On this bass, the neck pup rout appears to be smaller than the bridge pup rout (or at least the mounting lug cut-outs are closer together. But the pups are designed to be located within a scratchplate, so the general rout has been made larger, probably to allow some sloppiness in the routing location, but also allowing both standard kit and normal Fender-sized pickups to be fitted.
Agreed, on the jazz bass I swapped out the stock scratchplate for a clear one, and found the lug holes on the Fender guard needed a little filing as the lugs on the kit pickups were a little too close together, but the hole in the scratchplate was the same size.Originally Posted by wazkelly
Well yeah, but the pole spacing is off nonetheless.
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But then it is a copy of a Gibson bass (with a Gibson style bridge) using Fender-style pickups. From what I can make out, (in Imperial units), Gibson 4-string bridge spacing is 2.055" (52.2mm) and Fender 2.25" (57.15mm). So that 5mm less width is the main reason the pole pieces are out. It really would have been better for the kit to come with soapbars.
If it came with soapbars I would have bought 3 by now.
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Aaaaand it’s finished, need to do a few more tweaks to the setup (including taking down the skyscraper of a nut that it came with, Jesus Christ) and figure out the neckdive common with cool shaped instruments.
Here’s a total spec sheet/breakdown:
Color: Black Rit Dye sanded back with 500 grit.
Pickguard and truss rod cover painted with bedliner
Finish: Tung Oil
Moved the input jack from the front to the side to allow for more in the control cavity and because front mounts SUCK
Electronics:
-Dimarzio Model J pickups
-Vol, Vol, Series/Parallel and 5 position On-Board OD/Boost Circuit
Yeah I know, little bit of overspray. Kinda hard not to get with bedliner
It sounds mean as hell, I’ve never done a series/parallel switch and now I’m going to to it in EVERYTHING. The mid boost and Db gain sound awesome. The OD/Boost Circuit is something I had lying around and I never use tone knobs so I figured I’d have some fun with this and give it a ton of tonal variations. 20 in total to be exact.
My favorite setting right now is both pickups in series and the boost at 3, which gives it a tasteful amount of grit.
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Last edited by Matt Pike's Shirt; 21-08-2018 at 11:12 AM.
Nice work, that has come together really well.
Build 1 - Shoegazer MK1 JMA-1
Build 2 - The Relliecaster TL-1
Build 3 - The Black Cherry SG AG-1
Build 4 - The Sonicaster TL-1ish
Build 5 - The Steampunker Bass YB-4
Build 6 - The Howling Gowing ST-1
"What I lack in talent I make up for with enthusiasm"
Thanks dude!
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Just out of curiosity Mr Matt Pike’s Shirt, how many coats of Tung oil did you apply?
2 coats. Minwax specifically, but I know that Fornby’s is the go-to for Tung Oil loyalists. I just had MW lying around from when I used to make bentwood rings
One super thick coat that I let dry for about 20 minutes then buffed with a rag, let sit overnight then a lighter coat that I repeated the dry/buff process with. I hit the neck with a quick back and forth of 500 grit. It’s not glass smooth like a neck with a shinier finish. It’s more of a baby power smoothness, if that makes sense.
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