JB-4L (Jazz Bass Left Handed)

[Keith Walters]

I received this a couple of weeks back but I've been down with the Flu, so I only really got started yesterday April 14.
All the bits were there, but straight out of the starting gate I ran into a major issue.
First thing you have to do is attach the neck of course. So I carefully masking-taped it into position, drilled four pilot holes and fitted the 4 screws. Everything was fine until I removed the screws again and tried to fit the backing plate.
(Which I'd left off to avoid scratching it). Unfortunately:


I'm not sure I understand this. Those are the only holes that come pre-drilled, so you'd imagine that was because they're critical for fine adjustment of the neck angle.
Well anyway, I found some bamboo chopsticks that are exactly the right size to fill the hole, and when the glue dries I'll re-drill the hole in the correct place. Not a show-stopper, but bloody annoying....

[Simon Barden]

Annoying, but as you say, not incurable. I'd drop Adam an email with the photo attached as it's all good feedback for the factory to improve their output.

[Keith Walters]

OK, glue dried, dowels smoothed off; construction starts off tonight.
I'm also experimenting with some Feast and Watson Fine Buffering Oil for the finish.

I've used a lot of this stuff for restoring old furniture, and it gives first-class results; generally I strongly suspect the items never looked that good when they were brand new!
You apply it with steel wool, and polish with a soft cloth. Although the recommendation is just 2 coats, I've found that the more layers you apply, the better it looks. It takes a couple of weeks to harden completely, but I've found if you just put on one layer every evening after work, the job gets done in no time. It looks sort of like very-well-applied satin lacquer, but there's not a trace of brushmarks or drips.
This is the best I can do for a photo, which doesn't do the 3-D grain effect justice:

(This has only 2 layers).

[Keith Walters]

I've got everything assembled except for the strings. Now I have to take it all apart again so I can get on with finishing the woodwork.
Not overly impressed with the quality of the small screws that hold the machine heads onto the headstock. Even with a really good quality screwdriver they still tend to strip. I don't really want to make the pilot holes any bigger, so I think I'll shoot across to Bunnings today and look for something a bit better quality, stainless steel perhaps.

[wokkaboy]

Keith, the buffing oil looks great. With the tuner screws most people dip the screw in soap or a wax to lubricate it when you drive the screw in should make it easier. What size drill is your pilot hole ? I doubt Bunnings will have the correct screw for this, you may have to go to a screw/bolt specialist store or order online from a guitar parts store.

[Fretworn]

Not overly impressed with the quality of the small screws that hold the machine heads onto the headstock.

Yes they are garbage. I usually replace the machine heads anyway and get better quality screws with the better tuners. It is advisable to replace these screws if you can, there have been too many that have snapped to make them worth the risk.

[Keith Walters]

I tried soap but it didn't really help. I drilled 2mm pilot holes, and don't really want to go any further
Bunnings have some self-tappers that are almost identical in size and are a lot higher in quality.
The heads are the "universal" type but nobody is ever going to see that and I doubt anybody would notice (or care).
Oddly they have two packets available, exact same brand and identical as far as I can see, but the pack of 50 is about $6 and the pack of 100 is about $4.50. Must be some new marketing strategy I don't know about. Mind you they also sell 5kg bags of cement, garden lime etc in the garden section for nearly twice the price of a 20kg bag of the same stuff in the building section....

[Simon Barden]

They have to pay someone to split a bag of 100 into two bags of 50, hence the extra cost.

[Keith Walters]

The Bunnings screws not only fit perfectly and snugly, they also look a lot better.

[wokkaboy]

well done Keith I didn't think they sold anything suitable. Can you please post a pic of the screw pack and how they look installed ?