Mitty C's first build- FVB-4

Hi Guys,

I'm kicking off the build diary for my Flying V bass. Below is shot of half way through my mock build.

Attachment 12662

My initial observations/notes:

• I was blown away by the build quality and finish of the wood. There's no rough edges or jaggies to tidy up, there's just a velvety fuzz that needs to be taken care of.

• The pocket is a VERY tight fit for the neck... I had to give it a bit of 'tough love' with my palm to get it in, so I'm a bit worried about how it would fare after a couple of coats of paint/clear coat. I suppose I'll have to be careful about making sure I get just enough paint in the area to 'seal' it without going too thick.

• It's the lightest solid body guitar I've ever held... and I love it! It will be so easy to just pick up and jam with.

As for design, my inspiration is The Joker from Batman. So my main colours will be metallic purple, green and white. I was blown away by the results Jarrod got with his cut & polish method, so I'm going to give that a go on my finish. I have already built myself a a mini battery-powered, twin jack amplifier. I just need to assemble the casing for it. The main purpose of it is for quiet practice where it's loud enough for me to hear my playing without pissing off my neighbours (and embarrassing myself), but will also be useful for some bonfire jamming in the back yard our when camping. The amp will be metallic purple and dark green with a yellow carry strap (yep, Robin themed...). If all goes well, I plan to buy a 6 string kit down the track to build a 'Batman' guitar with gun-metal and black colours.

Before I plow on with my build, I had a few questions I hoped could be answered:

• Do I need to shield the component cavities if I'm using humbuckers and grounding the bridge? The answers I find online tend to be "Yes", "No", "Depends on your pickups" or "It's not a bad idea". I'm just using the standard pickups that come with the FVB-4 kit.

• Is it OK to pre-drill the holes for the bridge before sanding/painting? I would only be using wet/dry on the body once it has a coat of glossy paint on it, which I imagine would protect the wood. In Jarrod's glossy finish tutorial, he suggests doing the holes after the finish is complete to avoid any puckering or swelling around the bridge mounting holes. However, I'd feel a lot more comfortable about fitting the bridge if I can mark up everything with pencil while the wood is raw.

• The guide calls for grounding the bridge, but it is coated in a heavy coat of paint (I tested with the multimeter- it's insulated, definitely not anodised). Do I need to scratch up the back of the bridge to ensure a good grounding contact? Do I also need to make sure the strings are grounded through the bridge?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi guys, just an update on my build so far. I've done a few coats of paint on the body, as per the image below. It's hard to capture the look of the colour (my phone makes it look very blue, so I had to whip out my trusty SLR to capture the purple).

Attachment 13299

I learned that glittery paint does not stream out of a rattle can very evenly, so I had to give the body several light dustings of paint to achieve an even colour. I also taped up the fret board with some cardboard and good quality painter's tape. You'll notice I taped around the sides of the head, as I only wanted the front of the head to be white. I'm going to leave the rest of the head and neck natural.

Attachment 13300

My next step will be stenciling some graphics onto the body before proceeding to applying a clear coat. On that front, is there a brand of spray gloss in a rattle can anybody can recommend?

G'day Mitty, looking good already.

Surprised nobody answered any of your questions posted 20 July so here is my 2 cents worth.....

Shielding - plenty of opinions on this one. I have used shielding paint on a couple with HB's and snail tape copper foil on a couple of single coils. Tend to think that the snail tape works best in the control cavity, even on the HB equipped axes but unconvinced it is needed in PUP cavities whereas on single coils this seems to be more relevant in reducing unwanted noises.

Pre-drilling of holes - looks like you may have already done that and not such a bad idea as at some stage you want to have any drill holes with a bit of top coat seepage to prevent swelling when doing any wet sanding.

Bridge Grounding - spot on as most bridges tend to be coated or a bit too shiny therefore a bit of sandpaper to remove in places that won't be seen does the trick. This should also ground the strings too.

Tight neck pocket - not such a bad thing as you mentioned doing clear on neck so not too many coats will be required. Just go lighter near where heel attaches into the neck pocket.

Top Clear - never used any rattle cans for a complete build but would suggest that same brand as the purple should have a clear as well? Also understand that you need to stick with the same type of paint as acrylic and enamel don't seem to like each other very much. The only gloss spray I have used was White Knight clear acrylic for use on headstock decals and can be bought at the big green shed or possibly many other places for not much coin.

Bonfire Jamming - ambitious as the Vee I owned back in the 80's only stuck around for about 6 months as it was a pain to play in any position other than standing. Awesome looks but hard to play comfortably whilst sitting down and the balance seemed all wrong even when standing hence why I sold it.

Good luck with pulling off the colour scheme and will be keen to see how it turns out.

Hi Mitty

I really don't know how i missed your post from earlier. good progress though. I agree with waz but heres my addition

Shielding - Shielding paint is not my preferred option, because if you don't like it or its shorting something, its difficult to remove. Noting wrong with using shielding tape for humbucker routs and your control cavity.

Pre-drilling of holes - I normally wouldn't pre-drill the holes before spraying, but if its done as waz said watch out for water seepage when wet sanding.

Bridge Grounding - I agree with Waz.

Tight neck pocket - a bit of sanding would sort that out, when the time is right

Top Clear - I am by far not an authority on this. I've used an enamel colour coat with an acrylic finish (both rattle cans and work very well) but they were the same brand and recommended to go together. If you have used a generic brand from the big green shed you should be able to find a top coat in the same brand. Otherwise consider White Knight Acrylic or a polyurethane such as cabots cabothane, which are readily available, don't cost much and you can test on a piece of scrap wood.

Good luck mate