Finishing Ewan's 20 year six string bass project

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I love this hobby.  I flippin' well LOVE this hobby

Happy Andy  

Well done Andy!

The reactions of players is really what it's all about, isn't it?

At least it is for me. I'm not a player at all. So getting mine in the hands of someone who really knows what it's all about and seeing that reaction is the best thing of all....almost better than money.

SR

[mistermikev]

hadn't noticed that unique neck heel before... that's interesting.  Nice work!

[Andyjr1515]

36 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

hadn't noticed that unique neck heel before... that's interesting.  Nice work!

I'm quietly (me, quiet?) proud of that.  It's told me that bolt-ons don't need a Fender-style brickwall that break your thumb when you get to the upper frets

The transition probably shows a bit better in this shot:

 

 

 

[mistermikev]

3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I'm quietly (me, quiet?) proud of that.  It's told me that bolt-ons don't need a Fender-style brickwall that break your thumb when you get to the upper frets

The transition probably shows a bit better in this shot:

 

 

 

hard to see how thick the area the bolts are running thru is?  is there a shelf in the neck right there?  looks really thin.  really nice job and innovative.

[curtisa]

Kinda reminds me of the Yamaha Pacifica neck joint on the early-90s models:

...only more 'Andy-ised'.

So, does the 'R' in your screen name stand for 'Rescuer...'

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...of basses? 

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, mistermikev said:

hard to see how thick the area the bolts are running thru is?  is there a shelf in the neck right there?  looks really thin.  really nice job and innovative.

Yes - its a standardish neck pocket...a bit thinner than, say, a stratocaster, but same principle.  The difference is the neck where on this build I have a heel as deep as the body, whereas a strat (and the Yamaha @curtisa posted above) has a heel only just deeper than the pocket.  I'll try to find some better photos when I get back to the desktop or maybe sketch it out

[curtisa]

The Pacifica neck uses an aluminium extension tongue that slots into a cavity underneath the neck pickup. It was actually a pretty neat solution to eliminating the heel as much as possible, giving almost the same degree of accessibility as a neck-through arrangement with the convenience of bolt-on construction.

I'm not sure why it didn't catch on more. I don't recall there being issues reported with stability or weakness at the neck joint. The Pac721 I used to have many years back had the same neck joint and was a fantastic instrument. A guitar that, on reflection, I sorely regret selling in order to fund the purchase of another guitar that was twice the price and half as good.

[Andyjr1515]

26 minutes ago, curtisa said:

The Pacifica neck uses an aluminium extension tongue that slots into a cavity underneath the neck pickup. It was actually a pretty neat solution to eliminating the heel as much as possible, giving almost the same degree of accessibility as a neck-through arrangement with the convenience of bolt-on construction.

I'm not sure why it didn't catch on more. I don't recall there being issues reported with stability or weakness at the neck joint. The Pac721 I used to have many years back had the same neck joint and was a fantastic instrument. A guitar that, on reflection, I sorely regret selling in order to fund the purchase of another guitar that was twice the price and half as good.

Wow - never seen this before.  Fascinating!

[mistermikev]

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - its a standardish neck pocket...a bit thinner than, say, a stratocaster, but same principle.  The difference is the neck where on this build I have a heel as deep as the body, whereas a strat (and the Yamaha @curtisa posted above) has a heel only just deeper than the pocket.  I'll try to find some better photos when I get back to the desktop or maybe sketch it out

i was originally thinking this neck has sort of a 'step' right at the pocket... if I'm hearing you right I think you are saying that's what it is?  so it's as deep as the body except for the area that is "in" the pocket.  forgive me if i'm way off - trying to wrap my head around it!

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Wow - never seen this before.  Fascinating!

that is a pretty cool design.  reminds me of the innovations with the nuno gtr.

[Andyjr1515]

This is the neck pocket @mistermikev , albeit before me cutting the small slot for the biscuit strengthener:

So, as you can see, a reasonable thickness and plenty enough from a strength point of view.

Imagining a saw cut through the middle:

 

A is a typical 'strat' pocket where your thumb hits the brick wall of the body at around the 16th fret

At its simplest level, B is all I have done - I've deepened the heel and carved a transition so that the 'brickwall' is now flush with the bottom of the neck heel

But - this would have the effect of a rapidly thickening neck from, say, the 12th fret which is not good. 

Therefore, what I actually did was C.  I moved the neck pocket and brick wall back an inch so now the neck doesn't start thickening any earlier than on A (see positions against dotted line).  But now, at an equal scale length, I have the neck joint extending an inch further back than the end of a, say, 22 fret fretboard.  

So I made it a 24 fret fretboard with the end of the board just covering the join.

My musing is that I don't see why you couldn't mod a strat or tele or similar design the same way...

There's probably a very good reason which no doubt someone will tactfully point out to me  

[mistermikev]

3 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

This is the neck pocket @mistermikev , albeit before me cutting the small slot for the biscuit strengthener:

So, as you can see, a reasonable thickness and plenty enough from a strength point of view.

Imagining a saw cut through the middle:

 

A is a typical 'strat' pocket where your thumb hits the brick wall of the body at around the 16th fret

At its simplest level, B is all I have done - I've deepened the heel and carved a transition so that the 'brickwall' is now flush with the bottom of the neck heel

But - this would have the effect of a rapidly thickening neck from, say, the 12th fret which is not good. 

Therefore, what I actually did was C.  I moved the neck pocket and brick wall back an inch so now the neck doesn't start thickening any earlier than on A (see positions against dotted line).  But now, at an equal scale length, I have the neck joint extending an inch further back than the end of a, say, 22 fret fretboard.  

So I made it a 24 fret fretboard with the end of the board just covering the join.

My musing is that I don't see why you couldn't mod a strat or tele or similar design the same way...

There's probably a very good reason which no doubt someone will tactfully point out to me  

that is what I was thinking it was altho I didn't notice the shift you mentioned.  I would think with a strat the issue would be potentially moving that neck pickup no? nice idea. 

[Andyjr1515]

55 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

that is what I was thinking it was altho I didn't notice the shift you mentioned.  I would think with a strat the issue would be potentially moving that neck pickup no? nice idea. 

Yes, you are right - and the same with the telecaster. 

Brick wall it is, then