- Jul 1, 2005
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- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
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What's On Your Workbench?
- Thread starter HaMMerHeD
- Start date
.
I'd like to get it down to about 80,000.
Then everyone can go to the superbowl.
Then everyone can go to the superbowl.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,622
- 222,163
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- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
So what are some of your selection criteria?
I wouldn't wander down that path...
The base is the frame of an old Ottoman saved from the trash. the white oak end boards that make up the face and the jaw of the vice are packing boards that were gouged up with the steel banding straps.
the vice body is an eBay special.
The top is a beech butcher block counter top.
I cut it down from 48” so will get another smaller workbench out of it too. The wife was not happy that I bought the wood,
but “a mobile work bench that will let me go far away from the house to work and make shavings and dust” is a strong argument. the oak boards don’t quite make the width so I’ll cut an angle off the ends to keep it all clean.
maybe if I cut one end at 45 and the other at some other common angle I can make those cuts useful. that cheap plane works well now that it’s tuned, and is what I used on salvage wood until I know it’s safe for my good planes.
The two pieces that make the moving part of the vice are not connected yet. I’m tempted to join them in a removable way so the face can be sacrificed and replaced over time. or maybe I’ll glue and screw it all solid.
now I need to make bench dogs and planing stops. it will be nice to have a solid bench again.
I'm switching from a pair of P pickups to a pair of Double J humbuckers and needed something to cover the old route. I originally was going to get a sheet of pick guard material and cut some rings but then I remembered I had a 3d printer and could just design some for myself and print it out.
Those are profoundly purple.
Violently so, I'm going to paint them something slightly more subdued. As a bonus it helps hide the layer lines too.
Last weekend I plugged the old tuner mounting holes and swapped the machines on the faux L1K project for G&L machines. I saved over 6 ounces over the previous vintage-style reverse-wind Gotohs! I figured they’d be lighter but, Dang! They’re a lot lighter!
It was interesting to note that the tapered capstans (which I like) are just a little below the ferrule edges. The headstock is a typical thickness so I’m not sure what’s up there but I’m going to assume it’ll be okay.
I started wiring up the electronics yesterday morning and I was really hoping I’d finish it in time for a gathering/casual jam yesterday evening but my wife had the nerve to make lunch plans for us and I ran out of time.
All the electronic parts came out of my stock except for the reverse-taper bass pot and some of them are used. The tone pot looks pretty rough but it works fine. The caps are from my used/good stash. Miscellaneous leftover wire is from various past projects. I was happy to find the 250K push-pull switching pot in my stock as it allowed me to bypass the OMG cap in case I just want regular series wiring.
I used the Warwick for the jam last night and finished the wiring this morning (no pictures). All that’s left is to reattach the neck, do a little fingerboard dressing, string it up and do a setup. It’s the home stretch….
It was interesting to note that the tapered capstans (which I like) are just a little below the ferrule edges. The headstock is a typical thickness so I’m not sure what’s up there but I’m going to assume it’ll be okay.
I started wiring up the electronics yesterday morning and I was really hoping I’d finish it in time for a gathering/casual jam yesterday evening but my wife had the nerve to make lunch plans for us and I ran out of time.
All the electronic parts came out of my stock except for the reverse-taper bass pot and some of them are used. The tone pot looks pretty rough but it works fine. The caps are from my used/good stash. Miscellaneous leftover wire is from various past projects. I was happy to find the 250K push-pull switching pot in my stock as it allowed me to bypass the OMG cap in case I just want regular series wiring.
I used the Warwick for the jam last night and finished the wiring this morning (no pictures). All that’s left is to reattach the neck, do a little fingerboard dressing, string it up and do a setup. It’s the home stretch….
Got the pickup rings painted, Mr. Binx approves.
And got most of the way done with an open back 1x15 guitar / tenor bass cab
And got most of the way done with an open back 1x15 guitar / tenor bass cab
This morning was the Grand Wazoo. I had no commitments other than to finish the faux L1K.
I didn’t have the big, clunky knobs that adorned the early L-series basses but I did have some equally clunky surplus knobs in my stock that had a similar spirit:
I dressed the board for the first time in, Idunno…. 15 years? The string marks really weren’t too bad but I wanted it to have a nice, clean start on its new body. This neck, after 35 years under string tension, has started to develop a bit of a ski jump that’s just beginning to affect its playability. I’ll need to address it sooner or later (sooner) but it’s playable for now and I have bigger fish to fry at the moment.
The dressed rosewood board got a delicious drink of lemon oil:
After adding a shim (which I expected would be needed - and I was right) and doing a setup it’s playing and sounding great!
At just under 7-3/4 pounds it’s definitely a featherweight and, thanks to those tuners, it balances fine.
The tones on tap are pretty much exactly what I expected. Owning three early L2000s, including a fretless, the sounds available are pretty familiar to me. I’m really happy I chose to add the non-OMG series option (something I don’t have on my L2Ks) because it sounds really great!
The neck, albeit a little different, is similar enough in shape to the old G&Ls in its flat-ish profile that it feels right at home here.
I strung it with a set of GHS Pressurewounds, not because I was worried about protecting the fingerboard but because I had them laying around. I really prefer brighter sounding strings with G&L MFD pickups so it wasn’t really the ideal choice but I’ll play it like this for a while.
This whole project was a proof-of-concept experiment to see if I’d like the neck in this application. My first impression is, yes, I do. Down the line I’ll probably build a nicer, very slightly heavier body for it and I think I’ll have a real winner. It’s already pretty darned nice as it is!
I didn’t have the big, clunky knobs that adorned the early L-series basses but I did have some equally clunky surplus knobs in my stock that had a similar spirit:
I dressed the board for the first time in, Idunno…. 15 years? The string marks really weren’t too bad but I wanted it to have a nice, clean start on its new body. This neck, after 35 years under string tension, has started to develop a bit of a ski jump that’s just beginning to affect its playability. I’ll need to address it sooner or later (sooner) but it’s playable for now and I have bigger fish to fry at the moment.
The dressed rosewood board got a delicious drink of lemon oil:
After adding a shim (which I expected would be needed - and I was right) and doing a setup it’s playing and sounding great!
At just under 7-3/4 pounds it’s definitely a featherweight and, thanks to those tuners, it balances fine.
The tones on tap are pretty much exactly what I expected. Owning three early L2000s, including a fretless, the sounds available are pretty familiar to me. I’m really happy I chose to add the non-OMG series option (something I don’t have on my L2Ks) because it sounds really great!
The neck, albeit a little different, is similar enough in shape to the old G&Ls in its flat-ish profile that it feels right at home here.
I strung it with a set of GHS Pressurewounds, not because I was worried about protecting the fingerboard but because I had them laying around. I really prefer brighter sounding strings with G&L MFD pickups so it wasn’t really the ideal choice but I’ll play it like this for a while.
This whole project was a proof-of-concept experiment to see if I’d like the neck in this application. My first impression is, yes, I do. Down the line I’ll probably build a nicer, very slightly heavier body for it and I think I’ll have a real winner. It’s already pretty darned nice as it is!
They’re terrific, aren’t they? I think I have two or three more in the stash. They’ve been waiting patiently for the right project.
You’re not the first person to use that pickup line on me.
I had this thing on my workbench over the last couple days -
Jackson JS2 Concert Bass. This was a recent used purchase that I plan on refinishing at some point. But for now, it needed a better setup. Frets seem to be fine, but the action was a joke. The seller said he purchased it to learn to play bass during the pandemic, never clicked with it and it just sat there. I can see why after getting it home. It had a ton of relief in the upper half of the neck and the bridge was way too high. It was like someone backed the truss rod almost all the way off and let the strings just pull on it super hard. So you could only fret a note on the first three frets, beyond that it was ridiculous to even try to fret a note. After several truss rod adjustments, a bridge adjustment and an intonation check, I've got it playing way better now.
My wife didn't understand why I wanted to do a setup on it since I'm planning on refinishing it .She said "Aren't you just gonna take it all apart anyways?"
Well...yeah...when I'm ready. That could be next month or it could be two years from now. In the mean time, I want it playing better.
I like a pretty low action, and I have a strange method for doing setup. I also do my truss rod adjustments in very small increments, not even a 1/4 turn at a time. So it's a lot of "loosen strings, turn truss rod tiny amount, tune back up to tension, check, repeat" till I get where I want to be. I set the neck relief very flat, then set the strings at 2mm at the last fret (regardless of 24 fret or 22 fret neck) then adjust the neck relief from there to cancel out any fret buzz along the neck. But I aim to keep the string height at 2mm at the final fret.
I know, it sounds odd, but it works for me. I also set them so that if I dig in hard it will buzz the frets, because I like that tone and I like to be able to create that tone when I want to but not have it when I don't want to.
Anyways, she's all good to go now and plays the way I like them to. It has a nice sound, I prefer the bridge pickup on full, neck pickup around 25% and the tone knob rolled to full. It has a very "metal" sound that I was looking for in a Jackson. Eventually it'll get a rainbow crackle finish, when I'm ready for that project. I've got a lot of refinish projects lined up now so I really need to start clearing the backlog out. You know, once I'm done with the current commission build.
Jackson JS2 Concert Bass. This was a recent used purchase that I plan on refinishing at some point. But for now, it needed a better setup. Frets seem to be fine, but the action was a joke. The seller said he purchased it to learn to play bass during the pandemic, never clicked with it and it just sat there. I can see why after getting it home. It had a ton of relief in the upper half of the neck and the bridge was way too high. It was like someone backed the truss rod almost all the way off and let the strings just pull on it super hard. So you could only fret a note on the first three frets, beyond that it was ridiculous to even try to fret a note. After several truss rod adjustments, a bridge adjustment and an intonation check, I've got it playing way better now.
My wife didn't understand why I wanted to do a setup on it since I'm planning on refinishing it .She said "Aren't you just gonna take it all apart anyways?"
Well...yeah...when I'm ready. That could be next month or it could be two years from now. In the mean time, I want it playing better.
I like a pretty low action, and I have a strange method for doing setup. I also do my truss rod adjustments in very small increments, not even a 1/4 turn at a time. So it's a lot of "loosen strings, turn truss rod tiny amount, tune back up to tension, check, repeat" till I get where I want to be. I set the neck relief very flat, then set the strings at 2mm at the last fret (regardless of 24 fret or 22 fret neck) then adjust the neck relief from there to cancel out any fret buzz along the neck. But I aim to keep the string height at 2mm at the final fret.
I know, it sounds odd, but it works for me. I also set them so that if I dig in hard it will buzz the frets, because I like that tone and I like to be able to create that tone when I want to but not have it when I don't want to.
Anyways, she's all good to go now and plays the way I like them to. It has a nice sound, I prefer the bridge pickup on full, neck pickup around 25% and the tone knob rolled to full. It has a very "metal" sound that I was looking for in a Jackson. Eventually it'll get a rainbow crackle finish, when I'm ready for that project. I've got a lot of refinish projects lined up now so I really need to start clearing the backlog out. You know, once I'm done with the current commission build.
