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3rd build - 6 string neck through single cut bass


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I can handle FWIW. I have a few favourites such as YMMV, AFAIR/AFAIK, etc. however I draw the line at l33t speak. I spent a lot of time in BBS/Usenet land many years back, however I've always valued a standard of language appropriate to a situation....I simply found that most of it appealed to cliqueishness and/or the lowest common denominator in conversation. There's a definite difference between shorthand and that., FWIW

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Haha Project Guitar makes more sense! 

Today I managed to fit the bridge and tuners, because I wanted to test the action.

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From this test fit, the action is too high and is quite unplayable. The saddles are the lowest. So this means my fretboard isn't high enough off the body. 

I don't have a neck angle on this, so I'll have to modify either the body or the bridge. Which do you guys think is the best?

1. Further remove 2mm off the entire body - probably the hardest to do. I'll have to build a huge router sled to accommodate the entire body.

2. Recess the bridge by 2mm - this is possible but this means I won't be able to swap out the bridge in future. I purchased a Korean bridge exactly the same as this http://www.realparts.com.au/bridges-tailpieces/bass/quick-release-6-string-bass-bridge-chrome.html

3. Grind 2mm off the bridge saddles themselves - the bridge is gold-plated but it's a cheap bridge. I have a dremel I can use to grind it down but I'm not sure whether that's a good idea. A metal file may work but I bet it's tiring. 

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Agreed on that point. I usually throw a capo onto one of the first few frets (eliminate the nut for the moment) and check upper fret action. It could simply be that the bridge needs recessing if this isn't caused by neck bow. Zero angle necks are a PITA sometimes.

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I also would go for a recessing for the bridge.  Warwick basses do it as a matter of course.  

The retro work I often end up doing also calls for it on set and through necks - this one recently needed to be massively recessed to the point that you had to de-string it to set the intonation!  Had to also recess the stop-tail, too to get anywhere near a decent break angle.  Still worked OK, though :):

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Ok I decided to recess the bridge. There aren't many hipshot dealers here in Australia and to be honest I don't feel like spending much more and I also don't have time to wait for shipment if I ordered it from the US. Anyway so now the action is great.

I've also started to sand and prepare for finish. How high should I sand the Wenge up to? I think I want to go for a very natural, open pore finish. Will P600 be enough or too high? I sanded my previous guitars up to 240 and 320 for the end grain but I don't know if sanding higher will make much difference.

I also don't want the Wenge to turn super dark after I apply the wipe on poly, so would sanding to a higher grit help keep it light?

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600 is fine. Wengé can take quite a polish though so you can head up into the thousands. 600-800 is great for a clear as long as you've removed all of the scratches from previous grits diligently. Higher sanding won't increase contrast beyond what you have in front of you.

Do you have any scrap to test your look under poly? There's nothing I can say that alters how you feel about what you have in front of you. Super-flat polyed Wengé can have an "under glass" look which is spectacular, and not necessarily "dark" as such. This is more of a use of words thing. The natural open-pored look can be very different, especially since the poly will create specular highlighting around the pores. Test away. Personally, I think you'll be fine. It's not like the poly will decrease contrast, just shift it across into a darker look but equal set of contrasts.

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Not just Wengé! Not sure if I mentioned in that post or not, however the difference in hardness of the earlywood/latewood is significant enough, so that buffing with an abrasive textures Wengé more or less the same as sandblasting Ash. With soft abrasives though, the texture is soft rather than harsh like blown media.

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Ok I've been spending the last few days sanding and sanding and sanding...Sigh I really, really hate sanding. But it's important to get a great finish!

This is after one coat of wipe on poly...
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There are a few spots where the tear outs were which I couldn't fix well enough. Also some glue spots in the tight corners which I can't be bothered to get rid of. It's been a long two months and I have to finish this project. Other than that, I am very pleased with how this turned out. Definitely the hardest project to date but worth it.

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