IB-6S -- Zhenya

[stan]

some nice progress here Michael, looks great

[michael]

sounds good Michael, when do you hope to stain the body ? Always good to see how the spalt cap looks !

Possibly as soon as next week. Once I get the battery box routed, I can decide about installing the pre-amp, and if I want to drill the extra hole I'll need for the coil tap switch. After that, the body will be ready for staining.

I might start sealing the back of the neck today with Tung Oil. I can't seal the headstock until I get the revised logo done by my friend.

[michael]

With the exception of the headstock, which is awaiting the logo labels and sealing, the neck is done. A few coats of tung oil, some rubbing with 0000 steel wool, and then a wipe with lemon oil, and the back of the neck is smooth and fast.



Today, with my wife's uncle's help, a cavity for the 18V battery box was routed, and the control cavity was cleaned up, giving me plenty of room for the Flexcore pre-amp.



Next up is drilling the coil tap switch for the pre-amp, and inlaying the Dunlop StrapLock, based on a tip I saw in another build thread on TalkBass. Here's my test proof of concept:



Then, I can stain....

[stan]

nice progress Michael

[michael]

I opted against doing the inlaid strap locks because I wasn't sure how it would work with the horn, so I am ready now to stain the body. I did a coat of walnut stain today, and I really like it. I'm not planning to do another.

(I tried three times to attach a photo to this thread without success. Take my word on how good it looks.)

[gavinturner]

Wow Michael, the back of the neck looks fantastic! I'm very eager to see the body colour. Maybe reducing the size of your image will help? I got a couple of failures yesterday too, but found that if I did them one at a time there was no problem. It could also have been my 3rd world internet here in NSW though.

cheers,
Gav.

[michael]

I had to resize it, thanks for the tip. The front spalt is going to be stained blue, like the headstock: