(Part 2) Basses For Newbies Bass 1-3

Today, I ran into a bit of a snag as I was trying to sort out the pickguard and control plate repositioning on #2. . the holes on the SX control plate are smaller than the shaft diameter of my new pots, so I decided to drill out the pot holes to 3/8" to accommodate regular large pots.

 I was merrily aligning my pickguard over the recently dowled original holes when I ran into another problem.

Just before I drilled the new holes for the control plate screws, I thought to try the new pots and see if everything fits in the cavity . . . and it didn't. The tone pot was contacting the edge of the control cavity, and if I removed that pot, the input jack was contacting the cavity wall as well. . . so, I had to get serious and pull out the router.

The same was happening on the yellow SX I had bought for myself, so I had to remedy that as well in similar fashion.

And, finally, the controls are fitted.

Finally, I can start to think about fret leveling. . . I started taking measurements to straighten out the neck as best I could reading first the fretboard and then the top of the frets to try and figure out the best way to level this thing while maintaining a "straight-as-possible" neck and removing the least amount of material.

 So, after poking and prodding a bit, I'm going to take a step back, sleep on it, and come back later to start leveling. I like to think on it a bit before cutting so I go in with a sort of plan to deal with the various curves and compromises in straightening the neck.