IC-1 first timer (with a PBG kit)

[maxadudley]

I'm excited to be starting my own build diary! Woohoooo....

My IC-1 kit is due in tomorrow, so I'm starting this thread in advance, somewhat because I cannot contain my excitement any longer, but also to catalogue where my thinkin's at regarding this build. Maybe to get a little input from the community.

I know I've completely lost my mind, so let me get that out of the way.
The IC-1 is a strange kit, especially for a first timer, but the Iceman has been a dream guitar of mine ever since I was a wee lad.
Much like my impulsive decision to go with a weird kit (on backorder from a different country) I have also decided to go with a couple unorthodox choices for the building process.

I became obsessed with the Nitro finishing process from literally minutes of YouTube surfing, then invested in a Vintage White nitro kit from StewMac. I now know the process will be more difficult than your average rattle-can job, the "curing" process is going to take forever, the finish won't be as hard as the Poly on my Fender. All things I've found out after the fact. Hindsight. 2020.

I've opted for Warman pickups after seeing good reviews on this forum. Not sure what hardware I'm going to update. Probably the nut? Looking into TUSQ or bone. Gotta see the neck first I guess.

I wired up a bass recently (first time) and it went *okay* so to remove any doubt I'm going with a prewired harness. Hope that's not too glaring of a faux pas.

That's all I can think of for now! Once the kit gets to me, I'll learn how to, then proceed to upload many pictures.
I'm looking forward to seeing what y'all folks think of the process almost as much as I'm looking forward to the built itself!

[Trevor Davies]

Hi and welcome.
I think there are a couple if IC-1 kits being built at the moment.
Great plans and I hope they go well. I look forward to your diary.

[maxadudley]

POV: you're me and your kit arrives


Everything went pretty well! Opened the kit and started parsing stuff out (kit was missing a neck plate and neck attaching bolts, but I spoke with my boy Ben and he's getting a set shipped to me already. GREAT customer service at PBG. Seriously)
The kit comes with a pick guard which is not displayed on the IC-1 product page! That's awesome! Because my Nitro finish is definitely gonna get scratched otherwise!

Neck pocket *appeared* very tapered, but some sanding of the sides of the pocket (and veeeeery light sanding of the neck) got the neck to slip in eventually.


Here's a pic of the heel to get the opinion of the community, but it looks alright to me. Bit of space between the bottom of the fretboard and the body (4mm), but there's gonna be some finish, let me know what you think though. Looks to be about 1.5-2mm between the heel and the body



Did a test of string fit which looked okay to me, again, let me know what you think



Tied string to the e and E bridge holes and their corresponding tuners installed in the head.

Let me know if you would like to see any other pics of stuff. I plan on sanding and noodling around until the weekend, when I will attempt THE P A I N T

[Trevor Davies]

I had the same issue with the gap between the heel and the body on the LP kit I'm doing. Since the neck is angled to the body I had to file a similar angle on the heel of the neck. It then fit snuggly. I hope this was the right thing to do.

[maxadudley]

Thanks for the insight Trevor.
I suppose the best thing to do is really mock it up with some actual strings and just give it a looksie.
I found a thread of yore with an IC-1 that had the same issue. I should find that again and see where they netted out.
Here we go
I'm gonna try and take a mm or two off the heel and see where I end up

[Simon Barden]

Bolt-on necks almost always sit parallel to the body, so they sit higher from the body in order to get the string height necessary at the bridge and for pickup clearance. A set neck would be angled and sit lower to the body, as the angling creates the string height at the bridge, so the neck can sit lower.

Whilst there may be some ability to remove a small amount of wood from the neck heel, you first need to fully check out what the affect will be on the string height at the bridge. Lowering the neck could result in the bridge being too high when fully lowered to get a playable string action. You need to take into account that the bridge post bushings sit proud of the body on a lip that adds about 1.5mm of height to the lowest bridge height on the posts. So fit the neck, mock it up with tape around the bridge posts so they fit and get centred in the holes (don’t fit the bushings yet). Run a long straight edge along the neck and see where it hits the bridge at its lowest setting. Report back with photos.

You also need to double check the screw length against body + neck heel thickness. You don’t want to reduce the heel height and then find that the mounting screws poke through the fretboard!

[maxadudley]

Thank's for checking in, Simon. You helped the last guy!
Despite my best efforts (thankfully?) I wasn't able to get much wood off. The fretboard still sits about 4mm above the body once I mocked it up again.



I didn't understand what you meant regarding the bridge and tape, and by the time it clicked, I had put some strings back on and took this picture



The strings are snugly *on* the neck when the bridge is at its lowest. The neck is the slightest bit concave out-of-the-box, so I don't believe that has to do with backwards curvature of the neck.
I think I lucked out and have a bit of upwards mobility with the bridge, which is good.
I'm through modifying scary bits like the neck pocket, I measured the scale, 313mm from inside nut edge to middle of 12th fret crown, and between 311(e) and 316ish (E) from 12th fret crown to bridge.
As pictured, the pickups fit comfortably under the strings, and I got the magnet centered.



Loving the look of these Warman pickups

After routing a little extra space for the aftermarket pickup switch (love my Dremel), I called it a night.



Later tonight I'll maybe raise the basswood grain a little and sand it back to 320 in preparations for T H E P A I N T

[Mosrite Slab]

You won't be disappointed with those Warman pickups.

[fender3x]

That looks pretty good. Once the strings are at tension there will be a bit if bow in the neck so the strings will be higher, and you will most likely be able to raise the bridge a bit. If not, the nice thing about a bolt on neck is that you can shim it to get a tad more height.

[maxadudley]

One of the many reasons I'm going to stop messing with the neck, at least right now, is that I don't even have the neck backing plate or the screws. Probably arriving sometime next week, as it takes forever to ship anything to the other side of globe.

Fretboard work, truss adjustment, drilling holes in the neck; I'm going to wait to do all that stuff until after the paint dries a little bit.

I have a little room to play with height. What I meant to indicate by previous posts is that everything bottoms out at the lowest bridge settings, meaning the happy Goldilocks zone is somewhere attainable: *above* where everything is currently adjusted to.
I definitely anticipate some neck bow, good point Fender3x.
And I'm glad you like the pickup choice, Mosrite.