Silky999

I have a new purchase and this paired with my Triton router means I can start making my own bodies from slabs and blanks. This opens up the world of new woods and shapes…..any tips or advice from old hands with a bandsaw?

If you go on the East website, all the wiring diagrams are on there for the different preamps.

I love an Ibanez and have 2 of my own. The 600 would look fantastic with a refinish. I think I am going roasted maple neck with black block inlays. That will work with the pickguard and black hardware.

Hand sanded Liberon Finishing oil up to 700 grit and 3 coats of Liberon Bison wax. This one is going to be an absolute beauty!

I have always had good results with Liberon Finishing Oil as it drys more like a varnish than a traditional oil. It does add a bit of an amber hue so might be worth trying on some scrap wood first to make sure you like it if you decide to go that route. This is an Ash body that I’m working on using Liberon.

Its’s finished!!! £300 if anyone is interested….it is on the basses for sale thread.

This is an Ash body which oil sanded up to 5000 grit and having its last few finishing oil coats to be ready for a good old wax and polish. Next decision is roasted Maple neck or flame roasted Maple neck with or without a rosewood fretboard. Advice??? It will have a black pearl pick guard and black hardware.

Hellzero, thanks for that great advice!

Thank you, it’s got some little specs of wind blown dust in a couple of places from the clearcoat stage of spraying but it was a balance between trying to remove them without making it worse and you can’t see them unless you look really closely with the bass under your nose and rotating it in the light. They would never be seen when played normally. The cost of trying to set up some sort of an inside spray booth with extraction was just too prohibitive for the odd spray project.

Yeah I just put it in my name and send payments to the other band members. It also makes it easier doing my tax self assessment as all the band stuff is in one place

I like the durability of poly but the fact that it doesn’t “melt” into the previous layer like nitro makes it an absolute nightmare if you get a run or burn through when sanding. With nitro you can just sand back flat and then re -coat but with poly, you get witness lines around the sanded area. My favourite option is oil finishing then nitro clearcoat over that when it’s fully dry or lots of coats of wipe on poly if I am not so worried about getting a massively uniform finish. I am still perfecting my poly/white spirit ratios for the wipe on to get the best trade off between self levelling after wiping off and not too thin a coat; 60 - 70% white spirit to poly varnish seems to be about the sweet spot especially the more layers that go on.

We use a Starling account for the band. It really is only 10 mins to set one up

Yes it is.

Well, I bit the bullet and dipped my toe in the water of nitro spraying a body and headstock front. Previously I had only used oil finishes and wipe on polyurethane. I must admit it has been a very steep learning curve and introduced me to the world of grain fillers and sanding sealers. I used a Okoume JB body from China that was already semi-finished so was routed and sanded to an extent. I had not really heard of Okoume but I believe it is from the same family as Mahogany and is being used more often for guitar and bass builds. The neck is from China. I can honestly say the Chinese stuff is really top notch in respect of the quality and finish. The biggest issue, as I used rattle cans and sprayed in the back garden, was dealing with little pieces of crap been blown onto the finish when wet due to not having anywhere inside suitable to spray. I used Northwest Guitars paint and gloss lacquer as well as gloss lacquer from Nu-gane. I’m not sure I am in a rush to use nitro again as it is not as forgiving as finishing with Liberon Finishing Oil but certainly the clearcoat is a lot easier to rectify runs/burn through etc than using the poly. Blending in the headstock decal was nerve racking as well as the drilling holes for the pickguard, bridge, tuner screw and reaming out the tuner holes by a couple of mm as I was anxious about ruining the finish and having to go back several stages. I would also choose a 21 fret neck instead of 20 from now on as the fretboard overhang on a 21 neatens up the join where the pickguard meets the neck heel. Overall for a first spraying effort and only my 4th build, I am really pleased with how the bass has turned out……is it factory perfect?…absolutely not but for the intended sale price it is a fantastic looking and playing bass. if you’re interested in buying, it should be on the BC basses for sale thread in the next week as I am just waiting for a replacement bridge pickup as the first one was faulty, Specs are: Okoume body Roasted maple 20 fret, black block inlay neck with rolled edges Guyker tuners Gotoh bridge Wilkinson M Series pickups Bloodstone Guitarworks wiring with CTS pots and Spragg capacitor running volume/volume/tone Schaller type strap buttons I will get it weighed as soon as it’s all back together. I have and continue to learn so much with each build and my next ambition is to get to a stage with my knowledge and tools where I can turn a body blank and top into a body myself, route it out to attach a pre-made neck. My ultimate goal is to be able to make the necks as well but baby steps as they say…..

These are examples of some of the necks I have had from China off eBay. The two sellers I have used are; High End Guitar Neck Store and Guitarpart666. i have never had an major issue with any with the 6 necks I have had so far and they take about 2 weeks or so to come. All have been well packaged and just needed the odd fret knocked down, levelled and or a sharp fret end filed. The Daphne Blue one is a work in progress where I have nitro painted the headstock to match the painted body. It is a roasted maple with black block inlay neck.

Sean, I had the pleasure of buying your L2000……great bass and a very painless process with you. I have now put an imported Japanese Premium version neck on which is the Jazz Bass width version and works better with my little hands. I agree that I will never see the money back for the neck change but maybe can offset it by selling the original neck or I will keep it to pass on with the bass IF I ever sell it and someone wants to put it back to original. G and L is a very unrated brand and therefore often creates the opportunity to get a fantastic bit of kit at a great price, such as the ones you have sold.