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All I got done today was drilling the neck attachment holes in the body.
First I placed the neck plate in the neck pocket, and positioned it as close to center as I could side to side.



...And drilled the first two holes.



With the first two holes drilled, I flipped the body over, placed the plate in position, put the first two screws in to make sure it was positioned properly, and marked the last two holes. Then it was on to drilling.





Done. Who's that?



As I said, this is all I got done today. I'll get back to it as soon as I can. Thanks for looking.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I'm baaack!









That's better.
I've never exceeded the bandwidth on Photobucket. Go figger. It will reset on the day of the month that I first signed up, and the pics should be visible again.
Meanwhile, Imgur works well, and I like the picture quality a lot better.
I'd like to go through this thread and put everything on Imgur, and then repost the links. But that would be a ton of work I just do not have the time to do. I'll just wait for a reset on those.
The neck is hanging to cure. That'll take 4-6 weeks, give or take. the figure shows up pretty well. I would have liked to have had a little more on the face of the headstock, but, oh well. I'm happy with it, for the most part. Should look great once it's level sanded and buffed.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Nice piece of maple there, Mike.
I like your headstock more than the stock Fender shape.
Is that nitro?

Thanks, Alan. I was trying to get a headstock shape that fit with the P look. I think this is as close as I could come.
As to the finish, it's Duplicolor Acrylic Lacquer. It works for all intents and purposes like nitro, but I can get solid colors in aerosol for 6 or 7 bucks a can. For cost reasons, it's real convenient. They duplicate automobile colors. I'll be going with Chrysler Intense Blue Pearl for the body, and shoot this same clear over that. I would have liked to have done a 'burst, but I can do this for about $40-$60. Much cheaper. Bottom line for this build( and most of my others) is cost.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Looking great Mike!

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

Time to move on to finishing. Shot primer on the body yesterday.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

And on to the color coat. Color is Duplicolor's Chrysler Intense Blue Pearl. I like it. A lot.









Next are the clear coats. I won't be able to get to them until at the earliest Monday. But that depends on how busy my week turns out to be, or what the weather/humidity is doing.
Thanks for looking.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

GREAT COLOR CHOICE!

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Lookin good! I really dig that shade of blue! What brand is your primer and what type of finish are you using?

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.
Windycityblues, the primer, color, and clear coats are(or will be) all Duplicolor automotive lacquer. It comes in a variety of colors, and is available locally at Auto Zone and Advance Auto. It reproduces OEM automotive colors, for repair to auto finish from things like scratches or other damage.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

You can also route that off....

Here is how I do it:

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http://hufschmidguitars.com

Thanks for the idea, Patrick. I thought about doing that, but couldn't think of a way to position the router over the heastock. Your solution is simple, and i sure wish I'd thought of it. But i am going to steal it, lol.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Forgot to mention, I am also using double stick tape to hold everything on the table and on the router...

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler" - Albert Einstein

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http://hufschmidguitars.com

Looking good Mike!
The figgure on that maple is epic!!!

Thanks, Deegatron!
Patrick, the double stick tape is a given, but thanks for the heads up anyway.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Hi guys! Been a while. Since the bass is in finish and I cn't really show pics of paint drying, I thought I'd post a pic of the pickgaurd and hardware.

Pickguard and pickups are from GFS. Tuners and bridge are from an old Cort bass. My stepson gave me two almost complete P basses when I first started wanting to learn the bass. A Squier and a Cort. Problem was, they were both complete except for the pickguard and electronics. There was only one of those, and he could not tell me whether it belonged on the Squier or the Cort. The Cort was plywood, the Squier was (I think) basswood. I chose to assemble the Squier. This left me all of the hardware for a second bass. Since the body was plywood, I at first thought to just build a body. The Cort neck was a pretty nice one piece maple. However, it's hard for me to build part of an instrument. I just knew that every time I looked at it I would wish that I had built a neck as well, so I took the plunge as soon as a decent wood came along. Glad I did. I've enjoyed the build so far.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

I know I probably shouldn't post this, but just for fun, here's the body and neck with the pickguard laid in place. Kinda gives you an idea of what the finished product might look like, eh?

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Finally got the opportunity to shoot the clear coats. Here are a few pics for those still interested.








Once this cures fully, it's on to level sanding(wet), then buffing. Then I can begin final assembly and set up. Thanks for looking.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

You're gonna need to join a surf music band now.
Looks great, Mike!

LOL, thanks, Alan, but no surf music for me.
Moving right along.
O.K., so the body is in finish. But there are other things that need to get done. Starting with the pickguard. Whether it is the pickguard that doesn't fit, or the pickup covers that don't, I'm not sure. But the covers for the pickup have ears on them(where the mounting screws go), and these ears are too wide to fit through the pickup cutout on the pickguard.
Now, I don't know a lot about P pickups, so it might be common that, depending on brand, the covers would be slightly different. I'd be willing to bet on that.
So I don't see this as a defect, either in the pickup covers or the pickguard. In fact, it's a good thing, because it lets me get as close to an exact fit as possible.
So what I will do is this: Placing some tape on the back side of the guard where the ears are, I'll place the pickup cover through as far as I can.....



And draw on the tape around the tabs. This will let me see how far I need to go. After this, I'll remove the pickup covers, toss a 1/2" bit in my router, and rout the little bit away that I need to make the covers fit. Like so.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Also, since the neck was shot with clear a lot longer ago, it is cured. Now it's time to flat sand and buff it out.
I start with a little water, to which I've added a drop of dish detergent. This will help keep the paper from loading up.



For a sanding block, i use the top off of the plastic container a Seymour Duncan humbucker came in. It's reasonably flat, and I can grab onto it well. It also has the added advantage of not really being affected by water, like a wooden block might be.
I use water to wet sand. Some people use other things, like kerosene, turpentine, or mineral spirits. To each his own. I like water because I'm messy. If I get any on me (and I will), it just smells like water.
I'll start with the headstock face.



I'll sand with 400 grit until the surface is flat. The way to tell is that, as you sand, the surface will get dull. There will be little shiney spots. These are low spots in the finish. I'll sand until there are none of those left, and the face of the headstock is a uniform matte. Like so.


This will be repeated on the back of the headstock....



and everywhere else, until the entire surface of the neck is a uniform matte, with no shiney spots.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Then I'll break out the polishing compound.



I have used everything from Meguiers to StewMac compounds. They all work pretty much the same.
Using a 6" random orbit buffer I bought at the auto parts store, I start buffing.



Here's the headstock face.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

And some parting shots of the neck after buffing.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

More pics.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Time for some fret work!
After laying a cloth down on the top of my bench( too hot outside today) to avoid getting metal filings, steel wool dust, etc., burried in the carpet on top of the bench, which might possibly marr the finish on any guitar I worked on after, I adjusted the neck until it was dead straight(actually, this neck needed no adjustment. It was dead straight already).



After which, I marked the tops of the frets with black permanent marker.



For a fret leveling tool, I use a shortened piece of an aluminum level. Anything flat will do. A lot of folk use a good flat bastard file. I think Frank Ford uses an old plane body. Just make sure whatever you use is flat. If you choose to go with a level, make certain it's flat. A lot of the newer ones are concave on the edges, so that the level will stand up better on it's side. This one has done so many guitars I've lost count. I know it is flat. Did I mention you need to make sure it's flat?



Having used 3M 77 spray adhesive to attach some 320 grit to the edge, I lay it on top of the frets and move it back and forth from nut to heel, covering the entire fretboard. Don't worry about using a flat tool on a radiused board. The tool will follow the radius of the board, and thus the frets. The goal is to continue in this way until there is no more black left on top of any of the frets.
Not there yet.



That's more like it.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.