Fretless Partzz Bass

[ADHD librarian]

One coat of clear & a decal on the headstock...

It's a Fender Japan neck, so I am ok with putting the decal on. But I'm not trying to make it look like a factory Fender, so I am using a decal I bought when I was going to spray the headstock on my MIM (I never did). I just snipped away the 'Made in Mexico' bit. It doesn't sit perfectly on the reverse headstock, but I think (with strings and a string tree) it will look just fine.

I am wondering about trying to do an acetone transfer "crafted in Japan" for the neck heel. Or perhaps "crafted in Australia from Fender bits" (but I'd need a 12 string to fit all of that).

 

[ADHD librarian]

Here it is with a coats of clear, hanging in the sunshine. Winter has suddenly hit in the desert, so the clear isn't drying so fast & I put a couple of finger prints in it. So I'll need to sand and spray again a couple more times.

Indoors I think the duplicolor candy red pearl is more Candy Cola than Candy Apple Red, but in the sunshine.... ?

Either way, I'm liking it & hope I don't do anything to awful at this point. Because I've used every can of that color in town & don't want to have to start again.

 

[C Stone]

I think it looks fantastic so far…as far as the headstock color inside, it looks killer!

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Looking great. Anxious for the finished product & your review of it.

 

[ADHD librarian]

Having my first attempt at making a bone nut, using an old tusq nut as a template.
The bone was stolen from my dog cut out with my Dremel and shaped with a belt sander.

As I was flattening it on the belt sander I thought "I should glue this to a piece of dowel to keep my fingers away from the belt" a split second later I sanded the tip of my left thumb away.

 

[ADHD librarian]

You can see on the lower horn, where I over-sanded a minor flaw (where an old pickguard screw hole was). Likewise, the headstock decal is quite visible close-up. Mostly because it flattens the look of the metallic paint.

But, I'm not going to fix those things at this point. I'll just see how it looks when I polish it up; I doubt it'll be visible from where any audience is standing.

I got my pots and knobs this afternoon (no they aren't soldered yet, I'm just having a look at how things sit)

 

[ADHD librarian]

I've always had poor eyesight (glasses since I was 7). I've also broken both hands & most of my fingers playing rugby...
Which means I am gorram awful with a soldering iron. That said, this isn't my worst ever attempt and as long as it is working no one is ever going to see it (except the sympathetic eyes of TB folk). I considered buying a loom, I considered taking it to my local guitar tech, but I decided I'm doing this whole build myself (I can always take it in to be fixed at a later point).

 

[ADHD librarian]

Today's fly in the ointment...
was actually a pigeon in the clear coat (sorry no photo).

Had the bass on my painting stand, having just given it a coat of clear. Turned my back, to put a coat on the headstock and when I looked back there was a pigeon roosting on the wet paint. It has managed to take a nice 'chunk' out of the clear coat in one spot and put a couple of other smaller marks on there too.

I guess that adds another week to the respray & let it dry timeline before I can put it together.

 

[ADHD librarian]

Well...
the body is finished, some imperfections but I'm happy.
The headstock however has become troublesome. Each time I sand the clear coat the waterslide edges become highly visible. So I'm going for a few more layers of clear & hoping it's quick (because I'm getting impatient to put this thing together).

 

[ADHD librarian]

So close to done...

Just got to finish the nut and put on the strings!

 

[JRA]

looks great! nice job!