Andyjr1515

The bass looks great. It will look fantastic when you've got the new pickups

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1447441885' post='2907757'] It already looks awesome. [/quote] Thanks ezbass. Do you like the biplane look? I think it might catch on

Switched to photobucket temporarily! So, first of all, tidied up the camphor top using a bearing guided edge router bit: The spent quite a bit of time checking heights, angles, distances in terms of bridge position, nut position, fretboard thickness, bridge height, etc.. before taking down the angle of the headstock and truing up the top of the neck: As you can see, I use a long length of aluminium box section and with abrasive paper double-sided-taped to one of the faces. Acts as a great flatness checking beam as well as a sanding beam. The bridge is going to be set fairly well back to shorten the feel of neck length (34"). It will help the balance too - the alder is already quite light and will be chambered on the top bout and horn. Here are the relative positions of everything. The neck's what I call a "|_|" profile and a bit deeper than many basses,but I'm sure FuNkShUi will get used to it :

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1447282098' post='2906456'] Great stuff. I think I'd make an MDF intermediate template though, even if you use the top as a bearing guide. It would cut a lot easier and be less likely to incur mishap. I'd probably draw round the top and then shape the MDF by hand myself [/quote] I agree, Norris Forgot to mention, I bonded the wenge to the camphor the other day. The degree of demarcation will be like this: Today I made more progress but imgur is acting up a bit - I'll post it later

I agree with both ^ and ^^ For fretless set ups, I get the nut slots (or use the fantastic Warwick just-a-nut) so that the strings are [i]just [/i]touching the fretboard. I set the neck relief in the same way as a fretted (with string held down at the 16th 'fret' aiming for just-perceptible movement at the 8th position), then string heights as you would for a fretted. My starting point is usually 2.7mm at 17th fret for E and 2.4mm for G. I then drop it a little lower if the owner wants a bit more (as MoonBassAlpha so elegantly puts it) 'mwah' Andy

A couple of hours of dry weather and a bit more progress! I've slimmed down the 3-piece neck to final width (not worth the picture), ready to glue to the wings, and bandsawn the top: For once my bandsaw was relatively on song, so it's pretty close to final. I might dispense with routing to finish and hand-finish this instead, then use this as the template for the bearing guided trim of the alder....I'll think about it a bit more as I have, in the past, 'reshaped' a template, and that wouldn't be good of it happens to be also the top and not an mdf template! The bridge has arrived so I can now also work out the neck angles and heights. Weather permitting, this should see the neck band-sawn to outline shape and neck, back and top glued up by the end of next week. Andy

Good result!

It's looking really good. Interesting thread

Guitarbuild are very good quality components in my view. Just finished a tele build using one of their bodies and it was tip top...

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1446927758' post='2903625'] Bonkers? Maybe. Skilled and talented? Definitely. Keep the info coming Andy. The local forecast is mostly dry for tomorrow. [/quote] Well actually, you do know that I'm bonkers - no maybe about it OK - bit more progress. Everybody repeat the mantra after me:- "You can never have too many clamps!" You can see clearly the ready-made truss-rod slot here. Super accurate and finished timber from David Dyke once more, by the way... Andy

I know you all think I'm bonkers, but this is what I end up with - below you see the centre-splice scarfe (scarf?) has been cut, flipped and glued and now the resulting splice assemply is being glued to one of the mahogany outer splices. You can see the grain direction of the inner splice where the headstock will eventually be: I offset the inner splice by 11mm to allow the 9mm deep truss rod to be just slotted in with a 2mm capping strip without the need for routing (the inner splice is 6mm wide - the width of the truss rods I use): Later this evening I should be able to glue and clamp the other outer splice...then I have an assembled neck blank ready for eventual thicknessing, routing and bandsawing to outline shape. Thanks for looking Andy

[quote name='Jabba_the_gut' timestamp='1446814913' post='2902564'] Interesting discussion. I haven't ever tried to do a scarf joint - might have a go on a few scraps and see if I can get it anywhere near accurate enough. Is there any particular angle that should be aimed for? I'd guess around 10 to 15 degrees, but that is a guess!! Cheers [/quote] Anything that gets an acceptable break angle for the strings at the nut, so usually, yes...10 - 15 degrees. I've gone for 11 degrees for no particular reason other than it's closer to 10 than 15

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1446735678' post='2901873'] I have done something similar in the past although I glue my headstock under the neck wood which eventually pushes the join well into the headstock. I would then remove some material from the sides of the headstock wood and then glue in some 'wings'. This had the effect of hiding the scarf join completely from the sides with two unjointed pieces running down each side of the headstock (hope this makes sense). Now i don't bother, i leave the scarf join visible at the side of the headstock (it is covered by top/bottom veneers though), if its a good tight join you don't even notice it. This way i can start with a very slim neck blank (~20mm) and don't waste as much material. Ian [/quote] Interesting pointers, Ian. I suppose the fatal flaw for me doing the more conventional approach is that telling 'if its a good tight join...' proviso Thanks - useful stuff. I'm picking up a disc sander tomorrow that might get my joints a bit flatter, squarer and straighter. On the build after this one, I might give it a whirl (excusing the pun) Andy

Rain has stopped play temporarily (my workshop is my back patio) but the exciting news is that all the rest of the timber has arrived: A couple of lovely straight and true outer mahogany neck splices and walnut inner splice and a nice ebony fingerboard, slotted to 24 fret 34" from David Dyke...and some excellent wenge 1.5mm constructional veneer from The Wood Veneer Hub for the demarcation between the camphor top and alder back. So ref my sometimes unorthodox way of going about things, I'm interested if anyone does the same as me ref the angled headstock. I've seen some great scarfe-jointed headstocks (by some great builders) but generally I'm not keen on the visual impact of a standard scarfe. But - unless you want to go down the 50 years and counting Gibson debacle of broken headstocks - I do like the extra strength of the scarfe. So what I do, is scarfe the inner splice and leave the outer splices alone. For those who don't know what I'm talking about - a scarfe joint cuts and flips the headstock end so that the grain direction is along the headsock, eliminating the very dodgy grain direction at the nut / volute area of the neck found on a standard cut shape: My logic is that, doing this on the inner splice and leaving the outer splices as straight-grained blanks you still get the extra strength, but it is hidden. Anyone else do this?

[quote name='Simon.' timestamp='1446718767' post='2901650'] That looks amazing! Sort of reminds me of the da Vinci anatomy drawings, where he shows all the muscle groups... [/quote] Thanks, Simon! Sort of know where you're coming from...similarly, this myrtle veneer (applied to a Yamaha fretless) always reminds me of schoolbook drawings of a lung dissection : I think maybe we both need to get out more... Andy

OK - I'm going to wade in my my size 12's here... If you just want to assemble a bass, but want it to look the tops, Warmoth is the way to go, but very very expensive. BUT if you want to do more than that - if you want to also do the finishing as well, and are using it as a learning / source of satisfaction with a pretty good chance of a half decent end result, I would heartily recommend the kit ranges from [url="http://www.gear4music.com/Bass-Guitars/DIY-Basses"]Gear4music here[/url] At [b]less than £70 for EVERYTHING[/b], except the glue, stain and varnish, you really can't go far wrong. You will want to put some better strings on and, if it turns out nice build-wise, worth considering popping some better pickups and maybe hardware. I suspect the Thomann kits are just as good but don't have first hand on those. 'The Fretboard' forum ran a Summer Challenge last year to get a Gear4music kit and either just build it or pimp it up. There were around 30 entries - including a number of basses - and very, very few quality issues reported. Most people were well impressed with the quality of the timber and machining. I know I was. I did a 6 string, [b]which is now my main gigging guitar[/b], and has been since I finished it over a year ago!!!! Here it is (and yes - I well and truly pimped mine up): The quality of the machining on mine was unbelievable at that price point. There are better kits around - some are stunning quality - but bang for buck and for starters, this is the way I would go... Andy

It is of no surprise to me anymore that the look and quality of this is tip toeing on a step ladder higher than top drawer stuff. Apart from the drivel I've just come out with, words fail me ... Ref the pickups, I've been more than impressed with the Seymour Duncan 2 band EQ designed for passive pickups. To me, it's the best of both worlds. The 3 band is also great, but too many options for my limited sonic capabilities. Can't wait to see the finished article

...or you can re oil them which is very, very straightforward

Wenge 1.5mm constructional veneer on it's way ; mahogany and walnut neck splices on their way ; AAA grade ebony fretboard on its way

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1446136716' post='2897246'] Decided to bolt it all together to see how it is coming along. Bit of a shock first time, in that the beck fitted the pocket very poorly. Took it back off and shimmed either side, top with two strips of cereal packet, bottom with one. This seemed to line it up much better, and then when I screwed it back on it was much better. Strange, as it was still using all the original holes. Still need to do all the electrics, and get a new nut - the old one is a bit grotty. [/quote] That looks yummy!

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1446132883' post='2897205'] The best bits always seem to land over a pickup . Going to be killer Andy, i'm warming to that top horn too:) [/quote] Thanks, all ! I'm very excited about this build - I think it will look great when it's carved. FuNkShUi and I have agreed that, as well as the defined alder area at the forearm cutaway, the edge shape will be as option 'C' below: That means that there will be the lighter alder visible for the whole body profile...the visual effect should be to reduce the 'bulk' of the top horn that makes so many single cuts look a bit heavy and out of proportion. I have clearly in my head what this is going to look like when it's finished ...and it's going to be LOVELY

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1446124868' post='2897090'] Very handsome! [/quote] Thanks!

By the way, the fretboard above is just a bit of spare ebony I have in my stash to get the broad look right - the final shape for both style and maximum fret provision and accessibility will be something FuNkShUi and I will decide further down the building path

Inevitably, with this sort of fancy top thing - and veneering too - the really interesting features are always covered by the pickups, bridge or neck.... Nevertheless, trying the top in the various configurations, this is going to be the best looking orientation: I tried the other 3 combinations, each one working out where the bridge and pickups will be, and this way round has the best 'flow' to it. If the weather is dry this afternoon or tomorrow, I'll cut the shape out. In the meantime while I'm suck indoors I'll be trialling the demarcation veneer options.

Have just re-read the thread from the beginning and wow, what a transformation from where this started. At the end of all this you will have a very nice bass from what started off looking like a complete write-off. Inspiring for many of us, I'm sure