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A boring P build.. or is it?


Bridgehouse

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Not one to go for the usual.. and liking the more, ahem, unusual build.. I’m actually not sure how this one is going to go. 

One of the two PJ builds I did last year isn’t getting used - so I’m disassembling. I have a nicely subtly relic’d neck and tuners, a bridge a pickguard, and some other bits and pieces for a P bass.

I contacted Graham, body and neck supplier extraordinaire and he said he had a P bass body “second” - it’s got a minor repaired split in it. Swamp ash.. nice and light. Dead cheap. So it’s ordered. It’s the one on the right:

NrKKpps.jpg

And here’s the repair:

0yhKzhq.jpg

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I’m thinking Danish Oil again - a slightly darker tint from the last one. Other option is a Crimson stunning stain and oil. Not sure yet. 

The big difference tho, is I want to put something different in the pickup slot. I could do a custom wound and go weird, or source something vintage or oddball.. again, not sure yet!

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So basschatters - what do you think? What would you like to see me do with it? Finish suggestions, Pickup suggestions, oddities, or any other comments all greatly appreciated ;)

So long as it ends up as a usable, P-bass(ish) end product then I’m all ears 

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That's a lovely grain orientation on that body Bridgehouse. 

I have an idea in mind for a 5 string build I started a while ago, involving a technique called cerusing. I think it would work great on a nice swamp ash body like that, where you apply a dark stain ( I thought jet black) then seal the body, then apply a light coloured grain filler. There are lots of video's showing the technique and it has been applied quite well to guitars, ash in particular because if its open grain. 

The effect can be quite dramatic

 

 

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Nice grain, as observed above.

The P type pickguard would cover a lot of the dramatic lines however.  The repair is good so I'd be happy with a natural finish.  I'd go the easy route and do a natural finish with Danish or Teak Oil without grain filler.  I wouldn't go to the effort of a gloss finish because of the extra work filling grain but it shouldn't be let down by that repair if you decided to.

I like a well executed stain.  Does it have to be a burst?  I'm fond of greens and blues for a moody look.  Reds for an assertive look and amber/orange for a mellow warmth.

I love the two tone blend on this one:

image.png.477215c93f3849891018d87f59c24caf.png

The ones I've seen with the colours of the Pan Africa flag are really nice with the grain showing through.  Three colours is quite ambitious though.

image.png.1b4dd530013e33ebfc4e284eaefebfe0.png

Good luck with the build.

 

Edited by SpondonBassed
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10 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

Not one to go for the usual.. and liking the more, ahem, unusual build.. I’m actually not sure how this one is going to go. 

One of the two PJ builds I did last year isn’t getting used - so I’m disassembling. I have a nicely subtly relic’d neck and tuners, a bridge a pickguard, and some other bits and pieces for a P bass.

I contacted Graham, body and neck supplier extraordinaire and he said he had a P bass body “second” - it’s got a minor repaired split in it. Swamp ash.. nice and light. Dead cheap. So it’s ordered. It’s the one on the right:

NrKKpps.jpg

And here’s the repair:

0yhKzhq.jpg

Hidden piezo ?

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I like the thunderbird pickup idea! It's one I've been thinking about myself for some time. Need no excuse to post this pic again! If it were me I'd put the pickups in the classic T-bird locations though (as per Pino's T-bird/Fender for The Who that @rubis mentioned).

08-gallery.jpg

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11 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

I’m thinking Danish Oil again - a slightly darker tint from the last one. Other option is a Crimson stunning stain and oil. Not sure yet. 

The big difference tho, is I want to put something different in the pickup slot. I could do a custom wound and go weird, or source something vintage or oddball.. again, not sure yet!

Sunburst and Tort obviously ...there is no other colour allowed, it’s the law

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11 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

Not one to go for the usual.. and liking the more, ahem, unusual build.. I’m actually not sure how this one is going to go. 

One of the two PJ builds I did last year isn’t getting used - so I’m disassembling. I have a nicely subtly relic’d neck and tuners, a bridge a pickguard, and some other bits and pieces for a P bass.

I contacted Graham, body and neck supplier extraordinaire and he said he had a P bass body “second” - it’s got a minor repaired split in it. Swamp ash.. nice and light. Dead cheap. So it’s ordered. It’s the one on the right:

NrKKpps.jpg

And here’s the repair:

0yhKzhq.jpg

They look really great. Where did you get them from again? Who does Graham work for? 

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38 minutes ago, Si600 said:

@rubis Do you know if that light grain fill finish could be done the other way?  White/light stain with black grain fill?  Just curious more than wanting to try it :)

I honestly don’t know, but thinking about it, the principle would be the same either way around

Best to try on a bit of scrap if you can

When I get home later I’ll get Googling, I love digging up stuff like that, it’s like the kind of thing Ritter would do to the extreme!

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1 hour ago, Geek99 said:

Sunburst and Tort obviously ...there is no other colour allowed, it’s the law

 

Anything but tort and sunburst.  All tort and sunburst basses must be repainted or have new scratch plates fitted.

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13 minutes ago, Si600 said:

 

Anything but tort and sunburst.  All tort and sunburst basses must be repainted or have new scratch plates fitted.

Also; all redundant tortoiseshell pickguards to be donated to TRP (the Tortoise Restoration Project).  There are far too many nude tortoises in the world.

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