yeah good stuff Ponch the stock ones feel pretty flimsy. Nice work on the body sanding and safety boots on Australia day ! Lucky you got the earth wire in this early ? hahaha
Printable View
yeah good stuff Ponch the stock ones feel pretty flimsy. Nice work on the body sanding and safety boots on Australia day ! Lucky you got the earth wire in this early ? hahaha
Haha yes just also noticed the thong tan/dirt mark on my feet! The earth wire only just went through, it was blocked with what looked like a decomposed dried out bugQuote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
wow a bug tried to block the earth wire hole, well sorry bug but you deserved to die if you delay Ponch's build hahah
Hmm interesting! I might look into these tuners for my RC-4!
cheers,
Gav.
Hi Ponch, presume you bought the $48 USA made ones rather than the $34 entry level tuners?
Hi Gav, the Real Parts site only shows Gotoh 2 a side from $78 in Nickel. Not cheap but a lot better quality. They also have the smaller profiled 2 a side Gotoh from $62.Quote:
Originally Posted by gavinturner
Cheers, Waz
Yep, the $48 USA onesQuote:
Originally Posted by wazkelly
Thanks mate. Hope the medical condition is not too serious.
Gallstones, geeze they're painful.....
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
that's terrible Ponch, hope the doctors can remove them and lessen the pain. My 4D buddy Popeye had them and he said the same the pain was really bad
I'm sure I'll be fixed up right... anything would be an improvement... More importantly I rasped a chunk of flesh out of my left index finger tip. Now healed up and back on the guitars again!
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
And finally for today, some bone for tone. Thanks DB!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...da260f37f5.jpg
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
sounds like you have been in the wars Ponch ! I try and use a glove or a piece of rag when holding the rough end of the rasp, they can be nasty !
the DB bone nut looks good. I recently upgraded to a DB bone nut on my PBH-4 and it plays much better, just need to tweak the nut height a bit lower.
Best wishes on the health!
& thanks for the heads up on those machine heads, look promising.
Hope they get you sorted out ASAP, Andrew.
I'm a bit surprised with that nut. The bottom E string cut-out isn't at least half the depth of the string, so you may have issues with it popping out. You aren't going to be bending bass strings like you'd bend guitar strings, but even so, some people really pluck/pull their bass strings pretty hard.
So all done with the neck. All in all it had about 10 thin coats of Tru-oil. Knocked back with super fine steel wool every 2-3 coats. Then a wet sanding with 2000 grit at approx 10 coats and two 50/50 turps/tru oil wipe overs. 2 days curing and finally a going over with Meguiars compound and polish.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...14d93f94a0.jpg
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
Hi Ponch, very slick and shiny and really highlights the grain. Well done.
No now onto the neck hardware. Note this bass will have no decal, it's going with a no name tele I built a while back.
Here's how I get the machine head bushings in
Tools:
Candle wax
Clamp
Sanding block
A bit of 80 grit paper
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c430aa4bcf.jpg
First clean out the machine head holes to remove excess finish. I use the sandpaper rolled into a cone, put it into the hole and let it open out naturally to fill the hole. Then a few gentle turns to remove excess finish
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...da9b581d82.jpg
Next lube up the bushing with some candle wax or soap
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7620b76178.jpg
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
Now the trickier bit. It's easier with two pairs of hands.
Push the ferrule into the headstock by hand. Sanding block on the back of the headstock and attach the clamp tight enough so it all holds I'm place
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ea7dbeb0a0.jpg
Then ever so slightly tighten the clamp. The ferrule should push in. Keep an eye on the angle of entry and loosen the clamp / realign if required
Tada, it should go in easy
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...85d8fb3ce9.jpg
Rinse and repeat four times.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...3b6e0f6b03.jpg
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
So onto attaching the machine heads. Tools required
Set square
Hole punch
Suitable screwdriver
Lube for screws, I use candlewax
Drill and bit (I used 1.5mm bit)
Masking tape
A relatively good eye...
First I place a machine head into hole near the neck. Then use the square to align. Note one good thing to check when your preparing/shaping the headstock is that the top is completely square
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0a919382f0.jpg
Then carefully hole punch the screw holes. And extra pair of hands is a help..
Repeat for other holes
Then take your drill bit and use the masking tape as a depth gauge for screw depth. Drill all holes carefully. If your to enthusiastic you may end up going through the headstock... a pain to fix
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ab41fa422a.jpg
Lube up screws and attach. In this case the holes for machine heads are a bit out of whack but it's passable
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...012eebbb82.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d449230de7.jpg
Next the hackers guide to straightening the neck without a notched ruler after which the frets will be levelled
Why in this order, it's just to hot and humid to finish the body
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
Very nice, Ponch.
Cheers guy's.
The pickguard turned up today (flea Bay special). Fits like a glove including the Tonerider neck pup yay. Now waiting for upgrade electronics..
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...960f87c22c.jpg
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
nice one Ponch looks good and bonus you didn't need to reshape the pup hole to suit !
Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
Haha yes Woks completely lucky with this pickguard!
I've reshaped the neck pup hole on my white pickguard, was a 5 minute job with a round file. I'll decide if I use the white pickguard once the stain is on and I do a mock up
Pickguard looks the great already dude. She's gonna be a very nice build!
cheers,
Gav.
Cheers Gav. It looks like the make or break with this build will be the auto spray finish... my first attempt should be fun!
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
I'm putting money on you doing a fantastic job on the auto spray and it looking superb!
Easy as for you Ponch. how come only one Tonerider? did you see there was a bridge one for sale in the forum?Quote:
Originally Posted by andrewdosborne
All good Andy I have the Tonerider bridge pup as well, just deciding how to install it (see my previous pup cover mod, re-route or 'modify' exiting route) cheers
Hey Ponch it was a 5-10 minute job to fit the Tonerider pup in the bridge cavity. I used a rounded chisel, I marked up the Tonerider wider mounts and carefully chiselled it out and cleaned up with a round file and sandpaper stuck to a round object
Had to do a similar thing with the Entwistles I put in my J Bass.Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
Cheers Woks I may have to venture to somewhere besides the big green shed for rounded chisel ☺️
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
So neck is now straight for fret levelling
Step one. Get 3x small square blocks. I used dominoes but Jenga blocks would have worked
Step two. Place one behind fret one, in the middle and at the end.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...375ec83a18.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d6305340bc.jpg
Step three. Carefully lay straight rule across the top. You can see a gap between the first domino and ruler in this case. The ruler rocked on the middle domino
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...014be1f565.jpg
To level this neck out I turned the truss rod anticlockwise about half a turn (looking down from the headstock). This removed the back bow. After which the ruler sat flush across all 3x dominoes
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...b2c8a777ad.jpg
Sent from Lineage OS 14.1
Nice trick!
Just remember that you can't do this with slices of Domino's pizza.
Cool idea!
Nice looking build Ponch. Isn't it nice when something from ebay actually works and fits?
IK like the blocks idea - i normally just run as ruler or straight edge down the frets, but this is more visible, love it
Cheers guys. To be honest I didn't have time to notch the ruler and this works so all good. Apologies for the psychedelic towel backdrop (this towel was relegated to workshop use....)
Stan - pot luck with the pickguard! Seems to fit 'export' JB with a standard JB neck pup route. For those interested...
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231611670...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
Is it just me or the chinese PBG pickups seem to be non-standard dimensions a lot of the time? Possibly deliberately so they don't get accused of copying. I've noticed a few of these cases of having to modify routing to get upgrades to fit in build diaries and I know on my strat build the pole spacing on the chinese pickups didn't match the covers I bought but the toneriders fit perfectly