nollaig Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 The project is essentially to turn this 1999 Squier Affinity shell into something resembling a quality Precision Bass, Olympic White, black pickguard. I expect it to take up to ten days as I'm waiting on parts. We'll see. With the electrics I'm going to try out a simplified circuit - Pickup wired to volume pot direct to input. I don't need a tone control, it's always up full anyway and I want huge nasty brassiness (Volume is always up full too but if i fitted a killswitch instead of a pot i'd probably keep knocking it off in the important bits). I intend to use a Gotoh 203 bridge; Kluson 'Elephant ear' tuners (or similar); CTS 500k pot; Switchcraft jack; Kent Armstrong Hot P Bass-Style Pickup - Ceramic; black stock pickguard (if it comes with a tone pot hole i'll fit a dummy tone pot so as not to take the look off it...) Jobs list +++++ 1. Strip the body 2. Fill extra holes, large dings 3. Sand cavities 4. Paint and lacquer body 5. Shield cavities 6. Fit Gotoh 203 bridge and strap buttons 7. Wire pickup to single volume pot and input jack, fit to black pickguard and install 8. Fit tuners (not decided on exact type, looking for a set if anyone has any) and string retainer (need one of these too) 9. Send to 7 String to have camel bone nut fitted, neck aligned and general set up. 10. Attach 5' strap and bash the bejesus out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollaig Posted July 13, 2010 Author Share Posted July 13, 2010 DAY ONE 1. Disassemble the bass - one screwdriver... and Strip the body - I'm using a heat gun as suggested on [url="http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm"]http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm[/url] 2. Fill any larger dings 3. Sand cavities This may be a bit ambitious for today but we'll see how it goes. Tools - Bosch heat gun; assorted screwdrivers; assorted paint scrapers; tile scraper; mask and gloves; 60/80/120 grit sandpaper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollaig Posted July 13, 2010 Author Share Posted July 13, 2010 DAY ONE 1. Disassemble the bass - one screwdriver... and Strip the body - I'm using a heat gun as suggested on [url="http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm"]http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/burn.htm[/url] Easy enough to start but I've run into a layer of manky filler which i'll spend tomorrow morning getting shot of. Anybody trying this first time like me this is a great method of taking the paint off a cheapo body but not advisable for anything too pricey. The variety of wood scrapers I had made life easy - especially the triangular number with the rounded edge. Under the paint was a rotten lacquer-y coating and as I said I'm now down to a layer of filler which will sand off easy enough - I've already had 3 hours at it so I'll finish it tomorrow. 2. Fill any larger dings Not required 3. Sand cavities Done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Bravo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollaig Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 Awaiting some pearls of wisdom from MrJim and also the loan of my neighbour's Dremel before DAY TWO can commence!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollaig Posted July 16, 2010 Author Share Posted July 16, 2010 DAY TWO 4. Prime, paint and lacquer body Squier Affinity has an alder body and a wafer thin sheet of veneer over it to allow for a smooth finish. I made holes in the veneer. The best solution to this was to fill the holes in the veneer - but if you do this use filler with a very low water concentration as the water just lifts the veneer off. Whilst waiting for the filler (I used No More Nails in the end up as it was good and thick) I decided to sand and shield the cavity of my other busted bass and also fit the noname high mass bridge gratefully recieved from Jim yesterday. I sanded down the filler which is mostly going to be under the pickguard anyway so it didn't need to be so invisible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollaig Posted July 16, 2010 Author Share Posted July 16, 2010 DAY TWO - making a mess of things Let this be a cautionary tale - don't rush it - I did, I made a mess and now I have to sand back and repaint some bits. This is going to be a roughly played gigging bass so I'm not overly precious about how it's going to look but I do want a decent finish. It may be a bridge too far on this bass now but I'll put it down to experience. Basically it was looking like rain, I was doing the spraying outside (with Plasti-Kote primer and "porcelain white" Satin Super which is just like Olympic White), and I rushed it. The paint started to run just like Reranch told me it would but at least the parts where the veneer is gone look quite good. DAY THREE will be a patch up job - i've nearly got all the bits and pieces sorted now so cosmetics will be adjusted as and when required otherwise some nice punk rock stickers will be applied. Just heard that pickups are on the way too so just waiting on pickguard and tuners Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollaig Posted July 16, 2010 Author Share Posted July 16, 2010 DAY TWO - some moderate success The lacquer on the neck was annoying me so I decided to try sanding it lightly with 180 grade. The grain pattern came out really well and the neck feels great in every other way. The 180 gave a really smooth finish and I've got some 400 so I might take it down further for extra speed. I tested some Danish Oil on it to see how it worked and it seems fine - I'll give it a few coats a day to build up moisture protection from sweaty hands after I sand it again. I did the headstock too but I'm not taking the decals off or anything. Also a pic of "dirty work" Protest Records t shirt made a long while ago - Sonic Youth fanboys take note Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman101 Posted July 26, 2010 Share Posted July 26, 2010 No updates ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nollaig Posted July 28, 2010 Author Share Posted July 28, 2010 [quote name='Bassman101' post='906188' date='Jul 26 2010, 06:48 PM']No updates ?[/quote] DAY ....... My legendary ceramic Kent P Bass pup got "lost in the post". I'm freakin raging. In any case it's beginning to look like I'm going to have to fork out for 5 machine heads (including one new one for my OLP), strings, set-up, nut installation and pickguard. I had factored in most of this but I hadn't thought that it would be so difficult to get a pickguard and decent tuners for a cheapish price. The bits and bobs section of BC is dead as a doornail and some guy on ebay wants to charge about £30 for a bespoke pickguard. Why everbody is suddenly out of stock of the Kent ceramic P pickups I don't know, but as a result I'm considering binning this and the black Epi build and selling off all the bits to buy a proper pickup for the OLP instead of the ridiculous squinty thing it has in it. I'll probably go back to the P build as I wouldn't fork out for one when the neck on this feels so good but I can't be bothered with the Epi at all - if it was as simple as soldering the new switch, CTS pot, and switchcraft jack that would be fine, but it needs strings, a setup and new nut too. If there are any Epiphone geeks out there let them know there may be bits available! ....until Scotland starts employing teachers the bass and I will be in limbo... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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