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Thanks Gav....love the difference between this and water based stains and oil/paint/poly finish.....so many variables I had no control over, lack of skill in dealing with, and then along comes Dingo Tone. This stuff is so simple, so natural and awesome grain grabbing. The patience is so bad I have already loaded up a wish list at pitbull with my next one.....really thinking about getting "Belle" going in the interim as well. "Coolie" is looking good though. :)
This is what I hope to do with "Belle."
She will be an ash body Jazz bass with a maple neck.
http://pitbullguitars.com./shop/bass...-kit-ash-body/
Tossing up with colours for the fingerboard and neck. Either a colourless for the whole neck and fingerboard.....or Acacia finish for the neck and headstock with a totally bare wood finish on the fingerboard covered with either Dingo Wax or Doctor Ducks.....or acacia up and down the neck and all over the fingerboard.....then finished with Dingo wax over the final coat.
(Don't know whether to seal the fingerboard with a final coat....or just leave open with or without a stain colour...decisions decisions to be made before February....time of this build if I behave myself.)
Body definitely not pore filled....love grain.....finished in Bondi Blue Dingo Tone.
Fitted with PB listed Tonerider Jazz Bass pickups.
its coming along nicely Ozz, really glows that colour. You got to be happy with Dingotone. Plans for next build sound good too !
coming along very nicely indeed
Thanks guys...coming along nicely is the story....just so eating into my patience. Should do heaps of overtime get a decent wad together and buy 3 or 4 kits.....that would keep me sane.
I must be bent. I actually enjoy building them way more than the playing....mainly due to the fact that I suck the proverbial. Learning to play and learning to build. Love the build. Play not so much. :)
I'm in the same boat. Can't play for sh*t, but love the building. I'm finding myself more time to build than practice, so the playing definitely isn't improving ;).
cheers,
Gav.
Ozz, hold in there with your patience, it is certainly paying off with the finish you are achieving. I now kill time between projects practicing on my dodgy woodworking skills, planning and researching guitar building and a bit of playing. Understand where you are coming from with building vs playing, must be the budding engineer in every man coming through!
Yes the above title is true. The neck final coat is seriously finnicky. Guess who put a tad too much on and it ended up looking like the guitar was sweating beads of finish.
Quick zip with 400 grit and then the very last of the bloodwood stain back over the neck and the save has been made. I hope.
I will have to work on an approach to apply the final coat.....when you dunk your cloth into the liquid it gets seriosuly wet.....then you wipe it on and the bit you start on gets a thick coat....and you are not supposed to overwork it.....so maybe little bits on a cloth may be the secret.
The body got a 2nd intensifying coat this morning. In some places where the end grain was really opened up the intensifying coat has soaked in and made the section of grain darker.....I don't mind the look.....but something to be aware of.
Photos taken as soon as the stain and intensifying coat was applied.
Night shift tonight.....so they shall hang for a few days....probably til after xmas.
Merry xmas to all and a happy new year.
Gyro.
And the last shot of the front.
Hey Gyro, looks like you nailed the stain, the colours really bounce. A few days curing will do the body and neck good. Wait till you get some clear coats on you will need sunglasses to look at it
Had some fun this morning. Cleaned up things....neck ready for finish now. Designed and printed a waterslide decal for the headstock. 3 x times I printed and tried to slide "Gyro" on to the headstock....the bottom of the Y and G kept rolling under itself. Finally managed to get it on....but I think in so doing I have stuck it down a little low.....but it is on.
Hit the body with a very litle scratch with 0000 steel wool and gave it the 3rd and final coat of the Intensifying Coat. Loving the look.....oh well later today give the first coat of the neck final coat and then hang both until next week.....New Years Day even.
Yes people I have no life.....is that so cool or what. Still in the undies this morning....loving the empty house as the others went away for xmas and I have to work in between xmas and new year.
Hope you guys have a good break with or without your families. Loving this building....think more overtime and multiple kits running at the same time is my new years resolution. :)
Hope each and everyone has a great 2015. Got up this morning and put in a whole 15 mins on the neck (second final coat) and about 15 mins more on the body (first final coat.) They now hang for another week.
Wow,
Long story and terrible journey. Short answer. I no longer live in the family home....yeah split the blanket. I have my own patch now and it has taken 3 months to even look at finishing this build.
I have some things....more...to do in the next few weeks.....so this may well be the end until June.
The bridge looks killer....so adjustable.
The Seymour Duncan pickups are so full of tone....mids are great....
I went with the front volume and tone for the neck pickup and the back volume and tone for the bridge pickup. Had to unsloder the joins....and move one of the tone pots. The Caps were soldered in different to the diagram wierdybits provided earlier in this thread.....always trust the weirdy. Unsoldered them both and put them in the right spot.
Photos on deck. Have a great Easter guys....more to come from me I think now I am single.
sorry to hear of your split up Gyro...
The bass looks great though, nice job, I hope you enjoy your Easter
Hey Gyro, sorry to hear about the split too, I went through similar stuff (which quickly escalated into a lot more) a few weeks ago and I'm still struggling.....
Anyhoo, that bass is awesome! I'm still waiting for the money to build mine (I also want SD pickups), can't wait to hear the beast!
Hey Gyro, sorry to hear about the problems at home. The bass looks really great though! Love that grain on the back and the colour really suits the pickguard. Great job!
cheers,
Gav.
I'll add my voice to the sympathy messages, hope you can move forward soon buddy. The bass has come up a treat, now get some playing in! Then get another kit asap, it will be good for taking your mind off things :)
The Easter weekend and being single now offered an opportunity to disappear into the finish on this build. Sanity saving I call it.
The pickguard is the standard one....inlcuding the pots and caps.....I just undid and moved one tone pot so I now have volume and then tone for neck pick-up and then volume and tone for the bridge pickup. The bridge is one from overseas as well.....nice...I like.
The pickups have been changed out for Seymour Duncan Custom Shop ones.....rang them at 0300hrs our time and said hey guys I like this sound....they made the sound for me. Dearest part of the build....not saying. :)
Dingotone body finish in Coolangatta Gold.....and neck finish in dingotone Bloodwood. Really need to do the finish with less sanding done on the neck....800 was too fine. The body was fine and looks okay I think.
I did try Dingo wax as an all over finish....not for me sorry....maybe naughty oil on next one.
Auto stuff as a finish and close to an awesome outcome....for me. Meguiars Ultimate compound then scratch x 2.0 and then Bowdens own auto body cleaner then Bowdens Own Auto body wax x 4 coats. When all done and hand buffed. Let sit for four days and then some Doctor Ducks all over...strings included. Semi-Gloss is a good end result....DW was sticky...even after a buffer got at it.
Well that is the build of coolie. Now to make some noise with her in Rocksmith 2014. :)
Thanks for the good thoughts guys. Getting there is all I can say.
Here she is down the front.
hey Gyro,
you build came out really nice, well done. Hope its keeping your mind off what's been going on. As soon as I saw the pics it reminded me of my PBH done in wudtone cherry flamenco
Looks great Gyro! A really awesome build. Any chance of a sound demo?
cheers,
Gav.
Great job Gyro!
Beautiful bass there Gyro!
Wok they could nearly be sisters....twins even. Nice guitar there man. :)
Gav...my phone should be able to record sound....will have a look at that today. Tried a movie yesterday over 1gb.....not a happening thing. Sound should be smaller.
Thanks guys for the good thoughts and positive responses. The PBH-4 kit is awesome.....if you are a Bass player....get one.
All my stuff....a total of 7 now...has a rosewood fretboard. Next step I think is a maple one.....hmmm.....maybe an ash body with a maple neck.
I noodle around on my Yamaha THR-10 amp set to bass....and laid my phone....LG G3 down in front of it and used the voice recorder.
I did not want to embarass myself too much....so did some pentatonic scales in F an E minor and a couple of fingering exercises.
I may have to look at the electronics of this....I got a really heavy wind on the "P Bass" split pickup as I was worried about the power of such a huge humbucker pickup....have a look at one...massive with such big magnets. It is a classic wind on it.
But when I roll off the volume just a tad on the humbucker the P Bass pickup gets really loud. Maybe the humbucker is really really powerful and needs to have its presence rolled back so the P Bass can come through.
The P Bass is the exact sound I was chasing....a passive version of a Darryl Craig HARRIS sound I heard in Las Vegas.
Anyway this is me noodling if it will upload and play for you. :)
Can't do it sorry...firstly will not accept the file extension....then I tried a zip file...max size of 97.7kb. I will try and post a couple of sounds in the video/sound demo section and link it back to here.
This is the closest I can get.....YouTube is painful....will let me make a slidewhow of pics....but not add my own audio....or it will let me create a video with no video just audio and then when I go to publish it tells me I have to at least have a slideshow??
So here is the full sound file from my phone on dropbox:-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rg8fuabeaj...90415.m4a?dl=0
A shorter sound grab:-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/de1x7628ci...d%201.mp3?dl=0
and two others:-
https://www.dropbox.com/s/osjmj6lix6...d%202.mp3?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/bujzylahvs...d%203.mp3?dl=0
sounds good Gyro, those pups have a nice bright sharp sound.
Agreed, those SD pups sound really nice! Time for me to get mine started :DQuote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
I have been playing lots and lots....still suck....but play a lot. The sustain and clear tones on this Bass are awesome. Sure the seymour duncan pickups help. But it basically has a natural finish to the wood and a thin one at that.....just wondering if this really makes a difference?
I have a 2 pack acrylic painted bass here, a nitro celluose spray painted finish bass, a naughty oil hand finished bass and then the dingo tone finish on "COOLIE." The DT sustain is easily double that of the 2 pack acrylic...e.g. 17 seconds for a note to decay on the acrylic one and nearly 35 seconds for the DT finish. WOW.
It just won't be as robust and hard wearing I think. The acrylic one you can use as an axe it is that thick and coated on.
Think I might try a combination for another one. DT colour and then naughty oil to provide a gloss finish....hand done with finger and then wet sanded and polised and waxed. Imagine that on an ASH body....yeah gavinturner we all saw your Blue Strat...how beautiful is that. In awe of your finishes mate. :)
thats interesting Ozz that the DT bass has twice the sustain of the 2 pack axe. That will be music to DB's ears !
Do they have the same pups and similar string to pup heights ?
Also new strings will have more sustain and depends on the bridge and nut as well
The acrylic finish has the same custom wound neck pickup but a j bass bridge pickup...the PBH has a bridge humbucker.
Both neck pickups used and set to same height. 2 x new e strings and tested again. Even worse....my iPad audio recorder held the PBH for 39.8 seconds.....against 17.1 on the acrylic.
Wow...how good is that.
Basic nuts on both basses...black coloured plastic as opposed to white. PBH has that heavy mass bridge...the two pack one has the classic lighter one. So maybe the better bridge helps as well.
I think a natural body and natural neck Ricky should be next.... Overtime here we come. 😎
Edit:- I use an I-Pad Air 2 connected to the Bass Guitars via I-Rig HD using the lightning connector on the bottom of the I-Pad. Total digital connection no microphones or earbud jacks. I then use a voice activated APP to record and show the time of the length of the recording. Amazing difference.
Cold and rainy here today.....Sat 11 April....so dragged her out early and hooked her up to Rocksmith 2014.
Still don't get how you can score more than 100% though??
After many months I noted that the finish on "COOLIE" had still not really set/cured. I also noted that in some places it has started to lift.
So out came the screwdriver and she is now in pieces. I have placed an order for Coolangatta Gold and Bloodwood kits again and I will attack this build from a different perspective.
The finished guitar plays really well....the Seymour Duncan's don't hurt either.
I have just finished another build and this one was a water-based dye with many coats of "Naughty Oil" to drag the grain and figure out of the wood. The finish was beautiful just not robust. So I went over the top with a couple of coats of oil based wipe on Poly. WOW is all I will say. I have grain.....a thin finish.....and it is sealed and shiny as.
So, "Coolie" Part 2 is going to be Coolangatta Gold body stain, and then intensifying coat. The neck shall be the Bloodwood stain coat. Leave for 7 days for both and then naughty oil over the top of both many times....then 7 days wait and a couple of coats of wipe on poly. See how this goes.
I really love playing this Bass and she sounds so good.....just the feel on the neck and the body was not good. Love the colour and figure DT brings out.....but the finish is not finished enough for me.....love the stain.....love it. :)
Bass players build this kit....the PBH is awesome.
Have to agree, the PBH comes out as a ripper guitar. Damn shame about the finish.
Great scores on Rocksmith too, btw you can get over 100% by activating 'master mode' (getting a certain number note streak). In 'master mode' it drops notes off the chart and you have to play from memory, therefore getting up to a possible 110%.
sounds good Ozz.
PBH was the first bass kit I built and still love it.
Might revisit it one day, when I get time, and upgrade some hardware and restain it.
Yeah Pabs onto the master mode thing.....just that I have collected so many songs I don't get to play them as often as needed to remain confident with them......I have one up at 109.5%....just can't get the last note blind.
Most of the songs come from here.....
http://customsforge.com/index.php?
I am afraid that you have to be a member to see the songs.....but they have thousands.
Wooka this is the nicest Bass to play that I have....just the finish was letting it down. The neck was peeling in places and the body just felt like unbuffed wax all the time....no matter how much buffing had actually been completed on it.
With my tax return I am picking up a Yamaha BB424X in Tobacco Sunburst from this mob......but I do think I will be circling the Ash Body Ricky kits when they arrive at PBG.
http://theschoollocker.com.au/yamaha...itar-tobacco-b
looks like a reasonably priced bass Ozz, pity I couldn't see a photo how it looks in tobacco burst
Ask and you shall receive.....
http://au.yamaha.com/en/products/mus...mage_id=219869
cheers Ozz, that looks awesome, nice looking bass!
Interesting to hear the DT was lifting.. Not had that one before..
Out of interest, what grade did you sand to and did you scuff the finish before each coat?
I am currently revisiting the application procedure and my conclusions so far are:
Sand to 340 and apply as much stain as the timber will take in one sitting and leave it for at least a week in a warm place,
Scuff the stain coat with 340 grit and apply a thin coat of intense, let sit for a week as above.
Check to see if the coat has cured, if it feels even slightly tacky leave for another week...
All up, I only apply a max of three coats of intense and give each coat a light scuff with 400 grit.
I repeat this process for the finish coats, again only 3-4 coats.
Now for the bit that will land me in the naughty room!
DT will take Nitro finish....
Only needs two thin coats and it will buff up to a high gloss..
I would like a pint of Dark Ale, thanks Woks :)