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Hey folks,
Kit arrived a couple of weeks ago, and so I've a got a few pics on progress to bring this up to speed!
This is my first build, and it's amazing how you can something from WA to NZ, faster than I get stuff across town...
Anyway, here's the box, and the "what is this thing going to look like" mock build...
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Check out the grain pattern on the fretboard, dunno about you guys, but I think that's cool!
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Attack of the belt sander;
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And after a lighter touch with the 80-grit on a sanding pad;
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I wanted something a bit different, which is one of the attractions of this kit I guess. The neck fits *really* well into the body, so I figured giving the fretboard a bit of unique shape would be fine.
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These little details are quite exciting to add, you get a real sense that you're making something unique.
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It was at this point I started thinking things like "on my next build".
I like the way you think. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by kiwimatt
Attack of the belt sander, part 2;
It just looked a bit "wrong" in it's proportions to me, just too chunky on the top horn - and I guess that's part of what this is all about - there's no right or wrong - you can make it what you want it to be.
So back out with the belt sander, which I must add, is a fairly useful carving tool in the right (that's questionable in my case) hands.
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Happy with the result though - it looks a bit more elegant/balanced to my eye now.
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Looking good mate
Personal thing ... I'd take a bit more off here.Quote:
Originally Posted by kiwimatt
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Attachment 29481Quote:
Originally Posted by cork sniffer
More builds there will be, mm yes, more builds.
Yep he's hooked in good and proper!
Looking good, great start and welcome Kiwi Matt
Grain pattern checked and confirmation of coolness.Quote:
Originally Posted by kiwimatt
I second the confirmation. Coolness verified.Quote:
Originally Posted by DarkMark
Thirded! (Not a word but just go with it)Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
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Yeah, that grain is killer. Nice work on the build too
A bit of entertainment on the comments, thanks guys!
Righto - updates - and a few...
Sanding, sanding, sanding.... I've read the stories on here, and I can confirm the truth - there's a fair bit - I found it fun, though, seeing the shape evolve. I had a plan for what I was after, but you sort seem to go an a bit of a journey with it.
Anyway, a picture or two are better than more words.
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Masking - some of you'll see where I'm going with this...
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Staining. It's a basswood body, so pretty light on grain, and with the differences in the colour of the different pieces (as you can see in the above), I did think about going for a solid colour - would have been the easy option for a first build. But I thought "stuff it" (well, the actual word was less polite), and went with my original plan anyway.
I used Resene Colourwood Apollo Blue - even a test pot was way too much stain, could probably stain about 20 guitars from it! Anyway - for any other kiwi's doing a build looking for a decent wood stain - they have a good range.
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Fretboard end shaping is very cool man
It was looking good at that stage, then I decided to sand it. Which was a mistake at that point, because you end up with blue powdery wood stain, which goes EVERYWHERE, and is a royal PITA to clean up from any bare wood.
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Anyway, all is well that ends well, and it ended up like this prior to painting
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Next up, I cut out some cardboard shields to sit above the body and headstock, no secrets here - I'm going for a black sunburst effect. I saw this method on YouTube.
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You can see the headstock in the background on this next one.
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And the results
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I wasn't happy with the headstock - for obvious reasons. That required a light (very light!) sand, and another go at it. I used Dulux DuraMax spray (rattle can), which has quick recoat times, and seems to give a good result (Satin Black for the burst, and Gloss Clear over the top - but I'll get to that soon).
Thanks Andy, yeah - it seemed like I had enough there to do something a bit different :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy40
Headstock ended up like this
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And then I couldn't resist, and mounted the tuners.
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Which I will point out, before anyone else does! - that I intended them to be perpendicular to the edge of the headstock, and so all on different angles, I just think it looks better. Everyone to their own!
I think I said, before, but I give it a decent nudge this weekend, none of the usual weekend activities, so it seemed to move pretty quickly.
Observe, my high-tech spray booth...
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Then onto the fun stuff - lining the cavities and wiring.
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The wiring diagram was a bit confusing at first (says 250K pots, but the kit shipped with 500K pots), and figuring out which wire went where from the neck pickups was different (just the one wire), anyway - I eventually had one of those "oh" moments, where you think "you dumbass, it's actually pretty easy".
Bonus - didn't even burn myself on the soldering iron.
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Then I stopped taking photos for a while, because putting it together and it going from separate pieces into an actual, real bass guitar was probably the most fun of the build.
Anyways, I ended up with this;
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A couple of detail shots
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I did cut the truss-rod cover down from how it came in the kit. The original covered too much of the blue on the headstock.
I just used a sharp knife, then 1200-grit wet and dry paper, then buffed it by rubbing the cover quite hard on an old towel.
So, that's about it really. It came together pretty quickly this past week, and whilst I'm not sure it's up to the amazing standards I've seen on here, I'm happy with it. No headstock logo/decal yet - I'm not sure what I'd put on there, so I'm happy to leave for a while without one.
I've done a proper setup on it - the only thing left is to lower the nut - the action on the lower frets is a bit too high, but that aside, it plays well and sounds bloody good - I wanted a PJ, they have that growl that a P-bass (which I already have) just doesn't, and this has definitely got it!
I've got a Boss ME-20B effects processor, and with some distortion on from that on, that bridge pup gives it a really grunty growl (I dunno, that's the best description I can come up with) - it's wicked.
Anyway, that's my YB-4 build, definitely won't be my last - hope you folks enjoyed it!
Cheers,
Matt.
Looks great! I'm a sucker for timber back/coloured front combos, and this works particularly well
That's a great build! Love it.
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Choice Bro! I really do like the way the variance of the bass wood pieces has actually produced a really cool stripe pattern.
The burst has come up pretty well also.
Will you be putting this up for the Guitar of the Month comp?
Great work. These are pretty nice kits and a lot of fun to mod, great result. I actually really like how comfortable mine is to play. The body size ,it's a good weight (even with my additions) and the contours are very comfortable yours would be even more so with the forearm relief. There seem to be a few more GOTM contenders in the threads this morning.......
Thanks for the feedback guys! Enjoying seeing others builds come together. Xmas seems like a very productive time :)
I lowered the height of the nut earlier on today, only took a couple of gentle taps with the hammer and a block of scrap wood and it came away cleanly.
Took about 2.25mm off the bottom, used a wood block to hold the face against to keep it nice and square. Masking tape helps line up how far you need to take it down, and the excess tape gives you something to hold.
The underside of the plastic nut is hollow, so I'm glad i didn't try to lower it by cutting the slots deeper, that would have probably been a bad result.
A couple of minor tweaks, and it's now playing really well. I can hammer on on the first fret quite comfortably on all strings now, and the overall action and intonation is consistent.
Have been thinking about what I might build next... A TB-4 would be cool, I'm thinking a different, edgier take on it...
That can probably wait a few months though, best not to encourage my new found addiction to building these things!
It hopefully won’t be an issue, but the tuners are actually back to front. Usually they are mounted so that string pressure makes the gears mesh more closely, rather than pull the gears apart.
Hehe, oh! Well spotted FW.
I think i could swap them and not have the screw holes exposed, there looks to be enough on the peg end to cover that.
I guess it depends on the internals as to whether it would be an issue mechanically. They tune up and hold tune fine as they sit currently.
I’d probably leave it as it is then. If you have tuning issues later you can always fix it then.Quote:
Originally Posted by kiwimatt