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


Jabba_the_gut

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Just now, TheGreek said:

The company I work for just bought a Lazar engraving machine - we haven't had it up and running yet but when it is I'm sure we can come to some arrangement about putting logos on veneers...

That would be interesting....

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53 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

One very last little bit to this build, I made a truss rod cover from a leftover piece of ebony. As I decide not to put a logo on the headstock as I think it would have been too much, I decided to put a little mother of pearl logo on the truss rod cover.

depMbA3.jpg

That's it, job done. On to the next!

Cheers for the comments and feedback - much appreciated!

Take care.

Man that’s classy.

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Can you recommend a source of not-to-expensive-in-case-I-screw-up timber for a first ground-up build.

I was thinking body - something fairly vanilla, neck maple, fingerboard anything dark and nice veneer for the front of the body.

I've got everything else I need except a bridge, and I can make one as my hobby is metalworking.

I even stole a bone off the do so I can make a bone nut.

But if definitely needs to be both cheap and easily obtained otherwise I'll end up ordering a kit!

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/05/2020 at 22:04, Stub Mandrel said:

Can you recommend a source of not-to-expensive-in-case-I-screw-up timber for a first ground-up build.

I was thinking body - something fairly vanilla, neck maple, fingerboard anything dark and nice veneer for the front of the body.

I've got everything else I need except a bridge, and I can make one as my hobby is metalworking.

I even stole a bone off the do so I can make a bone nut.

But if definitely needs to be both cheap and easily obtained otherwise I'll end up ordering a kit!

@Stub Mandrel Sorry - missed this post. 

I quite like the Wood Veneer Hub for veneers - they have some nice stuff and quite reasonably priced I think. Fancy wood tops are quite pricey - it isn't difficult to spend £100+ on some exotic top.

As for body woods, there often isn't a particularly cheap option if you go down the route of the usual luthier supplies (typically £50+ for a body blank, £25+ for a neck blank). There are generally some decent UK wood suppliers that sell neck and body blanks that are already at the right thickness and are dry. The other option is if you have some form of timber/diy shop nearby (not the big chains). I'm quite lucky as I have a handyman diy shop locally that stocks woods like sapele and sometimes things like ash that is reasonably priced. 

Always worth a look to see if you have a saw mill or timber supplier local to you - these can be quite well hidden - I've come across a couple of places right on my doorstep which I knew nothing about (turned out a guy who works for one of them lived a few doors down my road!!). The other place I came across was a local cabinet maker - again worth a shout as they might be able to help you out or point you in the right direction.

Someone did once suggest to try the local recycling centre as they has seen some quite nice wood there!!

 

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On 10/05/2020 at 22:04, Stub Mandrel said:

Can you recommend a source of not-to-expensive-in-case-I-screw-up timber for a first ground-up build.

 

20 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Always worth a look to see if you have a saw mill or timber supplier local to you

 

I found Harlows quite good in Derby.. There is a BoT branch too:

Harlows Branch Finder

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  • 7 months later...

So after quite a while, back to the body and neck I first starting building 18 months ago!! They've been sat in a box doing nothing other that getting looked at occasionally and put away again. There are a couple of holes in the original wood that I filled with dowels but I wasn't happy that one was on the front of the bass which is probably why I lost a bit of interest as I do like things to be perfect. I was going through the veneers I have and found a couple of pieces of cherry that would be big enough to cover the body.

I glued these together to make one sheet (only 0.6mm thick but you can still join it and it's quite strong) and, once dry, glued this and a contrasting maple veneer to the front of the body. I used another piece of veneer for the face of the headstock too.

I've got a big block of sycamore in the garage that I cut a slice off and thicknessed to be used for the fretboard.

9HwahRp.jpg

I originally though of fitting a peizo but in the end I've opted for an EMG MM and chrome hardware as I've got those going spare. I'm also thinking of making this bass with a set neck rather than bolt on for no other reason than I haven't tried that before. Might still change my mind but we'll see how it goes!

Slotted the fretboard using the Stewmac jig I bought off here a while ago (and one of the best things I have ever bought).

pjoL0ty.jpg?1

Lined everything up with the neck ready for gluing

YJmom4v.jpg

Neck glued and put next to the body to get some idea what this will look like

hzVXWWO.jpg?1

I've used the same template as for the other mini basses so cut neck and bridge pockets. I've also used the neck template and trimmed that to size.

The neck fits nice and snugly in the pocket and the strings align nicely with the bridge.

c5cTBkw.jpg?1

Next task will be routing the pickup pocket then shaping and sanding (lots of...).

Cheers.

 

Edited by Jabba_the_gut
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Decided to go for an EMG MM pickup so next job was to route the pocket for that as usual starting off by removing the bulk with a Forstner bit (there is a plastic film on this to save the veneer on the from from getting scratched which can be seen in the picture):

eZUxJkK.jpg?1

Once the bulk is removed then the router can be used to tidy everything up using a template to get some nice sharp edges to the pocket. After that I started rounding the edges which clearly shows the maple veneer layer producing a light coloured line around the shape if the bass.

XZcgzcn.jpg?1

More rounding:

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I've decided I'm not going to have a forearm carve on this as it will take away from the veneer line I think but it will have a tummy carve. Out with the Shinto and other rasps to remove the bulk and to shape - something really satisfying about this.

p2iCVyw.jpg?1

 

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The only shame with this is that the main body wood was from a pew and has some holes in it that were dowelled. One of the dowels can still be seen on the back of the body. Not a real issue and just part of the story of the wood used.

YsMqAka.jpg?1

The neck is made from two pieces of wood cut from a piece that @Rich gave me a while back. I glued it so the grain runs mirror image on the two halves of the neck - I quite like how it has turned out so far.

UdVzDNI.jpg?1

I'm also quite please with the contrast of the woods used, especially as this bass is a bit of a wood recycling job.

g7ERVFn.jpg?1

And a rough try out of where the controls will be - just a volume and tone on this one.

xrQCqyq.jpg?1

YH3N83K.jpg?1

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5 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

The only shame with this is that the main body wood was from a pew and has some holes in it that were dowelled. One of the dowels can still be seen on the back of the body. Not a real issue and just part of the story of the wood used.

Not a shame in the slightest, just part of the character and history of the wood used, I'd pay extra for pew wood.

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I've had a look at the side dots for this and I want to keep the colour simple. White obviously doesn't go on maple, black dots just don't look right and I don't think alabone would look right either. I decided to make some dowels from an offcut of the neck wood. I used a piece of metal sheet with a 2.5mm hole drilled in it then cut some wooden rods to roughly the right size. The wooden sticks are then hammered through the hole in the metal sheet to make them round.

These are then fitted into the holes drilled in the neck and sanded flush.

MSODDnv.jpg

 

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And the holes drilled for the tuners. I'm using a set of Schaller tuners I was given on this build - (sorry, can't remember who it was on here but thanks again!). The holes are in a slightly different position to the Gotoh ones I've generally used with this shape of headstock as the string posts are different diameters.

fmKM3Ml.jpg?1

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  • 1 month later...

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