Not a build diary so much as the finished product

[JPJ]

When Mrs JPJ suggested I should build a bass as a Christmas gift for our daughters long-term boyfriend it seemed like the ideal opportunity to contribute to the festive present purloining whilst doing something I enjoy down the [s]shed[/s] workshop. Little did I know that the day job was going to become quite so time demanding in the run up to Christmas resulting in said gift bass being completed at 1:30am on Christmas day!

For obvious reasons I couldn't post the in-build progress shots anywhere for fear the intended internet-savvy recipient might become aware of the plan, so as the title says, this is more of a finished product rather than a build thread but as I'm rather pleased with the outcome I thought I would share it anyway.

The body blank and neck were purchased from our very own Jabba_the_gut who had roughed out the profile of the P bass and pre-drilled for the bridge, neck, scratch plate and earth wire. All that was left to do was to form the forearm chamfer and gut cutout and round over the edges. Finishing-wise, I used Rothko and Frost grain filler, white nitro-cellulose primer (8 coats) and Graffiti Yellow nitro-cellulose top coat (8 coats). Flatted out by wet sanding to 2000 grit and then cut with Autoglym paint restorer before a final hand polish with Autoglym high gloss polish. The neck was finished using a nicotine tint nitro-cellulose lacquer from ToneTech. All the black hardware came from CH Guitars in South Shields [url="http://chguitars.co.uk"]http://chguitars.co.uk[/url]. Finally, the strings are a set of Optima Gold's that I've had in the gig box as spares for quite a while and the gold seemed an appropriate match to the yellow body.

The headstock was finished in the same colour and a logo applied consisting of the recipients signature (surreptitiously obtained) and the words "Custom Bass" in Fender TV type font. The logo was made using some of that inkjet waterslide transfer paper you can buy from Amazon which I am pleased to report worked perfectly, the plus side being I can now manufacture many more logos in future

So enough waffle, here are a few photos taken just before delivery.

[url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/DSCN0463_zps89a0d8c3.jpg.html"][/url]

[url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/DSCN0462_zps49dc9b2c.jpg.html"][/url]

[url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/DSCN0464_zps866930f8.jpg.html"][/url]

[url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JPJ/media/DSCN0465_zps88e091ce.jpg.html"][/url]

Edited December 27, 2013 by JPJ

[Myke]

I like! I hope your daughters bf also liked!

Top job

[Rumple]

Great job, I like the colour.

[wmsheep]

verry pretty!!

Love the colour scheme.

[Oopsdabassist]

Mmmm yellow Bass, I could rock summat like that ...great job dude, and very thoughtful for an Xmas Prezzie!

[JPJ]

Thanks for the positive comments guys. The recipient is very pleased with his present and this just goes to show that you don't need to spend fortunes to achieve a really nice looking and playing bass.

[Jabba_the_gut]

That has turned out really nicely - lovely colour too. Nice to see the body I had properly finished and turned into something special. What a fantastic gift!!

Cheers

[shizznit]

That is bloody gorgeous! Always wanted a J bass in that colour

[FuNkShUi]

Thats a cracking looking bass. Do you mind me asking how much you think this cost you overall? Feel free to PM the answer. And also feel free to tell me to sod off!!

[JPJ]

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1388671127' post='2324571']
Thats a cracking looking bass. Do you mind me asking how much you think this cost you overall? Feel free to PM the answer. And also feel free to tell me to sod off!!
[/quote]

PM'd