Thunderpaws

Hello Well, here we go. Getting there with the neck and made some headway with the body. Found some ash and some other wood that looks nice. Not sure if is elm. Did some major cutting and routing. Pretty pleased though it's bloody heavy and the router pulled the grain out one horn and grabbed the other leaving a funny ding. Any ideas on fixes? Here are some photo's. [attachment=52966:IMG_7824.JPG] [attachment=52967:IMG_7826.JPG] [attachment=52968:IMG_7825.JPG] [attachment=52969:IMG_7827.JPG]

Hello. Things are progressing. Got a new job and bought a puppy. Photo's to follow!! I am about to do the neck pocket on my bass. I am waiting on a Gotoh 201 bridge and my neck thickness (at centre) is 31mm. Can anyone either tell me: How deep I need to make my neck pocket or What's the height of the saddles on a Gotoh 201 when the saddles are at the lowest. I think I just take this off my neck thickness to get the neck pocket depth. Is this right? Last but not least. I need to drill the holes for my schaller machine heads. I think I need a 17mm drill bit. anyone know where I can get one without paying 35 notes! g PS: photo's to follow this weekend on my build thread, "i just bought my first wood!"

[quote name='eude' post='864085' date='Jun 11 2010, 10:00 AM']Ash tends to be quite a bright sounding wood to my ears. I've got a "White Ash" bass, which I guess is European and a Swamp Ash bass. Both of these are nice and bright, the White Ash has more grunt but is hella heavy by comparison, so for me anyway, the Swamp Ash is a very nice compromise. Hope that's of some help mate. Eude[/quote] So, I could use it but chamber it out to help with the weight! Or use some maple that is kickinh about somewhere. g

Hello, I have some European ash which is staring at me saying, "I look quite nice". How does it work tonally, can I use it for my bass build and save a fortune? Think I have some cherry too but not sure! Cheers, Garry

Hello, cut my neck profile today. Not too sure if the volute area is too thin, please feed back. Here are some photo's. Was noisy as hell on the band saw! Drilling holes, inlay stuff and fretboard radius next. g [attachment=50691:IMG_7587.JPG] [attachment=50690:IMG_7586.JPG] [attachment=50689:IMG_7585.JPG]

[quote name='Prosebass' post='849091' date='May 27 2010, 01:24 AM']Have a look at these sites [url="http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/index.php"]Fretfind[/url] with this you can print out the string set-up from the nut to bridge with all the variables, its a godsend . [url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/"]Luitaio Mottola[/url] Lots of useful stuff here. [url="http://www.guitarnotes.com/links/rgoto.cgi?query=5541&sort=proportional&title=Proportional+Nut+Spacing+Rule&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.frets.com%2FFRETSPages%2FLuthier%2FTools%2FNutRule%2Fnutrule.html&rank=2.0&rnum=0"]Proportional Nut Spacing [/url] This will be helpful to you also. I have done both proportional spacing (which looks wrong to me) and simple 10mm centre to centre which in reality on a 4 string bass with a nut width of 39 - 42 mm is fine and simple to achieve. If you go less than 39mm nut width with a narrow neck ( less than 3mm from the outside of the E and G strings to the fingerboard edge ) I would use proportional otherwise the E and A strings will be a little close together. Paul[/quote] Thanks for the info, will check it out. Just about to upload a photo or two to my build diary, cut the neck profile today!

Hello, I am building my first bass and am about to position my machine head holes and tackle the nut. Anyone got good knowledge on how to calculate string spacing for a 4 string with nut width 41.5 mm? Strings 45, 65, 80, 100. I have a book but it just talks about 6 string guitars. Cheers, Garry

Hello Need to think about my NUT now. Have just about finished the neck, though still need to do the radiusing. Any ideas on string spacing calulating? I have a nut width of 41.5 mm (I have big hands) and am planning to use 45, 65, 80, 100 strings. g

[quote name='henry norton' post='841243' date='May 18 2010, 06:54 PM']That's the way to do it - nut first then the rest of the slots. Don't worry too much about a half mill, there aren't many musicians who could tell the difference! I would cut & shape the board first then stick it to the rough cut neck. That way you have a positive point (the edge of the board itself) you know to stop at.[/quote] Hello Henry, Good to get positive feedback on things like this. I was a bit worried about being out of tune! It's also good to get next steps pointers. Marked the shape of the fingerboard today, so will cut it at lunchtime tomorrow. Will need to get some silicone in the truss rod too to stop it stealing my tone! Cheers, g

[quote name='henry norton' post='773827' date='Mar 13 2010, 08:27 PM']Nice work with the truss rod there, very neat. I like the headstock shape too. Looking forward to following this.[/quote] Hello. It's been a while but I've been super busy. Anyway, got to do some work on the fingerboard today. Deliberated for too long on marking and cutting the fret slots. Ended up just making a cut for the nut and measuring from there. Nothing fancy, just used my saw up against an engineers square clamped to the finger board. I then measured and mark from the nut, using the fret space calculator from Stew Mac. I took off half the width of the saw kerf to the centre of the cut should line up where the centre should! I think I was a tiny wee bit off with a couple of frets (around half an mm) but I don't know how much of a difference this will make to the intonation. Hopefully not too much. I'll get photo's up tomorrow maybe. Now I need to either cut the shape of the fingerboard or stick it to the neck blank before cutting the shape. g

Hello, My friend has made an amp, well all of the metal and electronic and electrical bits. I was going to make him a CAB from some mahogany he has (from an old table) and wondered if this is a good "sound" choice? Cheers g

[quote name='henry norton' post='770186' date='Mar 10 2010, 11:26 AM']Whoahh!!! Steady with the belt sander there. If you have a sharp plane then you can get the board pretty close to perfect using that, then use a bit of straight, flat wood a couple of feet long with sandpaper glued or double sided to it to finish it off. You can make a profile template out of card so you can check your progress. You can actually buy a profile block from places like Stewart Macdonald [url="http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_supplies/Leveling/Fretboard_Radius-sanding_Blocks/8_Wooden_Radius-sanding_Blocks.html"]stewmac[/url] which'll do the whole board in one go, but you don't [i]need[/i] one. If you're super confident on the belt sander then go for it, but they can take allot of material away very quickly so approach with caution Good luck mate![/quote] Good Idea. I have seen a jig set up in one of the videos on Youtube for using a belt sander. It was basically a swingarm with the neck hanging from it and you swing the neck backwards and forwards over the sander at the same radius as the desired fingerboard radius. I am going to make up pofile templates and do it the way you suggest though. It will make the technician at school very happy to see his beautifully sharpened planes being used for a work of art!!

[quote name='Mikey R' post='770693' date='Mar 10 2010, 05:52 PM']We need pictures! [/quote] Pictures you have...lol. Here are my first pictures. The router bit I am using for the channel...[attachment=44740:IMG_7291.JPG] Router set up for routing the channel...[attachment=44741:IMG_7283.JPG] Truss Rod channel routed...[attachment=44742:IMG_7280.JPG] Scrap clamped to side of neck blank to stop breakthrough when drilling the hole for the adjustment nut...[attachment=44743:IMG_7285.JPG] Truss rod in place...[attachment=44743:IMG_7285.JPG] So, that's that then, and it all went quite well. There is a slight widening in the truss rod channel at one end but all in all it fits pretty tightly. Now I need to make a wee filler strip the length of the channel, put it in the channel, then plane it/sand it flush. AAARGGGG...the Fretboard is next. Should I cut the fret slots perpendicular to the edge, or do what it says in the book and cut them using a sliding bevel at the angle that suits the taper of the neck shape? g

[quote name='Pkomor' post='763430' date='Mar 3 2010, 10:12 PM']Great! I built my first bass last year as a design technology studant last year, it turned out pretty well! I found that the biggest help for me was the build diary of [url="http://www.crimsonguitars.com/workshop-diary"]Crimson Guitars[/url][/quote] Cheers for the link...will check it out in a minute or two. Today I routed the channel in my neck blank for the truss rod. Had to buy a new router bit as the one I had was close but no cigar. I am using the U channel two way from David Dyke and it's bang on 10mm. Tomorrow my saw will arrive and I'll cut the frets and nut slot. Any ideas for radiusing the finger board....I have access to a belt sander. g

Decided to make a template first. I have used a strip of aluminium and marked it out using a steel rule (tried to be as accurate as i could). Tomorrow I should be able to cut notches on the edge using a hack saw then I'll be able to use this to start the cuts on my finger board without worrying too much if it's in the right position. Wonder if I should make a fret slotting jig...any ideas? Listened to Vapour Trails on the way home....how'd Geddy play so fast?!

[quote name='Mikey R' post='750501' date='Feb 19 2010, 08:12 AM']you could even buy the board pre slotted. Dave does this for around £10 i believe.[/quote] Well, here we go! Just received my neck blank, fingerboard blank, nut and truss rod. £72 all in. More than I though tit would be, but never mind. so, I'm about to mark out the neck profile on my blank, then tomorrow I'll make a template for marking out the fret positions. Was just going to use a sheet of tinplate and use a hacksaw to mark the positions for the frets. Then use this to start my cut on the fingerboard. Unless anyone has a better idea for making template, that is how I'm going to do it. Hope I don't mess up my timber!! Well get photo's up soon. g

[quote name='Mikey R' post='752634' date='Feb 21 2010, 11:17 AM']Just out of interest, what saw are you planning on using to cut the slots? The kerf needs to match the width of the fret tang almost exactly. I got an inexpensive gents saw and removed the set with a hammer. Its probably due a sharpenning now which will be a bit of a challenge, cross cut with no set may be tricky. Alternatively, there may be Japanese saws that have the correct kerf width. Depends if you get on with the pull stroke thing - I just cant seem to get it.[/quote] Hello there, I was planning on getting a pull saw. David dyke sells them,as do tonetech. I'll decide later this week. I don't think there's anywhere here in Scotland that sells any of the luthier tools I need, so it'll no doubt be online. Cheers, g

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='752428' date='Feb 21 2010, 12:59 AM']Good advice from Mikey. I reckoned accuracy to within 1/2mm was fine for me, same steel rule. You want to be as accurate as possible, but don't get too hung up on it. After all, someone with a heavier hand is going to squeeze the string maybe 1/4 a semi tone more when fretting, so your tenths of mm's are not significant. I reckon within 1/2 a mm is within human hearing tolerance for a bass.[/quote] Thanks for the help from both of you. I think that method sounds fine. Just so happens as well that my brother is a graphic designer for a print company who might be able to print out the whole sheet for me if I'm lucky. Super. Try finding a print company in your area. Once again, thanks for your help. g

Hello everyone, Just drawing out my plans for my first bass build. Marking out fret positions. I've used Stew Macs calculator to get distances, but there are two decimal places. For example, distance from nut to first fret is 48.47mm. I can be pretty accurate with a sharp pencil, but not that accurate!! My steel rule is divided into half millimetres. How will this effect my neck and will it raise any tuning/intonation issues! Cheers for any help, suggestions! g

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='750138' date='Feb 18 2010, 08:12 PM']excellent! First thing to do is go on Amazon and buy Melvyn Hiscox book "Build your own guitar". Essential read for anyone wanting to embark on this addictive hobby. It will help save loads of mistakes that a lot of people make first time and take you step by step through the build of 3 different guitars.[/quote] Hello Al, thanks for the tip....I already have the book. Some of it is a little confusing for me though, though there are some excellent tips. I got all confused at the truss rod bit, but after talking to David at David Dyke he recommended his truss rod that comes in an aluminium U section and tightens on its self. so all i need to do is route a straight channel. Hope it's that easy. Any tips on the best saw to get for cutting fret slots,and how to build a good jig? All the best, g

Hello everyone. I'm a newby here so I'll probably talk a lot of nonsensical nonsense. Excuse me in advance. Just ordered some Rock Maple (for my neck), some Rosewood (for my fingerboard), a trussrod (for the weather) and a bone nut. Got it from David Dyke. What a really nice man, though he was speaking through half chewed cereal bars for the first minute or so! Anyway, I'm about to start making my FIRST EVER bass. It's going to be based loosely on a Precision. My first bass was a P Bass copy, made by Vester if I'm not mistaken. Always thought I could make a better one as it's finishing was terrible. So here we go. I have access to a pretty well stocked work-shop, as I'm a Design and Technology teacher. I have Ok woodworking skills, though the thought of messing up the wood I have bought for the neck is pretty scary. Any tips for me? Especially cutting the fret slots....any good ideas for that would be most welcome. I'm hoping I end up with a 34 inch scale. Now I know scale is the distance from the nut to the bridge. I also know that the nut is fixed, which is good. I also know the bridge can be adjusted for intonation, so where should I be positioning the bridge? Is it as simple as putting it right in the middle of the adjustment range at 34 inches from the nut? Right, time to go look for inspiration. Cheers, Thunder www.myspace.com/sunjunkiesmusic