Project "No Longer a Frog" 5 string Single Cut Bolt On

[spacecowboy 188]

So I bought this piece of Claro Walnut...

Why? Cause it looks like a frog (...yes it does) and I love frogs. I have finished a design for a 32" scale bolt on bass that I want to make...

 

So what happens when you combine the frog with my new design? 

Froggy pickup cover! 😍

I've taken delivery on the timber I want to use on this bass and the construction will be;

• 2 Piece Wenge body (neck pocket, chambered pickup cavity, and electronics cavity should help keep the weight down) 
• 3 Piece Wenge and Bubinga neck, (bubinga central laminate)
• "Frog" Claro Walnut pickup cover with Wenge walls 
• Ovangkol fingerboard (I have a wonderful piece with what looks like ripples on it)

If I can get tarnished brass / gold hardware then I will, or I'll try and tarnish it myself, no frog would have shiny super clean stuff, so that's tuners, bridge, knobs, and bolts, which will be hex bolts with brass inserts. I have brass frets but I'll leave them shiny I guess...

No headstock angle this time round, flat head stock with string trees.

Using an EMG jazz setup again but with master vol, pup blend, independent bass and treble. 

Work will begin next week! But really excited to get this one started! 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2020 by spacecowboy

[SpondonBassed 7,307]

26 minutes ago, spacecowboy said:

it looks like a frog

It looks like someone left grope marks on a large woman with underboobs.

[eude 577]

Love it, I actually prefer that design, and I much prefer a bolt-on single cut too

Amazing.

[HazBeen 1,706]

See, can’t help yourself

Like it a lot, so looking forward to the build thread. 

[AlexDelores 9]

Really looking forward to this thread! 👍

[Richard R 1,244]

On 24/09/2020 at 15:43, SpondonBassed said:

It looks like someone left grope marks on a large woman with underboobs.

Vell, speaking as your psychoanalyst, I haf to ask -  are you perhapz feeling frustrated in some vay?

[SpondonBassed 7,307]

4 minutes ago, Richard R said:

Vell, speaking as your psychoanalyst, I haf to ask -  are you perhapz feeling frustrated in some vay?

No.  It's not me that has wood.

[Richard R 1,244]

9 hours ago, SpondonBassed said:

No.  It's not me that has wood.

[Andyjr1515 4,708]

Excellent!

Just looking at the outline drawings, @spacecowboy , do the string runs from the nut to the appropriate sides of the tuner posts work?  Might be my eyes, but the strings look like they will clash in places...

[spacecowboy 188]

3 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Excellent!

Just looking at the outline drawings, @spacecowboy , do the string runs from the nut to the appropriate sides of the tuner posts work?  Might be my eyes, but the strings look like they will clash in places...

It's the same headstock / nut layout as my neck through build and they were fine so hopefully all will be well here. The position of the string trees will need looking in to however as I'll be using 2 hipshot style "3 string" trees so the A will be covered twice essentially. Need to make sure there's good pressure all round

[Andyjr1515 4,708]

4 hours ago, spacecowboy said:

It's the same headstock / nut layout as my neck through build and they were fine so hopefully all will be well here. The position of the string trees will need looking in to however as I'll be using 2 hipshot style "3 string" trees so the A will be covered twice essentially. Need to make sure there's good pressure all round

OK.  My eyes then

 

[Andyjr1515 4,708]

Yes - definitely my eyes   ...agreed you could drive a proverbial bus through that gap 

[MoonBassAlpha 351]

Andy, are proverbial busses little tiny ones?

[spacecowboy 188]

So... The Claro Walnut turned up and it doesn't really look like what it does in that photo... the frog is barely visible... so... I have some walnut for something else... like the bin.

Updates! 

Got the body blank glued up, picked up some Wenge with beautiful grain, decided to sandwich in a slice of swamp ash to help keep the weight down and mix up the visual a bit. 

Routed out the body shape and marked up the pickup cavity / cover section ready for drilling and routing. That neck on the right of the photo ended up being 3mm too thin... bummer... I'll use it for something else. 

 

Routed the cavities, I absolutely hated this job, I hate routers at the best of times but this job tested my resolve by the end of it I was absolutely sick. I've also started knocking the edges of the timber here to start shaping the curves. I have some felt lining to put in the pickup cavity... perhaps weird, but it looks lovely, the pickups will be mounted as normal with screws and springs but I think the felt just sets the whole thing off...

Belly scoop popped in, got a cut in for my arm and scallops for my knee, super comfy so far. 

I 3D printed my pickup cavity blank with the pickup positions in so installing the pickups can be an easier job, I'll also use this print to route my pickup cover which I have gluing up now... but I really want that to be finished before I reveal it for thoughts...

Next!

I want to carry on working on the body before I start a new neck, this is the best bit of doing a bolt on bass you can work on every element individually. I'm going to get the electronics cavity started and I'm hoping to get the pickup cover finished while the weather is pants tomorrow. 

Body needs more shaping and sanding but it's coming along nicely. 

Thanks! 

[HazBeen 1,706]

12 hours ago, spacecowboy said:

So... The Claro Walnut turned up and it doesn't really look like what it does in that photo... the frog is barely visible... so... I have some walnut for something else... like the bin.

Updates! 

Got the body blank glued up, picked up some Wenge with beautiful grain, decided to sandwich in a slice of swamp ash to help keep the weight down and mix up the visual a bit. 

Routed out the body shape and marked up the pickup cavity / cover section ready for drilling and routing. That neck on the right of the photo ended up being 3mm too thin... bummer... I'll use it for something else. 

 

Routed the cavities, I absolutely hated this job, I hate routers at the best of times but this job tested my resolve by the end of it I was absolutely sick. I've also started knocking the edges of the timber here to start shaping the curves. I have some felt lining to put in the pickup cavity... perhaps weird, but it looks lovely, the pickups will be mounted as normal with screws and springs but I think the felt just sets the whole thing off...

Belly scoop popped in, got a cut in for my arm and scallops for my knee, super comfy so far. 

I 3D printed my pickup cavity blank with the pickup positions in so installing the pickups can be an easier job, I'll also use this print to route my pickup cover which I have gluing up now... but I really want that to be finished before I reveal it for thoughts...

Oh sure..... 2nd build and already 3D printing templates..... Yes, I also saw the headstock template. Don’t deny it  

Just kidding, going to be gorgeous!

[Andyjr1515 4,708]

That looks lovely.  Super grain patterning - very classy

 

[spacecowboy 188]

23 minutes ago, HazBeen said:

Oh sure..... 2nd build and already 3D printing templates..... Yes, I also saw the headstock template. Don’t deny it  

Just kidding, going to be gorgeous!

That's the perk of my job I'm afraid... Need a lot of 3D printing in my line of work and now we're working from home... The printer came with me 😉 

[HazBeen 1,706]

8 minutes ago, spacecowboy said:

That's the perk of my job I'm afraid... Need a lot of 3D printing in my line of work and now we're working from home... The printer came with me 😉 

I am just a tad green with envy. But if honest I doubt I’d really know what to do with a 3d printer and my builds generally are a rather “fluid” affair (okay, I basically make it up as I go along)

[paul_5 1,174]

As an entirely amateur bitsa builder Ivan only marvel at the skill going into projects like this - it already looks beautiful. 

[spacecowboy 188]

1 hour ago, paul_5 said:

As an entirely amateur bitsa builder Ivan only marvel at the skill going into projects like this - it already looks beautiful. 

From my experience of this place everyone is more than happy to help share their expertise and experience, it's a definite learning curve and there's lots to get wrong but it's very fun.

[spacecowboy 188]

2 hours ago, HazBeen said:

I am just a tad green with envy. But if honest I doubt I’d really know what to do with a 3d printer and my builds generally are a rather “fluid” affair (okay, I basically make it up as I go along)

Haha it's just in my nature to CAD everything first and get something in 3D in my hands, as a business we use proper rapid prototyping but on our desks we use the relatively affordable Anycubic machines, they're about £300 and PLA material spools are around £25 and last ages, very stable with very little clean up. I wouldn't replace an MDF jig however they're quite brittle.

[GarethFlatlands 120]

Is it just me who loves their router? With a good template, they're fantastic! Nice and fast at getting jobs done.

[spacecowboy 188]

Updates!

Haven't made too much progress but still cracking on when time allows! 

Got the pickup cover glued up and rough sanded so it fits in place, need to prepare some screw mounting holes in the corners and you can see the tear out from my planer on some of the Wenge so that will need a quick fill but nothing major. I've used Ash to indicate where the pickups will be lying under the cover so I can ensure I play over the top of them. 

You can see these from the top too when in playing position. I popped a little bit of Ash around the entire edge too as I think it helps make it look classy, what it will definitely do is allow me to see if I have the cover level when installed on the bass. 

I've made some Wenge knobs too so everything matches up, the grain on this selection of Wenge is crazy, it's a bugger to sand but I think with some perseverance it's going to look lovely. 

Next!

Electronics cavity routing and start the cavity cover, finish the body contour shaping and sanding. I'm still focused on getting the body and all it's parts finished first before cracking on with the neck!

Edited October 6, 2020 by spacecowboy

[TheGreek 5,575]

That Wenge looks amazing - I don't think I've seen such heavily figured Wenge before. May be because I've only seen it for necks.

Looking good.

[BassTool 373]

That looks fantastic! 👍🏼