HazBeen

Just soldering, intonation, setup and usual tinkering needed…

Glorious result!

Much to love about this bass, well done!

Coming together….. slowly

5 screws, so Fender Jazz replacement bridge. Gotoh 201B I think.

Clever! Love it.

4 coats…

Slowly starting to put effort into the bass again, rough body carve done.

The thing that really won me over was the octaver (which sounds like an OC2), the build and sound quality and the 2 loops. To me it sounds marginally better than my Stomp (now sold) and I could take another pedal off the board (ie the octaver). This was enough to accept a slightly steeper learning curve and slightly more cumbersome UI.

I have no idea to be honest, I built all my patches from scratch.

Whilst I am not going to elaborate like some undoubtedly will want me to do. My small board is now a Core, with an FI in loop one, a Source Audio Aftershock in loop 2 (no Y cables needed), with an external TRS 2 button switch and a Morningstar MC3. Full midi controlled. Fewer bells and whistles than my Line6 LT, the UI is not as good as the Line6, but it sounds fantastic and is bulletproof. Not what I would class the Stomp it replaced.

Hardly adequate (dark, flash from phone), but I snapped this just after wiping down the body after 2nd coat. A little darker and deeper red, with the grain still nicely visible. It will not get much darker than this from the 4 additional coats I will add, so pretty close to end colour I think.

Not bad for stained Alder if I do say so myself.

I may have slapped on the first two coats of finishing oil ….

Simple, because I felt like it. Couldn’t decide what to do wrt logo so this meant I do not need to worry, and it is a neat hidden feature.

Progress! - sanded back the body - stained it again - trussrod cover made - Logo recessed in neck - frets polished

Exactly this!

Nut, tuners and string retainers sorted. Side dots also done. And first coat of red stain on (will be sanded back). Staining Alder is always a little challenging, multiple coats and sanding back ensures a consistent finish.

I have been totally and utterly swamped, finally found some time yesterday. Redid the pickguard, much happier with it. It is every so slightly bigger in certain places and trimmer in other. Also looks less handmade (picture is before final trim/shaping with scalpel). Also did the nutslot… I have decided to go for a brass nut (a la Malmsteen), often overlooked on guitars but I have an incling it will work well for what the future owner will use it for.

I have it’s bigger brother. One of the most if not the most important tools for me, it was a game changer when I got mine.

RIP Rick Laird, I listened to Birds of Fire a gazillion times trying to suss out his bass parts.

Or use shielding paint …..

Finally found some time again…. Neck fixing/ferrules sorted, bridge and tailpiece sorted (and scale and lining of strings is even fine 😂). Nut and tuners next….. then redo the pickguard and polish up the frets. Then just lots of sanding and finishing…… And once this skinny thing is done, I will be refocusing on a real instrument, ie the bass ….

This is exactly the thing that separates the true professionals from decent amateurs like me. People underestimate how tricky a job like this actually is.