neepheid

Thinking black and chrome will tie it all in nicely with the large pole piece pickups and the chrome hardware. Anyway, they're ordered, so we'll see if I was right later in the week!

Left it for a few days, then did a proper flatten and polish - 1500 > 2000 > 2500 grit wet sanding followed by Meguiars Ultimate Compound for the final polish. First time using Meguiars and wow, I'm sold. The compound plus a microfibre cloth and job's a good 'un! Not quite the "sheet of glass", but for a first go by an absolute beginner amateur who has never done anything like this before in his life, I'm pretty pleased with the outcome. It looks... intentional? Looks better than this IRL. The camera does lie! So, as you can gather, it's all back together again. Gave the fretboard a drink of lemon oil which it greedily accepted. I can happily proclaim the outcome of my first ever full fret level and crowning to be a success - no high frets, no buzzes, very happy with that! It's playing pretty damn well, took a setup like a champ. Truss rod on this super cheap neck is working great - obviously it was pretty slack from when I was doing the fret level, so when I put a fresh set of D'addario XLs on it it bent like a banana. No matter, a full turn on the truss rod and it was back to straight - actually too straight for my liking so I loosened it about an 1/8 of a turn and then there was a sliver of relief - just how I like it. Nut height feels OK to me - I'm no expert but I'm whizzing around the low frets no bother so I guess it's good. There are only some minor things to sort out now. The rotten bit at the bottom/back of the body. I'm not wedded to these amber speed knobs. I get quite a bit of touch buzz off the pole pieces of the Warman pickup and because it's fully epoxy potted, there's no way to earth them from the back, so unless I've done something wrong in the wiring, I'll have to do the old "lacquer/nail varnish on the pole pieces" trick. And because some of you care about these things, it weighs 3.7kg/8.15lbs on the bathroom scales. It's not a heavy bass by any means, but it has enough heft to keep me happy.

I'm pretty sure you will considered a true 50:50 partner in this mission of madness...

If by "better" you mean "quite, quite mad" then yes, I suppose I am

Go big, or go home...

I'm out. I've made my position clear. If you're a right wing boor who says bad things about/wishes ill upon people they don't even know based upon where they came from/what religion they adhere to/gender/skin colour/pick an arbitrary reason to make your odious point, then stay the f out of my way. No doubt you'll call me "woke" - whatever the f that means.

Hmm, in before the lock? 🍿

What's an "unfunny woke joke"? Not trying to stir the pot, genuinely want to be educated here - got an example?

That's the spirit - I'm bringing everything bass related that isn't broken or nailed down

Update: I've bodged it. At work I managed to find 2x 10nF X2 capacitors, so connected them in series for an effective 5nF which is hopefully close enough to 4.7nF for government work (or 'Spoons work at least). Got proper replacements on order, but fingers crossed the bodge will be good enough (and the other one doesn't go pop in sympathy!) for tomorrow night! Stand down emergency, I think. Thanks for reading! The culprit: The bodge:

Hi folks. At band rehearsal last night, (magic) smoke started coming out of the keyboard player's Nord Electro 2! Got a gig on Friday night, and we're buggered without keys Total long shot, but does anyone have a couple of 4.7nF (4n7) X2 suppressing capacitors they could send me, like today, special delivery for tomorrow? RS are the only local source I can see up here and surprise surprise, they're out of stock.

In a nutshell - don't be a d!ck. If you think hotels with people in them should be set on fire, you're being a d!ck. If you think ill of people just because they're from somewhere else, you're being a d!ck. If you're one of those "keep Britain British" types, you're being a d!ck. It's pretty simple really. Gonnae no?

No, I wouldn't work with right wing scumbags, and I'm sure they wouldn't want to work with me - I think I'd confuse them.

No, plus I think I would be far too much of a hippie, lefty, woke, lunatic snowflake for them to be in a band with me!

Ach, no matter, probably blast a couple more coats on that, then flatten back, then polish. Should be fine. Was just annoyed because it had been going on smooth and great until then.

Must be the environmental then (am spraying in an unheated, uninsulated shed, so save for wind whatever's going on outside is happening inside also). I'm using the same timings as before, as instructed on the can (3 minute shake, 2 coats 5 minutes apart at 6"/15cm distance, 15 mins touch dry, 24 hour cure), so I left it 15 mins between double coats and that was working fine for the past two nights. I know men cannot be relied upon 100% to know what six inches looks like, but I'd like to think I was in the ball park most of the time...

We're well past the testing stage now!

Last night I was braver with my flatting, and I got it pretty much flat. Unfortunately, I sprayed a couple of coats over the top and it's gone a bit orange peel-y. Very frustrating, I've done the same thing in the same way for the past 3 nights. I think I'll blast a couple more coats on it tonight before band rehearsal and see if it levels out a bit, after that I guess I'll just have to buff it out. Pain. 89_2007 project headstock lacquer flattened.mp4

It's an acrylic based lacquer. I dunno what that means except "it's not nitro".

Looks like it's mounted on some kind of small circuit board. This will either make it extra easy, or extra difficult. Hopefully on the easy side - you just need to get the right switch, remove the old one from the board, solder in the new one, job's a good 'un. No fiddly wires to wire directly to the switch. In times like these, I make a circuit diagram before I start (just the area I'm working on, not the whole thing!) - noting wire colours and tracing where they're connected to, lest I break one off during the removal process.

Spitballing here - after what is hopefully the final flatting tonight - an ultra fine Sharpie, then remaining clearcoat over it?

I've made a small mistake. There should be a gap in the top of the 'p' where the musical 'note' descends. That was silly. I'm in two minds here - should I just accept the mistake for what it is, or should I try to put a tiny sliver of black on what I've built up to this point then try to hide it in the final coats of lacquer - as illustrated in this quick mockup? It's so nitpicky, and fraught with risk at this late stage, I dunno why I'm even considering it. How risky is it, do you think?

A bit of wet sanding then 6 more layers of lacquer. Getting flatter, but I was a bit cautious with the sanding. More tomorrow.

The headstock will be doing a lot of heavy lifting in the distraction game. Private joke sounds good - this certainly hasn't been a "piece of cake", lol

I hope so!