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Short Scale 'Thing' (was going to be 23" but ended up 27"...)


Jabba_the_gut

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5 hours ago, MoonBassAlpha said:

Does the spalting affect the structural strength when used as a body as opposed to a thin decorative top?

I think this would be very dependent on the actual piece of timber. I've had a few pieces of spalted beech where parts of it, generally the light coloured areas, are very crumbly so I won't use them. This particular piece is solid, with no signs of soft areas at all so shouldn't be any issue with strength (famous last words.....!!)

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21 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I think I asked at the Bass Bash, and you made some suggestions (I think woodturning fairs?) but where can a fule like me find nice bits of timber like that for modest cost?

This particular piece cam from an event called Treefest that used to run at Westonbirt arboretum. There was a guy there selling lots of different boards of beech, walnut, ash etc. at very reasonable prices (probably a good job I was constrained by the size of my car!). Unfortunately, that event has finished now.

A possible source worth looking into are tree surgeons. I found a chap local to me selling boards from trees he'd felled. I bought a nice board of ash from him, the only downside is needing to leave it to dry for a few years. A good source but only if you are not in a rush for a few years.....

You can always get boards from specialist suppliers such as Exotic Hardwoods, David Dyke, Tonetech. Generally nice timber, fully dried but not cheap.

Possibly worth looking to see if you have any sawmills nearby. I found a couple within 40 miles of home and bought a very nice wide rippled sycamore board big enough for three full size bass bodies.

Apart from that, eBay is the other place. I've mostly has a good experience of the timber bought off there. There are a few reasonable sellers, The Sherwin Group, Feel Good Wood are the ones that spring to mind and have some interesting stuff.

Hope that helps!!

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On 05/06/2019 at 20:32, Stub Mandrel said:

where can a fule like me find nice bits of timber like that for modest cost?

I've had some Sapele boards and offcuts from Harlow Brothers of Derby.  I'm not sure they'd have much in the way of exotic woods but I wouldn't dismiss the possibility without asking.

They have a branch (imperceptible titter) at Burton on Trent too.

Edited by SpondonBassed
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  • 1 month later...

I finally got round to looking at my planer thicknesser. It isn't an expensive £160 but still an expensive enough tool for a hobby. I've had it just over three years and it hasn't been used that much, just the stuff I've done on here. In my previous post I said it was playing up, what it wasn't doing was cutting square, which is kind of an issue!! You could see looking at the top that the drum wasn't parallel to the planning surface - one side had dropped for some reason. Customer service were no help (out of warranty / Chinese import so no-one here that could advise) so I ended up taking it to bits to look for the issue. After a while of undoing bolts I removed the bearing for the cutter. Utterly knackered. You could even see where the axle had been rubbing on the bearing bracket making the shaft drop by a couple of mm.

I managed to remove the bearing it fell to pieces so ended up being removed by cutting it carefully with a Dremel. The good news is that Is a standard size and a new quality Japanese bearing is only about £5 and will be here in a couple of days. Hopefully, everything will go back together without leaving me with some spare bolts and I can get on with this project and some others!!

I'll see how this goes but I have been looking at other planers. Unfortunately there is a big jump in price up to the next level of quality - about £800 which is a hell of a lot. Must have a really good dig down the back of the sofa...….

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14 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

I'll see how this goes but I have been looking at other planers. Unfortunately there is a big jump in price up to the next level of quality - about £800 which is a hell of a lot. Must have a really good dig down the back of the sofa...….

Good quality s/h planer thickeners are out there, I purchased a Sheppach for £300.  A good solid German machine, Totally repairable, mine has been faultless other than my stupidity, blades do not like meeting hidden nails.  Kitty like this ?  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kitty-Planner-Thicknesser-woodwork-machinery/183868405363?hash=item2acf693673:g:xWYAAOSw8EhdG1NZ  I have used the same model, seemed a nice machine. 

Edited by 3below
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  • 2 months later...

I'm in the process of trying to move house and it is really dragging - hopefully this will be sorted in the next couple of weeks!! This has meant that I have had very little time to get on with building anything. I had a day off and thought 'Stuff it' so I got some tools out and had a couple of hours doing something. 

My last post on here was to do with fitting a new bearing on my thicknesser - that worked out a treat but was an absolute pain to put back together. I've sorted out some fretboards ready for this build and a couple of others I'll start as soon as I move house (that's my priority but Mrs_the_gut might disagree and want jobs doing on the new place when we get there - I'll cross that bridge then!!).

I bought some custom length strings for this build and laid them over my templates and bridge and they looked fine. I did notice that I could extend the neck slightly to 25.5" which still looks in scale with the rest of the bass. Benefits of doing this are that you can use a standard guitar fret slotting template which would speed up that part of the process or you can buy ready slotted fretboards of that length. The other thing I'm going to try on this is a scarf joint on the neck. I've only tried this once before but it turned out well so thought I'd give it another go. This would give easier access to the truss rod at the head end I think. I've made a new neck template (very satisfying after no being able to do anything for so long) and cut the body template for the bridge. Here it is with a Bonsai tree for scale...

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Overall length is 33".

I liked the previous mini-bass I made that was fitted with an EMG 35DC so I've got another one of those and a 2 band EMG preamp but I also got hold of a Bartolini M34 dual coil pickup (new-old-stock for £30 - bargain!) which I can try passively with a couple of different switch options.

 

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1 hour ago, Richard R said:

I thought you were building your next bass, not buying?

Mrs owen? Is that you? :)

The speed I will be going at means that getting my hands on my DIY bass will take a LONG time. I actually need to learn how to woodwork first. 

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Had the opportunity to do a little more work on one of these today.

First up was drilling the holes for the neck bolts.

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This was followed by routing the pockets for the neck and for the bridge using the template I posted previously:

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Next up was round the edges of the bass. I fill in the pockets whilst rounding the edges to reduce any chances of splits or bits going missing!!

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So this is how it looks next to the headless version. I'm quite liking the way the grain is flowing on this. Should be nice when finished.

dXvoCQn.jpg?1

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I'm quite looking forward t getting this one done. Just trying it with the neck template in the pocket it feels quite comfortable. It's the first time I've tried using a solid slab of spalted beech for a body and, so far, the grain looks interesting where the body has been rounded. I will shape this one a bit so it will be contoured for tummy/belly and forearm.

I've also got the Sapele one to continue with. I will probably stick with a 23" scale for that for comparison - if I prefer the 25.5" scale I can always make another neck later.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

I fill in the pockets whilst rounding the edges to reduce any chances of splits or bits going missing!!

I'd say that little gem belongs on a list of top tips for prospective builders.  It makes perfectly good sense... after it's been pointed out.

52 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

a solid slab of spalted beech for a body

It isn't something you see very often.  I wonder if it's because it's easier to work around flaws in the timber by making wings than to look for the "perfect" slab.

As always, the results of your work are a joy to behold.

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