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The Legoheads

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  1. Not sure I ever posted this video of the entire "Mickenbacker" build history...? [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G78DbodhqQM[/url]
  2. Another fine 4005 build. A few steps ahead of my effort... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7FC0VbDjmA&list=LLw9hfMFsykPArCi-CG1KrLw
  3. And then I got my hands on a 3D printer and swapped out the 2D printed truss rod cover for a 3D version...
  4. I now have it wired up and jacked in to the amp. I love the sounds it's putting out and switching and mixing the 2 pickups has some fantastic variations. It sounds nothing like my 4003 save for a common Ric growl. One of the main reasons I made this bass is that I'm a big Stone Roses fan and always loved Mani's bass and his playing. The real weird thing is, it sounds so out of place playing along with anything other than Rose's tunes. It blends really nicely with This is the One, Resurrection, Adored, etc. but when I try to play along to some non-Roses tracks it almost sounds like it's out of tune at times. I was checking the tuning and intonation every few minutes and scratching my head as it was spot on. Guess it's such a different unique sound...? Hopefully I'll post some video soon so you can see what I mean.
  5. [quote name='watton_earth' timestamp='1347182081' post='1797653'] That really is amazing work....sound clips please. May I ask about the headstock? Why change the design from the original? [/quote]Smoke and mirrors my friend...
  6. [quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1347185812' post='1797700'] Amazing work!! Is the neck glued in yet? I was surprised to see you finishing the neck and body separately - never seen that before on an instrument that didn't have a bolt on neck. [/quote] Funny you should ask as I decided not to glue the neck in, at least not for now until I'm happy with everything. This leaves me with a couple of worries: 1. At present, under the tension of the strings the neck is being levered forward which is pushing against the back panel... probably not good in the long term. 2. Even though it's a snug fit, when I played it acoustically, there was some "rattling vibration" which may or may not have come from the joint of the 2 parts not being actually bonded. It seemed easier to finish the two main parts individually. I did consider fitting them together before starting on the clearcoats but figured that would make the sanding an buffing more difficult and the whole thing less manageable. When I finally set the neck properly, I'll probably add stain to some glue to "finish" the joint.
  7. Almost there... just a few tweaks and a bit of soldering and she'll be all done...
  8. All very kind gents and you comments are appreciated. With no false modesty, it has been a terrifying journey with plenty of nail biting moments, bag loads of patience and a lot of research. Even then, there are a host of mistakes, some of which, only I know about and some of which can be easily seen if you know where to look. All that said, I'm proud of this effort, hence all the photos along the way, almost as many photos as I took of my kids. I never expected it to turn out this well, certainly not at first attempt. Although not especially skilled in woodwork or "luthiery", I've spent much of my life in engineering and those skills certainly helped, along with a healthy dose of OCD. I'm hoping to wrap up in the next couple of weeks and then I'll have to find something else to do to kill my time. For anyone who doubts they can achieve something like this, I'd say, just give it a go. There's a guy from India on another forum I frequent who has designed and built an amazing bass with the most basic of tools. His only power tool is a drum sander that he built himself...!!!
  9. Cleaned up the tailpiece ready for chroming. Also finished the color coats and clear coats and started sanding and polishing. The sheen on the neck is from a 6000 grade micro-mesh. Unfortunately, I don't have any 12000 right now so that's as good as it gets until I do. At this rate, I might even forgo a full polish...
  10. 10 coats in and ever increasing amounts of stain in the ever decreasing stock batch #1... Looks like we're finally getting somewhere...
  11. Finally laid in the binding last week and then started spraying over the weekend. I've done 7 clear base coats and then 2 colour coats, 3 coats per day and lightly sanding before the start of each day . Doesn't seem to be going too badly so far. The pics make the "burst" look less of a graduated finish than it is, although there is one that shows the fade better than the others. It's hard to guess the final colour without spraying endless test coats on some scrap. I'm using water-based acrylic with stains (approx 10 parts cherry, 2 parts mid brown) and am just gonna keep building up until I get the depth of color I require. Hopefully, it won't take 20 coats to do that... :hmm: [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/basecoat00.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/basecoat01.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/basecoat02.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/basecoat03.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/colorcote00.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/colorcote01.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/colorcote02.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/colorcote03.jpg[/IMG]
  12. Last night I glued the fretboard and then I spent this morning blending the seam. I also took a little more material from the neck to get a better profile. I then did a mock build with the tailpiece and all strings tuned. I had to shim the nut but apart from that the action was pretty spot-on from the get go. Intonation is way off but that's not an issue at this stage, although maybe I should be checking it's achievable before I set and glue the neck in place. I knocked out a few riffs and though I always intended that the first tune be Rose's "Resurrection", I always play "Sunshine of Your Love" to tune up. Acoustically, I was very happy with the tone, resonance and sustain even without all the parts being properly glued and with the addition of several G-clamps... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y49pDHKk0u8&feature=youtu.be
  13. Spent a couple more hours grinding and filing this morning. There are some really tight areas that will take a lot of time and patience with needle files to clear the material. I also attempted to rough out the string guides. As you can see, the back of the tailpiece isn't very pretty but it's functioning as required. After drilling a regular hole I fashioned a makeshift bottom reamer by cutting down a regular 1/4 " bit and flattened the bottom of the hole. I then cut the string channels with a hacksaw and widened them out with a cutting wheel on the grinder. [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/tailpiece12.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/tailpiece14.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/tailpiece15.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://www.legoheads.com/mickenbacker/tailpiece16.jpg[/IMG]
  14. Not much of an update right now; I'm just prepping for the final push which involves the finishing. A friend of mine has convinced me to give the Fire-Glo (Cherry Sunburst) finish a try. If it turns out to be a disaster then at least I can go over it with the originally planned Jet-Glo (Gloss Black) finish. I'm intending to use waterbased acrylic with ColorTone stains as sold by StewMac here in the US [url="http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/1730"]http://www.stewmac.com/shopby/product/1730[/url] [url="http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/ColorTone_Liquid_Stains.html"]http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Colors,_tints,_and_stains/ColorTone_Liquid_Stains.html[/url] I figure I should be laying down 2-3 clear base coats before I start to introduce the liquid stain into the mix? But then as I build up the deeper red around the edges and no red in the centre, there will be more layers of paint around the outside. I believe that burn in between layers is pretty good with this stuff so the difference in layering between edge and center may not be too much of a problem...? Finally, once the desired "burst" has been achieved, another round of clearcoats to protect...? Any advice on achieving the finish I want with these products would be greatly appreciated even if it's just pointing me in the right direction of an appropriate post, website or article.
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