During the wet rub (800g) of the 4-in-1 undercoat, I discovered that because of the thickness of the two coats; the through body string ferules did not fit in to their shoulder rebates any longer. The undercoat had added a good 0.7-1mm of material to the holes. Darn!
The only way to solve the problem was to re-machine them out again.
After considering all options, I decided to do this with a Dremel square cutter mounted in the drill press. This time I compensated for the paint thickness.. Duh! (See pic) Thankfully, it worked a treat.
Next was the transitional coat to the acrylic lacquer colour coats. Septone Primer Filler is perfect for this, as it is a high build primer that allows the hiding of any residual imperfections easily. As its colour is beige, it was really easy to see any areas where I had sanded through (with 1500G wet paper) to the previous coat which was white.
This was particularly important on the edges, as I could see easily where the thin spots were, and re-coat/sand accordingly.
While the touch-up coats dried, I test fitted the new machine heads that had arrived the previous day. These Schaller BM’s are a world of difference to the clunky cheapies in the kit.
As this bass is going to be a workhorse, it was a worthwhile investment of $130. Even with this (most costly) upgrade, the bass will still be within budget.
Although not really obvious, the plugged hole from the original incorrectly positioned (compared to a real MM) G tuner is annoying me, so I may just cover it with a decal of some sort... perhaps even a PitBull one.
Final rubdown was a wet 1500G. The body now has a shine and is a smooth as glass.
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