Rexel Matador Posted August 20, 2023 Author Share Posted August 20, 2023 Working on an excessive volute... 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted August 20, 2023 Share Posted August 20, 2023 3 hours ago, Rexel Matador said: Working on an excessive volute... Voluptuous! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted August 30, 2023 Author Share Posted August 30, 2023 (edited) I had it all sanded and was looking forward to posting some pics - but I made a stupid mistake. I didn't have it clean enough and went to add a coat of oil, and basically ended up washing a load of padauk dust into the poplar, leaving ugly pink stains on it!. So, I'm sanding it back as best I can. Hopefully it will end up being an improvement - I don't think I'd done a good enough sanding job to begin with, so I'm going to try and do it better this time. Using poplar was a mistake, I think, but I had it there so went with it. It's not a good wood for oiling, while the neck woods absolutely love it. So in the coming days I'll do the best I can to get it looking as nice as possible. I really don't want to be messing with wipe-on poly or anything like that with a through neck build, because I wouldn't want it on the back of the neck. Hey-ho, I'm learning as I go. I'm either too stubborn or too blinded by the barrage of information online to do anything other than trying things out and then getting annoyed with myself when they don't work! Sorry - not a particularly exciting update for you all. Next one will hopefully be more colourful! Edited August 30, 2023 by Rexel Matador 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloke_zero Posted August 30, 2023 Share Posted August 30, 2023 Frustrating getting dust of any kind into the grain! I know what you mean about the barrage of information - sometimes you have to get involved to find out what is actually important the hard way. Worth it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 11, 2023 Author Share Posted September 11, 2023 Wife's 40th and Mum's 70th were a week apart, so I've been incredibly busy, but I've finally found some time today to finish sanding and apply a coat of oil. Once the finish is done I'll start on the frets. I'm also going to have a bash at making a brass nut, but I've got a graphtech blank as a backup! On the first pic, you might be able to see a dark patch in the upper cutaway. Its an odd one. It seems to be some kind of discolouration in the wood that really popped out as soon as the oil went on. Ah well. I'm looking forward to getting it strung up and plugged in, in any case! Probably won't be ready for Friday's gig, sadly. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 That neck is the absolute dog's whatsits! Can't see a dark patch even when you tell me where it is supposed to be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard R Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: That neck is the absolute dog's whatsits! Can't see a dark patch even when you tell me where it is supposed to be Is that it? Nobody will notice and the rest is superb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Bass Posted September 11, 2023 Share Posted September 11, 2023 Love that neck wood combo. I’m going for the same on a build in the near future. How wide is the padauk strips? Looks well balanced to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 11, 2023 Author Share Posted September 11, 2023 23 minutes ago, Dread Bass said: Love that neck wood combo. I’m going for the same on a build in the near future. How wide is the padauk strips? Looks well balanced to me. I think they were 10mm when I got them, and ended up at 7 or 8 ish after going through the planer 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dread Bass Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 13 hours ago, Rexel Matador said: I think they were 10mm when I got them, and ended up at 7 or 8 ish after going through the planer Thanks for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moley6knipe Posted September 12, 2023 Share Posted September 12, 2023 I love this! I’m so impressed with any of y’all that do any bass building or modding. Just beyond me. Good work!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 12, 2023 Author Share Posted September 12, 2023 (edited) Started on the nut - I need to keep busy while coats are drying! Brass is so easy to work with, I love it. I filed the big slot just to see how hard it would be. The slotting proper can wait until the frets are levelled etc. Control cavity cover from a scrap of the wenge from the neck: And this... I drilled one of the tuner holes a bit too close to the edge. I was going to leave it but decided it would annoy me, especially if the other strings run perpendicular to the nut, which was my intention. I plugged the hole and redrilled it. It's a bit ugly but will be totally covered buy the tuner 🙂 Edited September 12, 2023 by Rexel Matador 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 13, 2023 Author Share Posted September 13, 2023 Disaster! I worked out the position of the bridge and drilled the two outer screw holes. They land right on the join between the poplar and the wenge, but thankfully my glue joints were up to it. So far so good. Time to drill the other three holes. Wait, did that drill bit just snap? Wow. Ok, I'll drill it out, make a bigger hole and fill it with a dowel. It'll all be hidden anyway. Now the screw has snapped. Ok, four will be plenty. Not ideal, but whatever. In screws four and five go. Both snap. This is a new one for me. Is there some metal in there that I've forgotten about? Either that or this wood must be harder than diamonds. So... I drilled a few more holes so I could yank out the offending bits of screw/drill. Next job will be to rout out the area and stick in a new bit of wood which can take the remaining bridge holes. Again, it will thankfully all be hidden in the end. This bass building lark really is a roller coaster. It was all going so well! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 Ouch! What drills are you using? I would recommend some decent quality Forstners. Are you using a pillar drill or hand drill? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moley6knipe Posted September 13, 2023 Share Posted September 13, 2023 Oh bother! Or similar words ☹️ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 14, 2023 Author Share Posted September 14, 2023 7 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said: Ouch! What drills are you using? I would recommend some decent quality Forstners. Are you using a pillar drill or hand drill? I used a hand drill for the original holes. It's always worked in the past. Pillar drill when I was hogging out wood to remove the screws/make the router's job easier. I don't think a forstner is necessary at this point. I'm just going to use the router to cleanly cut out the offending area and fill it with a new piece of wood. It'll be fine 🤣 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted September 14, 2023 Share Posted September 14, 2023 19 minutes ago, Rexel Matador said: I used a hand drill for the original holes. It's always worked in the past. Pillar drill when I was hogging out wood to remove the screws/make the router's job easier. I don't think a forstner is necessary at this point. I'm just going to use the router to cleanly cut out the offending area and fill it with a new piece of wood. It'll be fine 🤣 My bad. I scan read it and thought it was the drill that had broken based on the photo!! Yes - there are some timbers that are very resistant to letting the screws cut their threads. Wenge, ebony, even some types of rock maple. I try to find good quality screws (easier said than done...how do you know?), I put soap on the threads and do the 'two twists forward, one twist back'. But sometimes they still snap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 14, 2023 Author Share Posted September 14, 2023 1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said: there are some timbers that are very resistant to letting the screws cut their threads. I had no idea. Always learning! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 19, 2023 Author Share Posted September 19, 2023 (edited) I routed out the area with the mangled screw holes, cut/sanded a scrap of the body wood to size, shoved it in with some glue, chiselled it flush, re-drilled the holes, and forgot to take a picture. But here it is, taped up for the fret job. After that, I just need to finish off the nut, set it up and we're done. Next gig is on 29th September, so that will hopefully be its debut! I'm excited to hear how it sounds. I've never played a 32" scale bass before and I've also never tried reverse P pickup placement. The body is very small, as you can probably tell by how massive the bridge and pickup look in the picture. Maybe a bit too small, but it's nice and light and I think will serve me well for the ridiculously long gigs I do these days. Edited September 19, 2023 by Rexel Matador 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bloke_zero Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 Great work! I'm a big fan of the reverse P - I hope it works out well for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 Splendid job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrbacco Posted September 19, 2023 Share Posted September 19, 2023 (edited) wow ... bellissima neck! great precision bass and wonderful work, thanks for sharing! Edited September 19, 2023 by mrbacco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 23, 2023 Author Share Posted September 23, 2023 Mission accomplished! Only played through a practice amp so far but it sounds great. Can't wait to get to band practice! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpondonBassed Posted September 23, 2023 Share Posted September 23, 2023 That's lovely. It makes me think of Twiggy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted September 23, 2023 Author Share Posted September 23, 2023 The model or the guy who played bass for Marilyn Manson? 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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