Ander87

Right... first assembly: It did need a lot of work on the setup, as expected, and a shim for the neck pocket to balance it out and make it playable... It looked great and started to feal like a real bass. However, it did need lots of detail and the actual relic. One of the most important parts to make it credible, was working on the pickguard - I will share outcome later, but it was glossy as it gets. I sanded it down and scratched it initially in the areas of play... 600-800-1000 grits... However still, the glossy parts were ugly/too new glossy so I ended up doing most of the pickguard. It'd look frosty effect, but I did clean up with some buffing product for bodies from Guitar Nomad and now it looks amazing (will share at the end) I dulled down the metal knobs that didn't want to cooperate in the 'white vinegar with salt' tupperware experiment - happy, these revealed some funky cool coppery edges:

I made my life easy with an EMG Geezer Butler kit since I can't solder (I say, looking at my industrial engineer in electronics degree gathering dust). Great, the neck arrived! the holes for the tuners are 18mm and the tuner 'thingies' (can't recall the name) are 17.5mm... after all that wait, I'm not gonna re-spec the neck, so, super glue and done. Also, the decals came through via Rothko (more on that later) The moment the neck came I felt very encouraged to near-finish the bass... placed the hardware on a tupperware floating inside another tupperware bottom-filled with white vinegar and salt. It worked great on the tuners, not so on all else - the Gotoh 'badass' like bridge was stainless steel and it shows, no tarnish... however tuners...: Very happy with. INTERLUDE: For those asking about the neck... flipping brilliant! £120 for a genuinely roasted neck, with no fret scratching noticeable, good nut slots and lovely finish.... would 10000% recommend. HOWEVER... The neck came tight packed in styrofoam, and my impatience (AGAIN) opening the package with a folding knife meant I STUPIDLY scratched the back of the neck. I nearly lost my mind here, however, having sanded my life away the last few weeks, I used grit 400-600-800 and it worked a treat. I added a tad bit of fretboard oil, and I cannot feel it under my fingers. Plus, I did this on the dusty end, frets 10+... From there... to here:

Now, onto the paint job... Primer application - still the grain was kinda there, but this was the first coat: I built a little booth with a guitar box that worked quite a treat. I warmed the nitro on boiling water for a few minutes... Please bear in mind I spray painted the body in the middle of that November cold snap where temperatures were 0/1C, so, again, I am positive much better work could've been done indoors, or in spring/summer, however I wasn't gonna wait that long for a relic'd home made personal use instrument. In goes sherwood green - Northwest guitars says a can would work for 2-3 guitar bodies depending on application skills... I used the whole can. This was slightly frustrating as I could feel that sometimes a variance in the distance whilst spraying would make 'runs' of more silver than green for example. Also, the paint was more turquoise than I wanted - I wanted that 'almost racing green' look but again.... with the project fully finished, it all makes sense and I am happy with the result. I do have to say, again, that the awful cold and spraying outdoors in my garden did really make me feel like half the paint was up in the air rather than resting on the body - that and inexperience probably explains the whole can I used This was at about 2 coats: Final coat with the aforementioned 'slight silvery runs' No orange peel however the grain did remain, even if I bathed the body in grain filler earlier... Again, happy as it was a relic job.

Ah @JPJ thank you so so so much for the detail here, that should be useful for future projects...! Being the impatient soul I am, by the time your post landed I had finished all painting... So, apologies for not keeping this up to date, but a massive bunch of progress... (it's finished now I'd say)... SPOILER ALERT: I've made a good deal of errors and mistakes, scratches and whatever - the end result was super satisfactory, however I am lucky I like/wanted a relic job. The steps and tips that follow do not help if you want a pristine 'as new, glossy' look. NOT. AT. ALL. Built the spray jig - quite a good solution for some £40ish to let the body dry - I know folk would say 'use a hanger' but then again i wouldn't have where to free hang it without touching anything at all, so that would've meant buying some rope to hang it between two points or something and I couldn't be asked. This did a great job: Next was grain filler.... I started stupidly applying it bare, until I realised that mud-like consistency needed white spirit as a thinner to apply. I did apply a good couple layers that were THICK as it gets...: Sanding it was an absolute nightmare - started sanding with 400grit as Lonestar guitars advised in their youtube video, but it wouldn't take - this meant I ended up going down to 80 grit, working my way up... 4 sheets of each grit: 80/12/180/24/400/600... Insane. I am dead positive that there were much better ways of doing this and a smarter way of working, but again, impatience and inexperience... A billion sanding sheets later... wood is out again: Good wash up with white spirit, and ready for paint. PS: the heavy sanding I had to do to remove the awful thick layers of grain filler meant lots of scratches in the body, but again, read the 'spoiler alert' up above... 😀

Hey buddy! I unfortunately received a message from the seller that the neck had been smashed in transit. It should’ve been with me now, so the seller is sending a replacement that should be with me in 7-10 days I hope. meant to update this thread (there’s been progress!), and I will hopefully over the weekend…! Ander.

In case anyone is interested in a Z7, I’ll have mine on sale until Friday…! I know it’s self promotion but genuinely a steal if you ask me 🤣

Haha thanks buddy! I defo am looking forwards to tje neck arriving and start seeing it all together

This is so useful - I guess the only issue is about finishing and making sure they're well finished, but then again 99% of this is machined these days so...

Oh gotcha! I am positive there were maple jazz ones so hopefully there may be a P version around. There’s a couple sellers I believe they’re the same though. I will likely sand the fret ends myself if need be, but I’ve hopes that it’ll be decent! you can get an necks in Thomann for £130 so I can imagine these would be decent or better for the money… come to think of it they have to be decent if you can finish the fret ends likely. If you have the machinery it’s just easier to do a good neck than a bad one… right…? Right???

I’ll report on thread upon receipt! Should arrive this week or next…

ah, life would most definitely be much easier in natural…! Still the Sherwood Green thing has been going for a couple years so I guess I’ll indulge…! On top of it, Sherwood Green ranges a lot from the almost dark racing green to the more silvery one below… I’m hoping gray primer helps more towards the dark green vibe but I’ve a feeling it’s just yellowed aged top coat that gives that finish…

Answering myself after some research, also learning: * Porous woods like swamp ash (ahem) are more difficult to work and fill * Metallic colours (ahem ahem) also more difficult - great that I dived into this - I'm still on time to chose something like Sonic Blue or similar but nah, I'll still go ahead for a Sherwood Green finish. Another thing - pickguard arrived - this time I wanted a bit more quality than the cheap musiclilly type of thing, without going into Pure Vintage or premium celluloid tort as those are over £70 easily... I found a celluloid top pickguard at Charles Guitars for £27. Breathe of relief knowing it does fit, pickup cavity included, so no carving involved... Parts ordered from Thomann, I'll order the paint supply and a couple other bits from Northwest Guitars. Tempted to build all of it in already and giving it a play once it arrives, but that'd be stupid as I'd have to undo it all. I'm hoping I can do the gap filling and sanding next weekend, to prep for spraying the following weekend. Ander.

Most positively, yes. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all options! Blocks, dots, maple boards or rosewood over precision and jazz necks

Oh soz! Z7 is the one ready

don’t blame me when the missus enquires 🤣 https://www.andertons.co.uk/sire-z7-fretless-4-string-antique-white/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=surfaces&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADujoUr3cNyEUYGA2k9PmyWmgxkcX&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1Yy5BhD-ARIsAI0RbXZE24XzUJs6m0ihoycXTkVB7o21n0tQ_gZ6Tz1Ijzc5_YygMtTwrrEaAjy7EALw_wcB

I am pretty positive it’s out there already…! In white I believe.

Hey Paul! Not in my hands yet but on the way… will report once it’s here. so far this is gonna be a jazz neck, slab body and precision pickguard/electronics. What a FSO celebration 😅