CDN rookie - EXA-5 Bass Kit

[MHT63]

Hello, eh?
I'm a bass player and first time kit builder from Windsor, Ontario, Canada. I'm very happy to have found this forum and very excited to be working on this kit. I'm sure that it won't be my last! Among the various musical projects that I have on the go right now is a Van Halen tribute act and I've purchased a EXA-5 kit with the intention of somewhat replicating Michael Anthony's Charvel Blood Bass. It's actually going pretty well so far! I've had a local graphic artist paint the body and I'm going to be doing a Tru-Oil finish on the neck myself this week. There were a couple of things that I had noticed about the kit though and I was hoping that maybe someone here could shed a little light. I've noticed that the neck doesn't seem to sit all the way to the back of the neck pocket. I did see a Pitbull video commenting about the fact that these are mass produced and that there is very seldom any issue with neck fit. I get that. Being a rookie to this, I didn't know if it was supposed to be that way or exactly how much it mattered. Every other bolt-on neck that I own fits to the back of the pocket which would seem to make it sturdier but I guess I'm wondering just how critical that really is. The other thing was the angle at which the strings will come out of the nut to the machine heads. I've seen pics of other builds and it doesn't seem that others have much concern about it. I was just wondering if anyone had considered mounting a string tree (or two) on the headstock to alleviate sideways tension over the nut. Am I worrying about nothing? Thoughts?

Best regards - MHT63

[wazkelly]

Hello MHT63, welcome to the forum.

EX5 was my first build that i commenced about 3 years ago. You can check out the build diary in my signature.
From memory the fret board overhang covers up any gaps where neck heel and body meet.
Strongly suggest buying a better nut as the stock one is most likely just black hollowed out plastic. I bought a Warwick look alike 'Adjust-a-nut' and it is great.
Bridge that comes with the kit is ok but the saddles tend to sit high resulting in a higher than comfortable action from around 12th fret and upwards. I am still playing around with a different bridge that was installed recently and need to reset action or do some fret leveling too as it buzzes in more places than it should.
Stock pickups sound ok but low on output which is a surprise given their resistance readings that were somewhere around 16k ohms. High action didn't help but had already decided to install some better pickups. If on a budget the stock ones are adequate enough to get by. Just wired up one of those ebay belcat clone pre amps in my MMB4 for about $20 and it might be the answer to providing a bit more grunt without spending $200 or more on replacement pickups. Control cavity is tight and would suggest removing blend pot and installing a small mini dpdt 3 position switch as a pickup selector if contemplating this modification.
Once built, these are a ton of fun to play. Very long and in Oz there were no hard case options however i did discover it may fit inside a Dean hardcase. In fact it just squeezes into the Epiphone explorer 6 string guitar case but rubbing its nose and bum if you know what i mean. Something slightly bigger would do the trick. I ended up buying a gig bag on Amazon from the states that may have cost about $80 delivered on Oz.
Good luck with the build and will be keen to see how it progresses.
Cheers, Waz

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[MHT63]

Thanks so much for the reply and all of the insight Waz! Very much appreciated! You're right about the fretboard of course. It does overhang the neck and does cover the gap. I won't worry so much about it then. I have actually picked up a bunch of upgrade components already and was considering replacing that nut. I got a decent deal on a pair of Duncan Phase II passive soapbars, a Hipshot Kickass 5 bridge and some Hipshot tuners as well! May as well switch that nut out, eh? Lol... Will definitely consider your advice regarding the control cavity but I thought that it was a volume, volume, tone configuration in there. I do have a line on a Yorkville Explorer Bass hardshell case that I've already ordered. I'm hopeful that it will fit as the shape of the body is pretty traditional as explorers go. I'll let you know how that works out in case you may want to import one.
Cheers! Mitch

[wazkelly]

Hi Mitch, you have already made some sensible upgrade choices.
The Duncans should be fine with traditional vol, vol, tone wiring which is the same as J Bass. The kit supplied electronics are very basic and you may as well uprade them too with either alpha, cts or bourns pots and a sprague orange drop capacitor plus a switchcraft jack. The oval shaped jack plate only just covers the hole and would recommend using a Tele style cup socket as that can be recessed and helps keep a cleaner look along the back wing.
Thanks for info on a hardcase but i will pass on that as cost to import is more than what i can afford.
Cheers, Waz

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[MHT63]

Was thinking about about the pots and jack as well while I'm at it. Thanks again for the recommendations! I just picked up that case by the way and it fits like a glove! It was about $170 CDN and is very basic but nice, and I couldn't be much happier with the fit. Should have my first coat of Tru-Oil on the neck tonight.
Cheers! Mitch

[wazkelly]

Any progress photos yet for forum members to look at?

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[MHT63]

Here is my take on Michael Anthony's Charvel blood bass - a work in progress.

[DarkMark]

Haha, love it!...and that’s some book collection.

[cork sniffer]

Nice progress on the guitar.
Your DVD collection rivals my wife's, actually you may have edged her out :-)

[MHT63]

Nice progress on the guitar.
Your DVD collection rivals my wife's, actually you may have edged her out :-)

Thanks guys! I've got a couple of coats of Tru-Oil on the neck and it's really coming along nicely. Really looking forward to having this thing playable! I've got 4 basses that I'll be using for the VH tribute - two detuned a semitone and two in standard. This will be one of my detuned guitars for the Roth era stuff. I'm also using a Yamaha BB detuned. Still trying to screw up the courage to scar it up like Michael Anthony's old warhorse. Lol... For the Hagar stuff in standard tuning, I'm using a Fender Mex Jazz and my Lace Helix as backup. As the Lace is not terribly "gig-appropriate", I may build another kit - perhaps a replica Jack Daniels bass!
By the way, those DVD shelves are actually 18' long. I've got about 2500 titles - mostly purchased prior to the advent of Netflix and streaming video. Who knew?!