru-Oil and then a couple weeks curing. From there I chucked up the buffing wheel on the ol' ShopSmith and went over it with the white compound. I have no clue what "grit" these compounds are, but the brown one was much coarser. Anyways, is it perfect? No. And I know my finish game is weak, but I think I got to a point where i just want to be done with it. I'm fine with it. So on the bench it goes -
Let's start assembling a bass.
Let's start assembling a bass.
I had similar frustrations with Tru-Oil, cut through it a couple times trying to buff it out by hand. I think I put on around 25 coats and was never fully satisfied. I did mine in winter too, only place I could hang it was my boiler closet, one of those gas fired units that looks like a jet pack bolted to the wall. A long way from dust free, of course. Did you have any trouble with one wood dust "bleeding" onto another when wetsanding with Tru Oil? I always read about people doing that, but dont want purple heart dust staining the maple, for instance. Does that happen on multi laminate basses with this stuff?
So last night I started assembling stuff. I got the tuners in -
Bridge saddles and strap buttons in -
Installed the battery box -
Got the control cavity shielded -
And then the wife decided I was done for the night.
I guess I'll stop there for now.
Bridge saddles and strap buttons in -
Installed the battery box -
Got the control cavity shielded -
And then the wife decided I was done for the night.
I guess I'll stop there for now.
Good progress buddy! Looking forward to hearing your playing report!So last night I started assembling stuff. I got the tuners in -
View attachment 4594300
Bridge saddles and strap buttons in -
View attachment 4594302
Installed the battery box -
View attachment 4594299
Got the control cavity shielded -
View attachment 4594303
And then the wife decided I was done for the night.
When you wake up with copper foil on your nose….. time for bed.
Continuing this assembly -
Next up was installing the pickups. This shot also shows the Darkglass Tone Capsule installed (sort of, pots are in but it's just hanging loose and the pre isn't wired to anything yet) -
Okay, let's start wiring this mess! I had pre-wired as much of this assembly as I could on a piece of cardboard, so a lot of it was done. The trick was, remembering exactly what I had done, because there was a couple of the mini toggles I wired "backwards" from my wiring diagram for some reason. I guess I wouldn't say "backwards", but mirrored, like the left was the right and the right was the left if that makes sense. Anyways, after about three hours I have the world's biggest spaghetti mess -
I know, most of you do a much nicer job with this and make it all sexy looking. I was mostly happy that it all fit in there. So I put a cover on it and then it looked a lot better! -
As you can see, the jack wires are still dangling. I needed to stop, it's actually past my bedtime, I kind of got lost in this and just kept going. At that point I had to make myself stop or I'd probably go until I plugged it in and made noise with it. Anyways, here's where we are at the moment -
We're lacking the jack wiring, a nut and then we string this thing. Well, I still need to make knobs too, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.
Next up was installing the pickups. This shot also shows the Darkglass Tone Capsule installed (sort of, pots are in but it's just hanging loose and the pre isn't wired to anything yet) -
Okay, let's start wiring this mess! I had pre-wired as much of this assembly as I could on a piece of cardboard, so a lot of it was done. The trick was, remembering exactly what I had done, because there was a couple of the mini toggles I wired "backwards" from my wiring diagram for some reason. I guess I wouldn't say "backwards", but mirrored, like the left was the right and the right was the left if that makes sense. Anyways, after about three hours I have the world's biggest spaghetti mess -
I know, most of you do a much nicer job with this and make it all sexy looking. I was mostly happy that it all fit in there. So I put a cover on it and then it looked a lot better! -
As you can see, the jack wires are still dangling. I needed to stop, it's actually past my bedtime, I kind of got lost in this and just kept going. At that point I had to make myself stop or I'd probably go until I plugged it in and made noise with it. Anyways, here's where we are at the moment -
We're lacking the jack wiring, a nut and then we string this thing. Well, I still need to make knobs too, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it.
Looking good sir, looking good. Don’t worry too much about the wiring. I tend to leave pickup wires long in my instruments because I know there’s a decent chance I’ll change one.
I used to haunt a pedal builders site where the level of OCD fetish applied to aesthetically pleasing wire layout was carried to extremes. They use special wire thats pre tinned full length under the plastic insulation, so it can be bent to any artistic shape you want. I actually tried the stuff, and it works, but does seemingly nothing to add function. In theory you cut down noise by not having wires cross, but I didnt hear any difference with my spaghetti mess. Kinda like those car rallies that materialize in Walmart parking lots where everybody has the hood open to display the LED lights on the exhaust headers.
The Finish Line!
Okay, I'm gonna call this "NBD". It's a little premature, but not really. Lemme explain.
I finished wiring up the jack. Pro tip, be sure when using a barrel jack to put your nut and washer on the wires inside the cavity before feeding said wires through the jack hole and then wiring it up. I almost made that mistake. Luckily, I was moving kind of slow and glance down at my bench and saw the nut laying there and thought to myself "Self, you're about to make a YUGE mistake. A right bigly one!"
So yeah, glad I caught that ahead of time. With the jack wired in, I buttoned up the control cavity for good, strung it up and that's kind of where things went a little sideways. I mean, I guess I was doomed to make a right bigly error somewhere. I trimmed my A string to fit the D string location without realizing it and now my A string won't reach the tuner post. 
So, for the time being, I've got really wide neck 4 string. but get this, I took it in the room and plugged it in, popped a couple batteries in it and turned on the amp. IT MAKES NOISE!!!! I'm not even kidding, it actually makes noise! And, get this, all of the switches I wired up even work! Like, every single one of them do exactly what they should!
Seriously, I'm shocked. My pickup kill switches both kill the correct pickup. My coil splits both...split the coils. My series/parallel is...well...doing something that causes a noticeably different tone. And my pre-amp bypass actually bypasses the pre-amp! No joke, everything works!
Okay, so here's a shot of the world's weirdest 4 string bass, in my room with its brothers -
I'll order a new string, or maybe a new set, I'll have to see what I can get. But yeah man, NBD! And I built this thing! My very first bass build is....built!
Okay, so let's talk about the elephant in the room. It needs a few things still. The setup is jacked. Only my low-B string would play, the others are literally against the frets. I also need to finalize the nut slots and shape the outside edges of it better, then actually glue it down. I haven't even bothered trying to intonate it yet either, since that's part of a proper setup. It still needs knobs too, but eventually I'm gonna turn them myself. So, get a new D string, full setup and intonation, nut and knobs and she's done.
Now, I'm gonna go a little off the rails here. And understand that as I type this I'm getting a little emotional. There's a lot of people that I need to thank for all of your help, input, wisdom, encouragement, teaching, etc., etc. I can't even begin to name all of you, so let's just say that I seriously thank you and appreciate every one of you here in the LC. This forum is literally the greatest place I've ever found on the internet. This community is amazing. I really enjoy my time here with all of you and I'm so thankful to have stumbled upon this place. I seriously don't know how to thank all of you enough. I built a freakin' bass guitar! And you know what? It's pretty dang cool! Now, I gotta go get to that WBO entry!
Oh yeah, the wife heard it make noise, so she's stoked that I finished one!
Okay, I'm gonna call this "NBD". It's a little premature, but not really. Lemme explain.
I finished wiring up the jack. Pro tip, be sure when using a barrel jack to put your nut and washer on the wires inside the cavity before feeding said wires through the jack hole and then wiring it up. I almost made that mistake. Luckily, I was moving kind of slow and glance down at my bench and saw the nut laying there and thought to myself "Self, you're about to make a YUGE mistake. A right bigly one!"
So yeah, glad I caught that ahead of time. With the jack wired in, I buttoned up the control cavity for good, strung it up and that's kind of where things went a little sideways. I mean, I guess I was doomed to make a right bigly error somewhere. I trimmed my A string to fit the D string location without realizing it and now my A string won't reach the tuner post.
So, for the time being, I've got really wide neck 4 string. but get this, I took it in the room and plugged it in, popped a couple batteries in it and turned on the amp. IT MAKES NOISE!!!! I'm not even kidding, it actually makes noise! And, get this, all of the switches I wired up even work! Like, every single one of them do exactly what they should!
Seriously, I'm shocked. My pickup kill switches both kill the correct pickup. My coil splits both...split the coils. My series/parallel is...well...doing something that causes a noticeably different tone. And my pre-amp bypass actually bypasses the pre-amp! No joke, everything works!
Okay, so here's a shot of the world's weirdest 4 string bass, in my room with its brothers -
I'll order a new string, or maybe a new set, I'll have to see what I can get. But yeah man, NBD! And I built this thing! My very first bass build is....built!
Okay, so let's talk about the elephant in the room. It needs a few things still. The setup is jacked. Only my low-B string would play, the others are literally against the frets. I also need to finalize the nut slots and shape the outside edges of it better, then actually glue it down. I haven't even bothered trying to intonate it yet either, since that's part of a proper setup. It still needs knobs too, but eventually I'm gonna turn them myself. So, get a new D string, full setup and intonation, nut and knobs and she's done.
Now, I'm gonna go a little off the rails here. And understand that as I type this I'm getting a little emotional. There's a lot of people that I need to thank for all of your help, input, wisdom, encouragement, teaching, etc., etc. I can't even begin to name all of you, so let's just say that I seriously thank you and appreciate every one of you here in the LC. This forum is literally the greatest place I've ever found on the internet. This community is amazing. I really enjoy my time here with all of you and I'm so thankful to have stumbled upon this place. I seriously don't know how to thank all of you enough. I built a freakin' bass guitar! And you know what? It's pretty dang cool! Now, I gotta go get to that WBO entry!
Oh yeah, the wife heard it make noise, so she's stoked that I finished one!
Last edited:
The Finish Line!
Okay, I'm gonna call this "NBD". It's a little premature, but not really. Lemme explain.
I finished wiring up the jack. Pro tip, be sure when using a barrel jack to put your nut and washer on the wires inside the cavity before feeding said wires through the jack hole and then wiring it up. I almost made that mistake. Luckily, I was moving kind of slow and glance down at my bench and saw the nut laying there and thought to myself "Self, you're about to make a YUGE mistake. A right bigly one!"
So yeah, glad I caught that ahead of time. With the jack wired in, I buttoned up the control cavity for good, strung it up and that's kind of where things went a little sideways. I mean, I guess I was doomed to make a right bigly error somewhere. I trimmed my D string to fit the G string location without realizing it and now my D string won't reach the tuner post.
So, for the time being, I've got really wide neck 4 string. but get this, I took it in the room and plugged it in, popped a couple batteries in it and turned on the amp. IT MAKES NOISE!!!! I'm not even kidding, it actually makes noise! And, get this, all of the switches I wired up even work! Like, every single one of them do exactly what they should!
Seriously, I'm shocked. My pickup kill switches both kill the correct pickup. My coil splits both...split the coils. My series/parallel is...well...doing something that causes a noticeably different tone. And my pre-amp bypass actually bypasses the pre-amp! No joke, everything works!
Okay, so here's a shot of the world's weirdest 4 string bass, in my room with its brothers -
View attachment 4596546
View attachment 4596545
I'll order a new string, or maybe a new set, I'll have to see what I can get. But yeah man, NBD! And I built this thing! My very first bass build is....built!
Okay, so let's talk about the elephant in the room. It needs a few things still. The setup is jacked. Only my low-B string would play, the others are literally against the frets. I also need to finalize the nut slots and shape the outside edges of it better, then actually glue it down. I haven't even bothered trying to intonate it yet either, since that's part of a proper setup. It still needs knobs too, but eventually I'm gonna turn them myself. So, get a new D string, full setup and intonation, nut and knobs and she's done.
Now, I'm gonna go a little off the rails here. And understand that as I type this I'm getting a little emotional. There's a lot of people that I need to thank for all of your help, input, wisdom, encouragement, teaching, etc., etc. I can't even begin to name all of you, so let's just say that I seriously thank you and appreciate every one of you here in the LC. This forum is literally the greatest place I've ever found on the internet. This community is amazing. I really enjoy my time here with all of you and I'm so thankful to have stumbled upon this place. I seriously don't know how to thank all of you enough. I built a freakin' bass guitar! And you know what? It's pretty dang cool! Now, I gotta go get to that WBO entry!
Oh yeah, the wife heard it make noise, so she's stoked that I finished one!
Congratulations Tim. The bass turned out great and you should be very proud of your accomplishment!
Having said that, I was a more than a little shocked to discover that the elephant in the room was not that pointy, swirl-paint-job thing hanging on the wall.
Hahaha! That pointy swirl painted thing is my prize possession.Congratulations Tim. The bass turned out great and you should be very proud of your accomplishment!
Having said that, I was a more than a little shocked to discover that the elephant in the room was not that pointy, swirl-paint-job thing hanging on the wall.
That is a 1986 Ibanez X-Series Destroyer that I've had since 1989. We've been through it all together. the paint job was trashed when I got it, the pickups ditched for active EMG P/J set. I paid $50 for that thing. She's my baby. 
Hahaha! That pointy swirl painted thing is my prize possession.
For the record, I am a pointy guitar fan, but that sucker was nearly photo bombing.
It does, it totally does.For the record, I am a pointy guitar fan, but that sucker was nearly photo bombing.
