Maddog's 2nd build: PBH-4 "Bass Overkill"

The plan for this one is:
starting with the PBH-4 kit
upgrading the pickups to an active system
which includes routing a hole to install the battery box to power it
Thinking of trying to do a cherry burst using dingotone
getting DB to a bone nut for me
also thinking of upgrading the bridge to Babicz FCH and machine heads as well though I haven't decided on the color

The kit itself will take time to get to me which will give me time to
a) practice with the router so I don't ruin the guitar
b) experiment with the dingotone to practice the burst
c) make some swatches with the dingotone to give me idea of which colors work best

I may have bitten off more than I can chew

Sean

hey Maddog (finally know your real name Sean !)
sounds like a huge project but well easy as it's your 2nd build.
Take your time and you can build a really cool bass.
PBH-4 was the first bass I built. With the upgrades you are talking of it should be a weapon !

Man, with a few upgrades the pbh is a weapon. Sounds like a rad plan.

So I ended up ordering EMG pickups and eq as well as some knobs to match.
As I was inspecting them I realised that I should have ordered 2 stacked knobs instead of 1.
Looked in the knob bag and they had thrown in an extra one so I'm all sorted

Props to EMG

sounds good Sean, EMG pups should sound great

I've ordered the Babicz bridge, that just leaves the machine heads. I've decided to go with black for the hardware and I've been looking at the Gotoh tuners, does anyone have any suggestions of others I should look at?

i think gotohs are good bang for buck

Hey Maddog, I haven't upgraded any bass tuners but I've had alot of satisfaction with gotoh guitar tuners so I'd go for them.

DB always says steer clear of Hipshot tuners and bridges

I agree with the Gotoh tuners! Got some on my bass and they are pretty stable so far!

Digging the avatar that you were provided with Maddog!

The kit arrived yesterday so I've got a few pics

http://imgur.com/WTOXCg7.jpg

http://imgur.com/hmWuwrh.jpg

http://imgur.com/cw6eJJV.jpg

Love the figure on the fretboard
http://imgur.com/d4B1K7b.jpg

So the hardware list is:
Babicz FCH bridge
EMG PX and MMTW pickups with BQC system EQ
Gotoh GB-640B tuners and other assorted black hardware
Bone nut by DB

for the EQ system I think I might need to expand the control cavity so I tried to mount it to the pickguard to check and discovered the pots have thicker poles so don't fit

another issue with the pickguard is it has a cutout for the truss rod which I feel shouldn't be there:

http://imgur.com/fijN2lw.jpg

This should be a really sweet axe, man. I've got EMG pickups in two of my basses and they sound fantastic, so I reckon you'll be pretty happy with them. Looking forward to seeing how this progresses.
Cheers

love the texture on the back:
http://i.imgur.com/yE30BGG.jpg

A couple of marks on the sides which will need some attention:
http://i.imgur.com/NpOfRXu.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SjqDh1R.jpg

There are also a few spots on the headstock like this:
http://i.imgur.com/6GryDyt.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Maddogm

A couple of marks on the sides which will need some attention:
http://i.imgur.com/NpOfRXu.jpg

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Wow. I wonder if this is a plug, or just the tiniest sliver of the next piece of work from the multi piece slab they cut these from.

So I'm going to need to enlarge the pot holes on the pickguard, are there any tips/gotchas I should look out for?
Current thinking is just drill through with a slightly larger drill bit until it fits

Go slow, make sure your bit is straight, try putting some wood underneath to not damage the guard. That's my advice!
Also I think the truss rod adjusts from the heel end, take a look at the heel and if there is a hole in the neck just under the fretboard, that is where it is adjusted from.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by keloooe

Go slow, make sure your bit is straight, try putting some wood underneath to not damage the guard. That's my advice!
Also I think the truss rod adjusts from the heel end, take a look at the heel and if there is a hole in the neck just under the fretboard, that is where it is adjusted from.

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Yeah, I just don't like the notch in the pickguard, though from looking around it's not uncommon

Turns out EMG are messing with me, expanded out the pot holes to 8mm (my largest bit), only to discover 2 of the 4 pots are 9mm (or probably imperial equivalent)

hey maddog, go to your favourite seller of tools and get an inexpensive set of spade bits. they usually range from 10-25mm. as long as they are straight, cheapies will be fine for timbers like pine and basswood, etc, and a way quicker and nicer way to open out holes

ok, so I've got the pots fitted into the pickguard and I am going to have to modify the cavity if I want to install them in the order I want.
The catch being I'd probably need to modify if to the point that I wouldn't be able to screw it down and therefore would need a custom pickguard.

http://i.imgur.com/BzI9t8a.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/caqLgNe.jpg

yeah, I know I'll have to re-run the wires

Btw. the order I was planning on is (from closest to the strings to furthest):
Master volume (push-pull pot: when pulled switches the humbucker to single coil)
Balance
Stacked pot- mid range eq
Stacked pot- bass/treble

the catch is the stacked pots with their attached electronics take up the most room but I want to put them in the thinnest part of the cavity.

Do I modify the cavity or am I better off reversing the order? (yes I might be thinking out loud here)

Not a lot of wiggle room there.....

I am sure that Pablpepper could make you a kick butt custom scratch plate, then you could go mental and rout the cavity to fit it all in.

So I'm thinking of going an RC style cavity/pickguard tail and maybe removing the horn on pickguard to expose more wood. Also add a truss rod cover

http://i.imgur.com/ZSCVO55.jpg

So I've been thinking about this build while slowing working on sanding my other build (really, really slowly), and was thinking that I would prefer to do the control cavities from the rear and do away with the pickguard but didn't think I was up to that stage yet.

At a couple of the gigs I went to in the last week I saw a couple of J-Bass deluxe copies that did exactly that and thought that's exactly what I want to do. After one of these gigs (at which I had a few) I ended browsing stewmac and ended up buying a mahogany body blank.

So the plan now is to make a copy of the body in mahogany with a red stain to go with the black hardware I've got.

I'm so biting off more than I can chew

Hi Maddogm

I thought that myself (biting more than I could chew) when I decided to start working on a blank. Now - it's really not that hard if you have at least some of the right tools, patience and careful planning plus triple checking before starting on for example routing. I for example didn't make any hard templates but used an oven paper to transfer lines on to the wood. One thing I did was route the neck pocket first. After trying on the neck you still can make changes positioning everything else on the blank. Measure, measure, measure... And you'll be alright.

the mahogany blank arrived the other day
Attachment 8559
Attachment 8560

also bought a couple of pieces of pine from the green shed that im going to turn into another body blank to practice on

Biting off more than you can chew? I know exactly what you mean.

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=4846

That is a lovely looking bit of mahogany though, I look forward to seeing it become a stonking bass body!

Nice 'hog blank ya got there.

It is vitally important to make a template that has the neck pocket and pup rout.
That way you know that everything will line up, and it also gives some wriggle room with the body shape.

DB, how would you go about doing what maddog is attempting?

I've had a go at tracing out a template for making a template :P
Attachment 8769
Attachment 8770

my main concern here is getting the neck pocket right, then the pickup routs. The rest is just looks :P
I think from here I should be able use this to position the neck to trace it onto the mdf I'm planning on using for the main template

Not 100% confident I'll get it right 1st time, but that's why I'm puting together a pine body blank until I can get it right.