Polishing the proverbial into a lovely shiny Jazz / Precision hybrid. Hopefully.

[Jackroadkill]

The lure of the bitsa has reared its ugly head again.  The last time this happened I built a Telecaster, and this time it has to be a bass.  I'm going to do this a bit at a time, as and when money and time allow.  I know it's cheaper to buy a complete bass but I enjoy the process and I can get exactly what I want this way.

 

I went to Ebay and sourced a Jazz body for the princely sum of twenty quid and a Precision neck:

 

 

 

 

I'm not sure what the body's parentage is, although it may be a Squier.  The neck's from a Classic Vibe.  Neither are that posh, let's put it that way.  Someone's been at the frets with a file in order to smooth the ends, and hasn't done an amazing job.  There are a few things to do in order to bring things up to scratch, let's put it that way, but nothing too dramatic.

 

Right, the first job was to strip the body.  Immediately it became apparent that something strange was afoot:

 

 

 

I stripped the top coat off with gentle heat to find that the whole thing was covered in some sort of epoxy.  Not totally unexpected, as this was similar on the Telecaster mentioned above.  What was unexpected was the resin that had been used to fill gaps, presumably during the, ahem, lamination process.  Still, I only burned this in two places...  I can solve this with some judicious sanding and filling a little further down the line.  There was also black goop under the dark parts of the burst, so I sloshed some standard thinners around and got rid. 

 

It's a good job I wasn't planning another sunburst or a natural finish, isn't it?  I was planning a nitro CAR paint job, but I'll go for CAR in poly now, seeing as the epoxy is staying put.  To this end there'll be a white primer, followed by the silver base-coat, transparent red colour coats and gloss top-coats.  I'm intending to paint it when the weather is warmer, so don't hold your breath for an update on that front too soon.

 

Plans are:

 

Chrome hardwear

A mint or parchment scratchplate

Alnico pickups

Decent pots and caps.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

 

 

 

 

[itu]

How about a single, and a dual coil, i.e. a bright J to the bridge, and a thumpy humbucker to the neck? There seems to be place for a dual, there.

[PaulThePlug]

Reasonable Scratch and Control plates on Aliexpess if ya not in a rush for low £... just takes 2 - 3 wks

These for my Aria Jazz P Modder...

 

 

[Bassfinger]

Those Entwistle pups are astonishingly good bits of kit and laughably inexpensive. 

 

I've heard they're no longer being made.  They're certainly harder to get hold of these days.

 

 

 

Edited January 12 by Bassfinger

[Jackroadkill]

A proof-of-life post for this build; I have a scratchplate (cream / manky white), a BBOT bridge (although this may get subbed for a high mass one later), machine heads and a very nice set of high-output Toltec pickups now.  The pickups might have too much output, but I'll worry about that later, as they can always be moved on once the build is complete.  As the weather is finally starting to show signs of getting above 5 degrees Centigrade I'm planning to buy the paint next month. 

 

I'll be using this paint: https://perfectpearlsandpigments.co.uk/products/candy-apple-red/ with the appropriate primer and silver coat.  I'm tempted to go for a metal-flake silver coat but this might be a bit much....  What do the BC hive mind think?  I'm not saying I'll go with the advice, of course....!  If I can summon the enthusiasm I may even paint the front of the headstock, decals permitting.  Obviously I won't be spraying it until it's a lot warmer.

 

I think the next jobs are to do a bit of fret work and get a nut blank sorted, and then rub down and possibly fill the two rough patches I created whilst stripping the sunburst off the body.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[PaulThePlug]

Sand it down some more, then Tru Oil.

Then wax applied with a Green same for the back of the neck... feels so warm and organic... Therapy with a beer or glass of wine...

[Jackroadkill]

I'm kind of stuck with this one until the weather warms and dries up for any length of time so that I can paint it.  I did, however, buy my paint the other day, so have been able to produce this:

 

 

From left to right we have four bands of colour: grey primer, silver metallic coat and two thin trans red coats; grey primer, sparkle silver metallic coat and two trans red coats; white primer, silver metallic coat and then the TR coats; lastly, white primer, silver sparkle metallic coat and the TR coats.  All have a dust coat of clear gloss on top.

 

The photo was taken on a crummy iPhone camera, the board is an old bit of MDF I had kicking around and I didn't do any sanding between coats, so the results are rough and ready but I think I'm going to opt for the last combination (white and silver sparkle).  Obviously there'll be much better preparation and flatting between coats, and the clear coat will be a bit thicker and will be properly cut back before polishing, so I'm hoping to get a decent result.

 

Other than that there's not much going on with the build; I have most of the hardware other than the electrics and control plate ready to go, though, so once the paint is finished (hopefully early summer) I might actually have something that resembles a bass.  I'm planning to use this one for drop D tunings (which aren't my favourite, but ho-hum).

 

Cheers,

 

JRK

[Jackroadkill]

Two updates in a week?!  It must be the solvents going to my head...

 

 

I managed to get a flash coat of primer on the body tonight.  Initial prognosis is good, although there are a few very tiny dings that need filling once the paint is dry.  I'll attend to these tomorrow, hopefully, and then get a full primer coat on over the weekend.

 

Cheers,

 

JRK