Me
Perth, Western Australia.
Video games and making music.
Bass guitar, keyboard, Double bass, Guitar.
Check out my projects: -Jag bass project-
-Rat to Cafe racer posts-
-Rat to Cafe racer build-
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After a year or so of moth-balling and some time to mature with age, this project is now in a playable state. Yay productivity! Just need to get some strings on it now.
It’s in no way finished. I want to get a new Seymour Duncan pickup in there and some pre-amping (at the moment there is the stock p-up and some left over controls out of an old p-bass), and maybe a sand and paint… again.
But this is a start, I’ll find out if I’ve waisted my time and money on this thing.
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Back to it.
For those of us that do remember my jag bass project I started some 12ish months ago, I finally got around to doing some more to it today after 6 months of idle hand sitting.
Got out the old paint stripper, never used the stuff before so I thought I would give it ago before taking in some bigger projects with it. Lets just say it lets me with a unique look and a new direction.
After my first couple of test coast of the stripper, I wasn’t giving it enough time before trying to get the paint off. I know now.
I was thinking ‘This looks kinda cool, in a destroyed punk kind of way’. so I kept going.
And this is what it looks like now. got though to some of the wood in the middle there, which is cool. Sadly it’s such a bad photo, I was using my phone as my camera is at my place (I am working at my dad’s house, he has more tools then me, and more space). It’s a little brighter, not as washed out. I am going to let the remaining paint dry up and give it a good cleaning, maybe do some sanding on the back (for some reason it’s really sticky, as if it hadn’t finished drying after 6 months :S), and see if I still like it then. I might keep it this way, if just for now, and finish this build with a new bass in my collection.
I have nearly all the bits I need to finish this build, I just need to get a pick-up and the electrics. Looking at Seymore Duncans with a Musicman EQ. This bass is going to rock.
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Painting to crap.
After fixing one ding and then causing another I finally have the back ready to clear coat. I have sprayed a light coat on and then I notice all this dust that has ended up in the clear, not cool, especially after I cleaned all the dust from the surface before painting. What is even worse then that is I then noticed the paint on the front of the bass has started to turn a yellow colour. I don’t know why, but I am going to have to wait till this clear dries before I can assess all the damage. Worst case, I strip the whole thing back and start again.
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To date. Spendings.
Just thought I would get a list of all the money I have sent so far on this project.
Body, pick guard & rear cover plate = $198.94 AUD
Neck = $178.78 AUD
Tuners & string tree = $42.80 AUD
Bridge = $55.83 AUD
Neck plate & screws = $6.49 AUD
Paint & supplies = aprox $40 AUD
Total = $522.84 AUD
While to buy the bass this is based on at a store would cost $319, I’ve over shot the ‘cheaper then’ section so I guess I’ll have to settle for the ‘better then’ tag. Still have a pickup and electronics to go.
Bodies the hold up.
As more and more bass parts arrive, I can’t move on till I get the body paint finished. I put a coat of clear on the other day, It looks pretty good on the half I painted but a little bug got stuck in the finish so I had to sand a small spot back. I’ll repaint that shortly. While sanding the bug spot I banged the finish on the back. I tried to touch it up and the paint ran. now I have to sand it back and paint it again.
Perfection is time consuming.
But soon it’ll be done and it’ll look great.
Jag bass tuners.
Alright, got some more done with me Jaguar bass project. The tuners I ordered off ebay from the UK arrived today. It is so hard to find left handed black tuners. Looking at them and comparing them to the tuners on my P-bass (which have the same style clover tuners) it looks like you can just take them apart and swap the peg around making them lefties, which would have been good to know earlier but I guess it’s a learning curve.
I ordered a black string tree too, to help complete the look. It would look odd having a chrome tree with all the rest of the hardware black. That was an easy install, looks good too.
The tuners on the other hand are not that easy to install. It looks like the original squier tuners have a different screw spacing then the ones I have. I don’t know if it’s the ones I have or if squier just use their own sized pegs. The pegs that I bought said ‘for P bass and Musicman basses,’ I didn’t think P and J basses had different sized tuners, seems strange. I can get one of the wholes to like up alight but all the others are out, so I am going to have to drill new pilots, I’ll use this whole to keep them all looking straight.
I don’t know whether I should paint the face of the head stock along with the body. It might look weird, but I think most of the fender jaguars have a painted face too.
What do you guys think?
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More Jag bass build
Ok, I’ve been a bit slack on this build so far, it’s been wet and rainy over the last week so I’m taking it slow.
Sanded back the body not to the wood but just through the clear coat.
The neck arrived and they are looking great together. the neck plat arrived too, but the is just a mock up.
I don’t know if this little ding was on the neck when it came or if I did it, there a one on the black binding too so I am thinking it came like that… which is a little bit of a let down, but I am sure when it’s all finished and assembled I am hardly going to notice them.
First coat of Undercoat.
After a second layer of undercoat, I started to paint on the gloss white top coat. Just drying here away from the rain. It’s starting to look good, can’t wait till I’m finished.
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Down to business, Jag Bass.
Ok, So I got around to stripping all the left over hardware of the Squire Jaguar body, mainly the humbucker. When I sat down to get started I could see why it was left on the body, the adjustment screw was completely chewed out.
I had to drill the head out and then get a good grip with a good set of pliers and unscrew it it. wasn’t that hard to do, just a pain in the arse. Also all the wires from the battery box where hacked off, including the battery snap on the inside. A bit of an over kill, but I guess it’s their business.
Went around to the local hardware store today and got some bits so I can start painting the body. Going to give the body a good sanding all over. a coat of undercoat, a few coats of ‘Vivid White’ spray, and then a couple of coats of clear on top.
Some meths to clean up any mistakes.
And the drills for another project, I am trying to make some stomp boxes. I need a loop/blend pedal, so I thought I would make it. A good little project.
I’ll start the sanding tomorrow, and maybe get the undercoat down too. just waiting on the neck to arrive now. More to come.
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Necks ahoy!
Ordered the neck for my project bass today. A squier Vintage Modified Jazz bass neck (left handed). These things look so cool and play really nice too. I got it left handed not because I am a lefty but because reverse headstocks are a beautiful oddity, My thunderbird has one (sorta) as does my firebird. Paid $120 something for it and an extra 60 for express postage, so it should be here by the end of next week.
I ordered a black neck plate, cushion, and srews from a different seller for next to nothing, but it’s going to take a little longer to get here, the estimate was by early next month it would arive. I am not in any hurry to finish but it would be nice to get the neck on at some point.
I am thinking of going with all black hardware, that would look pretty awesome, specially if I paint the body white (still debating it). What’s your opinion?
Jag bass project.
The body I ordered off Ebay arived yesterday. Makes starting my new jag bass project that much easier. Still thinking about stripping it back and painting it white.
The annoying thing about ordering this bass off ebay was that I had to order the pick guard and rear jack plate cover seperately (they where all origanally from the same bass anyway). But apart from that, this was the fastest I have recieved something from the US, took just over a week to get here, which is pretty fast.
I have another bass that I did up a year or so ago but the body is prety cruddy so I might part is for this project. It has a pretty good neck, seymour duncan quarter pounder p split pick ups (might use them on a different project), cts pots and a basass II bridge (which I will pull for this project). Looking at is I could finish this project tonight, well the basics, but I would be short a jazz control plate.
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