Quick news about the Jim Harley PB copy that I plan to use for BEAD tuning. I drilled bigger holes for the new tuners and sanded the headstock. I plan to create my own logo (I want to test a transfert method) for this bass.
Nothing very spectacular at this point :
Hello @terb!
When you did your drilling, did you free hand it, use a drill press, or a port-align ( https://picclick.com/Vintage-Craftsman-Portalign-Tool-Co-San-Diego-Precision-283408429482.html ). Did you step up your bit size, or just go direct?
hello ! I used a drill press and a flat wood drill bit. before I drilled I glued pieces of wood into the existing holes, to be able to center the drill bit. I drilled directly to 17mm (and I will probably need to adjust to something like 18mm by hand).
I’m pretty happy with the experiment I just did with the new logo for the Jim Harley P-thing.
I started by creating a graphic file for the logo (which is more a joke than anything else) :
then I printed it to a standard paper sheet to find the right size and placement on the headstock and to give myself some kind of preview :
then, after a few tries, I decided everything was OK and I printed the inverted file to a transparent plastic sheet. then I placed this sheet with tape on the headstock and I transfered the printer ink onto the wood by rubbing the plastic sheet. it’s not ultra-super-perfectly sharp but I think the result is not bad at all ! for a cheap instrument like this P, it’s enough I think :
now I will let the ink dry for at least one day, and this week I will apply some polyurethane yellow tinted finish to hopefully match the back of the neck.
I love it! The PLYWOOD BASS makes it 
Pretty neat process to do that. And looks legit too!!
Love it! Well done!
I applied the finish on the headstock of the Jim Harley. here is a picture to try to show how the tint matches to the stock finish color (sides of the headstock / back of the neck) :
An excellent job @terb! I’m lovin’ the headstock logo and the sheen really “pops”! How many coats?
Two coats of tinted PU ! I thought I would have to apply 3 or 4 coats, but 2 were enough !
Last night I was idly scanning the Thomann website (big German online retailer) and I came very close to buying a B-stock Harley Benton just for the hell of it, figuring at worst I could have a project bass for under €150.
Tonight I am playing my Peavey again.
@PeteP you may have seen that Thomann sells very cheap bass kits (J and P style)
I hadn’t until last night. What I don’t need is a cheap kit that I may or may not put together better than the factory.
Actually, what I don’t need is another bass at all, I’m just feeling a little behind the curve and blaming my tool rather than my skill. I’m still hankering after a better bass but I’d have to sell the Epiphone AND Peavey to afford one now. I could get rid of the practice amp too, now that I play exclusively through the Behringer UMC22, but I’d only get a tenner for it - it’s awful!
I love reading about what folk are doing with their projects and get a little jealous.
as you don’t really need a new bass, you always can wait to find a cheap/free used (/destroyed) thing like I did with my Jim Harley 
I can just imagine how many ‘projects’ I’d end up with if I looked out for them. I deal in vintage housewares so I come across all sorts of junk.
Come to think of it, my neighbours son said he has a very old and cheap bass. He now lives in London (and is a guitarist anyway) so perhaps I should bring the subject up tomorrow when we’re around for Hogmany drinks (it last two days up here!).
why not ! with a bit of luck it might be way more cool than buying a B-stock Harley Benton 
I’ve been using my creative skills to make a rather special nightlight for their first grandchild and I can’t justify charging them the time its really taken because I was also learning some new skills as part of the process, so maybe I can work the bass into the payment. The son is selling off all his gear - mixing desk, monitors, cabs and heads - and I think the bass is very much not on his radar. He couldn’t even remember what brand it is, let alone precisely where it is in the attic, but he’s very much a guitar guy so perhaps it’s simply not a brand he associates with good guitars.
Wow, maybe you have struck gold here… fingers crossed!! (And remember your poker face when you first get to see it )
Damn @PeteP, maybe you’ll be able to talk him into even paying you just to get it outta his attic!!
In all actuality though, having an old inexpensive instrument is as good as gold in that you will most definitely make back any cost associated with it through experience gained.
