Andyjr1515

...oh and before you wonder....the finished sanding hasn't happened yet!

OK, @Mr Natural - here we go. Flat on its front and flat on its back from all sides: Someone from another forum described it as a Starwars spaceship - I sort of know where they're coming from Does this help envisage it?

You are right. The added difficulty is that there is no way you can stand the little b****r up properly While it's strung up with the tuner block on, it actually sits level on the floor. I'm just about to take the strings off so, before I do, I'll see if I can take some 'plan and elevation' shots. I'll try that right now on the garden table....

I'm slowly but surely getting there with determining the saddle position. Now it has the proper gauge strings, adjusted truss rod and the action height about right, I reckon the saddle will need to be about 1mm further back than this: I'll reset it and try it out in the morning. In the meantime, Happy Midsummer Everyone

Can't remember if I showed a shot of this - this bass is very difficult to photograph because all of the usual reference points are in unusual places (presumably same difficulty with photographing your wonderful Fugly Ritter-esque, @Mr Natural ?). From the shot above it does look like that tuner block is hanging in mid air. It's actually fully supported: I have yet to do something similar on the headstock clamp. No photos yet because it works - but looks very naff at the moment

Why, thank you, kind sir

Certainly. Now you're talking the kind of language I like

Loads still to do, but another job off the list. Added smaller Luminlay dots in the fret overrun for the frets past where the body meets the neck: There is...sometimes....OK not very often...method in my madness... (and there's certainly madness in my methods )

Thanks Not needed for the body - there will be no contact between the strings and the body - it goes straight from the tuner stringball grabs to the saddle (hence the angle of the tuner block and the exit holes). Headstock-wise - possibly, to avoid the holes widening over time. I've still got some work to do on that area.

Of COURSE it is! This is Andyjr1515 you're talking to, after all The interesting thing is the playing experience. Haven't got the straplocks in yet, but I'm pretty sure it's going to hang just right on the strap. I'm expecting the weight of the lower bout and tuner block to bring the body down and swing to the right, making reaching the lower frets easier and putting the tuner block a couple of inches to the right of your hip but wrapped cosily round. Over the knee, much the same happens and for this style of playing, its certainly the most comfortable full-scale bass I've personally played.... Total luck, of course.

I've made a bit more progress since I last posted. The 'final tasks checklist' is still long, but it's getting shorter I've widened the control chamber and also managed to get a mini stacked pot so I can squeeze in: Master Volume Piezo / Magnetic blend Piezo Tone Magnetic Tone It's going to be a fixed acoustic bone saddle, so I need to know exactly where the intonation needs to sit before I cut the saddle slot. Rather than guess, I rigged up the strings and placed an old acoustic 6 string saddle on a piece of veneer to determine the actual position - effectively setting up a floating bridge. It was a good opportunity to see if the clamping and tuning set up was going to work too! Before I did that, I needed to drill the holes in the headstock for the rear clamp. I used the ubiquitous cocktail sticks to double check the break angle. Does ANYONE use cocktail sticks for cocktails???? So with strings and a temporary saddle: I lastly cut the control cover 3mm-ish sliver - still got to sand it flush but it fits nicely

Very nice looking indeed!

In the meantime, subject to tidying up the cover rebate a touch, I've lengthened the chamber to give a bit more room between the bottom knob and the jack plug: The wider areas of the rebate (and I'll widen it also at the bottom) are to fit the retaining magnets into. Next task after finishing the rebate shape is coaxing my little bandsaw into cutting me a 3mm sliver off some sycamore-offcut for the cover...

Yes - you're right. I'm also experimenting with using some modded machine head bushes that a member of one of the other forums floated out (with a M7 thread cut on the inside) that might make it easier to attach without having to thin the wall too much. The fall-back is, as you say. to set in a chassis-type plate in. I have double checked that there aren't any longer threaded pots around, but centre indent 10k small-bodied linear pots are clearly a niche item....

Next big task is the control chamber and cover. This is a bit chicken and egg and will need me to make up some routing templates. Looking at the John East pre-amp circuit, there are optional connection points for master vol, piezo / magnetic blend, piezo tone and magnetic tone. So hang it - may as well try to get ALL of those in, if I can To get the above in full, I need one more pot - Artec do a mini concentric pot that I could use for the two tones, but in terms of footprint, this is basically how it would fit (and also these are not the final knobs): If the concentric tones is a no go, actually the above would work with a dual gang pot, one wired to the piezo and one to the magnetic and then just use the blend to get the right vibe... Either way, with a bit of squaring off of the two chambers, it will fit. The usability is also OK - you would just reach down and roll the knobs from their sides. I do need to get the dividing wall quite a bit thinner - the two pots John recommends for the blend and master volume are only available in short thread. With care, though, it should be fine. Once the shape of the chamber has been tweaked, I can then rout the rebate for the cover... Oh - and ignore the ragged corner of the tuner block chamber - haven't got there yet!

I had no idea they did it like that!

Some great skills on show here and some excellent tips and techniques. I'd forgotten the double sided tape technique - so obvious once you've clocked it but I could have gone on building 10 years sweating over excess sanding jobs and still not remembered to do it... ... reminder gratefully received

I spotted the chamfer on your ply jigs! It isn't just that they're chamfered....it's that they're so perfectly chamfered . It does your craftsmanship credit. It's great to see this back in progress. I need to remind myself, when I'm on a faster connection, the design features. In the meantime, you've given me some thoughts how I get to be able to rout the hatch rebate on my new bass build....except my jig probably won't have chamfers.

OK - that's got me intrigued!

Now it really IS starting to look like a bass

First dozen frets installed : In the 'hammer them or caul them' debate, I do a bit of both (now come on....you wouldn't expect anything else ). For better or for worse, I put them in 4 at a time, using the 'fret radiused tighter than the fretboard, tiny bead of titebond on the tangs, then tap one side, tap the other side, tap the middle' method to make sure the tangs are properly locked in. I then clamp the appropriate radius block on the four I've just done for half an hour or so. Note I've finished the ends on the bass side before installing. I will do that also on the upper frets where the slots are blind due to the upper horn.

Yes - it's a little bit special. We were in a remote part of Skye. It took 10.5 hours to drive from the midlands. Worth it, though: This is just to prove that I may be an old git, but I can still clamber up the side of a mountain...albeit like a very old goat...

No - so far so good. I'm sure there are one or two of the critters still waiting to jump out and scare the bejeesus out of me, though I'm going to round the ends of the body-bound frets on one side before fitting so should be OK. Luckily, they only have to line up with each other and not the rest of the little tinkers...

I've been on the back patio again today, no less! Stunning and surely unprecedented two days in a row.... I'm into the final-ish sanding - things like the body / neck transitions: I might be able to do the frets over the next one or two days...

Back to the project and a little more progress. First of all, the headstock. The general style is what the future owner is after. Still a bit of refining to do but this is how it's looking: The plate is sycamore with an inset of rock maple to give a passing nod to the fretboard. The trussrod cover is cut from the plat itself and will be secured with a single neo magnet: The back is stripy: It will end up slimmer than this, but with this general vibe. I've also drilled the string access holes: ...and luminlay dots: Still a lot to do but I've actually got to the 'final jobs to do' list with only 14 items left on it