NBPD (new bass project day)

just started this one. i bought a complete blue floral p bass reissue body that i got last week and a new one piece maple neck arrived for it today. i just finished fitting the neck to the body, removed the 2mm side dots, installed 3/32" ones, gave it some roll-over on the edges, installed a fender nut and shot a couple of coats of nitro sealer on the fingerboard and f&r of the headstock so i can mount the heads, string it up and start my neck shaving/reshaping process. after that, i'll remove the heads and shoot if with a slightly tinted nitro finish and reassemble it.
the funny thing about this model is that it's called a '54 precision bass reissue, but they never came in floral (but the slab body tele basses did in '68/'69), and it has the smaller tele bass thru body string retainers, so it's really not a tele bass or a p bass (due to it's color).

anyway, here's a couple of pics of the bass so far. i should have the heads and strings on it by this evening:





i still need to install some CTS pots, a switchcraft jack and a NOS '70's cornell-dubilier .047 cap in it, and i'll either go with an duncan antiquity, an scpb-1, a 1/4lb'er or a fralin (side by side) single coil humbucker since i already have all of those pickups to try in it. the heads are going to be gotoh vintage reverse res-o-lites to keep this bass lightweight and balanced, since the body is very lightweight.

 

yeah, i just can't decide whether to use spaghetti precision bass one or a '68 tele bass one, but i'm leaning towards a tele logo.

 

i know i can, and i'm sure you could too. heck, it's just a throwback to the 'flower power' days (and i'm an old hippie anyway).

 

i just found out the weirdest thing.
i've been using the gotoh res-o-lite (vintage reverse style)tuners on quite a few of my basses for the last three years. i just installed the set that i got of them today on this floral bass, and this set tunes up in the NON-REVERSE direction! the last set of them that i used on my most recent jag bass build, i got only three weeks ago and they tune in the reverse direction, just like every other set that i have. makes me think that either gotoh is now making them tune in the non-reverse direction, or this is just a fluke set of them? either way, they look the same and i'm not going to send them back, as i don't mind them tuning up the standard way, although it is a little confusing.

BTW, the bass's AUW (all up weight) is a very comfortable 8lbs 3 oz. it will lose a little weight when the neck is shaved/reshaped, but will gain an oz when the 6 coats of nitro are applied, so i'm expecting it to weigh 8lbs 3oz or 8lbs 4 oz give or take and ounce.

 

i think that i figured out what's going on with this set of gotoh res-o-lites. i found out that they also make these in a left handed version, which would mean that this right handed set has left handed clover/worm gear posts and left handed beveled gears. so, i'm not sure if i'll send them back for a set of normal (reverse tuning) ones or keep them since they're such a novelty/total fluke set of them

 

yeah, i've decided to go with the '68 tele logo, & some original '70 flat top tele knobs, since i already have them. i like the look of the old original knobs better than the new RI's, plus they weigh 1/4 as much (zamac vs solid brass).