TD's Scratchy Thinline

[fender3x]

The jarra makes a nice accent used as you have TD. A good way of adding some exotic flavor and still getting the lightness.

Funny that you should mention an SX, Rabbit. On my to-do list is replacing the body on my SX Frankenjazz bass to make it lighter. It currently weighs in at 9.8 lbs and that's with a basswood body. Hoping to shave off a couple of lbs with a paulownia body. I have modded the SX so much that the only things remaining that were OEM are the neck, the body and the neck plate. When I finish, just the neck and neckplate will remain.

There is some rather nice looking South American wood that is relatively light in Colombia where my wife is from Kicking myself that I did not repurpose some of it when we got rid of some furniture we had from there...

The radiata has been good in my cabs. Saves a few lbs over the baltic birch ply that was the other option. I think it's native to CA and Mexico, but I understand it's farmed in Australia...so sort of a naturalized Australian wood? ;-)

[Trevor Davies]

Some cooler weather in Perth today, so I have practiced spraying a burst. It is Cabot's w/b Stain and Clear Poly, Gloss with black stain. Besides being a bit thinner than the straight poly, it has gone on OK.

I practiced on a chipboard cutout first (the white body), and then tried it on the blue tele. I do need more practice, but pleased with my first go!

[fender3x]

Geez! If that's an early effort, I can't wait to see what it looks like once you've practiced! I have always loved a blue burst.

I am also impressed by your attention to detail. Even your turning stick is a work of art. There's a curve on the back side, another on the front and lovely countersunk screws. All of mine look like they were made by a dyslexic third-grader.

(BTW, I am not casting aspersions on dyslexic people or third-graders. I was, once, a dyslexic third-grader. My jigs were no prettier then either.)

[Trevor Davies]

Thanks Fender3x.

[Trevor Davies]

Sprayed on four more coats of clear to the blue tele. Hopefully I can polish it next week.

[Trevor Davies]

I have now completed the pine with jarrah strips tele bass.

Wet sanded the body with 1200 to 2000g.
Polished the body with Kustom Creations Kustom Grit step 1 (cutting compound) by hand, and step 2 using a Random Orbital Polisher and micro-fibre pad. I then applied Maguire’s Scratch X with the Polisher and micro-fibre cloth.
Added the neck.
Soldered and added the electronics electronics (though I still need to get a capacitor to try Wierdbits wiring diagram (from https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post202915).
The pup is an Entwistle Jazz neck.
Strings and setup also completed.

[Trevor Davies]

Interesting to notice how different the finishes are on the Tru-oiled pine tele versus the Cabot's water based poly on the pine. The Tru-oil definitely adds an amber tint.

[Rabbit]

The pine kinda looks like maple. the Jarrah contrasts well. bet it's a heck of lot lighter than maple! That head stock looks a heck of lot more elegant than the fender one!

[fender3x]

I agree about the nice contrast with the jarrah. Very nice.

I used a water based finish (General Finishes High Performance) on my hybrid bass and got similar results. It added almost no color. Worked well mixing with a solid daphne-ish blue. But I wanted a bit more amber on my p-bass project, so put some shellac under it. The good news (and bad news if you want a deeper color) is that water based finishes don't yellow at all, or very little. Shellac is some shade of amber to begin with but is stable. So, if you finish with shellac and/or water based, it should continue to look the same as it ages. Oil finishes tend to become deeper over time. I have a maple guitar neck that I bought, and put a light coat of oil-based finish in the late 1980s. It looked almost completely clear back then. It's now a deep amber. Lovely...unless that's not what you wanted ;-)

But, one thing's for sure. The finishes look great on both...and good to have the contrast in your collection.

I am curious what you are doing with the switch? I tried clicking on the link, but it didn't work. Is it like the Esquire tone circuit? I can see that with the J pickup. Did you do the same with both? or did you do a coil split with with the
Filtertron?

[Trevor Davies]

Thanks Rabbit and Fender3x.

@Fender3x: I fixed the link which is to Wierdbits "3 way import with high cut". ATM the pine bass with the humbucker uses the switch as a kill switch only. Maybe I could try the coil split!