JZ-6 Baritone Build diary - will experiment with BASS VI configuration as well

**Martin R** · 11-09-2020, 03:55 AM

Received my kit today . Everything was delivered as expected and on inspecting the body and neck they appeared well made ready for starting the sanding and finishing . Have made a paddle to attach to the body to keep it steady and avoid damaging the body whilst handing it .

I am planning to do a natural finish using Danish Oil and creating a classic Bass VI headstock .

This will all take some time as I want to be really picky on the finish over many many coats.

The journey starts now.

**Martin R** · 27-09-2020, 12:04 AM

OK now finished JZ-6 Baritone build . Will provide some photos . A couple of issues found along the way

1. Advertised as a Baritone guitar and does have a 30 inch scale length . It was provided with strings but these were ordinary 44 to 9s . Not a deal breaker as I would have bought replacement strings anyway
2. Nut wasn't cut for Baritone strings so extensive work required to fit Baritone strings ( D'Addario 68 to 14s )
3. The D'Addario 14 string only just fits with 2 turns around the tuning post. Phew.
4. No wiring diagrams available from official site yet , I know it is a new model so I suppose that isn't surprising . Thanks to another member of this forum for already solving this problem for us all.

I have purchased a set of D'Addario BASS VI strings to fit at some point in the future which will probably require more work on the nut as they are 84 to 24s to all E to E tuning.

I have currently got the guitar tuned A to A which sounds really good . The picks ups are fine and the sound is great with really nice acoustic resonance and a good level of sustain.

The finish of the Ash body and Maple neck and Rosewood fretboard are very nice the fretboard requiring only a minimum of fret levelling and end dressing.

I spent a lot of time sanding the body and neck to get the finish I wanted using from 180 down to 320 grit 0000 wire wool and 1200 wet and dry .

The Danish Oil finish after 6 coats was really classy although the jury is still out on whether I put a wipe on clear Polyeurethane or spray finish as the Ash body is very prone to dings . The grain looks very nice as it is however. So would I do this again - absolutely if I need another guitar which I absolutely don't need at he moment.