Pickup replacement issues

So my Wizard Pickups arrived...booootiful...

However, there are differences in the size of the pickup covers and specifically the mounting screw positions compared to the pickups that come with the kit. I was expecting this, but thought there would be sufficient leeway in the existing pickup cavities to cope...there isn't.

I took a look at the kit's pickups to see if I could remove the pickup covers and reuse them on the new Wizard pickups, but it seems not possible without damaging them - they are all enclosed and glued together.

Now the neck pickup is fine, because the cavity in the body is significantly larger than it needs to be. However, it wil not fit the existing pikcguard, so its a good job I will be cutting a new one anyway.

The bridge pickup is the main problem. The differences in size are minimal, we are talking maybe 2 or 3mm, but this means I need to work on the pickup cavity a bit. Given the small difference, I have sanded one side of each of the mounting points. This allows the new pickup to slide in but leaves an ugly gap on the other side.

My plan therefore is to use some wood glue and filler stuff and then sand down so there is no gap. As I am painting the guitar this will not matter, once completed you won't know I had to do this (I hope!)

This next photo is of the sanded cavity and marked in pencil is where I need to fill. Not sure how things will go getting the wood filler to stick there, seeing as it will be such a small piece - will have to wait and see I guess.

So, it is worth considering carefully any pickup replacement wth these kits. Due to this sort of issue, you may choose to get pickup surrounds to cover the wrong size or adjusted cavities - you could end up having to rout different cavities altogether depending on the pickups.

Starting Work

Ok. I'll try not to make this one too long, but I've got a few photos to share.


First of all a few more purchases over the weekend, I think I have everything I need now.

• Replacement pickups. This is the most expensive bit really, other than the bass kit itsef. I've used Kent Armstrong pickups in the past and been really pleased with them. You get real bang for your buck. Only problem is they have now moved their hand wound pickup making to the US and the mass produciton stuff comes from Asia somehwere. So wanting to support UK business, I went to Wizard Pickups and ordered a set of their "84s". Andy was very helpful in sorting me out with specs and answering my quesiotns about them - he used to work for Kent Armstrong when they still had an operation in the UK, so he comes with a big rep. Can't wait to get these in the post later in the week!
• Acrylic Sanding Sealer and Acrylic Satin Lacquer for the headstock and neck. Had to order on-line as nowhere seems to stock it locally and the well educated B&Q staff don't know what sanding sealer is! I bought some Chestnut products in aerosol form from The Tool Post.
• What I did pick up in B&Q was a coping saw and some wood glue
• Finally I went to the local Motormania for paint supplies for the body. I'm using all Car Plan stuff; white primer, white gloss colour, and clear tetrosyl lacquer. Also picked up a range of wet & dry by the sheet (P320, P800, P1200) whilst I was there.
• Finally Halfords this afternoon to get some tack cloths (the guy in Motormania had never heard of them!) and a couple of face masks for when I start spraying.

Here is a few shots of the kit before I start any real work. All I've done so far is shop!

The frets will need dressing, they're a bit mucky.

Headstock needs shaping.

I won't be using these, but here are the standard passive pickups form the kit.

And finally what is it I actually started today? Well the clue was in the first photo. You may have spotted my pencil outline for the shape of the headstock. I cut this roughly with the coping saw and then sanded.

I have to say that this is certainly an inexpesive way of doing this job and its absolutely fine. However, I'm no master craftsmen and so I needed quite a lot of sanding after I cut the shape with the coping saw. I had to start with P80 sand paper, then P120, P150 and finally P320 wet and dry. IF you have a jigsaw or preferrably a router handy then I would suggets using those instead - the job will be done quicker and you probably won;t need to sand it as much as I did.

Here's the the final shape, a little fender-like.

The headstock will now get sanding sealer sprayed on it where I have worked on it (remember the whole thing comes already with sanding sealer on it) and then some P800 wet and dry before the satin lacquer is applied.

However, even though the maple wood has a nice bit of grain to it, I'm thinking maybe the front face of the headstock I will finish white to go with the body. What do you reckon? Maybe its too much of a faff?

Onwards and upwards :)

Arrived

The bass kit has just arrived. Everything appears to be in one piece, no parts missing or damaged.


I am actually impressed with the neck and fret quality- frets need a little dressing but that's it. Body seems good - no imperfections and sealed ready for a paint finish.

Glad I decided to replace the bridge as the one in the kit is hardly worth the metal its made of. The tuners too are an obviously cheap part, but can be replaced later. They may as well not bothered with the strings as they look a bit nasty.


All in all, looks good.

Dispatched!

Just received an e-mail from Andertons this afternoon.


YOUR ORDER FROM ANDERTONS HAS BEEN DISPATCHED
Please read the shipping details below carefully...


Your order has been collected by the courier & should be with you on a next working day service.

Dunno if I like this...

The Gotoh bridge, strings, strap lock buttons and pickguard blank have now all turned up.

Honestly not sure about the pickguard, its a lot darker and browner than shown in the picture I posted before. Will try and post a pictyure of the actual thing later. RED tortoiseshell pickguard material is available and I am quite tempted by that.

Looks like I'm going to need to cadge a router off someone in order to cut out the pickguard and I need to get hold of a special 45 deg. bevelling bit.

...and more Things!

So I have now also ordered some Schaller-style strap buttons for use with their strap lock system (my existing straps already have them fitted) and a tortoiseshell pickguard blank.


After chatting a few things over on the forums at Guitar Attack with fellow guitar builders, I figured that it was unlikely the pickguard supplied in the Saga kit would be anything like standard Fender issue. Therefore, I have just bought the pickguard material and plan to cut it myself....not sure what with, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it!

...and I've struck the nitro cellulose paint off my shopping list too. It appears that although some guitar builders favour this type of paint that it is a fairly specialist item, costing about £15 for a single 400ml aerosol (see Manchester Guitar Tech). It soon adds up when you consider primer + colour + clear lacquer for the body and then whatever you need for the neck.


So some acrylic paints appear to be the order of the day. You can pick these up much more cheaply and down the local motorist discount shop :)

Strings and Things

Yesterday saw a few ebay purchases for the new bass:-

• D'Addario Chrome Flatwound strings (ECB82, 50-105)
• Gotoh 201 replacement bridge
• Self-adhesive copper foil shielding tape (for the body cavities)

 

Still on the shopping list I have:-

• replacement pickups
• red tortoise shell pickguard
• various nitrocellulose lacquers for the finish
• some strap locks

 

I've decided to stick with the kit's tuners and not replace them on day one. I figured these would be relatively easy to replace with Gotoh or Grover tuners at a later date.

 

I really like the Gotoh hardware having had their stuff on a couple of previous basses. The 201 bridge is quite a bit heavier than a vintage jazz bridge and greatly improves the sustain. Plus they are very good value for money compared to say the Leo Quan Badass bridges.

If only Mark Bailey could hear me now...

...I'm sure there would be much wailing and gnashing of teeth, over the fact I'm doing a kit build! I've just been reading his own blog of his latest full on week long guitar building course.  Congratulations fellas, those are some great looking guitars!

Where to buy?...part 2!

So, as I mentioned before, looks like the US ebay option is not going to be so cheap after all once you take into account shipping costs, plus the fact you may be stung by customs.

I also checked out Guitar Fetish in the US, but currently they offer no bass kits. However, it would be worth checking them out if you are looking for a guitar kit or parts.

One of the main UK retailers for Saga kits that seems to come recommended on guitar building forums is The Music King.  Currently though, they do not stock the jazz bass kit (JB-10), but do offer the precision bass kit (PB-10) at a very good price.

So I've ended up at Anderton's - although not immediately obvious from the description on their website, they do offer the Saga JB-10 (I emailed them to check) and at what seems to be the cheapest UK price I could find (at the time of writing!). The only downside is, that there is a bit of a lead time on them, so I'm off to put my order in now and then go off thinking about other parts on the kit I'm going to replace when it arrives. :)

Where to buy?

Well it seems like these kits might not be so easy to get hold of in the UK as they are in the US....or at least not at such a good price! They appear to be around the £180 mark, but more like £80 from US e-bay sellers. So at the moment I'm going google mad trying to find the best place to buy.
Any suggestions?

Choosing the kit

So I've decided that rather than building from scratch, I'm going to start with a kit, maybe upgrade some parts and concentrate on the finish. But which kit?


There seem to be limited options out there for bass kits and more of a selection for guitar. Whilst for guitar you get a choice of Les Paul, Strat, Tele, Flying V etc. for bass its simply precision or jazz based off the Fender classics.


Check out on e-bay and you'll find quite a lot of these, including some "no name" kits that whilst seem well specified, I would be uncertain about the quality of.


So the weapon of choice amongst guitar builders for this kind of thing seems to be Saga kits. Luckily for me, they seem to have recently bought out a Jazz bass kit the JB-10.

Apparently quality of these kits can be variable and I have read of the nuts not being well files or placed and inconsistencies in the body wood needing repair. However electronics, neck and fretwork seem generally OK and that's the difficult bit. I expect I may have to do some minor fixes once I get the kit, but that's not really a problem.


As you can see from the above picture, the minimum work you need to do is carve the headstock, finish  the wood parts (Danish oil is usually most simple) and put it altogether. However, I'm going to do a bit more than that I think and improve on the bass as a whole...

It's a Jazz!

Okey dokey. So first things first, what sort of bass am I building. It's going to be from a kit, but what style? I have a nice little collection of basses going on already so I need something different...

• Bailey self-build - 4 string ash body, natural finish, gotoh tuners, Kent Armstrong soapbar pickups and active circuit
• Fender American Deluxe V Precision Bass - amber, rosewood fingerboard, tortoiseshell pickguard
• Rickenbacker 4003 - clang! montezuma brown
• Michael Kelly Dragonfly 5 - fretless acoustic bass, natural finish and a work of art!

So a Jazz bass it will be and I think I will be going down the traditional route something very much "Fender like"...