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The slowest build ever


Owen

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18 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Since posting above I've been looking for the details for the course...facked if I can find them...

To paraphrase Captain Oates.." I may be gone for some time..."

£300 seems very reasonable for a pro to ply their skills. Thing is Mick, you say you dont have the tools so you're going to have to up your budget from the £300 course fee.

You could buy second hand, and if you do, i would be asking Jabba, Christine, Andy, what makes to look out for, and which would be essential for the work

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Just been reading this thread and wanted to add my vote to the "just do it" camp.

I have always loved the idea of luthiery and thought if only I had the space/time/money/knowledge etc.

One day I decided I was going to build a bass from scratch, no matter how long it took, and my god was it worth it.

The wealth of knowledge resources available on youtube alone is staggering. Crimson Guitars is a personal favourite.

I amassed the tools gradually as each payday rolled around (and I'm very much still amassing, of course) and my very patient girlfriend lets me use half our our tiny spare room as a workshop, where I built myself a rough and ready workbench and put a shower curtain up to protect the other stuff in the room when I'm doing something particularly dusty. It's not ideal, but then nothing ever is, is it?

It's hard, for sure, but weirdly, it's also - I think - perfectly within the capabilities of anyone with a creative spark and some common sense.

As others have said already, it is certainly an all consuming rabbit hole of a hobby.

Forgive the long winded post. The short version is give it a bash - live the dream 😀

 

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Thanks everyone for your encoursgement. It will be your fault. I am thinking about getting a piece of scrap wood, having it turned and then seeing if I can wrestle it into shape. It will be 310mm at it's longest by 280mm at it's widest. How deep do I need to leave it for neck pocket,  pickups and control cavity?

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3 hours ago, owen said:

Thanks everyone for your encoursgement. It will be your fault. I am thinking about getting a piece of scrap wood, having it turned and then seeing if I can wrestle it into shape. It will be 310mm at it's longest by 280mm at it's widest. How deep do I need to leave it for neck pocket,  pickups and control cavity?

The neck pocket depth and angle will depend on the curve of the body, the height and position of the bridge in relation to the thickness of the body, with a curved body you will need to make sure that the strings clear both the top and the pickups if that makes any sense. These are best worked out by drawing it out full size before you even look at wood (I use the back of some wall paper to draw on )

A problem I'm foreseeing is how to mark out and position the cavities in the body once it's been turned. A jig will have to be made and then how do you clamp the jig to the body in whatever way that needs to be done, all stuff that is very easy when the body starts off flat. OK if you cut those first then the turner looses the places on the front where he can screw to in order to turn the back. Speak to a turner first to see what they say about sensible options for work holding, he/she might have some good ideas, I'm afraid I know very little about lathes.

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I would imagine if you turned a giant dish on a lathe (I assume that's the plan) then you would have to plane a flat lengthways in line with the neck in order for the strings to have a flat run. In order to have enough depth for a decent neck pocket and the a flat top for string clearance you would need to start off with a very thick slab of wood. The curve from top to bottom (as you would wear it) of a lathed dish bass body would be fine for your plan but the curve from bridge end to neck end is going to need some clever planning. 

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On 03/09/2019 at 18:54, owen said:

I want a convex front and a concave back. I have watched lots of videos on carving the front of a LP with a router and orbital sander and decided that I could not. On Sunday we went to a food fair and there was a guy selling large wood turned plates. It crossed my mind that a body blank could be "turned". Convex on front, concave on the back. Once that is done I could cut the body shape out of the big bowl. The circumference could be the bottom of the instrument. I would need to be very careful with center body depth so as to give the hardware somewhere to live. But the sides could be quite slim. I like that. I am aware that the geometry could be challenging. 

What are the reasons this way of carving would not work?

 

Hi, Owen

When you say convex top and concave back - are you talking about this sort of thing?  :

Foe6RCUl.jpg

LIeI2NNl.jpg

 

2lddsOsl.jpg

3mUfh94l.jpg

 

If so, there are much easier ways of doing it than the thoughts above...  ;)

There are a number of ways, but I'm more than happy to outline the easiest / safest of the various ways I've done it.

 

 

 

 

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55 minutes ago, owen said:

Andy, you are on the money right there!

 

OK

My take on it, then.

There are other tools that could be used to speed the process up or reduce the effort a bit, but - for 'reasonable' timbers such as mahogany, Sapele, poplar, walnut, etc -  you could comfortably carve this type of shape in a body blank in an afternoon:

Foe6RCUl.jpg

 

...using nothing more than these:

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Qq7rchBl.jpg

The 4 steel things are Micro-plane blades.  I have a flat one and a curved one in Coarse and in Fine.  You can buy them at Axminster.  

The gloves are because, for this kind of carve, I find that it is MUCH easier NOT to use the handle that these micro-planes are supposed to fit into.  Instead I hold them each end with stout gloves (because each of those teeth are razor sharp) and draw them, following the grain, down the length of the blank.

The black thing is simply a former (cut out of an old exercise book cover - cardboard would be just as good) with the outer and inner radii so I know whether I am getting close and even.

You will find the convex curve p**s easy with most medium woods.  The concave takes a bit more effort if you are using these tools only.

Then, to remove lumps, bumps and micro-plane marks, I would use cabinet scrapers (also wearing stout gloves!):

Qvqp2zRl.jpg

Again, Axminster sell them but you should be able to get a set of 4 for less than a tenner in B&Q / Homebase / etc.  Don't worry about sharpening them - they will come with the vital edge burr from new and that will last sharp enough for at least one body.  Just recycle when you're done ;)

You would generally use the rectangular ones for the convex and the 'gooseneck' one for the concave.  Again, you hold each side and draw it across the wood at a slight angle, down the length of the body (we can guide you when you get to that bit).  The tiny burr at the edges acts like a mini plane and scrapes away the lumps and bumps.

 

The good thing about using the basics above is that it all happens a teeny bit at a time.  Treat it as a work-out.

The trouble with the myriad of other ways of removing bulk quickly is that it is very, very easy to take - at best - chunks out you may not want to take out or - at worst - chunks out of yourself you definitely won't want to take out ;)

 

So that's my recommendation.

 

However - don't start hacking wood until we've all had a chance to point out some of the geometry stuff and practicality stuff (like the depth of the electrical components!).  There are some particular things to consider with double carves that are not covered in most (any?) YouTube tutorials, etc.  

This is exciting!!!!! :party: 

 

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The lathe option would give a certain line which there is no way I could get with hand tools, but the by PM and various posts I am beginning to think the hand tool thing might be a go-er.

Thanks everyone for their willingness to guide. I am going to buy some really big paper.

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