Andyjr1515

What I like about these kind of projects is that there is a 'how to best do this' moment around every corner. I'm now onto tidying up the small reshape around the end of the neck pocket and taking off the original finish ready to refinish after I've done the various plug fills, etc. And here's the thing. One of the absolute charms of the body is that it is NOT even. So, interestingly, the approach has to be "DON'T use a sanding block" So yes - any transit scratches or maker errors (that they themselves, if they had spotted them, would have sorted) can come off, but anything that is a result of the carving method itself should ideally be left in place You can see an example here on the top horn: Those dints - which normally would be sanded smooth - should ideally be left there. So I will sand the old varnish away in the dips with fine sandpaper over my finger, but not use a block which would flatten the dips. The two exceptions are the area where the bridge elements will be going and the bottom of the neck pocket at the back... ...which needs to be flat for a full seating of the neck plate. But those dips and digs you can see towards the tailstock, will be cleaned up but left as dips and digs. This afternoon, I will cut a plug to close the hole drilled to get the cable runs sorted. Originally, I was going to use a fretboard dot, but I had to widen the hole a touch to allow the two 4-core pickup cables to run through from the rear pickup chamber to the jack chamber. Besides, I think a colour-compatible wood plug would look better

But before we do. MrsAndyjr1515 sitting bolt upright in bed at 1.30am one quiet, winters night, "What was that noise??" Me the following day. "I'd better go and fix that shelf" MrsAndyjr1515. "Please don't."

Trust me, you really, really don't want to see any shelves or cupboards I've tried to make...trapezoid would be a decent description. Nowadays, when I say helpfully to MrsAndyjr1515 that I could put up the shelf she needs, she replies, "Please don't."

Yes, agreed. The bigger sin, of course, is using metal inserts in wood. It's actually a very hard wood and has cut a defined thread but it's why I will be giving it a proper 'stress test'. If it fails that, I can move up to a size where they make threaded wood inserts. The wood inserts I use have allen key sockets to use to fit them, although the bar and nuts approach is still sometimes a decent alternative way of inserting as it is a lot easier to keep them completely square using that method.

Yes - I have some for a larger size screw but not for these diddlies.

One of the smaller jobs is to secure the jack housing. I'm using these teeny 2.5mm inserts and machine screws. The inserts are fine threaded but the recess should be taking the bulk of the strain. If there is any issue when I try it out with a jack it is no problem to fit larger screws and wider-threaded inserts. For added security, they are screwed into a cyano-gelled hole: And fitted:

Fascinating video @itu Still beats me how they do that at 0.4mm thick! Based on how quickly my 2" handplane blades go blunt...

Just 3. I think that makes them 0.4mm each which, I suppose, is not so different to standard veneer at 0.6mm. But it beats me how they slice those too! Especially the figured ones.

And cleaned up, here's how it's looking. Really starting to look like a bass: The pickup rings will end up the same shade as the headstock. I might use the magical Osmo Polyx Raw so that they both stay the shade the unfinished rings look above rather than the darker effect that a standard finish gives on the headstock. Both should then retain that slight reddish tinge of the fretboard rather than the slightly blacker look of standard finished wenge. So next jobs are going to be sanding and finishing. I can also do the fretwork, fit the Dunlop inset straplock fittings and other similar small jobs but then it's a bit of a waiting game until Tom's US order from Hipshot comes through for the bridge blocks and the tuners.

In the diary

A quintet of swifts cut out of my last bit of MoP… Two for the 12th fret: Glued in with epoxy mixed with fretboard sanding dust: And three for the headstock:

1/64" plywood - one of the marvels of the 20th/21st century world. I have no idea how they make it and when it was first developed (I suspect a long, long time ago - early 20th century?) but I've used this for decades. And now it finds good use in guitar and bass building: Ideal to provide stability to my brittle wenge: The headstock board is also cut ready to glue to the headstock, although I might add a couple of swifts before I prepare the headstock and glue it. Tom's special cutout will be filed once it's glued and once I have hold of the tuners he's ordered to position them properly. Once done, it should look pretty similar to the Mk 1 version below:

Beautiful stuff.

scrumpymike has just done the same for the SW Bash, @jebroad The way it's all going, I think there's an inevitability TBH. Have you outlaid any cash yet you wouldn't be able to recoup? If so, I and I'm sure others would be happy to chip in.

This is a height-adjustable nut - with each string individually adjustable. Basically, the v-grooves in the top of each nut are your nut slots and the strings lie on top of them. So basically turn each screw until the bottom of the v-groove is at broadly right height, make sure it is in line with the string and then try it with the string in the groove. Just turn each up or down until you have the nut height you want for that string and it's done. The V grooves for the bass strings are wider than those for the treble strings to account for the different string widths.

Yup, certainly looks good to me. Nice that you were able to get a touch of an angle - it compliments the end of the fretboard nicely.

Hi Back from daughter's at Aberdeen (borders not closed yet; was there ahead of the 'don't visit relatives' advice; even more ahead of the 'don't even phone people you know' edict that I'm sure is only a few days away ) so back to the project. The pickup rings and headstock plate will be using some wenge constructional veneer - 2mm thick. Strong along the length but very brittle crossgrain. It'll be fine for the headstock plate - this will be similar to Tom's original African bass. This is a photo of his original with maple wings added in anticipation: For the pickup rings - these will darken when they are sanded and finished - I probably need to add an underlayer either of crossgrain wood or maybe even pickguard material to give it a bit more underlying strength: When I've done that, I will probably also slim the ring around the neck pickup a touch to match the slimmer pickup itself. But that's a job for tomorrow.

It depends on the strings and the action height, @Jimothey but for the bottom E, to be sure you need to allow for around 5mm longer than the scale length. The G will be close to scale length - maybe scale length plus 1mm. You also don't want the bottom string saddles too far back if you are going for a top loading option as you might find that the string bindings end up going over the saddles. So yes, you may be able to stagger them a bit but, as @fleabag says, you will need to be careful not to compromise function for form

Lovely!

Yes - that's actually quite a good thing to do to even out the tone differences, but maybe a bridge too far (excusing the pun) in terms of the aesthetics? Jack Bruce's Thumb was like that:

No (that is, yes - it would be a problem) - heavily slanted saddle-holders are absolutely a multi-scale thing. The bridge saddles have to be in the correct positions relative to the scale length (with relatively minor adjustment backward movement - usually 1mm to 4mm back from scale length for intonation ) . And therefore, whether a fixed bridge or individuals, the saddles themselves are going to need to be in the same positions.

My own preference would also be the two straight but, as with @Pea Turgh , more based on tone than looks. The one angled is sort of the wrong angle tone-wise for a bass - it will make the bottom E very mellow and the G quite jangly. I'm not sure that's what you'd be ideally going for.

Good call.

Me too.

Ref the sound - try wiring the two pickups in series. It can often transform the sound a bass and should need only a couple or so of resolders...