Today is a nice day… A nice day to make the bass look cooler! I sprayed the clear coat on the bass.
Read on for pics and more info.
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Category: Guitars
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Headstock Logo For Kramer
Since I have a Cricut machine now and I’m painting my bass, I figure it’s a good time to finish the headstock on the Kramer Vanguard. Astute readers will remember that I named the guitar Julius Prime which is an amalgamation of two names I considered; Orange Julius, and Optimus Prime.
I wanted to incorporate an orange with a mean face, that is part cyborg with an eye similar to the Terminator or Cyborg on Teen Titans. Problem was I didn’t feel like spending time designing this. Fast forward to 2025 and AI comes to the rescue.
Read on to see more…
I want to put a name on the face of the headstock. I decided to name the bass CherryPapa. It’s kind of a play on “cherry popper” and being old “papa”. I think a red sparkly thing looks kind of 70’s like my old motorcycle helmet when I was a kid, so I want some kind of 70’s style writing like you would see on the side of a van.
Read on if you want to see more…
Now that the base coats are on and have a bit of time to dry, time for the glitter coats. This is clear paint with red glitter suspended in it. It really makes the finish sparkle! The glitter is not very noticeable until the clear top coat is applied and polished flat. But it sure does look cool!
It’s another nice day, so time to get started. Read on for more…
As a wise man in the 1980s once said, time to paint the bass. I think he was talking about doughnuts not a bass, and he was making them, not painting them, but close enough.
I’m using rattle cans from Roth Metal Flake specifically… Cherry Pie base coat which is a metallic red. Over that, I’ll put some Cherry Pie glitter paint. This is clear paint with red glitter in it to give it some sparkle.
Anywho, tis a nice day outside so let’s get started. Read on to see what’s up.
My bass player friend in my band has a cool Spector Bass with EMG pickups. I think I wanna play some bass in the band so he can play harmonica. I want my bass to sound cool like his, so time for some upgrades.
My bass started out life as a Squire Classic Vibe ’70s Jazz Bass. This is a wicked bass for the money and has very few things that need upgrading.
Back in 2021-ish I did some work on it. Ilin addition to TLC, I swapped the bridge out for a high mass Hipshot Kickass bridge. I also replaced the shitty Squire tuning machines for some Chinesium Guyker ones from Amazon that are actually really nice.
Fast forward to 2025 and I decided to do some more work to it. Follow along with me as I…
- Swap the pickups for a set of EMG PJ pickups.
- Add a battery box for the pickups.
- Make a new pick guard that works with the Precision Bass pickup.
- Relocate the output jack to the side of the bass.
- Add a kill switch
- Change the tuning machines for ones that fit better.
- Paint the body and headstock a cool color
That’s a big list!
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New Guitar Project
So, when I last talked I was planning to make a new neck for my pink telecaster. Now I have a better idea. Make a new body to go with the neck.
I think this will be a Tele style body as well. I want to hollow some of the body out like a thinline Tele. I’ll prolly make the body from ash.
I want to go straight up the middle with 2 single coil pickups like a traditional Tele. This is something I kinda need since all my guitars have high output humbuckers. Having a guitar that’s super good at clean stuff will be great.
Sounds kinda boring, right? Here is where it gets fun lol
I really liked the way my friend’s Purple guitar turned out (metallic purple with purple glitter on top) so I wanna do that, except green.
The neck will be like I described before. A strat style inverted headstock with an ebony fingerboard. I got some locking staggered Hipshot tuners for it. Prolly paint the headstock to match the body.
I want to put some sort of LED inside the body that lights it up from the inside.
Toggle switch in the top like a Les Paul or Tele deluxe.
Kill switch cause why not.
I use a POD Go amp when I play guitar its super awesome, portable, customizable, and sounds great. It let’s me have all the sounds wherever I go (home, school of rock, or band practice) without lugging a heavy amp or pedalboard.
Anywho, Line6 just put out a video demonstrating a preset designed for a cover band. It uses one amp with a bunch of different pedals and uses the “snapshot mode” to totally change the sound of the amp with one button press. Snapshots are essentially changing a bunch of knobs on the amp and pedals all at the same time. This gives a bunch of different tones that have a lot of variation.
The video and a link to download are below. Also below, are the settings they used (read more).
Download from Line6 here: https://uk.line6.com/customtone/tone/6106966/
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New Neck
Ripped straight from the “can’t leave well enough alone” file…
I am super happy with how the neck on Sex Panther feels and plays and the quality of the build!, But…
I’m not really happy with the finish I put on the neck of Sex Panther. I also want a bigger headstock to display the beautiful (large) logo I made.
I have planned all along to strip the finish off and re-do it. I have also considered chopping up the headstock and gluing on some extra wood to make a bigger headstock.
I really want one of those big goofy 1970s strat headstocks. Like the bottom one in this photo.
I also have wanted to build my own neck. You can see where this is heading.
Why not make a new neck!?! And if I’m gonna make a new neck, might as well be goofier too and make the headstock inverted!
My beautiful wife design consultant and I decided to go with;
- Maple neck, satin finish
- Inverted big goofy strat style headstock. Painted black of course. Finished glossy
- Ebony fretboard, natural finish
- Dual action truss rod in the heel with a wheel on it
- I’ll re-use the tuners
Off to StewMac! Here is my haul
I downloaded some neck and headstock designs from the interwebs and printed them full size. After some creativity with scissors and tape we can see the neck shape.
Paul Gilbert making his guitar sing like Dio!
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