JBA-4 (code-named "Jenny") - first build

[quiet1_au]

I'd been looking at various bass kits for a while after my brother had been checking out the guitar versions. Whilst I have a perfectly good bass (and various other instruments - none of which I play nearly enough...) the appeal of a build your own kit got to me and I had to give it a go.

I love the ES-335 bass but discretion decided I should start with something simpler and lower cost for a first ever build. I settled on the JBA-4 ash-bodied Jazz bass mainly for it's wood grain which I'm pretty sure I'll finish with orange shellac (on the body and headstock for some mild colour, sealing and "sparkle") and Tru Oil to finish. I had toyed with dye colouring, but think I'll go for the KISS principle this time around.

The box arrived a couple of days ago and I could wait to open it at work to see what I had let myself in for - I needed have worried as I was rather pleased by what I saw (see pictures)

A fair bit of sanding to do - that central ash plank has some wide stripes of rough grain that may need filling (but I'm hoping to avoid it if possible) and some edge areas that were a bit flat. I'm going to try hand-sanding with a float rather than risk untried power tools on what is a pretty good surface already. The neck looks lovely and smooth already so I don't think it will need more than a finishing sand - as long as I don't make a mess of the headstock shaping... I have access to a band saw, but think a slow and careful hand cut with a coping saw might be safer? (comments?)


Cheers,
John

[adam]

Hey John, welcome aboard and yes, it's a bit of a lottery with these kits, as to what sort of grain you end up with. That said, I really like this one. I'd be tempted to do a two colour job, with the middle "block" a contrasting colour to the two outside blocks.

[WeirdBits]

Welcome John, nice kit to start off with. I prefer to use a coping saw to rough out the shape of the headstocks. It may be slower but is more precise and far less likely to leave you with a two piece headstock than a jigsaw etc. But each to their own. My suggestion would be to use what you are familiar with and comfortable using.

Good luck with the build.

[Brendan]

John,
Welcome aboard - cracker of a kit there the JBA-4. Pitty they weren't around when I did my JB-4... As for sanding - hand sanding only mate - don't want to leave swirls, etc in the body that you'll only find when you stain. As for colours - ignore Adam - he's a guitar not a bass player so we know he has no taste . Great idea to go KISS for a starter. Once you have BAS, that will definately be a time to start getting experimental (though hopefully Ads doesn't get any headless ergo bass monstrosities). If you have any questions though - drop a line - there's a couple of four stringed freaks around, including one of the resident luthiers - DingoBass. Sure to get some good help along the way.

Most of all - hope you have as much fun building your new bass as we all have building ours!

[gavinturner]

Welcome John, looks like a great kit. Looking forward to reading about your build!

Cheers,
Gav.

[Timsan]

Hey John, love the grain in that ash body. I'd put forward another vote for the coping saw as well. More control and less chance of a fubar. You can fine-tune the shape on a spindle sander afterward.

[lawry]

Hi John.
As stated everywhere, welcome. Why wouldn't you want to build a bass, eh?
There's nothing much I can add to the comments above except to let you know about the experience I had while shaping a headstock with a coping saw. The slimness of the blade was such that I had real difficulty getting it to follow the line I had drawn on the wood. No matter how I tried I couldn't get an accurate cut and at one stage it was starting to head into the part I wanted to keep. Seemed like once it had made its mind up on where it wanted to go nothing could convince it otherwise. In the end I used a jigsaw to cut a rough edge and then sanded it all smooth. Maple is pretty hard but it sands well. That was just my experience with a coping saw. It was most likely my inability, but there you have it.
Please enjoy your build and post often.
Cheers, Lawry.

[quiet1_au]

Trial fit of the body hardware - the pickguard cut-out around the neck recess will need trimming as there is a fair amount of overhang, but that needs to wait until the neck is on and I can line up the neck pickup (which determines the pickup position too - it's a close fit) - hence the neckless photo. I feel that the bridge should go further back to get the scale length right, but the large grounding wire hole prevents it going back to where I think it should. There seems to be plenty enough room to adjust the saddles to deal with this though, so I can just put it as far back as I can without exposing the hole. I'm still not sure about that plain white pickguard - think it needs something with a little more "oomph" but will wait and see how the body turns out.

Question - is it best to drill holes (eg for the neck) and do the build/setup before or after body sanding and/or finishing?

[quiet1_au]

The scary part - time to get this thing looking like a bass and not a paddle... I decided to use the traditional Jazz/Precision bass design, but wanted to keep the cutting to a minimum so I found that the American Vintage '75 was the closest fit and widened the curves to make best use of the original headstock shape. After my initial design, I thought it needed a bit more curviness so used the Jazz standard bass lower curve positioning it from the round end (the "big nose" as I like to call it - I redrew it using a jar lid to ensure my sketch was curvy enough) to the edge of the wood. A minor tweak but it did the job.

Now to cut it out... [gulp!] I did a quick trial run with my coping saw I used the finer of the two blade profiles - the coarse one seemed too agressive and hard to start) on some pine I had lying around and was happy enough with the result (a rounded curve). So with as much care as I could I took on the headstock and didn't too too bad a job I think - better than I had feared it must be said! As lawry found, the saw was difficult to follow the line and change direction, not helped by some slightly knotty grain, but I was happy to get it reasonably close to my design, as well as getting two cuts close to joining on both sides in that deepest cutting section. I can now get on with the task of making it pretty with sanding (and some filing out of the roughest saw marks/bumps if coarse paper isn't enough)

[Brendan]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from quiet1_au on March 2, 2014, 14:32
Trial fit of the body hardware - the pickguard cut-out around the neck recess will need trimming as there is a fair amount of overhang... [edited to keep the post shorter]

Question - is it best to drill holes (eg for the neck) and do the build/setup before or after body sanding and/or finishing?

Pickguard is a relatively easy fix - agree waiting until the neck is on.

Bridge position - best way is to do this is via DB's tricks (see here: http://www.pitbullguitars.com/?page_...wtopic&t=280.1 - it's for a P-Bass, but it'll be the same process).

Drilling - personal preference - less chance of damaging your pristine finish if you do it now. That said - a new pickguard will have screw holes in slightly different positions and will also have a slightly different shape / fit. As such - I'd probably look at neck and bridge holes now - others later.

Nice job on the headstock - a bit of sanding and it'll be spot on!