Jabba_the_gut

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Guitar-Custom-Made-Fully-working-electric-Unique-4-string/372702287086?hash=item56c6c994ee:g:srYAAOSwvYJdG7X2

I've seen a few basses (and guitars) mainly with the machine heads in a line where they aren't perfectly aligned and your eye can be drawn to any misalignment. I fitted some new Sperzel machine heads (that have a locator pin rather than screws) to a friends Telecaster neck and I took several attempts to get these aligned so they looked completely right. These basses are real quality and I think perfectly square machine heads just finish them off. But, that's just my opinion!!

I think they look much better square to my eye. I love the one on the right with the darker fretboard, very nice!!

Yep - I've go some sheets of 1.5mm ply laminated to give the cover strength and to stop any warping of the cover. Well, that's the idea....

Hello Mr Spondon! The piece top right is a laminate of veneer and several sheets of thin ply. This was a much better grain match to the body than the original cover (not shown) but it has a very slight dish to it and I want it nice and flat. So I made another, bottom right, using the next consecutive piece of veneer (luckily I had two pieces of this) and have tried again. This time it is looking much flatter, but I'll give it a couple of days to make sure it doesn't move. The other two things are an mdf template, for trimming the cover and a Perspex template I use to make sure the holes/magnets are in the right place. Hopefully, I won't be needing to make a fourth cover......

Well, it doesn't look like I've done much but have been sanding, checking, sanding some more to get the neck how I want it. I've finished the neck profile and neck joint, now to radius and finish the headstock. I'm also having a third go at making the control cavity cover as I just haven't been happy with the first two. The original one didn't match well enough to my eye and the second one had a slight bow to it. Third time lucky....

Sycamore is lovely to work with and finish. This is sycamore and wenge and another from a few years ago that I still haven't finished...

Very slow progression on this due to other home stuff but the sanding is getting there. I'm really liking birds eye maple - second time I've used it and certainly won't be the last!! ]

Turned my attention to sorting the electrics. I decided to remove the copper film and re-do the cavity with conductive paint. First I stripped the cavity back to bare wood then used masking tape to cover the side walls where the cover will go With plenty of masking tape around the body to prevent any little splashes, I painted a couple of coats in the cavity: I have also been looking at the original cover I made. I found some veneer that I think is a much better match. The old cover: The veneer for the new: And the two pieces side by side for contrast. I've also glued a couple of blocks together from which to make some wooden knobs. Not sure which will look better so will plan on making two sets to see: And finally, I've started getting the actual wiring sorted. I'm following the same layout I used in the previous bass as that seemed to work well:

The fitting of the j pickup isn't the tidiest, or the additional knob position. Shame as the rest of it looks nice.

Not much chance to progress as much as I hoped over the past couple of weeks but this week should be better! I need to get the neck sanding finished and get on with the frets.....

Things have been a bit slow for the last couple of weeks, including my planer/thicknesser playing up! Hopefully, I'll make some progress m=next weekend!

I particularly like the line: 1.I am an honest and reliable seller, please trust me !

Now gone to a new home. Cheers

This particular piece cam from an event called Treefest that used to run at Westonbirt arboretum. There was a guy there selling lots of different boards of beech, walnut, ash etc. at very reasonable prices (probably a good job I was constrained by the size of my car!). Unfortunately, that event has finished now. A possible source worth looking into are tree surgeons. I found a chap local to me selling boards from trees he'd felled. I bought a nice board of ash from him, the only downside is needing to leave it to dry for a few years. A good source but only if you are not in a rush for a few years..... You can always get boards from specialist suppliers such as Exotic Hardwoods, David Dyke, Tonetech. Generally nice timber, fully dried but not cheap. Possibly worth looking to see if you have any sawmills nearby. I found a couple within 40 miles of home and bought a very nice wide rippled sycamore board big enough for three full size bass bodies. Apart from that, eBay is the other place. I've mostly has a good experience of the timber bought off there. There are a few reasonable sellers, The Sherwin Group, Feel Good Wood are the ones that spring to mind and have some interesting stuff. Hope that helps!!

I think this would be very dependent on the actual piece of timber. I've had a few pieces of spalted beech where parts of it, generally the light coloured areas, are very crumbly so I won't use them. This particular piece is solid, with no signs of soft areas at all so shouldn't be any issue with strength (famous last words.....!!)

Done just a little more on this. I've trimmed the body to the template so it is ready to have the neck pocket and control cavities cut. I've found a bridge that I think will look nice on this and follow on from the headless version; this bridge will require the body routing for it to mount correctly. That should be here in a couple of days so I can size it up and make a template for it.

Hi. Both slots (the short allen key one and the truss rod channel have both been cut with a flat bottom. I have got a couple of round router cutters that I will try on the next neck - might look just a little tidier on the adjustment channel. I'll post on here how it goes (good or bad!!0 cheers

And more shaping - the heel end this time. Takes a bit more time to do this as I'm blending the curves into an existing, finished body so I don't want to scratch the lacquer. Lots of sand a bit, check the fit. Sand a bit, check the fit etc. A little more to do but nearly there!

I've also got a 5 string Crafter acoustic bass that could do with a new truss rod - might do that as well!!

Manage to get a bit of time to do some more neck shaping. Starting to take shape now. The wood looks like it will have a really nice grain - it's birds eye maple but also has a nice flame to it. Hopefully that will come out nicely when the finish is applied - we'll see!

Hi Andy, Yep. I clear the entire area for the inlay and use an offcut of the neck wood in the middle of the logo. I try to find a bit of wood that lines up with the surrounding grain (even though no one would really notice!!). Cheers

Nice work! I've got a Patrick Eggle Milan IV I was going to scrap as the neck has a twist and a bump in it. Might just try removing the fretboard for practice now!! Never know, might even be able to do something with it rather than toast marsh mallows.....

The neck for this bass will need the truss rod at the head end which I have only done once before and that was a few years ago. As I don't want to ruin a nice piece of wood I'm trying this out on some Sapele offcuts to see how it goes. The Sapele wasn't wide enough so I have joined two pieces - looks quite nice how the grain has aligned. I've routed the truss rod slot and access for the allen key to adjust. I'm also making another headless neck at the same time to try on one of the mini basses. This will be fretless this time just to see if it works!!

I've used my Dremel to route the headstock for the logo - always a time consuming process!! I've glued the logo in and sanded it flat. I've also completed rounding the area on the front between the nut and the headstock. I'm also doing the neck shaping at the moment using my Shinto saw rasp - lovely bit of kit.