Lefty Bass build: IB-6SL

[jarro_2783]

I really liked the look of the IB-6SL, and why not have more strings on a bass?

I'm building this at the same time as the 3/4 build with my son in another thread. I'm very happy with this kit, everything appears to be very solid, the neck fits quite snug and the spalted veneer should look good with some stain on it.

There is just a tiny scratch on the fingerboard across the highest few frets. It won't matter too much but I think I would like to smooth it out if I can, but I'm not quite sure what to use here, since I know that fingerboards are pretty fragile.




I'm also not sure what that small half ellipse piece of plastic is for, it doesn't appear to go anywhere on the kit.

[Trevor Davies]

Hi Jarro, the spalted maple looks nice.

The larger half ellipse is the control cover for the back of the guitar, and the smaller one is the truss rod cover for the headstock.

[jarro_2783]

Thanks, I just can't see how the small one fits over the truss rod ends (this one has two rods). I'll look again, maybe I'm missing something.

[jarro_2783]

Oh yeah I can see it butts against the nut and I just put a screw through the hole.

[colin2121]

Nice looking kit.
Always happy to see another lefty on the forum.
What is the weight of the kit like?

[jarro_2783]

The shipping label says 5.4kg. It is pretty hefty, even the neck feels heavy.

[Keith Walters]

Just make sure the pre-drilled neck mounting holes line up with the metal backing plate. I don't know why, but they often get them out of alignment with left-handed models.
Also, for some reason Pitbull wire the pots back to front on their Left Handed models, so for example, turning the volume pot clockwise reduces the volume. But they don't use proper antilog pots, so, apart from the unconventional operation, you basically get a magnified version of the problem you get using linear pots as volume controls!
I've never seen a commercially-built left-handed guitar wired like that; all the ones I've seen have the same wiring as the right-handed equivalents.

[jarro_2783]

Thanks for the tips. This one doesn't come with a backing plate though, it has something like a big washer for each hole.
It also doesn't have any electronics soldered at all, so I can make sure it is done right.

I did a jm-1 last year and it had both those problems, I resoldered all three pots and one hole was off by not too much and it just squeezed in.

[colin2121]

Best thing with the pots is to test them with a multimeter. Chances are they will be linear not log pots, but always best to check.
If you need log pots you can lefty pots from Realparts or GuitarTrade - search on Google for them. I have used their lefty pots on my builds. The CTS pots are pretty good.
There are commercially built guitars with pots incorrectly wired. I have a lefty Ibanez and a lefty classic vibe Squier which were wired back to front and with right hand knobs. I have also seen other lefties wired for right handers.
A multi meter and upgraded pots will always be the best solution.

[jarro_2783]

Yep I've already done that. The tone pots are log and the volume linear, which matches the A and B written on the pots.
I'm happy with linear volume from my experience with my other guitar, if anything it just turns down a bit slowly, but seems to work fine.
Tone on the other hand basically does nothing until the last tenth which just makes it useless.