Hi everyone,
Very excited to be here with my first build! I’m classical musician (conductor) by profession, but the first instrument I ever bought myself was a steel string guitar at age 14. I’ve always wanted a bass after dabbling a lot at school, but never felt justified in forking out. Building seems like an awesome combination of getting an instrument plus my love of making stuff!
My 14yo stepson started teaching himself guitar during the first lockdown and bought a cheapy strat copy from cash converters to do a Van Halen paint job on it. This seemed like a fun opportunity to do a parallel project together.
I took the plunge and my kit arrived a couple of weeks ago. It took me that time to decide on the finish, and now I’m ready to get going.
The plan is for a somewhat Jaguar shape. This was drawn from a few plans I’ve seen online modding a J bass to a Jaguar shape. Keeping all the other components the same
Pickguard shape my own - It may change once I see the stain/grain combo. I’ve ordered a blank dark blue pearloid guard from Musiclily.
I really like the grain so decided to go with a stain for this first build.
Finish will be Dingotone Coolangatta gold and tru-oil.
Next steps:
Cut the body shape modifications and sand (and sand again)
Do dry build.
Question re: tools
Having not done much woodwork since high school - does anyone have recommendations for tools for the body mod? The body is ash. Could I do the shape above with a coping saw or would a jigsaw be better? Also, is it best to make a MDF template first and cut around that?
I also need to cut the Pickguard blank. Ideally a tool that could do both would be great!
Thanks in advance!
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