Wokka's JBA-4 build diary

[andrewdosborne]

Nice work Woks! Looking forward to hearing a demo

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[Hobastard]

Looks great Wokks. inspiring me to get started.

Get on with it!!!!!

[Simon Barden]

I see two issues here.

One is that the P and J kits seem to use the same neck. Fender use the same width at the body end (2.5"/63.5mm), but the P bass nut is 43mm wide, whilst the J bass nut is 38mm wide. So the strings on a real Jazz bass are spreading out from each other at a greater angle than on a P bass, so should need wider pole piece spacing and a wider bridge spacing than on a P bass. I've no idea what the nut widths are on the kits, but I'd suspect they are nearer 43mm than 38mm. Maybe this is why the PBG JB kit pickups are narrower than standard? Maybe we should ask Adam if we can have different necks for the two models, rather than a one-size doesn't quite fit all solution? If I wanted to build a JB kit, I'd want a jazz bass style neck with a narrow nut.

The other is as you've highlighted, that the pickups are slightly offset from the centre line of the neck/bridge. However, the bridge does look to be aligned correctly with the neck (certainly the strings look to be running along it parallel to the sides), so that it's either the pickup routs that were routed a bit offset, or the neck pocket angle was wrong (or a bit of both). If you move the bridge, then unless you can generate some angular rotation of the neck in the pocket to match, then the strings will be all wonky, which will look worse and (play worse) than the slightly offset pickups.

Awkward and not easy to solve. You might be able to rotate the pickguard and control plate slightly so that at least the neck pickup is in central alignment (if not pole spacing), but that still leaves the bridge pickup to sort out, which means reshaping the cavity.

Or you could simply fit pickups with solid covers, such as a nice set of Bartolinis, so that it's far less obvious to look at.

[Simon Barden]

Or get a black Sharpie and colour those pole pieces black!

Forgot to say that pickup locations aside, it does look a great bass.

[stan]

Another pro quality job, Wokks, nice result

[wokkaboy]

cheers for all the comments and feedback gang. I think you might be right I think the bridge pup cavity is a little off centre. The neck pocket was tight so there was no movement in the neck so I bolted that on first. I did manage to move the bridge about 3mm to the right, just enough to cover the old holes. The string offset was equal, now there's a little less offset on the G string but still plenty of fret to work with. Here's a pic of the bridge and pup poles from above the strings align to the poles better. Other pic shows string offset.
I agree Simon about the Jazz kits should have a narrow nut neck. First time I played a real jazz bass that was the first thing I noticed the narrow nut.

[WeirdBits]

Looks good Wokks and even better now with the bridge tweak. The pups poles look just about perfect now.

Have you finalised the nut yet, can you maybe nudge it slightly towards the bass side to help with the string alignment down the fretboard?

[wokkaboy]

hey Weirdy cheers mate. Yes I have to fit a DB bone nut he's slotted it. I just have to sand down the width and height so it fits. I will try and move the nut a bit on the bass side to help the string alignment. That's this arvo's project

EDIT oh and big congratulations Weirdy on Overlord status, just noticed !

[Hobastard]

Mate, that Bass is looking the Business.....

[wokkaboy]

cheers Hoby, I will get a demo video soon once its setup and the bone nut is on. Was giving a short test about 11pm lastnight and no bricks through the window haha sounds great with the bass on the pre-amp turned right up and a bit of treble