Back in the saddle

Alright, I just ordered a new 7410 and a pack of SITs from Wammi J for my Hamer! He's offering $30 off until the end of the month with the promotional code 30...so $200 for the full meal deal. Hopefully, it'll get here sometime this week! All I have to do is fill and re-drill one of the mounting screw holes and find someone to help me make the final route to recess the trem base, then I can focus on the pickups/wiring! I re-glued the nut using a stronger glue. Somehow, the nut worked itself loose. My guess is that the glue wasn't strong enough and I didn't put enough pressure on it for the glue to set up properly. Anyway, I can't wait to have this bass back!!

Awesome dude!

The issue with the hole for the screw--it wasn't drilled straight, so it veers into the control cavity. Would filling it with wood glue and toothpicks be a viable solution, so that I can re-drill the hole straight, or is there some better way that I can do it to achieve better results that any of yo know of?

I'd glue a small block of wood into the cavity where the screw is popping out, then do the toothpick deal, so even if it goes off again when you redo it, its got something to grab.

I agree. Congrats on the new acquisition, Martin!

Darkstrike wrote:

I'd glue a small block of wood into the cavity where the screw is popping out, then do the toothpick deal, so even if it goes off again when you redo it, its got something to grab.

Sounds like a plan.

EricHaven wrote:

I agree. Congrats on the new acquisition, Martin!

Thanks! I can't wait until the new bridge gets here. And I've been wanting to try SIT strings for a while, I'm excited to get a pack at last. Wammiworld has them for a bargain price!

What type you get, I have Poowerwounds on my fretless Roscoe.

i go a little bit more intense with filling holes ... woodglue is weak.

it sets faster and harder to work with because it sets so fast, but i use crazy glue.

if you could use a small wood splint and pound it in the hole ... that would be ideal.

you can seal around the edges with some sawdust.

sometimes i even redo a stripped hole with crazyglue and matchsticks.

Darkstrike wrote:

What type you get, I have Poowerwounds on my fretless Roscoe.

I think all that Wammiworld carries are the .100-.45 nickel Powerwound sets, so that's what I got. Something to set it up with. If I like them, I might try out SIT steels, but I'll probably wind up getting a pack of Swing 66s ASAP once I have the electronics and bridge set up to my liking.

madmike wrote:

i go a little bit more intense with filling holes ... woodglue is weak.

it sets faster and harder to work with because it sets so fast, but i use crazy glue.

if you could use a small wood splint and pound it in the hole ... that would be ideal.

you can seal around the edges with some sawdust.

sometimes i even redo a stripped hole with crazyglue and matchsticks.

I like your approach! I had bad luck with using wood glue on the nut, so I think I'm going to use matchsticks, crazy glue, and sawdust.

crazyglue with sawdust becomes cement.

i have found that its better to have the bottle (.18 oz.) rather than the tubes. alls it takes is one good squeeze and "PHTHHT!", crazyglue everywhere. those tubes stink. the pens stink too.

The bridge got here today! I love that new Kahler smell. This has me really psyched to get started on the electronics, which I'll be able to buy next week, probably. I'm not quite sure what I want to do next. I need new jack(s), pots, shielding, a tone cap, knobs (Gibson style reflectors--classy), switches, pickups, the works. I'm going to keep it P/J until I can afford to get fancier pickups. So for starters, it'll have DiMarzios. I want to try a Will Power P in the neck and give a Model J a shot in the bridge, but you can't get a Model J on it's own, you have to buy a set with another J for the neck or a P pickup. And how would that look, having those pickups, one with exposed, adjustable poles and the other with the plain plastic covers? Looks like I'd be better off with just getting a DiMarzio P/J set and buying a Will Power P when I can afford it later, or is there another solution?

There's a killer website with all the parts I want--guitarelectronics.com, but the site is kinda messed up. It won't remember what I put on my cart and the site fails to load occasionally. Really frustrating. I tried to order the stuff I wanted the other day, but the site kept me from doing so and now I don't have the money to order stuff. Maybe it was just overloaded and really busy? If I can't order what I want again when I have the money, I guess I'll have to look elsewhere for parts, but that site has exactly the parts I want from high-quality CTS pots to .1uf orange drop caps...

And I want to do away with the mini toggles. Cool? Yeah...but I just don't need them to be wired any other way but series. Two volumes, a tone, and a three-way toggle to a mono jack. Simple, but sweet. I guess I'll have to find a way to fill those holes I made and I really want to get it refinished white. The current black finish is worn and chipped all over the place and I don't want it to look like I made a bunch of holes in it then filled them in...which is exactly what I did. Plus, I have too many black guitars. Two questions--how much might it cost to get it refinished professionally and is this something that I could tackle myself? I don't want it to look crappy. I've seen crappy, self-painted guitars and I don't want this to be one of them. I want this bass to look nice because it is a nice instrument. I want good results, but I'm not made of money. And ideally, I'd like to keep the face of the headstock black so that I don't lose the Hamer logo.

In any case, the first order of business is getting that damn bridge recessed. Holy crap the action is a mile high. I can't stand high action any more--yuck. I'm waiting to hear back from a guy who might be able to help me out with it. I hope someone can because that's the most pressing issue with the bass. The middle spring also needs to go on the trem. After using my Kelly's trem, I don't think it's worth trying to fight three springs. I don't want to wind up with broken trem arms and I enjoy not having to muscle at the trem arm like a crowbar.

i'll continue to post vendors i've bought parts from. heres a few i can think of right now.

guitarelectronics.com

allparts.com

warmoth.com

stewmack.com

bestbassgear.com

bassemporium.com

fretnotguitarrepair.com

basspartsdepot.com

i've never had any problems with any of these companies. frustration ... not any one carries all the parts that i need at any given time. the shipping costs kill me ... but try to go buy parts at guitar center.

madmike wrote:

i'll continue to post vendors i've bought parts from. heres a few i can think of right now.

guitarelectronics.com

allparts.com

warmoth.com

stewmack.com

bestbassgear.com

bassemporium.com

fretnotguitarrepair.com

basspartsdepot.com

i've never had any problems with any of these companies. frustration ... not any one carries all the parts that i need at any given time. the shipping costs kill me ... but try to go buy parts at guitar center.

Guitarelectronics.com has EVERYTHING...it's awesome. They have exactly what I want/need to do this project well. Maybe I was looking around on their website at an unfortunate time. I must have tried to place my order about 5 times, but something about the site kept messing up. Oh well, I've got more money on the way, enough to buy pickups and electronics, so I hope that the next time I try to order from them, my order works.

I finally got the order through to guitarelectronics.com and ordered exactly everything I want/need for this and another project. Awesome website! Kinda high prices, though.

thats why theres all those options.

this week, i needed new knobs and new machine heads. was thinking about the q-parts knobs with the blue acrylic center, black knob ... but they were like $14 a piece. maybe next time. i found blue auliminum knobs on amazon ... they will work nicely.

i was specific about getting black gotoh machineheads. i got them on my washburn and i really like them.

GPDUSA.com

nice website!

point is, i had to go to 2 different places to get what i wanted. about a third of the cost i spend on equipment and parts is shipping. i try to get as much as i can from one vendor to cut down costs ... but its hard to find a vendor who has everything i want.

madmike wrote:

thats why theres all those options.

this week, i needed new knobs and new machine heads. was thinking about the q-parts knobs with the blue acrylic center, black knob ... but they were like $14 a piece. maybe next time. i found blue auliminum knobs on amazon ... they will work nicely.

i was specific about getting black gotoh machineheads. i got them on my washburn and i really like them.

GPDUSA.com

nice website!

point is, i had to go to 2 different places to get what i wanted. about a third of the cost i spend on equipment and parts is shipping. i try to get as much as i can from one vendor to cut down costs ... but its hard to find a vendor who has everything i want.

Yeah. I just needed a lot of basic things, so I placed a big order. Free shipping!

2 Orange Drop .1 Microfarad Tone Capacitors
2 Switchcraft 1/4" Input Jack with 1/4" Threaded Collar
3 CTS 500K Audio Taper Precision Tolerance Guitar Pot
1 Alpha 500K Audio Taper Pot w/ Push-Pull Switch
1 Switchcraft 3-Way Guitar Toggle Switch-Nickel
1 Guitar & Bass Copper Foil Shielding & Wire Kit
(6ft) Stranded 22 Gauge Circuit Wire - GREEN
(6ft) Stranded 22 Gauge Circuit Wire - RED
1 Guitar & Bass Copper Foil Shielding Kit
1 Gibson Style Reflector Cap Tone Knob with Fine Splines-Black
2 Gibson Style Reflector Cap Volume Knob with Fine Splines-Black
1 Dr. Ducks Ax Wax & String Lube

If it was more expensive than normal, it's entirely my fault. I probably could have chosen cheaper parts, but I want this to be really nice when it's done and I need some miscellaneous things for other projects and instruments.

yeah ... you lucked out thats all stuff that guitar electronics has.

imagine how much it wudda been if you needed to ship from 3 different companies to get all that!!!

madmike wrote:

yeah ... you lucked out thats all stuff that guitar electronics has.

imagine how much it wudda been if you needed to ship from 3 different companies to get all that!!!

Mhmm. I can't wait for that package to get here!