Silky999

The wenge neck has arrived. I already rolled the fretboard edges and sanded the back of the neck. The frets have been levelled and dressed. It is going to have a cream pickguard, chrome USA Hipshot Ultralites (courtesy of Lozz selling some on here) , chrome GOTOH bridge, Schaller strap lock buttons, Tone Emporium TE18 pickups and Bloodstone Guitar Works P bass electronics with .047uF cap. It will be strung with D’adaddario .45 - .105 EXL If you fancy buying this bass, get in touch, it is going to be around £700-750 mark

This one arrived today, wenge, was ordered on eBay on 29th August. It is very good. Ignore the slight imperfections on the fretboard, that was me experimenting with adding some light wear patina to it and now I am trying to get rid of it. Until I start making my own, I get all my necks from China for my builds

Not the best photo but I had this white pearl one made for my blue burst Tribute L2000 by a chap, earlpilanz who I found on eBay,for about £43. Just in case you wanted another option. I also fitted a Japanese tribute neck that I imported to it as it was more jazz bass nut width than the standard one. Apparently you could order the Japanese premiums (tributes) with a choice of 2 nut widths. https://ebay.us/m/2veGqa

I’d second the Chinese neck option. I have had several and they really have been superb. They sometimes need a slightly proud fret tapped down but I wouldn’t buy necks from elsewhere now

I think the paint should be enough to seal and protect the wood especially if it’s primer then colour?. However, for the sake of a little bit of grain filler, I would do a belt and braces job for peace of mind. The main potential issue is if it is an open grain wood such as mahogany or sapele etc as you won’t want the paint to sink into and therefore the wrap to dimple into any open pores. Closed grained woods like maple and alder don’t generally need grain filler before paint The wrap just needs a flat sealed surface to adhere to.

Starting to get its shine and chatoyance on now. ***UPDATE*** this body has now been reserved by HeadlessBassiest for an upcoming build he is planning.

Thank you

If you want to reserve it? Lol…. It is from a single solid piece of walnut so no joins. This is the slab I cut it from; I managed to cut above the bottom crack but kept some of the knot across the bottom of the body. The top knot and crack I cut most out around the neck pocket and upper horn curve and filled the rest with black epoxy for a little bit of an individual feature It’s getting it final hand sanded oil 1000 grit rub down tomorrow and then a few extra coats of Liberon.

Thanks folks for the lovely comments. So I have filled the knot in the neck pocket today with some black Milliout epoxy to make a feature and stabilise it. There was also a slight splinter that came out on the edge of the pocket so sorted that as well

Is it poly or nitro? If it nitro, then sand and feather the edges with 600-800 grit and respray, the nitro will melt into the existing layers and you will be able to wet sand and spray until you get a flat finish. It’s similar to blending in a water slide decal on a headstock under nitro clear coat. If it’s poly, it’s much more of a nightmare as poly does not melt into the previous coats and whatever you do you are likely to get witness marks where the old and new coats overlap. I had similar where I slipped installing a tuner and scratched a headstock, it was impossible to get it to blend. I had spent ages spraying and sanding back over my logo so couldn’t face stripping and starting again so I sold the bass with money off. I vowed never to use poly instead of nitro again. If you do go blending poly route, it’s a similar process to the nitro. The area appears too large to use CA glue to fill. If Poly, I would be inclined to consider a neck plate to cover most of the obvious part of the repair. You could consider a full strip and refinish if it is a precious bass but it would need to be repainted and then clear coated due to the impossibility of stripping the poly without damaging the paint layer.

First coats of oil….this bass will be for sale when finished so if you fancy it, get in touch.

That is a thing of beauty

So the walnut jazz bass has been started. The knot in the next pocket is a pain but I am going to fill it with black epoxy and make a feature of it. This one is my own shape with a short top horn and a few mm shorter body length that is less curved across the bottom. It will be hand oil sanded and I might put a few coats of gloss nitro clear coat over the oil when it’s cured. I think it might be a stunner!

Body all finished and waxed with Liberon Bison Wax.

For you, Headless, of course!!! some more oil today….

Intrigued???…..

Well if you want a J bass……….keep checking in as I have a piece of walnut and some elm with possibly a curly spalted sycamore drop top earmarked for some Js.

Well that’s the oil sanding finished and just the final coats of Liberon Finishing oil now. The chatoyance on the Sapele is gorgeous and the grain is starting to really come out. The Liberon is such a joy to work with.

I would love a CNC machine!!!

Yeah, I am using templates for the body shape at the moment until I get my eye in. The curved edges are a 12.7mm round over router bit (no template) and I did the comfort cut by eye and hand with a Shinto and sanding. The comfort cut is not very pronounced as I quite like the more subtle less angled style I have P bass and Jazz bass templates so can do either. I’m not brave enough to try necks yet so will keep using the Chinese ones for the time being until I can get a radius jig, fretting cutting jig, truss rod jig etc. It’s all so bloody expensive! It does mean that I am not limited to pre cut bodies now so in theory can use any wood I can source.

I spent the day turning this piece of Sapele; into this Precision Bass body; It will be for sale soon on BC probably with EMG pickups and preamp and Wenge neck??? The body finish will be hand sanded finishing oil to as much of a gloss as I can get. I think it’s going to be a beauty.

I would literally check everything again as if you were doing a fresh set up. Level the neck(no relief) then run a fret rocker up the frets again. Check the frets in 3 places across each fret. Level any cheeky rockers! Set the neck relief again Check the nut slot heights. Set the string heights and make sure they follow the fretboard radius. I bet you still have a high fret at the bottom of the neck.

Have you checked if the nut slot for the D is too low or a twisted neck?

A nitro finished Fender would be an American made version (I believe) coming in £1500-2000 new. For me to do one the same as headless’s: okoume body nitro paint and clear coat Chinese roast maple neck fender vintage pickups gotoh bridge guyker tuners bloodstone guitars works electronics with fender capacitor you’d be looking about £400-500. I’m just starting out so not charging serious money as it doesn’t seem right until I get a bit of a trusted reputation. I’m doing my initial ones at cost or a close to it as possible with hardly anything for my time. if you wanted more affordable pickups( headless changed his himself for the fender), bridge, tuners etc I could get it in cheaper.

The green machine is all finished. It started as black and is now a gorgeous Emerald Green as you can’t get that colour in a shortscale left hander