Sunday, 31 May 2009
Update on the Jazz Bass.
Right, I have taken off the pickguard, and I am going to order a black one soon. Progress has been made, however. I have bolted on the neck. I have only put the one top (fattest one) string on, to test the action and to see if it actually worked (the electrics). I can't put the last two strings on until I have a string tree, which I have ordered. But anyway I tried to play the string, but it just laid against the frets making slappy noise, it was producing no actual "sound". So out came the allen key and a big truss rod adjustment was made, and now it works brilliantly! Oh it sounds so warm! Sounds like you are playing a tree, beautiful woody sound. I will post pictures soon. And further updates of progress will be posted.
Friday, 29 May 2009
Update of white SG and new projects!
A long time since I have updated. I have kept meaning to but never got around to it. Anyways, I wanted to post a picture of my finished SG, which has now got a black scratchplate, and the Duncan Invader in the bridge. It really sounds brilliant, and the warm neck tones of the PAF are gorgeous too.
Next up, a really kind man, gave me this off of freecycle, it's a Marlin sidewinder bass guitar from about the early 90's. It was in great condition, but the electrics were a bit buggered. The pickups are EMG PJ actives so the electrics were more complex than a standard passive bass/guitar. Especially with all the built in eq etc. I had to put a new battery connector on and solder the loose wires. Also the on/off switch for the pickups was completely buggered up. So I got a new switch and wired it, and hey presto a very nice active bass guitar that works!! Here are some pics:
And last but not least, when we emailed the nice man who gave me the bass, he offered us some more bits, that needed to be put to together!! How bloody lucky! He gave me a loaded Fender Jazz body, with everything in it, and a nice neck to go on it. All I need is the string tree and new pickguard as I really don't like the red sparkle type pickguards. Someone has sanded the body quite a lot, so there is no laquer and it looks quite worn. The great thing is I love it like that! Looks really relic-ed, brilliant!
Here are the pics of it at the moment:
Next up, a really kind man, gave me this off of freecycle, it's a Marlin sidewinder bass guitar from about the early 90's. It was in great condition, but the electrics were a bit buggered. The pickups are EMG PJ actives so the electrics were more complex than a standard passive bass/guitar. Especially with all the built in eq etc. I had to put a new battery connector on and solder the loose wires. Also the on/off switch for the pickups was completely buggered up. So I got a new switch and wired it, and hey presto a very nice active bass guitar that works!! Here are some pics:
And last but not least, when we emailed the nice man who gave me the bass, he offered us some more bits, that needed to be put to together!! How bloody lucky! He gave me a loaded Fender Jazz body, with everything in it, and a nice neck to go on it. All I need is the string tree and new pickguard as I really don't like the red sparkle type pickguards. Someone has sanded the body quite a lot, so there is no laquer and it looks quite worn. The great thing is I love it like that! Looks really relic-ed, brilliant!Here are the pics of it at the moment:
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Finished Uncle's Tele.
Right! I have now finished this, well I finished it a lil while ago now, but haven't got around to uploading anything yet! I will put the rest of the book on here, and the other pictures. Great satisfaction! And my Uncle loved it! :-D.
Stage 3 – Combining the Body with the Neck.
Right. The title of this pretty much sum's up this stage, but I will go into a little more detail. After the body was done, I had to adjust the neck pocket a bit so the neck would sit in straight. Then I drilled the holes in both the neck and body to screw the neck on. I used a gold neckplate to match the hardware.Stage 4 - The HardwareNow that the body and neck were done, I needed to put the machineheads, bridge, ferrules, string tree, strap pins and jack socket in. I decided gold was quite a good colour to go with the cream pickguard and natural wood body.
Stage 5 – Pickups and Electrics
After all the other stuff, now was the time to put the pickups in and wire them up to the control assembly. The bridge rail pickup has been attached to the bridge and then the bridge screwed in to secure it. The neck pickup has been fitted into the pickguard and then the pickguard fitted as well. The reason I chose a rail pickup instead of a traditional tele style pickup, is because of you being left handed, so the signal is even, all the way across the range of the strings. If It was a standard pole pickup it may have not sounded quite right if the poles were set up for the strings being right handed. Plus the rail pickup sounds nice and looks kind of different.
Conclusion
The whole way through this project, I have kept telling myself: “You are not a professional, it's not going to be perfect” And quite honestly it isn't at all perfect. I have tried my best to make it good, so I hope you like it! I'm not completely satisfied with the body finish, but hopefully it will suit you. Another bit that keeps bugging me is the pickguard. I had to cut a bit off, as it went over the F hole. And I've cut it a bit wonky. Really Annoying! It all works though! Plus somehow, there is a tiny chip off the lacquer on the neck, which again is really bloody annoying!I really do hope you like it! And that it serves you well either as a decoration or an instrument that you could use for your music.
Stage 3 – Combining the Body with the Neck.
Right. The title of this pretty much sum's up this stage, but I will go into a little more detail. After the body was done, I had to adjust the neck pocket a bit so the neck would sit in straight. Then I drilled the holes in both the neck and body to screw the neck on. I used a gold neckplate to match the hardware.Stage 4 - The HardwareNow that the body and neck were done, I needed to put the machineheads, bridge, ferrules, string tree, strap pins and jack socket in. I decided gold was quite a good colour to go with the cream pickguard and natural wood body.
Stage 5 – Pickups and Electrics
After all the other stuff, now was the time to put the pickups in and wire them up to the control assembly. The bridge rail pickup has been attached to the bridge and then the bridge screwed in to secure it. The neck pickup has been fitted into the pickguard and then the pickguard fitted as well. The reason I chose a rail pickup instead of a traditional tele style pickup, is because of you being left handed, so the signal is even, all the way across the range of the strings. If It was a standard pole pickup it may have not sounded quite right if the poles were set up for the strings being right handed. Plus the rail pickup sounds nice and looks kind of different.
Conclusion
The whole way through this project, I have kept telling myself: “You are not a professional, it's not going to be perfect” And quite honestly it isn't at all perfect. I have tried my best to make it good, so I hope you like it! I'm not completely satisfied with the body finish, but hopefully it will suit you. Another bit that keeps bugging me is the pickguard. I had to cut a bit off, as it went over the F hole. And I've cut it a bit wonky. Really Annoying! It all works though! Plus somehow, there is a tiny chip off the lacquer on the neck, which again is really bloody annoying!I really do hope you like it! And that it serves you well either as a decoration or an instrument that you could use for your music.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
