Andyjr1515

Haven't forgotten about the finishing debrief, but just a quick update of ongoing progress. The finish has maybe 2 coats more to do. There's a lot of waiting around, though, when the varnish is dry enough to touch and handle but not dry enough to take the next coat. So in that time I've started on some of the other jobs. The bridge goes on last (you have to scrape away the finish that you've just spent weeks putting on!) but needs to be shaped to match the spheroidal shape of the top. This is where the old 'engineers blue' approach comes in - except you use blackboard chalk. I put a wide strip of easy peel masking tape where the bridge will go and gave it a liberal coating of chalk. Then placed the bridge on top and moved it around a couple of mm. Hey presto - the high spots: Then all you do is scrape where the chalk is and repeat (multiple times). Here it is after the first scraping: So same m.o. - now scrape these areas away. After about 8 iterations, I am getting there: So I know now that most of the area is making good contact. Just a final bit of tidying up and it will be ready to fit as soon as the final coats of finish have been applied. The colour won't change much now - it will just get glossier. Here's where we are at in overall look so far: So - all being well - a few more days of finish coats and drying and then I can move towards final steps

Yes - I agree. They work a treat, too.

That looks a very good coverage for a first coat of such a strong colour! If I tried to do that, I would have runs all over the place!

Both of these look outstandingly good. I generally struggle with the look of headless designs but this looks just right. Beautiful basses, both of them. The finish on the headless has brought out the beauty of the wood nicely. I'll be interested how the EMG system performs. It is very neat as a preamp system if it does, indeed, sound OK.

I'll bet you all thought I'd gone to that great gig venue in the sky!! I'm in the middle of the finishing process for the body so there's not a huge amount to see at the moment. I still try various things in terms of acoustic guitar finishes - some work and some don't. When this is done, I'll run through what I have used and also the other things I've used in the past. This is how it's looking at the moment with probably 3-4 coats more to do: It's only when the finish is done and set that the neck and bridge can be fitted...all a bit back to front in many ways, but I reckon the whole thing will be finished by the end of next week

Somehow missed this! It's looking good

I agree with @SpondonBassed (there's a first time for everything!) - it all makes sense now. That is a great look

Back to blocks - I had a gig practice with Pete last night and noticed the MoP blocks on the SG-ish I built for him a few years ago: Well - I've never noticed it before, but the block on the first fret is quite a different colour to the rest: You don't really see it in this photo but in normal daylight it is quite blue, whereas the rest are whiter. And now I look at it in the photo - look at the three swifts! The larger one is different to the other two - all cut from the same 40mmx40mm piece of shell. Pete's never noticed and wouldn't worry if he did. And I never noticed until last night - and I've seen this guitar up close at least 200 times, let alone when I was building it!!!

Sounds like a result

I think they suit some people. I personally don't feel the need. I always carve necks for guitars and basses intended for my own use to a soft-ish 'V'. That gives me a feeling of a very slim neck when moving up and down the board, but a comfortable thickness when using barre chords and the like.

Lest I forget it (not that you could ever forget such a shape), the Mouradian-esque built for @gelfin

Started the neck carve. It will probably take the rest of the day off and on but the bulk is removed: Other than checking the neck thickness with some calipers, I'm carving this one pretty much entirely by feel - sitting in a chair, holding it like a back-to-front cello and using a variety of tools including spokeshave, cabinet scrapers and microplanes. I often tweak the shape in the same way once the guitar is fully finished and strung up, just using a cabinet scraper and finishing off with sandpaper, followed by a quick reapplication of tru-oil slurry and buff.

Option 2 Mother of Pearl is a natural product and natural products vary...otherwise they don't look natural. Those blocks look perfect

Spent a bit of time double checking lengths and positions of the fretboard, and also fitted the trussrod ready for fixing the fretboard to the neck. One job needed was to cut the fretboard to length. The pickup system I am installing is the Shadow Doubleplay As well as a piezo under the saddle, it has a mini magnetic pickup that fits at the end of the fretboard. It is the same system I fitted to Chris's build in 2015 shown here: As you can see, the fretboard has to be cut to the correct length to fit the magnetic p/up at the end. That cut, it was time to glue the fretboard! And yes, @TheGreek - you can NEVER have too many clamps!

Back home after another 16 hours driving (the things we do...!) and back to a bit of normality for a couple of weeks. On the critical path is gluing the fretboard - but I can't do that until the neck is absolutely spot on in all planes. So out came a huge array of hand tools to try to create a 1.4 degree angle on the heel in one plane to straighten the neck without affecting the other plane, affecting the neck angle and string action height. Eventually got there. It lines up: And - using a long thin strip of abrasive cloth the floss the joint, I have a secure and even contact between the heel and the body, confirmed by transfer of chalk (seen in the above picture) from one to the other when the two are assembled. A bit more tweaking and checking, then the trussrod can be fitted and fretboard glued

Bummer about the kitchen. But gosh - that is a beautiful job on that bass!

I like that lots

Stunning job. Respect, @Twincam , respect.

Very interesting stuff, @Grangur I particularly like that method you are using to add the twist. Looks very controllable.

It's going to be a disturbed weekend again so I have tried to get some more of the major steps sorted in the last couple of days. I have started the finishing process on the body. I'm a bit unconventional in that, regardless of what I will eventually finish it with, I 'grain fill' and seal using a tru-oil slurry-and-wipe approach. Here's the back and sides after the first application: While that was drying, I carried on with the neck fitting. It is going to be bolt-on mortice and tenon, using captive nuts. This all has to be very accurate and square: When screwing in the inserts, not only do they have to be very square to the hole, but - from bitter experience - I also support the sides to avoid the process splitting the wood: This means we have a self-supporting neck that can be tightened fully against the body... ...for the next somewhat iterative process of checking and adjusting the neck angle on both planes. By the way, note at the joint that the inside is scooped away so that the only contact is at the sides of the heel. First check is whether the neck angle to bridge is correct: This is, happily, exactly where I need it to be - the level from the fretboard is just touching the top of the bridge - the bone saddle will provide the string action height Then I have to check the alignment of the neck: Not so good. So I need to shave a touch off the base side of the heel - while not affecting the neck angle and maintaining a good heel to body joint. This will have to wait until next week

Yes - it was based on your experience that I opted to try it the other way round

I've popped a reverse P on a modified Musicman Sterling in the past. I'll try to find the details

Yup - happy with that: What with all the dashing up to Aberdeen and such, have only just ordered the trussrod so can't fit the fretboard and carve the neck yet. Still, plenty more to do in the meantime - not least the final sanding and finishing on the body, which needs to be done in any case before the neck and bridge can be fitted. As always, by the way, thanks for the great feedback

What is nice about building for yourself is that you can try new things (well, new to me) without experimenting on someone else's build. Never tried binding a headstock plate before but I reckon this works pretty well: I cut and filed the neck fairly closely so there's no chance of accidentally taking off the binding when cutting the neck headstock outline: ...and ready to glue.

The case padding is excellent