skydivepaul

a few pics from start to finish. turned out ok plays nice as well. kit still in the box A lot of sanding later.........................first coat of oil neck and body joined tuners fitted job done

UPDATE: Kit arrived on time and on initial inspection looked pretty good. The claim of a jazz bass kit works for the body but the width at the nut is 41mm - same as my ibanez bass. Any way the grain and compostion of the wood look good enough to sand and sand and sand and apply oil for a natural finish. I traced around my jazz bass headstock onto the new new blank, cut out with a jigsaw and sanded down to shape Plenty of sanding later ( there were a few rough spots on the body that needed sorting out - the neck was spot on though) Started with 100 grit, 180 grit, 220 grit, 600 grit. Applied 5 coats of danish oil to the body and neck, lightly sanding with 1500 between coats. 2 coats of briwax to finish and the reults are pretty good. fitted the tuners and the neck to the body tonight should be finished for tomorrow ( I ordered a deep red torty pickguard as the single ply white pickguard that came with the kit didnt look the part) pics to follow

Thanks for all the advice gents. When the kit arrives which should be tomorrow I will take a good look at the body before starting anything to make sure it will be suitable. Plan b may be paint or maybe dye if it doesn't look suitable for a natural finish. Will keep you updated snd post some pics on progress Cheers Paul

I have just ordered one of these from gear 4 music http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/LA-J-Electric-Bass-Guitar-DIY-Kit/PZZ At £74 I reckon it's worth a punt. I have built several cigar box guitars and currently have a sunburst fender jazz bass, but I quite fancy a natural finish jazz bass. Should be fun to build and I have decided on a natural finish. After reading loads of articles on finishing the body and neck I have my workshop ready with various grades of sandpaper 80 , 120, 260, 600, 1000 and 1500 I have some good quality Danish oil and also some bri wax for the final finish I have read that if you go too fine with the sandpaper the wood cannot properly absorb the oil, so my question is what grade of sandpaper would be the best to finish with I am looking to bring the grain out a bit and also want a nice smooth finish, satin or slight gloss is ok Thanks Paul

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1405110418' post='2498993'] They kind of look like Barefaced cabs anyway [/quote] Apparently they were custom made cabs from the USA

A good friend of mine has just bought his daughter a pa rig for her birthday (she just happens to sing in our band) Anyway I went with him to look at it last night and help him pick it up, it is being stored at our house until next week when it is her birthday We gave it a little test last night to make sure it all worked, but I thought it needed a bit more of a test tonight. Wow, I was impressed with the volume and tone i got out of this rig. Specification. Studio master 8 channel mixer and amplifier 2 x 250 watts 2 x 15" cabs each with 2 x horns 2 x 12" cabs with horns It is old but in good shape and he paid £230 for the lot So 500 watts and 4 x 8 ohm cabs for 230 nicker That is good value in my book. Just a thought when looking at expensive branded and boutique amps that you can pick up something like this as an alternative Admittedly it takes more lugging around but the sound I got out from my jazz bass was thick and thumping. Not what I was expecting at all Will post a picture when I can remember how to

update for you on the satin finish. After 6 months it has started to show a shine where the right arm /hand sits on the bass. it has just rubbed through some of the satin finish and now that part of the bass looks shiny. Actually it looks great on the shiny bit. I am thinking of maybe a light polish around the rest of the guitar to shine it all up. Anyone done this before on a satin finish bass?? I have looked on a couple of guitar forums where people have used a light car polish / scratch remover to buff up the finish with good results

That is one sweet looking bass. nice thru neck with the different wood laminated. not sure of the model but I would wager its worth more than hundred quid!!!

quick update. been using the ampkit (peavey) with the pocket GK app. great for jamming along to tracks with (i am in a covers band so very useful - what i wanted it for) you can access your music on the iphone straight from the GK app which is good. built in tuner seems fairly accurate levels are good, can easily bring the bass up to and above the backing track if necessary my gripe would be too much background noise if just playing along without a back track. sure there is a noisegate on the app but as soon as you touch the strings you get that background hiss. not excessive but enough to piss me off if i was using this solely for straight practice. for the same price as a set of strings I am happy with it. for amp modelling and bass only practice my zoom B2 does the trick but you cant mix backing tracks in with it without other kit 7/10 from me

Thanks guys. I went for the peavey kit in the end after negative reviews of the irig Had a quick go with it tonight using ampkit, although ampkit only comes with a free guitar amp it works ok. Need to either buy an amp from the App Store or try out the pocket gk app. This seems better for just jamming along to tracks which is what I will mainly use it for

I am after one of these little devices for some quiet home practice. Still going to crank the amp up and shake the windows but sometimes I find it more productive to practice / learn with the headphones on Don't want o be tied to the amp with the headphones so one of these irig jobs would work for me Any experience of which one is better I know for £25 they aren't going to be amazing but not sure which one to get The irig looks nice and compact to carry around if needed but the peavey looks like it has more going for it Not bothered about the hd version as not intending spending £85 Any thoughts?

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1388326868' post='2320761'] Smart! What are those pickups? They look like Roscoe Beck models... [/quote] Thanks I am pleased how they turned out The pups are standard fender modern player pups You can have them in humbucker mode or single coil with the rotary switch. Sound best in humbucker mode IMO but in single coil mode they really pump out some growly bass

Just spotted a farida on gumtree for 299 if anyone is interested. Nowt to do with me BTW

As promised before and after pics. The blocks were pretty easy to install just follow the instructions that come with the blocks. I slackened off the A & D strings and moved them out of the way so I could use the E & G as a guide for the blocks from fret 1 to 12 The blocks from 12 - 19 are a little trickier as they are smaller. All in took around an hour to fit them pretty pleased with the result Before: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SyhAb0M5lF4/UsAMGw6yc9I/AAAAAAAAAHU/LYBL8op7EwA/w614-h818-no/P1090095+%2528768x1024%2529.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j7nkhvMvmuc/UsAMGdTzvKI/AAAAAAAAAHI/xEs88zYFxnk/w614-h818-no/P1090096+%2528768x1024%2529.jpg After https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-RAPm6pOa_eE/UsAMIqEqdKI/AAAAAAAAAHg/tarXLZJ2cEo/w614-h818-no/IMG_0590+%2528768x1024%2529.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TWU9AAXF87A/UsAMNJlOn2I/AAAAAAAAAHw/jBSHEovUZRA/w614-h818-no/IMG_0586+%2528768x1024%2529.jpg https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-NcI7zxqOr6s/UsAMK2UloXI/AAAAAAAAAHo/MtLNY-VEhm4/w1024-h768-no/IMG_0591+%25281024x768%2529.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0FexPQlgMjA/UsAMHkl5chI/AAAAAAAAAHY/poMMJV-_msc/w1024-h768-no/IMG_0594+%25281024x768%2529.jpg