Wazkelly Build diary for DIY closing down sale Ash J Bass

[wazkelly]

@ Andy, knowing what I know now I would upgrade the tuners and probably the bridge as a minimum. PUP's were ok but lacked volume and equally happy with the upgrades. Things that are hard to quantify unless you use the stock parts initially and happy for the build to evolve that way it has. Currently the most played Bass in the house as I am using it to work more on finger style playing and eventually hope to figure out how to do slap. The Ric's action is a fair bit lower and setup more as a Rock axe and great with a pick.

@ ponch, block markers are all good sitting under about 4 coats of TO to make sure they stay put. The 3 string hipshot string retainer is a beauty. Bit pricey as it came from the states but works well to add a bit more break angel on the A string as with minimal winds on the post it was prone to jumping out of the nut slot at times. All fixed now.

[wazkelly]

Series Push Pull Mod

Was making good progress on this last week with a spare 500k push pull switch and when tightening it up on the metal control plate the brass shaft separated itself from the inner workings of the pot? Arrrrggghhhh!!!!!

Wiring and soldering is not my favourite pastime and in the current heat and high humidity in these parts at present it doesn't take much to lose patience and flip out. Thankfully a replacement 250k version arrived today and shall have a go at swapping things across another night later this week as it is currently 82% humidity and sweat is dripping all over the place.



Upside was replacing all the crappy wire with classic push back cloth stuff, something I have been doing on all previous builds this month.

[Adam Barnes]

Nice wazz the vintage braided wire is defiantly good to use, this humidity is shocking at the moment makes it hard to do too much

[wazkelly]

this humidity is shocking at the moment makes it hard to do too much

And when you see storms forecast and then watch them pass all around without dumping any cooling wind and rain there doesn't seem to be any drop in the oppressive humidity. Thankfully temperature has started to drop and now reading 23.2 degrees C with 85% humidity heading for low of 22 overnight.

[Adam Barnes]

Im hearing you its hardly rained here since june and thats unusual storms build up out west and just disappear as they cross the mountains

[wazkelly]

Im hearing you its hardly rained here since june and thats unusual storms build up out west and just disappear as they cross the mountains

To be expected at this time of the year as Feb usually feels like our hottest month.

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[wazkelly]

250k push/pull switch arrived a few days ago and after a swim at the beach this afternoon it was cool enough to get the soldering iron out tonight and that part of the job is now all done....


Something I should have checked before starting was how deep the push/pull switch was.....


Looks like I will need to dig out up to 5 mm underneath that pot in the control cavity to make things fit? Yet another job to try and get done tomorrow.

For anybody else contemplating this mod I would suggest buying the shorter CTS one like this example...

https://www.realparts.com.au/electro...-pull-pot.html

[Simon Barden]

A shame it's so long.

Just worth checking the thickness of the wood at the bottom of the cavity. You've probably got around 10mm, but you don't want to dig out 5mm and find you break on through to the other side.

[wazkelly]

A shame it's so long.

Just worth checking the thickness of the wood at the bottom of the cavity. You've probably got around 10mm, but you don't want to dig out 5mm and find you break on through to the other side.

You are dead right Simon as there is about 10 mm or so to work with.

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[juanitasanch]

that looks great...and thanks for the info share on steps you used