Finished Pics! A build for our own Len_derby

[Andyjr1515]

7 minutes ago, Christine said:

Is it the photo or is that a very hefty scraper? It looks to be 2 - 3mm thick. I've seen thick scrapers for sale but never used one, I like super thin that I can tension. Humble it may be but one of the most useful tools in the workshop.

 

Now the neck is carved it looks so flowing almost as if it grew like that, it's going to be a beautiful thing when it's finished

No - don't panic, it's just an optical illusion because of the infrequently seen phenomenon of a cast shadow .  It's 0.75mm.  I have some thicker ones at 0.82mm and they are noticeably stiffer to use!

I do have a stonkingly thick one in an old Stanley No-80 scraper plane but that's far too brutal for necks.

 

Thanks for the kind words about the neck carve   It's the neck-through and thin-body combination that allows the neck to be so slim at the transition.  It's a direction I've been exploring over a few builds.  The epiphany for me was Tom's African build:

 #

 

Then Mick ( @TheGreek )'s Psilos bass:

 

And Pete's piccolo bass (that the present full-size bass design is heavily influenced by):

 

It all stems from the ever niggling question in my head which is "Why do guitars and basses always seem to be so d****d heavy???!!"   

[Christine]

2 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

No - don't panic, it's just an optical illusion because of the infrequently seen phenomenon of a cast shadow .  It's 0.75mm.  I have some thicker ones at 0.82mm and they are noticeably stiffer to use!

I do have a stonkingly thick one in an old Stanley No-80 scraper plane but that's far too brutal for necks.

 

Thanks for the kind words about the neck carve   It's the neck-through and thin-body combination that allows the neck to be so slim at the transition.  It's a direction I've been exploring over a few builds.  The epiphany for me was Tom's African build:

 #

 

Then Mick ( @TheGreek )'s Psilos bass:

 

And Pete's piccolo bass (that the present full-size bass design is heavily influenced by):

 

It all stems from the ever niggling question in my head which is "Why do guitars and basses always seem to be so d****d heavy???!!"   

A shadow? You had sun in Derby?

 

Ah OK not so thick, I was interested to know what they were like really but yours are more akin to mine, my favourite is about 0.5mm now but it's getting a bit shallow.

Love the side dots on Mick's bass, beautifully done.

One of the things I like about this build is the way the neck flows out of the body

[Daz39]

24 minutes ago, Christine said:

A shadow? You had sun in Derby?

 

Ah OK not so thick, I was interested to know what they were like really but yours are more akin to mine, my favourite is about 0.5mm now but it's getting a bit shallow.

Love the side dots on Mick's bass, beautifully done.

One of the things I like about this build is the way the neck flows out of the body

@Christine have you gone and looked at the whole build thread for Psilos? It’s amazeballs.

(shameless cross-plugging)

[SpondonBassed]

Spoiler

 

9 hours ago, Daz39 said:

amazeballs

Just to step off topic briefly.  I had to look the above term up and got two interesting links.

Link 1
Link 2

I thought it was an alternative word for masturbation.  Even if it was, I'd still have no inclination to use it.

 

 

Edited June 30, 2018 by SpondonBassed

[Christine]

9 hours ago, Daz39 said:

@Christine have you gone and looked at the whole build thread for Psilos? It’s amazeballs.

(shameless cross-plugging)

No but I'm very interested, does anyone remember the name of the thread so I can search please, I'm a little pressed for internet time

[Andyjr1515]

2 minutes ago, Christine said:

No but I'm very interested, does anyone remember the name of the thread so I can search please, I'm a little pressed for internet time

The bass name came last, so the thread was called something very different 

It's here but it is a bit Andyjr1515 long and rambling...

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/302963-finished-a-bridge-too-far/

 

[Christine]

48 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

The bass name came last, so the thread was called something very different 

It's here but it is a bit Andyjr1515 long and rambling...

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/302963-finished-a-bridge-too-far/

 

Thanks, I'm going to read that or at least start now. All your threads are long but always interesting but I don't get the chance always to visit so I miss some. My favourite so far has been the Jack Bruceish EB, I did enjoy that but you may have guessed I like Gibsons so perhaps I'm a little biased there

 

[TheGreek]

I think the Photobucket fiasco means that the photos are missing....watching the evolution was amazing and frustrating (for me anyway) in equal amounts. Fortunately provided all the photos with the bass so I can relive the progress at my leisure.

Edited June 30, 2018 by TheGreek

[Andyjr1515]

4 hours ago, TheGreek said:

I think the Photobucket fiasco means that the photos are missing....watching the evolution was amazing and frustrating (for me anyway) in equal amounts. Fortunately provided all the photos with the bass so I can relive the progress at my leisure.

Actually, my own photos are still OK on the thread - luckily I was already using imgur.  The formatting etc is all over the place but - it being 27 pages long (!!!!), I suspect the photos are the only things most sensible readers might be interested in.  There is only so much Andyjr1515 rambling most sane people can cope with.  Certainly, that's a view expressed often by MrsAndyjr1515 

[TheGreek]

Don't want to hijack this thread but I'm sure if people are interested in the photos you could post the link rather than the photos themselves.

Mean while back in Gotham city...

[honza992]

Andy, I'm coming to this very late, as usual.  And as usual that is very very very nice.  Hats off. 

I love the blocks.  They actually make me go slightly weak.  Bit pathetic really for a man of my age, but there you go.  Can I ask how you actually did them?  Radiused first, then routed the holes and did the corners with a chisel?  Have you found the ebony dust getting onto the fretboard an issue?  Did you cut the ebony blocks yourself?  I'm sure you considered and rejected doing them before radiusing the fretboard, could I ask why?

[Andyjr1515]

10 hours ago, honza992 said:

Andy, I'm coming to this very late, as usual.  And as usual that is very very very nice.  Hats off. 

I love the blocks.  They actually make me go slightly weak.  Bit pathetic really for a man of my age, but there you go.  Can I ask how you actually did them?  Radiused first, then routed the holes and did the corners with a chisel?  Have you found the ebony dust getting onto the fretboard an issue?  Did you cut the ebony blocks yourself?  I'm sure you considered and rejected doing them before radiusing the fretboard, could I ask why?

Hi, John

Thanks!  I am pleased how the blocks have come out. You've probably spotted the basic method I used, covered on P2 of the thread, but in terms of your specific questions:

The perimeter of the route used a 1.5mm router bit and so the corners are a very small radius and I rounded the corners of the ebony with some 800 grit paper accordingly rather than chiselling the chambers

I cut the ebony on the band saw a teeny bit oversize and eased up onto the exact fit using a disc sander and sanding block.

The ebony was thinner than ideal so I couldnt risk either the middle being lower than the fretboard or the ends filing to nothing with the radius - it was therefore safer to radius first and the I could fit the depth of the inlay exactly right.  This also helped reduce the amount of ebony dust contamination as I was then effectively radiusing isolated ebony blocks using a razor scraper rather than a full combined sanding block

I'll pm later ref a revisit !

[SpondonBassed]

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

radiusing isolated ebony blocks using a razor scraper

Aha!

Any chance of seeing one of those?  I have two images in mind.  One is a single sided razor blade with a burnished edge (I must restock but no one in real life has them), the other is of a suitably sized cabinet scraper.

[Andyjr1515]

Gained a bit of time over the past few days with a visit by MrsAndyjr1515's sister, which=the two of them going for trips out, which=building time for Andyjr1515  

And so, it was an opportunity for starting the headstock.

I sliced a 3mm plate from some poplar offcut and veneered the back with the redwood veneer, then added a couple of wings to the headstock cut from some neckwood offcut then, after carefully checking and double checking for straight string runs and room for each of the tuner blocks, finalised the shape:

 

I've done the slight cutaway at the top, similar to some of the other recent builds:

 

This afternoon, all being well, I'll drill the tuner holes and then work out where best to put a brace of swifts

 

[Andyjr1515]

55 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

Aha!

Any chance of seeing one of those?  I have two images in mind.  One is a single sided razor blade with a burnished edge (I must restock but no one in real life has them), the other is of a suitably sized cabinet scraper.

Yes - you can still get them.

Most model shops sell small packs of them, but I bought a box of 100 through the internet.  I don't bother putting a burr on them - they scrape fairly well as is.  You can also use a Stanley knife blade, although they do tend to cut a bit deeper and harder.

[SpondonBassed]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - you can still get them.

Most model shops sell small packs of them, but I bought a box of 100 through the internet.  I don't bother putting a burr on them - they scrape fairly well as is.  You can also use a Stanley knife blade, although they do tend to cut a bit deeper and harder.

That's the bugger!

I must get our Jack to order a bushel of those.  Thanks.

I get nice little curly shavings when I burnish the edge.  I haven't done great amounts like that but I imagine you'd need to redress the edge frequently if you were going for it.  Must see how it goes without next time.

[SpondonBassed]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

swifts

Release the birds!

Oh yes.  Deep joy.

 

[Andyjr1515]

Still got to drill the location prong holes at the back, but the tuner holes are positioned and drilled:

 

10 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

Release the birds!

Oh yes.  Deep joy.

 

Next...

[Andyjr1515]

Oh...and couldn't resist a quick mock-up

[SpondonBassed]

Lucky Len.

[Andyjr1515]

Well, this is a special build for a special birthday for a special guy...so I reckon it needs a special inlay.

How about some New Zealand Paua?

 

My normal method - cut the inlays, then draw round them:

 

Then use a Dremel with a precision router base to cut out the chambers:

 

Then glue them in and sand them flush, then slurry and wipe with tru-oil to fill any gaps:

 

And that deserves another mock-up, followed by a Pimms in the garden.  Here's the mock-up.  You'll have to use your imagination for the Pimms

 

 

[SpondonBassed]

[Andyjr1515]

I'm at the stage where I can start listing out the remaining jobs.  It'll be a long list, but it's a milestone to get to that stage! 

One of the jobs on the list was to cut the hatch rebate and cover.  I've used an offcut of the poplar top and the hatch will be held by magnets:

So that's one ticked off the list and only 16 to go...  

[Andyjr1515]

And another 1.5 items off the list.  Just-a-nut positioned and back glued, and ebony trussrod cover cut.  This will be secured with a single small magnet once the headstock plate has been finish-sanded:

 

[Andyjr1515]

And another one off the list.  And I remembered that it's best to install the luminlay dots before the final sanding of the neck!  

Some folks make their own, but with the material coming in stick form, it is SO easy to install:

 

...and looks SO good once it has been, especially the black bound version.  Makes great daylight and low light visibility even if you don't charge them up for the glow: