RD-4 build. An ode to doom metal.

[Matt Pike's Shirt]

So my kit came in this weekend and it was surprisingly (or not really) good quality...

The Good:
-The neck fits the body flush and tight. Better than most major brands’ fully built instruments.
-The neck is straight, the frets are clean, and the headstock is preshaped, thank god.
-No parts were missing, which is nice as something to note.

The Bad:
-The body had 2 imperfections: one ding and kind of a gouge. Pretty sure I can sand them out.
-The pickguard was hot off the press! In that, the shavings hanging off of it weren’t cleaned off, a quick touch of sandpaper will fix it.
-The body was multiple pieces, like 3 or 4. Between that and the imperfections my original plan of staining might have to changed. Time will tell.


So my first impression upon opening it was this thing is SOLID. It has a good weight to it and seems well balanced. We’ll see it IS an RD after all.

Plans/mods/upgrades:

Bridge - going string through, anyone have tips on where to get ferrules? I can’t find top ferrules for the life of me.
Pickups - Dimarzio Model J
Electronics - Going mad scientist on this one. VVT w/Series Parallel switch, onboard OD/boost. Also relocating the input to the side instead of the front because FRONT INPUTS ARE STUPID!!!



Chapter One: SAND, SAND MORE.

150 grit followed by 220. Damn it’s smooth! Need to pick up 320/350 to make the neck smooth, possibly hit the body one last time. Little bit of hole cleaning too.

That was it for day one, as I work a late schedule and I was sanding at 4AM in my apartment and my neighbors/fiancé/cat already think I’m a loud stupid asshole.



Cat Tax:



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[DarkMark]

Nice looking kit. I like the shape. I like the cat too.

[Matt Pike's Shirt]

Nice looking kit. I like the shape. I like the cat too.

Thank ya!


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[BJMtz]

Wow that's a cool looking bass. I've never noticed this one in the shop before. Have you compared the size of the Dimarzio Model Js to the pickups it came with? On my RCA-4 the J pickup is a tad bit smaller than most normal J pups and would require routing of the body to fit.

[Matt Pike's Shirt]

Wow that's a cool looking bass. I've never noticed this one in the shop before. Have you compared the size of the Dimarzio Model Js to the pickups it came with? On my RCA-4 the J pickup is a tad bit smaller than most normal J pups and would require routing of the body to fit.

I haven’t. The body cavities are routed pretty big. So worst case I’ll have to make a new PG, which I was throwing around regardless.


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[Sonic Mountain]

Cool as. The bodies are almost always multiple pieces, but it looks like you have a pretty good grain match. Once stained and assembled it can be hard to notice. Also dents will come out with a bit of steam - a clean rag and an iron will do the trick most of the time.

[Matt Pike's Shirt]

Cool as. The bodies are almost always multiple pieces, but it looks like you have a pretty good grain match. Once stained and assembled it can be hard to notice. Also dents will come out with a bit of steam - a clean rag and an iron will do the trick most of the time.

Thanks. One is a chunk missing so that trick might not work. The other might be a dent of sorts, so that would work.

Still might stain anyway, there’s enough going on that it might be hidden. The bottom curve has a pretty obvious cap though, that’s what I’m worried about.


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[Sonic Mountain]

Well its up to you, but if you do stain and don't like it there isn't anything stopping you from going a solid over it afterwards. When I did the Black Cherry build in my signature- I initially stained it red and didn't like it - so I stained jet black over the top instead. It wasn't until I cleared that I saw it had a deep, subtle purple stain as a result of the two stains. Completely unintentional, but it looks unreal. There are lots of possibilities - and sometimes boo-boos turn into happy accidents.

[Matt Pike's Shirt]

Well its up to you, but if you do stain and don't like it there isn't anything stopping you from going a solid over it afterwards. When I did the Black Cherry build in my signature- I initially stained it red and didn't like it - so I stained jet black over the top instead. It wasn't until I cleared that I saw it had a deep, subtle purple stain as a result of the two stains. Completely unintentional, but it looks unreal. There are lots of possibilities - and sometimes boo-boos turn into happy accidents.

I REALLY like that color man!


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[Matt Pike's Shirt]

Okay so I sanded the body 120 - 250 - 325, and a quick shot of 400 on the neck. Smoooooooth!

My choice of color? Black Rit Dye!


I got the idea from the Guns and Guitars channel on YouTube. I had the dye lying around and figured I’d give it a shot.

I’m actually pretty happy with how it looks, it looks weathered:



Despite how much I sanded (and boooy did i sand!) there were still some deep pits I didn’t catch and they were clear as day once I started dyeing. In my frustration/haste I attempted to pack the color into those areas and made some dark spots. I grabbed some rags and tried to rub it off but rubbed other areas in the process and the result is honestly pretty cool IMO. Good thing I’m not into “pretty” guitars. It looks like a chunk of wood from the Black Pearl.

The neck on the other hand, came out DAMN GOOD:


The neck thus far has honestly been the All Star of this build. The frets were damn near perfect out of the box and it took the dye like a champ. I’m super happy with it. I might put another coat but it looks great as is. We’ll see how it looks once dry.


Cat tax:




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