Dom in Dorset Posted April 11, 2023 Author Share Posted April 11, 2023 3 hours ago, Hellzero said: Is it for a Bowie fan? No it's for my country rock singing denim clad altar ego Dale. He can't have too much denim. 3 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 (edited) I'm back.... I've been slowly settling into a new work/life/making stuff regime and hopefully things will happen a bit more regularly now. To catch up... The headless bass is on a back burner. The flying v is finished and I have gigged on it. The front burner is currently occupied by a hollow body travel guitar that I was hoping to complete by NYE but I'm waiting for suitable binding to be delivered. Simmering away next to it is the double denim bass. It's come out darker than I was expecting but I can't change that now. Also after thicknessing the body I've realised that I need to add another hit of epoxy as I've sanded through to the denim in a couple of places. Eventually I'll be fitting these jeans rivets for dots. Sanding the radius on the fretboard using a piece of salvaged mahogany to act as a guide rail for the sanding block. I have a jig for guitars but haven't got round to a bass one yet. This morning I installed the maple binding on the fretboard. I had to use the bending iron for the two bits at the end. Edited January 1 by Dom in Dorset Just so I could write something here. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard R Posted March 26 Share Posted March 26 How's the double denim bass coming on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted March 27 Author Share Posted March 27 11 hours ago, Richard R said: How's the double denim bass coming on? Hi, It ground to a halt when I hit problems getting the epoxy to form a consistent layer. It looked great until I started sanding and then the denim was exposed. Someone on Instagram suggested a solution (a bleeding obvious one that just hadn't occurred to me at the time) to apply the binding and use that as the dam to give the fill level. At that point I got distracted by an acoustic (ish) travel guitar that's also ground to a halt due to problems with finishing the sides. After flying for the first time since about 1983 I decided that it would be good to have a guitar that could be dismantled and packed into a suitcase. This project was intended to be a quick one so I used a body and neck that I fished out of the scrap box. It has turned out to be prettier than I expected and so I'm taking more care than I originally planned.The body was a prototype Les Paul semi hollow mode from poplar and asit was just to test ideas and templates wasn't made with any great care. I've added a strip of veneer around the edge to tidy it up but this now means that I will have to double bind it. The timber used for the soundboard is Paulownia from a pallet. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard R Posted March 27 Share Posted March 27 That's going to look neat, as do all your builds. I'm still looking forward to the denim bass though. Blue jans, white shirt, denim waistcoat, cowboy hat & boots, and a denim bass. The perfect look for a church worship band 😄 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 The binding is on the double denim bass. The curves are about as tight as the maple binding can cope with before breaking. I might even get the next hit of epoxy on tomorrow. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 Fretboard sanded, frets cut and epoxy poured. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 That denim bass looks gorgeous Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 Denim dots too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stub Mandrel Posted March 31 Share Posted March 31 On 18/04/2022 at 13:51, kodiakblair said: Reckon the Guyker will also do the trick , I like their tuners. Can't tell from that photo if they have thrust bearings like this one. If not get some, they make a huge difference 👍 Thrust bearings should do the job. Back in the 80s I just added thrust washers and a drop of mineral oil to the tuners on my Hohner headless and they still work. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted March 31 Author Share Posted March 31 37 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said: Denim dots too? Not denim but you'll like them when you see them, maybe tomorrow..... 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted April 1 Author Share Posted April 1 Slight change of tack but I'm trying something new today - An experiment in extreme timber recycling.... building an electric guitar entirely from wood ash. I'd noticed that the pile of discarded ash from the fire when exposed to the rain turned into a clay like substance. I did a few experiments and discovered that the alkaline wood ash reacted with wood glue to form an incredibly hard yet light substance. I made a mold from cardboard and added the first layer of "ashcrete" , it will take at least three layers and a month to dry before it can be machined and turned into a guitar. Watch this space...... The thread title seems more relevant than ever! 9 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Ashsolutely bonkers! I love it! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 Mad Scientist alert! Cool. It will be very interesting to see how it handles the stresses. Any reinforcement? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 19 hours ago, Dom in Dorset said: Not denim but you'll like them when you see them, maybe tomorrow..... Jeans pocket rivets FTW 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 3 hours ago, SpondonBassed said: Mad Scientist alert! Cool. It will be very interesting to see how it handles the stresses. Any reinforcement? Concrete mesh 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTool Posted April 1 Share Posted April 1 On 31/03/2024 at 15:37, Dom in Dorset said: Fretboard sanded, frets cut and epoxy poured. That looks tremendous Dom 👌🏼 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 If you hadn't already worked it out yesterday's post was an April fool joke. I posted it on several platforms and what I found interesting was how enthusiastic some people were about the idea of using wood ash to make a guitar. As a result I'm actually going to make a sample of "ashcrete" just to see what happens.... Meanwhile back in the real world - 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 The denim bass looks amazing - watching with interest! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pea Turgh Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 4 hours ago, Dom in Dorset said: If you hadn't already worked it out yesterday's post was an April fool joke. I posted it on several platforms and what I found interesting was how enthusiastic some people were about the idea of using wood ash to make a guitar. As a result I'm actually going to make a sample of "ashcrete" just to see what happens.... Meanwhile back in the real world - Oh man, you got me! In my defense, you are aging a guitar body in the garden for months at a time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 55 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said: Oh man, you got me! In my defense, you are aging a guitar body in the garden for months at a time! Guilty as charged. That particular build should be underway as soon as these two are complete. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 On 01/04/2024 at 09:56, Dom in Dorset said: extreme timber recycling Doh! You got me. Good one. Nice mock up too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 (edited) The cats woke me up before five this morning to let me know that they wouldn't survive until a more reasonable hour without food. I used the opportunity to get the frets in. I covered the tangs in wood glue to fill any voids left in the fret slots. I also added binding to the headstock, I'm trying a partially bound style. Dolly and Tammy on the brink of starvation Edited April 5 by Dom in Dorset If I told you I'd have to kill you. 9 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 (edited) Masking the fretboard ahead of level/crown/polish of the frets Masked and coloured with a Sharpie then a couple of passes with the levelling beam to get an idea of how much work I will have to do. Once I'm happy that the frets are level the tops are re blacked before recrowning. The idea is to leave a thin line of black down the middle of the fret. Levelled, crowned and sanded up to 800 grit ready for polishing It's one of the more tedious parts of the process. I'll polish them next week. Edited April 9 by Rich 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom in Dorset Posted April 9 Author Share Posted April 9 Shiny shiny, shiny frets of nickel.... 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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