Luthiery Laboratories

Apr 16, 2019

The bass body gets the same treatment as the guitar.

Apr 19, 2019

Nov 30, 2019

These have been hanging up for several months, and are cured very hard. The wood grain and glue joints had pulled through the poly coat, as expected. I smoothed everything down with 1200 grit. All surfaces are now perfect.

Both bodies needed a little touch-up to the dark edges where I sanded through or almost through. Mini spray booth and airbrush. I'll let this dry for a week, then smooth down the new spots and sand off the overspray, and they will be ready for a final coat of clear. These are going to be shiny.

June 3, 2020

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.

June 6, 2020

June 24, 2020

I got all the electrics reconnected on the Kubickish bass. The switch at the lower-right has 13 connections coming and going; luckily I drew a diagram of the whole thing before I took it apart. The switch controls the mode of the pickups - coils in series or parallel. There is also active bass and treble controls, with a passive backup mode.

And now for the mechanicals. Everything went back together easily. I installed a couple of dings in the front when I dropped a pickup, but they are not noticeable. I think the Radiata glue-up looks fantastic.

Some final polishing with Meguiars and Pledge, and it looks nice and shiny. You might notice it is missing the 'Factor' badge under the pickguard. That is printed on thin delicate transparency material, and I put it away someplace safe. Too safe, apparently. No matter, I can print a new one, I will need a second one for the guitar anyway. Coming up next ...