FINISHED!! EB-3 style bass

Corvus

Nice as always Andy! That top's beautiful..

Andyjr1515

Thanks, folks

paulnb57

Very nice Andy!

Andyjr1515

paulnb57 said:

Very nice Andy!

Thanks, Paul. Hoping that it will be finished in the next couple of weeks

Deadman

Astounding. I love it.

Andyjr1515

Hmmm - had some challenges relating to the 'more eco friendly' Ronseal formulation (Hardglaze is now 'High' volatiles rather than 'Very High')

It has been fine up to the very last stage.

The last stage with wipe-on is a final flattening, followed by a couple of thin and thinned final wiped coats.

What I realised - bringing the final white spirit proportion up to around 40% is that the new formulation isn't wholly compatible with white spirits!

The parting referred to above:


...got worse to the point of the varnish sitting on top of the body in globules, like raindrops on a hydrophobic leaf!

I had to immediately wipe it all off.  I think it will polish up OK once it has cured, but....can you believe Andyjr1515 saying this?... I think Ronseal is now reluctantly off my use list!!!!!!

Pity, because even before polishing, this is what it is looking like:




This is still a mock-up.  Got to do battle with the infamous Gibson three point bridge, got to level, crown and polish the frets and got to install the very odd electronics I'm planning (note the Varitone goes to 6 - the original only went to 4  ).

Got a month for all that so no panic.....yet! 

Andyjr1515

So - to the infamous three point bridge.  

Infamous because it has been loathed and detested by generations of Gibson bass players with many, if not most, having to put mods in, from extender bars to converting to thru-body stringing just to get it to work!

So why am I putting one one?  Well, Pete broadly wanted a Jack Bruce EB-3 tribute.  There is actually very little EB-3 stuff that I haven't changed and the bridge...well it just wouldn't look the same without the dratted thing.

My issue with the bridge wasn't so much the known issues - it was simply that it was too high.  And that's not the bridge's fault - I should have put in a slightly greater neck angle. 

Having looked at a number of options, I plumbed for slotting 4.5mm deeper into the saddles:



But what that meant was that the break angle between the saddle and the string ends was pretty much zero.  So I tried a string extender that one of the great guys from basschat sent me for free (with the message that 'you can have this just in case, but please, please, please reconsider your plan to fit a three pointer'  )

Here it is in place before a bit more filing:


What the extender is actually designed for is to prevent the silk ending up over the saddles.  But what it actually does also is bring the string ends down closer to the body.

Since this shot, I've now filed down the bridge between the saddle and the extender and achieved a perfectly acceptable break angle

Overall look of the bass with the extender still looks OK to me and a lot safer than the alternative which was to drill holes for thru-body ferrules and string guides!:



Don't worry that the strings appear a bit squiff, by the way - the positioning nut isn't glued and is just a bit squiff at the top...

Next is levelling, crowning and polishing the frets and sorting the crazy electrics

Thanks for looking!

Andy

  

JezWynd

It's looking fabulous. What pickup are you using in the neck position? There's a very reasonably priced Artec Mudbucker that's had some good reviews.

I fitted a Babicz on my 2014 SG bass and while it's definitely an improvement in terms of adjustability I can't say I like the look of it. I toyed with going back to the original but the replacement makes intonation and height adjustment so much easier (plus it doesn't fall off the bass if a string should break!) that I kept the new one but the original is a lot more elegant looks-wise.

Andyjr1515

JezWynd said:

It's looking fabulous. What pickup are you using in the neck position? There's a very reasonably priced Artec Mudbucker that's had some good reviews.

I fitted a Babicz on my 2014 SG bass and while it's definitely an improvement in terms of adjustability I can't say I like the look of it. I toyed with going back to the original but the replacement makes intonation and height adjustment so much easier (plus it doesn't fall off the bass if a string should break!) that I kept the new one but the original is a lot more elegant looks-wise.

Hi, @JezWynd ;;

Thanks

The neck pickup is a DiMarzio Model One.  It would have been nice to put a chrome covered one in, but all the reviews I've read say that the Model One is streets ahead of the general mudbuckers.  Having said that, I believe the Artec one gives the Gibson original a serious run for its money!

Coincidentally - the bridge p/up IS an Artec one

Andyjr1515

JezWynd said:

It's looking fabulous. What pickup are you using in the neck position? There's a very reasonably priced Artec Mudbucker that's had some good reviews.

I fitted a Babicz on my 2014 SG bass and while it's definitely an improvement in terms of adjustability I can't say I like the look of it. I toyed with going back to the original but the replacement makes intonation and height adjustment so much easier (plus it doesn't fall off the bass if a string should break!) that I kept the new one but the original is a lot more elegant looks-wise.

...oh...and I think the Babicz bridges are great

impmann

An old friend of mine fitted a Model One to his Rivoli bass - it sounded *much* better.

Andyjr1515

impmann said:

An old friend of mine fitted a Model One to his Rivoli bass - it sounded *much* better.

Bodes well then

WezV

i put a model one on mine... it's the right choice

Andyjr1515

WezV said:

i put a model one on mine... it's the right choice

Excellent

Andyjr1515

This is getting close.  

Doing battle with the varitone notch filter at the moment but positions 1,2 &3 sound fantastic (that Model One....WOW!); got a brass nut on order to replace the zero fret with; will be re-staining the neck...more about why on another thread I'll update.  
But other than those fairly quick and straightforward things, it's pretty much done.

I'll do some arty farty shots when it's fully finished, but for now:

Andyjr1515

OK - other than fitting some roundwounds that should be here tomorrow, it's FINISHED!!!!

Forgive the self indulgence:

Megii

That big chunky neck pickup somehow gives it a bit of a 70s (Shergold?) kind of vibe for me Andy. Stunning looking thing anyhow.

Sporky

That's beautiful work - the finishing in particular. I need to spend more time on finishing.

lasermonkey

That's gorgeous! I don't usually like exotic looking basses, you've pulled it off here. 
It looks like there's a hint of Wal about it too. Dead classy!
 

Andyjr1515

Megii said:

That big chunky neck pickup somehow gives it a bit of a 70s (Shergold?) kind of vibe for me Andy. Stunning looking thing anyhow.

Hi, Megii

Good to see you

Yes - it's DiMarzio's Model One...their drop-in alternative for the original Gibson mudbucker.  It's a phenomenal pickup!

Positions 4, 5 and 6 have a notch filter using different capacitances, all off the neck pickup - subtly different but very usable for different styles.