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View Full Version : JBA-4 (code-named "Jenny") - first build



quiet1_au
28-02-2014, 10:08 AM
I'd been looking at various bass kits for a while after my brother had been checking out the guitar versions. Whilst I have a perfectly good bass (and various other instruments - none of which I play nearly enough...) the appeal of a build your own kit got to me and I had to give it a go. :D

I love the ES-335 bass but discretion decided I should start with something simpler and lower cost for a first ever build. I settled on the JBA-4 ash-bodied Jazz bass mainly for it's wood grain which I'm pretty sure I'll finish with orange shellac (on the body and headstock for some mild colour, sealing and "sparkle") and Tru Oil to finish. I had toyed with dye colouring, but think I'll go for the KISS principle this time around. ;)

The box arrived a couple of days ago and I could wait to open it at work to see what I had let myself in for - I needed have worried as I was rather pleased by what I saw (see pictures) :)

A fair bit of sanding to do - that central ash plank has some wide stripes of rough grain that may need filling (but I'm hoping to avoid it if possible) and some edge areas that were a bit flat. I'm going to try hand-sanding with a float rather than risk untried power tools on what is a pretty good surface already. The neck looks lovely and smooth already so I don't think it will need more than a finishing sand - as long as I don't make a mess of the headstock shaping... I have access to a band saw, but think a slow and careful hand cut with a coping saw might be safer? (comments?)


Cheers,
John
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/d0vf6-BodyFront.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2lne4-NeckFront.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/l7ql3-BagsOfBits.JPG

adam
28-02-2014, 10:35 AM
Hey John, welcome aboard and yes, it's a bit of a lottery with these kits, as to what sort of grain you end up with. That said, I really like this one. I'd be tempted to do a two colour job, with the middle "block" a contrasting colour to the two outside blocks.

WeirdBits
28-02-2014, 11:25 AM
Welcome John, nice kit to start off with. I prefer to use a coping saw to rough out the shape of the headstocks. It may be slower but is more precise and far less likely to leave you with a two piece headstock than a jigsaw etc. But each to their own. My suggestion would be to use what you are familiar with and comfortable using.

Good luck with the build.

Brendan
28-02-2014, 11:47 AM
John,
Welcome aboard - cracker of a kit there the JBA-4. Pitty they weren't around when I did my JB-4... As for sanding - hand sanding only mate - don't want to leave swirls, etc in the body that you'll only find when you stain. As for colours - ignore Adam - he's a guitar not a bass player so we know he has no taste ;) . Great idea to go KISS for a starter. Once you have BAS, that will definately be a time to start getting experimental (though hopefully Ads doesn't get any headless ergo bass monstrosities). If you have any questions though - drop a line - there's a couple of four stringed freaks around, including one of the resident luthiers - DingoBass. Sure to get some good help along the way.

Most of all - hope you have as much fun building your new bass as we all have building ours!

gavinturner
28-02-2014, 05:49 PM
Welcome John, looks like a great kit. Looking forward to reading about your build!

Cheers,
Gav.

Timsan
28-02-2014, 08:58 PM
Hey John, love the grain in that ash body. I'd put forward another vote for the coping saw as well. More control and less chance of a fubar. You can fine-tune the shape on a spindle sander afterward.

lawry
28-02-2014, 09:43 PM
Hi John.
As stated everywhere, welcome. Why wouldn't you want to build a bass, eh?
There's nothing much I can add to the comments above except to let you know about the experience I had while shaping a headstock with a coping saw. The slimness of the blade was such that I had real difficulty getting it to follow the line I had drawn on the wood. No matter how I tried I couldn't get an accurate cut and at one stage it was starting to head into the part I wanted to keep. Seemed like once it had made its mind up on where it wanted to go nothing could convince it otherwise. In the end I used a jigsaw to cut a rough edge and then sanded it all smooth. Maple is pretty hard but it sands well. That was just my experience with a coping saw. It was most likely my inability, but there you have it.
Please enjoy your build and post often.
Cheers, Lawry.

quiet1_au
03-03-2014, 05:32 AM
Trial fit of the body hardware - the pickguard cut-out around the neck recess will need trimming as there is a fair amount of overhang, but that needs to wait until the neck is on and I can line up the neck pickup (which determines the pickup position too - it's a close fit) - hence the neckless photo. I feel that the bridge should go further back to get the scale length right, but the large grounding wire hole prevents it going back to where I think it should. There seems to be plenty enough room to adjust the saddles to deal with this though, so I can just put it as far back as I can without exposing the hole. I'm still not sure about that plain white pickguard - think it needs something with a little more "oomph" but will wait and see how the body turns out.

Question - is it best to drill holes (eg for the neck) and do the build/setup before or after body sanding and/or finishing?
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/0s6q0-BassBody.JPG

quiet1_au
03-03-2014, 05:51 AM
The scary part - time to get this thing looking like a bass and not a paddle... I decided to use the traditional Jazz/Precision bass design, but wanted to keep the cutting to a minimum so I found that the American Vintage '75 was the closest fit and widened the curves to make best use of the original headstock shape. After my initial design, I thought it needed a bit more curviness so used the Jazz standard bass lower curve positioning it from the round end (the "big nose" as I like to call it - I redrew it using a jar lid to ensure my sketch was curvy enough) to the edge of the wood. A minor tweak but it did the job.

Now to cut it out... [gulp!] I did a quick trial run with my coping saw I used the finer of the two blade profiles - the coarse one seemed too agressive and hard to start) on some pine I had lying around and was happy enough with the result (a rounded curve). So with as much care as I could I took on the headstock and didn't too too bad a job I think - better than I had feared it must be said! As lawry found, the saw was difficult to follow the line and change direction, not helped by some slightly knotty grain, but I was happy to get it reasonably close to my design, as well as getting two cuts close to joining on both sides in that deepest cutting section. I can now get on with the task of making it pretty with sanding (and some filing out of the roughest saw marks/bumps if coarse paper isn't enough)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/o4694-BassHeadstock0.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/uw2qa-BassHeadstock2.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/yq8o4-BassHeadstock3.JPG

Brendan
03-03-2014, 06:06 AM
/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from quiet1_au on March 2, 2014, 14:32
Trial fit of the body hardware - the pickguard cut-out around the neck recess will need trimming as there is a fair amount of overhang... [edited to keep the post shorter]

Question - is it best to drill holes (eg for the neck) and do the build/setup before or after body sanding and/or finishing?


Pickguard is a relatively easy fix - agree waiting until the neck is on.

Bridge position - best way is to do this is via DB's tricks (see here: http://www.pitbullguitars.com/?page_id=42&mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=280.1 - it's for a P-Bass, but it'll be the same process).

Drilling - personal preference - less chance of damaging your pristine finish if you do it now. That said - a new pickguard will have screw holes in slightly different positions and will also have a slightly different shape / fit. As such - I'd probably look at neck and bridge holes now - others later.

Nice job on the headstock - a bit of sanding and it'll be spot on!

quiet1_au
03-03-2014, 06:19 AM
Thanks for the tips Brendan - I'll check out your build diary :-)

Looks like another trip to Bunnings/Masters for some clamps (I knew time time would come) ;-)

stan
03-03-2014, 06:51 AM
great start

Brendan
03-03-2014, 06:58 AM
Don't thank me - thank the maestro DB - though it helps not to have the word Bunnings and DB in the same post :) - he's not their biggest fan.

quiet1_au
05-03-2014, 10:05 PM
Some work with a 1/2 round bastard file and P80 sandpaper and the head is looking good - I will revisit over the weekend to square up and sloping edges, then work on the neck/bridge/pickup alignment.

I initially made little prick marks for the neck holes with the screws with it fitted hard against the top/back of the cavity (for strength) and am hoping that will be the correct alignment. I'll be spending a lot of time making sure I get that as close to perfect as I can. I'm sure I can do a much better job than the factory did on my Ibanez JetKing 1 - it has appalling neck pickup and pickguard positioning (the thick transparent finishing wasn't great either - foggy and floaties)!...

Dengreg
05-03-2014, 10:44 PM
Headstock looking good.

quiet1_au
10-03-2014, 09:48 PM
Sanding sanding sanding... I started at P80 yellow paper on the body to work on the fibrous wide grain, then did P120 yesterday on body and neck/headstock (not the fingerboard other than the sides), including a damp wipe over to raise the grain before another sand to cut back all the fuzzies. Today will check the neck alignment (seems OK) and possibly drill the holes for it, followed by, you guessed it, more sanding this time with P180 anti-clog (white) paper. I have up to P400 grit paper but I doubt I'll go past P320 - I also have 0000 steel wool but that was bought mainly for scuffing the finishing coats.

The flash in the photos brings out the grain like damping the surface does :-)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/3064n-Bass-flash.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/2o534-Bass-flash2.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/7ftgk-Bass-flash3.JPG

quiet1_au
10-03-2014, 10:15 PM
A few build tips needed.

1) There's a crack (appears to be filled - poorly though) on the back which I think will need (re)filling? If so, does anyone know what the best colour match for whatever species of ash this is in Timbermate or similar, easy-to-find&use fillers?

2) Hard to see but there appears to be a few finger mark stains (oil? glue?) in the wood - darker patches. I'm not sure whether I should try to sand these out before going any further, or whether they will be unnoticable under shellac?

Finally,
3) The fit of the neck in the body is pretty good, but should I sand back the body recess at those two points that are touching to try to bring the whole surface into contact and remove/minimise the gap?


Thanks,
John
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/a4956-FilledCrack.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/r2320-Fingerprints.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/i8kc4-NeckFit.JPG

Brendan
11-03-2014, 11:15 AM
John - timbermate colours - maybe oak? Might be worthwhile taking the body to your local hardware shop and try to find the closest... I'ts difficult as there's so much variation in the colour of the wood - even within the same woods. Before you fill, sand a bit of the body to get some sawdust up and mix that into whatever one you get and it'll help get a bit closer.

Finger marks / stains - how does water go with those spots? If it takes water OK, gut tells me you should be right with shellac (that coming from one use of the stuff - so could be way off beam). Wood as a natural product will have some variation in colour through it.

Neck - always hard. You should be right to leave it - depends on what you can see with the pickguard on. It's worthwhile being careful as you don't want to change the seating for the neck at all...

quiet1_au
11-03-2014, 11:52 PM
Thanks for your advice Brendan.

I decided to leave the neck as is - the gap is very small and I wasn't convinced that sanding would actually help. The pickguard will hopefully hide it (if it doesn't have it's own problems - I have to shape it to fit around the neck, but at least you can get spares if it goes disastrously wrong!...) I've just drilled the holes on a drill press so I can proceed with final positioning of the bridge (the neck pickup may have to wait a bit due to the pickguard fitting issue.)

A little warning to others - if you buy the cheap Craftright quick-action F-clamps with the orange rubber pads, be sure to give them a good wipe down and preferably use some paper towel or other padding between them and the wood. I discovered to my horror that they left bright orange stains on my cardboard bridge packing and also on the back of the body - thankfully it sanded off easily!... Although I want some orange toning to my wood, near-fluorescent was not what I had in mind!... :o 8O

The "fingerprint" stains aren't disappearing with sanding and I haven't noticed any issues when damping down the wood so I'm hoping they're just natural and won't cause any issues.

The amount of dust I've been generating with sanding, I did start wondering whether I can't make my own filler from it and say some PVA (watered down perhaps) - it's a bit of a waste buying a whole tub for just one crack. I'll hit the 'net and see if it's been done before. :)

quiet1_au
12-03-2014, 12:05 AM
There are various ideas for DIY filler - PVA wood glues aren't recommended if staining as they will cause problems and don't sand well, liquid hide glue is one option as is shellac which sounds perfect for my needs as I will be using it to seal/color/finish the bass anyway, so compatibility won't be a problem (although being fast-drying shellac it will require some quick filling work!) I'll be giving that a go and will post the results here (I think I'll wait until I'm ready to finish it before filling)

http://www.ehow.com/how_5731928_use-shellac-wood-filler.html

quiet1_au
13-03-2014, 10:48 AM
After trying a trial alignment using Dingo Bass' high & low string alignment method (as Brendan suggested), I found I couldn't get enough tension in the strings to overcome the natural stiffness and pre-rolled curves in them, not to mention the pickup magnets, to accurately position the bridge... It did show me that the strings were evenly positioned from the edges of the fingerboard along it's length though so it was not a wasted effort.

So tonight I had another go, but this time substituted some regular string (cotton cooking twine in this case) for the steel strings and had much better luck. The string is thin and springy so allowed for enough stretch to prevent sagging but still make the repositioning pretty painless without having to readjust clamps on the strings. After some checks with a short and a long steel rule I was happy that my bridge was parallel with the bridge pickup and in the right position - within a millimetre or two of Dingo Bass' measurement as it happened - so I marked the seven holes in pencil then pressing the points of the screws centrally as a more permanent mark ready for drilling on a drill press at work.

Then it's back to sanding...

quiet1_au
18-03-2014, 10:16 AM
I think I've had enough of the sanding now... I started with P80 for shaping some flat spots in the curves and shifting some rough grain, through P120, P180, P240 and finally P320 tonight. I'm removing wood (lots of wood dust) but no longer seeing a noticeable change in the surface/grain after the sanding, although the amount of grain lift when the wood is given a damp wipe over is definitely much reduced. The wood has a natural satin sheen to it now, and to finish up the job I've dusted it with a synthetic brush (which I've used the last couple of sands too) then given it a final wipe-down with metho (instead of water) to remove the bulk of the dust without raising any more "fuzzies".

Next stage - dissolving (and possibly filtering) my shellac and experimenting with this new finish material before tackling the bass body and the headstock to match (I need to work out exactly how much to cover, so I'll check out my factory instruments to see what they've done)

Brendan
18-03-2014, 01:22 PM
With the headstock, make sure you leave enough wood for the tuner heads - they're bigger than I expected and I managed to just leave enough wood on one of my necks to cover it. Near think though.

quiet1_au
20-03-2014, 12:21 AM
Brendan - I deliberately left the wood along the top of the tuners untouched for this reason, and indeed did all my shaping to avoid sawing as much as possible (knowing that keeping it neat and straight is tricky with a coping saw). The only part I was thinking of making more F-like is the corner near the nut which I could cut a radius - but I'm thinking I've had enough of sanding so will probably just leave it now. ;-)

Brendan
20-03-2014, 11:58 AM
Understood! It does get that way at times - hence DB's other mantra - sand, sand, sand, etc and then get someone else to sand for you!

quiet1_au
21-03-2014, 09:50 AM
LOL Sadly I don't have the luxury of a sanding assistant so it was just right arm, left arm, repeat until the paper disintegrated and/or I'd had enough. I used a half sheet per grade and perhaps an hour of on-float and hand-held (for the edges and cut aways), a damp paper-towel wipe-down followed by a last quick sand to knock down the whiskers/fuzz - it seemed about right, I mainly worked by feel and sight. I used a cheap 3" synthetic brush to get rid of the bulk of the wood dust each time, and the last clean-up I've also used a metho wipe-down and a new microfibre cloth as static-duster.

Tonight I fitted the body hardware before I switch into finishing mode (in case of drill slips, etc that may have needed sanding out). I had to work around the pickguard not fitting around the neck issue so found that by careful measuring and cotton-string mock setup the neck pickup was nicely centred in it's rebate so I ran with that. It was almost right, but I should have had it half a millimetre or so further forward to get the pickguard perfectly aligned with the neck socket. But with no experience, only a hand-held cordless drill and pencil marks drawn in the hole I was pretty chuffed to have it so close to spot on! :D I just hope not to make a mess of it trimming the pickguard overlap off now (it's mainly the top edge of the recess, the bottom can stay as is or be fixed with a quite sand) - but that can be replaced at least, and I intend on taking it slowly and gently.

I'll probably mount the tuners tomorrow night or over the weekend, but the string-tree can wait until the very end (it might need a little deburring of the grooves before that, it's a little bit rough and I wouldn't want it to damage the strings)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/775bc-BassBodyHardwareMounted.JPG

quiet1_au
23-03-2014, 10:27 PM
Three coats of shellac on lightly steel-wooled between layers to knock off any fuzz, and a bit harder were there were witness lines/ridges or too much overcoating. I discovered too late I made a rookie mistake of forgetting to sand the pickguard holes flat... No biggie, I think I'll do a gentle sand with 400 grit to knock these down and prepare for another few coats. I'm not sure how many I'll do in total yet, and I need to experiment with my test piece to see if applying a water-slide decal is likely to cloud the shellac before deciding whether to do the headstock too. Looking good though, I'm really happy with the finish and colour. :-)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/29aw2-BassFront3coats.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/25gx7-BassBack3coats.JPG

gavinturner
23-03-2014, 10:38 PM
Wow! Looks awesome John. The shellac has really popped the ash grain nicely. That honey(?) colour the shellac brings really suits this wood and this model. Really, really nice. This is going to be one fantastic bass!

cheers,
Gav.

Brendan
24-03-2014, 05:46 AM
Looking great John - starting to want a JBA-4 for myself... Maybe if they come out on a Sunday Special :) ..

crundes
24-03-2014, 06:24 AM
Looks fantastic john! You may have mentioned it in an earlier post but what sort of shellac did you use? is it mixed with a stain to get that colour?

Fretworn
25-03-2014, 12:45 AM
Looking really good so far.

quiet1_au
25-03-2014, 03:34 AM
It's just off-the shelf Feast & Watson orange shellac flakes from the "Big B" (the more recent "M" competitor has a different brand but it's probably similar if not the same), no added anything. The ash itself has a brownish/ambery sort of colour when dampened which probably shows through when shellaced too. I'm using a slightly higher than 1.5lb cut (50g in 250ml metho) brushed on. I tried dewaxing it without much luck so settled for just decanting the bulk off the gritty rubbish at the bottom of the jar (filtering through a coffee filter was a disaster...) and mix it thoroughly to ensure any wax is evenly distributed before using.

quiet1_au
25-03-2014, 09:32 AM
My crude water test on the shellac seemed to be not a problem (no clouding) so I decided to copy the finish on my Ibanez SoundGear bass and colour the front surface of the headstock only, leaving the pale Maple on the rest of the neck. After an excessive 5 coats (which will need flattening before any more coats as it's a bit "lumpy" - serves me right for trying to make up for lost time and over brushing too much... It'll be OK after a light sand though) the grain has shown up some nice "eyes" which has be tempted to do the rest of the neck too.... :P Although I masked the sides, there was some bleeding, and wasn't helped when I decided to add another coat or too after removing the tape, but a quick sand cleaned off the unwanted shellac easily. :) The photos below are at an oblique angle to show the unfinished vs finished surfaces.

A question please - what do people do about finishing the fretboard? Oil? - I've heard lemon oil mentioned as a conditioner. Or shellac perhaps? (I did the end-grain and it darkened a lot but that makes it look more like ebony?) Or just leave it raw??

I'm thinking of making my own logo decals, so have come across these clear laser-printer water-slide decals which I hope will be suitable.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/320823942673

I'm not sure how thick they are though - ideally I want something akin to those old plastic model decals that can hopefully blend in under a coat or two of finish, and not something thick and plastic-y like a sticker. Has anyone tried these or can recommend a laser printer/copier compatible decal stock? (I would like to include the PitBull logo decal too - perhaps on the back of the headstock - if I can)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/i8l88-BassHeadstock1.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/0t74n-BassHeadstock2.JPG

Fretworn
25-03-2014, 10:24 AM
I bought my decal paper off eBay and they worked fine the second time around when I read the instructions. Apparently laser printers and inkjet need different paper so just make sure you know what sort of printer you will be using.

quiet1_au
26-03-2014, 10:10 AM
I made a mistake with the headstock tonight after 3-4 more coats. It felt dry but I discovered later fossilised fingerprints all over the surface from trying to clean up the edges of unwanted shellac (what happens when you skip re-masking believing sanding will solve any problems...) Attempting to clean up the surface made it worse so it's back sanding back to smoothness and redoing again (sigh).

On the positive side - I think I'm almost done with the body shellac-ing - the back will need flattening again to remove some uneven finish, but I think the front and sides areas close to perfect as I'm likely to get so I best leave well enough alone and get ready for the (probably unnecessary) Tru-Oil final coatings. Once I do a quick safety check on my test board to make sure there are no nasty incompatibility surprises in store... One good thing about not grain-filling, the little grain grooves in the glossy finish catch and reflect the light something like a glitter finish :-)

I also need to try some metallic ink pens I have in storage somewhere (moving house is a curse...) to see how they interact with shellaced over-coats and how well they work if I decide to try to mimic the gold or silver trimmed vintage headstock logo text style

gavinturner
26-03-2014, 11:03 AM
Tough break on the headstock John. It was looking so great! Do-overs are not uncommon, even amongst the most experienced guitar finishers, so don't feel bad!

cheers,
Gav.

quiet1_au
29-03-2014, 09:55 AM
A quick sand and another few coats and it's almost as good before my stuff up. Next stop come up with a custom headstock decal that can be done without metallic inks on a colour copier as all my pens had clogged up (and a quick text proved that black texta is not compatible with shellac alcohol solvent so I suspect neither will any other felt-tip pens...) A few more coats after that to seal and protect the decal and darken the headstock a little more and it's on to the Tru-Oil to seal the shellac from water and hopefully be a slipperier finish for the back of the neck.

So naturally I've put a bid in for some lipstick pickups in preparation for my next build ;-)

quiet1_au
03-04-2014, 07:56 PM
I finally got a logo designed and laser-printed - the water-slide decal paper/printer I used left the background and bit dirty, faint "marbing" but that tends to blend into the wood so it's not a big problem, the second A5 sheet I did was a bit better so I picked the best to apply to the bass. It didn't go quite as smoothly as I hoped as the gloss finish on the bass was more difficult to get the decal to affix too without airbubbles and wrinkling, and the first edges off the paper kept trying to fold over... (The test runs were down on some grain scrap plywood with a few coats of shellac only) One edge I was unable to fix in time (bottom left) the but it appears to be sticking down ok so hopefully won't be noticeable under a few coats of shellac. Lots of careful pressing and gentle wiping with paper towel got rid of the bubbles, etc so tonight I'll carefully shellac it to lock it in and get the color a little darker.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/5jy1t-LogoHeadstock.JPG

Fretworn
04-04-2014, 01:24 AM
Nice job on the logo. That headstock is looking very pretty.

quiet1_au
04-04-2014, 08:35 AM
After a couple of coats of shellac I was getting worried - the decal seemed to wrinkle up a lot and I feared I might have to strip it back and try again. I think it's all settling back down though, and despite my adding a couple of fingerprints to my woes (you'd have thought I'd have learnt that lesson from the last time...), I've been able to remove those with some soft cloth polishing. I think the decal has almost flattened out again, although there is a difference in finish from where the decal is/isn't and I won't worry about trying to fix that until tomorrow evening to give coats time to settle and harden properly. Lesson (re)learned - go slow with the finishing, if in doubt leave it for tomorrow.

jarrod
04-04-2014, 09:22 AM
looking forward to seeing the complete build on this one

gavinturner
04-04-2014, 09:23 PM
Logo looks sweet! Great job.

Cheers,
Gav.

robin
05-04-2014, 05:49 AM
Hi John, very tasty headstock and logo, looking good.

Cheers
rob

quiet1_au
18-04-2014, 10:47 PM
Well I finally finished my JBA-4 - I had to settle for a few flaws (I prefer to call them "character") as I was getting well and truly sick of redoing shellac on the headstock over and over.. I had a little mishap with a drill bit (trying to balance the neck and manoeuvre it single handed was trickier than I though - need to change drill press technique to give me more room between the bit and the work in future...) But otherwise it all came together pretty smoothly. It still needs some work sorting out a tone control that appears to be a bit useless at the moment (wrong pot or wired on the wrong side perhaps?), and of course some further tweaks to the adjustments once it's had some time to settle in. Weighs more than I remember from when I first received the box - maybe I did overdo the copper foil shielding just a little bit?... :P
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/hf290-Bass-shielded.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/c11nf-BassFullFront.JPG
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/mes15-BassFullBack.JPG

quiet1_au
18-04-2014, 11:12 PM
In case you wondered about the name, Jenny was our first Staffie and it seemed a good fit with both Jazz Bass and Pitbull Guitars. The colour scheme was partly inspired by her too (as well as wanting to try the old and natural shellac as a finish)
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/i0a96-jenny0.jpg

gavinturner
19-04-2014, 07:11 AM
Great work John. She came out beautifully! Love the colour and the lovely ash grain. Really well done. Good contender for GOTM!

cheers,
Gav.