So, I finished the bass.  Fixing the split headpiece went perfect, there wasn't much too it at all.  I opted to use a little thicker screws to resecure the tuning pegs, that worked well too, but I did learn a little something about the asthetics of guitars.  I'm using these stupid galvanized dull screws, which don't look "smokin'".  Something to keep in mind when I start attaching hardware to the one I'm building, I need to find the chrome-plated or stainless steel ones.  Small thing, but God is in the details.

 

Soldering in the new switch was a breeze with my new butane-powered soldering iron from Canadian Tire.  It made a world of difference since the soldering iron I had was huge and hard to work with.

 

Nice, I just sounded like Canadian Tire Guy.  I need to stop that.

 

Anyway I adjusted the neck, string height, and intonation as well.  The intonation was the most challenging part, I think I would have went insane until I read this on the Tune My Bass website:

 

"You will discover that it is impossible to get every single fret perfectly in tune. This is normal. Fretted instruments have a natural flaw where they can’t be perfectly intonated. You can just get really close. If you’re interested in why, look up “equal temperament” or “just intonation” in a music dictionary."

 

Yes, I discovered it.  Well I should have read that before I started.  With that knowledge, my target was to have the 12th fret come in around +- 3 cents, which made the green light on my tuner light up.  After that it was a breeze (sort of).

 

For anyone interested, this site has an excellent tutorial on setting up a bass guitar.

 

 

Next job is the Epiphone.  Well, not really, tonight I am going to tackle the sound-hole mounted pickup in my 12 string, the high E string doesn't pick up at all, and the B is too loud.  The strings seem lined up over the magnets correctly, it's old so I'm going to haul it apart and see what makes it tick.  I'll probably end up totally breaking it tonight so next job will be the Epiphone.