Christine

You're a dream!!! Thank you How did you find that?

Hi Dingers, we were up your way last month, it's beautiful up there, big too!

There's a good thread on them on TalkBass in the Luthiers Corner that's worth checking out, I won't post a link in case that breaches forum rules

Very slightly lighter than the real thing, the Ebano floats but only just, the rosewood is lighter, I did weigh them, the Ebony weighed in at 437g and the Sundari (Rosewood) at 391g. Those are 9mm thick so will be thinned down some too. I haven't cut into them yet but I'm told the Ebano is very like the real thing to work and seems to have very similar physical properties and sound wise is identical. Even better you can ship the stuff anywhere with no risk of getting your bass confiscated by customs upholding the CITES stuff

These are the two fretboards I'll be using on the twins. As I mentioned before they are not wood but Rocklite a wood substitute made from wood fibres impregnated with resin. One is an Ebony and the other Rosewood substitutes, I think they are very impressive, they even have actual grain just like the real thing. I've wet the Rosewood version to show how it will react to an oil finish

Gold hardware maybe Macassar ebony veneered body or a transparent red over curly maple, bound and blocked neck

Bound and blocked or just bound?

My next builds will I think be a pair of posh Thunderbird IIs but a fretless F hole sounds very appealing, possibly over a maple top?

This morning I opened the new bearing cutter, a very impressive looking thing it is, it has a split bearing at the shank end, I suppose it can be used in a restricted space? Who knows but it worked well enough, probably the best bearing cutter I've used so a bargain all in all I also re planed the wood for the top down to 21.25mm (I need 20mm eventually) and jointed it and glued it up. It is sat there now until the morning when I'll plane it flat on one side and glue them to the backs ready for the final bits of shaping etc.

I have high hopes, I've yet to find a large bit like that which is a pleasure to use, my current one is a Trend which is the best I've used so far but it's horrible to use, maybe I'm trying to compare the procedure with a spindle moulder which is silky smooth to use? Still if it's well balanced and the quality of the carbide is as good as they elude to then the four flutes should hopefully make it better. It should be here later in the week so I'll post the results straight away

Done a little bit this morning, just routed out the cavities. I'm leaving the outer edge for now, I've ordered a new cutter from Radian tools 4 Flute Dual Bearing Router Bit 19mm x 51mm seeing as it looks like we'll be leaving the wood showing. Some of you might recognise the router, if you do that's the Mk1 model, to give you an idea of how old it is, still on it's original motor whereas the Mk2 I have has had about 5. Funny seeing as they brought out to Mk2 replace the old unreliable motor! Routed in a channel between the switch and control cavity and stuck some shielding in. Planes the neck laminates and glued them together, well I glued two together, I had enough usable bits to make four necks so I'll glue up the other two in the morning and they can wait for the next job ( a pair of deluxe Thunderbirds ). I'd thought I'l lose more bits than I did but they all stayed pretty flat this time; I just lost three to winding, you can see them in one picture next to a decent piece on the bench Oh, just a note, when I glued the body up I mentioned that I didn't think that a surface from the planer was good enough for glueing so I planed them by hand with a slight hollow along their length if you remember. If I did that here I would have a total of eight curved surfaces stuck together which would leave a noticeable curve along the neck. What I did in this case was to use a cabinet scraper with two passes diagonally opposed which left a nice clean glueing surface and dead straight necks

I've been interested for a couple of years but I've had a supply of TB+s from the States that I've been stripping and recovering but I'm looking forward to plugging these in

I manage to throw away some more sawdust today, yey!! First job this morning was to finish off the jig to enable routing the shape and the cavities. Doesn't look like much but it took ages Ah well done now! After that I took the body Mahogany out of clamps and cut it in half. Then I planed both sides diagonally both ways to flatten them, 2 passes in each direction was all it took, then with a sharp iron planed along the grain to smooth them, again a couple of passes wad all it took both blanks finished off at about 43.1 / 43.2mm so that's going to plan. too Next was to draw around the template and bandsaw the blank to shape. next I drew the cavity positions and rough drilled them out, I removed a bit of the waste with a chisel and that was me for the day, cream crackered! The pickups arrived too, yey!! Routing tomorrow perhaps, maybe a day off weather permitting

Thank you, that's great stuff, I'm deep in your debt, this is a new one on me and I really wasn't sure, I'd hate to make a mess of it without asking first. The plane is a No7 try plane, I keep the blade very close to flat for jointing, I use waterstones for sharpening, a 1000 grit and a 6000 grit both kept flat. On the 6000 grit I tend to hone both sides about 4 or 5 times in groups of 4 strokes but on the last group I put more pressure on the outer edges so that should give you an idea of the sort of radius. The hollow I refer to is along the length, Trying to think how I do it, with the No7 (22" long) I start the cut with a very very fine setting somewhere near the middle and work outwards until I reach the ends then start and finish say 1/2" in until I cant get any shavings so that gives me that very gentle curve, the plane is kept dead flat and get's trued a couple of times a year. That gives a central gap over say 48" of about the thickness of a piece of paper if that, the curve is determined by the imaginary curve between the plane ends and the height of the blade protrusion if that makes sense

Part 2 of today’s saga Decided to sort out the back blanks of the body. So refaced those and thicknesses them down to 43.5 mm to be finished at 43mm after gluing. I edged one side on the planet to get them flat then rad a hand plane over them to get them ready for glueing. I’m not a believer than a surface straight off the planer is good enough for glueing, you may argue that but my workshop, my rules, end of argument! I also like to give an almost in perceivable hollow along the length of a glue joint, it helps keep the ends tight as the wood shrinks slightly over the years and you can’t do that on a flat bet planer. Both edges planed and put on each other to make sure they’re dead flat (only 0.5mm to spare) then glued and into clamps until tomorrow sometime. Spot the glue line

Today' thrilling updates, two of them!! Instalment one, the jig Well I'm in the habit of making a master jig for bass bodies from 5mm Perspex (acrylic), why? Well a couple of reasons: 1 it's very easy to transfer the pattern from paper to perspex, just copy through it 2 It's a lot easier to make an accurate jig from 5mm than 12 or even 18mm MDF 3 I like to keep a master jig to one side for when the production jig gets damaged accidentally The pattern was drawn on the jig with a permanent marker and then bandsawed to slightly over side. I then used the disc sander and bobbin sander to get it pretty much spot on before using a file to really make those curves flow, from then it's just a matter of screwing it to some MDF cutting that oversize and routing it to dimension on the router table using a bearing guided bit, the result one accurate jig I've also drawn some possible cavities for weight saving but I would really love some input on these. My thinking has been to keep a line between bridge and neck joint solid, as much as I can around the control cavity solid but to relive the top and bottom horn to reduce weight but also to try and keep the sound like a solid guitar but also to try and keep it balanced. The sections I was thinking of removing are marked in green; I really would like some thoughts on those before I cut them please

Me too, I wasn't sure at first but now I think it looks very swish, more by luck that judgement I very nearly went for the Tuneomatic type

Today I had a relaxing day, I got the plan drawn for the body, again on wallpaper (I really must invest in tome decent paper). Whatever it allows me to make a set of templates from it so it will be good enough. I drew a grid in 1" squares and plotted the shape of an OSLP onto it. I also had an email from Mojo pickups saying my order has been made and have been shipped so with luck they'll be here by Saturday, or Monday at the latest so I can finalise the elevation but I'm probably good there already.

I think I would be upset too, I would quietly take my stuff and say goodbye and let them buy their own PA

Thank you Andy, that's kind of you, I will take you up on that

A friend emailed me a picture just before of a Warwick bridge fitted into a Les Paul and it's recessed in just like what I was thinking so I'm reassured by that

Today's update, hold onto your socks! Not a lot gone on, i worked out the neck angle etc with the bridge I'm using. I drew it out on a piece of paper (wall paper! ) and it worked out a 4.35 degrees which is good, I think a Les Paul is 4.5 so I'm pretty close. The Warwick bridge is quite high and will need setting into the top to bring the pickups somewhere close, the tail piece will also need setting in a bit too but I'm happy with that, it should look very nice recessed in. I'm going to have to make a couple of spacers to fit under the pickup rings to allow for the curved of the top but that should be easy enough using black acrylic (I hope) The only issue I can see will be the edges of the bridge recesses will be unprotected during carving and might break out so Ill dry fit a Mahogany filler piece in there to support it and pull them out after sanding. So that was today along with lots of sitting in the sun. I might start drawing the plan of the body tonight or maybe tomorrow depending on the weather, then I can make a start making the templates in readiness to start making the twins next week

You can have the dust free of charge LOL It could do with being twice the size so I didn't have to wheel everything out into the middle to use

Thought I'd start a thread on my next builds, a pair of Les Paul like basses or my take on them. They will be made entirely from quarter sawn African Mahogany (FSC sourced) painted black nitro and both using Rocklite finger boards, one in Ebano and the other in Sunadri or ebony and Indian Rosewood substitutes. Other items to be used will be Mojo Thunderbird pickups for at least one of them, dual action truss rods, Warwick 2 piece bridge and Hipshot ultralite tuners. There will be mother of pearl inlays on the fingerboard and headstock along with Rocklite Ebano veneers. I'm not in any great hurry to finish these so i may take a while but so far other than buy some bits I have started wood preparation. The neck laminates have been ripped and stacked and will be left for a while to relieve stresses, the body timbers have been rough planed to an oversize dimension again to allow it to settle a little before planing to size and gluing together. So they are currently sat resting on top of my bench until I'm ready to plane the neck laminates and glue them. As that seems a very poor start let me introduce you to my tiny workshop and a basic list of what's in it Most importantly my bench, 10" Saw bench, 14" band saw, 10" planer thicknesser, router table, drill press, 12" disc sander, oscillating bobbin sander. Beyond that there are power tools, loads of hand tools hidden away and a dedicated sharpening station tucked away in the corner behind the bench. Being so small it's very difficult to keep clean and tidy so I apologise for the dust and the mess

Too late!!! Can't you edit the thread so that your post is first or something? Another good song ruined forever