Jazz bass Mod becomes Build?

FINALLY!

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I decided not to do anything job related today, and failed, but did manage to get the bass put together, shielded and wired. It is now a fully assembled and fully functional bass. It needs setup, but I plugged it in and noodled a bit, and it seems to sound just like it should. The EMGs are pretty idiot proof to set up...but I didn't let that stop me from creating a little bit of a birds nest with the grounding wires...which I then sorted out. Hoping the setup goes well. It's not bad now, but the action is a bit high. Pickup heights need adjusting as well.

Biggest surprise so far is that it's a bit over a pound heavier than my paulownia precision. I am guessing that's due to the added wiring and pickup at one end of the bass and the Gotoh Res-O-Lite tuners at the other end. The neck also feels good, but a tad chunkier, so that might be part of it too. Still the Res-O-Lites are probably worth it. They are by far the smoothest and most precise bass tuners I have ever had. The Jazz pickup is probably worth it as well. I really like the P-bass pickup solo'd with the EMGs, although not quite as much as the quarter pounder style pickup on my P-bass. But EMG did a nice job of matching the output and creating a pretty silent J pup to go with the P in the Geezer Butler set. The J pickup adds some snap.

It has some flaws, but so far nothing I don't think I can live with...and perhaps now I can get to the next things in the cue ;-)

It looks great. I love the colour combo of the body and pickguard.

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I am glad you like it! The color choice was dictated by the pickguard--and I agonized over it. The donor bass was black, and I bought the pickguard from Warmoth, which ended up being expensive, and still needing a fair amount of modification...so other than the pickups and tuners it was the one thing I was for sure going to keep. So I modeled the "contenders"... I knew it worked with black but didn't really like black. I had seen it with sea foam green, and liked that, but I already have a guitar that color. Explored white, yellow, variations on cream and purple. I tried to capture the purple in a stain, but that was a failure...as was my every other attempt to get a stain that looked good with the red perloid. So by process of elimination I ended up at MTM94 Ipanema Yellow ;-)

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Originally Posted by fender3x

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I am glad you like it! The color choice was dictated by the pickguard--and I agonized over it. The donor bass was black, and I bought the pickguard from Warmoth, which ended up being expensive, and still needing a fair amount of modification...so other than the pickups and tuners it was the one thing I was for sure going to keep. So I modeled the "contenders"... I knew it worked with black but didn't really like black. I had seen it with sea foam green, and liked that, but I already have a guitar that color. Explored white, yellow, variations on cream and purple. I tried to capture the purple in a stain, but that was a failure...as was my every other attempt to get a stain that looked good with the red perloid. So by process of elimination I ended up at MTM94 Ipanema Yellow ;-)

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I do not like agonizing over choices, so I probably would have built a guitar in each colour!:p

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Originally Posted by Trevor Davies

I do not like agonizing over choices, so I probably would have built a guitar in each colour!:p

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That's why you're the king ;-)

The agonizing is because I am not considered an aesthete around my house. I am generally not authorized for fashion purchases. So there's a lot of internet surfing, asking the fashionistas at my house, and modeling different options.

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Originally Posted by fender3x

That's why you're the king ;-)

The agonizing is because I am not considered an aesthete around my house. I am generally not authorized for fashion purchases. So there's a lot of internet surfing, asking the fashionistas at my house, and modeling different options.

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Ditto about authority!!

I was planning to do a TRAIN setup...and should have known there'd be trouble when I got stuck after "Tune."

There was no real difficulty in adjusting the truss rod (Relief), in the process I discovered that I could not get the bridge pickup to go low enough. So, I pulled off the strings and used a couple of chisels to drop the floor of the pickup cavity a few mm.

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That worked well enough, so I put the strings back on and tuned it up...got stuck on the next step as well (Action). It seems that the saddles are at their lowest point, but the action is way too high. I am going to need to shim. I haven't actually had to do this before. Any suggestions about the best way to shim?

You can purchase wooden shims from lots of places online.

Or you could make up your own from wood veneer, card or hard plastic. If you make wooden shims you can sand then to a taper or wedge which uses up the length of the pocket.

I tend to use layers of thin hard plastic and organize it into steps that get taller as you go down the neck pocket. The greater the number of layers needed the smaller the top of each step.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trevor Davies

You can purchase wooden shims from lots of places online.

Or you could make up your own from wood veneer, card or hard plastic. If you make wooden shims you can sand then to a taper or wedge which uses up the length of the pocket.

I tend to use layers of thin hard plastic and organize it into steps that get taller as you go down the neck pocket. The greater the number of layers needed the smaller the top of each step.

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Years ago I made a tapered shim from some veneer, but I haven't a clue where I put it. I made it pretty much the way you make your plastic shims. I ended up going with a different bridge configuration and didn't end up needing the shim. Wish I could find it now! Easy enough to make, but the online shims seem cheaper the more I contemplate gluing and sanding veneer shims...

I went on Amazon and found some wood shims from "Muspor" that *say* they are tapered with a 0.25, 0.5 and 1 degree tapers. Given that the body is pretty soft, I think I want to avoid a stepped shim. If anyone else buys them online it's probably a important to note that all the ones I found that were under $10 for a set of 3 were panned in the comments. Most said they often came with no taper at all. The Muspors were the cheapest I found with good reviews. The Stew Mac's have good reviews too and start around $35. $10 to have them here tomorrow ready to go seemed worth it. I seem to play this game a lot. $5 seems like too much of a risk that it won't be good. $10 for a no-name brand seems worth the risk...and I may be able to modify it--or just send it back if it's not good. Stew Mac seems like the sure thing and is what I would buy if it was someone else's money. Crossing fingers.

Capo'ing the first fret the string clearance should be around 2.5mm. It's at 4.6mm. I looked at a trig calculator, and I figure it will need a half degree or a bit more to move it 3-4 mm at the bridge.

Ironically I may not have needed to lower the rout on the bridge pickup, once the neck angle is properly aligned. Note to self: Do pickup height adjustments after doing setup.

The shims arrived today and did the trick.

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They were roughly as advertised. They seem to be made out of maple, although it's hard to tell. They are tapered. But I was curious *how* tapered they were? Turns out the 1 degree was .75 degrees, the .5 was .34, and the .25 was .19. So the angle might not have been perfect, but still quite useable. I ended up using the 1 and the .25 together, since the .1 on it's own was not quite enough.

I finished the setup... To my surprise the nut did not need cutting. It was right on the measurements I typically use, except for the low E string which was slightly higher but still very close. I had a little trouble with relief, primarily because I was adjusting the truss rod while dyslexic, and kept turning it the wrong way.

So it's a bass, it's set up, and plays well. It has a Jazz Bass width (1.5" at the nut), which I like. Strings are new, so a bit bright for my taste, but time will take care of that. The neck is a bit chunky, which feels different than my other basses where the necks feel thinner. It's a little thicker than my other necks, but not by much. I think what makes it feel chunky is that it's more of a classic U-shape.

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I don't dislike it, but it has a bit of a different feel than my other necks. I may get so that I like it. If not, I may shave some of the shoulder off and go for more of a Soft V.

One thing I really do like is the finish on the neck. My old finish, and whatever they put on the original SX neck feels a bit sticky by comparison. The SX is super glossy so that may have something to do with it. But the Brite Tone satin has a really nice feel.

That was quick!

FWIW, I had purchased a set of non-angled shims. Very annoying.