New Warmoth Gecko (warning lots of big pics)

Its taken a total of almost 3 months but my new bass is finished.I did almost all of the build myself so, I took my time.

Here are the specs:
Ash Gecko 5 body with AA curly maple top and black accent line
Maple neck with maple board
Black Hipshot Ultralite tuners and model A bridge
Nordstrand DC5 pickups with series/single/parallel switching
Aguilar OBP-3 preamp

After 6 weeks, I received the body and neck from Warmoth.





I finished the body with Danish oil(I think it was 10 coats) followed by polyuerathane( about 15 coats. I don't remember exactly now. It was just enough for the desired smoothness and gloss).Here's the body after 2 coats of Danish oil.

Here's the results after all finishing-6 weeks after receipt of parts.




Here's the bass pre final assembly


Final shots! 7 weeks after receipt.








I was very impressed with the wood- great figuring with standard figured maple body(not upgraded) and standard maple board(nice flame).

After assembly and set up, I found it needed a fret leveling-another 3 days.

So, I've had it a couple of weeks and I must say, I'm really diggin' this bass! I think I've found the tone inside my head with this combination. I see why a there's a lot of high end basses with the Nordstrand/Aguilar set up- very versatile from glassy high slap to dub and is almost piano-like in clarity.It is very light-around 9lbs, and evenly balanced. This is a definite keeper!

 

Yes, this was is the 1st finishing job for me. I did a ton of research and asked a lot of questions before I started. It was not easy and at times I wondered if the results were going to be acceptable. I learned a lot thru this and probably would not do poly again. It turned out well but I had to re-do several coats because poly does not buff well without a commercial buffer. I would try lacquer or Tru oil.

 

I used Danish oil to enhance the grain in the wood. It provides no protection. I used poly for the hard gloss coat because it is easily available and easy to apply. Although I'm very happy with the results, I agree with you and would probably try Tru oil next time.
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You can leave the body unfinished if you like but their warranty for necks states:
"Our necks are warranted to be free of defective materials and workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. The warranty will be void if the neck does not get a hard shell finish in 30 days of delivery. We do not consider oil finishes or poorly applied wipe-on finishes adequate protection. Necks with shafts of Rosewood, Ebony, Pau Ferro, Bocote, Ziricote, Bubinga, Purpleheart, Padouk, Goncalo Alves, Satine or Wenge do not require a hard finish."

 

It is relatively flat but does have a slight radius.