Jabba_the_gut

Sold Francis a set of tuners. Really easy to deal with and great communication. All the best Jez

Have you got room to move the bridge back to maintain the scale length if you are moving the neck pocket further into the body? Cheers

I found some strings for this that work in standard 5 string low B tuning. Great fun!! Still need to make a truss rod cover though!!

I bet you could hear a difference between that and one with an ebony cover……

Not a build thread but just noticed that the Rautia pickup shop has now closed. http://www.rautiaguitars.net/

Bought an amp from Dave. Very easy to deal with and amp is just as described. Marvellous! Thanks again Jez

That rings a bell actually - cheers. I've got a couple of pieces of Richlite and Rocklite and I know it isn't them but could remember what it was. it seems to work okay so far and cheers for the tip on finishing it, I hadn't figured that bit out yet. Cheers Jez

Next task is to shape the neck and radius the fretboard. I've cut the first line to follow the body but that's as far as I've got so far.

I've decided that the 'sound hole' in the body needs to be reshaped a little now I can see it with the neck. I've drawn on it in black marker and think that will look better

Got some more of this little build done. I've been getting the neck built - maple with a scarf joint, with veneer front and back. The fretboard is some ebony substitute, but I can't remember which one!! I seem to remember it being some form of pine that has been compressed and heat treated. I've used maple veneer for the fretlines

The glue won’t even have set by then..

I was really impressed with the mini cabs at the SW Bass Bass - very surprising the volume and tome that can be achieved from these little beasts!! Nice one!

A little rounding to the edges and that me up to date!

As happens with things like this the design evolves a bit as you work on it and branches out a bit.... I came across some round wound strings for uke basses and thought that seemed like a good idea. These can be used for basses with a scale of 23" or 25" which I like the idea of. So, I made another neck template for a 25" scale bass that has the same heel dimension but is just a little thinner at the nut (which is fine as the short, rubber string neck was a little wider at the nut). By keeping the heel dimensions the same, I can re-use the templates. The 25" neck and strings would use normal tuners so the thing that started this whole project, the uke tuners, wouldn't be required. Can't be having that so I'll just have to make a second uke...... These pictures give an idea of the dimensions 21" scale 25" scale

The neck pocket was then cut using the template. The pocket template took a bit more effort to make as it must be accurate to ensure the strings line up correctly with the bridge and string holes. This really is a case of measure and adjust a number of times before cutting the template and measuring a number of times again prior to cutting the pocket. Masking tape was used to protect the top from being scratched whilst cutting the pocket Holes for the neck bolts were then drilled

Another picture of the templates and the neck with the veneer on the headstock

Holes drilled for some ferrules to make the top look neat The veneers have also been glued to the front and back of the neck blank. There are three templates shown here; one for the outline shape, one for the inside shape and one for cutting the neck pocket.

Next, the body outline was cut and sanded to look like this The holes for the string holes have been marked up prior to drilling. I'm also quite pleased how the grain matches.

I used my bandsaw to cut the angle then sanded it to final shape. The photo makes it look like a weird angle but it isn't!!