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Mouradian-style 4 string bass


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OK - now we've got the the bottom of the barrel....or maybe the barrel of the bottom... of the old favourites...er hum :D

The prospective owner asked if there could be some sort of carry over of the head-stock cutout with the trussrod cover.  Of course there could :)

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Then, with the very cheap and quite wobbly little bandsaw clearly having a good day, I wondered it there was any chance of cutting a longer sliver of neck offcut....

 

...for the control chamber cover! :)

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Well, as my old grandfather used to say, "Well son, in this life you can either hide it... or you can flaunt it!"  Wise words.

 

 

 

 

 

- and such a shame he got jailed so many times for those little incidents in the park...and the high street...and the football matches...and the police station...

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1 hour ago, curtisa said:

Seems Andy's threads are destined to devolve into a quagmire of humour and derailment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh well. Best not mess with the formula then:

 

:lol:

quagmires and derailments, now that reminds me of the time the I got stuck in a bog on a train.  It all began one rainy day.......

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10 hours ago, curtisa said:

In build threads, no one can hear you scream.

Maybe not, but when I post some of my methods and approaches, I'm pretty sure I can hear the collective and worldwide sound of the hands of experienced and competent luthiers hitting their foreheads and emitting a long wailing 'Noooooooooooooo'

 

;)

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I've been mainly fiddling about with finishing on this over the past week.  The owner wants a particular shade of cream and so the challenge has been more about finding the right colour than worrying too much what kind of paint that is and how I was going to apply it :rolleyes:

In the end, I've gone for a brushed on enamel.  It has been slightly problematic because the second coat orange-peeled like crazy despite following the manufacturer's recommendations for curing times, etc.. Don't you just love products that aren't even compatible with themselves :angry:

Anyway, after a fair bit of fiddling about, I got it done ready for varnish:

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...and this afternoon started the first gloss coat:

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The playing part of the neck will eventually be tru-oil slurry and buffed, so will end up the same colour albeit transitioning from satin to gloss as it meets the body.

I'm using the same 'formulation changed to save the polar bears' varnish, but trying it using a different method because of the issues I've had since it changed.  I'm trying a really trail-blazing and modern method...un-thinned and applied by brush!  I'll let you know how it goes :D

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1 hour ago, Prostheta said:

Have you considered trying, or actually put your hand to French polishing Andy? I figure that would be right up your street. Very patient and precise work, rewarding if you see it through and very very friendly on the old polar bear layer.

It's very much on my 'one of these days I must find time to try that!' last :)

 

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1 hour ago, Prostheta said:

Well, I'm going to be doing a bunch of it soon so it'll be on video. I'm hoping to capture that all-important "comet trail" that a rubber should leave. It's a pleasure to do once you get past the basic idea on what not to do (another one of those, @ScottR).

Look forward to seeing that, @Prostheta. In the meantime I will have a look at broadly how it works.

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6 minutes ago, ScottR said:

What are those fancy green decorations on your blue painters tape? Mine doesn't have those.:(

SR

My refound special weapon!  Painters tape that actually does seal the edges and peels off cleanly.  When 3M originally brought this out our local diy superstore sold it and it was unmistakable because it was blue and no other painters tape was.  Then the name changed and also didn't have 3M printed on it, but it was still blue.  But, and you can hardly believe it, it didn't work quite the same.  And the thieving bastards honourable retail chain still sell the rubbish product.

Then, in an old fashioned ironmongers, I found this reel.  It's Scotch blue #2093EL and this is probably the last reel in the UK as we Brits clearly don't know quality from stupendously high margin crap crap.

Not that any of this irritates me, you understand :D

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3 hours ago, ScottR said:

What are those fancy green decorations on your blue painters tape? Mine doesn't have those.:(

Adds more 'air', 'body' and '3D-ness' to the tone when compared to traditional blue masking tape.

Sheesh. Call yourself a guitar builder? I thought everyone knew that! ;)

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The blue stuff I have is definitely not of the same calibre as the real deal. So much so, I use it interchangeably with the crap I have from Würth or whatever else is available. Maybe I need to have a chat with Carlos at Guitars and Woods to see if he can get ahold of it. 3M double stick tape is an amazing product by the same coin.

Looking into their retail product literature, it seems they have a site, "scotchblue.com" and their "best" tape is the Platinum. In the comparison chart it doesn't list end uses which include sharp clean edges so I'm wondering if they've just differentiated the product. Certainly, the Scotch Blue seems aimed at the DIY or professional decorator as opposed to fine woodworking or car painter. Apologies if the post is a bit stream of thought....I'm writing as I read....

Quite likely this is the product that we'd find the nearest equivalent. It's directly targeted to professional work, and I suspect that the original was simply so good that it worked for both. In that respect, any decrease in the Scotch Blue's quality would only affect people using it beyond its design scope....like us? The intended end user and their work wouldn't see any benefit from the AwesomeLevel being higher than required?

http://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-Auto-Care-Masking-Tape?N=5002385+8710676+3291892495&rt=rud

I'm extending out a bit. This might not be true, however I suspect that the old Scotch Blue is now rebranded as that, and a newer cheaper grade replaced the DIY consumer level product.

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7 hours ago, Prostheta said:

The blue stuff I have is definitely not of the same calibre as the real deal. So much so, I use it interchangeably with the crap I have from Würth or whatever else is available. Maybe I need to have a chat with Carlos at Guitars and Woods to see if he can get ahold of it. 3M double stick tape is an amazing product by the same coin.

Looking into their retail product literature, it seems they have a site, "scotchblue.com" and their "best" tape is the Platinum. In the comparison chart it doesn't list end uses which include sharp clean edges so I'm wondering if they've just differentiated the product. Certainly, the Scotch Blue seems aimed at the DIY or professional decorator as opposed to fine woodworking or car painter. Apologies if the post is a bit stream of thought....I'm writing as I read....

Quite likely this is the product that we'd find the nearest equivalent. It's directly targeted to professional work, and I suspect that the original was simply so good that it worked for both. In that respect, any decrease in the Scotch Blue's quality would only affect people using it beyond its design scope....like us? The intended end user and their work wouldn't see any benefit from the AwesomeLevel being higher than required?

http://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-Auto-Care-Masking-Tape?N=5002385+8710676+3291892495&rt=rud

I'm extending out a bit. This might not be true, however I suspect that the old Scotch Blue is now rebranded as that, and a newer cheaper grade replaced the DIY consumer level product.

In my rant I probably confused everybody (what moi? :D).  No - the 3M Scotchblue I now have is just as good as the Scotchblue I originally bought.  The problem is the thieving miscreants respected and near monopoly DIY chain that, at first, sold genuine  Scotchblue, now sell their own version, re-branded to confuse and of vastly inferior quality to the genuine 3M.  Because they sell it at the same premium price, they don't even offer the genuine stuff at all, so it's crap or nothing.

It's the equivalent to a country's monopoly guitar retailer introducing Gibsons, then selling Chibsons at the same price and assuming no one will notice the difference.  Commercial arrogance at its finest :angry:

Gosh....now I need the tablets again.......

 

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