hiram.k.hackenbacker

Just finished putting this one together. It’s a Fender Flea ‘61 neck on a Squier CV body with Lindy Fralin pick-up’s and a custom stack pot control plate by @KiOgon with series/parallel switching. Refin by David Wilson based on an Aged Ice Blue Metallic Custom Shop Precision I came across.

What’s going on with the string alignment?

Oh, don't encourage him please 😂. It's just a good job he's a couple of hundred miles away from me or I would probably have lost it already.

Erm.......no 😂

Thanks mate. That’s the plan 🤘.

The Final Episode: ‘The Green Manalishi’ I was just looking back at when I bought the body for this project from @mojobass and can hardly believe it was just over two months ago! It seems a lot longer than that for some reason. I’d like to say a big thank you everyone who checked in making comments and suggestions, especially @AndyTravis, @walshy, @Chiliwailer, @bassfan, @KiOgon who I’ve had PM conversations with during the build. I’ve learnt a lot from these guys and thank you all so very much. A special huge thank you to David Wilson for the refinish. We were punting around a few ideas at the start and I happened to mention the Custom Shop P bass I had seen at Peach Guitars. David was very keen to try and create something similar and I’m happy to say he’s nailed it. I can’t recommend David highly enough. In summary, the spec on the build is: Fender Flea ‘61 jazz bass neck (MIM) complete with tuners Squier CV jazz bass body of unknown age (presumed alder) refinished in Aged ice Blue Metallic by David Wilson Lindy Fralin jazz bass pick-up’s @KiOgon stack knob control plate and solderless loom with series/parallel switching Fender Vintage bass bridge Vintage white BWB pick guard Chrome Schaller S-Locks Fender ‘big F’ neck plate I started with these: ....and this is the end result....

Sorry, he doesn’t look anything like Voldemort 😀

Someone is dancing on Lemmy’s grave. An $0.18 figure priced at $18 which will probably cost more than $18 on top of that to import into the UK. 100% garbage.

Yeah, it does. I do feel I’ve been a bit lucky though. Not had any issue with the neck fitment at all. I’ve not even had to adjust the truss rod. It just went straight on with textbook relief (for me) and was good to go. The most fiddly part by far was the shielding and grounding of the the cavities. Not sure I’d want to do that for a full time job 😂. I guess that gets easier the more you do it and it was the first time for me.

Contrary to my expectations for this weekend, I’ve actually just managed to finish assembling the bass and it’s a belter. Due to the lateness and lack of natural light, I’ll leave the photos until tomorrow. That leaves me more time to play it tonight 😀. I’m sure all bitsa type assembly builds don’t go quite as swimmingly as this, but I have to say I’m mighty pleased.

Buy one and enjoy it in the 10% of non live playing 😀. They’re great 👍

Err, I think you’re doing it wrong.

I’m retired from that game now 😎

I know how you feel mate. Depressing isn’t it. These idiots don’t need guidelines, they need common sense. It’s in short supply evidently.

Exactly. This is why the nation is getting its knickers in a twist. It doesn’t matter whether what you want to do fits whatever guidelines. COVID is on the up and we’re going into winter. Do your bit and do everything you can to limit unnecessary social interaction. I’m astonished why anyone would do otherwise.

When I said ‘chuck’, I was referring to the ‘collet’. They take pretty small bits, it just wouldn’t quite grip the one that was needed for the control plate. I’m happy with drill work in general having spent several years ‘on the tools’ as an apprentice, then installation engineer, drilling anything from small holes in safe doors up to big holes through safe walls. My nervousness was more around the fact that the holes I was making were very small and very close (almost on top off) the site where the old holes had been filled. As you probably know, when drilling half off an old hole, the drill tip likes to find the easiest route downwards. Fortunately all had been filled soundly and the new holes went exactly where they needed to be. No dodgy looking screw head angles for me 👍.

I haven’t had much time to spare today, but the Fralin’s are now in, bridge is on, knobs are mounted onto control plate (they arrived separately) and scratch plate now has shielding tape on the back. When I tried to screw the scratch plate on, none of the screws wanted to go in at all. I put it down to a bit of paint getting in the holes, but then compared the new Fender scratch plate screws I’d bought with the old ones and found that the new ones were slightly bigger. They’re definitely right for this guard tho, so I’m not sure what the screws were that came with it. Dremel to the rescue once again - all holes widened 👍. The holes on the Ki0gon control plate are different to the ones in the VVT that had been on the body, so I asked David to fill the three holes when he painted it. Next job was re-drilling for the Ki0gon. I was just about to let rip with the Dremel when I noticed that the screws for the control plate were smaller than even the original scratch plate screws. Crisis averted. I sourced the correct drill bit from the garage, but it was too small for the chuck in the Dremel 🙄. Had to break out the big mains powered drill to do three three tiny holes. More than a bit nervous holding about that thing over the newly finished body; not for adding more scars to it, just worried about getting the holes in exactly the right position. All turned out fine though. Next job is connecting the pick-up’s and getting the neck on which is looking increasingly unlikely for tomorrow ☹️. All in good time I suppose.

No, it was in ‘Site Issues’ and was moved to ‘General Discussion’ for wider visibility, but has sunk down the list somewhat.

Found it.

I’ll have a look for you when I get home.

Yes, new measures introduced to prevent mahoosive photos being used in signatures. There is also a limit on lines and links. I can’t remember what the maximum is, but that’s probably what is causing the issue you have. There is a thread somewhere that says what the limits are.

Ha ha, very kind of you thanks. I did think about changing the title the other day, but didn’t want to tempt fate as it’s still not an operational instrument yet - oh, and I’m still just winging it really. You Tube has been very helpful 😎. Regarding the scratch plate, it’s going to be as close as I can get it to the Custom Shop Precision this build is based on - so Vintage White was what I ordered. The main differences between the two basses will be no block inlays, no neck binding and mine will work out at a fraction of the £7,749.00 price tag of it’s twin. The stacked knobs arrived just the other day 👍.

I’ve had an entertaining afternoon shielding the pick-up and control cavities. I’ve never done it before and it’s quite satisfying, even if the shielding tape seems to have a mind of it’s own as soon as the backing has been removed. Loves sticking to itself 😬. Still have the wires to go in, but that will have to wait until tomorrow.

Pound to a pinch of doggy doo it’s the capacitors. Great amps, still got mine, but the caps are cheapo crap. Mine was in for repair for weeks waiting for some new (better) ones to arrive from the USA. Hope you get it sorted.