First Build IB-5

Hi, this is my first time at trying something like this.
I have been looking for a cheap bass to take with me when I work away from home so I don't damage my basses.
After looking at travelling basses and second had shops I came here.
For $200 this is what I'm looking for. A 5 string bass that can take with me and not worry about it getting stolen or damaged.
I'm just worried that after I finish it I'll be a bit too attached to it lol.

If it works out, I might use it as a practice for another one that I make into a fretless.

Now, to find the space and time to do this.

Welcome to crazy town, asarge :)

Enjoy the build, and dont hesitate to ask questions.

Welcome to the madness asarge!
You might find you will value this bass more than your other basses.... Same thing happened to me and my Strat :D Ejoy the build and as DB said, do not hesitate to ask any questions! Everyone here is more then happy to help!

Yep. My first build (sta-1m) is still my most precious guitar. Love it to bits and it plays like a dream. Take your time!

Welcome Asarge. There's a few IB-5 builds on the go now. Best of luck and you will treasure a bass that you built yourself. Good luck

Welcome asarge

Thanks. I'm sure I will have questions :)
Yeah, I do think I'll get a bit attached to it. But I keep telling myself I'll make a fretless.

hey Asarge, what bass axes do you have in your collection ?
I've recently converted my IB-5 to a fretless, you won't regret it.
Would be easier to do it while you build it than down the track. No need for a fret level then if you remove the frets now

I have a Warwick Streamer and very second hand Corvette. I dont play good enough to own either of these, but I love them.

any chance of a pic of your 2 bass's ?
Bet you will end up taking the Corvette to work site and leaving the IB-5 home haha

Attachment 4444
Attachment 4445
Attachment 4446
The Streamer pic is mine (the colour is a bit off), the Corvette is the same as mine.

nice looking axes Asarge. So the Streamer is the top 2 pics or top pic ? Looks like a flame maple cap.
Presume the corvette is the bottom pic. Both look very nice

Thanks, yes and yes. The steamer is the top two pictures. Flame maple top with a swamp ash body. I find it very comfortable. The flame maple top is about 1 inch thick. The corvette has a bubinger body. Heavy! But such a nice sound.

sounds good Asarge, I can see why you don't want to take both those bass's to a FIFO job.
1 inch flame maple top they could have made 20-25 veneers out of that !

So, I have checked the parts and all of the major bits are there. I haven’t checked all the small bits as I don't want to any to go missing after I take them out of the bags.
Is the next thing to measure and drill the holes for the neck and bridge before sanding?
I have found a bit of a stain on the body. Is this glue?

I can't get the photos to upload... I'll have another go tomorrow.

Hi Asarge

I had to resize the photos to upload them. If the photo is larger than 1500 x 1500 pixels and over 900 something kb it needs to be reduced. When I reduced them to about 300kb they seemed to go under 1500 x 1500 and upload fine.

Attachment 4510
Is this a glue spot?
I think I might try and mount the cavity cover flush.... This could end up a big mess lol. I'll see how it goes

What is the best way to determine the hole size to drill for the screws?

Hold the drill bit in front of the screw, you want to be able to see the thread on either side of the bit. Always test first though. Drill into a scrap bit of wood and make sure it fits.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by asarge

Attachment 4510
Is this a glue spot?

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Definitely looks like it. You can see a bit of glue on the other side of the join and it doesn't conform with the grain pattern so I doubt it is a grain anomaly.

Well, it's been a while. But with daylight savings I'm getting a bit of time with my bass.
I'm attempting to get all the holes drilled and routing the control cavity before I start sanding.
I attempted to rout around the control cavity so the cover will sit flush with the body.
It's routed, but in my head it was going to be neater tha what I ended up with lol. Oh well, live and learn.
I have the neck on at the moment (I hope everything is square).
Now I want to mount the bridge. What is the best method to work out the correct position?
The 12th fret being the half way point makes sense to me, but there is a video clip saying that it's not always the case.
Now I'm not sure what to do. What about centering the bridge? Is it just by stringing it up with some string or the bass strings and doing it by eye or is there a way to measure it?

Attachment 15584
Well, after quite some time I have finally got a little bit of time to work on this.
I decided to do it a bit different. After sanding I used some brown filler and sanded some more. I quite enjoyed the sanding.
Today I have waxed the body. I hope it works. I just need to remember to keep the wax up to it.
Next is fitting the tuners.
Any tips on getting them all lined up. I think I would like to have them angled back a bit like the Warwicks. It just feels right when tuning lol.

I'd run a thin bit of tape down the centreline of the headstock to act as a baseline. Then cut a bit of card into a triangular shape, with one of the angles (highlight this corner) matching the angle you want the tuners to be at. Then fit and tighten the tuners so that they can still move a bit, angle them so that they line up with the edge of the triangle when the other edge is placed along the baseline. Then tighten up the tuner nuts fully. Check again (in case the tightening moved them), and when happy, mark and drill (or simply drill) through the anti-rotation screw hole, fit the screws and there you are.

Good idea, I'll give it a try.

The wiring diagram for the pickups show 2 wires, my pickups have 3 groups of wires.
Black, green with braid and red with white.
Any ideas ow to wire these up?

The kits used to come with two wire pickups hence the diagram, but now are being shipped with four wire versions. Black should be your 'hot', the green & bare is your 'ground/shield' and the joined red and white is the series link connecting the two coils inside the pickup.

If you're not going to be doing any fancy coil splitting then insulate the ends of the red/white wires so they can't short with anything, then just connect the black as hot and green/bare are ground/shield as per the diagram.

Awesome, thanks for that.