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The Linseed Oil has been sitting for nearly 3 hours...hungry timber has soaked it up. You can just make out the lighter filler in the pores on the body....it totally disappears with the oil on it.....may have to do Tru Oil finish....you never know.
The neck has taken a nice amber hue and feels awesome....great shape.
and the back of the neck.....
That looks wonderful, well done!
I was pootling around the Internet this morning, when I noticed that the body on five string stingray bases don’t have the nearly square edges as in the photos above of mine.
They appear to have one of two shapes.....like an SG style with a beveled edge....or just a nice edge rollover like a p bass.
I have no issue with the square edge....the body is quite comfy....and I know it will be heavy.
What do we think?
Hi Ozzie, I rolled mine over with quite a rounded profile as that looks and feels so much better.
Used 80, 120, and 240 grit with lots of elbow grease to get there.
Cheers, Waz
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Aussie Post delivered my pre-amp today.
Not a lot of markings on the pots.....worked out the master volume....the blend pot...but the bass and treble pots are same value...marked exactly the same....fit and try out I suppose.
I tried the jack in the recessed metric jack socket from Real Parts...fits like a glove. :)
I don't know mate.....I don't dislike the square edges.....maybe leave it at that at the moment.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Fair enough as that would require a lot of reshaping and refinishing.
I can relate to lack of instructions for the pre amp as mine came the same. Once wired up you can pick the difference.
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The earlier, (Pre Ernie Ball era) 1979-1984 MM Stingrays did indeed have a more "slab" design with minimum contouring, so it is not incorrect to have such a basic shape if you want to go a bit old school. I used a 10mm radius router bit on my MMB5 to get a uniform profile around the horns etc, and this was more than sufficient to look reasonably era-correct and be adequately comfortable.Quote:
Originally Posted by ozzbike
The body shape is more of a cross between a Stingray and a P bass anyway (to my eyes at least). So it is a unique design really.
I have named all of my creations...questionable or otherwise. Seeing as this is a five string bass....ladies and gentlemen I introduce to you "The Low Bee."
I have tried the finishing using the Aldi air compressor and touch up spray gun......water for practice and then some water based poly for an attempt on a piece of pine and a piece of laminate.
Sadly my skills suck and I like the wood in this guitar too much...maybe over a stain.
So Tru-Oil has won the battle.
Here is the body with six coats and only one light scuff with 00 steel wool...used the air compressor to clean it up afterwards.
I am about ready to give the body a hit with 400 grit wet and dry using Tru oil as the wet.
The neck has the same...six coats with a light scuff with 00 steel wool. But, I have now attached the water slide decals, and I am going to put at least another six coats over them before I scuff again....or even wet sand.
NOTHING FL4SH is my web presence.....I have a facebook page...youtube channel...and more to come.
I will do things and talk about them....but nothing flash....it will be a positive presence only....no negatives and no finger pointing and derogatory comments.
I have a couple of videos in editing now....and some ideas for quick facebook posts.
So here is the guitar as she stands right now....."The Low Bee."
Looking good all nudie natural Ozzie.
I still have some of the borrowed TO and looks like I should drop it back to you as you may end up needing more to finish this one.
Cheers, Waz
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Mate it is all good....I will struggle on. 😎Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Thanks for the info and advice WazKelly. I would never had thought you can get such a seriously smooth and bright gloss finish with Tru Oil until I saw and touched your MMB-4. I have only got close to that finish with wipe on poly and lots of meguiars polish.
The mahogany body has taken the Tru Oil really well. I am amazed that the wet sand with Tru oil at 600 grit...few more coats...then 800 grit....finished the pore filling that the timber mate had started. The wide open grain of the mahogany is now a slinky smooth glass film....nice.
These are taken just before I put a second new full strength coat of Tru Oil over the body and neck after wet sanding with water at 1200 grit.
Total of four coats to go on and I may venture a further 1200 wet sand and see if I can get a completely flat finish then progress.
Wow.
(P.S. I think the body was further along than the neck. The neck and headstock has gone a little flat since the wet sand...a few coats of Tru Oil will lift it back up.)
And a couple more.....
Waz....I got a text from another member.....made me laugh...he called us the Sunny Coast Natural Brothers. :)
Looking good Ozzie.
When you have such a nice slab of timber sometimes a natural finish is all it needs.
I reckon you are just past the half way mark and it does get easier for the next 8-10 coats with a wet sand after 4th then every 2nd thereafter with 1500 and 2000 for the last couple.
Cheers, Waz
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Wow that does look very nice indeed!
Andy I did so much reading about applying Tru Oil. I also picked Wazkellys mind....he has made seven with Tru Oil now. I actually held and looked over his MMB-4.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andyxlh
I would never have believed you can achieve that level of finish with hand rubbing a Tru Oil finish. I have not cut the oil down....all coats have been full strength. I sanded really hard up to 240 grit....which was taking the Timber mate off.
Since then I have applied about 6 coats of Tru Oil....then wet sand using Tru Oil at 400, 600, 800 grit with wet and dry paper. (About 6 coats in between each sanding.)
These photos are the first sandings with water as the lubricant. (Four coats only with the change from 800 to 1200.)
Tru Oil gets better and better as a hand rubbed finish.
I hate decals. I had sanded, buffed and polished both the body and neck. I had fitted the tuners....glued the preamp module with hot glue into the body cavity...after covering things with copper tape.
Then I thought I would flatten the neck and check the frets....too many not right....so TAPE up and full level..recrown and polish.
I reckon I had at least ten coats of TRU-OIL over the BEE decal...and I did not see that I had put tape on it.....but when the tape came off....so did some of the BEE.
Can you imagine the words used....yep....that one...oh and that one....and that one I nearly forgot about.
I think we do this to test our patience and not throw things around a workshop.
INSERT BIG SAD FACE.
Oh no! What's the fix plan?
Andy....for a start to not throw the neck across the room.Quote:
Originally Posted by Andyxlh
Luckily it is a bolt on....so I can continue with pickup install and bridge placement etc.
I think I will have to remove that close tuner....may try tape to pull the rest off....a little fine wet sand....a couple of coats of TRU-OIL as a base....leave for a week and then reapply the decal....wait 24hrs....and ten more light coats of TRU-OIL.
Oh well.....it will have a BEE on it....it will...really.
Bummer. Doesn't take much wet sanding to strip lots of layers of finish off and it may have been thinner than expected in that spot.
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Waz,Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
You would not know the wiring info for the stock musicman pickup would you?
Seymour Duncan website has White, Green and Bare soldered together and going to earth unless you split. The red and the black soldered together and going to the hot connection.
The PBG musicman pickup has black on its own.....red and white soldered together...and green and bare soldered together. Can I assume that the black is earth......which is hot?.....and what do I do with the other two??? I have a preamp and I do not intend to split the pickup.....so I need to know which ones go to earth...and which ones to the hot side of the bridge pickup connection on the blend pot? Any ideas you have will be pounced upon...thanks.
I might skim your builds....I am certain somewhere...the wiring for the chinese pickups was mentioned.
Hi Ozzie, under 'wiring pickups' section on possibly 2nd or 3rd page you will find my post on how to coil split the stock humbuckers.
Black is hot, bare & green already paired are ground, with red & white also paired being the bit you disconnect for coil splitting.
To wire up just in series best to heat shrink over the exposed ends of red & white.
On the pre amp blend pot you should be able to see the earth as a wire will be running from a lug to base of the pot. There will be another connection going back to master volume and that is the hot. With 2 pickups i believe hot wires go to centre lugs on opposing sides of the blend pot and same goes for grounds.
I have something on usb with me here at work and shall send by email.
Cheers, Waz
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I got your email thank you.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
I wired it up using this page on PBG....
https://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-co.../pdf/FVB-4.pdf
But I think I have put the earths to the same lug....should that matter....earth is earth?
I will have a look at that again. The blend pot has a series of lugs....and it appears that either side of the pot connects an earth to its own side.....I might do that with the pickups.....one side for the bridge pickup...and the neck on the other.
Not much movement from the centre on the blend pot to get change in sound. The pots are not smooth....and three out of four needed a spray out...scratchy.
Back to work on Monday....lots of stuff to do now.....may do intonation...neck relief and nut and bridge height over the weekend. :)
Have a good weekend yourself.
Very different sound. I have wired her up...fitted most things...strings are up and had a little blat.
More work to come...gotta fix my BEE.
Thanks for your help.
Looking good.
Best to have earths going to the same side of blend as the hot for that pickup rather than common point, just in case it does something weird and funky.
For example, neck hot to middle lug on top row with neck earth to pre wired earth lug on that row.
Bridge hot to middle lug on bottom row bridge earth to pre wired earth lug on that same row.
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Keen to hear how it sounds and tend to agree that just a fly spec either side of centre detent on the blend pot takes away the opposite pickup almost acting like a 3 way switch would.
Hope you get a chance to enjoy your weekend too.
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Not a huge fan....pain in the butt to fit and does not make that much difference.
I have to go to work on monday for 7 days.....so I think I will think about it whilst I am away.
But...I think a Real Parts order may be on the cards.
I am thinking of fitting a push pull volume pot to the musicman bridge pickup....it comes ready to be split.
The neck jazz bass pickup is really strong....the bridge has a great musicman punch...but the bass and treble controls of the preamp are terrible...and the blend pot is horrible....when both are on I get echo....whaaaatttt????
The headstock string tree goes on easy and looks great. I levelled and polished the frets and the neck moved into good relief easily.
I had no issue with intonation and I get no buzz at all with a 4/64 string height at 17th fret....wow.
The neck is quite wide and I keep finding the B string when I look for the E....even doing a scale.
Love the mahogany body...and the Tru Oil feels so glossy and like a mirror.
Gotta have my BEE....fix number one.
Gotta build a passive wiring harness...with push pull split.....fix number two.
Gotta think about moving the bridge back a little.....the measurements for the intonation were good....but more reflect my experience with Fender style bridges.....this loooooong black thing can go back a good 5 to 10 mm.....the string spread then may give that little better pickup coverage.....presently cannot get all pickup magnets under a string at the same time....strings need to move a little.
Agree that the blend pot is next to useless on these pre amps. I would suggest replacing the blend pot with a traditional 3 way switch to select neck, both, or bridge PUP's and swap the volume pot for a push/pull to do the coil split if you really think it is necessary. The Bass & Treble boosts are ok and i am still playing around with mine to find best sound settings.
The sound demo of my Mmb4 gives you an idea of what it may sound like on split coil but push/pull will only give you one option, not both. I found the front/neck coil sounded a bit deeper which was better than rear coil.
If you want to test the theories before buying more parts check out the split wiring post I did a while back and separate the red & white, and then wire it back up with just one of the humbucker coils working/connected. If that sounds crap swap to the other coil. If they both sound crap, just reattach red & white and leave as is in original series humbucker mode.
Cheers, Waz
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Forgot to mention it looks good all buttoned up.
If you hate the bass & treble boosts that much you can just leave them centered where they effectively are doing nothing.
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I did have outside plans...but we are raining in Buderim...so goneskis.
The pre-amp is out and in a plastic bag.
I have got enough pots etc laying around to make a new harness.....even found a 250k push pull pot.
Just no idea how to wire this up.
I get two volume and two tone.....but when I split the coil....I got nada.
I remember weirdy helped me heaps on my TBird build...will have a look in that thread.
If you can find the post under wiring pickups on page 5 it shows which wires go where out of the 6 lugs on a push/pull switch. Just can't remember which wires engaged front or rear coil. At work today and doing this via mobile therefore not easy trying to search forum to find things. Here is the link.
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=6476
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Thanks for the reply. Already searched and had that.Quote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
I think I will make a Real Parts order....I soldered what I had up...and the recessed jack socket is metric thread on my switchcraft jack.
I think I will do all good new mini stuff....the control cavity is cramped.
Weirdy...if you are watching.....any ideas on how to wire this split in place......the guitar has a musicman humbucker in the bridge and a jazz bass pickup in the neck. It has four holes......I assume 2 x volume and 2 x tone....with the jack socket on the edge. :)
May need to use a 500k push/pull as volume control for the humbucker.
The dpdt mini switch setup I used was simple and works really well.
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Just had a thought, if you copy your J Bass with series wiring and add a 2nd push/pull on mm pup for coil split that should work.
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Yep, I’m watching. Is it a stock PBG MM pup or something aftermarket?
Thanks mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by WeirdBits
Completely stock PBG MM and J Bass pickups. 😎🎸
Traditionally, MM pups have their coils wired in parallel and can be set up with separate volumes for each coil. PBG (and some GFS) MM’s ship with their coils wired in series which gives a thicker slightly louder sound (maybe making up for other deficiencies), but don’t always sound great split or in parallel. Black = hot, Red & white = series link, Green & Bare = ground.
You could easily have a 2V 2T setup, or a Vol for the J a Vol for the MM, master tone and 3-way. If you want to play around with splits and para/series sounds then you can use two push/pulls to giive all 4 options for the MM: split coil 1, split coil 2, series, parallel.
You may want to try the stock MM in its different configurations using some clip leads etc first to get an idea of the sounds before committing to a layout, no point wiring up options you don’t like or won’t ever use.
Parallel: Black & red = hot, green & white & bare = ground
Series: Black = hot, red & white = series link, green & bare = ground.
Coil 1: Black = hot, white & bare = ground.
Coil 2: Red = hot, green & bare = ground.
Thanks for the ideas weirdy.
But, at this stage I would just like to wire a push pull pot to give me humbucker and single coil.
The bass was a special order and has the MM and a JB pickups installed.
Could you give me an idea of which wires go where on a push pull pot?
I have no idea what the colours on PBG pickups do...as in ground, front coil, back coil etc.
So my idea...pull the switch and engage the back coil of the bridge pickup....push and get both coils. I would have no pickup selector...just volume and tone controls for each pickup to make the sound choices with.
I have wired it neck volume and tone for the JB on top....bridge volume (push/pull) and tone on the bottom for the MM. (Both Volume pots in the guitar at the front towards the neck.)
Honestly weirdy I have no idea what happens inside these switches/pots....I can just follow diagrams and instructions really well...and a soldering iron does not scare me.
Your help is much appreciated....again. :)
P.S. I am back to work for seven days from tomorrow.....I have ordered new caps for tone...3 x new 250K mini pots and one push pull pot. They will arrive whilst I am away....and I will have a solder party upon my return. Your diagrams always help me so much....I print them and keep them for later reference...thanks again.