#5 - rc4

When I started on this journey in Jan 2017, I had a plan. An LP, a Tele, a Strat, a 335 and a Ric bass. I was lucky as the LPs disappeared shortly after I got mine. Then disaster, was Bass time and the Ric's had vanished as well and nothing else really took my fancy, so thought I had missed out.

Well, I've no idea where Santa had this box hidden for 4 months or so, but he managed to keep it tucked away somewhere.

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As I have never had a bass, and no doubt will be even worse than I am on the guitar,plan is to build it just as it comes, no upgrades. Will probably be doing a TO finish.

Wonderful! I like mine a lot. Don't forget to get glue all over the tongue when you put it in, sides and end as well as back, as there's not a lot of contact patch.
I changed a lot on mine, but the only really necessary upgrade was the machine heads and nut. The problem is the headstock is very small, and I had to cut the machine heads down to fit. I sourced a brass nut on eBay cheap, which I like (both the cheap and the brass).

Love these Ric threads. I've had a '73 4001 since I rescued it from a pawn shop in '83. Awesome instruments.

Power through when you don't have work to get in the way.
Sanded, grain filled, bridge positioned and first coat of oil.

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Andyxlh,

Did you find the nut local or need to buy from US?

Cheers

3 coats of oil, taking longer than had hoped, in this weather leaving it 48 hrs rather than 24 to dry.

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Tru Oil usually dries quite quickly in hot & humid conditions and only need the longer time to allow things to harden up before knocking back via a wet sanding session.

Had ran out of TO so experimenting with something else this time.

Tung oil?

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Its actually Feast Watson Kitchen bench oil. It does have Tung oil in it.

Figured if its tough enough for chopping boards and benches should be tough enough for a guitar. Also its food safe, so I can eat off it :-)

Will wax polish it once dry

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rossc0

Its actually Feast Watson Kitchen bench oil. It does have Tung oil in it.

Figured if its tough enough for chopping boards and benches should be tough enough for a guitar. Also its food safe, so I can eat off it :-)

Will wax polish it once dry

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Be careful though, strawberries and some varieties of capsicum and tomato will still stain it.

Beetroot, tumeric, even pumpkin & sweet potato could too.

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Trying to accelerate the drying process, till I get turfed out.

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Nice chopping board!

Ha ha ....I can see an eviction coming

Haven't bothered with a full build diary with this one, plenty of RC4s around, and this is a straight kit build no updates a simple oil finish and there haven't been any issues, except a drill bit snapping inside the body when I was doing a pilot hole for the bottom strap button..

Still happy with how its turning out. Will finish it tomorrow probably, only got the pickups and output jack to solder in, light sand and lemon oil for the neck.

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Gotta love a nice clean natural finish.
Looks great.

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Done, fastest build to date. Suppose thats what happens when its a straight up kit build and no paint involved.

At some point in the future I'll probably get round to changing the nut, but surprisingly the kit tuners feel pretty good and do the job well so far. Also if I can be bothered, the 3 way switch is upside down, neck pickup bottom position, but I'll leave it for the second as everything is working sweetly not a buzz or hum anywhere.

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Looks great! What did you use to make the art work on the headstock?

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Originally Posted by TZK321

Looks great! What did you use to make the art work on the headstock?

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Cheers,

Waterslide Decal paper, use in conjunction with a laser printer;

https://drdecalmrhyde.com.au/shop/la...al-paper-copy/

Looks great. Nice work.

Now that does look very nice indeed.

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That's really lovely. Good choice on just using oil for the finish! I'm jealous. Now that I'm finally in the position where I CAN build a kit, all the Ric bass kits are gone. Looks like I'm going to have to find a template so I can cut my own.

Well, I guess I'll practice on this Jazzmaster kit I have...