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Harley Benton P-Bass build Diary


Stub Mandrel

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On 06/07/2020 at 12:39, Richard R said:

There ought to be a good name which is also mechanical engineering play on the term "precision" bass. The best I can think of at the moment would be something like Submicron precision bass.
Or if I were building it WideTolerance precision bass.

“Imprecision bass”

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Yesterday, sand down with 600 grit, fill a few dinks, then primer, then find more and more tiny dinks to fill, ended up with almost a whole can of primer going on, then smoothed off with 600 grit. Then a final coat this morning, followed by a Speed Awareness Course on Zoom 🙄

This is white, honest!

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later today, about 5 or 6 coats of Daphne Blue, although my phone seems to want to shift it towards @Teebs green... it is a lovely blue in reality!

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Tomorrow the gloss lacquer!

Already put a couple of coats of gloss on the headstock, and decals. The area around the truss rod is a bit poor. Might try staining it dark brown...

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Yes it's true, nothing is happening...

I'm waiting for some 1200 grit wet and dry to arrive., hopefully not before Friday and ideally Saturday to make sure the paint is at least six days cured.

I've filled, primed, painted and lacquered a bit of 1/2" plywood about the size of my hand to practise sanding and t-cutting.

If it all goes horribly wrong, I can always relic it....

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On 15/07/2020 at 20:06, Stub Mandrel said:

Yes it's true, nothing is happening...

I'm waiting for some 1200 grit wet and dry to arrive., hopefully not before Friday and ideally Saturday to make sure the paint is at least six days cured.

I've filled, primed, painted and lacquered a bit of 1/2" plywood about the size of my hand to practise sanding and t-cutting.

If it all goes horribly wrong, I can always relic it....

And you will have a filled, primed, painted, laquered and reliced piece of ½" plywood about the size of your hand.

Which is nice.

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Well.... disaster, IMHO.

Gentle sanding with 1500 grit went trough to primer in a couple of strokes, t-cut got through in a few more places.

A light grain pattern than was invisible before appears with t-cut.

I should have put on more than the three layers of colour coat.

I reckon over half the can was left. I've already started and I'm just going to put all the rest of the coloured pain on today.

Finish off the laquer tomorrow.

Then leave it another six days.

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873666043_DeathburgerP.thumb.JPG.c6e0e52d3c7a3ce5062bea8080387d4f.JPG

Having a bit of a crap few days, so to cheer myself up I've built it up. I can live with the grain showing on front and back (sides are great!) but the recoat on the front isn't hard enough to take a full shine yet, so in five days or so I need to strip it again and t-cut. Nut needed a fair bit of scraping with a scalpel. Wasn't hard to set up. Will fit some different bits - got a Fender TBX I can fit and maybe some better knobs. Might also tilt the neck to get the action down a bit more on A and E, is about 2mm but feels like it could be a tad lower.

Otherwise, pretty good, Maybe need to look at the top three or four frets on the D string.

Doesn't feel or sound like a £77 bass!

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Amazing how the colour changes under different light. Very definite blue under LEDs. Very pale under fluorescent, photographing with a greenish cast.

Some review type thoughts...

Neck is pretty decent, the fretboard is effectively black, like ebony with more grain, does not look like rosewood at all. I think it looks really distinctive. Benefits from oiling. I didn't lacquer the back of the neck, it comes with a satin/matt finish that is very nice.

Would build confidence if they had a guide to which screw goes where, especially as there are enough scratchplate and tuning head screws that you could swap them over. For those unsure:

The larger headed countersunk screws are for the scratchplate.

  • The four very long screws are for the pickups, beware of screwing them right down as they could pop out the back of the body... put them in a few turns and adjust when the strings are on.
  • The same screws for the bridge and strap buttons. Personally I think they are a bit short for strap buttons.
  • String guide uses a scratchplate screw; I reckon if you used a spare bridge screw it could come out the back of the headstock.

The tuning head screw drillings weren't very well positioned. I had to take great care tightening the screws and the heads are all at a very slight angle.

Body wood isn't super hard, but much better than the eBay strat body blank I bought a year ago. If I was redoing the build I would put on a light layer of primer then sand down until it was just left in any depressions, then skim the body with fine filler then sand with fine wet and dry.

Videos that show people putting on 3 very thin layers of lacquer are over optimistic. Do more than that. Yes it is worth waiting a week to finally sand and polish, but give yourself enough paint thickness to work at with confidence. Sanding needs to be really light t-cut will take out light marks so you don't need to sand aggressively.

Double acting truss rod needed to be tightend up, probably by 32-3 turns so not a huge amount. I expect it to need revisiting a few times as the bass settles down.

Setting up meant adjusting everything, including the nut (except the A-string intonation was spot on...) Nut was cut very high, this does need care and courage as it's the one adjustment that isn't reversible.

Pickup screw holes weren't ideally positioned, tilting the two halves forward. When I reassemble I'll move them so they are level.

Controls work fine, no buzzes. When I reassemble I will strip a longer section of the  bridge earth wire to make the contact more definite, am worried it could slip out but don't want to strip it yet to make threading it back through easier. Would be nice if it was about an inch longer too...

Tuning heads very stiff until oiled with a drop of 3 in 1, get better with use. Not the best ever but I don't think they need replacing.

A neck wedge may be a good idea as the E-saddle is almost at the bottom and I reckon I could drop it buy up to half a mm or more.

Some of the scratchplate screwholes were way off,  one or two not even visible. I put all the good ones in first, then fitted the other screws direct into the wood without a hole.

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2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Some review type thoughts...

Thanks for an excellent review of the kit 👏

Regarding pilot holes not being drilled square, or in the right places - I use a dremel with a tiny drill bit fitted for that type of thing.

Edited by Ricky 4000
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I've got one of these sitting at home after being delivered yesterday, just got a query on the finish if you could!

Seen you've used Northwest Guitars lacquers, assuming it was just 1 tin of each primer, colour and clear? But maybe a few more coats than 3

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2 hours ago, invertigo said:

I've got one of these sitting at home after being delivered yesterday, just got a query on the finish if you could!

Seen you've used Northwest Guitars lacquers, assuming it was just 1 tin of each primer, colour and clear? But maybe a few more coats than 3

Yes, I asked their advice, but now I wish I had used sanding sealer or grain filler, even though it was already treated. The sides are like a pro job, but the front and back are stippled with tiny grain marks. I would use most of the colour coat and maybe not bother with the lacquer. Any sanding after the initial prep is literally a gently rub over to make it feel smooth.

I did get two runs, both of which I was able to sand out after an hour's drying time, then respray.

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