The Waiting Game

Well I've got the neck sanded up to 2000 grit just sitting here now while I wait for the headstock decal to come. I got one off a guy I've used before from eBay, the text will be in silver metallic ink on a waterslide decal which will then be clearcoated so it will never get damaged or wear off. The couple weeks in between the color coats and the clear going on is also plenty of (way more than necessary) time for the color to cure, so any potential mismatch in finish types between the color and clear shouldn't be a problem with that long in between. The key to using different types of finish over each other is usually time. It seems like most finish types will accept most others over top of it as long as it's had enough time to dry. I think I'm going to plan some nitro lacquer finish for my next project. It is easier to work with and there's no need to do as much intermediate sanding as there was with this one. I've actually acquired several other projects lately which I'll eventually have up here. I've been logging the details but don't want to go back and forth between posts, so I'll follow each project from beginning to end in order on these posts.

Painting Neck

The past 2 days have been color coating the neck. The back of the neck was done in the same color as the body, and the headstock face is black. After the colors have had sufficient days to cure, the whole thing will be clear coated and then buffed out to a nice deep gloss the same way as the body. Necks take more effort since there’s a lot more taping to do.

Neck back painted purple:


Front of the neck, headstock face painted black. I hate the way the flash makes the purple appear, it’s a much deeper color than it looks here. The clear coat will help with that somewhat, though.

Neck Prep Work

I started work on the neck now. It’s been sanded and sealed and then dry sanded with 220 grit sandpaper for a smooth satin look and feel. Once that is done, it is ready for the primer. I decided to drill the small holes for the tuner mounting screws before I do the primer though. I need to make sure that standard tuners will fit this headstock since it’s slightly smaller than a typical one.

The first step is to test the bushings which fit into the neck and house the tuning peg. Fortunately, these bushings are a perfect fit into this neck. The fit will be a little tight once some finish gets in the holes, but it won’t be a problem. The big thing is that I don’t have to drill them out wider, because that’s a pain to do. I got lucky in this regard!

After the bushings are fit in place I put all 4 tuners on to make sure they all have enough space between each other. It looks pretty good, so I’m ready to mark where the small holes for the screws need to be drilled. There are 4 screws per tuner which means 16 total holes to be drilled using a drill press for a nice straight hole.

Mounting screw holes marked for where they need to go:



All 16 holes drilled, they’re hard to see in the picture:

Test mounting the tuners to the new holes: They fit!

With those holes drilled, it’s time to prime the neck. Primer is the messiest part of a refinish job, as it’s very dusty in both application as well as the dry sanding that occurs after it dries. It’s sanded down using sandpaper of grit 220 in order to get a smooth surface for the color coat to go on top of. White primer is also used because if the wood grain is not completely opaque, it can show through the color. Sometimes this is desired if you’re using figured woods, but since the body on this bass is not semi transparent, the neck isn’t going to be either.

Neck primed and sanded:

Headstock close-up:

I’ll give it another very light sanding and then wipe it down with a tack cloth to remove and residual dust before spraying the color. The back of the neck is going to be the same purple as the body, and the headstock face will be painted black and a custom waterslide decal will be applied to give it a true custom look. The same type of acrylic lacquer I used for the body will be used on the neck. Having everything the same is a good thing.

Wiring, etc

Some more progress made today. I soldered up all the wiring for this bass. I made a tracing of the pickguard on a cardboard box and mounted the pieces to it. This made is very easy to get everything in the proper place. With everything soldered up, the pickup wires and the bridge ground are ready to be attached. The bridge ground is usually just a wire with some exposed strands that sits under the bridge. I soldered the wire to a piece of copper shielding tape because I like a nice solid contact point for the bridge, just in case the bridge is not perfectly level on the bottom. All connections are then soldered to the control pots and the output jack.

Control assembly completed:


Pickups attached:




I also got the idea to paint some flat washers body color and put them under the knobs. I think it’s a neat look for it. Pictures below of everything mounted:

And I have a bit of a problem. I attached a test neck to the body and put strings on it, and it all looks good. Except there is no output at all from the neck pickup! Most of the time this happens because of a short somewhere. This can happen easily when you have wires crammed together in a small space like the control cavity.

After checking it all out, nothing looks wrong with it. I pulled the pickup out and the voltmeter confirms that the pickup is dead. I pulled the covers off and indeed the copper windings inside are broken. Time to get a new one! I should have the new one later this week, and then the whole body will be completed. The wiring is done and mounted, the pickguard is finished, the bridge is on, and the strap buttons are also mounted with rubber washers. It’s coming along nicely! Time to get to work on the neck next!

Enexpected adjustments

Well, I ran into some unexpected issues. After fitting the pickguard to the body, I put the electronics onto it and tried to fit it. Wasn’t going to happen! This pickguard sits just a little bit differently than the other one, and so everything was off by just a little bit. This means the new electronics would not fit in the cavity space. There were 2 options here. Adjust the pickguard some more and risk messing it up, or to route out the body cavity to the correct size.

I went with option #2, since this will make sure that no matter what pickguard is used later on, that the large size electronics will fit, and will have sufficient room to not short out by touching the cavity shielding foil as is often an issue in tight quarters. So I ripped out the shielding foil on the affected section and got out the air grinder and got a nice route so it all fits inside easily. This is much nicer now. I also had the issue of now that I had to burn through the cavity wall, the layers of paint and primer which kept it sealed were no longer there and it’s just bare wood. To remedy this I got out the brush on polyurethane wood sealer and gave it a decent coat. This should keep it sealed and will give the foil something nice to stick to. Now the electronics fit, the cavities are re-shielded, and the pickguard fits nicely on the body! It looks great. I will drill the mounting holes for the pickguard when everything is complete. Little adjustments like this can drive you nuts, but getting it right is definitely worth the effort!

I also got a good coat of sand and sealer on the neck. I will let that set up for a day or so and then sand it smooth. Then it will be ready for primer and eventual finish. I have to be careful to not sand through it when I level it out, since I don’t have anymore!

Updates

After a few days off while waiting for parts to arrive, I got everything in the mail all at once! I love those days. It’s like Christmas morning with all those packages of good stuff. The black pickguard is here. I think this one will look nicer. I also received the new neck which will be my permanent choice, as well as the graphite nut which will give it a nice clean look.

New Parts:

The neck has no finish on it, and a pretty weak coat of sand and sealer. This means I’ll be doing some more sand and sealing to it, it’s a very good idea in Florida! I think the whole neck might end up being black. I thought about matching the headstock to the body color, but I think all black is going to be the way to go at this point. It just looks good and will match my own basses.

The key is to not mess up the pickup route on the new pickguard. My last attempt on the old one was not very good. This one was a failure:

So, the key is to instead of using the air powered dremel tool again, I’m going to do it by hand. It will take longer, but it will be a lot more precise. Patience is the key! Here’s what it takes:

I have the actual pickup in order to tell when the cutout is the correct size. Doing a little and then test fitting often is the best idea. The flat file will be used for the edges and the rat tail file will be used for the ears on the sides.

Conveniently enough, both these files are almost the perfect sizes to do the job on this!

About an hour of filing, test fitting, filing, and more test fitting and I have a result I’m happy with. Now the pickups fit in the opening and it looks clean!

Finished:

Very nice! The plastic on the top is to protect it from any scratches until it is finished.

The next thing to do is to mount the pickup in the body, and see if everything lines up right!

Let's try:

Lines up great! The neck route is slightly smaller than the one on the body and slightly smaller than the actual neck as well. Once the neck is finished I’ll file that down as well for a nice clean fit around it. Since the pickup cavities are already shielded and the paint work on the body is also finished, the pickups can be mounted. Mounting foam is used since I like it much better than the spring or surgical tubing that can be used around the screws for the same purpose. The foam keeps it much more secure and keeps the pickup in exactly the same place I put it. The other types can move around a little.

I think that’s all I’m going to get to today. Tomorrow I might get to work on the sanding and sealing of the neck. It’s starting to look like a bass now! The electronics still need to be put together and mounted also, but here’s how it looks after today’s work:

I’m starting to like the finish on this thing. I wasn’t too hot on it at first, but it definitely came out pretty nice. I’m still not sure if I’m going to any special decorating on it. I think it looks good by itself, so I can’t make a decision on that.