MrFingers

The bushings were just a tad too big/the holes just a tad too small:


Collection of drills:


Correct size + a plug which fits nicely in the already drilled hole: NICE


Drilling on the benchdrill:


Nice 'n snug:


Trimmed, for an even better fit:


Calculate the centre and wedged into place:


Drilling:


Done:

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1338668193' post='1677922']
Apart from the Fender V are there any other instruments they haven't re-released? The Fender Elite series...?
[/quote]
Coronado Series
[url="http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/3016978/p3_uu1f05nmu_so.jpg"]Starcaster Bass[/url] (okay, with 3 known examples that wasn't really a series, but yet...)
Fender Telecaster II Bass (not the squier one, but a real classic series/American Vintage from Fender)

Nitro is EXTREMELY hard to find here in Europe (it is banned for health and safety issues), and it's impossible to ship canisters from the USA (where it is more "easily" available)...

Anyway, I found a company in Holland who sells nitro. Kinda expensive, at 20€ (~30$) a can, but there isn't an alternative...

[IMG]http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd324/williamsanders127/fde91bb0.jpg[/IMG]

For the total package, I made up an "early 1960's" warranty card...



Just because I can (still need to tweak the F-things a bit)

[quote name='stelios82k' timestamp='1337360385' post='1658874']
Home made Precision Bass!
[/quote]
Get rid of the jazz-cover, and place a real, wide, P-pickup cover...


anyway, here's mine:

[IMG]http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd324/williamsanders127/1f5dcd69.jpg[/IMG]

It sounds indeed like a Fender Bass VI, but you can get in the same vibe with a P-bass, strung with flatwounds, use a thick pick, and mute the strings with a piece of foam. I do it all the time.

Qua amps: amps weren't really used in the studio, the bass just went "straight in the wall", maybe via a tube compressor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP4h39IxLDE
Here you see a lipsynch from that song, and here a jazz-bass is used. Herbie Flowers, the British recording artist is known for it's tick-tack sound, and he uses a 1959 (yes, it's a prototype) jazz bass, strung with thick flatwounds, and a pick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8Le8bH3Y8U

The cavity was a bit strangly formed (a bit too pronounced)... Routed it the vintage way:

Routed the cavities...



Loeks naaiss:

The American Std. will come very close, having the same width at the nut, but I think the seventies neck is just a tad thicker (from fretboard to back), not much, just a little bit. The closest resemblance I can remember is the neck [url="http://www.allparts.com/Unfinished-Maple-Precision-Bass-Neck-p/pmo.htm"]allparts[/url] makes.

You have to keep in mind that the neck of the AmStd is finished in a satin finish, silky soft, while the vintage neck is finished in rockhard thick glossy polyester.

[IMG]http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd324/williamsanders127/ec216c2e.jpg[/IMG]
I've got the same scribling... Probably the guy who painted/assembled the bass.

Nono, this one stays Shoreline, the paint is already ordered, so... But there is a secret rule: "you can never have your GASbuildlist empty". Maybe something for after this, for myself

In my case it's curable... -ish

Anyway, I've been looking on "teh interwebz", and I shouldn't have done that!




Pfoe

Telecaster Discussion Pages Re-Issue

For the hotlinkers among us
1956P: [url="http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bass-place/129433-56-precision-bass-build-help-needed.html"]click[/url]
1957P: [url="http://www.tdpri.com/forum/bass-place/139356-57-precision-bass-build.html"]click[/url]
1960J: [url="http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/169606-1960-jazzbass-build.html"]click[/url]

I know Gil (and his work) and the efforts he makes in making authentic replica's... I wish I could mill a trussrod to exact vintage specifications, but I have neither the knowledge nor the tools for it, so I have to make some concessions...

When I saw the pictures first, I was thinking the same thing, but in the flesh, the frets are top-notch. The rosewood was very dry, I gave it a lick of lemonoi, and now it's a lot darker and smoother, and the dark edge at the frets disappeared.

they don't have to be pressed in the wood, Fender didn't countersink the holes until 1963/64, so from 1951 onwards, the tuners were just mounted on the headstock, with as a result a little gap between the tuner and the headstock. Doesn't affect the tuning ability nor the stability, it's just... "not tidy"



And you don't need a countersink drillbit, just use a 3/8" (9mm) drill bit for metal (with the conical point) and give it a spin or 2 in the drillpress (holes should be about 2 à 3mm deep)

the 62RI comes with a G&G hardcase which is like 150£, has better hardware, nitro finish, and the wages in the US are just a bit higher than those in Asia. But is it worth the 1500£ difference? I really dig the new squiers (vintage modified, classic vibe), which are perfectly built. The Mexican Standard series from Fender is... well "meh"... You pay a lot for the name on the headstock.

I'm William, 24 years old, and playing bass since I was 17-ish (after a brief career on the trombone and the g**t*r). I own a '62 Precision bass (oly. white, tortoise guard, neck the size of a small canoe, slab fretboard) and a '73 Rickenbacker 4001JG. Had a brief collection of other basses when I was younger (Musicmaster Bass, SG bass, some Jazz-Basses (those were a dark era in my life)). A lot of people say I know a lot of totally useless trivia about (vintage) Fenders, so guess they are right.

Funny fact. The bassplayer in my band really digged my 4001JG, so he was looking around for an old 4001 for him as well. I found one here on BC, sold by [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/174974-back-up-my-old-73-4001-need-to-shift-this/"]Stacker[/url] for a more than decent price, so I told my friend to jump on it... Which he did. Then we started comparing serial numbers... Turns out that both our 4001's were probably made the same day, as his is just 9 digits "older" than mine (but mine is in pristine, original condition).

Anyway, I'm also working on a 1964RI P-bass for him, which can be followed [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/176706-64ri-precision-bass-build"]here[/url].

The Gear


The Driver

(with a rebuilt 1974 Gibson L9-S The Ripper, from the same guy who bought the Rick and for whom I'm building the P. It's one of the most amazing basses I've ever played, especially with the upgraded electronics in it (I added a 6-way rotaryswitch from an L6-S guitar in it, to give me 2 extra pickup combinations, one being the neck pickup solo, which is an AWESOME sound).)

And this is how I sound, and what I play: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wzwr-ByiVWA[/media]

Apart from basses, I also like guitars (own a couple of nice examples, like a Rick 370/12, a sixties telecaster, D35,...) and... Reed organs, and in particular the foldable ones

@Toasted: "you can NEVER have enough P-basses"...
@Ricks: thanks, I'm also looking forward to it. The parts used are top-notch, so it should be an amazing bass in the end.


Anyway, some progress today: Routed and contoured. One small tearout, but the bits need some sharpening.

In the meantime a custom carved bone nut was made (Thx Pete)










Today I've marked the holes for the countersink. The brackets which hold the gear for the tuner are folded together at the back of the tuner, and from 1963-ish, Fender started to drill ~9mm-ish holes in the headstock to make sure those brackets are in the headstock, making the tuner sit flush with the headstock... I've marked the diameter with 11mm, so that gives me a spare mm so I could see nothing would protrude from underneath the tuner... Those holes were drilled before the neck was finished, so that's the same thing as I'll do.

Back in 2011, a friend of mine (being the real bassplayer of the band I'm in, because I was forced to play organ/guitar ) wanted a Top-Notch 1960's P-bass, as vintage correct as possible, and preferably in a fancy, rare colour, because he was so fond of [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0_i4evBvFU]mine[/url]. So I picked on this: A late 1964 P-bass, just before the transition to the CBS-era. In february of this year, I placed an order with musikraft, since they could make a veneer fretboard, and a neck in the shape and width I wanted, with correct placing of the dots, and today it arrived in the mail. Coincidentally, the hardware I ordered from Darren Riley arrived also today. I already had a d*c*l from FrenderBawb, just to make sure I had the finishing touch first

The Neck:












The Hardware:


The decal:



The attentive reader might have noticed that there is something missing... something quite essential... Being the body. Because I couldn't find a vintage correct enough body from the companies that made those, I decided that I had one custom-built at my local [url=http://www.stijnkenens.eu/]luthier[/url] (those who've read the 1978 Musicmaster Bass resque know how good he is with all things wood) to my specs (I have a friend who has an actual 1964, so I had some measurements and HD pictures), which will be made somewhat in the next 2 weeks. The lacquer (nitro) is also ordered, and should arrive somewhere around half may (the company is in holiday ). Because he wanted a rare color, sunburst/white wasn't an option. And because he isn't THAT masculine, shell pink would be too much... So we settled on... [b]Shoreline Gold[/b]

The specs:

veneer rosewood fretboard
1.75" nutwidht
7.25" radius
vintage frets
"chunky C" profile
CTS/NOS-cap wiring
Seymour Duncan Antiquity I pickup
2-piece "off centre joined" alder body

My goal is to make it as vintage correct as is humanly possible (thus using the correct nailholes, paintstickmarks, ...), without making it so correct that it could be used as a fraud.

Special thanks go to [url=https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peterbuilt-Basses/300518246647095]Peter Boer[/url] for helping me get those things in the US (being a non-creditcard user is a PITA) and the aforementioned Stijn Kenens.