Lyn #18 - P-Bass

[robin]

While I’m waiting for clear coat on #17 (the Red Tele) to go off I thought I might as well start another build.


I already have a real 1972 Fender J, an active Ibanez SDGR and a fretless PBG MM Bass, but I have always wanted P-Bass, so here we go again.


I bought an Ash body, Maple neck, GPB-4M kit. And I must say that I am very happy with the kit. Build quality is probably the best yet from Adam as the neck fit was so tight that I was able to pick up the complete guitar by the neck even before screwing it together. Very impressive.




My plan is for a natural finish to the body and neck, so I thought that a black pickguard would contrast nicely with the natural Ash finish. This is where I met my first problem.




I had ordered a black pickguard to replace the white one and although the standard kit plate fits perfectly the new black one does not. If I line up the pickups with the neck there is a gap around the controls at the tail of the guard.






I could have ordered another pre-cut guard from eBay but I was not sure which was out of standard alignment, the routing on the guitar or the new pickguard. So I ordered a blank pickguard and cut and finished it myself. This is just the rough cut out. I will trim it up later.




My second hurdle was the cheap black hardware I had ordered from China. This is my 18^th guitar and I have never snapped a screw. So now I have my first. I was screwing the bridge in place and I had lubricated the screw in my usual fashion with candle wax, but the screw is of such poor quality that without any excessive pressure it snapped. Luckily it snapped just behind the head and was fairly easy to remove with multigrips. So I think I dodged a bullet with this one. But we are off to a less than auspicious start.


Hopefully when my replacements parts arrive I will have a bit more luck.

[FrankenWashie]

Bugger about the hardware Robin, look forward to see how this one turns out.

[robin]

As I can’t do any more to the body until all the parts arrive I thought I would get a bit done on the neck.



First job is to cut and shape the headstock. Easy Peasy. Sketch out the design, out with the coping saw and its done. A bit of a tidy up and it should look OK.


Next job was to do one of my “signature” features, MoP fret dots. This is really easy to do and adds just a little something to all my guitars.


The plastic dots are 6.5mm and are a snug fit into (approx) 6mm hole.



First step is to drill out the little blighters. Just grab a drill bit a couple of mm smaller than the dot and carefully drill out the middle of the dot.



If you are lucky you can pull the dot straight out. If not, a bit of wiggling about will crack the dot and you just remove the fragments. The trick here is to not damage the original hole. You want the MoP’s to be a snug fit.



The MoP dots vary in size by the slightest margin and you may/or may not have to make the hole slightly bigger. First I will try and see how they fit and some will fit with a bit of gentle persuasion, but with others you may have to enlarge the hole. I use a 6.5mm bit for this but just turn it by hand. The hole will be so close to the perfect fit that there will be little or no resistance to the bit.



And yer done! I know that some people don't like them, but I think they look pretty cool.

[robin]

Bugger about the hardware Robin, look forward to see how this one turns out.

Thanks Frankie. That's what you get when you troll eBay for the cheapest price. lol. One day I will learn.

[DarkMark]

Love your work robin. Will watch and learn.

[robin]

Thanks Mark.

As this is just a Kit Build there will be nothing much special happening, so there will not be much to learn. I usually don't obsess too much with guitars I make for myself. I just take my time and do the best I can. I aim for a guitar that plays well, not that concerned with how they look.

[emuflats]

Watching with interest, I'm also working on an ash PBass with black pickguard. Thanks for the detailed info on the dots!

[Brendan]

Looking great Robin.

Emuflats - full tute on fret dots here: https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=2584

[emuflats]

Cheers Brendan
Just tried to open & it says "invalid post" contact Admin..

[robin]

Watching with interest, I'm also working on an ash PBass with black pickguard. Thanks for the detailed info on the dots!

Thanks Emuflats, I just checked out Brendan's excellent Tute, and he goes into far more detail than me. We differ slightly on a few points (Brendan uses 6mm dots and glue, I use 6.5mm dots and no glue) but we both agree that it is fairly easy and well worth the effort.

Good luck with your build.

Thanks Brendan for the detailed Tute.