Okay, the gear is here! An unexpected weekend delivery brightened up a Saturday afternoon.
First time build attempt with no experience but plenty of enthusiasm. Hopefully that and a good amount of forum feedback can get me through with a good result!
I’ve gone with a JB-4 kit this time, I was initially tempted to go with an EX-4 or and FVB-4 as I already own a JazzBass however the handy descriptions for soldering the electrics on those models were basically detailed as “hard and harder” haha.
I thought it would be best (and I’m sure you’d agree) that starting with a kit that required only novice soldering and understanding would likely yield a better result, then follow up with a more adventurous model next time.
All looks good in the kit.
Reasonably plain basswood body, which is fine as I’m aiming for a fairly deep Dingotone finish (Bushfire Sunrise) as opposed to clear. No apparent cracks or faults found, just some lifting in wood around the drill hole where the bridge will be mounted. (if anyone can clarify the purpose of this hole would also be great. I’d assumed grounding wire perhaps from control panel)
The rosewood in the neck I think looks great though with a lot of character along the length.
The main reason of course as mentioned for selecting the JB-4 was the setup for the electrics.
The controls are essentially all pre-wired apart from a few to complete from the pickups (from what I can gather. And one of the pickup wires already appears pre-tinned here (red).
I put together a brief semi build last night and started working out my centre line and bridge position. Pretty sure I currently have it marked incorrectly as the bridge doesn’t appear central to the pickups looking back on my photos. It was getting late at that point so I put it away so I can remeasure another day. Then remeasure again before making any holes.....
I was intending to pre-drill mounting holes for the pickguard / neck / bridge / controls /pups before I sand to avoid any damage to my finish later on. Unless anyone recommends otherwise?
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