Doing Things Wrong

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I was looking at that crazy Ric body, and wondering if my binding rig will get into those deep corners. Getting around that long narrow horn without wobbling might also be a problem. So I started thinking about alternatives.


After settling for two weeks, it is time to set up this baby. This bass is new territory for me in a lot of ways. One of those is the individual bridge-lets. I used up pretty much all the height adjustment. That shouldn't happen, so I took everything apart to look for the reason, and I found it, I think.


All assembled and strung up with D'Addario round-wounds. The action fell into place with just a little adjusting. I set the intonation with a yardstick, which works better than you'd think. Add 3/16" for the E string, 0 for the G, and split the difference in between.


This wound up on the back burner for a while, but I finally got back around to it. The black stripe is 1/16" tape from the roll there, applied to the shiny under-layer. It wasn't that hard to apply, using the screw holes as guides. It's not awfully sticky, but should hold up well sandwiched between the clear pickguard and the body. You can get that tape at Hobby Lobby. I finished the pickup 'routs' with hand files.


The 1/2" flush-cut router bit came today. I mic'ed it, and it is just a few thousandths shy of 12.7mm. I put my old 3/8" / 9.5mm bearing on it, with a spacer I made from a tiny washer, and did a test cut. Then I swapped the bearing for 10mm and did another. These Yonico bits are nice because they color-coordinate with DeWalt tools !


The two Kubicki bodies finally have all the bursted edges done. This is a dark brown, not a black, that looks very nice with the yellow of the pine, as you can see here on the Strato-vox:



It's been a while since I did any loothering, let alone posting, but here is an update in the middle of this terrible pandemic.

Bass

I shot a coat of poly over the Factor bass body and hung it up for what is now about two months, so it should be good and hard for final polishing.


I went to a beach nearby and collected some oyster shells to try out as an inlay material, the same as I have been doing with glitter. I'm looking for something light-colored, but all the white glitters reflect garish pinks and greens.


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Most people regard The Knack as a novelty act - My Sharona and little more. The truth is, they were a really great band that deserved a lot more respect than they got. Watch this show at Carnegie Hall in 1979 - they are note-perfect and tight. It starts with one of my favorites - Rave Up - a real barn-burner. Load the video in YouTube for the rest of the show.