ES4-B 1st Build

Very clever F3x. I think this bass will look very original. I'm looking forward to seeing it finished and hearing those Dano tones

If you want to hide or disguise your home made dano PUP mount you could always paint them black but that metal looks like it has been galvanised which would make it harder for paint to stick.

Did you ever consider dismantling the original kit PUPS and use the Brass Base plate to screw the Dano's into as they are the right sized frame for the PUP holes and you could still use the plastic surrounds and proper sprung screw height adjusters?

Edit. Thin sheet of timber veneer between bottom of PUP and mounting plate would also hide things and you may also be able to finish that in a similar colour to the body.

Yeah my diy baseplate is galvanized...not to mention unattractive.

I had not thought of using the brass plate from the original pup. I considered making a wood on though.

The DIY pickup ring is a compromise. But it deals with two issues I did not know how to deal with othewise: The alignment is a bit off, and the pups are wider than the HB ring.

Actually what I have in mind is close to your edit...plan to make it out of maple and finish it like the rest of the body. Going to take another look at the HB rings tho...

Thanks guys. Always good for some ideas


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Man, Fenderx you've had some ups and downs. How did you fix the drill press issue?

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Man, Fenderx you've had some ups and downs.

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Yeah, the neck angle is only off by a little bit, but that has caused a kind of cascade of other issues to solve. Fortunately, folks on the forum will generally chime in with useful advice.

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Originally Posted by Andy40

How did you fix the drill press issue?

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I built a platform for this sort of cheezy drill guide I had lying around, and did it with that. I put up a thread about it here:

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...light=fender3x

I bought the drill guide long ago, and had never found it to be particularly useful. It's amazing how much better it got once I mated it with a platform and a pointy drill bit ;-)

One of the consequences of the neck on this beastie being slightly off center is that the joint is really good on one side, but not too good on the other. Here's what the bad side looked like:

Attachment 13241

What I finally decided to do was to see if I could cover the space with a little piece of maple. The maple I have is a bit darker than what the neck is made of, but I thought it might not stand out if I matched the grain and covered a relatively large part of the side. So, I cut a very thin piece with a coping saw.

Attachment 13243

And then clamped it into place with some yellow glue:

Attachment 13245

When I took off the clamps it looked like this:

Attachment 13246

Continued next post...

After about an hour or two of sanding with 100 and then 150 grit it looked like this:

Attachment 13248

Attachment 13249

You can certainly see the edge of the of the laminated piece, but I sanded until I could not feel the edge. Will still need a bit of wood filler, but aside from that, I think this is about as good as it's going to get ;-)

Are you running with a solid colour in that part of the build to disguise and hide things?

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Are you running with a solid colour in that part of the build to disguise and hide things?

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I don't really want to, but we'll see how it looks once stained...

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I am inching toward having everything made/collected to put the bass together. Still need to complete the pickup rings. Also have some pots on order, and the wiring to do...but it is looking like I might actually get to the point where I begin to sand and finish this beastie.

So, two questions about that. First, if I am reading right, you guys recommend attaching everything--including all screw holes for tuning machines and strap buttons--BEFORE sanding and finishing, right?

The other thing is that I remember that someone had advice about drilling out holes in thin veneer tops to accommodate larger diameter pots than the cheap Chinese ones that come with the kit. Can anyone point me to that thread?

Thanks!