Sand the surface smooth and then do a brushed finish. If it’s good enough for Alembic pickups it will do here and add to the uniqueness
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Winter Buildoff 2022: Still A Diva
- Thread starter TerribleTim68
- Start date
I still don't see the problem with veneering the top, leaving your desired thumb-cutout-place at the other end (yeah, sure, the thunb-cutout-place is black and the top is veneer - so? contrast is fine.) Just cut/sand the veneer to fit the shape of the top of the pickup, dimple and all.
I think the biggest problem is, adding height to the pickup means I'd need to route the cavity deeper, which at this point is problematic. Also, I don't have any veneer to place on it that I'm happy with the aesthetic of, being right in the middle of that fretboard like it is. It might be different if the fretboard stopped at the 24th fret area like a normal one does. But the only thing I'd be okay with is ebony, which I don't have. And even then, I'm back to the cavity depth problem.
I think you could improve the Starbond repair with a couple touchups. It will take a high polish before anything around it, so the trick is keeping it matte, but it already looks much better.
Peek-A-Boo -
Not much going on with this one, I've been letting the finish cure. I peeled the tape off the fretboard today, mostly because I couldn't handle it any more -
Still need to let the finish cure for another week, so there won't be much in the way of updates for another week at least. We're pushing the timeline a bit here, but I think I'll be okay. I just need to find some restraint and patience.
Luckily, race season is starting soon so I need to focus on the car for a bit. I'll be at the race shop today doing setup in prep for next Saturday's open test session. We're taking both my car and my niece's car, so it'll be a busy one. The goal is to hit the first test session so that we have time to fix anything before the season opener on the 2nd. The niece will be at every session because she needs seat time, new car and new class for her this year so she's jumping in the deep end.
Also, maybe I can use this time to get back to wood turning. My YT channel is getting a bit stagnant.
I did make this little guy the other day -
A special request from a friend, so I made him dual purpose so he can be used for St. Patrick's Day and Christmas.
Anyways, back to bass building! I'm off to the race shop, cya!
Not much going on with this one, I've been letting the finish cure. I peeled the tape off the fretboard today, mostly because I couldn't handle it any more -
Still need to let the finish cure for another week, so there won't be much in the way of updates for another week at least. We're pushing the timeline a bit here, but I think I'll be okay. I just need to find some restraint and patience.
Luckily, race season is starting soon so I need to focus on the car for a bit. I'll be at the race shop today doing setup in prep for next Saturday's open test session. We're taking both my car and my niece's car, so it'll be a busy one. The goal is to hit the first test session so that we have time to fix anything before the season opener on the 2nd. The niece will be at every session because she needs seat time, new car and new class for her this year so she's jumping in the deep end.
Also, maybe I can use this time to get back to wood turning. My YT channel is getting a bit stagnant.
I did make this little guy the other day -
A special request from a friend, so I made him dual purpose so he can be used for St. Patrick's Day and Christmas.
Anyways, back to bass building! I'm off to the race shop, cya!
Just sharing this real quick for the car lovers. Today was setup day at the race shop. After a long day of setting tire stagger, setting ride heights, setting suspension arm angles, then scaling the car to set corner weights, Gizmo is ready for testing next week -
The pool noodles are to keep my dad's greasy paw prints off the nerf bars. Look at the front bumper and you can see what happens when nobody keeps him in check.
Long range weather forecast doesn't look good, but at least we know we are ready. As you can see, setting up a circle track car is a very long process. Things actually went very smooth today, it only took us about 6 hours.
The pool noodles are to keep my dad's greasy paw prints off the nerf bars. Look at the front bumper and you can see what happens when nobody keeps him in check.
Long range weather forecast doesn't look good, but at least we know we are ready. As you can see, setting up a circle track car is a very long process. Things actually went very smooth today, it only took us about 6 hours.
400hp @ 5,500rpm and 400lb/ft torque @ 4,500rpm
It’s technically a “spec” engine and has “seal bolts” on it so you can’t open it up. You buy it and race it, as is, no altering.
Hmmm, I'd like more like 800 lbs @ 2500 rpm.
I need something for the work commute but want something a little sportier than this
I need something for the work commute but want something a little sportier than this
Kachow!
track must be short and steep with that alignment
CT355 crate?
track must be short and steep with that alignment
CT355 crate?
3/8ths mile asphalt oval with what I’d call medium banking. I think it’s somewhere around 21 degrees. They claim to be “The Fastest 3/8th On The West Coast”. I’m not sure how accurate that is anymore, but there’s also only 1 other 3/8ths on the west coast these days, and it is very, very flat. They used to repave it about every 5 years so it always had tons of grip. But now that the millionaire owner has retired and his kid is running it, it hasn’t been repaved in about 15 years so it’s getting pretty worn out.
Don’t let the front suspension fool you, most of that is just a product of a-frame angles trying to get what we refer to as “jacking force”, it’s all about tire loading. It changes a lot when the car sets in the corner.
As for the engine, it’s the Chevy crate “604”. They will only let us run the 602 or the 604. We get a 100lb weight reduction for it, or we can run any built engine up to 355ci with no weight reduction. The 602 gets 150lbs, but it’s gutless so it’s not worth it. These tires have very little grip, they poke really hard with the durometer, so throwing 500+hp with a built engine at it just spins tires every time you breathe on the gas pedal. The 604 is a good compromise for the tires.
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Had to look it up, they changed the designation again. That’s a ZZ6 that’s sealed. That unsealed is what is in my avatar with the Edelbrock proflo4 EFI
we probably need our own car thread
Okay, it looks like this build isn't going to make it either. I've run into a major problem that I don't think I can solve in the amount of time left.
I started wet sanding today and everything was going fine. Today is day 15 after the last coat of finish i applied, so it's probably as cured as it can be. I started with 400 grit and worked up to 1000. That went fine. It seemed okay. I was happy enough with it.
Then I started buffing using my normal method of a buffing pad on my cordless drill and the Turtle Wax polishing compound. I've done this before on 2K with great success. But for some reason I had a decent sized area on the headstock just start flaking off in big chunks -
You can see it over there between the nut and the E string tuner holes. It just flaked off as if the finish simply wasn't adhered to the surface. The white area around the edge of that section is additional finish that I can catch my finger nail under and flake it off too, it just kind of keeps going.
The only way I know to fix this is to sand it back down to the wood and start over, which means it won't make the deadline.
Also, I have a problem on the body where the finish is turning into this gritty feeling stuff all over the surface. It's like you buff it and it turns to sand on the surface. So I think I also need to sand the body back to the wood too. Watch is super problematic now that the fretboard is glued on because I'm not sure I can redo the burst with the fretboard on the way.
So yeah, sorry guys, I'm out. And to be honest, I'm not even sure how to fix this from here.
I started wet sanding today and everything was going fine. Today is day 15 after the last coat of finish i applied, so it's probably as cured as it can be. I started with 400 grit and worked up to 1000. That went fine. It seemed okay. I was happy enough with it.
Then I started buffing using my normal method of a buffing pad on my cordless drill and the Turtle Wax polishing compound. I've done this before on 2K with great success. But for some reason I had a decent sized area on the headstock just start flaking off in big chunks -
You can see it over there between the nut and the E string tuner holes. It just flaked off as if the finish simply wasn't adhered to the surface. The white area around the edge of that section is additional finish that I can catch my finger nail under and flake it off too, it just kind of keeps going.
The only way I know to fix this is to sand it back down to the wood and start over, which means it won't make the deadline.
Also, I have a problem on the body where the finish is turning into this gritty feeling stuff all over the surface. It's like you buff it and it turns to sand on the surface. So I think I also need to sand the body back to the wood too. Watch is super problematic now that the fretboard is glued on because I'm not sure I can redo the burst with the fretboard on the way.
So yeah, sorry guys, I'm out. And to be honest, I'm not even sure how to fix this from here.
Okay, it looks like this build isn't going to make it either. I've run into a major problem that I don't think I can solve in the amount of time left.
I started wet sanding today and everything was going fine. Today is day 15 after the last coat of finish i applied, so it's probably as cured as it can be. I started with 400 grit and worked up to 1000. That went fine. It seemed okay. I was happy enough with it.
Then I started buffing using my normal method of a buffing pad on my cordless drill and the Turtle Wax polishing compound. I've done this before on 2K with great success. But for some reason I had a decent sized area on the headstock just start flaking off in big chunks -
View attachment 4619242
You can see it over there between the nut and the E string tuner holes. It just flaked off as if the finish simply wasn't adhered to the surface. The white area around the edge of that section is additional finish that I can catch my finger nail under and flake it off too, it just kind of keeps going.
The only way I know to fix this is to sand it back down to the wood and start over, which means it won't make the deadline.
Also, I have a problem on the body where the finish is turning into this gritty feeling stuff all over the surface. It's like you buff it and it turns to sand on the surface. So I think I also need to sand the body back to the wood too. Watch is super problematic now that the fretboard is glued on because I'm not sure I can redo the burst with the fretboard on the way.
So yeah, sorry guys, I'm out. And to be honest, I'm not even sure how to fix this from here.
Awwwwww, Timmah! Sorry to hear this man. I missed it of course, but what finish is this? I was thinking that you did a waterborne poly? Or did you do Tru-Oil? Wondering if you had some kind of contamination around the tuner hole?
And by the way, I hated to give your post a "like", but ya know, there isn't a "care" button. 
