So, neck angle. With the bridge saddles on lowest possible, and the neck as it is, the string height at the top fret on the D is marginally less than it is on my beloved jazz bass. So do I leave well alone, bearing in mind that it would certainly be possible to recess the bridge slightly into the soundboard if one were desperate for some adjustment, or do I try and put a bit of extra neck angle in?
Last edited by JimC; 03-11-2019 at 10:57 PM.
Having just done this, I would say absolutely on the bad language. You may want to take precautions. No small children present, etc. My swearing got so bad at one point that milk went sour in a nearby fridge.
I have a PDF of the hole pattern. If you want it shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll send it to you. I made mine from a tracing if you'd prefer to do that.
Here's some quick advice:
Use mini pots. Normal 24mm pots either won't fit through the F-hole, or will just barely fit. Either way a pain. You'll also want the long bushing pots since the plywood top is thicker than pickguard material.
Second, use a stiff, single strand copper wire to go between the components. I found some sheilded coax that worked pretty well for this. Something that will hold it's shape a bit will help somewhat.
I have tried using fishing line or thin string to pull the pots/switch into place with very mixed results. I have not tried the tubing approach that I have seen somewhere on the forum. In the end, I gave up on that, but the stiff wire helped keep the components where they needed to be. The pots and switch are close enough to the F-hole that a thin tool or finger can usually get under the component once it's in place. I made a hook out of thin copper wire to stick through the hole to turn the pot. Forceps or thin needle nose pliers to pull the shaft up through the hole.
The jack is another story. It WAY far away from the rest of the components. I also used a switchcraft jack that was just barely long enough to get the bolt on the threads. The only way have have been able to get it in place is with a string tied to a large nut or washer that I use to pull the jack into place. I can also use that to put upward force on the jack while I get the bolt onto it and tighten it down. Now that I have done it a couple of times, I also put second string on the nut so that I can pull it back out through the F-hole.
Last edited by fender3x; 05-11-2019 at 01:31 AM.
You can just tie a big knot in the middle of a piece of string to pull the jack socket into place. As Fender3x said, everything else is positionable with fingers, given a stiff harness.
You may need to do the jack a couple of times to adjust the rear nut and washer to get the right amount of thread poking through to get the top nut and washer on, so do the jack first before poking other bits through in case you need to pull it out again and adjust.
I have the Allparts "bullet guitar jack tightener", which can be quite good for tightening the nut without the socket rotating too far. Not sure if Allparts still do it, but you can still find them on the web and I think StewMac do them.
Simon makes a good point which I did not heed: install the jack first. I did not and had to pull the harness back out, and do the whole thing over. This is about where the milk went bad.
I had better luck with tightening the nut down once I got a few threads through the hole and could put the nut on the jack a little. Simon's tool would have been great, but for better or worse I am just hearing about it now ;-)
I pulled up hard on my string with a nut tied on it, and tightened the jack's nut down with a deep socket (only the socket--not the wrench). I could get it pretty tight this way without the Jack turning as it was tightened.
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Last edited by fender3x; 06-11-2019 at 06:12 AM.
If you've got a lock washer on the underside, then it does help keep things in place once it's under some tension. I normally put a bit of glue onto the internal washers to keep them from falling off the threaded shafts.
Thanks folks, going to be a little while - and a lot of coats of tru oil - before I get to that. Its the neck angle that's my current area of concern.
Presumably there's still a reasonable string break angle over the saddles with them at the lowest position? Also, are you happy with the action on the JB? If so, I'd leave the neck angle alone. It doesn't take much for a small change in neck angle to end up as a big change in string height at the bridge.
If you want a small amount of extra string height above the bridge, you could just glue a piece of veneer to the bottom of the heel so you raise the height up by just that amount.
Oh it will get done. I'd just been sanding and scraping and particularly fed up when I posted that comment. I'm thinking, though, that the approach I've tended with other instruments, of putting the minimum amount of finish on consistent with environmental protection is the right one for me. Two or three coats of tru oil just to protect for any future things I suspect. I'll leave beauteous veneers, intricate dye schemes and mirror finishes to those with the talent...Originally Posted by fender3x
Hang in there! You did a great job with the routing. This deserves to be a bass!
Now to my eyes, now I see them in place, those tuners are aesthetically too large. Better, I think, if the kit had the Y tuners of some of the other bass guitar kits.
Well, EB-2s certainly had elephant ear tuners, but ones with much shorter shafts, which help to balance the look more. They certainly are available, only just not with this kit.
Paint them black?
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