Maude

Crash - Primitives

No, I had the 'embarrassment eraser filter' on so they didn't come out. 😁

Crawling - Linkin Park

😉👍

It was T. S. Eliot that wrote, "This is the way the bass ends. This is the way the bass ends. This is the way the bass ends. Not with a bang, but a splinter", or something similar. Final score, Me 1, Aria 5. That's to say I'm in one piece, the bass is in, well more pieces than I'd planned. I now have a body, a neck and three parts of a heel. I managed to drill the joint and get some heat into the centre following couple of the videos posted by @Matt P, (thanks for those, very interesting) where he used an electric element on one and a soldering iron with a long tip on another instead of steam injection. He mentioned that the steam can get under the finish causing misting and just get water in places you don't want it, so as our old steam mop had been thrown out I thought I'd try it. I cut spoke from an old bike and wound a coil into the end of so my soldering iron would slip inside. Squirted some water down the hole and slipped the spoke in and waited. I could feel the joint warming so occasionally turned the bass over on two wooden blocks with the neck between the two, and firmly tapped the heel with another block of wood and rubber mallet. Nothing. More water, more heat, more patience, another whack, tiny gap opening between the heel and the back, but also glue starting to squeeze out of the heel joints. The heel is made up of three individual vertical parts with the neck glued horizontally on top then the whole thing dovetailed and glued into the body. Basically all four parts of the heel/neck started to ooze glue and move independently, but it still wouldn't let go. I guessed as the joints had all moved then there's no going back, the neck has to come off to re glue the four bits. This is where things got messy. I used a heat gun on low as well as the soldering iron to warm the joint completely as it now had to come out somehow, but still burnt some of the finish around the heel. Nevermind, roasted necks are all the rage aren't they? I'm not worried about this as I had a plan in my head as to finish which meant these areas would be a lot darker anyway. It's not black, just darkened it. The neck came out leaving the three bits of heel still in there so I drilled the hole slightly bigger so the ceramic element of the soldering iron, with the tip removed, would fit directly in the heel. More cooking and it's all out. It's not pretty but it's all out. I've put it away again now to mull it over but as it was built from four parts I assume with some careful cleaning, glueing and clamping, I can refit all the bits, after reshaping. I have had another idea but I'll mull things over before air that one.

Over And Over - Hot Chip

🙈

At Dawn They Sleep - Slayer Edit- Too slow again, well I'm not changing it now! 🙂

You're all mocking him but it took balls to make that guitar! Apologies. I've had a closer look and it turns out he didn't.

English Rose - The Jam

Run Like Hell - Pink Floyd Edit. Damnit, too slow again. Learn To Fly - Foos

Idly browsing eBay for woods to make a bridge, tailpiece, body end reinforcement etc, and I come across 'Pale Moon' black and white ebony. This is a bit special and unusual. I've no use for, especially at that price but it's rather lovely. 🙂 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pale-Moon-Black-and-White-Ebony-guitar-bass-fingerboard-fretboard-SPECIAL-GRADE-/284149049742?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49292

When I first started work in '87 there was a bloke about ten years older who lent me loads of albums including Tygers of Pan Tang. There was also Graham Bonnets band, Alcatraz, although thinking about it Yngwie Malmsteen was guitarist so can't really be classed British, they had that sound though from memory. I ended up in my first proper band with that bloke from work. Happy days.

I know a few people on here have a TB-10 (or B10) but I can't remember who, or more rightly who has still got one as I think one did the rounds a bit. If you have one could you measure the width of the fingerboard at the wide end for me please, and if it's much less than 95mm or so, does it still feel doublebassish to play with tighter string spacing? Thank you. 🙂👍

I've measured up for fingerboards. The Aria board is 41mm at the nut, 65mm at the body end and 657mm long. I'd like about 770mm length for the new one. All boards vary slightly but in general cello boards are all too short, even for the standard Aria one. So it's going to have to be a double bass one. On average from looking at adverts 3/4 & 1/2 size are 41mm nut and 1/4 size are 36mm, so we're down to two sizes. The 3/4 is 860mm long and 96mm at the thick end, the 1/2 is 780mm long and 94mm at the end. Now although I want a wider string spacing it'll have to be a compromise between getting the width and looking/feeling rediculous. So although the 1/2 is the closest in length, if the 3/4 was cut down to 770mm then due to the taper, it would be narrower than the 1/2 at the wide end, so probably more suitable. So a 3/4 size board to cut down is on my shopping list. I realise this is boring but I've written it here to get it clear in my head and to remember it.

It's all good so far. There's still a plenty of time yet though. 😉

I'd sort of gathered that by the big gaps in the factory joint. But there's good contact where it needs to be. As I say, I'm no carpenter but my job means I can assess structural integrity well so will be able to work out where needs to be tight, it's just whether I can achieve it with my poor woodworking skills. If not three or four big decking screws into the dovetail at 45 degrees should hold it. 😆

I feel a liitle side project coming on involving an old steam mop that's never used, some rubber hose and a football pump needle. 😁

Thanks for the info Andy, it's always appreciated. Now thinking out loud here, and while no luthier or carpenter I'm pretty good at problem solving, but please feel free to tell me I'm an idiot if you want. Being a panel beater for over thirty years I'm very good with sandpaper and alignment/attention to detail, but I'm rubbish with a woodworking chisel. With the neck removed could the correct angle be sanded into shoulders of the neck, tapering from nothing taken off the front to the necessary amount off the rear to allow the neck to lay back, and then the dovetail part of the neck chamfered until it sits snuggly in but very fractionally proud, then glued and tapped home? If turned into a mortice and tenon, wouldn't it need packing out either side of the tenon? And still need the taper sanded into the shoulders. I know my terminology is probably off but I hope you can see what I mean. Edit. With my sanding the dovetail I've realised it'll will probably also need packing at the lower rear of the joint as the neck lays back. I reckon something is achievable so I'll get the neck off and go from there. 😬

Thanks, that's as I suspected. 🙂👍

Cheers @Matt PP, I'll watch that later. I need to research the process of changing the neck angle first to make sure I can achieve it with my tools and skill level. I don't want to get the neck off only to have to refit it as is because I can't change the angle.

My Kay has a laminate neck, about forty laminates I reckon. It must be better than those with only five or six. I think they call it plywood. 😉

If you can remove the textured coat but leave whatever's underneath intact then I'd go for. Going right back to wood is time consuming and you risk taking bits out of the wood, but will then need a load more work to grain fill etc, to get to a point where you can paint it. If it weren't textured I'd say just a very light sanding (800grit) would do you but I'd try and get all the textured finish off as you don't know what it is. Quite often an odd finish like that will react with the finished you will be applying, it might not but you don't want to risk it. As for cabinet scraper or razor, I don't know that one will be better than the other. A small razor might be easier is certain area but a larger cabinet scraper better on the bigger flat areas. A scraper with some convex and concave curves as well as a flat edge would be good as you could get pretty much everywhere with it. I don't really know what's available though.

I assume, never a good start 😁, that that dovetail runs through to the back edge of the heel, and heat applied to the heel for long enough to penetrate will allow me to knock the neck/heel out towards the front using a block of wood and a mallet. First cutting through the finish with a razor along the joints so as to save the finish as much as possible, although it's so thin I'm not sure it'll need it. I can see inside through the f hole and it's not bolted from inside or anything. This is all madness BTW, three hours ago I had a lovely bass that just needed a touch of f fingerboard sanding or a trussrod tweak. Now what the hell have I got myself into? 😳😆

Following the method I assume most folks use but well documented by @Andyjr1515, I've removed the fingerboard. I knocked out the nut and removed the plastic TRC. Then used Lady M's clothes iron to heat the board. I placed kitchen towel between the board and the iron to try and protect the iron from any oil residue but something black has leached out of the wood and through the kitchen towel. I have some iron cleaning to do once cooled as ironing a white shirt with black resin on the iron probably isn't going to end well. At worst I've got an iron for the shed and Lady M will have a shiny new one. 😁 As Andy always says it's a slow and steady process and he's not wrong. With time it is actually very easy, you just can't rush it. I started at the nut end as I could get a flat screwdriver between the trussrod and the board to lift the first section, the iron needed to be on there for about fifteen minutes before I could gently ease the board up. I then slid my steel rule in and removed the screwdriver. I left the iron on for about ten minutes in each area and then slid my steel rule down towards the body, bracing the body between my knees and the wiggling the steel rule back and forth in a kind alternatate left and right rowing action. At the body end I put some cardboard around the fingerboard to protect the plastic body binding from the heat, but I have annoyingly damaged the finish on the body. I tried to continue sliding the steel rule, albeit with a slight upward force on the leading edge to try not to dig into the finish, but I did. I managed to get it off the body just with a screwdriver inserted down the length. It wasn't bonded to the body wood anywhere near as firmly as the neck so I suspect this is why there was a tiny gap on one side. The damage to the finish isn't the end of the world as I'm going to do something with the finish anyway. Gently prised out the trussrod and this is the neck joint, this is the bit where I assume everything will quickly turn to firewood if get it wrong. @Andyjr1515, how likely is it that that this separatable without major trauma to the body? That last picture shows the join line I mention early that feels sharp, but I think it's solid, it's the one between neck and heel.