Andyjr1515

And the frets are in The fret-ends were pre-dressed on the bass side and now trimmed on the treble side ready for those to be rounded too. I'm going for spherical ends to give maximum usable playing width. Tuners are on order - I won't drill for them until I have them physically in my sticky mitts! After that there are just two or three small jobs to do before I can start the final sand and finishing process. Probably be able to start that on Wednesday

Thanks, cheddatom

And onto the fretting. The ebony fretboard has that very interesting figuring all the way through it which should show through once it's been finish sanded. Less good, and probably linked, is that it is VERY brittle. And to the point that my normal method of fixing the frets isn't going to work. Instead, using a radius block, G clamp and packer, I've rigged up a DIY press/caul method: It's very slow but seems to have worked fine so far: Because of the time to allow the titebond to set enough, it's taken most of the day to get this far. I've stopped at the convenient point where I'm going to need to change the clamp arrangement as the neck deepens towards the body. Time for a beer, I reckon... The bridge is fitted and a couple of strings put in, by the way because this is no time to find unplanned alignment surprises!

[quote name='Amyton3043' timestamp='1508431784' post='3392184'] Hi wow this is my first ever bass built by Nick Springett from my requested design. My name is Alistair and you will see in mother of pearl at the 12th fret it has "Ali" which Nick did for me. Originally the bass had x2 humbuckers but I and active passive controls. We changed to EMG pickups to try and get a richer bottom end.The bass has a lovely laminated finish underneath the white but I had it changed as I originally wanted it to look like a Jaydee supernatural (my mistake). I loved the bass and always thought of trying to get it back one day....sigh [/quote] Wow - that's a bit of a result . Great thread (and looks a nice bass...)

It looks absolutely fantastic, by the way

[quote name='fftc' timestamp='1508447991' post='3392353'] Increasing string tension due to the relative positions of the two bridges? Have you tried re-tuning after each move? [/quote] ^ this. As fftc says, move the bridge, retune to pitch, then check the 12th harmonic against the 12th fretted. Excactly the same thing happens on a conventional bridge when you adjust the intonation....

[quote name='Hamster' timestamp='1508432757' post='3392196'] Well, the SEBB was a financial success and as usual we made a profit that has been distributed to good causes as follows: [url="http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/"]http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/[/url] - Specifically for breast cancer [url="http://prostatecanceruk.org/"]http://prostatecanceruk.org/[/url] - For those gentleman's nether regions http://www.4sight.org.uk/ - Supporting people with sight loss http://www.shootingstarchase.org.uk/ - A local children's hospice I am hopeful that we can arrange next year's SEBB at the same location around late September! I've already had a planning meeting, well it was actually an excuse to go to the pub, about what contacts we can approach to make a guest appearance at next years SEBB. The short list is impressive! Don't do anything stupid and book any gigs/weddings/proposals/bar/bat mitzvahs for the last two weekends in September 2018 - exact date to be announced as soon as I get confirmation. Keep it deep Colin [/quote] I look forward to it, Colin Andy

That Cedar is yummy

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1508435803' post='3392226'] Looks amazing! [/quote] Thanks, Mel

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1508431090' post='3392172'] Nice curves...reminiscent of the AJR Swifts. [/quote] Well...I thought that too when I saw how it came out I'd like to say it was intentional...but that would be a big fib

The neck carve is pretty much complete. Bit of a tweak to do on the volute but ready now to get the blighter fretted Here's how the back is starting to look:

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1508420550' post='3392078'] I like the way it looks amongst the plain soft furnishings. Please don't take that as an opinion on your choice of home decor, you've seen my hovel. On its own I was finding the burl a bit busy, I hope you'll forgive me for saying. I wouldn't judge it on that alone however. Also, the hardware will make the whole thing gel. It's a belter! [/quote] I know exactly what you mean, John. Sometimes I don't post full bass body shots at this stage because there are times when all projects actually look positively naff! I have the advantage of knowing in my head what it's going to look like at the end of the journey

Still got to be finish-shaped, including slimming down a couple of mm at the nut, but this is broadly how the headstock will be looking:

[quote name='BassTool' timestamp='1508410285' post='3391972'] Stunning work You Sir, are a genius [/quote] And You Sir, are very kind

6lb is a very, very good weight, Jez. That diddy and ultra-slim piccolo bass of mine is about that. To achieve the same weight on this size is no mean feat. Oh...and did I mention how fabulous it looks too?

Lovely job

While I make progress on the headstock, I'm continuing to creep up on the heel carve. I need to flatten the neck depth taper at the upper frets a touch and remove the lumps, bumps and sharp edges, but this is the direction I'm heading in: Although, from the front view, there is a fairly standard cutaway on the lower horn, this extra carving at the back makes a big, big difference to the feel at the upper frets by removing the wood that normally presses against the side of your hand. Next job is adding a couple of wings to the headstock and glueing on the headstock plate

I've agreed the headstock shape with Tim. He favoured a 3-a-side configuration but wanted straight string runs. I've tried to pitch it somewhere between the two extremes of the 'long-thin-Ibanez-SR-bass' vibe and the 'short-triangular-wolfgang-EVH-electric' vibe. Forgive the skewiff placement - it won't be in real life : I also managed to cut another sliver of the camphor laurel for the headstock plate: For such holey wood, it's remarkably stable... The snout will have a carved cutout exposing the neck laminations similar to Pete's piccolo bass build:

The good thing about shaping necks the way I do is that you get a great opportunity for plenty of air-guitar playing! Once I've got to the basic dimensions and shape, I basically scrape-a-bit then play-a-bit. The heel is now starting to get there: After finalising the basic transition of neck thickness to body thickness, I will be extending the carve of the lower cutout to carve into the neck itself. Once that's done, I'll then lose the 'edge' presently still there between the body area of the neck and the heel area of the neck.

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1507998570' post='3389265'] Hey Andy! Sorry for the delay, hectic couple of days at work! I had a minor breakthrough this morning with it. I got frustrated with the lack of note definition on the E string, and it was making the G string sound funny (haha) so I took the cable tie off. Then I decided to see if it would work with the tie just on the E string and not the rest. It definitely makes more of a difference, and the notes are more defined. However the string is not quite as bright now. Overall it sounds a lot better. I also lowered the poles on the pickup under that string as well, and I think the combination of the two is much better! [/quote] Sounds like you are certainly getting closer to the issues

Well, onto the neck carve. As always, folks, this is how I do it and not necessarily how it should be done First I made a plasticard template from Tim's profile measurements then got out my preferred tools: spokeshave for roughing out Cabinet scraper for the main carve: and fine micro-plne blade for the hard to get places: First task is that I get the thickness right - lots of checks to make sure there is no possibility of carving through into the truss-rod channel! Once there, I use chalk to make sure I don't inadvertently thin the spine any more: Then I basically creep up on it, checking frequently progress with the plasticard template. Because I am using the scraper, there is little chance of one overly deep cut wrecking it: The basic profile is now getting there: Tomorrow I'll spend as long again just on the heel and volute and then finish off the total length, more by feel than measurement...

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1507933885' post='3388954'] The outline reminds me of Jerry Garcia's 'Wolf' guitar: [/quote] Yes - there are some of the typical Alembic features on this (for those not in the know, Doug Irwin, who made the above Wolf and four (?) other customs for Jerry Garcia, also worked for Alembic although I don't think the Wolf was ever classed as an Alembic guitar). The actual Alembic that I've based my build on is the beauty below: Alembics - I think always? - have the through-neck showing at the top as well as the back, their oval fretmarkers are registered trademarks and they all have the very recognisable headstock. What I will be trying to do, while keeping it firmly out of clone territory, is to give a passing and respectful nod to a great brand and that very '80 s vibe while nevertheless keeping it in more modern territory in other respects. Well - that's the plan, anyway Still plenty of time and opportunity for it to end up as very fancy BBQ kindling...

After multiple checks and rechecks of angles and positions and flatness and line-ups, I've got the fretboard ready to glue: Note the positioning pins. These are essential because the board otherwise floats on the glue while clamping, making accurate positioning impossible. Presently, it is in the cellar, glued clamped up with cauls and 10 heavy-duty G clamps!

What's the balance like between the P and the J? Keep the cable tie on - it's doing something from the sound of it - and try lowering the bass side of the P pickup by a couple of mm

Another D'Addario fan here. I fit Chromes on all of my own basses and fitted a set of black tapewounds to a £35 Harley Benton deko acoustic that made it sound like a pro-job!