nice build Fred, what is the stain you used a very deep brown colour ?
look forward to outdoor pics so we can really see the ash grain
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nice build Fred, what is the stain you used a very deep brown colour ?
look forward to outdoor pics so we can really see the ash grain
Thanks guys for the comments!
@wokkaboy: the stain is a custom colour I asked DB to mix. He mixed me a dark walnut colour, but I was finding it too 'orange' so o got some black stump DT and I mixed them to get the colour I wanted. The neck took more effort to get the same level of colour as the body.
Do you guys know how I could deal the brass plate for the control panel? It takes finger prints like crazy and I am concerned it's going to tarnish too...
Cheers
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cool Fred nice colour you got
you mean seal the brass plate ? Not sure, think you will have to clean it with a cloth regularly
there used to be a special clear spray for brass and copper called Incrilac *not sure of the spelling* might be worth checking with a marine paints specialist. You can also use Renaissance wax which is what museums use on all metals and even wood. I usually sell it but I'm out of stock atm and so is my supplier.
Fred, you'd need to have it lacquered or waxed. Some of the higher quality metal polishes will give you a harder wearing finish, but it will eventually stain/patina over time. Anywhere your lacquering chips will allow air exposure and form little pockets of patina. As @Wokka had said you will need to clean/polish regularly to maintain that bright shine. A little Patina wouldn't matter would it?Quote:
Originally Posted by FredA
That's a fantastic colour and build.
It looks bloody amazing man!!
Hmmm... Two concurrent IB-5 builds. Veeeery interesting....!
Very nice work Fred!! Looks high end!!
So... I've finally finished the IB5!
Truss rod cover is now on, and the Chinese strings have been swapped for a set Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Bass 5.
So here are a few photos taken between showers... it even got a couple small dots of rain...
Photos from the front:
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And back:
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There won't be any sound demo as my bass playing is pretty non existent... will get better eventually! :-)
well done Fred that's a stunning IB-5, well finished and the gold on brown look a treat. How does it sound and play are the pups stock ?
fantastic job Fred, that came up a treat!
It feels pretty good. But I've got no experience playing basses, so hard to compare it to production models.
The pups are stock, and I'm now thinking I'd like to upgrade them, but not sure what pups would fit. I don't want to change this one too much now, so I'd have to find pups exactly the same size...
As anybody upgraded these stock pups with others?
Hi Fred, not sure about replacing pups. Another option is to fit an active EQ system costs about $50, I put one in my IB-6 and it has really improved the sound and range of sounds. Only problem you will need a battery box
Lovely bassy goodness. Great job!
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Looks great Fred.
Love how you blended the colour up the back of the neck and darker on to the headstock. Is the body Ash as there is lots of grain on show? Gold hardware is a nice touch too.
Must be an optical illusion due to the light. The headstock back is the same colour as the body... would have been cool to make it darker actually! Didn't think of that...
I don't want to route it to add a battery box, but I may look at the Seymour Duncans passive pups...
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Great job Fred.
Super job Fred. The brass back cover and gold hardware really set off the brown, lovely work.
Check out a few other passive examples on the thread I started yesterday. Totally agree with you about avoiding a battery pack.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredA
@wazkelly: The body is Ash. Pretty nice grain too! Saw your other thread... I'm now wondering if I should really spend $200+ on bass pups while I can barely play... but who knows! :-)
Hi Fred, presume this is your 1st Bass then?
I'm a bit spoilt for choice at the moment as after playing my recently acquired Ric 4003 more than the others that highlighted just how weak and whimpish these 5 stringer PUP's are. Same goes for my J Bass and just ordered the highest grade Entwistles for that axe on Sunday night and it will end up being the best $80 bucks spent to improve it's sound.
The stock Chinese units that come with all these kits tone wise usually don't sound too bad but their output is way lower, and when on the Ric if I was ever gigging with them as backups it would require me to continually adjust the volume after each axe swap. Onstage Bass volume is hard to control at the best of times and I can only imagine things getting way too loud as the night grows longer.
Cheapest solutions for your IB5 might be.....do nothing.....buy the 2nd hand Bartolinis on eBay for AUD $150 plus postage....or buy the cheapest Seymour Duncans on US Amazon site for USD $125 which works out at about AUD $175. PM me if you want help finding the 2nd hand Bartolinis on eBay.
At the end of the day tend to find if I am not totally happy with one of my axes it rarely comes out of it's case for a play which is a shame as they are built to be played rather than gathering dust as a collectible or piece of furniture or artwork. If you chose to upgrade I reckon you will not regret it as even the cheapest option will make a significant difference to output, just not so sure on the tone aspect as that tends to come more with the higher end stuff that costs just a little bit more. At times like this you hate the falling AUD against USD & GBP.
Hey Wazkelly, thanks for that!
It is my first bass. I reckon i'm going to wait a bit before i decide to upgrade or not. I've got a new guitar kit that's going to need pickups and i'm thinking i'm going to spend on that one instead of upgrading the bass that's good enough to learn on for now.
Just too much temptation!
Cheers
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The more you play, the better the sounds you make :) the better the sounds you make, the more you want to play :)Quote:
Originally Posted by FredA
Its one of life's wonderful, wonderful feedback circuits.
wow Fred, a very slick beastie indeed, excellent job
Super job Fred. Just beautiful.
cheers,
Gav.
Sensational Bass Fred. I absolutely Love it.
If I had half your skill confidence I would try to build one almost exactly like it, but I doubt I'd come close in build quality.
Almost the Perfect Bass in my humble opinion.
I especially love the individual Bridges.
I think you made the right decision not to add a preamp.
I have owned three basses with active preamps on board and always ended up with the controls set at neutral.
Thanks @Hobastard.
I'm quite happy with the look. But the pickups could be changed as the stock pickup I got are quite weak (and can't be coiled split).
Also need to improve the setup. I get a bit too mucj fret buzz after the 12th fret...
Might need to review the neck relief and potentially angle...
I think with all the problems youve overcome your a champ mate, well done on an awesome looking bass.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredA
Hi Fred, you can actually coil split those standard soapbar humbucker PUP's as I posted here.... http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6476Quote:
Originally Posted by FredA
Also discovered that once you have the action nice and low plus the PUP's at a decent height the volume issue is no longer as big a problem. It may pay to remove the PUP's and install some 5mm - 10mm high density foam underneath them and screw down hard to a level where they are close enough but not too close to the strings to cause issues. The Bourns 500k audio taper push/pull pots are easy to wire up and not too dear and would come in handy if you upgrade to splitable PUP's down the track.
Cheers, Waz
Thanks mate!
I've been learning to play the bass for a couple months now with Yousician and I'm enjoying it more and more. I've actually spent more time playing my bass than my guitars lately!
Hi Fred, check out this guy.....
http://youtu.be/Hval4IAXvp4
Start Your FREE ScottsBassLessons Academy Trial Here: http://scottsbasslessons.com/
I have had a look at a few of his emails/videos and need to find lots of time to sit down and get serious about what he has to share, and the best part is most of it is free and you don't need to spend lots of money signing up for stuff.
The gold hardware against that dark wood tone looks very very classy!
Hey guys, would be interested to get your thoughts here...
The neck pickup on my IB5 has stopped working suddenly, a bit weird as the bass has not received any shock (that I know of), nor been exposed to anything special... it worked as expected for months and all of a sudden the neck pup kills the output signal when selected.
It looks like something is shorting the hot to ground (and the whole output with it) when I start blending the neck pup in (I used a blend pot followed by a master volume instead of one vol per pup), I get a 0 ohm reading between Jack and ground as soon as I start blending it in.
So, I am going to start un-soldering so I can test the components in isolation, pup first, then blend pot, then the tone pots with caps.
But I'd love to hear if any of you have had this issue before, and how you resolved it???
And since I'm going to open 'the beast' and start messing around with the soldering iron, I am now thinking it would be a great time to upgrade the pups! I've considered it before, but didn't get to it...
So that's my second point, what soapbar pickup would you recommend for a 5 string bass?
Thanks!
Fred
I'd suggest either a faulty selector switch, a signal wire that's come loose, or a bit of wire touching the screening.
Hi Fred, are you running a pre-amp with the stock humbuckers? If so, that should have made an immense amount of difference for not much outlay.Quote:
Originally Posted by FredA
On my EX-5 I upgraded with Custom Bensons for about USD $220 and they are very, very close in size dimensions to the ones in your IB5. Sound great but depending on how the AUD is travelling planned upgrade could cost closer to AUD $300.
Other options at the time were Bartolini which seemed reasonable value & quality, maybe EMG who also make passives (not just actives as we tend to think of with them), and some others too. The odd measurements narrow the field considerably which is then fine sorted by how much extra coin you want to throw at it. Suggest looking on eBay and Gumtree as I nearly bought some well priced used Bartolini's as the Custom Bensons were an unknown in the Bass world and no sound clips anywhere on the internet, except for my low quality YT demo after installing them.
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6471
Best of luck.
Cheers, waz
Bartolinis are superb pickups.
So, the bridge pup is working fine but mixing in the neck kills the signal? Does it only happen when the blend is near/on full neck or in the middle/centre detent position, or anything short of full bridge?
Copper shielding brushing a pot's lugs is always a prime candidate for signal shorts, but we need a bit more info when there is a blend involved.
Thanks guys.
Re my neck pickup issue, the signal gets killed from the mid point on the blend pot. Found tonight another thing, when at 100% on bridge pup, I'm also getting a short when moving the master volume from max (it works) to middle and lower (it doesn't work anymore)...
Could be copper shielding going walkabout, but I find it weird that it suddenly stopped working after 10 months working fine...
Anyway, I reckon I'm going to have to take the electronic appart and test bit by bit to find the issue.
Now looking into upgrading pup... EMG make passives, Seymour Duncan and Bartolini...
The SDs are available (USD125 inc fret on eBay), the EMG 40Hz too (around USD220 with freight), and the Bartolini seem to be harder to find.
Any feedback on the SDs?
Cheers