FINISHED: Relic Precision Bass (continued)

[JaySwear]

i'm finally starting to work on this project a little bit (continued from http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=12024.0) so i've decided it's deserving of a new thread. for those who haven't seen yet this is the neck the whole project is revolving around

i love all the subtle finish-cracking this neck has had. it's been sitting waiting for a body for about a year and a half or two years now. i'm still not 100% sold on the "relic" look. however, it's the neck i've got an i'm working with it. i still don't know if i'll damage the body to match, or have a half-breed relic monster. apparently the logo color and neck style indicate a '59-ish neck. however, i'm not following any of the finish options that were available in '59. the bass would either be a sunburst (which i'm not normally a huge fan of) or a transparent mary kay finish. both would have a gold anodized pickguard. eh. so it's a custom right? who cares if the color isn't period accurate. after all, i didn't buy the neck looking to make a replica.

so enough rambling. today i tried a little experiment with dying parts with coffee. the nut is straight from fender. i'm a little bit nervous about installing, but i wanted to try my hand at some relicing.

hot coffee + pale plastic parts = vintage-ish looking parts.

the last picture is after the experiment with the nut back in it's packaging. in all honesty i don't think it made a bit of change in the color. either i didn't leave the nut in long enough or the coffee wasn't hot enough. i may try coffee again, or i may try tea. right now i'm thinking "does it really need any discoloring?"

and to finish off my elaborate and rambling first post; a few of the basses that really inspired this build

mine will most likely be a PJ instead of just a P-Bass. i think i'll enjoy the extra versatility (since it'll most likely be my only bass, at least for a long time). plus i'd really much prefer a side jack over the top jack, and i wouldn't know what to do with the third knob if i ended up with only one pickup. i could add a phase switch or series/parallel wiring switch but really i think the beauty of these things is in the simplicity. plus how "vintage" would my bass look with a bunch of switches on the pickguard? i also toyed around with the idea of adding a different non-traditional pickup. i think after listening to some sound clips that this combination will be just what i'm looking for

i'm thinking Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound pickups. both for the P and Jazz. anybody have any experience with these or any other suggestions?

 

[Jorundr]

Hi! Cool neck! I'm thinking of doing a warmoth "vintage" P project myself in the near future. It will be interesting to seee how yours evolve. I have a PJ with quarter pounders: http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=5682.0 and its a rock'n'roll machine. The quarter pounders are loud and agressive. Not very vintage sounding but has a BIG sound. If youre going for versatility I think youre on to something with the quarter pounders. I find they are pretty easy to tame and produce great sound for  alot of different styles.

As for P vs. PJ, I find that I rarely use both pickups together. But I like the option to. I have a jazzbass too, so I tend to switch to that if i want more jazzy tones. If its going to be your only bass for a while i'll say: go PJ

Oh, and I think a sunburst body  with anodized pickguard and that neck, would be sweet. Good luck!

 

[JaySwear]

i don't know how i skipped over that build thread. cool bass! i don't think the pickups will look too vintage (especially not with the "Basslines" written on them) but versatility is definitely my first concern. i think i'll find myself using the P pickup more often, but it's going to be great to have the option of another sound.

i'm still undecided for this build. should i buy a new clean pickguard and try my hand with coffee or tea again? or should i go ahead and spend the extra $10 on a "relic" pickguard on ebay? i've got a little time to decide.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Take this with a grain of salt, but for the body: it might look cool to apply the finish, apply some "wear marks" using whatever method you have in mind, THEN rout for the Jazz pickup, which would make it look like an aftermarket mod on an older instrument.  YMMV, just a suggestion.  :toothy12:

don't think the pickups will look too vintage (especially not with the "Basslines" written on them) but versatility is definitely my first concern.

You could easily sand those off and/or apply some forms of artificial relicing/wear to them (filing, scrubbing with #00 steel wool, acid, merciless beating with your bare fists, etc) and voilá: instant "unknown" "vintage" pickups.  :laughing7:

+ 1 on the PJ pickups idea, though.  I have 1 bass with a stacked HB in the neck and single coil J in the bridge, and I've been able to cover almost every single tone I've needed for the past 8 years.  Yeah, there's certainly other tones I might have wanted, but having a single instrument you can totally rely on for a range of tones is lovely.

 

[JaySwear]

it's definitely an interesting idea, and i've actually thought about that. (the routing afterwards, that is). would be very cool for it to look like a true vintage instrument with a route added later on! unfortunately i don't trust myself with a job that big. my other problem is routing a wiring hole to the control cavity. i'm not sure how i'd make that look at all pretty routing myself. if you have any advice on routing myself (with a good template, obviously) i'd love to hear it! it might be possible to get my dad here on a weekend and have him help me out. i'd be really nervous doing any more than putting a screw hole in the finish though!

now i've ordered the pickguard and soon to have the chrome covers... still not sure about the body finish though :icon_biggrin: i was thinking a tobacco burst originally. then i saw that picture of an aged lake placid blue and thought sherwood green would be kind of close and really cool. THEN i thought "man, sonic blue would look great with an aged pickguard and neck." so now i'm all lost on the finish too.

oh, and i think the "basslines" on the pickguard will definitely have to come off. either some tough love with some light sandpaper, or carefully with a razor blade.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Router templates are easy enough to find online, but it's apparently pretty easy if you've already got the pickup in question on hand.  I don't have enough experience with a router to offer much advice, but the drilling of the hole for the pickup wiring is pretty easy.  If you're doing it as a bridge position J pickup, than it shouldn't be more than a couple inches to the control cavity (I'm assuming this is a top rout, yes?).  I believe a 3/16ths hole outta do for the wire, but you can always try a 1/8th hole first.

Just my opinion, but I'd go with a solid finish, with a couple solid coats of a light color primer underneath.  The "relic'd" instruments I've seen tend to look just a tad more real when there's the hint of an extra layer of stuff underneath the nicks in the topcoat.

 

[djf67]

You can buy a J bass pickup template from Stewmac.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Templates/Pickup_Routing_Templates/Jazz_Bass_Pickup_Routing_Templates.html
You just need a half decent router, some double sided tape and to have the centreline marked out.
For drilling wiring channels, I got some long drilbits from transtools in the UK (where I am) -
http://www.transtools.co.uk/store/cat_414/drill-and-driver-bits/flat-bits-extra-long.html

Easy peasy.

 

[JaySwear]

pickguard is here! still deciding on a body finish. i think white would look a little strange with such a yellowed pickguard.

i was thinking olympic white, maybe sonic blue. i'm open to any suggestions though

 

[JaySwear]

no suggestions at all? i really haven't cancelled out any finish options yet. most likely not black, since i have two black instruments now

 

[AutoBat]

surf green?

 

[JaySwear]

haha i just finished reading through a 4 page thread on surf green on talkbass

man, that looks good...

 

[Patrick]

+1 for surf green

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

+ 1 on Surf green.  That bass relic'd would look incredible.  The pickguard as well, looks fantastic!

 

[erogenousjones17]

Surf green all the way! As you can see from my avatar, I'm a fan.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Lake Placid Blue would be a good 2nd choice.

 

[m4rk0]

surf green or daphne blue!

 

[JaySwear]

got a TON of parts today. body from ebay (squier body loaded with pickups, just needed a neck + strings), my tuners (thank you, line6man, for pointing out where i could find decently priced lightweight tuners!), strings (nice roundwounds for a brighter and punchier sound), and a few other random things. had to sand down the nut to get it to fit. woops, had years to get to that and never did! only took 5 minutes anyway. fits great and snug now! replaced the plain white pickguard with my "aged" white/black/white. added a tug bar and ashtray cover.

the one thing i forgot was the string retainer. the D and G strings are just about useless without it. from what i can tell the E and A strings sound great. i'm not a bassplayer (until now) and i only have a crappy little guitar amp so i can't tell how the bass REALLY sounds. and i won't be able to until i upgrade my rig so that i can really crank it. i'd be so upset if i blew out my guitar amp just because i couldn't keep the volume down. it's hard though! it's a lot of fun to play.

the bridge will have to be upgraded (think gotoh 201...). the action is really high and the allen wrench holes are pretty stripped and worn down. i tried for a while to lower the action but gave up. i'll order the string retainer and bridge together (most likely warmoth, possibly amazon.com if i can find what i want [free shipping!]).

anyway, the pictures! this one's a bit of an action shot, i was standing over it getting ready for an hour of killing my wrist with a screw driver

couldn't be too much happier with it! the body popped up randomly on ebay for pretty cheap so i jumped on it. i figured if i disliked the finish i could make it a summer project and sand it down. i might still, but for now i'm really really liking the white on white with a maple neck.

 

[baskruit]

That looks great. I'd say you're done.  :icon_thumright:

 

[JaySwear]

That looks great. I'd say you're done.  :icon_thumright:

definitely! it was a learning experience, thats for sure. and maybe a curse, since i'm already thinking about a 5 string jazz.