Andyjr1515

In the meantime, I've been playing around with some thoughts of shaping the soundhole. I'll put some of my various thoughts and scribbles to P but this one, I think, has something going for it, giving a passing nod to the curve and straight of the upper bout: With a shaped soundhole, the rosette probably needs to be simple - maybe just a couple of surrounding purfling strips - but, again, I'll have a play around.

The back and side woods arrived today and, true to a good supplier, exactly as described. It looks a nice wood. These are the two options that P will decide on. Both are very attractive and I will be more than happy to use either on a future acoustic project: The yellow marks on the bottom one are splits that the supplier has highlighted. The only relevant ones are those within the shape boundary and close up they are like this: Splits like this are generally not an issue on a back - and when the back is thinned and pressed into its 15' spheroidal shape these will open out more - as they will fill and not show but also are held in place by the back braces. A split in that centre light section, interestingly, would have been more of a concern as it would have the potential of running up the whole length. But the light wood is sound. Having said that, you don't really know until you get it down to the finished thickness of 1.9mm and start bending sides and spheroiding the back. If P does choose this one and if there is a subsequent issue during bending, we'll just switch to the other set Incidentally, the Black Limba on Matt's dreadnought was worse than the above. The splits on his were indeed lengthways and, originally, worsening - but it's not been a problem despite Matt being a percussive player. And a prize of a big emoji smile to anyone who thinks they can spot where it is : Colour-wise, the timber for P's Bouzouki will finish up similar to his own stock photos up above - more amber and darker figuring than in the dry state, but the finish will bring out all of the secret wonders held in the figuring of both pieces Some plywood is on order to make a bending mould for the new shape and then we can start some planing and bending

No - actually, Fender Bi-flex is a single rod. They block the nut from screwing right out which means that when you 'loosen' beyond the rod being straight, it then starts bending the other way. So yes, you would expect those to also be affected more than other types - but there can be other variables. It may use a different steel for the rod or the necks maybe naturally stiffer (I presume the Fenders are maple - the Sterling?) - and I'm sure there are others! Is the Schecter actually the Fender system or do they just use the term? I would have thought that would have used a two-rod system but I might be wrong. What model is it? Yes, keep us all informed...useful info whatever the outcome

The 'Guitar' bit is fine. It's the 'Bouzouki' bit that might be a bit of a challenge

And the first physical step - joining the top. It's a lovely piece of AAA European Spruce from David Dyke. Very even and tight grain: Measuring with my new deep-throat caliper (pricey but without one of those it's all a bit of a guess, particularly when you start reducing to final thickness!), it's starting off at just over 3.9mm: I will be reducing that down to 3mm before putting the braces on, leaving 0.1mm for final sanding, finishing at around 2.9mm (hence the need for deep throat callipers - especially when it's joined!) As is often the case, one edge of the bookmatch is darker and, as I don't want to have that in the middle, I will be joining on the other edge to give a nice and even light look for the bulk of the body. But golden rule - always look on the other side! And along the edge (which is probably why DD marked it up against the other edge) is a small knot which, apart from potentially weakening the joint, might show a ripple on the other side: But happily - because the sound hole is going to be in the same position as this OM plan, the knot will be cut out anyway: And so - with the edge straightened up with a long-base plane and the surface roughed up on my long sanding beam it's been glued and clamped. The caul is to hold the joint against a dead-flat plank underneath to ensure that the two sides are completely lined up, with the sash clamp applying medium pressure to keep the joint closed: Probably leave this clamped up until the morning

I think that the unusual flex in temperature and humidity lately is more the issue than any inherent problem with your bass. I'm pretty certain that the Sub4 has a 'traditional' single rod trussrod. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but single rod trussrods are impacted more by temperature change and humidity change than the more modern (but heavier) double-bar rods. With the single bar, if it gets warmer, the bar expands and if it gets more humid, the exposed timber that the nut presses against changes shape which affects the amount of pull. That can both be pulling in the same direction or in opposite directions depending on the actual weather. In recent weeks and in the UK, though, I suspect that the temperature change would have caused the bigger impact. If I'm right (and assuming you tuned to pitch in both cases), then when it was warm your relief got bigger and when it was cool your relief got tighter? I think in the UK, humidity changes are less pronounced (it's very humid or it's very very humid or it's raining ) but we have had unusually wide changes in temperature recently and - if your house is anything like ours - it has been enough to affect the temperature in the house too. And why is a double-bar rod not affected as much? Because the bend of the rod is determined by the difference in length of the two rods (or rod and bar in some designs). So if one bar expands, then the other bar is going to expand as well and curve remains largely unaffected. So if your other basses have two-bar rods, then yes, they won't have been affected in the same way. Leastways, that's my guess.

And the strings all line up! I must mention to MrsAndyjr1515 that I can SOMETIMES put things together straight...

That looks absolutely beautiful. Good choice with the colour - really adds something on this one It was a pleasure to work on and you've taken it to a whole new level after that

I have to say - a trem on a bass is a new one on me! Fascinating.

All looking good to me Can't wait to see it all finished and assembled.

Nice touch with the hatch access carve

Looking good!

Wow!

Excellent!

And here is the bracing. This is standard OM bracing and, as you can see, plenty of room to be a bit more creative with the soundhole

Basically, yes. P and I are still pulling together the spec and I am still clambering up the learning curve using every crampon, piton and googlon at my disposal. So - as @BigRedX says, basically a guitar body with a bouzouki neck and bridge. The body size we are going for will be the OM/Concert - 15" across the lower bout and around 110mm deep at the tail (you can see I spent my formative years in transition between SI and Imperial!). The main difference to the body is that it joins the neck at the 16th fret, as opposed to the 14th fret of a standard steel string acoustic. However, the bridge position, bracing and sound hole broadly remain in standard position, and so the upper bout shortens by around 30mm. This is the shape we are toying with. You can see in light relief the outline of a standard OM acoustic: The sound hole will be wider than the norm and may well be shaped. It will have a standard-style guitar bridge with a compensated saddle. The construction and internal bracing design will be very much based on my own OM build: The top timber, some lovely AAA spruce from David Dyke is already here. The back and sides is on its way from Schroter in Germany and is Red Gum Satin Walnut. I've ordered two sets - P will decide which one he wants when I am able to see them in the flesh and made sure they are both OK to use: To say that I'm quite excited by this project is a bit of an understatement!

No cracking risk

But more seriously. I seriously have no idea what.... It's early days. We are just crystallising the spec at the moment and it's a long time before I need to worry about those aspects. I'm guessing octave but I'm not sure at the moment - happily the prospective owner already has one - in fact, I think he has two bouzoukis, a trad one and a guitar one (and proper ones built by folks who know what they are doing ) and so a lot of the details, neck width, profile, etc, etc will be aimed at trying to replicate a 'feel' that he is comfortable with, along with, hopefully, some AJR stuff too . I've worked on mandolins in the past so I'm guessing that will help me a bit. Which, I know, is a bit like saying to the Mercedes F1 team, "Well, I changed the oil on a Ford Anglia when I was younger and I'm sure it's the same principle"

You know I have no idea what you are talking about...

I'm sorry. Yes - I know it's not a bass. But I have done two smaller bass jobs since the guitar build thread. And besides - this is a BOUZOUKI! The conversation went something like this: Him: "Loved that video of Matt Marriott playing the dreadnought acoustic you built for him" Me: "Why thank you!" Him: "I was just wondering. Could you make me a guitar bouzouki? Presumably you could use the same general arrangement but with a bouzouki neck and joining at the 16th" Me: "Absolutely. Yes - of course. Same principle. It's all just wood, after all, haha. And strings...it does have strings doesn't it...and...frets, hmmm, presumably and..well... well yes, yes, yes of course! Yes - the answer is yes!" Him: "That's great" Me: "It's been a pleasure talking about this. Have a great day. Bye!" Him: "Bye then." Me: (Thinks) What the FLIP is a Guitar Bouzouki??????? And so over the next couple of days I will bring you all up to date of what one is Treat this as a voyage of mutual discovery...

Lovely job - very neat In terms of wood cracking - no. When you string up, the forces are on the pocket, not the corners so - unless you are planning to use the neck as a club to keep the adoring crowds at a social distance, then there are no strains that I can imagine that would give the timber a problem in those corners. If you had a very hard and brittle finish, then feasibly the finish could develop a crack which would generally come from a corner but most of the non-pro finishes most of us use generally are a bit softer and more flexible. As Jez says, what finish are you planning?

Yup. Trouble is, she will be in full ppe

That's very nice of you to say. People have mentioned that before Although it's generally been about one of the dead ones...

Looks good

Amended as requested, @scrumpymike 8. @Andyjr1515 Not yet sure what I will be bringing except my athletic physique, chiselled good looks and post-lockdown waist length hair (and if you believe that.... )