Andyjr1515

Wow! Quite something

To get the fretboard off, I am going to use four things: a travel iron; a single-edged razor blade; a very thin steel sheet; a LOT of patience! It can take approaching a couple of hours because, in order to avoid damaging the fretboard or neck jointing surfaces, you have to get the glue REALLY hot so it properly melts - and some glues melt more easily than others. So the iron is on hot and took around 20 minutes just sitting on this area... : ...until I could get a razor cleanly between the two parts: This first stage takes the longest. I need to ensure that the blade will go in through the whole area before I can then insert my steel sheet and move the iron on a few inches. I use the steel sheet to stop the still soft glue from simply regluing behind me as I move slowly along: Then it really is just a case of inching everything a few mm at a time along. Rushing can easily end in tears But eventually, here it is. Fretboard off and both faces and all four edges undamaged: Next is removal of the packing strip to be able to remove the truss rod: The neck is most definitely bowed - around 5mm at the centre - and the trick of just bending it back is probably just not going to be sufficient. I'm thinking maybe a couple of carbon rods either side of the replacement truss rod, but we'll see. However, the less our solution is fighting against the wood the better. So I cleaned the glue off the top face of the neck and thoroughly soaked this side: This is make this face expand and therefore temporarily start straightening the neck. But I need to make that a more permanent effect. So, with either end packed a couple of mm to add a teeny amount of back bow, it is now clamped firmly to the bench and will stay there at least overnight until it is dry. Then it will be at least flat enough to assess whether it needs more than just a replacement trussrod...

@Raslee has sent me the neck - and what a nice neck it is But yes - it does have issues. As @Raslee says above, the truss rod is broken, but as he also mentions, there is a significant bow set in the neck. And there's a bit more - the fretboard is actually coming away from the neck. You can see both the bow and the separation here: I suspect that the trussrod, trying manfully to counteract the above bow plus the extra bow from the string tension, finally started to pop the board off. So far, though, there doesn't seem to be anything unfixable. First job is therefore taking off the fretboard and having a look at what's going on under there...

Agreed. Pretty much every element is off the scale. Love it

This is mighty fine work...

While I was doing the same on @Jus Lukin headless, I mixed epoxy with ebony dust and (over)filled the fretslots: In terms of buying tools and equipment, I am sure I am in good company to say that I agonise - sometimes over years - over the more pricey stuff when, admittedly with a lot more effort, you can actually get the job done with simpler stuff. Not least with sanding - because there's not a lot you can't do with a £2 cork block and a piece of sandpaper. But I suppose this reticence pays off - because when I do invest in something better, I usually know exactly why and what improvement it is there to make and - so far - have rarely been disappointed. So enter this orbital sander: Draw-droppingly expensive against the kind of things you can get in Homebase, etc. - but do I have to say worth every penny so far I still have some corners and so on to sort, and also the final work on the cutouts and neck pocket, but it will be soon ready to start staining and finishing: So next task is find the right combination of dyes/stains for 'the look'. And I have an offcut of this ash to try them on

You're all very naughty boys!

The customer, as they say, is king. So a bit more progress. Hatch cut. Again most builders have their own ways, but I cut a paper template from the recess already cut: I cut the blank out on the bandsaw a mm or so oversize and then use the real high-tech stuff: I start with the straight run at the top and just follow the overlapped edge round with the sanding block a cm at a time. Until: ..it fits (private thought...PHEW!) With a quick sealing coat, I'm pleased that the grain is broadly in the same direction . Once it is all fully finished, it will the the same shade too. So, two more jobs to do, hopefully this afternoon: final sanding of the body cutouts and edges and the profile tweaks of the neck...and then it's the start of the finishing processes. With this part of the build process being a bit like watching paint tru-oil dry, I won't do a blow by blow - I'll do a summary of the method and show you the results when it's done Watch this space

Agreed - it doesn't look good. Happily, it is fake (well, if the US President can run a country on that basis for 4 years...). I can only take a one handed photo on the SLR with my right hand, which unfortunately is the hand I drill with. So this is held in the left hand and is not drilling. "And that, m'lud, is the reason we are not paying the insurance for the totally forseeable accident."

The original board is 5.7mm but, with the radius, reduces to around 4.5mm at the edges. This board is also 5.7mm but is flat, so it gains that extra thickness at the edges.

I've been spending a bit of time getting @Jus Lukin 's headless to the finishing stage - probably another couple of days to do - but while I was doing the Luminlay on that one, I used the same equipment (such that it is) to also add the luminlay to @Fishman 's Wal neck I won't repeat the full how to (that is covered fully in the other thread), but it basically involves: drilling an accurate hole; popping a drop of superglue on the end of the Luminlay 'stick'; inserting said stick; cutting flush to the fretboard; trimming with a sharp chisel. Couple of the above steps: And done: When I've rounded the fret-ends and filled the tang slots, I will give the edge a final sand and then add a very thin wipe-on finish to the edge, including the wood exposed when blending the new fretboard to the original Wal neck. If I get it right, it should be a durable and invisible blend With the headless soon moving into the 'add a coat of finish and then leave for 24hours' stage, the build progress on this one will accelerate over the coming week

Love the colour of the bass, btw.

Or feed the edge of a thin duster or old T-shirt under the knob and wrap it/twist it around a touch so that you are getting even tension all around then pull firmly but steadily the twisted fabric directly upwards.

Hmmm...seem to have missed this one. Thanks for posting the link

Love that double cut, by the way @WilliamV

You are right - there are no hard and fast rules, but when you are buying strings (and here there are still a decent number of exceptions) then the 'convention' drifts towards 30" being short scale; 32" being medium; 34" being long scale (and as you say, some would say is standard scale). Above 34" is usually classed as Extra Long if you are buying strings. But not always

Ooooh...I like the sound of this. I'll be watching with great interest.

In pictures, @BassTool : Here's basically what I use: I position with the steel rule: then I use a sharp ended punch to mark the entry point for the bradpoint drill bit to avoid any wander: then drill a few mm deep - taking care not to 'wiggle' the drill: After a dry test fit - ideally it is a tight push fit - a drop of gel superglue on the end of the stick: Then it is pushed fully home and the excess glue wiped quickly away: Personally, I find the x-acto modellers razor saw the best to cut it off: Finally, I trim it flush with either a very sharp chisel or a single-edged razor. With an unfinished neck, I would just sand it flush as part of the final sanding but I don't want to accidentally catch the varnish on this Wal: 2 1/2 done, 8 1/2 to go! :

I like that a lot

Looking great from here

I forgot to photo this time round, but it's basically this: These particular luminlay sticks are 3mm dia, so after pressing a sharp punch spike to mark the spot, I use a decent quality 3mm bradpoint drill bit in my little battery powered hand drill and drill to around 3mm deep. The luminlay diameter is accurate and the drill point and diameter are also accurate and so you end up with a nice tight, gapless fit (this one is a previous build). I buy the type with a black sleeve around the luminous core - it make the finished result look great: So after a trial fit, I then I just pull it out again, put a teeny spot of gel superglue on the end and push it firmly back in. After a few minutes I can use a modeller's razor saw to cut it fairly flush, then either use a sharp chisel or just a sanding block to sand it flush with the board: And because there are no gaps, that's it! Nothing to fill - it's done. It is one of the reasons I stick with Luminlay even though you have to buy it from Japan and, with VAT and the inevitable customs handling charge, it ends up pretty pricey for a teeny stick...but the accuracy means it is very easy to fit. I'm probably doing @Fishman 's Wal neck tomorrow - I'll try to remember to take shots of the whole process

And the Luminlays are in:

Purposely asymmetrical

I've started the neck carve and the final sanding. With the neck I still have probably 1mm to take off the thickness and I have to move from a U profile to a D. With the sanding, I have to do the cutouts, the tail, anything I've missed and then re-establish the edge radii. But, as many of you will know, I find it very useful to apply a quick coat of Tru-oil as a 'revealer'. I don't know about other builders, but I find it exceptionally difficult to spot sanding marks, dips and dints in a dry sanded body. So still loads to do here, but that sealing coat gives a decent indication of the wood tones that will be there in the finished article. So it's time for a mockup : I think that's very promising