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Eude throws down the gauntlet


Andyjr1515

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Guest Marcoelwray
15 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Merci beaucoup!  :D

(Just getting all the non-english words I know out before the rest of the EU casts us out into the North Sea and stop talking to us!) 

Yep let's go back to my non-native language; the british. English. Whatever you are speaking there.

Als ik kan probeer in nederlands ook.... Nooooo I'm sure a Dutch just heard me !

przepraszam za niedogodności ! Now we've got Mayones & GMR guys on the back.

Anyway; nice birds.

PS: boulangiu cordid handicapat boschetar răpănós !

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1 hour ago, Marcoelwray said:

Yep let's go back to my non-native language; the british. English. Whatever you are speaking there.

 

 

Dank u wel  :)

And...back to the project ;)

While the neck was still flat and unencumbered by fretboards and headstock plates, I popped it on my router thicknessing rig - with the nut end packed up by 1mm - to get the spine of the neck at the right thickness to end up with a 22.5mm - 23.5mm thickness across the whole length - matching @eude 's favourite playing neck for this kind of bass.

_MG_6959.thumb.JPG.fd2aa290c9aed3d53ad7512357fd66da.JPG

And so tomorrow is a big day - if all is well once I've checked and double checked and triple checked everything, the fretboard will get glued to the neck and the headstock plate may well get glued to the headstock! :)

 

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9 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I love neck carving. Best bit of a build...

What's your tools of choice?
I remember when I did the original neck for this bass it was rasps, files and lots and lots of graft.
I have heard of folks getting the rough shape sorted with an angle grinder these days, which would save a lot of time, but obviously I expect it would take years off your life initially...

Eude

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1 minute ago, eude said:

What's your tools of choice?
I remember when I did the original neck for this bass it was rasps, files and lots and lots of graft.
I have heard of folks getting the rough shape sorted with an angle grinder these days, which would save a lot of time, but obviously I expect it would take years off your life initially...

Eude

Yes - a grinder in my hands would probably take ALL the remaining years off my life xD

I start with a spokeshave to just get rid of the corners, then move onto micro-planes and then onto cabinet scrapers.  With mahogany, this is usually a surprisingly quick process but even with rock maple it's pretty quick.  Often, sharpening the blades and re-burring the scrapers takes longer than the initial carve!  

Actually, the volute and heel transitions take me the longest because those are more dependant on the other factors of body shape and headstock shape.

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1 minute ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - a grinder in my hands would probably take ALL the remaining years off my life xD

I start with a spokeshave to just get rid of the corners, then move onto micro-planes and then onto cabinet scrapers.  With mahogany, this is usually a surprisingly quick process but even with rock maple it's pretty quick.  Often, sharpening the blades and re-burring the scrapers takes longer than the initial carve!  

Actually, the volute and heel transitions take me the longest because those are more dependant on the other factors of body shape and headstock shape.

Can't wait to see the result!

Eude

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6 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - a grinder in my hands would probably take ALL the remaining years off my life xD

I start with a spokeshave to just get rid of the corners, then move onto micro-planes and then onto cabinet scrapers.  With mahogany, this is usually a surprisingly quick process but even with rock maple it's pretty quick.  Often, sharpening the blades and re-burring the scrapers takes longer than the initial carve!  

Actually, the volute and heel transitions take me the longest because those are more dependant on the other factors of body shape and headstock shape.

I used an angle grinder and an Arbortech to rough carve the tops of my Les Pauls, scary stuff but most of the shaping was done in two minutes. There are some coarse abrasive discs that can remove wood quickly in a controlled way I think @Gilmourisgod mentioned them to me a few months ago

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28 minutes ago, Christine said:

I used an angle grinder and an Arbortech to rough carve the tops of my Les Pauls, scary stuff but most of the shaping was done in two minutes. There are some coarse abrasive discs that can remove wood quickly in a controlled way I think @Gilmourisgod mentioned them to me a few months ago

Yes - the arbortech heads are very good.  I have a friend who uses them for carving wood sculptures. 

I suppose that I've had and seen so many instances where 'one slip spells disaster' - routers are a prime example - I tend to favour the methods where you creep up on the final shape.  Having discovered the joys of working with wood only in the last 5 years or so, it's also part of the enjoyment.  

Clearly, I can only do that because it's essentially a hobby and therefore my time isn't costed into the equation.

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So far - although there's always room for the 'whoopsie' - so good.  In fact, my very last job before lunch break is sharpening the tools for the neck carve ;)

Having checked the position that many times until I was bored with it, the fretboard got glued:

Jdq2iGOl.jpg

Note the useful squeeze-out covering the wretchedly hazardous carbon fibre cut faces :D

While that was drying, I put an ebony demarcation veneer on the back of the headstock plate:

zUgPvEtl.jpg

 

And while THAT was drying, cut the rebate for the control panel cover, hiding all of the previous screwholes (the new cover will have magnetic catches)

NcYep0Nl.jpg

I managed to get a 4mm slice off an offcut of the katalox (my bottom-end Axminster bandsaw, though slow, is proving to be quite capable!), which will sand down to 3mm to sit flush:

39zG5hyl.jpg

 

So, while this looks the same as before, the difference is the fretboard it is now firmly glued:

FmG8mhjl.jpg

...and the headstock plate firmly demarcate-able :

s0BhXN9l.jpg

 

And the neck and heel and volute are ready to carve :)

mzMrrGTl.jpg

 

 

 

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It's been a while since I did a mahogany neck - and I'd forgotten JUST how easily it carves.  Thank goodness for the carbon rods!

The spokeshave took around 30minutes to sharpen and about 7 minutes to get to the stage where I needed to stop using it lest I took too much off! 9_9

F9jmnI1l.jpg

 

Then onto the micro plane to get the rough carve of the volute and heel transition.  This took a further 10 minutes:

t1IZR0gl.jpg

dan2aGsl.jpg

I don't use a handle on the micro-planes.  I just wear gloves and sometimes use it on pull and sometimes on push, then for the join up of heel to nut I just lightly drag it along a bit like a gentle spokeshave.  All the time, of course, I am going nowhere near the spine, which is already at final thickness.

Another 15 minutes or so with cabinet scrapers and some basic sanding and it's at the stage to stop and assess the feel and look, both for the main part of the neck and also consider how deep to scoop at the body transition.  I find it a lot easier to assess this in 'air bass' style to actually feel where it works and where it doesn't. As a number of you know, I'm a bit quirky in that actually finalise the neck scrape and finish once the bass is fully strung and playable. 

Anyway, this is how it is at the end of stage 1.  I will now leave it a while and come back to it to work out where to carve, and how much to carve, next.  But, in the meantime, it's definitely starting to look like a bass now :)   :

TugFDSTl.jpg

R7D6fg6.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Guest Marcoelwray

Indeed , indeed, mahogany species are really cool woods to work with, as European Walnut, Ash, etc... But I really like maple / bubinga / wengé necks... That's another story !

Can't wait to see strings on it... Except for oiling, mouting hardware is one of these rewarding moments where pieces of wood turn into an actually proper bass. 

Keep up this nice work, maybe it's the pictures but I can't really tell what the bass is going to look like once totally finished... There is something mystic about it :D 

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5 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And while I'm pondering on the carve, the glue on the headstock plate may as well be setting.

Don't panic, by the way - the two G clamps are clamping onto a katalox offcut caul, not the headstock plate itself :)

4yPhoTjl.jpg

I bet the man behind the counter of the clamp shop loves it when you walk in....🤣

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One of the things I will do, having done a bit of air-bass playing - and having already checked first with @eude - is to scoop the back of the lower cutaway here to give some knuckle clearance for reaching the 24th frets:

mJu0TfXl.jpg

The treble side of the heel will also be slimmed as far as the security of the joint will allow.  It won't change the front view at all, but will make the playing experience much better up at the dusty end.

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Guest Marcoelwray
7 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

One of the things I will do, having done a bit of air-bass playing - and having already checked first with @eude - is to scoop the back of the lower cutaway here to give some knuckle clearance for reaching the 24th frets:

mJu0TfXl.jpg

The treble side of the heel will also be slimmed as far as the security of the joint will allow.  It won't change the front view at all, but will make the playing experience much better up at the dusty end.

 

That's one of the reasons I prefer Neck-thru construction; both methods are great if well executed but bolts can be an obstacle on carving.

I must admit that mainly I have no idea of my neck/body carving before I do it. 

Attached a unfinished prototype of single cut, where I couldn't use a bolt on construction....

IMG_20180517_024054.jpg

IMG_20180521_134853.jpg

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7 minutes ago, Marcoelwray said:

 

That's one of the reasons I prefer Neck-thru construction; both methods are great if well executed but bolts can be an obstacle on carving.

I must admit that mainly I have no idea of my neck/body carving before I do it. 

Attached a unfinished prototype of single cut, where I couldn't use a bolt on construction....

IMG_20180517_024054.jpg

IMG_20180521_134853.jpg

_MG_2403.thumb.JPG.8ce8f3e8e871cd6b6f15783574e8d017.JPG

 

touché! (sorry - don't know the dutch for that)

Yes - most of my builds are neck through also.  In fact, thinking about it, all of my own builds are - not only for this reason, but so I can go super slim and reduce the weight accordingly :)

Beautiful build, by the way  :)

 

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