Andyjr1515

Yes, me too. Deepening the cutout for the fret access changed the proportions and just needs balancing up a bit. There are some flat spots in some of the curves too which will be smoothed out before it gets glued on.

With the demarcation veneer installed, next job was to flip the neck upside down and glue the oversize back swamp-ash wings flush with the neck slot: I do all of this a tad unconventionally. Once the chambers and cable runs have been routed out, the top will be glued on the flat area like this and then used as the routing template for the back. Note the pencil line showing possible shortening of the lower horn to get the curves looking more in proportion. Clearly, I will decide on this before gluing on the top : When I flip it over, you can see how far I will be scooping the back wings - ie down to the neck in the middle, eventually producing a concave curve:

Neck blank cut: The demarcation veneer I will be using on this one for the top/back, the back/neck and neck/fretboard is Redwood (and it is indeed red wood!). It will darken slightly with the finish but should tone nicely with the brownish hue of the poplar figuring. Here are the veneers being glued to the back joins: It's a while before the top gets glued on - in the meantime I'll try a couple of samples with just this veneer as the main back/top, or triple it up with two redwood veneers and a contrasting one (probably ebony to link with the hardware) in the middle. Might look a little fussy when the top carve cuts through, but you never know unless you try it!

I usually build through necks and always physically draw the key neck angle points full size, and always using the actual bridge intended to be fitted. I measure the bridge saddle at lowest and highest, mark the neck angle fulcrum, then the fretboard and fret height, the planned action height and set the neck angle to allow some wiggle room either way. As it happens, with the Schaller bridge and my thickness of fretboard and fret-height, the neck will be zero angle: Then I can cut the slot: Once the body demarcation veneer has been added, this will be spot on. Because the angle is zero, then I don't have to allow for the apex that normally the fretboard end has to be sunk into. You can see here above the pencil line on the maple of how thin the neck will be cut to. And finally the components in their respective positions: Tomorrow should see the backs prepared, the neck blank cut to basic plan and side-view profile and then the backs glued to the neck....

Back from Scotland and most of the pressing domestic chores are on track, so the priority for the next few weeks is this! Made a fair bit of progress this afternoon and there should be leap in progress tomorrow. Today was all about measuring, checking, re-measuring, checking and checking again before doing one of the crucial cuts - the slot in the neck for the top to slot into. This includes the crucial neck angle - hence the multiple checks. Also - because theoretically the bridge could go anywhere within a range, it was time to predict balance, playability, arm stretch. This is particularly important as Neil has a pesky shoulder issue at the moment - this design aims for sound, playability, lightness, balance and modest stretch. And as some of these aspects tend to be mutually exclusive.... These are some of the key positions - probably some final tweaking to do on body shape once all the functional positioning is sorted but the latter needs sorting first! Body-wise, this is going to be a very light bass. But it is nevertheless 34" maple-necked and so steps to avoid neck dive is something to always be aware of: Wherever this is a possibility, then it always helps for the top strap button (red line) to be in the 'goldilocks zone'. My usual rule of thumb is that the goldilocks zone is somewhere between the 12th and 14th frets (yellow lines). Bringing the bridge well back does two things: it reduces the playing stretch a touch; it brings the strap-button into the goldilocks zone. With the position of the strap on the button itself, I judge this will be in line with the 13.5 fret position - so even if the body ends up much lighter than the norm, it should still balance fine on the strap The next position consideration is the lower cutaway for access to the top frets. For no better reason than it is an option, Neil and I decided to go for the full 24 frets. I've deepened the cutaway a tad to provide complete access to the 22nd fret. For the 23rd and 24th, I'll wait until the top and back is on and shaped to see if this gives good enough access to the 23d and 24th and then Neil and I can discuss whether to deepen the cutaway anymore Depending on the cutaway depth, I'll give Neil the option of reshaping the lower horn. It's just aesthetics so no problem to do that or leave it and it can be left until quite late in the build. So before cutting the slot in the neck, I needed to calculate the neck angle. I'll post that process shortly

Me too. When you first see them they seem quite expensive for something so small - but they are truly quality bits of equipment and work so well.

OK . So, my brain slowly getting into gear....it's probably a maple neck and possibly ash or alder body or maybe something completely different

The neck wood will be the same that you see either side of that strip. The strip is just a cover over the channel to stop the fretboard glue filling the channel and gumming up the trussrod itself. Ref the body....yes - only one way of finding out

Re-read....I assumed you meant the neck but presumably you mean the body? In that case, not sure. Probably alder or ash, but not certain.

Great job. I think the necks are generally maple. The wood you see on the mating face under the fretboard will be the same as if you stripped the finish off the back.

Lovely job.

You lucky, lucky man. Great bass from a great builder

Hmmmm....and has anyone actually figured how they should dispose of replacement blades, single edged razor blades, etc, within domestic waste and recycling regs and guidelines?

Now there we have the quandry of modern life! Disposable blades would normally lead me towards a Swann Morton scalpel (which I generally use for most jobs). For this specific task though, the Stanley disposables have had the edge in my personal view (forgiving the pun). But you are right, of course, @Grangur - I'm sure other suitable and more sustainable products are available. If I find one, I'll change the thread.

Many apologies - I ran out of time before disappearing into the Scottish highlands! However, here's a link from Projectguitar.com where, a few posts down, I cover the approach fairly well. The photos should be there for the important sections. Hope this helps! http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/48449-veneers-without-the-tears/

I think that's a great plan. Both the 5 string and the thru neck aspects involve tackling steeper and rockier learning curves and you will come out the other end not only with a great bass but with a significant extra skills under your belt

Hi @Happy Jack I'm not convinced that t-cut or similar will sort the milkiness. I think the milkiness is most likely to have been that moisture was prevalent during the spraying and is trapped in the finish. I have a neck on an Indie 6-string electric that is just the same and the cloudiness is throughout the thickness of the varnish. Furniture makers have various scary ways of dealing with it - including coating with various substances that draw out the moisture. Some techniques can be seen here http://homeguides.sfgate.com/fix-milky-finish-wood-47528.html. The denatured alcohol one looks the least risky but you never know. Like all things to do with finish, if you try it, start with a small area where it's not going to show if it doesn't react as expected...

Yes - the wooden one for my money. Fascinating how different the guard makes the bass look. It completely changes the mojo

That has all the signs of being 'on a roll', Jez. Your output is higher than mine and yet you work hard for a living! Presumably your family are locked in the attic? I find that doing that speeds up builds no end

That's going to look predictably perfect, Jez. What wood dust did you use? I have to do something similar on @Len_derby 's poplar burl top...

Ah - OK. That is different to how I'd envisaged it on the first read. Makes sense. Clearly, I need to read up a bit more on jointing - this approach is certainly new to me! Thanks for the detailed explanation

Interesting stuff ref the planing - it certainly is borne out by the result! So have I understood, is your jack-plane blade gently radiused? Ref the chambering, I basically follow the same logic as you where I can - I visualise the body as a centre-blocked ES335 or similar with a continuous beam from nut to bridge. Of course, the reality - once you've sliced through it to within an inch of its life with the pickup routings - is somewhat different. On a lightening project for @Harryburke14's very heavy Harley Benton, I actually did chamber at partial depth across the 'centre block' and there was no audible difference to my ear: But generally, I do something similar. This was my last one: Again, if you envisage how deep and wide the pickup routes are (this had twin humbuckers), then the reality is that the body is strong enough / rigid enough/ tonally good enough to chamber in the centre block too. But, like you, I prefer not to if I don't have to.

Yes it is But done manually like this, just takes care and time. Normally this would be done on a CNC

Well - I was fully expecting that the first shot at the block routing would end in a scrapper. But - unless I mess up getting the ebony rectangles in - I think I was wrong! To my utter surprise, the block routs appear to be clean-sided and in the right place: All of the inner rectangles have been routed flat but will be chiselled individually when I fit the ebony rectangles - they must be deep enough to sink in the sides without being too deep to below the fretboard height in the middle. Back to the reason for the repositioning on the template.... Basically, the fretboard blank is double-side-taped to the metal template for both fret slotting and for routing the rectangles. In both cases, the template is positioned by use of a small index pin. However, in the fret slotting jig, the index pin is offset to the position of the cut: However, the template rectangles for the blocks are in line with the index pin notches in the template - not offset: And so, after fret slotting, the fretboard blank needs to be repositioned so that the rectangles are central and also that the index pin notches are now in line with the fretslots and not offset: I'll bet that's as clear as mud, isn't it

Beautiful