My first pitbull, IB-5 five string bass.

[Tindrrel]

should be fine, might need to drill the 2 neck screw holes a bit deeper. Make sure you put the existing 2 screws in before you drill the other 2 as the neck may have shifted a bit

Oh, I drilled all four already. It's just that I installed two of them to measure out the bridge with strings and not have a clamp in the way. I'll check the depth of the holes compared to how much extra screw I get. Need to go buy another new hole borer now...

[wokkaboy]

yeah that will be fine if you already drilled the 4 holes.
Make sure you find a drill borer that is bigger than the washer diameter. Try get the depths the same

[stan]

great job, this is coming up nicely

[Tindrrel]

My Dingobass bone nut upgrade arrived today, so I checked it over then clobbered the old plastic nut with the end of a length of pine sliding over the frets.

The old nut:


Came off fairly clean, going to go that with a small file to smooth off any old glue.


The new nut:

Not actually glued down yet.

[wokkaboy]

looks good Tindrrel. I got a bone nut cut by DB for mine as well.
Be worth putting the bridge on and test the string spacing for B and G strings

[Brendan]

Looks great - encouraging me to get my IB-5 out again...

[Tindrrel]

Bit the bullet and ordered the Bourns upgraded pots. They're a larger threaded section than the metric pots provided so had to enlarge the holes.

Now that's done, last of the drilling, routing and shaping, I can get to sanding the body for the finish.

Definitely wouldn't ever get a 24mm full size pot in there.

A pity, since I can't seem to find quality 16mm mini pots with a linear taper - despite knowing they are possible, since the kit came with some (even if all four pots, 2x audio and 2x linear have exactly the same code on the back).

[wokkaboy]

good work Tindrrel,
so all the pots supplied are A or B type? should be 2 x A and 2 x B type

[Tindrrel]

good work Tindrrel,
so all the pots supplied are A or B type? should be 2 x A and 2 x B type

The kit provided pots are 2 x A and 2 x B.

They are all labeled:
CHERKFAN
R1610NY
but I have confirmed with a meter they are 2 x A500K and 2 x B500K.

Googling about indicates even their 250K pots have exactly the same labelling.

However the Bourns upgrade available are A only.

Searching around other shops as well, the B type Bourns seem to be listed as discontinued - which might just mean no longer stocked.

CTS make a B500K of course, but I can't find any in the 16mm size. Same with the Gotoh ones, A comes in 16mm and 24mm, B seems to only be available in 24mm.

Of course there's plenty of discussion of if it matters. No, I don't really want to start that whole debate here...

I've always thought that my tone pots were linear so I set them middle and use the EQ on the amp.

The Bourns won't be linear, so again I'll probably just find a spot I like and set it on the amp.

[Tindrrel]

So a few hours sanding (my last post was during a break from that).

Used 320 and 400 on the front, 240, 320 and 400 on the back until it all felt about as smooth as it was going to get.

The grain changing directions with each of the segments was interesting to cope with. Had to be careful at the edges of the veneer as the grain direction on the veneer and the direction on the body behind it rarely matched.

(Did earlier IB-5 kits have a veneer? Looking in the gallery they seem to have the lines where the separate parts of the body planks show through to the front - as if they didn't have a cap on them.)

Clean up, then apply the Dingotone Nullarbor Ochre.

I put a dash on a scrap of pine first and it was much redder than I expected, but I instantly liked it, so I went ahead.

I was expecting more like:

from the PBG store page on Nullarbor Ochre.

What I got was more like:


Aside from a couple of places it stained evenly. Perhaps these were repair spots. Along the bottom of the body and where the planks join under the top horn.


Give it a few days and then some and I'll apply the intensifying coat.