Jabba_the_gut

Blows the dust off this post...... Various things have caused me to have paused building for a bit but hopefully I can continue and finish a few builds I started last year. It looks like I've rounded the body since I rounded the body edges since my last post. I also got round to installing some LEDS in the fretboard - I've taken the feedback from previous builds and made them not so blinding!!

Just love the design of LeFay bridges

This is what I was trying to explain earlier regarding using standard double ball end strings for a multiscale. Not sure how string tension would be affected or what scale lengths you could get from this but it was just a thought. Both drawings have strings of the same length As you will also see, drawings are not my forte!

Personally, I like double ball end strings. I’ve always found the tuning to be very stable and not requiring any tools to change strings (including snips to cut the excess off normal string) is great. Speed to change strings is also really good especially on the Steinberger type bridges though this isn’t something done that often. The downside to me is choice. That is limited in terms of the different types, makes but also scale length. There’s also lots of pros and cons regarding the bridges based on price, adjustment, how the strings are threaded through, if tools are needed, if they work for multi scale, ease of installation, ease of adjustment etc. I like the ABM style single tuners but they are expensive - pros and cons again!!

Something like this came up in the past and I wondered if you could do a multi scale headless with double ball end strings and a one piece bridge. Essentially the strings are all the same length but the nut would be angled and individual saddles used to give the required string lengths (if this makes sense). I did a simple drawing on here for this a while back but can’t remember where!! No idea how this would be for string tension- I really should mock it up sometime to try. I’ve had a few ideas in the past that I think would look neat but no-one makes the hardware that I would need and I’m not going down that custom route!!

Hi Andy. Didn’t have any issues with the bottom sections splitting in these. I drilled the hole with a 10mm Forstner bit - the inserts pushed nicely into this with out much force. I then secured them with CA glue. I think if I had drilled at 9.5mm (which is what I was initially thinking) they might have split. I was looking back for the thread where you made some previously but couldn’t find it so this is what I came up with. I did try some experiments at first trying to cut out the knobs with a hole saw but that was, er, less than successful shall we say!! Cheers

It has been time consuming and I bet I have spent something around 15 hours in total. That includes all trial and error as well as making some decent knobs in the end. One of those thing that if I decide to do it again it would be a lot quicker. But it’s been enjoyable and I learnt something new. Cheers

Completely agree. It’s just another part of the problem solving process that adds to the satisfaction. In this case I neither have the funds or space for a lathe just for this purpose so was really pleasing to find a way around it. Cheers

I’ve bought a few things from them and always been good.

The aluminium was glued in and filed to size. I then put the knobs back on my drill 'lathe', shaped then with a chisel, sanded them and put a coat of sanding sealer on. This is what I ended up with from all the bits: The knobs were then marked up for the position of the grub screw hole (the aluminium has been fitted to follow the grain - the first one I made didn't and it just looked wrong). The hole for the grub screw is opposite the aluminium marker. The holes were drilled then the insert fitted and glued in place with CA glue. After all this, these are the knobs I ended up with. Might need a little more finishing later but we'll see. So that's that part finished and tie to get back on with the bass itself!! Cheers

Next I cut circles of wood for the knob tops For the walnut ones, I cut a slot with my fret saw and glued in a strip of aluminium and filed flat. These are for the knobs that will just have the marker in the top. Tops were then glued onto the bodies. By luck, I found a small socket that had and outside diameter of 10mm and the knobs just pushed onto these sufficiently tightly that I could run them on my drill 'lathe' and trim them to size. The ones for the full length marker were marked up so they could be cut to get the aluminium correctly in line. I clamped these into my fret slotting jig so I could get a nice clean cut. This left me with a selection of knobs with a slot in for the aluminium

I don't have a lathe but I do have a drill stand. I mounted this horizontally and cut the head of an M10 bolt. This allowed me to clamp the knob blanks, run this like a small lathe and trim these to size. I made quite a few blanks as I know having not tried this before it would go wrong at some point and I'd end up with a number of scrap ones!!

I seem to have spent quite a long time over the past few weeks making knobs so here's a few pictures of the process I used. I've used wooden knobs a couple of tie before and I got a local wood turner to make them for me as I don't have a lathe. I still don't but I wanted to make them myself so.... First step - drill a shallow hole with a Forstner bit in the piece of wood that will make the body of the knob. This will be the recess under the knob where the pot nut will end up. Next, drill a hole straight through that will accept the brass insert later Then I drew a circle round them for both sizes of knob ready to cut out with a bandsaw Cut these out and ended up with a load of these

Out of interest, what hardware are you looking to use? There doesn’t seem to be too much headless hardware out there. A lot of four string builds use the ‘Overlord of music’ units. These can be a bit hit or miss quality wise but that is why they are cheap!! But they don’t do a five string. Nova headless units are really nicely made - I was going to use one on a build but each tuner slides on the baseplate to set intonation and things not lining up messes with my OCD!!! They are mid price units and are available in five string. Then it starts to get a bit pricey as you look at Hipshot units or ABM single tuners. All very nice quality but that is reflected in the price. The headpiece for these alone was about £70 last time I looked!! Just curious really to what you were thinking. Cheers

It’s so true - you have been warned!!

Watching with interest! I’ve been accumulating parts for a similar build - I got some Delano Xtender pickups a while ago that I plan on building around. Agree with the others regarding Newtone strings. Really looking forward to seeing your design evolve. Cheers

I'd be interested in this dependent on location.

I've been trying to make some knobs for this bass - it's taken a little while to work out how to do it when I don't own a lathe. I've also made quite a few as I've been trying different things: I will post some picture of the process later but for now here's some different designs. I'm thinking of the one on the right with the marker but without the veneers as I think they are a bit fussy. I'm also waiting for my planer blades to come back from the sharpeners so I can get on with the second body. Cheers

Lovely build again!

Yep, I settled on M5 on my builds.

I have tried bleaching in the past but not too keen on it. When I tried it on a sample of sycamore previously it left a bit of a stain that looked worse than what I was trying to remove! I don't think it would do much to this particular blemish. If I want to remove this one I would remove it with a Dremel and infill it with an offcut of maple. Cheers

Had an enjoyable couple of day where I've been able to get on with the neck carve. I always like this bit as the block of wood turns into something very tactile. Out with the Shinto rasp and start the shaping: This neck is a little more tricky as it is being fitted to an existing body so sanding the contours to match the body takes a bit of patience as to avoid removing any of the finish: After a fair bit of time with a mini rasp and some sandpaper I got to something I'm happy with. Only shame is there is a a small mark in the maple but that's what you can get with a natural material. Now it is starting to look really nice! Still got quite a few jobs to do - quite a few of these are decorative and I've still got to work out how to do them!! But that the enjoyment of making stuff - always something new to learn. Cheers

First task is to make very obvious chalk marks on the fretboard to show where the dots will go. This is to prevent holes being drilled in the wrong place for the side dots (guess who got that wrong in the past when not paying enough attention....) One of my favourite tools is this - makes finding the centre line for side dots so easy. I then use an engineers square and a white pen to mark the side line for drilling. I drill the side holes on all my necks using a piece of right angled aluminium with a hole in it as a template. Once all the holes were drilled, I glued in some Luminlay, cut flush and tidied it up. Then turned out the lights to see how it looks. I've also fitted a small piece of the offcut from the neck rods into the back of the fretboard where the thumb rest is just to add a little more strength. With that done I'm now onto shaping the neck and radiusing the fretboard. Cheers

The neck is starting to look more like it now!! I cut it roughly to size then trimmed on the router table. This is a little more difficult to do than a Fender type neck due to the angled headstock. Just takes a little more thinking about. This one is even more fiddly as it has a finger rest built into the fretboard, just needs a little patience and a bit of swapping of router bits to complete. A smidge of sanding later and it fits really nicely into the neck pocket: The headstock has also been drilled to accept the Gotoh tuners. This was done using a Forstner bit to get a really neat cut and finish - the head was clamped to an offcut of wood to ensure there was no tear-out when the bit cut through to the other side. And the fifth hole? Just decoration as I have done on my previous basses. Next task will be to fit the Luminlay side dots whilst the fretboard is still square after which I'll start the neck carve and radiusing the fretboard. Cheers

That is an idea that I have been toying with but not on this build. I have tried a couple of samples of lighting both clear and frosted type plastics. Luminlay do sheets of luminous plastic sheet so I was thinking at one point of using this for fretlines.... Luminous sheet