Wazkelly's EX-5

Box of goodies arrived and looks like everything is in there.

Will need to use a proper camera throughout the build as these were done on iphone 4 and when resizing files it didn't turn out so good.

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looks good Waz, do a full mock build to make sure it all fits together and all the parts are there.
Whats your paint/stain plans so far ?

Thanks wokkaboy.

Mock build was good and everything seems to fit right. Being first time build no doubt there will some unexpected surprises along the way.

Ordered outback sunset but thinking of speaking with DB about a special blend with Cooloongatta Gold as wanting to replicate the classic Korina look. The Basswood body has a little bit of decent grain to show off and was not keen on doing a solid paint colour to hide what I hope will be a piece of art when finished. (Hope it plays and sounds good too!)

First day sanding the body. Found a few dings, marks and glue spots to sand out.

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More sanding.

End grain on the back edge shows a deep crack that had been filled poorly and took lots, and lots, and even lots more sanding with 180 & then 240 to finally make it less noticeable. same with glue joints front and back as the body looks like 3 bits of wood glued together before being machine cut into the Explorer shape. Pretty standard stuff as that seems to be how Gibson do it and the main trick will be trying to hide the glue joints when finishing off.

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Waz, nice parcel of goodies there. Plans for this sound good. Keep at the sanding, do some more, then some more and a bit more for good measure. I've just finished a rather long session on my TL-1 basswood body and going the extra mile makes the difference.


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Thanks Andrew. Just wondering what grits and finish you used as some of the forum threads warn against going too smooth if intending to stain.

For my current basswood project, I used 120, 150, 180 then 240. I may go to 320 but no more. I always start a bit heavier as it cleans up machining marks a bit quicker.



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Thanks Andrew, good tip.

I wanted to do one of these kits, just getting the motivation to order one, and the patience for it to arrive. Super keen to see how this turns out bro! Looks like you've done a good job so far.

Thanks Kurt. I had been looking at various kits for quite some time and originally was keen on a 5 string Spalted Ibanez shape which then became 6. Far too many strings for me unless I am playing guitar instead of Bass. Eventually the EX-5 popped up and after pondering about it for a few months dived in the deep end and here we go.

Another sanding session earlier this afternoon.

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Bit of a dark grain line between pickup routes and wondered if anyone had ideas on how to make it lighter? I have sanded plenty in this vicinity and if not too careful will go below sea level compared to the rest of the surface. Also spotted a bit of caramel coloured filler near the neck joint that hopefully won't be too noticeable in the final finish.

The end grain is coming along nicely on the edge of some wings.
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Cannot forget about doing the neck at the same time.
Love the profile, it feels awesome and not too thick nor wide across the fingerboard. Noticed a dark looking bit on the underside of the hockey stick headstock and not sure what to do to disguise that? Was planning to stain same colour all over and happy to hear any ideas anyone may have. Also spotted a small dent in the rosewood high up and presume damp rag and soldering iron is the go to sort it out?
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Looks great waz, damp cloth and soldering iron will take that dinto out no problem. As for that mark, hard to tell what it is in the picture, looks like it could be from the woodgrain itself. id see if it sands out if you really don't want it there, apart from that I wouldn't worry about it too much, it's not really noticeable changes beside ring it's on the underside edge of the headstock,

Thanks for the encouragement Kurt

Just finished sanding.
Took it back with 180, 240, 320 and finally 400, hence why it has taken so long since last posts. Extremely soft wood this Basswood Body and very susceptible to dings, as I have discovered the hard way. Thankfully they were not too deep and just required a bit more sanding to remove. Will need to be more careful once finished unless application of the Dingo Tone stains and Wax can toughen it up?
Damped things down for these photos to illustrate some of the grain starting to appear. Front looks like it will show the 3 planks glued together to create this beast whilst back is not so obvious. What has really surprised and delighted me is some of the stunning end grain that has jumped out after sanding off all the factory machine cuts, etc. Was always going to stain this and waiting for DT Coolangatta Gold ordered a few days ago to arrive so that I can start experimenting with DT Outback Sunset to create a special blend. Hoping to mix up a brew that resembles the original Explorer Korina finish.
Here are the front & back shots.
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Just finished sanding.
Took it back with 180, 240, 320 and finally 400, hence why it has taken so long since last posts. Extremely soft wood this Basswood Body and very susceptible to dings, as I have discovered the hard way. Thankfully they were not too deep and just required a bit more sanding to remove. Will need to be more careful once finished unless application of the Dingo Tone stains and Wax can toughen it up?
Damped things down for these photos to illustrate some of the grain starting to appear. Front looks like it will show the 3 planks glued together to create this beast whilst back is not so obvious. What has really surprised and delighted me is some of the stunning end grain that has jumped out after sanding off all the factory machine cuts, etc. Was always going to stain this and waiting for DT Coolangatta Gold ordered a few days ago to arrive so that I can start experimenting with DT Outback Sunset to create a special blend. Hoping to mix up a brew that resembles the original Explorer Korina finish.
Here are the front & back shots.
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Just finished sanding.
Took it back with 180, 240, 320 and finally 400, hence why it has taken so long since last posts. Extremely soft wood this Basswood Body and very susceptible to dings, as I have discovered the hard way. Thankfully they were not too deep and just required a bit more sanding to remove. Will need to be more careful once finished unless application of the Dingo Tone stains and Wax can toughen it up?

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The Dings can usually be steamed back into shape with a wet cloth, soldering iron or iron.

Here are some of the edge photos showing end grain
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I should mention that my hand is not usually that red as shown in one of the photos. Used iPhone 4 to take indoor photos and will need to use something better to capture actual colours.

Neck shots now added too. Love this neck as it has plenty of grain and already feels good in terms of width and profile.
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Thanks Gavin for that hot tip.

Have been looking around for a hard case that might fit this beast. Not having much luck as it is so freakin' huge measuring around 39cm high, 123cm long, and 6cm thick in the body that will probably be closer to 7 or 8cm once hardware and strings are added.
Unfortunately Epiphone have discontinued their Explorer Bass Case and most others are not wide enough to fit a 39cm body. Does anyone have a clue where I might find one that doesn't cost a small fortune?

Check ith Artist a guitars, I got a flying 'v' case from them...its one huge case!!!

I found a gig bag on E-bay...Fits perfectly!

Plenty of Explorer Guitar cases and bags available but nothing to fit a bass which is typically longer than similar guitar shape. Was your gig bag for guitar or bass?

It is for a bass. It was the only thing that I could find, and I was super glad... building a custom hard case wasn't part of my evil plan!Attachment 5385

Thanks Gavin. Just checked and at 119cm it is at least 4cm too short. It would otherwise fit but not too keen on chopping the headstock to make it fit.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/30mm-Gig-Bag...item56761d0513

Have a look, i was favorably impressed, it is a nice bag.

Thanks General. I was starting to consider custom building a case too. Being in USA you might be able to buy a Dean one on Amazon for around $100 bucks as I was all set to go and was turned down as they don't ship outside USA. Was the gigbag from US supplier or can it sourced internationally?
Your EX-5 looks good. Have you finished it yet and how does it sound? Did you keep & use the supplied pickups?

Thanks mate. Looks like the go.

That bag comes out of New Jersey, I don't know what shipping to Ozz might cost.

I made a couple of mistakes on this build, nothing serious, and am trying to hook up with my pinstriper friend to finish it off.
Then I'll enter it in GOTM, just for giggles. I was surprised at just how good This bass sounded with the
supplied pups, good thick meaty tone. I wanted this to play at bar gigs so I wouldn't have to worry so much
about "losing" my boutique axes...... Mission accomplished!!

(and besides, it just looks so cool!)

Sure does look cool. What did you use for the finish?

Rattle can Rustoleum!

great work there

Applied first stain coat this afternoon.
Experimented with mixing up various brews by blending Dingo Tone Outback Sunset & Coolangatta Gold with results shown in these photos. It came out a bit more Orange than I had planned and wonder whether a light sand or scrub with steel wool will tone it down a bit before applying a second base stain coat which will be just straight Coolangatta Gold? My thoughts are that by adding more CG stain then CG intensifier it should give things more of a Wudtone Burning Sun look rather than the mainly light orange colour at present? Any feedback would be much appreciated.
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wow love the colour Woz. Would have been safer to add tiny amounts of outback sunset or even start on CG but it's done now.
The only way to lighten it will be to give it a sand with whatever grit you sanded it to before the stain - 320/360 grit ?
The DT actually gets a bit darker as it cures.
Once you get some colour out I'd just go with 100% CG and see how it looks.
Did you mix CG and OS about 50/50 ?
I reckon 10% OS would have been maximum if you want a colour in between

Hi Woks, thanks for the feedback. Agree that a light 320 Grit might be the go to knock some of the colour off, might even leave a bit of grain fill type effect if I don't go to hard at it. How long do you reckon I should leave before hitting it with grits? Current forecast for this part of SE Qld for the next week is up to 22 - 25 degrees down to overnight lows between 10 - 12 degrees.

I started with 100% OS & 100% CG side by side on a bit of pine ply and gradually went 1:2,1:3, 1:4, 1;5 in either direction and settled on 1 part OS to 3 parts CG. The samples from 1:4 to 1:5 didn't seem to get much lighter as shown below.
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Waz better let the body and neck cure for couple of days so should be right by Saturday.
Just keep in mind it's easier to make the stain darker but harder to make it lighter.
You may find coats of CG will have the right colour you are after.
You can always build up a bit of OS if you need it darker.
Looking at your samples it doesn't take much OS to darken the CG