cant drive one ....

So I bought a jaguar bass body.



Nice top eh? I havent decided how im gonna finish it yet so im open for input.
I got a nice block inlay and bound jazz neck to go with.

Eric, this will be the bass for the website install video shoot.

Got it today. A kahler 7410 fits on this body / neck perfectly.

I will have some headstock re design ide like to do and gather parts before I shoot the video.

Kewl! And who says you can't drive it? Put a motor and some wheels on that bad boy, and....

....OK....that was just silly of me! Can't wait to see it all finished!

Funny that you've got this new project. I've often thought that a Jaguar bass body would be badazz. There's something about the design that I really like!

See how well a kahler fits on this body? Its 34" scale so its 17" from nut to 12th fret, 17" from 12th fret to intonation line, 1.9" from mean of rollers / intonation line to back of trem.

quit with the teaser pics and get to making the video

amimbari wrote:

quit with the teaser pics and get to making the video

I know; right. Its killing me too mike.

Most projects I work on them as I have time and get parts/supplies, but because this is a video shoot, im making sure im prepared and can do the entire install in one shoot ... as opposed to doing the route, doing the finish, electronics, waiting for this or that. I wanna have the whole bass "dry built" except for trem and TO finish before I start shooting.

Im actually having trouble finding reasonably priced parts. Your a TBer so I guess you seen how Brian Cornwell got slaughtered there. Thats a shame as he was my biggest supplier. he didnt deserve all that. He wasnt the best but his prices were good and he always got to me and now he is MIA. Now i gotta pay too much, get killed with shipping and spend hours on ebay and amazon hunting for parts.

Soon grasshopper, soon.

ya the poor guy hasnt been on TB since early 2011, all because one idiot ruined it for him when the sheeple got involved.

Talking with people on other boards, im thinking about only making purchases when I can get deals for 6 - 10 parts for each part I need and in a year ... opening shop. I like my currentv job but ide like to be my own boss again.

subcribed!!

all pre finish production done. all parts received and test fitted. first 3 coats of tru oil have been applied to use as a protectant for when i cut the trem pocket.

i'm hoping i can shoot the video next weekend.

And shot video of the install today. Gotta finish the build and edit the video this week.

been messing up the finish on this. I gave up on the tru-oil aerosol concept. It looked yukky. I sanded it down like sand sealer and burnished with fine steel wool. I got the TO out of the can (dont try this at home kids) and wiped on a coat......

Back on track. I gotta finish the build so I can finish the video.

That bass looks beautiful! I really like the color of the wood!

Ill get a shot of the cap tomorrow.

The neck looks sweet too.

Getting there.

Almost done.

buttons and its good to go.



A good shot of the countersunk 7410 kahler trem.



Controls are Vol/Blend/Tone. I like the vintage fender tin top bell knobs but I'm having a hard time finding good ones. These tin top black hats look cool but they ain't correct. Jazz knobs maybe?



These duncan design jazz pups are rockin. Really nice growl overall with nice rumble in the neck. The bridge is a little harsh but I think ill try some different caps.

I routed out a chanel for access to the truss nut. It looked "like a hole" so I laminated a strip of ebony in the bottom.



... and the back.

And another couple-a days and the video will be ready.

Very nice Mike! It has become quite a beauty!

Wow, MadMike! That bass is GORGEOUS!

How does it play?

For my tastes ......

Not to hot ... yet.

It sat apart with no tension on the truss. It needs to sit for at least two weeks with strings on it untill the neck settles.

Setting up intonation, relief, neck angle and action. I go back and forth like 4 or 5 times untill i think its the best it can be.

More or less, it plays like a U neck jazz bass.

I wanted to do this mainly becsuse i wanted to see exactly what a kahler trem is like on a fender type headstock. Our suspicions are that it doesnt work too hot; and thus far, it dont. Its got friction, its creakey and it doesnt stay in tune. I gotta pull some of our kung-fu secret ninja tricks to get it better.

yep I like the way that turned out also. I hope you can get the creakyness out of the nut so you can play with the kahler.

Honestly, I find this rather odd, as I have always had good luck with Fender-type headstocks.

Keep us posted, Bro.

EricHaven wrote:

Honestly, I find this rather odd, as I have always had good luck with Fender-type headstocks.

Keep us posted, Bro.

String tree? Roller tree? No tree?

I shimmed up the g machine head so the post sits lower but I'm still getting weird sounds comming from the nut on the g and d.

Can you post some close-ups of the headstock? I'd like to get a good look at it before making any suggestions.

Typical jazzy hs. The nut slots are widened as usual and the angle is pretty sharp from 0 to the machine heads. I'm open for suggestions but furreal, I haven't tried any #2 pencil or grease in the slots yet.

Notice how the g machine head post sits a little bit lower. I was trying to get a little more angle. It helped a little but still the weird chorusey sound on open d and g strings.

I hate saying this but ... this isn't a factory built fender; something someone cut in their basement. I think I need to shim the neck just a touch.

Man! So, are the strings all going sharp?

OK, first of all....

The horizontal string angles coming off the nut to the keys look just about as good as you can possibly get. I don't see that as the issue....BUT....

The vertical angles are really gnarly on the E, A, and D strings. The angle on the G string doesn't look too bad, but I can see what you mean about the key sitting lower than the other three. Why is this? You did this deliberately?

The weird, chorusy sound you describe on the open D and G....is this an acoustic sound, or is it reading through the amp as well?

Yeah, you already know all of the magic tricks to employ. My first suggestion out of all of them would be to try and wind the strings up the posts. You have to be careful in that there is a really small margin where the string will still have enough tension to seat properly in the nut without buzzing, or popping out. It's tricky, and it takes patience and a good eye to work out the proper amount of string to have on the post, and where the "point of no return" is with regards to the string sitting just enough in the nut. But even if you choose not to wind upward, I think you really need to lessen those angles.

You said that you widened the slots. By how much? And I agree that you should try the #2 pencil and/or grease trick.

Keep us posted, Bro.

Did some work today.

Did the graphite #2 pencil in the nut slots and put a thin coat of lithium orbital grease in there too. Decided to stay with the downward string wind but needed a better way. Made pedistal type shims for the machine head bases on the d and g strings out if 1/8" and 1/8" + 1/32" ply phenolic plastic respectively. Gave me a nice even downward angle on the g, d and a. The e is still a little harsh but no matter. The buzz stopped and it stays in tune.

Cheggidoot ......








So I'm almost done and I can finish up the video.

cute thing to do for the one who would not put a shim in my series10 to get the action super low so i did about a month after you gave it back..never had a dead fret or buzz since

And I still have never shimmed a neck.

That worked tho ... that's cool.

Some of the ideas I have had about neck pockets have been proven wrong tho. I always thought its about contact area on the base of the pocket that maintains sustain ... its not. Its the base of the heel pressing against the body from the string tension .....

Try this .....

"This bass seems to have lost sustain."
Tighten the strings up like 2 steps. Loosten the neck screws and wiggle the neck to see if ittl go "chunk" into the back of the pocket from the tension and tighten the screws back down.

Ive "fixed" 3 basses this way.