Silky999

Starting a new build for a fellow Basschat member, because this one deserves documenting properly — if only as a cautionary tale. The brief: a paulownia body, finished properly in nitrocellulose, going Dakota Red, paired with a MIM Fender neck. The timing: while fighting a genuinely world-ending case of manflu. The wood: paulownia, which has zero sympathy and even less respect for human suffering. As usual, this will be a warts-and-all build thread — no carefully curated highlights, just the reality of what’s involved in getting a nitro finish right on a wood that actively resists it. This is very much not a “quick colour and clear” job. Paulownia has a habit of revealing grain, pores and dents you were sure you’d already dealt with — especially once primer goes on and you’re already feeling sorry for yourself. The plan (and yes, this is the long way round): Multiple coats of nitro primer Careful flattening Shellac to lock everything down before colour Grain filler, because the grain will come back if given even half a chance More sanding than feels medically advisable Eventually… Dakota Red At the moment it’s firmly in the “primer shows everything you missed” stage — which is nitro’s favourite moment to kick you while you’re down. The aim here isn’t speed; it’s getting a finish that won’t sink, print through, or look like it’s been applied with a teaspoon. I’ve also added a cut out to the neck pocket as the neck is a heel adjustment truss rod. My cunning plan is that it will be covered by the pickguard in normal use but means that the neck can be adjusted in situ by just taking the pickguard off and not having to de-string, remove the neck, adjust, attach neck, re-string, tune and repeat until it’s right. Progress may be slower than usual, fuelled mainly by tea, ibuprofen and stubbornness — but it will be done properly. I’ll keep this thread updated as it goes along, warts, mistakes, fixes and all, including the usual sanding, swearing, re-priming, and pretending this was all part of the plan from the start. Dakota Red to follow… once both the finish and the builder are fully cured.

Arrr @HeadlessBassist, thank you for your lovely comments and your unwavering faith in me.

Great day in the workshop today. @HeadlessBassist popped over to collect his bass and we finally got to hear it properly through my Blackstar Unity 500 combo. Up to now I’d only heard it through headphones and already thought it sounded sublime… but through the combo? Superb. Genuinely one of those moments where you stop playing and just look at each other. For a passive Jazz it sounded almost active — but there isn’t a battery anywhere near it. Big, thumpy low end, proper growl when you dig in, and a clarity that just sits right. Soloing the rear pickup was a bit of a revelation too — loads of honk and that almost-slap snap even when played fingerstyle. Properly responsive and alive. Hopefully @headlessbassist will add some sound clips at some point, as he’s much better at that stuff than I am 😄 I honestly think it shocked both of us how good it was — always a nice surprise when a build exceeds expectations, even when you’re hoping it will. Cracking way to end the day.

Final update – walnut body / graphite neck Jazz bass Thought I’d close this thread off as the bass is now finished and heading home to @HeadlessBassist Solid walnut body, finished simply to let the wood speak for itself, paired with a full graphite neck for stability and consistency. Classic Jazz layout, clean hardware fit, and set up to play properly straight out of the case. This one’s been a good reminder that while graphite necks are brilliant, they come with their own rules. No compression, no forgiveness, and no tolerance for “that’ll probably be fine”. Everything from drilling to mounting hardware needs thinking through properly. Do that, and the reward is a neck that just doesn’t move and quietly gets on with the job. There were a few moments along the way where it tried to turn into a learning experience, but it all came back together in the end. Structurally solid, cosmetically clean, and exactly what the customer was after. The tuners are on upside down but @HeadlessBassist decided that returning them to swap for the correct orientation was a faff so we made it work! Just the bridge pickup screws to swap for black ones when they arrive tomorrow. Why the strings don’t run between the pickup poles when i used a template to route is annoying but it doesn’t affect the sound and the bass sounds phenomenal especially with the tone rolled off. Very clear and quite a lot of mids and highs. Thanks to those who followed along and chipped in — always appreciated. On to the next build.

Wenge / Elm bass update: it lives. Thought I’d share a quick resurrection story in case anyone else needs reassurance that instruments can come back from the brink. This one very nearly became “that bass I don’t talk about”. What started as a simple refinish escalated into: poly having a meltdown heat gun decisions I immediately regretted a drop-top seam briefly auditioning for independence and a small chunk of wenge making a bid for freedom near the pickup route At one point I was genuinely Googling “is relicing a legitimate coping mechanism”. Anyway… slow down, walk it back, glue where glue belongs, patch where wood went missing, black grain fill doing some very heavy lifting, and a lot of patience later — it’s back on its feet. Still some sanding to do to remove the grain filler then oil and shellac ready for nitro clearcoat. I also took the opportunity to do a comfort carve into the wenge to make it more hmmmm. It still needs some tidying sanding around the carve but nearly there. The seam is solid, the top is flat, the grain is doing that wenge thing again, and structurally it’s absolutely sound. More importantly, it looks like a bass rather than a cautionary tale. Lesson (re)learned: Heat guns are not subtle tools Wenge forgives, but only if you apologise properly Fixing your own mistakes is annoying… but also oddly satisfying Onwards now to finishing, hardware, and pretending this was all part of the plan. Builds aren’t always about the glossy photos at the end — sometimes they’re about dragging something back from the dead and quietly nodding at it when it survives.

Quick build update, in the spirit of mistakes building character. Found a small scratch in the poly on my wenge/elm bass and decided to sand it out. Poly responded with witness lines, I responded by sanding more, and together we agreed this was now a learning exercise rather than a repair. Several poor decisions later I was stripping the entire body with a heat gun. The poly came off, my confidence followed, and the heat encouraged part of the wenge/elm joint between the pickups to lift slightly, just to make sure I got full value from the experience. It’s now re-glued, clamped, and will be reassessed once cured. There’s no finish on it, so it’s all fixable — just slower than planned and significantly more educational. Upside: it’s moving to nitro. Builds aren’t always about the good stuff — sometimes they’re about standing in the workshop looking at your own handiwork and thinking, “Well… at least I won’t do that again.”

Another thing I would check if the new string doesn’t sort it is the nut slot height for the string. If the string is slightly thicker than the old string, it may be sitting higher in the nut slot. Also check your relief again, too much relief may be causing a bigger gap and more movement therefore sharpening the string especially 7 - 9th fret where relief may be greatest. This is the order I do my setups; Set relief Cut nut slot correctly check relief Set action check relief Set witness points Then intonate at 12th

This one’s a customer commission, so the customer is always right… unless it’s truly horrific, at which point we pause, laugh nervously, and then have a sensible conversation about why maybe we shouldn’t do that. I always try to use one-piece bodies where I can — so far, that’s been the case on all my builds — as it forms the main structural backbone of the instrument. I’m perfectly happy with a two-piece drop-top, but I like the core of the bass to be a single slab if possible. Entirely unnecessary? Possibly. Deeply satisfying? Absolutely. A P/MM in full stealth black is still whispering bad ideas in my ear though…I found this matt black nitro paint from a paint brand I’ve used before and think it might make an amazing finish on a bass; https://ebay.us/m/3sJlTs Paired with either a full matt or satin nitro clearcoat🤔 You know where I am if you feel the need to. 😄

A bit of neck TLC today on the roasted maple neck for the ongoing wenge Jazz bass build. Full fret level, crown and polish from end to end — slow, methodical, and accompanied by the usual internal monologue of “that’s fine… that’s fine… please be fine.” Roasted maple behaved beautifully: stable, clean, and took a polish like it was showing off. Frets are now level, crowned cleanly, and polished up to a mirror finish. Before it gets married to the body it still needs a coat of Monty espresso wax on the rosewood fretboard and a gentle edge roll to take the factory sharpness off — small details, big feel. Tuners have also been mounted, which is always a testing moment when drilling for those tiny mounting screws — measure twice, drill once, briefly question life choices, then carry on. One of those stages where nothing looks dramatic, but everything feels right. Low-action territory firmly unlocked. Next up will be final neck fitting and setup once the wenge body is ready to reunite with it. Progress pic attached 👍

It’s black grain filler then Liberon finishing oil hand sanded in, shellac and finally Blackfriars gloss poly. I wanted to use the Liberon on the wenge and the elm to help blend it together with the ambering.

What about a razor wire saw?

Thank you…..you don’t see the swearing, sweat and tears.

A bit more progress on this one today, with equal parts satisfaction and quiet concern. The roasted maple neck has had a test fit into the wenge & elm body (dry fit only). Alignment and scale are behaving themselves, centreline is where it should be, and for once nothing has tried to fight back. Always suspicious when that happens. I’ve also been polishing the gloss poly finish, which has reached the stage where it looks finished enough to give you false confidence, but still has plenty of opportunities left to catch you out. This build was started before I’d properly refined my build process, so there are still a couple of jobs left that now feel… character-building. Chief among them is drilling the bridge earth hole, which is one of those operations where you stare at the body for ten minutes, measure it again, stare some more, and then wonder why you ever thought this was a good idea. Still, progress is progress. Next update will either involve a neat earth wire… or a lesson learned. It would be rude not to mention that a worrying amount of today’s progress was made possible by my Narex chisels, which continue to justify their place on the bench every single time I pick them up. Sharp, predictable, and refreshingly uninterested in drama, they’re basically the opposite of most of my builds. Clean cuts, no tearing, no surprises — just quietly getting on with the job while I mutter “that’s lovely” to myself like a man who’s spent far too long in a workshop.

It’s nearly done!