Laid the neck in place to get a real look at the color matching effort. Not bad 
Happy Thanksgiving TB!
Happy Thanksgiving TB!
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Off with its head! 6-string headless conversion/parts build
- Thread starter Reedt2000
- Start date
Looks good. Matching an existing color can be a real challenge and an art form of its own.
I just came across this thread, so you probably have about 25 notifications that I Liked something.
Looks great!
Looks great!
It's been a couple weeks since last I sprayed the body...
...but it still smells a little like poly so I'm gonna wait some more before trying to tighten it up (insert @/\/\3phist0 comment about how it'd be done already if I had gone with Solarez here
)
...but it still smells a little like poly so I'm gonna wait some more before trying to tighten it up (insert @/\/\3phist0 comment about how it'd be done already if I had gone with Solarez here
)
It's been a couple weeks since last I sprayed the body...
...but it still smells a little like poly so I'm gonna wait some more before trying to tighten it up (insert @/\/\3phist0 comment about how it'd be done already if I had gone with Solarez here
Alright... sniffed it last night... no poly smell... time to see just how cunning my plan is... 
So I started wet sanding with 1500 and it was immediately clear (pun intended
) that I needed to step it up or it would take 2 weeks of sanding. I went up to 400 to eliminate the lip mostly, then 800, 1000, 1500, and then a medium compound with the tiny buffing wheel on my dremel which really erased the line between original and touch up finish. After that a final set of passes with 2000 and 2500 to get as flat as I could. That was followed by fine automotive compound and Stewmac swirl remover. It turned out... not too bad 
There are little lines of the light color under the red burst on either side, which I knew would be there (mostly covered up in the pic by the glare
), and a spot of the dreaded burn through. I burned through the red on the side, but not through to the wood.
It's not perfect, but let's be real, it wasn't ever gonna be (something I've accepted already). All things considered I think it'll pass the couple-feet-away test, and I'm good with that
I think I will buff out the whole thing by hand again (after cleaning my mess of a bench), then it's assembly time (and buying all those bits like battery box, knobs, and jack plate that I haven't got yet)
So I started wet sanding with 1500 and it was immediately clear (pun intended
) that I needed to step it up or it would take 2 weeks of sanding. I went up to 400 to eliminate the lip mostly, then 800, 1000, 1500, and then a medium compound with the tiny buffing wheel on my dremel which really erased the line between original and touch up finish. After that a final set of passes with 2000 and 2500 to get as flat as I could. That was followed by fine automotive compound and Stewmac swirl remover. It turned out... not too bad There are little lines of the light color under the red burst on either side, which I knew would be there (mostly covered up in the pic by the glare
), and a spot of the dreaded burn through. I burned through the red on the side, but not through to the wood.It's not perfect, but let's be real, it wasn't ever gonna be (something I've accepted already). All things considered I think it'll pass the couple-feet-away test, and I'm good with that
I think I will buff out the whole thing by hand again (after cleaning my mess of a bench
), then it's assembly time (and buying all those bits like battery box, knobs, and jack plate that I haven't got yet)
Alright... sniffed it last night... no poly smell... time to see just how cunning my plan is...
So I started wet sanding with 1500 and it was immediately clear (pun intended
View attachment 4087119
There are little lines of the light color under the red burst on either side, which I knew would be there (mostly covered up in the pic by the glare
It's not perfect, but let's be real, it wasn't ever gonna be (something I've accepted already). All things considered I think it'll pass the couple-feet-away test, and I'm good with that
I think I will buff out the whole thing by hand again (after cleaning my mess of a bench
If this thing were a single trans color, I could have made it invisible...
Strip it down and start over?
I'm kidding. It looks great!
What battery box are you getting?
According to Gould they use a "standard" battery box. I think it is the Gotoh 18v box. I found one on ebay, just got to measure to make sure.Strip it down and start over?
I'm kidding. It looks great!
What battery box are you getting?
Awesome, that's what I'm using for my Jazz Bass mod (thread to come later). It's too deep for the Cirrus. They are great boxes, came standard on my old Pedulla Rapture RB4. People crab about changing batteries. You can literally swap a battery in 15 seconds or less.
You're sick and twisted!Strip it down and start over?
It looks great, man. I remember the gold bridge, but what color knobs?It turned out... not too bad
That... is a good question. The bridge is gold, but the tuner barrels are black. The string locks on the "head" are gold. The pickups are Aguilar DCBs and they're all black. In an early mockup I sat black knobs on it and they looked pretty good, so kinda leaning that way...
Any suggestions would be welcomed. Is they a black/gold combo knob option?
Thank you!You're sick and twisted!
It's TRUE, plus I have a tendency to do things the hardest way possible
First bass body build, come watch me screw it up!
Or I go overboard
Peavey FrankenCirrus mod thread
Oh crap, I forgot about that pic. I was going to say, I've got 4 rather cheap push on black knobs that I'd send for nothin'. You appear to have nicer knobs anyway?
Maybe these! (2) Metal Dome Control Knobs w/ BLACK PEARL Top for 6mm Pots Guitar/Bass | eBay
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I've got this pre for it:
Its out of a Reggie Hamilton model USA made Fender. One of the knobs is stacked (it's V, V, B/T, M) and one is push/pull. I've got to take a hard look at the pot shafts, I'm not sure if the dome knobs I have will work.
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I had some time today so I took some steps forward (and a couple back, as is typical ).
First, the good.
I did a couple more passes of super fine compound and then a liquid polish, and it was time to install the bridge. This body has had multiple bridges and there are multiple unused mounting holes. This headless bridge lets you see through to the unsightly holes...
So I got this stuff
I measured and cut a strip, threaded the ground wire, and stuck it on the body
Then mounted the bridge and unless you stick your eyeball down in it, you really can't see anything
I had a problem with the tiny thrust bearings I bought. The internal hole was supposed to be 3mm, but in reality its 2.75-ish so they don't go over the machine screws
It's OK, they were cheap and I can always order others and install later.
I stuck the pickups in
And started looking at the preamp
I know this looks like a crazy spaghetti pile, but I've done a bunch of electronic swaps and mods before so I'm more comfortable with this bit than a lot of what I've already done
This pre is out of an American fender and I knew it would need some reconfiguring (there is a problem I hadn't considered, more on that in a minute...). With the circuit card under the volume knob it has to go in the 2nd spot, and that required clearance added to the side of the cavity wall. Not a big deal right? Control layout would end up blend, volume, bass/treble, mids, with an active/passive mini toggle (SO glad I didn't drill that hole).
Well, this pre is from a J bass, mounted on a metal control plate, so...
The threads on the volume pot are exactly as tall as the holes in this body are thick
Yeah, it won't work. Taking a little material from the side of the cavity is one thing, I'm not going to make the top thinner
Looks like its either wire it passive, or get a new pre (probably the latter). In any case its a hard stop on today's progress.
).First, the good.
I did a couple more passes of super fine compound and then a liquid polish, and it was time to install the bridge. This body has had multiple bridges and there are multiple unused mounting holes. This headless bridge lets you see through to the unsightly holes...
So I got this stuff
I measured and cut a strip, threaded the ground wire, and stuck it on the body
Then mounted the bridge and unless you stick your eyeball down in it, you really can't see anything
I had a problem with the tiny thrust bearings I bought. The internal hole was supposed to be 3mm, but in reality its 2.75-ish so they don't go over the machine screws
It's OK, they were cheap and I can always order others and install later.
I stuck the pickups in
And started looking at the preamp
I know this looks like a crazy spaghetti pile, but I've done a bunch of electronic swaps and mods before so I'm more comfortable with this bit than a lot of what I've already done
This pre is out of an American fender and I knew it would need some reconfiguring (there is a problem I hadn't considered, more on that in a minute...). With the circuit card under the volume knob it has to go in the 2nd spot, and that required clearance added to the side of the cavity wall. Not a big deal right? Control layout would end up blend, volume, bass/treble, mids, with an active/passive mini toggle (SO glad I didn't drill that hole
).Well, this pre is from a J bass, mounted on a metal control plate, so...
The threads on the volume pot are exactly as tall as the holes in this body are thick
Yeah, it won't work. Taking a little material from the side of the cavity is one thing, I'm not going to make the top thinner
Looks like its either wire it passive, or get a new pre (probably the latter). In any case its a hard stop on today's progress.
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Do you have a similar pot with taller threads? Unbend some tabs and swap those pieces? Is that even a thing?The threads on the volume pot are exactly as tall as the holes in this body are thick
I had that thought, but haven't looked into it yet. The other pots seem like they'd work so if I could separate and replace the volume pot then Bob would be my uncle
I'll take a deeper look, if I kill the card trying to get the pot off all is lost, including my potential to sell/trade the fender pre. I've actually got a gig tonight so nuttin's gonna happen until at least tomorrow.
I did order a slightly larger set of thrust bearings
How thick is the top of the control cavity? I have a guitar with a rotary switch where the threads on the switch were too short. I attached the switch to a piece of sheet metal then screwed the metal to the inside of the control cavity.
