Veeeery nice.
Printable View
Veeeery nice.
Four coats of Crimson Guitars ‘’guitar finishing oil’ so far...
Attachment 26779
That's looking incredible.
Very nice indeed.
Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
been a bit busy recently but the main hold up is my umming and ahhing as to whether I need to shim the neck pocket or not...? I kept putting off properly investigating by carrying on with the staining and oiling but decided that after 5-6 coats of oil that I'd glue in the neck before applying further coats of oil
So to do that I needed to use some proper strings which meant fitting the machine heads...
At this point I realised that there is a bit of play between the ferrule and the tuning post so I taped three pieces of 1.75mm foam around each post so that I could centre each peg in each ferrule then line up the rear plates and handles to my satisfaction (I'm a bit fussy about things like that!)
Attachment 27135
Fortunately I'd previously bought the foam to make some soft pads to protect the finish whenever I needed to use clamps. (Here in the UK, Hobbycraft sell an A4 sheet for 50p or an A3 piece for £1 – I have no affiliation!!). I cut four 50mm squares and one 100mm square of 12mm mdf then used carpet double-sided tape to fix the foam then trimmed to size. They work a treat so hopefully others may find this a useful tip.!
Attachment 27134
So with the posts nicely centered in the ferrules and all lined up I fitted a few screws to fix their final positions as I'll be removing them before the final finishing.
Attachment 27136
Attachment 27137
Now with the neck clamped in place (34" nut to bridge saddles) I could at last put on a couple of strings...
Attachment 27138
ooh – the sustain sounds pretty good! Now to check the string heights properly and decide if I needed to shim or not to shim...
Looking nice, it is really starting to come together. I am finding the waiting for coats to dry the hardest part.
All looking very good.
One reason to have several builds on the go so you can put one aside to dry whilst working on the next one!Quote:
Originally Posted by Hardcoretroubadour
Yes, that is how the GAS takes hold :)
Must be why I now have two explorers .....
Did you grain fill or is this the basswood body? What did you sand up to prior to staining?
No, No filling. Sanded up to 320 grit raising the grain a few times then stained purple (pics earlier in thread). Sanded back so that stain was only only left in the grain to make it pop then stained using two shades of blue. Last couple of coats of oil I've started working in with wet and dry to create a bit of a slurry which is filling the grain to a certain extent.
With the bridge set to its lowest position, the neck clamped in place and strung with proper E and G strings the action seemed very high so I set about making a shim...
First attempt was cut from a piece of mahogany on my bandsaw... I estimated that something around the 2mm mark at its thickest would be the place to start then sand it down to get the string action about right... the thinnest I managed to cut without breaking was about 4mm at the thick end so it time for a re-think (and I really didn't want to spend too much time on it as I wasn't really sure if it was necessary). So rather than try to reduce something to the correct size I decided to step laminate three pieces of cherry veneer I happened to have, alternating the grain like plywood. I sanded the stepped side smooth and ended up with a shim 1.75mm at the thick end tapering to a wafer-thin 0.25mm. I trimmed it to size leaving the thin end 2-3mm short of the joint line so that it won't be seen and also so that the shim effectively tapers to nothing.
Attachment 27148
With the neck and shim clamped in place, I adjusted the bridge so that the bridge could still be lowered a bit then measured the distances at the penultimate fret at the body end (I couldn’t get access to the last fret as my F clamps were in the way). I took measurements with open strings (the nut seems quite high at the moment) and also with a capo strapped accross the twelfth fret:
Attachment 27149
Attachment 27150
Without shim (open 12th)
E 7mm* 3mm**
G 7mm* 3mm**
Attachment 27151
Attachment 27152
With shim (open 12th)
E 1.5mm* 0.635mm (0.025")**
G 1.5mm* 0.635mm (0.025")**
* measured approximately with a ruler from the fretboard to the underside of the string
** measured with feeler gauges (plus the thickness of the rule when unfretted without shim)
fretted at 12th fret with shim...
Attachment 27153
Attachment 27154
the bridge...
Attachment 27155
I like a low action – as low as possible without rattling the frets unless I really dig in. Using the shim, the string height seems great to me, especially when fretting higher up the neck. There seems plenty of bridge adjustment to raise or lower the strings and I’ll either remove the nut to sand off the bottom or file down the slots at a later stage… but before I get the glue out DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY COMMENTS? as I’d hate to do something foolish here…
I've read it through twice and it all sounds reasonable, so I can't see any problems.
What glue are you using? I'd suggest Titebond Original (the red label stuff) or their Liquid Hide glue, as both make joints that can be steamed apart later if necessary. You can get glues that make more heatproof and waterproof joints, but they are exactly that, and almost impossible to get apart cleanly without breaking or sawing things up.
Thanks Simon. My brother bought the kit for me and included some Pit Bull neck glue but I've also got some titebond regular too.
I believe the Pit Bull glue is Titebond Original, so either will work fine.
I said it may take a while...
A very busy summer has meant that this project has sat on the back burner for most of it but some progress – and setbacks – have been made...
The neck was glued in position with shim and all was looking good and another couple of coats of oil were added.
Here's the guitar with the neck glued in position ( I used the glue that came with the kit). You can see the shim extending out underneath the neck.
Attachment 28708
Next I decided to level and dress the frets before put it all together (I'd later strip it down for another coat or two of oil and then finish off with some renaissance wax).
Time to tape up and get the sharpie out...
Attachment 28709
and level...
The neck was pretty good to start with and all frets were nicely levelled after only a few passes of the fret levelling beam. Time to round over and polish...
quite therapeutic!
Attachment 28713
i'll lemon oil the fretboard later...
So time to assemble the rest. I put the scrathplate on and realise it doesn't fit!!
Attachment 28714
It would have fitted perfectly if the neck was fully inserted into the pocket. BEWARE! So off to order some scrathplate material and start drawing...
Attachment 28715
Attachment 28716
I took the opportunity to make the bottom edge of the scratch plate parallel to the edge of the guitar. Even genuine Rics don't and this bothers me...! I also adjusted the long horizontal edge to align better with the strings. I cut a dummy from foamex and loaded the controls...
Attachment 28717
I may reconsider the pot layout as this is the original pit bull layout differs from a Rics layout... I will ponder this when cutting the scratch plate...
It's looking great! Love that colour
Happy new year! Whilst Christmas slowed progress a little, the bass is almost finished. Apologies that I’m well behind with the build diary. I will try to update it in the next few days when I get chance to sort through the photos and write it up.
I’m nearing completion and had the bass wired up and working... spent about a week noodling around on it with a great deal of satisfaction! The only issues were when the switch was selecting both pick ups there was a slight dip in volume and also with both pups selected, when either volume pot was zeroed it killed all sound (below last 10% of travel). The tones were clean and clear and good differentiation between pups.
Since then I have stripped it down to give it another couple of coats of oil, waxed it and copper taped the control cavity, both pup cavities and the back of the scratchplate.
Once I reconnected everything there is a lot of noise unless both tone controls are zeroed. If the switch is set to both pups either tone pot can be adjusted without noise but as soon as the second gets moved - noise. The same volume issue as before occurs when zeroing one or other volume pot with both pups selected.
Wiggling the lead in the jack socket reduces but does not eliminate noise. I’ve rewired this with new wire with no improvement. I’ve also replaced all other hot wires and checked all connections for connectivity. All cavities are soldered together and there is connection amongst all cavities. The wiring is the same as here although I have the volume pots closest to the strings and the tones at the bottom as this makes more sense to me.
I’m considering replacing the jack socket and all pots but any ideas what’s causing these issues?
Catching up on the build diary...
October
When I was happy with the scratchplate template I made an 18mm mdf template so I could rout the final plate. Once routed, the neck pup hole was cut then I toyed with the control positions...
Attachment 29878
Attachment 29880
Need to make sure they’re in the right place...
Attachment 29881
similar layout to a ric but I prefer the volume controls closest to the strings.
Attachment 29882
Time to wire up...
Attachment 29883
I’d like to say that when I fitted the loom to the scatchplate and attached the pups in the guitar that it worked first time... but I’d be lying! Second attempt it did tho!
The only issues were when the switch was selecting both pick ups there was a slight dip in volume and also with both pups selected, when either volume pot was zeroed it killed all sound (below last 10% of travel). I don’t know if that’s to be expected with these components? (I doubt) but the tones were clean and clear and good differentiation between pups.
January
Another couple of coats of finishing oil making ten in all then a few applications of renaissance wax have finished the woodwork with a nice satin lustre so it’s time to line the control cavity, scratchplate and both pick up cavities with copper tape. Unfortunately, the pack that I received with the kit was only enough to do about half the job but being the good egg that Adam is, he kindly refunded me a bit to source some locally. Top bloke and thanks again Adam!
Attachment 29895Attachment 29896
From the start of the build I’ve been planning the truss rod cover as the supplied one isn’t a particularly good fit and in my opinion isn’t long enough - so I made a new one from an off-cut of the new 3ply scratchplate.
The supplied cover...
Attachment 29897
And the new one...
Attachment 29898
There’s more to come on this but I’ll leave that for a later post...
FINISHED!
The bass was officially finished on 3rd February 2019... all set up and playing nicely. Thanks for all the advice along the way it was much appreciated. These pics were taken on my phone under some bright but very yellow lights so they've been processed to correct the white balance and desaturate and bleach out my dust sheet!
Attachment 29994
Attachment 29993
and I named it...
Attachment 29995
Attachment 29996
Lovely job all round. Well done.
Attachment 29997
I can't decide whether to fit the pick up cover as I've never played with one on and have hated drilling every hole through the finish! Here's some pics with it in place:
Attachment 29999
Attachment 30000
and the whole thing:
Attachment 30001
Attachment 30008
A thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding build! I took it to the band rehearsal on Tuesday just 'to have a go on it' and I took my American Fender Precision... the precision didn't get played! The Rhythmplucker is now going to Saturday's gig...
Yeah I wonder about those as well. The extra chrome looks cool, but I reckon it'd annoy me to play with. I have a cover for one of my Tele builds and it's never on because it makes it impossible to palm mute.
I agree, my thumb naturally sits on the J pup so think it would get in the way.
It was a stock RC4 kit build with an Allparts Ric style bridge upgrade and different knobs as I chipped the supplied ones when I first took them off. I had to make a new scratch plate as the supplied one didn't fit once I set the neck in place for a 34" scale length. I made a larger truss truss rod cover from an offcut of scratch plate material with custom 3D printed logo. At every step of the way I found myself buying an new tool or 'thing' – I'll try to list them with a total spend soon. Most probably weren't totally necessary as Ive got a well appointed garage workshop already although most of this build (with the exception of all of the sanding) generally took place on my dining table. The last purchase was a hard case to get it to the gig as all of my other cases didn't fit either the body shape or weren't deep enough to accommodate the angled headstock.
That looks absolutely amazing!
This looks fantastic 👌🏻
Looks stunning. Usually not a big fan of blue stains, but you've sold me. Great job.
Mighty nice!
Sound sample here
A few pics of the truss rod cover...
The Sketchup model:
Attachment 30051
I tapered the sides so it wouldn't look just cut from a sheet
I added 1mm dia fixing lugs to the back for location. It was also printed (by www.3dhubs.com - no affiliation) face down
Attachment 30052
I fitted it to a piece of card then transferred the holes to the cover.
Attachment 30053
Attachment 30054
Attachment 30055
That is so rad. The 3D looks great and adding the lugs to the back was such a smart move. Seeing unique ideas like this is so inspiring
Looks and sounds great.
Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk