Day one:
I was under no illusions that everything would fit together perfectly, and set about comparing the dimensions of the major parts with a real SR-5. My goal is to build the bass as close to the real thing as possible, so apart from lighter weight, it feels very similar.
Upgrades from the standard kit include a 6 bolt neckplate, perloid or tortiose shell scratchplate (dependant on body colour), 2 band Belcat preamp/EQ and thru body stringing. I’ll be relocating the jack plug to the edge of the body as I’m going to use the existing hole for the treble pot. I’m retaining the individual volume controls for each coil of the pickup rather than using a balance pot, so there will be 4 knobs: V-V-B-T. I may also add a series/parallel switch later on.
First thing I noticed (even before I purchased the kit) was that the tuner hole on the headstock for the G string was in the wrong place to be aesthetically the same as a real SR-5. It appears to be in the position for the 3+1 configuration, with the 4+1 G tuner position 25mm further toward the end of the headstock.
My solution was to turn up a 17.5mm “plug” from a scrap of maple left over from cutting the headstock shape and gluing it in to place. It should look virtually invisible when sanded properly. See the sequence of photos below.
Second issue is that the routed hole for the pickup (and consequently pickup placement) is incorrect (too close to the neck) for the signature MM tone. The current distance is 22mm closer to the 12th fret than on a real SR-5. No big deal however- nothing the router can’t fix.
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