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Hi Ozzie, good to finally meet with you earlier tonight.
Amazing how big that body is.
For all the other folk's benefit, to use the 6 stringer neck it would need to be slung Jimmy Page style otherwise the Bass neck could be so high that it may end up near throat level, well maybe on a shortie like me. Luckily Ozzie is taller and it should fit him much better.
Seeing as not much activity fills my days I got at the big girl yesterday and sanded up through 80, 120, to 180 grit.
I found the bottom of the neck pocket of the guitar area to not be flat, and one body fill mark along a glue seam, and a small bump in the back of the body.
The rest is awesome. I love the growth rings in the grain on the ends....sand sand and sand until these are clearly visible.
This body being so big with a number of curves along the front edge where the neck pockets are I found five grain directions. This has made it very interesting to sand to get a fine finish.
Today....I don't know what to do or use on the neck pocket....tape it up and do it later I think.
Visual inspection and sanding of scratches I find. Then time for two necks and a body to get body filler.
I have a Baltic....maple colour, walnut and an ebony filler. Think maybe as no tru oil on this one....makes blue turn green...the necks can have a darker colour to bring out the grain. The body....ebony...thick all over.
Onwards and upwards. 😎
Nice one ozzbike, it sure is a mammoth axe! Keep going on the sanding its well worth the effort
By the time you are done sanding that beastie you may be buried under a pile of sanding dust! I hope you have some dust masks.
Mega build, always fun to watch these progress...
The dusk mask has been a must....I have a chest infection...so no mask no breathe....anyway.
I got at her again today.....sanded through 240 grit all over....then the timbermate fight.
I tried all three I have...baltic...walnut and ebony on a scrap of pine.....dried it...sanded with 240. Hmmmm.....the walnut was my winner.
Yes I know it is going under BLUE, but the walnut is dark enough to give the grain a leg up...but not as black as the residue of the ebony...looked like fly crap in the hollows.
Done for today.....shower....and off to watch the State of Origin Rugby League game tonight...sadly not at the ground....mates place.
Tomorrow....raise the grain and sand with 320 three times....then two coats of sanding sealer to even the colour when the stain goes on.....dry....until the day after....or whenever...for colour. Loving this. :)
Bummer that Qld lost but to be fair they have won a lot over the past 10 or 11 years.
Looking nice and smooth Ozzie.
Today...I have done the damp down and 320 girt sand twice....was so smooth then....did not bother with the third. Both necks and body have had this done.
Then I have done two coats of sanding sealer with an hour in between for drying.
(Piccies taken whilst last coat is still wet....so differing drying give differing shades.)
Basswood is so light...so easy to work....and if you do some prep work....the grain is nice. Not flash like ASH or flamed maple...but the end grain is awesome and the front and back of this body has some really nice figure in it.
They shall hang for a couple of days and then it is colour stain time.
I have been thinking about the amount of soldering with this one. I am not going to be able to build the wiring harness externally and then just insert it. Some areas....like the basic components in the control cavity I can do.....But the majority of the rest is going to have to be hanging out of the body as I attack with the soldering iron. Wow.
Question:- I have some nice lengths of the braided shielded wire. I have seen a number of negative comments in relation to using the outer braid as a ground/earth and the inner as the hot wire. Is there a reason for this? Because I can see that running one wire through some areas of this body will be very helpful. I can see that you can pinch out a leg from the braid and bathe that in solder and then solder that to the back of a pot or earth lug. The wire is shielded so therefore you would think that the hot wire would be better protected from RFI. As long as I get a good solder joint at the ends, and earth points along the length of the wire, I cannot see any issue in doing this.
Suggestions as to why I should or should not do this please? No in depth details with physics involved are required. My alternative is Black and White vintage push back wire I have by the metre.
I had been thinking about how to use the big girl....functionally. So I had explored a few options....stereo jack...two differing circuits with two leads.
Then I thought of this....Yes I am aware that I run the risk of ground loop issues. But I don't intend to play both at the same time...so if switched from one to the other the ground circuit is finished. One lead from guitar to the pedal....one lead from pedal to Bass Amp and one to Guitar Amp......then A B switch them....nice....I hope. :)
Delivered to me for $65-00 from E-Gay. (Oh I assume a straight AB pedal would have done the job.....but the ABY function gives me other options for other guitars. Oh, and it is true bypass and passive...so no power required unless I want pretty lights.)
and made right here in Qld :) I have one of those