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I've spent a fair bit of time on the drums, but now the first top coat has been put on the shells, it's time to give a little attention to the bass.
I have some Mahogany base coat left over, and I was thinking of doing one coat of 'hog on the basswood (NOT the maple top!), then sanding back to enhance the grain. I know a few guys have done this, but I can't find an example that documents the process step-by-step. What grit sandpaper do I use, and is there anything I need to watch out for? Is it even worth doing on basswood?
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I had the same delema with the bridge placement on the bass kit. Not sure I did it right but I measured and marked a pencil line dead centre of neck cut out and pickup cut out and marked a line all the way through the body to give my central point. Then attached neck with quick grips and measured from 12th fret to get the distance point. Tacked bridge on with 2 screws and strung it to check alignment. Seemed to work ok.
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Now this is interesting.
I don't know why I didn't pick this up before, but it looks like the timber used on the body is totally different between the top half and the bottom half.
http://i.imgur.com/iFkMa3U.jpg
There's a bit of flaming or something in that lower half that looks nice, and there's more on the bottom edge of the body.
http://i.imgur.com/74AC9ns.jpg
Is it possible that while the top half of the body is basswood, the bottom half might be maple? Or does basswood come in different hues?
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It is basswood. I was surprised to see small amounts of flaming in the back of my IB-1, but it is there. Basswood and maple have very different densities, you would notice straight away.
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I was sanding the neck and bumped the nut with the side of my hand... and it popped off. Fortunately it was a clean break and it didn't take any rosewood with it. But I'm now thinking whether I should put that one back on, or upgrade to something better.
All you IB-6 builders, have you stuck with the original plastic nut, or have you upgraded? What to? I'm sussing out a pre-cut Tusq nut, but I have to see whether it will work on a lefty. Failing that, I'll need to buy a blank and do it myself.
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I like the wavy grain on the fretboard :)
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Bone for tone... Why replace a plastic nut with, well, another type of plastic?.
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True... but is there anywhere in Oz that will do one in that size, and a lefty as well?
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While I try to figure things out... here's a couple more pics. I've done a coat of Mahogany base coat and sanded it back a bit. Quite liking the result.
http://i.imgur.com/iSGtkPM.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/736I8AI.jpg
Haven't finished sanding back, so I'll post some more pics when it's done.
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Ummm, yeah.... I can do one for you.
Just order it through the site :)
All I need to know is the length and width and i can cut and slot it for you. I will leave the height so you can adjust it to suit your needs.
