Bass finished

I will adjust the intonation tomorrow if needed, but otherwise I think it is complete.  Sorry, I got too into getting it finished and didn't document.  The $8 P-bass pickguard from ebay needed some material taken away around the pick screws and neck heel.  I used a sanding drill bit to get it done.

A few more

More pics

Final First Act

I got a First Act guitar and case for $5.  I wanted the case, not the guitar, but now I am trying to make it a guitar I can stand at least enough to play as a backup.

For the body I am making it solid black.  I started by sanding to make the front surface paintable.  This turned out pretty well, but took an extra coat that I didn't catch at first.  The end result looks pretty decent.  I have wired up as well.  Instead of the volume and tone pot, I kept the volume, but added a 3-way switch.  The 3 positions of the switch are full humbucker, single neck side coil, and off.  I will test that out once I get the remaining pieces needed to string it up.

The headstock is getting de-branded and re-shaped.  This went well except the black bled over on the edge.  I do not feel like re-sanding it.  Maybe if it sounds really awesome I will make it look as good as it sounds.

The pic in front of the speaker cabinet is a final finishing pic of the guitar and back of bass.  There is a few marks on the back of the bass from it touching stuff while it was wet... whoops.

Bass

Didn't realize it was a fuzzy picture when I took it.  This was taken after scraping a painting off the back and sanding for paint prep.  I have finished painting and applying clear coat.  This project also includes installing a new pickguard.  More to come on this.

Cut and slop

I started by penciling the shape, which I wanted to kind of match the SG body shape (after removing a couple of tuners and covering).  Then I used my hand held jigsaw.  Then spray paint, clear coat, smooth/sand the excess, and reassemble. 

This was my first real build.  It was all made from parts on ebay and a couple of other sites.  My finish job on the headstock is horrible.  I missed some spots spraying and sanding the excess after the clear coat didn't help make it look any better.  I am having playability problems with the neck and truss rod, so I just colored what I could with marker and called it quits.  I am thinking I am going to be replacing the neck soon anyway.

One of 3

This is one of three projects I am going to work on.  Changing the shape of the headstock.

unnoticeable changes

i didn't think to take pictures while i had it apart today.  i removed the pickguard to the recently assembled jazzmaster and added another ground wire from the shielding to the volume pot that i previously forgot.  i also added some wood glue to the pickguard screw holes because i think i drilled a few of them too large.  lastly, i removed part of the copper shielding on the body because when the cable was inserted into the jack, the cable tip was sometimes touching the shielding on the body and shorting out.

sound sample

here's a sound sample.  nothing special.  i was using the whammy bar at the end of this and it didn't do much.  i think that's because i don't have the bridge post holders in there tight and so it just moves with it.
http://www.twotrackmusic.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=2193.0;attach=3120

mission accomplished

it sounds so much better than my sg build from a few years ago.

more solder

the electronics are all soldered. time to put this thing together.  there's something funky going on with the jack and the 3-way switch doesn't work like i expected.  down position=bridge pickup, middle=bridge pickup (instead of both), and up=neck pickup.  not a big deal to me.  i'm leaving it as is.

grounded

ground wire in the bridge post and soldered to the shielding.

ready for some heat

the wiring is ready to solder. three way switch and one volume pot only. i really don't use anything else.

finished pickguard

got jiggy with it one more time. the only thing left should be assembly and setup. yay!

pickguard prep

drilled holes so i can get the handheld jigsaw in there.

installed trem

well it looks like the headstock shape was a stupid idea. i will show a picture later but i might have to string it on the wrong side for the gbe strings. i have read that angling the strings between the nut and the tuners is a bad thing but the angle will not be any worse than a gibson.

battery

i used a battery to keep the tremolo lined up and in place so i could mark the screw holes.

the hulk

what a horrible day. i either have super-human strength or i have a bunch of cheap parts. i broke a screw to a tuner as well as the one in the heel. i had to tear out the end of the screws with pliers and tore up the wood pretty well, so i used some epoxy to repair the damage. i think i am done for the day.

shields up

just about ready for assembly. the body is lacquered and has been shielded with copper along with the pickguard. the neck has been tung oil finished, too.

actually got something done.

will this be the trademark headstock of future rk constructs guitars? i really like it. in addition, the heel got the corners sanded to fit the curves in the body's pocket. also, the body was repainted today with what appears to be smoother results.

short poem

rain, rain, go away
come again another day
rain, rain, go away
i want to paint my guitar today

make sense?

this is the plan.

orange ya glad to see me?

hopefully a few more coats of orange will go on more smoothely next time on sections like this. i keep using the palm sander when i probably should have done this by hand. i am always looking to do it the quick way though.

stupid ebay

just realized that the tuners i bought from a chinese seller on ebay are 3x3 and not 6 in line as advertised.  i'm going to have to modify the headstock now.  ugh.

gettin' my hopes up

it's starting to look like a guitar. lots of work left and the paint job has a lot of imperfections to work on.

thick second coat with the sun out now

fourth coat pf primer

i can still see the imperfections under the primer but i think i am going to go ahead and move onto the orange.

primer coat two

primer coat one

time to paint?

everything is sanded and filled. i think it is paint time.

final parts shipment

is on the way.  guitarfetish neck and vintage whammy and a few other miscellaneous items, such as chrome knobs, 3-way switch, pickguard screws, and jack plate finish out the parts needed.  i'll total up the total parts and costs at some point, but off the top of my head i think i'm doing this project all for less than $200.  i'd appreciate my sg build a little more if it only cost $200 to build.  the next project is to see if i can go back and improve its playability.

bites

the jigsaw took more than i expected here. hopefully i did not ruin it. thankfully i cut well outside of my trace line or it could have been a lot worse.

glue and wood filler

 sand off the excess wood filler and then hopefully i'll be finished sanding.

tracing the template

my advice here is to not tape the corners, so you easily trace the spots that are going to be tricky to cut.

sanding complete?