honza992

On 24/02/2024 at 13:13, JPJ said:

Wow! Beautiful work sir!

 

I’m a fan of the ABG currently owning two. I’ve tried lots of different strings but settled on La Bella low tension flats for the best compromise of acoustic volume vs finger noise. 

Thanks JPJ.  I actually had a set of LB LTFs in my box of strings, took them out only to find they are medium not long scale.  Next to try are Chromes.  Then some Roundwounds.....I'd really like to try these, which are made in Italy from copper and sugar, if the marketing blurb is to be believed.  On the other hand they 70 quid.  Which seems almost comical for a set of bass strings.  Just how good can they be?  Something tells me I'm still not going to be Jaco even after handing over my cash.....

https://aquilacorde.com/en/flat-spirals-bass-strings/

23 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Another splendid build.  Can't wait to see the carve - a proper carve top is one of the few things I've chickened out of even having a bash at.  Scary biscuits!  

Thanks Andy.  It was you that tricked me into making an acoustic in the first place.  Not that difficult you said.  Well it's been a journey!  So thanks for that.  I think🤪   

On 24/02/2024 at 13:10, Owen said:

I am glad this has a central sound hole and not f holes, otherwise I would be in trouble. 

Hi Owen, I know what you mean.  F holes look great, and I thought long and hard about using them as aesthetically it's what you expect on an archtop.  My thinking is that a bass guitar (much more than a six string) needs every square mm of the top vibrating as effectively as possible.  And where the F holes usually go is prime real estate.  Less so the oval soundhole positioned close to the neck.  Here's how a guitars monopole vibrates - as I understand it this is the main way a guitar top vibrates - moving up and down as one - and the way that most of the volume is created.  So that's my theory! 

9 hours ago, benh said:

Following with interest! I have the utmost respect and envy for anyone who can make acoustic instruments. Seems like equal parts skill and witchcraft

Thanks Ben.  I'm really enjoying building acoustic.  And playing.  Bass players never get to just pick up a bass and sit on the sofa.  There's amps, and wires, and annoying the neighbours.  I hadn't expected having an acoustic bass to be quite such a joy.  It's really inspired my playing.  Which believe me can really do with some inspiration.  Or some practise.  One or the other.....

Last post for today.  Thinning the top down a bit and this jumped out....

I like a fish-shaped knot as much as the next man, but I'm afraid not much use in a guitar top that (hopefully) will be only a few mm thick, and under a gazillion kg of compression from the strings.  Time to go wood shopping, again....  

A quick look at the back and side together.  Nice.....

22 minutes ago, LowB_FTW said:

If you have the time and materials and the power tools, why not?

Some of us only have a workbench and an idea to carry us through. hahaha

 

Mark

True that.  I've got unlimited respect for anyone that does this only using hand tools.  Those are subtle skills that are long in the making!

Thanks @LowB_FTW and @AndyTravis.  Guitar building is a solitary sport, so company is always appreciated. 

Apologies that all this is coming in one go.  Daily updates would obviously be better, but come cocoa time I'm shattered....

Anyway, up next is side bending.  My experience of guitar building is that it's mostly one bum clenching task after another.  Each one perfectly capable of taking your expensive 'tonewood' and turning it into kindling with frightening speed.  Side bending is definitely one of those tasks.  I'm doing it now because I bollocks it up and have to throw the sides away, it also means any work I do on the back is also wasted (since they have to match).  So get the bending done now......

I use a bending iron and do it by hand.  

Ha! Man do take some sh_t photos.  No wonder my Instagram followers all share the same surname as me.  Some guitar makers take photos and videos that are so beautiful it makes me weep, grown man or not.  Me on the other hand, bam!  have a bending iron. Slightly out of focus, teetering on the edge of my table.  Random other junk lying round. No context, no action, adding no value, other than using up a tiny amount of the planets finite resources...I blame my cheap android phone.  Every time i pick it up it makes me long for my old Canon D40 (or even my Canon AV1)....

Anyway, learning to bend sides by hand has been really satisfying.  I take it slowly, going back to the guitar mold often to check the fit like this:

That's what I call a nice fit

And done.  One side anyway, sleeping happily in the mold.  If I get the chance I'll do the other one over the weekend or monday.  The cutaway side.  The difficult one......

I’m not quite sure why, but next I made the kerfing.  It’s not the obvious next step, but there you go.  Making kerfiing is pretty tedious.  And mostly pointless.  You can buy a guitar’s worth pre-made for about a tenner.  You can’t though buy flamed maple kerfing which is why I make my own.  Bugger me it’s boring though.  I cut the blank using a radial arm saw.  Each. slot. Cut. one. At. a time….

I then cut the blank into four strips, then onto the router table where they get tidied up and the round over added till they end up looking like this:

Job done!  

Was it worth it?  For something that probably only I will ever see?  No clearly not.  Just buy the bloody stuff, John, for god's sake. 

(Kerfing, if you don't know provides more gluing surface for when you glue on the back and top.  Here the last one with the kerfing glued in, waiting for the back to be glued:)

First job is gluing the back together.  To get an invisible glue line the joint has to be pretty perfect.  The best way I’ve found is using a hand plane.  For any plane nerds out there, up till now I’ve used a number 4.  I’ve just bought a number 6 though which is joy to use, and nearly as long as the back itself.  You can see it here with a single shaving it’s taken off from the entire length of the board

Joining the two boards together I used the ‘tape method’, which is the easiest clamping technique ever - raise one edge of one board off the table and put tape across the join.  Add glue, then put both pieces flat and the tape pulls the boards together.  Here it is taped, already glued:

Hi all

The acoustic bass I’ve just finished is such a success that I’m going straight into building another, albeit this next one is a bit more complicated - the top will be carved from solid wood to create the arch,rather than being a thin piece of wood pushed into an arch by the braces, as the last one was. 

I’m already a couple of days into building, but just in case anyone is interested, I’ll show the process from the beginning. 

First up, a pile of wood:

(apologies for the washed-out pics, my phone takes terrible pictures, I must get a proper camera)

For the top, Italian spruce. 

Back & Sides - Italian walnut

Neck - multi laminate, flame maple and walnut

Everything else we’ll work out as we go.  But fretboard will probably be crelicam ebony….

8 hours ago, Geek99 said:

I don’t see any actual warts. So if I have notice that @Frank Blank has accidentally cut his head off whilst shaving and then fallen out of a nine floor window, I mean just supposing… can I then be on pole position to relieve you of this immense burden ? 

Should exactly this tragic chain of events befall poor @Frank Blank, you better have a pretty solid alibi to hand....But yes, under those limited set of circumstances, it's yours.

12 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Don’t bother with phosphor bronze.

 

ive got 40-100 roto on mine, but will likely go 40-95 chromes on it and my BEX

Yep, instinctively I feel as though phosphor bronze isn't right.  But it's probably worth at least giving them a go. 

And Chromes could be a good choice.  Even the 40-95s are significantly higher tension than tapewounds though.  And until it's been strung up a while with something lower tension, the additional tension of the Chromes worries me a bit.  But it wouldn't surprise me at all if they aren't the final choice.  Or La Bella Flats as @Frank Blank suggests.  I think I've got some Deep talkin tapewounds  - does anyone know if they have blue silks?

12 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

La Bella flats

 

a) how do I buy it?

b) how do I buy it?

c) see a) and b)

Ha ha hold your horses!  Did I mention the feedback?  Wait for the full rundown before you send me the monopoly money🤣

But thanks for the compliment, it really means a lot.

Strings - if anyone wants to chime in with string suggestions, that would be great.  I've tried some D'Addario black tapewounds, and Thomastik TI Jazz flats, and I think I prefer the TIs.  I need to buy some phosphor bronze to give those a try as well.  

The scale length is 31.25 inches, but because of the tailpiece,  standard 34" strings fit on perfectly.  

The finishing is ...finished.  This is 100% prototype, so I've not too worried about imperfections.  Both the french polish and the Osmo I think have worked nicely.  I'll do a proper write up on the finishes another day.  There's still a bit more setup to do.  Albeit with only a tiny amount of curve in the neck there's no fret buzz, so I may not bother fret levelling, they're level enough already.  And the neck joint I designed to have shims inserted to dial in the correct bridge height, but again it's pretty much spot, none needed. There was a lot of new stuff for me in this build, including a pretty complicated neck joint, so to have the geometry all line up is really satisfying.  The nut and saddle need work, and there's a bit of tidying here and there, but mostly it's done.  I'll try taking some proper photos not under the clinical lights of the workshop, but here it is warts n all:

Shellac and french polishing is such a joy.  No drama, no drips and a low gloss finish is achievable very quickly.  This is 6 very relaxing sessions of 20 minutes.  I skipped the 'polishing' part of french polishing and I'm leaving it like this.  Assuming the guitar doesn't explode once I've strung it up, I may go back and polish it up to get it high gloss.....

13 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

 

That looks a lot like someone has scribbled in Biro on paper resting on the surface.  More of an indentation than a scratch?

Ummm...yes, it was me🙄 With my fingernail.  What a numpty.  The Osmo definitely goes on soft to begin with.  I think I remember this from last time.  It does get hard, but is takes a couple of weeks.  I should try steaming it out. 

2 hours ago, Richard R said:

Where?

Fair comment.  Even i had to go looking for it...And given my real worry is that the top explodes 3 days after stringing i t up, scratching the back hardly even registers. 😟

2 hours ago, snorkie635 said:

For sale: 1st ever Honza992 reliced acoustic bass. 😉

I like it.  The old turn a mistake into a feature routine.  Nice.

Bugger, just scratched it. 

That's it, it's going for firewood...

🤣

16 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Love the look of this! The ABG thing is becoming a big part of my sound these days…

 

Very jealous!

Thanks Andy, you've got a nice looking pair yourself!  The one on the left is obviously acoustic, but the Yamaha?  I don't think I've seen particular model before.  Semi-acoustic?

If you don't mind can I ask what you like about the ABG thing?  What's the sound in your head that an ABG helps you with?  Are you after a double bass sound?  Or something else completely?

3 hours ago, Richard R said:

That looks great! 

Thanks Richard, I appreciate it!  The real test will be to see if the top collapses once it's been at tension for a while....

I fumbled my way through the electronics today.  It's my least favourite part.  It's got a K&K Pure piezo glued on the inside of the top and a 2 band EQ by EMG.  Not complicated but my tiny brain blue screens whenever I start reading about impedence and resistance and potentiometers.....

5 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Hi @honza992

 

Yes - Fiebings Black Leather die is available on the Italian Amazon site (and probably elsewhere).  It is very black and pretty much the standard go-to for staining fretboards, etc.

 

No stain penetrates particularly deeply and so the usual method is to apply the stain, let dry, sand a few times to fully raise and flatten the grain, and then apply a couple of coats before adding your final finish.  What are you using for that final finish?  I use a variation of the Tru-oil slurry and buff method for stained finishes, either as a final finish or as a silky smooth undercoat for compatible gloss finishes (polyurethane varnish covers this very well) but most other finishes will work with the stained wood.

Hi Andy, on the body I haven't grain-fllled so my goal is a low satin finish at most.  I've used Osmo Polyx gloss, on the body and the neck.  On the body I think it's gone ok, I'm a bit less convinced by the neck.  But I haven't quite finished, so I'll do a full report once I have. 

The bridge & tailpiece are unfinished ebony.  I've just done a quick test using Dartfords Spirit wood dye (which sounds pretty similar to the Fiebings you mentioned, both alcohol based dyes) using mostly black with the a little bit of brown added in.  The ebony definitely has some brown in it.  I think they match ok.  Once it's dry tomorrow I'll do some light sanding, then put some Osmo on it and see what happens....

I also want to have a finger rest/pickguard thing that you get on archtops.  The bridge is ebony but I get more and more uncomfortable using exotic woods, so I wondered about using some nice figured maple, then ebonising it.  Which I guess means dying it black.  

Here's the maple.  Does anyone know anything about dying wood?  Any idea how deep the dye goes?  Deep enough to sand I would guess?  I was also going to bind it, which means scraping off glue once it's glued.  The binding will be wood, so dying after gluing the binding isn't an option....I don't thnk. 

Any idea what sort of dye?  The Americans sites talk about using a leather dye, no idea if you can get that in Italy.

Anyone with any ideas or pointers?

While the finish is finishng, I made a bridge....