Jabba_the_gut

That is brilliant! Fascinating colours, I knew some wood turned silver/greyish when exposed to the elements but didn't realise padauk did that. Thanks for posting this video. I'm now torn between booking myself some sessions at the local tanning salon or buying Mrs_the_gut a sunbed.....

Excellent -looking forward to trying that!!

I got a second copy today as i thought it would make a good raffle prize at one of the upcoming bass bashes!

Now you're just rubbing it in!!!

20 euros?!! Crikey!

Where do you keep finding this stuff?!!! It's fantastic!

Blimey! That really is a nice van full of wood - I like that padauk! What's the stack of darker wood?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Headless-5-string-bass-guitar-custom-painting/163536078113?hash=item2613828521:g:lw0AAOSwYS5cYFX7:rk:2:pf:0

The replacement wood turned up today - think this will make a very nice top

I love them and wouldn’t route a pickup without a template. But that’s the great thing - there’s always more than one way to get results so you use the way that suits you best.

This is the piece of birdseye maple I'm going to use for the neck. For reference, I've put both neck templates in the neck pocket to show the difference in length.

As well as the bass, I'm also putting a Telecaster together for a friend of mine. He's bought all the (very nice quality) parts from different places but they need a bit of work. The neck pocket was too large so I've infilled that and reshaped it. I've sanded and started oiling the body. The guitar has brass hardware for the bridge, knobs, neck plate, control plate and strap buttons but no jack plate. So that was another task for today - make a jack plate. I've got a few bits of sheet brass around (absolutely no idea where they came from but they have been useful!!) so I cut and shaped it to match the control plate. The irony is that this thread is for a semi hollow bass that weighs about 6lb (2.7kg) - this Telecaster body is about 8lb 10 oz (3.9kg) its own!!

Finally I have managed to get the garage cleared so I can get back on with a bit of woodwork. First thing for the day was to cut the new template for the slightly shorted neck. I used the bandsaw to cut the mdf template to within a couple of mm of the final size. Next was to use the router table with a template cutter to trim the new template to the correct size. I used the previous template stuck to the new one with double sided tape as the template up as far as the nut position, then used a smaller template for the headstock. This smaller headstock template was made but mad to to be about 2mm wider at the nut. Only a tiny bit of sanding was needed then the template fitted nice and snuggly. The short neck isn't going in this body but the neck pocket is the same size. Next task is to decide what wood to use for the neck (birdseye maple is favourite at the moment and then to slot the fretboard.

Got my new ruler yesterday. Nice.

EMG do an active blend control (http://www.emgpickups.com/accessories/bass-accessories/summing/abc.html) that might of interest. I do like EMG pickups and preamps though I know not everyone doesn't! Audere also do some nice preamps https://www.audereaudio.com/ There's also someone on the forum selling a Delano Sonar 3 band preamp with active/passive switch. Cheers

I think Axminster might have a sudden surge in interest in these looking at the above posts!! I've bought a few things from them (router cutters etc) and been pleased with the quality and service.

I was just about to post the link to Axminster then realised Andy had already done it. I have a plastic centre finding ruler, which has been really useful, but I'm going to order one of these now!! Cheers

I have been toying with pickup ideas - I was thinking of using an EMG 35 something as I did on the other shortie but that would remove an interesting part of the buckeye. The buckeye wasn't big enough for me to adjust its position to allow for pickups in advance (as I would do normally) so I'm having to work around it this time. That's the reason for looking at the J pickup, because as you say, it kind of sits nicely in the flow of the grain; positioning is all about the wood grain one this one rather than specific distance from bridge!! I'm hoping it works ok.... Cheers

I’ve used a couple of the East Piezo preamps on other builds and I really like them. As you say, nice and compact. Ive also got a Cafe Walter one that I might try though that doesn’t have the controls provided by the East unit. Cheers

Great minds think alike! That is something I’ve been considering and looking at before I route the pickup. I’ve been looking at removing the saddle blocks and replacing with a block of ebony with a piezo element in. Cheers

I'm hoping so. Will need it to warm up a bit beforehand so I can spray it! But plenty to do beforehand on this and another bass. Look forward to catching up at the bash. Cheers. Jez

A quick mock up of what I'm thinking at the moment (can always change....)