Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

The slowest build ever


Owen

Recommended Posts

13 hours ago, owen said:

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.

The other (lesser) trouble with the lathe thing is it would work well as a disk but not as a guitar shaped thing, the curves would be a lot deeper at the neck and bridge than anywhere else. That does raise the possibility of using a very high bridge and having the neck following the approximate line where it joins the body so that the body actually wrapped around you. A bit like an angled neck done to extremes,  which is right up my street

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, owen said:

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.

You know me - I LOVE challenging the conventional way of doing things.  And I LOVE the idea of a huge piece of wood belting round on a large wood lathe being crafted by a skilled carver.  And I AM intrigued with what could be done with that concept.

But I don't think it's the right option for a first bass build.

And I think @Christine is right, I'm pretty sure the geometry would be completely wrong for a bass.

And I don't fancy shaking hands with a prosthetic arm next time we meet at the Midlands Bass Bash (however good prosthetic arms are nowadays) :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If I am going super curved I will need an extra thick body blank, no?

I was going with sonic blue but realised that might well need a whte-ish scratchplate to offset it. I am thinking maybe copper leaf cos ....... umm.......... shiny. 

Edited by owen
Spelling. As usual :(
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Draw it out, that will give you a better idea of how thick your blank needs to be. If you go super curved you will need to make the concave back very deep, will that be comfortable? Or leave it heavy or hollow, perhaps @Andyjr1515 has more informed advice than me here

You could mix some white with the blue to pale it off a little to make it not need a scratchplate?

I wonder if copper leaf would act as shielding?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Christine said:

Draw it out, that will give you a better idea of how thick your blank needs to be. If you go super curved you will need to make the concave back very deep, will that be comfortable? Or leave it heavy or hollow, perhaps @Andyjr1515 has more informed advice than me here

As @Christine says, for any own design, it is pretty essential to draw it out - preferably full-size - to check the geometry, work out the cable runs, etc and make sure, for example, that top chambers and cutaways don't clash with back chambers and cutaways ;)

Hand sketch is often all it needs.

 

Ref the blank thickness - as always, there are a few ways of tackling this.

In broad terms, then yes, @owen - the more dramatic the curve, then the more the overall depth of the body becomes.  So if you were carving out of solid, for a given thickness of body, then it would need to be deeper by the difference in these two distances:

1296083139_Blanksize6.jpg.26601c50cc4a845f45406c5ab9a301d4.jpg

There are some disadvantages in carving from solid - mainly relating to the difficulty in getting the control wire and pickup wire channels in the right place and also the cost of thicker pieces of timber - but it is entirely feasible.

If you are carving this kind of depth, by the way, then you probably will need to hog out the concave with something other than micro-planes ;)

 

If multi-piece blanks are OK for you, then one option is to have two blanks - either of the same timber or of differing timbers:

1103405198_Blanksize3.jpg.9221897e2b42570471b8b19e682a5988.jpg

 

 Or, to reduce the amount of hogging out and resulting waste of wood, you could use a depth equivalent of through-neck wings at the back (and clearly, triangular section wings would be even more efficient):

791290688_Blanksize4.jpg.7ed05c0a7e8c61824c78f0996a5b2beb.jpg

 

 

In my lightweight builds, I use a variation of this and go for a through neck and take that concept one stage further by using more standard through-neck wings, but deeper than the neck (which is shown in blue here):

1515159711_Blanksize5.jpg.f8184f7d44e2f011c7273808c0c18487.jpg

 

So to conclude, there are many ways of skinning the cat (although they all feel much the same to the cat...)

 

 

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, owen said:

Again, thanks everyone for humouring me :)

I have bought special long paper and a presentation board to tape it onto. I have a 3B pencil and a rubber. I am almost certain I have a long straight edge in the garage. I am on fire!

I presume this will be finished for us to try at the Midlands Bass Bash next year......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, owen said:

Would it be bad to use an angle grinder? I mean, how hard can it be? He makes it look easy peasy.

As a relative novice myself, I have actually found that power tools are much scarier than using hand tools. As long as you learn how to get them good and sharp, carving with chisels is not as hard as you might think. Just a thought, and it all depends on what's appropriate for your needs, but my point is, based on my experience, I wouldn't rule out hand tools based on the idea that it's harder than using power tools. Also making shavings is so much more pleasant than making dust!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, owen said:

Would it be bad to use an angle grinder? I mean, how hard can it be? He makes it look easy peasy.

Cosmically speaking, there is no such thing as good or bad so you're safe.  Just use appropriate PPE.

Actually, you might get some interesting texture on a bass body using one.  It might not lend itself to a wiped on finish but it would certainly add character.  It would make a statement along the lines of: you can keep your relic impersonators and rotate them, mine is hard core scruffy!.  You know... that sort of thing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When I was an apprentice I had to hand plane loads of 2” wavy elm boards 24” x 120” down to a flat and exact 3/4” despite the presence of a 24” Wadkin FM planer, it was hard work but I learned how to do it, I also learned that it was also better that way if uneconomical. Trust me the end product will be better and you’ll be wiser 😀

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Christine said:

When I was an apprentice I had to hand plane loads of 2” wavy elm boards 24” x 120” down to a flat and exact 3/4” despite the presence of a 24” Wadkin FM planer, it was hard work but I learned how to do it, I also learned that it was also better that way if uneconomical. Trust me the end product will be better and you’ll be wiser 😀

With respect Christine, you have put in many many hours to get to the craftsperson stage, if I may call it that.  If you pause to examine Owen's avatar, you will notice that he dresses his DB in fake leopardskin.  I think he's looking for a fun experience as much as anything else.

You make a good point though and it is well worth putting in the time with apprentice tasks if you are looking to do scratch builds for a significant length of time.

In another life I might well have enjoyed an apprenticeship in lutherie instead of aero engineering.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...