No. 39 is on its way to me.

I have indulged in a guilty pleasure today.....sometimes good outcomes allow us some good things in our lives.

So...this returned special order on sale is coming my way.

I also ordered some more vintage black and white wire, 3 x mini CTS 250k pots and a switchcraft jack socket.

I think the neck is looking like a candidate for an oil and wax finish. The body is Basswood....so maybe a stain and oil and wax finish as well.

Otherwise....unless the CTS pots have a different shaft diameter...I don't think there will be much other changes. Stock pickups, stock bridge and stock tuners, stock nut.....maybe some strap locks and nicer knobs.

Edit....nicer knobs....an orange drop cap....strap locks...and two of those round flat string trees....Real Parts order on its way. :)

Heheheheh! Nice Oz, can’t keep a good builder down!

Ozz, got a spare 250K push/pull? I mean, if you wanted to tweak things slightly...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

Ozz, got a spare 250K push/pull? I mean, if you wanted to tweak things slightly...

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You know strangely I do....are you thinking a series parallel push pull. I like how you think. 😎

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

Heheheheh! Nice Oz, can’t keep a good builder down!

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I swear it is an addiction....I nearly grabbed one of the four string music man basses as well....but no...one more is enough for now. 🎸

Yep, but slightly different to that layout. I’ll sketch it up.

At least it's keeping you off the streets :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

At least it's keeping you off the streets :)

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Phew to that. Nobody is ready for that. Not a good look.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

Yep, but slightly different to that layout. I’ll sketch it up.

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Oooh....anticipation. 😎

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ozzbike

I swear it is an addiction....I nearly grabbed one of the four string music man basses as well....but no...one more is enough for now. 

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building one at a time? What’s that like?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

building one at a time? What’s that like?

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Ha Ha nice.

Well I shall know very soon.....as I just got the email and the order is complete and Aussie Post has the pick up info......woo hoo.

I am thinking a Colortone Amber finish over the neck.....with maybe some spray satin polyurethane finish all over.

The body......hmmmmm.....tempted to try and hopefully not fail with a three colour water based stain burst. Yellow/Brown/Red....the U Beaut colours. The body could also then be finished with satin spray poly to complete the effect.

The wipe on nature of water based stains has never really worked well for me.....maybe this time.

YouTube here I come.....this guy does a nice finish...he then covered the lot with Tru Oil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxO-2zuJmD8

Real Parts order made yesterday has just arrived....nice collection of bits.

Just got an email from Aussie Post saying the Jazz Bass has an estimated arrival of between next Mon and Wed.....nice considering all the COVID junk in recent times.

I am really thinking about giving the water-based stains another run to try and make a burst effect on the body.

Things to research and ponder over the weekend.

EDIT:- Now I feel like a dummy....Mon 8 Feb to Wed 10 Feb....following week.

That's a pretty cool video. I've seen this approach a couple of times now, and am feeling a bit more confident about trying it myself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dozymuppet

That's a pretty cool video. I've seen this approach a couple of times now, and am feeling a bit more confident about trying it myself.

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I am hoping that with time my skills have improved....I would like to give it another go. I have an old set of these dyes....and I think the red...the yellow...and brown will get a run this time.

http://www.ubeaut.com.au/dye.html

First I will get three containers ready to hold each colour....and cut up several chunks of T shirt so I have everything ready before I start.

Wow,

Just checked the tracking and the box is on its way to my local distribution centre......next stop is to me tomorrow.

Well done PBG and Aussie Post. Happy crazy dude right here. :)

The Big D dude does quite a few stain burst videos and seems to get really consistent results.


EDIT TO ADD:

I would just caution you (or anyone) that I have not heard Big D say whether those guitars he's finishing are veneered or capped.
Sanding multiple times during the process seems to a big part of his method and results.
As many of us here know, the PBG veneers do not afford us the luxury of lots of sanding before it ends in tears 😢.

That's definitely my big fear for my AIB project. If I want the grain to pop, there's one thing to sand back. If I want depth of colour, there's another thing to sand back, probably twice for the burst.

EDIT: And that's separate to the stress of picking the right colour scheme. I've also got some U Beaut dyes on order, but haven't settled on what I'm going to do yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

The Big D dude does quite a few stain burst videos and seems to get really consistent results.


EDIT TO ADD:

I would just caution you (or anyone) that I have not heard Big D say whether those guitars he's finishing are veneered or capped.
Sanding multiple times during the process seems to a big part of his method and results.
As many of us here know, the PBG veneers do not afford us the luxury of lots of sanding before it ends in tears 😢.

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McCreed I completely agree....any kind of burst that involves sanding is not something I would undertake on a veneer. I am very lucky with this one as it is a solid body.

Big D does use nearly all tops.....e.g. thicker pieces of wood.

I cannot understand why this bass was returned. It has a couple of NORMAL marks that sanding will get rid of. The neck pocket is a little loose.....but that will allow adjustment, and the finish on the neck will help fill that up.

One question.....can anybody place the headstock design? I have seen it somewhere but cannot find any photos that help anywhere. I was thinking somewhere 51 to 57 "P" Bass or similar. It is very big....and very different. I like it. :)

I have received some pots, a jack socket and some white and black vintage wire from PBG in the box as well. I am going to make this one with the kit pickups and see how they sound.

Some piccies......here....

more piccies on arrival....

The last ones......

That looks like a fun kit

Very Schmick Oz!

Quote:

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One question.....can anybody place the headstock design?

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I didn't know it came that way, thought you did that...

It reminds me of kind of a cockeyed Ovation headstock.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

I didn't know it came that way, thought you did that...

It reminds me of kind of a cockeyed Ovation headstock.

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Nah mate it came that way......I have seen that headstock design on a couple of other kits sites over the years....but can't place it.

Looking good Ozzie.

I have sanded the body and the neck through 80, 120,180 grits....then cedar/blackwood timbermate all over. Then both have been sanded to 240 grit.

They have both now had two coats of shellac to try and even out the absorption of the water based dyes.

The body shade does not really matter at this time as it will be died. But, the neck is looking okay with just the shellac. I have just checked all my Tru-Oil and it has all either gone lumpy or dried up in the bottom of bottles. I have ordered some of the unlabelled Tru-Oil from PBG.

I really don't know whether I want to apply a stain to the neck and headstock. Tru-Oil and then the spray satin poly will add a yellow/brown shade to the finish. I am worried that the finish may go too deep as it did once before for me.....colortone amber is quite strong.

What do you ladies and gentlemen think????

After above.....before right here.

The build thread......colortone amber stain...about ten coats of tru-oil then auto waxes.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=8119

Just took a piccy of Jazzmine right now.....this is how it has aged....

The SD diagram in your earlier post is the standard way of doing parallel/series switching. With the push pull 'up' the pups are linked in series and the neck volume works as a master, with the bridge volume having no effect.

The following layout is a little different. When in series mode the neck volume still works as the master but the bridge volume allows you to fade/bypass some/all of the bridge pickup giving you a bit more control over the series sound. The idea is to make it still loud but a little less boomy, and allow you to mix in some of the bridge treble without going full on. Essentially the bridge volume will control how much signal goes through the bridge pickup and how much bypasses it.

Attachment 39081
The 220K resistor is added in the series mode to reduce the pot's resistance across the pickup and flatten the taper of the pot. This makes the bypass/fade control a bit more progressive and less 'all or nothing'. I did some tests during the week with a 250K pot both with and without the resistor, and I definitely preferred it with. But, if you want you can just omit it from the layout and it will still work. (Note: the resistor image used in the diagram has 150K bands, but 220KΩ is correct value to use)

Just another option if you want something different.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

The SD diagram in your earlier post is the standard way of doing parallel/series switching. With the push pull 'up' the pups are linked in series and the neck volume works as a master, with the bridge volume having no effect.

The following layout is a little different. When in series mode the neck volume still works as the master but the bridge volume allows you to fade/bypass some/all of the bridge pickup giving you a bit more control over the series sound. The idea is to make it still loud but a little less boomy, and allow you to mix in some of the bridge treble without going full on. Essentially the bridge volume will control how much signal goes through the bridge pickup and how much bypasses it.

Attachment 39081
The 220K resistor is added in the series mode to reduce the pot's resistance across the pickup and flatten the taper of the pot. This makes the bypass/fade control a bit more progressive and less 'all or nothing'. I did some tests during the week with a 250K pot both with and without the resistor, and I definitely preferred it with. But, if you want you can just omit it from the layout and it will still work. (Note: the resistor image used in the diagram has 150K bands, but 220KΩ is correct value to use)

Just another option if you want something different.

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Woo hoo...wicked wiring....off to jaycar I go.

The beige carbon film ones are okay to use?

Thanks again for you support of my tendencies. 😎

Quote:

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The beige carbon film ones are okay to use?

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I'll qualify this by first saying my depth of electronic knowledge is a shallow well, but in a basic passive guitar circuit, metal film or carbon film resistors will be virtually indistinguishable with our ears.

There are countless threads online debating this subject (just like "the great capacitor debate") and will probably continue until the end of time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

I'll qualify this by first saying my depth of electronic knowledge is a shallow well, but in a basic passive guitar circuit, metal film or carbon film resistors will be virtually indistinguishable with our ears.

There are countless threads online debating this subject (just like "the great capacitor debate") and will probably continue until the end of time.

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Thank you, jaycar has both the beige carbon and blue metal ones listed. I shall get my carbon film ones on Monday. :)

I actually tipped all three tru oil bottles I have with me upside down yesterday. This morning I found some non clumpy stuff in one......nice.

So the neck now has one coat of the Colortone Vintage Amber....light...and then one soak coat of Tru Oil. It can wait now until the ordered Tru Oil arrives from PBG next week.

I have to say that the light tint under Tru Oil looks pretty good.

I have been very picky this time with the body finish before I let loose with the stain/burst....maybe it is just nerves. :)

But it now has no scratch marks that I can get out nor see left behind. There are the normal ones in tight on the two cut out areas around the neck pocket. I have been over them five times and they are not moving.....so they can be character marks.

Looking good Ozzie.

I usually use 80 or 120 grit to get all the scratches and machine marks out and then 180 to take out any surface scratching done by coarse grits, particularly on stubborn areas like end grains and inner horn curves.

For what it is worth I reckon go the same colour for neck & body. Blonde nudie would look wicked. Really happy with how my MMB4 turned out as it was Basswood too but with Rosewood fretboard.

Cheers, Waz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Looking good Ozzie.

I usually use 80 or 120 grit to get all the scratches and machine marks out and then 180 to take out any surface scratching done by coarse grits, particularly on stubborn areas like end grains and inner horn curves.

For what it is worth I reckon go the same colour for neck & body. Blonde nudie would look wicked. Really happy with how my MMB4 turned out as it was Basswood too but with Rosewood fretboard.

Cheers, Waz

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The shellac I made is way too strong. The stain did not have a chance to soak into the body. I did 180 and then 240 grit by hand this afternoon...but....

I don’t know it still looks a little shiny. The ubeat usage guide does not use a sanding sealer....rather sand to 400 with no pore filler either. But they recommend a wetting down process, and warming the dye/water mix before applying.

Hmmmm....maybe go back to 80 grit and start again for me. I do like the tone in the grain from timbermate....but I think the shellac may be left out this time. Maybe do as the instructions say and go to 400 grit....which seems awfully shiny and smooth itself.

Big D did say he went to 400 in one part of his video....but then said 320 in another.

Oh well trial time again I suppose.

Inset mad laugh.....ha ha ha .......I think it is alive.

This was tricky...thanks weirdy...I enjoyed the challenge.

We have two orange plastic covered earth wires hanging loose on top. One for the pickup cavity and one for the bridge.

The resistor was easy...but wow you popped in some multi wire joints in that push pull pot. I did cheat a little and use some capacitor leads to make a little jumper style connection. :)

Let us see if I got all the connections when I plug it in....no no no...no looking...no multi-meter. :)

EDIT:- Note to all....anybody fitting push pull pots, or as in my Tele with a Bigsby build, a non box style three position lever switch....the depth of the control cavity is not enough. I am going to have to dremel a little out of the bottom to allow both to fit.

i did shellac on my MBM build, i went for 10 grams shellac flakes to 100ml of ethanol, then added stain.
i let it sit for 24 hours with mixing and then strained it through mesh and sprayed it using a wall sprayer without a compressor

i did 2 coats of each color for the burst i wanted, and then i did 4 or 5 coats of clear shellac (some of them with a brush) all from the same batch.

this actually worked out quite well, and it was on an ash body that i grain-filled first

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arie_shapira

i did shellac on my MBM build, i went for 10 grams shellac flakes to 100ml of ethanol, then added stain.
i let it sit for 24 hours with mixing and then strained it through mesh and sprayed it using a wall sprayer without a compressor

i did 2 coats of each color for the burst i wanted, and then i did 4 or 5 coats of clear shellac (some of them with a brush) all from the same batch.

this actually worked out quite well, and it was on an ash body that i grain-filled first

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Nice work......I just want to get the hand rubbed water based dye finish I have seen so many others achieve.

I have used the shellac as a body sealer prior to alcohol based stains without any issue......alcohol is the key there I think.

I think I will have to sand the body pretty heavily and then reduce the ratio of the shellac to alcohol to even out the colour of the water based stain.