Qolabear’s HBB-5 bass build

[Qolabear]

5-string semi-hollow

[Qolabear]

Recently received my Pitbull 5-string kit. It arrived in less than a week from AUS to Canada, which was impressive; and all intact which even more impressive.





I was at work when it arrived so I had my wife text me pictures! In other words, I don’t paint my toe nails.

I started with some general sanding using 200 and 600 grit paper. I also applied a special mixture of vodka and kook aid, but not to the guitar .



I also used a dremel tool to rout the pickup cavities slightly, as the pickups were too tight at first and didn’t actually fully seat.

Once the sanding and light routing was done I applied a water-based stain. I used a light brown stain followed by an even lighter black just to fill in some pores and achieve a rustic look.







More to come...


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[Sonic Mountain]

Nice work. These are great looking kits.

[FrankenWashie]

Welcome aboard mate, there is no judgement here, if you want to paint your toenails you go right ahead.

[wazkelly]

Nice colour that has brought out lots of grain definition.

[ChefBrianNYC]

I am very excited to see another one of these kit being done! Subscribed!

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[Qolabear]

I debated over a few different stain colours, all variations of brown, but ultimately chose the lightest colour so that I could achieve anything darker simply by adding a second or third coat. I also chose the water based stain so that I could use essentially any topcoat finish on top of it.



Applying the black stain was done by dabbing paper towel directly into the stain and then rubbing off the excess onto scrap wood, then letting it dry a little so that it was almost like a dry black marker. I was able to rub this into the brown stain while not affecting the colour of the brown, only filling in black into the pores of the wood.

I didn’t bother masking off the binding with any tape before staining. Rather, I simply sanded the binding lightly with a 600 grit sand paper after staining. The binding cleaned up nicely. However, I was going for a more rustic reclaimed wood luck, so anyone wanting to achieve a cleaner effect may want to mask their bindings first.



I let the stain dry for only a few hours before applying a top finish of Tru-oil gun stock oil. I started with a single coat of oil on the back of the guitar, and decided it only needed one coat. This oil starts to feel glossy and smooth if you apply multiple coats, and I did not want that feel for the back of the guitar. The wood is sufficiently sealed, but I left it so that it still has a nice wood feel.



I then applied the first oil coat to the top of the body, and I must admit I overapplied the first coat and so I needed to sand it down quite a bit before applying additional coats. After the first coat...



I put a second and third tru-oil coat on the top of the body, but applied it much much much lighter and it dried beautifully. It’s smooth to the touch and sealed, but it still feels like wood, not a glassy lacquer or plastic finish feel which I wanted to avoid.



As for the neck, I used water-based stain on the peg head followed by tru-oil; however, on the back of the neck I used Osmo Polyx-oil hardwood wax. I really wanted to avoid any glossy plastic feel on the back of the neck, and instead wanted something more similar to a music man neck feel, with a more satin real-wood finish, and two coats of the polyx-oil was perfect. I didn’t even need to sand it down after the two coats.



Clearly I was not going for finesse in transitioning between the unfinished neck and the stained headstock! Perhaps I should have used masking tape for a cleaner line, but I am trying to achieve a rustic look overall, so it’s OK by me.

Now to begin assembly...


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[WeirdBits]

These really are a great looking kit, can't wait to see the assembly and the end result.

[Qolabear]

Turns out putting copper shielding in the pick up cavities is about as fun as applying super sticky Band-Aids while wearing latex gloves. I’m not sure I really need the copper, but it sure looks cool and it makes me feel super cool; so there’s that.






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[wazkelly]

Overkill with humbuckers but if it makes you feel good, job well done.

Just have to wonder how tight the PUP's were in the holes before adding copper tape? If tight like on my EX-5 they may want to peel back the copper tape on the vertical sides.