my lane poor conversion

[TinyE]

First let me just say, in no way do I consider myself a luthier, but I love making things, and always love reading these build posts.

Second, I know this is less of a build than a "modification", but this still seemed an appropriate place!

So
I'm hoping ideas, corrective direction and anything else might stem from me posting here! So feel free to speak up!

I recently obtained a Lane Poor Legacy pickup, and wanted to do something cool with it. I had a P-body lying around, so rather than starting from scratch, I decided to use it. I want the cavity in the back. No silly pickguard for this one.

I cut a piece of wood to fill the existing cavity. The wood I used was exactly 3/4" thick, and the pickup cavity was 13/16", so I put a layer of wood filler in, and then using a rubber hammer, hammered my wood fill piece into place.

I covered it with wood filler then, and probably used way too much. I figured it would be easy enough to sand down flat, and didn't want to see any trace of the previous cavity.

So now, we are in the drying phase!

My plans are to route out a rear cavity, and a new pickup cavity on front in the sweet spot. I'm going to go passive at first because I use a preamp pedal, however, I'm leaving anough room for an OPB-1 if the need arises!

Going to put a hipshot kick-ass bridge on it, a fender neck, a vol and tone, and that's about it! oh, besides some pretty cool metal skull (with orange eyes) control knobs I found!

Then, I found some really great sparkle that I'm going to put on it, and have decided on an orange coat for the top layer.I'm using lil' daddy roth rattle bombs for this one. Always wondered if they are any good. it will be a layer of white primer, silver sparkle base coat, then a silver sparkle layer, then the orange candy coat on top to give it some depth.

I'll post pics as progress continues!
Thanks for reading!

 

[MPU]

My guess is you will see the lines of the old cavity thru the paint. Wood filler is not glue so it will not hold the filler piece in it’s place. If you had glued the filler piece with epoxy there would be less chance of witness lines thru the paint.

 

[Frederiek]

If you need a really smooth surface, try auto filler (I think that's polyester putty?)

 

[MPU]

If you need a really smooth surface, try auto filler (I think that's polyester putty?)

That’s a lot better than wood filler. Wood filler sinks forever and never hardens really hard and solid. I would widen the seams to a v-shaped groove and fill them with auto filler or thickened epoxy.

 

[TinyE]

thanks for the advice guys! i'm going to dig around it a bit and put the autofiller in! sanded it this morning and i can see how the wood filler isn't going to be a perfect finish!

 

[Beej]

Great idea for a project

You can coat that in epoxy and sand it back and that should help out. I like @MPU 's idea of the v groove...

 

[TinyE]

I just came across the coral wasp build, which is not only making me wish I'd gone for a new shaped, but I'm digging the pickguard. I did some research, and think the drum wrap white satin flame would look really good with a deep orange sparkle. I'll have to play around with ideas for a pickguard. I'd like something unique since I'm already using a P-body. If I have enough paint left over, I may make another body that's something a little different!

Has anyone ever used any high build primer from SEM? I'm thinking that may help avoid any seam marks after I'm done with the epoxy.

 

[Beej]

That sounds awesome

You could always reshape that P body into something unique...

 

[TinyE]

i'm actually on the drawing board as we speak!

That sounds awesome

You could always reshape that P body into something unique...

 

[TinyE]

gave in to the allure of a new shape!

from this:

to this: I shaved the horns, gave it more of a 'jazz' waist, and, hard to see, but more of a 'jazz' shaped bottom too.

thanks for the tip on the auto filler. the body had a couple of spots where there were cracks, or holes. i filled them too.

 

[Beej]

Looks pretty good!

 

[TomB]

With the shortened upper horn, you may want to keep the headstock on the lightweight side (light tuners?) to avoid neck dive on a strap when you’re done. ...been there

 

[pudge]

Heavy bridge ,light tuners

 

[TinyE]

hey guys, i have a question.

i found, what i think may be the perfect bridge for this guitar, but I don't think it will work with the amount of size i've got on the guitar. My basic question is, I'm thinking if I use a 24 fret neck instead of a 20 fret neck, it will allow me to move the bridge up a little and possibly make it fit. So, the question is, if I use the 24 fret neck, not with the fingerboard overlap, but the full neck version. Will that throw anything off? or is it all about bridge placement? assuming it's 17" to the 12th fret, it will still be a 34" scale right? just a really long neck?

also, i was aiming for the 'sweet spot' with the LP pickup. With a 24 fret neck, do I still measure down from the 12th fret?

btw, the bridge i'm thinking about is a bigsby B5 modified to fit bass strings, with a roller bridge (modified for bass).

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I usually measure the scale length either from the nut or 12th fret to the G saddle being most of the way forward. This usually let's the intonation work out. So, if you're going to a 24 fret neck the bridge will move closer to the neck pocket.

If you want to keep the pickup in the same relative position then measue from the 12 fret like you said. It should move up the same amount as the bridge.

I'm interested to see what you come up with on the Bigsby. I've thought about something similar off and on but never done anything with it.

 

[TinyE]

my build has been stalled while waiting on parts. I think they may be cutting down the tree to make my 24 fret neck. yeesh. In the meantime, I started a standard jazz build, so i could practice my large flake painting skills. here is a pic with the base layer on. flake next, then some clear, then some candy (this will be pink - for my niece), then more clear. Then I should have some practice under my belt for this base.



Also, the B5 finally arrived!!! So I can start working on it to Bassify it. After mocking it up on the body, It is going to be a tight fit, even with the 24 fret neck. Would a short scale neck give me a little more room on the body?

For this base, the neck is a fender, but i'm thinking about customizing the headstock, and color scheme will be bass-boat flake candy apple red and silver. I tried orange, and no. I also bought some purple, and was considering a purple burst.... remains to be seen after I get to know this guitar's personality.

So, time to drill on the B5....

 

[TinyE]

the neck arrived! I got the bigsby drilled, and measured the body. everything is going to fit. It's a close one, but it's going to work out!

To my dislike, I didn't get the holes lined up perfectly, but it's difficult drilling a tube with a hand drill. It's good enough for this proof of concept. The bigsby is really too narrow for a bass, so I had to edge in the outside strings just a skosh. I'm hoping to get that width back by customizing the width of the pieces on the roller bridge I'm working on. More on that to come in a few days.

The pickup location looks really high, but it's placed in the picture at 13 1/8 center-to-center. I know it's because of the 24 fret neck i got. Just used to 20 fretters I guess. I may play around with the tone before I actually route out the hole. See where I think it sounds best.

Here's the neck. The nut seems really high, and I wasn't crazy about the pearl inlays, but it was all I could find at short notice. Pretty sure I'm going to paint a matching headstock. I'm also debating about painting the neck. I've never played a painted neck, but I figure if I finish it correctly, it would feel just like a glossed neck. I wonder what big silver flake would look like on the fretboard....

 

[TinyE]

bah, waiting on parts is the worst. I have figured out my bridge dilema, and have decided to go with a tone-o-matic bridge instead of the roller I ordered. The roller was for a guitar, and I think it's just going to be too skinny for the string spacing, so I found a bass TOM, with individually adjustable saddles. It was a friggin google-a-thon miracle, but one finally turned up. So, now I have to wait 2 weeks for it (it ships from Canada). In the meantime, for fear of things not getting lined up perfectly, I'm not going to cut any holes just yet! so, project on hold until next year.

 

[TinyE]

finally an update. i've been collecting parts, but while i wait, my mind spins. so...first off, I've got the thing primered...a 3rd time. there's nothing like painting to help you find those sanding imperfections. I think I mentioned above I was thinking of painting the neck. Well, I decided to paint the whole thing, fingerboard and all. I taped off the binding, and each fret separately, so I can have side dots and silver frets, but i'm contemplating no dots at all on the fretboard. It will be all metal flake silver. The guitar is going to be metal flake candy apple red. I really don't care for red basses, but it just feels like the right color for this one. All that chrome from the Bigsby needs some red to back it up.



I've been playing around with headstock shapes. I have one OK idea, but nothing great yet. I have an extra White Pearl pickguard lying around, and I think I'm going to try and incorporate it with the silver flake, and the candy apple red flake to go for a theme like this...



any ideas from a starting point of a standard Fender headstock would be fantastic. Basically, my thoughts were, silver where the car has chrome, red/red, and the pearl pickguard could be some of the white. (please contribute if you get an idea!).

In any case, the bass is getting much closer now.

I have also found that I like doing 2 projects at the same time. It keeps me from rushing either. So, the jazz build is coming along great too. Nothing exciting to show on it, but I'll try and post a pic once it's all painted.

 

[TinyE]

the bridge is finally here! it's a huge hunk o' chrome, that will fit exactly what i'm going for....

ok, time to pick the work back up on this. still no decisions on the headstock, but i've got some ideas.

ps, that darn cat