LowDown Basses #001 & #002

Here are the very first 2, in what will hopefully be a long line, of LowDown Bass Guitars.  These two basses represent my discovery of building and repair and how much I have come to love it.  I learned so much in the process of building these and am very excited to see how #003 & #004 turn out… stay tuned!  Special thanks to JLee Photography for the photos. (And no these are not for sale, I'm keeping these 2!)
Specs.
LowDown Basses #001
"The Koa Jazz"
Ash Body/Mahogany Veneers/Figured Koa top and back
Maple Neck/Rosewood Fretboard
Aguilar OBP3 Preamp (Bass/Treble/Mid -push/pull freq./Active-Passive Switch)
Nordstrand MM 4.4 w/3 way coil switch and Nordstrand NJ4SV pickups
Hipshot Ultralite Tuners/Gotoh 201 Bridge/Dulop Dual Design Straplocks. Gold

LowDown Basses #002

"Fire Red P Bass" (Strung with LaBella Deep Talkin' Flats!)

Basswood Body/Custom Fire Red Sparkle Finish

Maple Neck/Rosewood Fretboard/Quilted-Birdseye Maple Headstock Cap

LowDown Quilted-Birdseye Maple Veneer Pickguard

Nordstrand NP4 pickup/Passive/CTS Pots/Orange Drop Cap.

Hipshot Transtone Bridge/Hipshot HB2 Tuners/Dunlop Dual Design Straplocks. Chrome

Here are links to see the build history for both basses.

Koa Jazz - http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f57/my-koa-jazz-bass-project-first-timer-971224/

Fire Red P Bass (also LowDown Basses #003) - http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f57/2nd-build-nostalgia-bass-1030067/

Joel Norman's Guitars and a Michael Kelly Acoustic Bass

Things stay pretty basic this time around with 2 guitars and 1 bass.

1st up is 2 guitars that belong to my good friend and musician extraordinaire S. Joel Norman. 

The Strat got a re string, setup and cleaned and tightened all the hardware.  Here is a pic of the happy guitar!

Then I tackled his nice, well worn Guild Acoustic.  First it got a re string and a thorough cleaning.  Then I tackled replacing the broken input jack.  The jack had ceased to hold a cable in place.  I removed the nut and tried un screwing the jack.  It didn't budge.  I tried tapping it loose with a hammer and wood block.  Nothing.  I tried wrenching it off with pliers.  Not a budge.  So I brought it over to my good friend Carl Pedigo to take a look.  He went at with a bunch of tools before finding a clamping wrench and rotating it counter clockwise.  Then he was able to work it the rest of the way out.  It had actually threaded into the wood of the guitar because the hole wasn't reamed out properly, you can see what it did to the guitar below.

Then I pulled out and disconnected the old jack.  It was in pretty rough shape.

And installed the new one.

And finished up by fixing the new jack to the body.  

Finally, I replaced a broken nut on a Michael Kelly acoustic bass that I wanted to sell.  The old one broke while re stringing.  Here is a picture of the final, hand carved bone nut.

11.  S Joel Norman's guitars and a Michael Kelly Bass

- Re string, setup, tightened hardware, cleaned Strat

- Re string, cleaned Guild acoustic

- Replaced broken jack with Fishman Stereo Jack

- Removed old nut and installed hand carved bone nut on Michael Kelly Bass

- Re String, cleaned, setup, tightened hardware on bass