Custom Explorer Bass Makeover | Part Five

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

Welcome to the fifth and final post on a custom Explorer-style five-string bass makeover. The refinish is finally complete and shielding has been taken care of. It's now time to install the electronics and hardware, reassemble the beast, string her up; and see what she sounds like.

DCR readings for the seemingly-identical humbuckers are 16.21K and 17.94K. I've put the one with the higher DCR in the bridge position. The electronics comprise three Alpha A500K pots (Volume/Volume/Tone), a 0.033uF tone cap; and Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack. This custom bass is tuned A E A D F# (low to high).

To listen to what this Explorer-style bass sounds like straight into a Laney RB2 with the EQ flat, check out this SoundCloud audio file. I'm only playing on the E, A and D strings as I'm all at sea where the low A and high F# are concerned ;)

Although it has taken me nearly eight months to complete this makeover; it's been time well spent and a valuable learning experience. Thank you for supporting me thus far, and I hope you'll visit from time to time to check on what I've been up to. As always, stay home, stay safe; and God bless.

 

 

Custom Explorer Bass Makeover | Part Three

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

This is the third instalment of an ongoing series concerning a makeover on a custom Explorer-style five-string bass. I'd finally determined what I thought was the correct bridge location in terms of scale length/intonation and side-to-side string alignment. However, I was wrong. The correct location was still at the same distance from the nut, but slightly to the right of the body's center line.

After six new holes had been drilled for the bridge mounting screws, the bridge was successfully installed. The neck was then reattached, and the bass strung with "dummy" G and B strings. I'm glad to report that side-to-side string alignment was where I wanted it to be. That being taken care of, it was time to remove the masking tape, clean off any tape glue residue; and plug redundant screw holes. These holes were plugged with wood glue-laced wooden dowels, which, once the glue had cured; were trimmed and sanded flush with the surrounding wood.

While all this was going on, I suddenly realized that neck mounting screws were quite loose; even when fully tightened. Further investigation revealed that one of these screws was slightly shorter and smaller in diameter than the others, the screw heads were chewed up and rusty; plus the existing holes in the neck heel were worn out. The obvious solution was to: (i) plug the screw holes and redrill, and (ii) replace the neck mounting screws with a matching set.

The neck heel hole-plugging process was similar to that employed for the redundant screw holes in the body; except that larger wood dowels were used. Once this was done, the neck was reattached; and everything now fit "as snug as a bug in a rug" (as my late Dad would say).

That's all I have to share for this post. The next stage of this makeover should be grain-filling, staining; and refinishing the body. Thanks for dropping by. Stay safe, wear a mask when outdoors; and I'll see you all real soon :)

Custom Explorer Bass Makeover | Part Two

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

In Part 1 of this series, it was detailed how successive layers of gold flake, black paint, wood etchings, filler and goo were painstakingly scraped and sanded off until bare wood was finally revealed. In this episode, we pick up where we left off.

To begin with, grain filling was done on the back of the neck and headstock, as well as the headstock face; with  Elmer's Carpenter's Natural Wood Filler. Once excess filler had been sanded off, staining was effected using StewMac ColorTone Liquid Stains thinned with alcohol. Vintage Amber (#5030) was used for the back of the neck and headstock; and Cherry Red (#5038) for the headstock face.

Following this, these surfaces were refinished in Tru-Oil. Kindly note that I'll not be doing any refinishing work on the body until I've sealed existing screw holes and drilled new ones for the replacement bridge. Believe me, it's way safer to do any drilling before refinishing -- don't ask me how I know.

Next came taking accurate measurements before marking the all-important center and 34" lines prior to the installation of the new bridge. Once this was taken care of, the neck was reattached to the body; and the new bridge temporarily secured in the correct location. Then, two strings were utilized to check for proper side-to-side alignment. Guess what? The G and B strings were falling right off the edges of the fretboard! This meant that the new bridge could not be used as the G-B string spread was just too wide for the neck.

After some more measuring, it was determined that the G-B string spread of the original bridge was 6.8 cm; while that of the new bridge was a whopping 7.5 cm. Bottom line: the new bridge had to be put aside and the original reinstalled; no questions asked. I also suspect that the original bridge itself had not been installed correctly right from the start. The first issue was that it was not centered correctly. The second was that when aligned with the 34" mark, the G-string saddle was only about halfway forward.

When determining proper bass bridge location, I first make sure the bridge is "centered." Then, I adjust the G-string saddle to its forward-most position; and pull back about 1/16" to allow for some leeway. Next, I position the bridge so that the "break point" (the point where the string passes over the saddle) of the G-string saddle is aligned with the 34" mark. If this all sounds a little complicated, do check out these two excellent online resources:

Bridge Placement (scroll down to the post by "Rodent")

Electric Guitar and Bass Assembly Guide (scroll down to "Locating the bridge")

Going back to the drawing board, I've centered the original bridge, pulled it back so that the break point of the G-string saddle aligns with the 34" mark; and marked the new positions for the bridge mounting screws. The next step will be actually drilling these new holes, reinstalling the bridge; and checking once again if the strings are aligned correctly. Do check for further updates on this Custom Explorer Bass Makeover; and thanks for dropping by :)

Custom Explorer Bass Makeover | Part One

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

This is a no-name Explorer-style bass with a solid wood body and rosewood fretboard. It was totally covered in some kind of gold flake when I first got it. Yes, shame on me for forgetting to take a pic of that. Anyway, my job was to strip the body and neck down to bare wood and refinish it so that the grain would be visible. I used a heat gun and scraper to remove the gold flake from the body, neck, and headstock; that created a gooey mess that stuck to everything.

Once I'd gotten rid of that layer; I was in for a surprise. Underneath was a hidden background of black. There were also intricate patterns etched into the wood surrounding the pickups, highlighted by some kind of pale filler. Similar etchings covered the upper perimeter of the body, perhaps in an attempt to simulate binding. All these had to go, of course. After hours of sanding, I managed to reduce everything to bare wood. Following this, a control cavity plate was fashioned from black pickguard material. Well, that's about it for this post :)

Custom Bass Upgrade and Mods

I'll consider this to be a "custom" four-string electric bass, 'nuff said. It features a solid wood body, natural satin finish, tilt-back 2+2 headstock, rosewood fretboard, jumbo frets, maple bolt-on neck, twin humbuckers, monorail-style bridge, passive electronics; and zero shielding. The control configuration is two volumes and two tones, and the output jack is of the barrel variety; buried in an angled recess on the front of the body.

So, what's not to love about this bass? Lots, according to the owner. The "electronics suck," said he. There was no master volume to turn down during breaks -- he'd have to turn both volumes down, and in the process; lose pickup balance when he came onstage again. He was also apprehensive about using it live because of inconsistent signal strength and various annoyingly-audible snaps, crackles and pops. That, plus a setup that wasn't comfortable for slapping and popping (his favored style). I told him I'd have a look and get back to him ASAP.

What I discovered made me a very unhappy man. The routing and woodwork was generally slipshod and rough, pots were of the 3-bucks-apiece variety; and the wiring iffy. Next, I tried to remove the barrel jack in order to check it; but there was no way to do so. There was no access route, no nut; no nothing. I had to dig a hole through the control cavity wall to get to it and push it out from the inside. When it finally came out, totally mangled and unusable; I had a Eureka moment. The builder had simply drilled a hole from the front of the body and shoved the jack in, with just a piece of strategically-wrapped paper to keep it in place! 

With this new-found knowledge, we had a no-holds-barred discussion and decided to retain the pickups, upgrade the electronics, shield the cavities and back plate; and change the control configuration to pickup blend, master volume, and master tone. I'd also be plugging the existing output jack recess and one pot hole, and drilling a new hole in the side for a new barrel jack; amongst other woodwork-related tasks. 

That being taken care of, it was time to address the setup issue. Thank goodness the truss rod was working as it should, and tightening it up little by little over the course of a few days allowed for less relief and lower action. I strung her up with Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys (50-105), set up the monorail-style bridge (a real PITA) and called the owner to take her for a spin. He was happy about the positive changes in his best girl, slapping and popping to his heart's delight; but nowhere as happy or relieved as I was :)