Winter Build Off 2025 : Bartender Precision Bass Johnnie Walker Edition

[Gervais Cote]

Okay, a bit late to the party but here it goes :

New bass starting building : Bartender Precision Bass/Johnnie Walker Edition 2025

Body : USA alder of 4.3 pounds
Neck : Light brown roasted maple, half curly, standard jazz bass style
Pickups : True Custom Shop Vintage 60 hot
Bridge : Standard bent plate (might also use a Wilkinson with brass saddles if the look fits better)
Tuners : Standard Fender MIM
Control plate : Standard Telecaster style with standard knobs
Twin ? Yes, two pickups, two knobs, two pots
Category : Assembly build

Should start working on it next week or so, can’t wait to see the results already…………..

 

[NKBassman]

Nice figure on that neck! Where did that come from?

 

[Reedt2000]

Twin JW panels? Front and back? Or top and headstock overlay?

 

[Gervais Cote]

Nice figure on that neck! Where did that come from?

Chinese import through EBay.

I bought 3 necks from this supplier previously and they were all very nice, almost perfectly straight and required little attention only.

The one I’m using here is identical to my Fender MIM roasted maple neck in terms of size, color and shape. Side by side without a sticker on the headstock, I couldn’t tell which is which.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Twin JW panels? Front and back? Or top and headstock overlay?

I got that comment for the body from a friend already. My concern is more about the mechanical properties of the crate wood that tends to be too soft to screw something on it compared to alder.

And I need room for my sticker on the headstock like my other builds :

 

[jazzyitalian]

You can bury that decal using oil based poly from Minwax. Just go 2 coats, then lightly wet sand between the 3rd and final coats. By Light I mean do it with 1000+ grit comprehensivly over the entire face but not to the point of removing the lettering from the decal. That Bartender decal will never come off. I like using a small flat piece of wood about 1"x 1.5" (the size of a rubber eraser) to wrap the 1000 grit around before wet sanding.

Results are awesome for me.

Example:

 

[scuzzy]

I fully endorse this endeavor. I was at their spot in Edinburgh this past year.

 

[L Anthony]

Walking bass indeed!

 

[Brian Patterson]

I got that comment for the body from a friend already. My concern is more about the mechanical properties of the crate wood that tends to be too soft to screw something on it compared to alder.

And I need room for my sticker on the headstock like my other builds :

Treating your crate stock with multiple coats of a deep hardening finish like Waterlox (used in furniture and flooring) might give your create wood the surface strength needed for making attachements to it. But 'long enough' screws will be good to get 'past' that layer too.

Love the concept...

 

[Gervais Cote]

Now that I’m done with my vintage audio repairs, I finally can get back on my project.

Given the craze around the concept of these scotch wood crate basses, I decided to make myself a template made of an acrylic sheet. It’s more of a visual template than a routing template like we use to see and will save me a lot of time for the future :

 

[Gervais Cote]

And after giving it a try, I can confirm that will be very helpful :

 

[Gervais Cote]

 

[Gervais Cote]

Worked on it today and cut the jigsaw puzzle parts to figure out the final pattern :

hosting images

 

[Gervais Cote]

 

[Gervais Cote]

Looks good enough for me so I made a few marks to put it back together with the right pattern :

 

[Gervais Cote]

First half of the wood crate glued in place and under the "press" :

 

[Gervais Cote]

And the father of my harmonica player used to be a luthier but now retired and I inherited a ton of c clamps in such way I’m able to place them following the shape of the p bass body :

 

[Gervais Cote]

Plywoods are 1" thick Russian type…………...….before someone asks.

 

[Gervais Cote]

Now done with the most critical part : bending and gluing the p bass armrest area.

I made 8 grooves on the back of the wood crate part, applied steam, applied glue and quickly installed taper shims.

Went well although there was a knot in the bending area and it fell off, obviously. But that’s what working with an imperfect raw material is all about.

 

[Beej]

Wait a minute, how did I miss that you're bending the top over the arm bevel?