Silky999

How do you finding using the machine inserts instead of screws on the neck? I have a set and keep meaning to try them but worried the drilling even though I have a pillar drill lol that laminated neck is gorgeous BTW!

This one will be put together in the next few days and then for sale on here. Some idea of the specs: Sapele hand sanded Liberon Finishing oiled body Wenge neck with custom poly finished headstock shape but back of neck just sanded, oiled and waxed, rolled fretboard edges, levelled, dressed and polished frets. Hipshot Ultralite tuners Gotoh bridge Tone Emporium TE-18 pickups Bloodstone Guitarworks solderless electronics with .47uF capacitor Handmade walnut control plate Schaller Strap lock buttons D’addario EXL165 .45 - .105 strings If this bass sounds like it might be for you, it will be selling for £600 so feel free to message me to ask more questions or reserve. i will post more photos and hopefully some sound clips when I do the advert. Builds coming soon are a wenge drop top and elm body J bass with roasted flame maple neck with rosewood fretboard A spalted English walnut drop top with sapele body which has not been built yet so could be a P, J or PJ if you want to commission that one (it’s not going to be a Flying V!) I would like to get the grain swirl in sapele in the middle of the back of the bass if I can so it runs the length of the rear. Walnut will be black grain filled and oiled to make it pop then either just waxed or satin/gloss nitro depending on customer preference if reserved. this is the walnut body that I am doing for Headless at the moment to give you an idea of what oiled and poly looks like.

Getting there. Journey so far; Wenge drop top and elm body which had both been grain filled x 2 with Nitorlack black grain filler. Hand sanded with Liberon Finishing Oil. Next will be either satin or gloss nitro clear coat, not sure which yet. A roasted flame maple with rosewood fretboard 21 fret neck is on its way. Chrome control plate and hardware and either tortoiseshell pickguard or just control plate?

Thank you

Good news…..I have been successful with the re-glueing and clamping the top on the bit that lifted. All re-sanded and oiled so onwards and upwards.

So it was all going so swimmingly, I’d done the black grain filler and sanded back, the first coat of oil was on and it looked like this I left it hanging to dry……I popped back after doing something else to check for bleed back and the drop top had liftedand slightly separated from the neck pocket along the joint to the bridge pickup, just slightly. I had the heater on in the garage and I think this has caused the wood to move. To say there was some expletives is somewhat of an understatement! I have put some titebond into the lifted bits and clamped back down again. I will see what it is like tomorrow and then make a decision as to what to do next. Hopefully it will has reattached and I can just sand back etc. if not I am going to router out the joint and put a black resin channel in. This bass making malarkey is full of trials and tribulations but a valuable lesson learned.

First layers of polyurethane are on Headless’s walnut body that will be paired with Kiwi’s graphite neck.

Yeah they are a bit small, I am going to try a custom branding iron which is on order.

You are spot on…I deleted some attachments from old posts and that sorted it.

Modified headstock and added wooden logo

As per the title, I used to be able to upload any photo and multiple photos in posts but recently I am getting file exceeds xxxx kb error messages when I never did before. Has the site changed its policy in regards file uploads?

All routed and slight comfort carve. Next stage will be black grain filler then Liberon Finishing Oil. Not sure whether to just fill the wenge or do the elm as well? I went with a 6.5 mm radius round-over for this one instead of the usual 12.7mm. I think I prefer the larger round-over bit rather than this one as it gives a thinner body overall

Done

The latest bit of wood is bought and drying in preparation for a future build; a lovely bit of Lebanese Cedar that smells gorgeous.

I think basically that is the upshot of it. I can’t imagine it will be that different for bass amps. You should watch his one on tonewood as well.

Before you do anything watch this:

😂 the actual body will be a little bigger.

A little teaser of the coming jazz bass…..

Screw holes now countersunk!

I am going to go nylon bearings to line the holes. Thanks for the heads up about the retro vibe tuners

I have used Guyker tuners a few times before and I really rate their stuff. If they bring out a 1/2 lightweight tuner that would be amazing. It’s difficult to get a wide selection of tuners that fit an 18mm hole without some sort of bushing or them being jazz bass type. I have also heard people have used nylon bearings to good effect.

Folks, Just a heads up that the 18mm adapters for USA 1/2” ultralites are getting harder and more expensive to source. I have just bought some tuners from Lozz on here and thought I would get some adapters in as I have before for previous builds. Whether it is Trump’s Tariffs or just supply issues but they are impossible to source in the UK and I was left with two options; direct from USA costing $70 to ship alone or order from Germany at €36 including shipping. Bear in mind that these are normally £5 each from Bassdirect so max of £20-plus shipping. I think I will have to rethink my tuner choices on builds going forward.

I don’t have a csk small enough at moment so will order one

Walnut control plate now made and in process of being sanded and oiled

It was a company called Vinyl Revolution in Oxford. This was in 2020. I had a Quick Look for them now and I have a horrible feeling they might have gone out of business as their website doesn’t work and nothing posted on FB since 2023. https://studio997.co.uk/art-and-objects/vinyl-wrap-a-guitar/ seem to have wrapped a guitar before. It might be worth dropping them an enquiry. I have never used them but they might be a good starting point for an idea of costs and process etc.