Jabba_the_gut

Had a chance to do a bit more routing!! After my previous router failing, today routing decided to have a go at me by disintegrating a bearing on the template cutter I was using. Luckily I was cutting the hollowed out section of this bass so no real damage done but it did take a thin strip off the template before I noticed. First job was to repair the template - relatively easy, just needed some veneer supergluing on and trimming back to the original line. The remains of a template bearing - all the ball bearings disappeared along with the other retainer!! I found a new bearing the same diameter so carried on. I've also cut the scroll hole on the top. Time to start gluing this together and routing the chambers on the other body.

Hi Tomas. Cheers for the comments. Unfortunately, I don't have any sound samples despite having the opportunity to get some. I took this bass to the SW Bass Bash where it suited someone who tried it and wanted to by it. I did hold onto it for long enough though to take it to the Midlands Bass Bash where Lee-Man played it and I wish I had recorded it as he made it sound so nice!! When I complete these I won't make the same mistake again and will get sound samples made!!

I've trimmed this down now and fitted the threaded inserts. The repair isn't a perfect alignment but it is near enough as it is in a place where it won't be seen.

Marvellous!! Bargain buy.

I'm still chuckling at your 'contribution' to the Basschat podcast.....

This is the damage to the other neck where the router snatched at it: It won't be seen but I'll have a go at fixing it anyway. I cleaned the sides with a chisel and cut a small piece of the neck offcut and shaped it to suit. It looks okay but not perfect. I'll tidy that up then fit the threaded inserts.

I'll be interested in how you do this - I was considering it for the finish on one of the headless short things I'm building using the decoupage paper you get from Hobbycraft (though a single sheet wasn't big enough for a normal guitar body): Look forward to see how you do this. Cheers

I've made some LEDs looms for my own build basses - I quite like them but they are a pain to make and fit. I've used individual surface mount LEDs which are 0.8mm x 1.6mm and are therefore a pain to solder normally. Here's how green LEDs look on a finished bass: And this is a neck with white LEDs I've built for a project (and am still building....) I've built 4 necks (and have another fretboard with them installed for yet another project) so far with LEDs but haven't tried flashing, multicoloured ones....that is a step too far for me!!

The Hohner page is up again. Have a look at this - they have the saddle part you're looking for. http://www.hohner-cshop.de/en/Guitar/Headless-Bass-Series/Basses-Bass-Headless-BB/Hohner-B2AV-Headless/

That's wrong, just wrong.....!!

Hi Mike, Glad you're liking the fretless! I'd quite like to do a 30" version of this headless thing in the future . Preferably I'd like to use double ball and strings as they are a lot less faff than a clamp. Will have to look to see if anyone makes such strings first. All the best Jez

I did, however, forget to fit the fret dots before I radiused the fretboard which will make it a bit trickier to get them nicely aligned. Doh!! Just being a bit over-eager in getting the neck shaping done.....

Thanks for all the positive comments - I hope it carries on going well!! I've done the neck shaping this evening - good old Shinzo rasp!! The neck is obviously a completely different shape to a normal neck being headless, short and single cut and I have tried this before so I was expecting a few issues but it all went smoothly. I had to make a couple of rough jigs to route along the join with the body with a round bit. I did this as I wanted the join from the back of the neck to the body to be nicely rounded (this might make sense when looking at the picture of the neck on it's own).I modified the round cutter like a template cutter by fitting a guiding bearing on the shaft. It only needed a channel a couple of mm deep so I cut that first then changed to a normal template cutter, made another jig then removed a couple of mm from the back of the neck leaving me a level surface to start cutting from. After a bit of rasping and sanding I ended up with this (note the threaded inserts for bolting the neck on with allen headed bolts): And fitted to the body this is how it now looks (note the previous scars on the bench work top where I cut a bit too deep with a router in the past...) Next job is lots of sanding of the body.....

Another piccy - you can see the clamps better on this one,

It is. These things have a grub screw per string then a clamp per two strings. Seems to work okay though I do prefer double ball end strings as they are a lot less fuss, but not an option for this build.

Not done much more but I have fitted threaded inserts into the neck and roughly assembled one of them. I've put some string on it and left it overnight to make sure there' no slippage of the strings and it will stay in tune and so far, it looks like it will. I'll probably finish this one off before I move onto the other just so I can learn any lessons first!! Need to start shaping the neck next.

That's turned out really nicely - look forward to seeing what you build next!! Cheers

I should add that they have all sorts on that site- whole bridges, saddles, headpieces, leg rests etc

I spotted that 5 string too - could be a bargain!! When this is backup you should be able to get everything from here http://www.hohner-cshop.de/en/Guitar/Headless-Bass-Series/Basses-Bass-Headless-BB/Hohner-B2ADB-Headless/

How thick is the headstock? Might just be the photos, but it looks similar to the thickness at the top of the neck. If it is too thick you may struggle to fit together normal mini tuners. Cheers

Lovely work!!

I've now slotted both fretboards and glued them to the two neck blanks. I've used an offcut of kitchen worktop to clamp them against with a couple of bits of ply to prevent any clamp marks on the neck. Once set, I marked the neck outline and used a bandsaw to cut as close to these as possible to give the router less to do. The router I have mounted in a thick piece of MDF as a router table has decided to cause me a few issues on this build. Firstly, it seems to have moved slightly and is not cutting at a right angle to the table. When I put a square against the edge one of the necks this showed up; luckily it tapers from front to back of the neck so won't make any difference once the neck is shaped. The router then decided to have a bite at the neck when I was cutting across the grain at the heel taking a small chunk out. Again, luckily, this is right in the pocket so won't be visible (I'll tidy this up and replace the bit it removed). Then, as a final act of defiance it decided to die with just 10mm left to trim...…. I have a second router (made by Triton) which I temporarily fitted to my MDF router table to finish the first neck and trim the second. Must better. Nice and square, no biting. Job done!! I'm going to have to invest in a proper router table as this should make the difference in terms of everything be more solid for this kind of work. Anyway, neck outline shaped for both basses and it's a sunny day!! I'm quite pleased with how the stripes look on the back of the neck against the body. Next job, neck and fretboard shaping.

Might be worth posting in the builds section. In a similar way, I built myself a bass from a block of old teak my dad had lying around for 20 odd years. I found a local cabinet maker with a planer/ thickness; once that was done I did the rest myself. As Norris said, be worth stating where you are based as there are quite a few people on here that would help you. I look forward to seeing how this goes. Cheers Jez

I've also read an article where the builder use silicon sealer in the truss rod cavity to allow movement but remove any chance of the rod rattling. This would also prevent glue ingress. I have tried this despite my loathing of silicone sealant (bought a house where the previous folk had used it everywhere.....) and it worked fine. But have to be careful it doesn't end up anywhere else!!

I've also read an article where the builder use silicon sealer in the truss rod cavity to allow movement but remove any chance of the rod rattling. This would also prevent glue ingress. I have tried this despite my loathing of silicone sealant (bought a house where the previous folk had used it everywhere.....) and it worked fine. But have to be careful it doesn't end up anywhere else!!