Bill Bass Build 2 Thunderbird

As my first build is going to slow down while the various finish coats need to cure I thought I'd better start planning ahead for the next one :)

I've always loved the Thunderbird shape so it was a pretty obvious choice. & this magically arrived on Friday last week!
The kit finish isn;t as good as the JB-4A but there's certainly nothing that should be a major issue.
http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/...psm7u22cd5.jpg

The neck is probably a 1/2mm wide right at the top of the pocket and the nut broke off in transit but all easily fixable.
http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/...pss3xhf6fr.jpg

http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/...psx4j0eibp.jpg

I won;t be doing anywhere near the body reshaping that I've done on the JazzBass and the finish will probably be a black/silver sort of thing. There will be some definite changes from the classic Tbird though...

Sounds great!

Nice looking kit and have also longingly looked at T-birds dreaming of having one some day. Just too may PBG kits that keep tempting me all the time haha.

Who's the dumbest person in the room? - ME PICK ME!!

What's wrong with this picture of my newly routed battery box hole...
http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6yxyykix.jpg

I think I have a plan however.

Ummm, that wouldn't happen to be the bridge screws would they??!!

Um......whoops!

Bill will the battery box fit and miss the bridge screws ?

OK, I've glued and screwed some plywood (3 layers of 1.5mm ply araldited together) to replace the wood over the bridge screws to make sure they'll be able to grip properly. I don;t want the bridge flying off at a bad moment.

The battery box is a two battery one and thankfully the screwline only overlaps one of the battery holders. I've hacked and filed a lot of plastic off the base of that side of the battery box and it just fits while still allowing both battery compartments to open.

I'll probably have to grind just under a mm off the tip of the affected neck screws but that won;t be a problem.

So - I think I have fixed the effects of my stupidity!

http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/...psoantzboy.jpg

http://i1077.photobucket.com/albums/...psydicc9a4.jpg

Did you free hand rout that battery box cavity? If so you are a braver man than I!

nice workaround Bill

Yes. It's always a problem knowing the best place to put a battery compartment and sometimes your options are very limited. Unfortunately you've just taken out all the mass you want underneath the bridge, or at least one side of it. Let's hope it doesn't cause you any problems.

Acoustic guitars have thinner tops and they generally work OK with only occasional problems, and you should still have a fair thickness between the compartment and the top, plus full thickness under the other part of the bridge (from what I can see).

Do you plan to rout the edge to recess the compartment, or leave it sitting a bit proud on the top?

Yeah FrankenWashie definitely hand routed (as can be seen by the pretty ordinary job), next job is to turn the neck humbucker cavity into a PBass cavity, hopefully that will be a bit neater, but again I'll have something to cover the cavity so it won;t be visible. At least there's no real options about getting the location wrong!

Simon - there were plenty of places I could have put it, I just completely missed the main consequence of this location - the only excuse is stupidity. Agreed with the mass below the bridge too, thankfully I won;t find out until it's too late to back out of it all :) Live and learn!
I was going to recess the compartment originally but now that extra mm makes a huge difference to being able to get away with this workaround so it will be proud. It's nicely rounded though and where it is shouldn;t be too much of a risk of jagging on clothing etc.

If you were really worried about mass or density underneath the bridge probably best to fill it up with Plasti Bond or something similar and find another more suitable location for the dual battery box setup.

hmmm, it's been a while, but this is starting to come together. Here's a couple of photos just to show things are happening, hopefully in the next month or so it will be finished. It is playable as of this afternoon but I need to sort out the truss rod cover and logo and let the strings/neck settle in. Definitely happy with it so far, the TBird shape is the one true shape for a bass ;)
I'll post proper photos when the whole thing is sorted :)

First coats of primer,much sanding followed.
Attachment 22540

Trying to get a decent coat of paint during the Canberra winter
Attachment 22542

The lamington factory exploded!
Attachment 22541

Cutting scratch plates can be messy.

So the whole raised centre block will be covered by the pickup/pickup surround?

Yep Fretworn, trying to highlight that whole center section.