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Six string spalted maple, fretless, and first build ... kit
- Thread starter eightyearsapril
- Start date
New Tuners Day!
I traded my Brice 5-string bass (seen in my avatar; time to switch that) today for an Ibanez acoustic electric bass and five Ultralight tuners.
One of the treble side tuners is not a Hipshot, but the other four are. The knockoff is also missing a washer, so I'm not sure if I should buy one more (for the missing B string hole) or two, replacing the G string's tuner.
Also, the headstock logo is actually visible in the picture. It's oddly still not white, but I'm at peace with it.
Oh, here's the new AEB. That makes two NBD in a week for me.
I traded my Brice 5-string bass (seen in my avatar; time to switch that) today for an Ibanez acoustic electric bass and five Ultralight tuners.
One of the treble side tuners is not a Hipshot, but the other four are. The knockoff is also missing a washer, so I'm not sure if I should buy one more (for the missing B string hole) or two, replacing the G string's tuner.
Also, the headstock logo is actually visible in the picture. It's oddly still not white, but I'm at peace with it.
Oh, here's the new AEB. That makes two NBD in a week for me.
It's nifty. I haven't played it much because the strings are dull. I have some flats arriving tomorrow for it. The onboard tuner also doesn't work, but I can live without that.I have two of those. Love them.
There really isn't much to update on Zhenya. I'm dropping off the body for lacquering on Saturday. I wanted to make a new control cavity cover out of my rosewood veneers today, but I couldn't find my veneer sheet! I might have tossed it while spring cleaning last weekend. Good thing I already glued the veneers for the truss rod cover.
Good point. Except for the missing washer, and the lack of Hipshot branding on the back, the G tuner in the picture looks perfectly fine. I'm going to call Hipshot tomorrow and see if I can get a washer from them. If not, I'll buy two new ones.
The body, along with two cans of Minwax clear lacquer spray, were dropped off at my wife's uncle this afternoon for finishing. I'm going to try to schedule to join him for at least part of the process, but nothing is confirmed yet.
In other news, Hipshot is hooking me up with a replacement washer, which is awesome of them. I also lost my rosewood veneer, so making a new control cover is doubtful. The one that came with the kit is fine, but I wanted to make one.
In other news, Hipshot is hooking me up with a replacement washer, which is awesome of them. I also lost my rosewood veneer, so making a new control cover is doubtful. The one that came with the kit is fine, but I wanted to make one.
I'm still waiting for my wife's uncle to have time to do the lacquering (he was supposed to start last night), but I did get the Hipshot tuners sorted out:
I haven't finalized their placement yet or screwed them down, but it looks good, and from the front, you can't tell that the high C string's tuner is the knock off.
I haven't finalized their placement yet or screwed them down, but it looks good, and from the front, you can't tell that the high C string's tuner is the knock off.
Not to be a Debbie Downer but I can tell that the high c tuner is different in those pictures...
I do however like the finish on the headstock, and how subtle the logo is.
Well, yeah. I think that once strings are installed, it'll be less obvious.
Thanks. That makes one of us. The finish looks fine to me, but doesn't match the body anymore, and the logo looks nothing like I envisioned.
I might put some more coats of clear down. It's uneven, currently, and looks it. I think I'll wait until the body's lacquering is finished to see how it compares.
I saw my wife's uncle at a graduation party yesterday and he told me he put the first coat of lacquer on the other night. He plans to do two or three more coats before polishing.
That's all for now.
That's all for now.
Update from the uncle: He's put three coats of lacquer down, and will do one more this weekend before buffing it.
It's getting closer now!
It's getting closer now!
Big update!
I got the body back from the uncle last night. He had done six total coats of lacquer, and three passes of buffing, finishing with carnauba wax, before deeming it finished.
Today, I bolted the neck to it, polished the fingerboard, attached the StrapLok buttons, pounded in the string ferrules, and attached the tuners. Really, all that's left is shielding and installing the electronics and bridge.
Lots of pictures:
I'm really happy how it's coming together. The bluish green on the side is my favorite part.
Tomorrow I'll take a stab at lining the control cavity with copper foil and maybe install the Michael Pope FlexCore preamp. Do I also need to shield the pickup cavities, since I'm using epoxy-sealed Bartolini humbuckers?
If all goes well, I'll be done with this by the time my son comes to visit in two weeks!
I got the body back from the uncle last night. He had done six total coats of lacquer, and three passes of buffing, finishing with carnauba wax, before deeming it finished.
Today, I bolted the neck to it, polished the fingerboard, attached the StrapLok buttons, pounded in the string ferrules, and attached the tuners. Really, all that's left is shielding and installing the electronics and bridge.
Lots of pictures:
I'm really happy how it's coming together. The bluish green on the side is my favorite part.
Tomorrow I'll take a stab at lining the control cavity with copper foil and maybe install the Michael Pope FlexCore preamp. Do I also need to shield the pickup cavities, since I'm using epoxy-sealed Bartolini humbuckers?
If all goes well, I'll be done with this by the time my son comes to visit in two weeks!
Tomorrow I'll take a stab at lining the control cavity with copper foil and maybe install the Michael Pope FlexCore preamp. Do I also need to shield the pickup cavities, since I'm using epoxy-sealed Bartolini humbuckers?
[/QUOTE]
Looking good! I think you're fine without shielding the pickup cavities, those Barts are really well encased. Just make sure to ground everything and you should be in good shape.
Lonnybass
[/QUOTE]
Looking good! I think you're fine without shielding the pickup cavities, those Barts are really well encased. Just make sure to ground everything and you should be in good shape.
Lonnybass
Guess what, guys?!?
I built a bass!
I spent about two hours applying the copper foil tape, and used a little more than one AllParts roll as I wasn't very efficient. But, it was my first time doing this, so I'm glad I bought two. I lined the cavity and the inside of the cavity cover. I then poked the required holes and ran a ground wire up to be covered by the bridge, installed the battery box and bridge, and decided to put on the set of strings that came with the kit and see if I could get it to make something resembling music.
You'll see that the D string's ball end peeking out from the bridge. That's because the ferrule for it was misaligned by me months ago when I originally drilled the holes for it. I haven't exactly decided how I'm going to solve this, but I don't want to plug-and-redrill.
Even without electronics, which I'm going to hold off on installing until I sort out the ferrule problem, and without anything resembling a set up, it plays well and has a lot of mwah/buzzing, in a pleasant way.
One other thing I need to fix is the ground wire under the bridge. It's hard to see in photos, but the wire is bulging the bridge plate up.
I'm both flabbergasted and proud of what I've accomplished. I started on this last November and it's now mid-June. It feels natural to play and looks pretty darn good, too. The coated fingerboard feels great under the roundwound strings and is nice and shiny.
I built a bass!
I spent about two hours applying the copper foil tape, and used a little more than one AllParts roll as I wasn't very efficient. But, it was my first time doing this, so I'm glad I bought two. I lined the cavity and the inside of the cavity cover. I then poked the required holes and ran a ground wire up to be covered by the bridge, installed the battery box and bridge, and decided to put on the set of strings that came with the kit and see if I could get it to make something resembling music.
You'll see that the D string's ball end peeking out from the bridge. That's because the ferrule for it was misaligned by me months ago when I originally drilled the holes for it. I haven't exactly decided how I'm going to solve this, but I don't want to plug-and-redrill.
Even without electronics, which I'm going to hold off on installing until I sort out the ferrule problem, and without anything resembling a set up, it plays well and has a lot of mwah/buzzing, in a pleasant way.
One other thing I need to fix is the ground wire under the bridge. It's hard to see in photos, but the wire is bulging the bridge plate up.
I'm both flabbergasted and proud of what I've accomplished. I started on this last November and it's now mid-June. It feels natural to play and looks pretty darn good, too. The coated fingerboard feels great under the roundwound strings and is nice and shiny.
I have had misaligned ferrules and top holes before. I just figured out how it was off and went at the top hole with a drill until I could get the string through - the hole on top was covered by the bridge anyway. It really didn't take a lot of messing around to get the string to make it's way through (of course I can't tell how off yours is versus how far off mine was).
Yeah, that sounds like the best route, but I'm concerned that the string might not like being fed through the hole at an angle. Did you have any problems with strings breaking when you did that?
I could see daylight through the hole, but because it wasn't lined up, the hole wasn't big enough for the string to go through. So the fix didn't create any extreme angles. I just widened the hole. You already have a very extreme angle coming through the bridge.
Two steps forward, one step back...
I fixed the two issues with the bridge today, and now all strings feed through the body relatively easily. Of course, re-feeding strings that already had been wound around a tuning peg is inherently difficult, but I'm confident new strings will be a breeze. I also fixed the ground wire, so the bridge is flat against the body. Sustain, man, sustain.
I plan to make a truss rod cover out of some of the leftover fretline veneers, but as a Plan B I wanted to see how the stock cover would be. I measured up where it would sit, drilled a hole for its screw, and then tried screwing it on.
And then the screw snapped. I've never had that happen before. The shaft of the screw is now permanently (?) part of the headstock.
When I make the new cover, I'll have to plan to both cover the broken screw, and screw it down elsewhere. It's not the biggest setback I've had, fortunately.
I almost started on the electronics, too, but I realized I want to work on them when I have complete focus and no distractions, which might not happen for a few more weeks, with travel and my summer vacation coming up.
I fixed the two issues with the bridge today, and now all strings feed through the body relatively easily. Of course, re-feeding strings that already had been wound around a tuning peg is inherently difficult, but I'm confident new strings will be a breeze. I also fixed the ground wire, so the bridge is flat against the body. Sustain, man, sustain.
I plan to make a truss rod cover out of some of the leftover fretline veneers, but as a Plan B I wanted to see how the stock cover would be. I measured up where it would sit, drilled a hole for its screw, and then tried screwing it on.
And then the screw snapped. I've never had that happen before. The shaft of the screw is now permanently (?) part of the headstock.
When I make the new cover, I'll have to plan to both cover the broken screw, and screw it down elsewhere. It's not the biggest setback I've had, fortunately.
I almost started on the electronics, too, but I realized I want to work on them when I have complete focus and no distractions, which might not happen for a few more weeks, with travel and my summer vacation coming up.
You could always put a magnet on the inside of your truss road cover that is attracted to the screw. Call it a "design feature". 
