Aria SB-1000F

[Bloodaxe]

This has been on the boil for a yonk, but has lurched forward in the last month or so to the point where there's a danger of me finishing it.

Exhibit A: One butchered SB-1000:

The EMGs were a find on Ebay & intended to replace the defunct original Soapbar. I subbed the job out to a mate of mine who's generally better at woodbutchery than I am & the above was the outcome. I wasn't exactly thrilled by the result, but thought "stuff it", wired it up & got on with the business of learning to play the damn thing.

The cosmetics started to niggle though, & once communication had been established with Aaron Armstrong & delivery taken of a couple of replacement soapbars thoughts turned to doing the job properly...

1: Strip it bare:

yuck.
2: Make a template out of MDF & wallop it in place with a modicum of double-sided tape:

3: Set Router to "Stun":

4: Hoy the template off:

5: Check fit:

6: Repeat:


That took care of the easy bit, now to hide the remaining bits of the Jazz pup routs...
7: Stick two nice straight bits of timber either side of the "skunk stripe" laminations to act as a support & guide for the router:

8: Attack & remove guides:


That gaping hole needs filling, but I'm at the limit of linked images for this post.

[Bloodaxe]

9: Confect a tasty sandwich of Maple & Walnut (or mahogany in my case as I couldn't find any walnut), smear with glue & clamp it until it's sorry:

10: Allow to dry overnight, plane & sand it all flush, then plop it in the gaping hole created earlier:

11: Whip it out & rout off the Ash back to the line of the pickup routs, then run up a couple of new infill pieces using any old 4-cutter thicknesser you may have lying around:

12: Blessed Be! 'tis a snug fit. Glue it senseless before it can think of escaping:


Hopefully more to follow in a week or so,

Pete.

[bass_ferret]

Why not just make a ramp to go between the pups?

[Bloodaxe]

Thought about it, but haven't really got to grips with/found a need for one... yet. Besides, that'd take all the fun out of it.

[stewblack]

Looking forward to the rest of this, thanks for the pics. BTW I'm using an Armstrong soapbar in my old Aria after the original went to pick up heaven and it is fabulous. You won't regret it.

Edited August 31, 2007 by stewblack

[Bloodaxe]

Update:

Here's what it all looks like with the new block planed & sanded flush...


There's quite a difference in colour 'twixt the original Walnut & the new Mahogany that will require a tad of skulduggery when it comes to refinishing, but that's in the future.
I'm a bit annoyed that I didn't rout the ash out quite far enough to cover the edges of the original pickup rout, so I've got a couple of bits of filling to do.

The more observant amongst you will spot that the fretlines are a bit naff in places (especially lines 19 & 24). This is down to my using some quite green (i.e. unseasoned) Ash when I originally defretted it .
In retrospect using an open-grained timber was a bad idea as it tended to splinter off below the level of the fingerboard creating a dark gap.

Throwing caution to the winds, this weekend I sawed out the Ash lines with a couple of pullsaws (a 21tpi dowel saw & a 15tpi tenon saw) & confected some Mahogany veneer to fill the gaps...




The veneer in the uppermost shot is a shade over 0.7mm thick & needed a modicum of sanding to fit the slots.
The white hair-like debris in the lower pic is all that was left of the Ash inserts after the second bout of pullsawing.

The next three need little explanation...

Strips test-fitted dry:


Glued:


Allowed to dry overnight, planed & sanded flush:


The next thing to do is get the spray cans out, but that'll be next time (& probably the time after that).

Pete.

[Rich]

This is looking great. It's nice to see this being restored so well -- I always liked the SB1000s and harboured a secret desire for one myself.

[EdwardHimself]

[url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Usa7pz_IU"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Usa7pz_IU[/url]

[ped]

Crikey, what a job! Superb - what are the dimensions of the pickups? Are they the same as these: [url="http://www.bestbassgear.com/bartolini-w4-pickups.htm#"]http://www.bestbassgear.com/bartolini-w4-pickups.htm#[/url] I have these shaped ones in my 4's - The fretted are by Basstec and are great, and the fretless has the Benedetis. I would be interested to earmark any other pickups that are the same size for safe keeping. I assume he as many pickup producers, can make custom sizes to order, but 'off the shelf' models are worth knowing about.

Looking forward to hearing this when completed, if possible via the interweb or hopefully in person at some point.

Cheers
pedster

[neepheid]

How's this going? Any updates?

[Bloodaxe]

No updates worthy of photos yet - I've been away from it for about a month as Life has got in the way (as has a certain pointy spattered bass).

The refinishing is progressing, currrently the beast has seen off a spraycan & a half of clearcoat & looks like it'll need at least another can to fill the grain of the ash. As the ash bits are going to end up black, I may well knock the spraying on the head & lard some knifing stopper over it to speed the process.

I can see it being a long haul, as I'm working in an unheated 'shop & the weather is now against me. Hopefully I'll get something more done this weekend.

Pete.

[pete.young]

You're in serious danger of making a good job of this!

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the Armstrongs. I've an RSB Special - 1 fretless which sounds a bit lifeless and I was wondering about changing the pickup, or maybe asking Wizard to rewind it.

Also, how did you make such a neat template? Draw round the pickup, but then what - how do you allow for the collar thickness?

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='pete.young' post='92614' date='Nov 22 2007, 11:20 AM']You're in serious danger of making a good job of this!

I'd be interested to hear what you think of the Armstrongs. I've an RSB Special - 1 fretless which sounds a bit lifeless and I was wondering about changing the pickup, or maybe asking Wizard to rewind it.

Also, how did you make such a neat template? Draw round the pickup, but then what - how do you allow for the collar thickness?[/quote]

Dunno about the Armstrongs yet, I plopped one into my "acoustic" RSB-1 & tried it through a Tascam Bass Trainer & wasn't that whelmed TBH - but that's not much of a test. There's not much inside the casing of a split-coil Aria pup, so a rewind might be in order (though it could be something as simple as the magnets getting tired).

Making the template was easy since I've got 5 other Arias to copy! Basically it goes like this... Cut a piece of 12mm MDF to approx size, stick over existing pickup cavity with double-sided tape, drill 1/2" hole in the middle, fit 1/4" router bit with bottom-mounted roller bearing, cut round & round in circles until the bearing stops up against the pickup rout, switch off router & peel off a lovely template!

The other way of doing it is as follows...

Place pickup (or bridge) onto a piece of 12mm MDF.
Cut a strip of timber approx 2" x 1" into four pieces - two approx 6" long & two quite a lot shorter, put the short ones to one side.
Using double-sided tape, butt the long strips up against the long edges of the pickup - then trim the two short pieces so that they fit snugly between the long bits & butt up against the pickup.
Remove the pickup - you should now have a piece of MDF with four bits of timber stuck to it forming a rectangular trough.
Drill a hole somewhere in the middle & flip it over.
Fit a 1/4" router bit with bottom-mounted roller bearing & rout out as above. The timber strips will constrain the bit.
When done, peel off the strips.

It might be a good idea to shim the strips with some card so that there's some clearance 'twixt pickup & hole - 1 to 2mm all round is plenty.

Pete.

PS. It's now gone black - hopefully have some piccies next weekend.

[pete.young]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='94894' date='Nov 27 2007, 01:25 AM']fit 1/4" router bit with bottom-mounted roller bearing, cut round & round in circles until the bearing stops up against the pickup rout,[/quote]

Ah. Sound of penny dropping, very loudly.

[quote]PS. It's now gone black - hopefully have some piccies next weekend.[/quote]

Looking forward to seeing it finished.

[Bloodaxe]

Greetings,

things have progressed a bit...

Here it is masked up & ready for spraying:



and after two cans of black car paint & about 5 cans of clearcoat:


At this point I realised that the bridge needed to be recessed a bit more to allow for a very slinky action to achieve maximum Mwaaahh, so to avoid ripping up the finish I first stuck a sheet of low-tack airbrush masking film over the area, cut a hole in it where the bridge has to go & screwed the bridge in place temporarily:



The bridge was then penned in with timber held in place with double sided-tape to create a quick 'n' dirty router template:



A bit of routing later & the bridge now sits a lot lower (possibly a bit too much tbh):



At this point I decided to put it all back together to make it easier to transport home & finish off:



Next steps? Let the finish harden, flat it back with 1500 then 2000 grit wet & dry, polish it up, recreate the preamp circuit board, get around to following up a lead for the headstock decals, put it all back together, wire it up, plug it in & then start learning to play it.

Don't hold your breath for the next update.

Pete

[ped]

Blimey, what an excellent job. How did you get the new fret lines planed back to flush with the board? I would imagine planing them would have to be done when they are a little lower seated than shown in the pic, or is it safe to attack them at that height?

Cheers
ped

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='ped' post='222371' date='Jun 19 2008, 06:25 PM']Blimey, what an excellent job. How did you get the new fret lines planed back to flush with the board? I would imagine planing them would have to be done when they are a little lower seated than shown in the pic, or is it safe to attack them at that height?

Cheers
ped[/quote]

Perfectly safe if you use a low-angled block plane with a razor sharp blade set to give a waffer thin cut, & remember to stop when there's about 0.5 mm left sticking up. Then it's a quick blow over with a sanding block (a bit of 240 grit wet & dry stuck to a piece of 2 x 1 works well).

Pete.

[Bassmonster]

bravo excellent job

[Merton]

Pete, excellent job! Love it

[Super Bass]

WOW! Excellent work man, you did the bass justice.

[Tait]

i get the feeling you've done this before

looking great! much better than it started, no doubt about it!

[Bloodaxe]

Just a quick update....

IT'S FINISHED!!

(well as finished as it's going to get for a while).

I'm currently trawling it around my local jam sessions & getting used to it. It's a bit of a learning curve as you soon realise just how approximate your fingering is when you're so used to frets, but it's fast taking over from my SB-900 as number one favourite.

Final photos & a couple of soundclips (before with the EMGs and after with the Armstrongs) to follow.

Also a huge thank you to the guys at The Gallery who have shot the fingerboard in to a truly scary level of trueness at a very reasonable price (£60).

Pete.

[Dee]

Bloodaxe, how much does Aaron charge for a replacement SB pickup?

Great job, btw. Looking forward to seeing the finished bass.

[Mikey R]

[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='222367' date='Jun 19 2008, 06:14 PM']Greetings,

things have progressed a bit...

Here it is masked up & ready for spraying:

[/quote]

Hi Pete, Ive been wondering how you do this - did you seal off the bass first with sealer or a clear coat to stop the black paint bleeding through the grain? It looks a little glossy, but that could be from wiping it down with spirits?

Edited May 13, 2009 by Mikey R

[Bloodaxe]

[quote name='Dee' post='486570' date='May 13 2009, 06:30 AM']Bloodaxe, how much does Aaron charge for a replacement SB pickup?

Great job, btw. Looking forward to seeing the finished bass.[/quote]

Greetage,

When I got mine about 18 months back he was charging £75 each delivered. That may well have changed by now of course.

Best to ask him.... find the WD Music website & e-mail them with a query for him - WD seem to have dibs on the man.

I'm ***not*** 100% certain that they're a true replica as they seem to be a bit bass-heavy compared to my other 4-wire Aria Humbuckers. I've a suspicion that he may well supply a stock KA 'bucker in an Aria-shaped box.

They're still good though.

Pete.