Andyjr1515

I've found Switchcraft the most reliable - but the whole design of barrel jacks is a compromise and so they are all potentially unreliable. Every Ibanez I've ever owned or worked on has had to have the barrel jack replaced - and many after a very short life - which was a surprise to me as, in most other aspects, I rate Ibanez very highly. And even Yamaha (thought by many the Toyota of the guitar world) - same.

Lovely job

Been in Aberdeen the last few days with only an old Android Tablet with me - really no good for listening to bass on! After an 'interesting' hike back yesterday, I've been able to listen to this through a decent speaker. It sounds GREAT! Nice playing too (but don't tell @ped - it'll only go to his head )

I use heavy duty end pincers - at least 8" and even 10" to give plenty of leverage.

Looks great!

I'm delighted. The moment I plugged it in, even on my rubbish home system, I knew it was going to be 'rather special'

Looks great!

Yes Haven't you noticed the sawdust when you come in from work?

And...it's done! What's more, it sounds wonderful Here it is before it gets back into @ped's clutches tomorrow:

Today's time taken was sorting out the neck pickup chamber. Mainly: - shielding - pickup ring fixing where, underneath for three of the holes there was a void The original chambers were a combination of partial shielding plates and conductive paint. Where I have exposed new timber, I added copper foil, soldering across to the existing plates and checking that all three elements had full grounding continuity. The latter was a case of cutting and fitting shaped timber sections that would glue to the sides of the original chamber for the pickup ring screws to screw into: And double checking with the pickup that there weren't any obstructions, ready for adding the height foams and fixing screws: And that will be one of the jobs for tomorrow along with, hopefully, wiring it up.

Yes, I was thinking along the same lines that it needs some sort of tight grommet or similar - but a clipped off cable tie would be perfect. Consider your excellent idea stolen, @tauzero

I like that cutaway/bevel on the headstock very much

Trouble is, the fine wires are at the very end of the plate and the cable shielding is too stiff to double back in an S - it would probably do more harm than good. Now it's in, then it's probably OK. Maybe just something for the feedback to Gemini. Everything else is super - the look of them; the presentation (wrapped in purple felt!); the quality of the fixing screws. I look forward to seeing what they sound like.

Don't you think those cutaways add a certain 'je ne sais quoi' ? A bit like cooling vents on a Maserati

The good news is that I've got to the 'make a list of the final jobs' stage. The bad news is that I've only ticked off half of one of them in a morning's work. But that's better than going backwards I've tidied up the bridge pickup chamber, copper-foil shielded and earthed it, fitted it and modded the trial pickup ring to as thin as the chamber allows. Here's the shielded chamber, ready for sorting the fixing holes. I confess I am a little nervous of the un-supported outlet cable coming from the Gemini pickup. It's a heavy cable and those three teeny coil attachment wires are pretty fragile. It's a pity that there isn't any sort of cable secure - I would have thought a simple lacing through a couple of drilled holes in the base plate would have been possible. Still, it seems OK - I just won't take it out again! Also here is the slimmed down trial guard for @ped to see what he thinks. The final version - whatever shape @ped decides on - will have two small pickguard screws holding it in place, one either side of the pickup.

Fully adjustable

Yes - could be quite a bit smaller. I'll trim this one down to the minimum (including width for the fixing screws) while I'm waiting for the black single-ply. Should be able to do that in the morning.

It depends what kind of paint to an extent, but most paints won't like an undercoat of tung oil or similar. If it looks OK just oiled, I would stick with that. If you want a paint finish, it really needs to start with bare wood again, sanding-sealered, primer coated (primer is essential) and then the final colour and clear coats. Most of the easier home finishes are going to be soft enough to fail the fingernail test - even the polyurethane finishes I often use will protect from normal use but will dint relatively easily. Rock-hard finishes are usually into two-part resin and similar territory...much harder and usually come with a significant ramp up of safety precautions, skills and equipment.

And yes - this has some decent mileage. It will be one of the mock-ups I will do as an option with the all-black material.

Both good points and - now I have the inner shape sorted - when the 1ply black blank comes, I will cut two of three outer shapes to bounce off @ped for him to choose whichever he prefers. That said, the first one I tried was, indeed, rectangular with small rounded corners...and it looked like a piece of black plastic trying to cover up a hole This shape (at least in my minds-eye with the radii exactly matching the ones of the pickup) looked much more like it was meant to be there. But, yes, you are right - it can and will be any shape @ped prefers While I'm waiting for the black 1 ply blank, this is now the finished surround for the neck and the same round-ended mock up for the bridge which, in the final version, will have bevelled sides and a pickguard fixing screw either side:

Proof of concept day for the pickup ring/gap cover stuff. For the neck ring, it needs to be thin. The bass has a very low action and so I don't want to lift the pickup ring much at all. My experiment is using some thin plasticard which will create a 0.5mm thick skirt, about 1mm proud of the ring all the way round (when I do the final one). This is my trial, just having an overlap front and back (the finished one will be all round the perimeter): And for the bridge, something like this. This sample is black/white/black - no good as the pickguard is now, after decades of light and smoke, close to ivory and it would clash with the white once the edges of the cover are bevelled. I have a sheet of single-ply black on order that should be with me on Wednesday. Oh - and I will use a set of compasses to get the curves correct for the final version :

I do thank you, @Mykesbass But I know when something is out of my league...

Yes - just flipped over. It's been strung up and unstrung so many times (which is why I always use a 'sacrificial' set for this stage), I'm not surprised that the saddles have started turning over in disgust

Well - my bits box is certainly wide and varied. As I vaguely remembered, I do indeed have some genuine and unused Mustang/Jaguar slide switches. The great thing is that I therefore also have the proper short and threaded screws This is where @ped and I agreed it should go: For the pickguard I drilled the corners of the slot, cut the middle out with a scroll saw and straightened everything up with a couple of needle files: For the chamber, the same as the pickup chambers - hog out with a forstner bit and then chisel the 'waves' straight. This is before I did that latter step. For cable access, I simply need to drill a short hole between the controls chamber and this new switch chamber. And it's in: Tomorrow will be sorting the two pickup ring 'skirts' if I can find the material I'm hoping to use. And after that it should be all of the actual construction work done - it should be then just a case of wiring it up and putting it back properly together

Just catching up. Welcome to the challenges of finishing - it's a rocky climb! The most important thing is that you have a neck and body that fit nicely and the strings and bridge line up! Just reading your thread, there are many things that can affect adhesion of paints (which is why, generally, I don't do paint finishes), but one of them is certainly that many, if not most, manufactured bodies have a residue on the surface and always benefit from a thorough sanding before doing anything. It may or may not have anything to do with the problems you had (did you use a primer?) but I was reminded of this when I saw the tung oil result...it looks surprisingly light coloured. Is that residue of the white paint there too? If so, it might be worth giving the body a rigorous sanding - right down to proper bare wood and then try the tung oil (other oils work OK - Tru-oil; Danish Oil; etc) which might soak better into the wood, darken it and be quicker to dry. The test if you are sanding is to take a clean facecloth or dish cloth, soak it in water, squeeze it out and wipe the surface of the sanded wood. The dampness should darken the wood as the water soaks into the grain. Any residue of manufacturing or previous finishes will show up as light patches. When the dampness darkens the wood and is pretty even, then you know you are down to un-contaminated timber and then you can let it dry before starting the first 'soak in' coats of your preferred finish.