Waz's MMB-4

[wazkelly]

I have both 1500 and 2000...and I have the micro mesh pads from the sandpaper man.

Thanks though.

All good then. Maybe one more 1200 wet sand after 4 more coats then move up to 1500 should start to bring it home.

[wazkelly]

Getting closer to the finish line

Touched up area that was dug out to fit pre amp with some fresh copper tape last night, checked that everything fitted and found it was still a bit cramped. In fact the last pre-amp pot for one of the tone boosts was sitting on top of the jack socket plus wires attached to end of jack socket also looked a bit vulnerable. Ended up removing one nylon washer off all pots to raise their bases by similar thickness and that provided just enough clearance over jack socket which had just been de-soldered and re-soldered with heat shrink added to insulate some bare contacts that may have shorted out if left unattended. At each small change I stopped to check and make sure there was still sound coming out to avoid a lengthy trouble shoot if done all at once and then found no noise....been there and done that too many times before.

It was way past 10 pm when I screwed down the boomerang plate and plugged it in to the Hartke 75w combo and had to keep volume at a sensible level but was quite impressed with the tone of this GFS pickup, and the 3 way mini dpdt switch does actually work and provides a couple of significantly different sounds. all of which are best when left in humbucking series position. When dropping a coil the level also drops a bit and can't wait to play it over the weekend with a bit more volume to see how it really sounds.

Below shots taken early this morning.....still have setting up neck, action, intonation plus another final polish to go.

[WeirdBits]

I’m digging the nice clean natural look. Uncluttered and very nice.

[wazkelly]

I’m digging the nice clean natural look. Uncluttered and very nice.

Thanks Scott.

Lots of chrome on the boomerang plate had me wondering whether black knobs might look better but I will stick with this for now and let it grow on me before making that decision.

[wazkelly]

Finished, at last.....it only took the best part of 18 months!

This one has been on a slow burner for quite some time and was too busy obsessing with achieving the perfect finish and had to draw the line somewhere or it may still be a work in progress for a lot longer.

Not too many original kit bits ended up being used other than neck & body plus bridge, control plate & screws, neck plate & bolts.

Some of the modifications included:
Rounded over the side profile by hand using 80 & 120 grit sand paper.
MM 5 string headstock shape used without the offset 5th string tuner hole
Allparts 4 in Line Bass Tuner Set
Allparts Tele style Chrome Electrosocket Jack Plate
PBG Bone Nut
GFS MM Pro Plus- Alnico Music Man style pickup
Belcat Pre-Amp
Jaycar mini DPDT on-off-on pickup coil split switch
Straplocks

[wazkelly]

Also did a short demo video earlier today that requires some editing....hope to post that in the next few days.

[Andyxlh]

Well done Waz, that looks fantastic

[Andy M]

Not a kit, but I upgraded a similar bass made by Hamer. Put in a Wilkinson Pickup, which improved the sound greatly.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wilk...27424c4diqinci

About that bridge: there are 3 screws on one end and 2 at the other. I upgraded with a MM style bridge, which has two ferrules where the two screw are, then hex bolts screw into the ferrules. Much more solid sound and feel, and looks better too.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Chro...27424c4dC6XNrU

[wazkelly]

Those links showed some nice upgrade goodies.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[DarkMark]

That looks flawless. Great clean looks. Looking forward to the demo.