Wazkelly's EX-1

[wazkelly]

When I ordered the EX-5 a few months ago I thought it would be great to have a matching EX-1 too and the kit arrived yesterday with some pics below. Xmas has come 6 weeks early at my house.

On this one I spent a bit more time and money contemplating what I wanted and ended up modding it with Tonerider Alnico 4's, Burns 500k push pull pots, 0.47 orange tone cap, volume resistor/cap, DB Neck & Bone nut job. After experimenting with Dingo Tone Outback Sunset & Coolangatta Gold brew on the EX-5 will keep this one simple and do just Coolangatta Gold. Happy with the grain on all sides of the body as well as on the neck and fretboard. Thought the headstock would be more pointy like on the EX-5 however this one is a bit more stumpy but still looks ok. This now gives me something else to work on whilst waiting for DT coats to cure on the Bass and before I start the hardware and wire part of the set up.

[wazkelly]

Looks like I have had an avatar hijack?
Don't mind the Ned Kelly one, looks good, feels like a merit award for exceeding 100 posts milestone.
Here are some more photos of the kit.

[wazkelly]

Above shot of the tuners show 2nd one (A string) sitting a mm or so high but otherwise all good. Kit also arrived with Slinkys so really happy with that too.

At first I thought someone had stuffed up with the bridge post holes until I checked that on my Les Paul to find out it was the same. Phew, started to panic thinking filling with dowel and re-drilling would be required.

[gavinturner]

Hey Waz, looks like a great kit. The black hardware is really great and those Toneriders are gonna rock! The position of the tune-o-matic bridge posts are always offset for string compensation.

cheers,
Gav.

[wazkelly]

Thanks Gav, procrastinated over which Toneriders to pick and the sound clips on their website were extremely helpful. Hope to wire up series & parallel on one push pull pot and coil split on the other.

[wazkelly]

Finally got around to sanding the body today.
Started with 120, moved on to 180 then 240 and had to call it a day as it was getting dark.
Just a small tip with using the lower grits - whilst good at removing factory machine marks this grade can also leave it's own sanding marks, particularly on the side edges where there is plenty of end grain and had to sand across the edge at 90 degrees to the body before I could the start sanding in the direction of the edge. With plenty of different edges and angles on EX shape this can be quite a challenge. Neck was quite smooth out of the box and will start at 240 on it in a couple of days. Some of pics below show the progress.

[Andy40]

Thanks Gav, procrastinated over which Toneriders to pick and the sound clips on their website were extremely helpful. Hope to wire up series & parallel on one push pull pot and coil split on the other.

Me too Waz! Isn't it funny, I actually went for the Tonerider Alnico II for my current LP-1SS over Seymore Duncans (mainly price) but I was torn between the IV's and the II's. It's much of a muchness but my preference lay with the II's. Would love to hear the IV's sometime when you finish the build.

[wazkelly]

Cheers Andy. At current rate of progress hope to get around to doing a soundclip by Feb next year, if not sooner.

[wazkelly]

Finished sanding down to 320 late yesterday and took a few photos after damping down. Apologies for crap quality as poor light and only using iPhone 4.

[wazkelly]

Another light sand to take off raised grain after damping down. Taped off the neck and heel joint and then went looking for the DT in Coolangatta Gold that arrived 3 months ago. Last batch I bought was clear with a dark yellow to almost orange appearance and this batch looked clear sitting in the box but when given a shake looked the colour of peanut satay sauce??? Same for Intensifier too??? Not sure if batch has gone off as it has never been opened? Anyhow, below are a couple of shots again in poor light using the dreaded iPhone. Photos make it look darker than in person and to the naked eye it almost looks like the colourless swatch under DT on the webpage. I will post separately under DT for DB to have a look at and comment. Not unhappy with progress so far as there is plenty of grain to show off however neck looks like it will need more as it came out quite pale compared to the body.