Jabba_the_gut

Finished! Must say the neck finished much nicer than I expected - really pleased with that. Finish was with water based satin lacquer and it's worked nicely. I'm more pleased with the neck than the body. I used Tru-Oil for the finish in the end and I'm just not that happy with it - it hasn't given the best finish no matter what I tried to do with it. Won't use it again - I'll stick with spraying instead. This project has been about practice and correction. I practised on this whilst I was making ‘scratch built bass #2’ and learned plenty from it. I made mistakes on it but decided to carry on to see what I could correct. The design changed a bit over time due to mistakes:[list] [*]put binding on the fret board to cover an accidental cut with the router where the bearing on the template cutter melted the acrylic template I’d made. This happened twice!! [*]practising with the oil finish and spray finish used. [*]headstock is the opposite hand to planned because someone was too impatient to get it cut....what was that...measure twice, cut once...!!! [/list] It plays nicely so job done. I’m planning on the next bass having a block inlay maple neck so this has been good practice. I'll stick a couple of photos up tomorrow.

They look really good - interesting build diary.

Just looked at the ACG site and the four strings are zero radius and asymmetrical.....mmmm... got me thinking now!!

[quote name='Bloc Riff Nut' timestamp='1375519859' post='2162413'] Hi Jabba, That spalted beech looks fantastic by the way, great job. I was wondering which fretboard radius you chose, if any. My ACG 5'er zero radius fretboard with asymetric neck is easier to play and more natural-feeling than my YamahaTRB 5'er. [/quote] Cheers for the comments. I chose a 12" radius for this fretboard. I posted something on here at the time about flat boards and quite a few folk hadn't heard of them either - I'd only just heard of them after looking at an ACG the Manchester bass show and was curious to what people thought. The ACG I looked at had an asymmetrical neck too and I have to say it did feel really comfortable for the couple of minutes I was playing it. But not wanting to deviate from the norm, I ended up doing a radius and symmetrical neck!! I've got another build (or two...) planned for the near future and I'm quite tempted to try this. The next build will be a 4 string - do you think both the flat board and asymmetrical neck would work for that? Cheers again Jez

a couple of better pictures....

Nice. Like the rack of basses you have already made. Leiden is a really nice city too - worked there for a while in the past. Nice people, buildings and restaurants!!

Hi. Where are you located? If you are local to me I could fix the missing fret. Cheers

Finally! Had warm enough weather and the time to finish this. I'm pleased with how it has turned out. Even the tarty LEDs look nice...though not everyone's taste!

Cheers - here's a slightly better picture. Thinking of sticking some of logo on the headstock so piece of paper fitted for size!!

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1371331434' post='2112735'] Tasty What kind of bridge is that? [/quote] I'm not sure - I think it was off a Squier bass. It used to have a pair of saddles but I drilled it to accept four individual ones instead.

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1371329153' post='2112706'] I've got a hankering to attempt something in the style of a Rob Allen semi-hollow with a piezo bridge, you could do a hybrid a bit like that semi hollow P bass [/quote] Funny you say that - that is something I'm hoping to have a go at in the near future!! I've thought about a semi jazz or p-bass - like the pic at the top of the page!!

It's been a little while but I have done some more on this. Body is done, just got some shaping on the neck to do and the frets to fit. Couldn't resist putting it together though to make sure everything will line up ok.

[sub]Another vote for the US Musicman SUB basses. If you like the feel of a jazz neck and the stingray tone, the US Musicman SUB Sterling (not to be confused with the Sterling by Musicman SUB....why did they pick the same words but put them in a different order????) is just the job but you don't seem to see many about. They have 3 band eq rather than the standard 2 band but doesn't have the selector switch you get on 'proper' Musicman Sterlings. [/sub] [sub]The bass piccie thing next to my details is my SUB 4 bass and I think it looks pretty nice with the changed scratchplate. SUBs seem to go for between £300 and £400 dependent on condition from what I've seen and paid for them.[/sub]

The body of this bass is made from a slab of elm - it was an old desk top or something but had been thicknessed both sides so there shouldn't have been any finish left on it. It was a very dry piece of wood - found a single live woodworm in it so had to treat it for that!! I'm wondering if it was that is the problem though the treatment (suitable for use on furniture) should be able to take a new finish. The woodworm is another hassle!! I've had to treat the few bits of wood I have around just on the off chance anything escaped from the piece of elm. There were literally just a couple of flight holes (can't tell if they are recent or not) and I haven't seen any traces but I'm not risking it so everything is getting treated.

Cheers for all the advice. The tung oil I have been using hasn't hardened (if that's the correct term) - if I handle the body, I end up with oily hands. This is about 10 days after applying it and wiping it off etc. Hopefully it will soak in or the excess rub off. The sample I tried was fine but the actual body, looks pretty good but is just oily to the touch. What I'm finding is building basses is fine in terms of wood work, but getting that quality finish is proving a bit more tricky!!

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' timestamp='1369510131' post='2090026'] What a beautiful piece of ash!! [/quote] That really is a great looking bass. I'm in the finishing stages of making a bass with an ash body - it really is such nice wood. I might have to have a look at some Danish oil and try on on a few offcuts. Cheers Jez

Cheers for the details. I'm trying Tung oil at the moment. I've given it a couple of coats so far - soaks in a fair bit but coverage is pretty even. Going to give it a polish with beeswax when I'm done. I'll put photos up no matter how it goes!! Cheers again Jez

Cheers Rubis. The elm is quite dry and absorbent so I reckon that might go the same way - I'll let you know!!

I've had a look on this forum about finishes and Tru-Oil gets mentioned a fair bit. I'm looking at finishing a couple of basses (one elm and one wenge/sycamore) with a natural finish but have a couple of questions I'd appreciate some advice on: 1. Do I need to seal the wood prior to applying oil? 2. What other oils work well other than Tru-Oil (thinking tung oil, teak oil etc.)? 3. What about just using wax? Cheers

[quote name='nugget' timestamp='1365367781' post='2038721'] Where's the build thread? Sounds interesting! [/quote] Hi Dave. Must admit, I liked the look of the block inlays you did so I though I'd have a go!! I haven't put bindings on the neck though - maybe next time!! I've added a line to the build thread - it had been quiet for a while. Cheers J.