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My mid 50's style P-Bass


kevin_lindsay
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It's alive!!!!!!

Super lightweight when completed. Chris McIntyre did an amazing job, with his usual meticulous attention to detail.

For example:

Machine heads installed (existing machine head holes had to be enlarged to accommodate the vintage style collars. These were then installed using a G-clamp to allow for gradual, smooth and even seating. The machine heads had their abutting edges filed to ensure a snug, parallel alignment. The rear of the machine heads' baseplated have raised lugs which normally cause the plate to bend up from the headstock surface. Chris removed tiny slivers of wood in these areas to create little hollows in the headstock in these locations to ensued the machine head baseplated mounted flush to the headstock).
Neck pocket routed by 0,5mm to ensure snug fit for the neck.
Neck aligned and mounting holes drilled.
Frets levelled and crowned
Nut dressed and profiled
Neck relief set
String height and intonation adjusted
Headstock string retainer then located and installed.
Electronics wired in (with the control cavity having to be slightly enlarged to accommodate the CTS pots)
Pickup adjusted for optimum balance across the strings.
Ashtray covers aligned and installed.

Sounds and plays great! The light weight is a real bonus too.

Here's some pics:

Front view:
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/0456c4d2.jpg[/IMG]

Headstock
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/60d6a8f2.jpg[/IMG]

Rear view (note vintage correct large ferrules)
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/521e0a91.jpg[/IMG]

Neckplate. The number (6464), which would identify an early P-Bass as being from the mid 1950's, is also my date of birth).
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/a1e72af7.jpg[/IMG]

Headstock rear showing alignment of tuning heads.
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/8eece0fe.jpg[/IMG]

Headstock showing perfectly flush installation of machine head baseplated to headstock surface.
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/97830d9f.jpg[/IMG]

Edited by kevin_lindsay
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Chris is based in a workshop at the 78 Albion Rd location - beside the Easter Rd football stadium.

Doing setups and small jobs is Chris's mainstay, just give him a call. Here's a link to his website which has a location map (you can also dee a good location view using Google street maps)

http://www.mcintyreguitars.com/

Edited by kevin_lindsay
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The body is swamp ash. I don't have scales here at home, but it's lighter than any of my other instruments, including my Eric Johnson Strat (which is the next lightest of my instruments).

I also changed the capacitor today. A pet peeve of mine is the way the tone control on P-Basses when it's rolled off cam make the sound really dulll and muddy. So, I changed the 0.022uf capacitor on my bass to a 0.015uf paper in oil capacitor. It's made a great difference, the doings with the tone rolled off now has midrange definition and the harsh top end is all that's removed with the tone rolled fully back.

Here's the cap that was originally in place:
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/2222f268.jpg[/IMG]

And here's the new replacement one installed
[IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/73f171ed.jpg[/IMG]

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  • 4 years later...

This is a great build diary indeed :)
Shell Pink is a colour that has really grown on me. A few years back, I wouldn't have wanted a bass in that colour. Now I think it's the coolest of colours ever. Love that finish, really like the attention to detail on this bass - top job. Well done matey, this is one hell of a bass

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