The Desert Pixie, Maple/Ash Bass

[skibum5545]

Well, over a year after I finished number one, I have finally started on my second bass. Here are the specs:

-Swamp ash body (thanks to GuitarFrenzy for the beautiful--and light--wood!)

-1/4" Curly hard maple cap

-Warmoth Maple/Ebony J Bass neck

-2 G&L MFD bass Humbuckers

-Chrome Hardware

-Gotoh GB7 tuners

-This bridge, but in chrome

-Chrome knobs

Controls:

-Volume

-Tone

-5 Way switch

-Bridge HB

-Outer Coils

-Both HBs

-Inner Coils

-Neck HB

-Momentary Killswitch

As for the finish, I haven't decided yet. I'm toying with doing a honeyburst like on this guitar, but I don't have an airbrush, so I might just go for solid amber. I will probably use dyes from stewmac, and Duplicolor Acrylic lacquer.

Anyway, here's what I've gotten done so far:

My maple top, wetted down for the photo. At this point it's only sanded to bout 60, so on the real thing the grain should really pop.

Here's my electronics cavity. I routed it through the ash because the maple cap will provide the 1/4" in which i mount the pots.

Here you can see the routs between the pickup cavities and the electronics cavity. They will be covered by the maple cap.

Here's the back of the body blank. Nice grain, eh?

In order to align the top for gluing, I mounted small metal pegs into the swamp ash along the centerline (in the scrap wood, of course), and drilled corresponding holes in the maple. Voila, perfectly aligned cap! Actually, for the picture I accidentally mounted the cap backwards. I rectified this error for the actual gluing.

Here you can see the routs between the pickup cavities and the electronics cavity. They will be covered by the maple cap.

At this point in the process, the digital camera left town for Rocky Mountain National Park with my parents, so the gluing of the top and routing of the various pockets were not documented. However, here is the result:

Pickup and neck pockets

One pickup in place-- a nice tight fit!

This is the jig I made for routing the pickups. It takes into account the 2 3/4" between the edge of the router bit and the edge of the router baseplate, so the router simply rides inside the jig, rather than on top of it like a 1:1 template with a template bit.

Finally, just to get it out of the way early, a picture of my feet.

Next step, takin' it to the bandsaw!

[Bigtommyb]

Hahahhahahah another foot pic... whos collecting all these?!

Any how as with most of the builds on here should be a good 1

T

[Bassisgreat]

Looks good so far! I am not sure I fully understand the jig you made but it seems to have worked like a charm because that pickup looks nice and snug.

I'll be looking forward to updates on this one. Keep up the good work!

[AlGeeEater]

Hahahhahahah another foot pic... whos collecting all these?!

←

The dancing banana man

[skibum5545]

Looks good so far! I am not sure I fully understand the jig you made  but it seems to have worked like a charm because that pickup looks nice and snug.

I'll be looking forward to updates on this one. Keep up the good work!

←

This is the best explanation I can think of: my router has a 6" base, meaning a radius from the center of the bit to the edge of the base is 3". However, the router bit is 1/2" diameter, or 1/4" radius. So, from the edge of the bit to the edge of the base is 2 3/4".

Now, the pickup dimension is x" by y" (doesn't matter, the principle is the same for any size.) So, if you want the edge of the bit to line up with the edge of the rout when the router base is against the wall, you need the wall to be 2.75" away from the rout at all times. Therefore, your jig needs to be the width or length plus 2.75 on each edge, making, for a pickup of dimensions X by Y, a jig 2*2.75+X" by 2*2.75+y".

Does that make sense?

[skibum5545]

Well, another update today, and the news is mixed. I finished bandsawing the outline, and here are the results:

Back

Keep in mind, this is still the rough outline, and will change slightly as I sand the sides to the right shape.

However, check out what I discovered lurking deep within the heart of the swamp ash:

Uh Oh....

Moreover, that thing's a good 6 inches deep!

I guess this means my plans for finishing change a bit: Amber top, natural faux binding, black sides, blackburst to natural back... I think. Any other suggestions are welcome, too.

Next: a whole helluva lotta sanding!

Edited August 25, 2005 by skibum5545

[Curtis P]

not overly fond of the shape, but, i may change my mind when it gets sanded, keep up the good work!

Curtis

[thegarehanman]

Fill the wormhole with black epoxy...it'll add some character to those plane jane sides

[skibum5545]

Well, not that anyone's been staying up at night hoping for an update, here's what I've managed to do since my last post.

Sanding the sides by hand proved futile, even with a sanding block. The maple cap is so hard, and the swamp ash is so soft, that the sanding refused to go evenly. Grits that barely started to remove wood on the maple left huge gouges in the swamp ash. Well, I found one solution:

An Oscillating Spindle Sander!

This beautiful Delta oscillating spindle sander did in 15 minutes what would have taken me hours by hand! Now that I have it, there's no end to how many guitars I can make! Mwahahahaha!!!!!

Now that that's out of my system, the guitar has taken its all but final form:

Here's the front of it,

and here's the front with water to bring out the grain:

The figure will be much more dramatic when complete, as it is only rough sanded to 60 grit right now.

Next step: roundovers on the edges, and carving the armrest and tummy cut.

As for the finish, I've decided to go with a lightly tinted amber lacquer, even despite the flaw on the top horn; that'll just get filled with epoxy and fine sawdust, and hopefully no one will inspect the inside of the top horn too closely.

Edited September 26, 2005 by skibum5545

[n8rofwyo]

The patch for the wormhole will stand out like a sore thumb. It's just too big to hide that way. The patch will turn out much darker than the rest of the body unless you do a few trial runs with stain to try to find the color (or colors) that will best match the clear coated epoxy/dust filler.

At least that has been my experience with this sort of thing. Maybe someone else has another idea.

Other than that, it looks pretty slick to me. Good luck.

Nate Robinson

[erikbojerik]

Nice sandal tan! Nice axe too. And an interesting choice of pickups; are you going active or passive?

Wormhole; drill a matching one on the lower horn and constantly refer to them as "sound chambers" Or put your output jack there

Don't you just LOVE the oscillating spindle sander?

[Guitarfrenzy]

Skibum.. I'm glad I checked this thread. I really feel bad about the wood having a worm hole in it after you cut it, and if you'll PM me with your address again, I will send you out another set to make good for it. Just let me know, and I'll make it right for you.

Matt Vinson

[skibum5545]

Matt, thanks for the offer. You've been PM'ed.

The patch will turn out much darker than the rest of the body unless you do a few trial runs with stain to try to find the color (or colors) that will best match the clear coated epoxy/dust filler.

Good advice. I'll probably just stick with clear epoxy to fill the hole, as there's not much chance of getting the color to match anyhow.

And an interesting choice of pickups; are you going active or passive?

I'm going passive for this one, just because I didn't feel like dealing with the added cost and trouble of a preamp. Besides, these pickups are supposedly rather high output anyway, so I don't think I'll need one.

And yes, this spindle sander is certainly a fun toy. Shopping for it was even cooler, though-- the place I got it had some mean looking shop tools!

[Maiden69]

Nice progress, not to fond of the shape, but I think that once you get everything done it will look much better. And wormholes in ash are veery common, and very decent from Matt for his offer. Keeo us updated.

[Bassisgreat]

Looking great! I can't wait to see the grain in that maple pop when you sand and finish it! With that wood combo you should get a nice percussive tone with some good chunky lows and nice bright highs... mmmmmm funky.

[skibum5545]

I've been really busy with school lately--I went with the hard classes Senior year, and I'm paying for it with my free time-- but I've still managed to get in some shop time. This bass is also going a lot faster than the first, if only because I've done this stuff before.

The most striking difference you'll notice is the roundovers and the carving on the front and back. The top roundover has a 1/4" radius, while the back has a 1/8" radius, which gives it a strangely appealing balance of crispness of design and comfort.

Here's the top:

Another view:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...2/Topcarved.jpg

A closeup of the top arm bevel:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...arveCloseup.jpg

Here's a shot of the back and the belly carve:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib.../Backcarved.jpg

A side view to show the depth of the carve:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...02/SideView.jpg

I also made myself a custom swamp ash backplate. Since I couldn't have a true continuous wood backplate, I settled for the next best thing. Here's how I did it:

--Traced out my backplate shape onto tracing paper, and transferred it to a chunk

of scrap swamp ash.

--Cut the chunk out on the bandsaw and spindle sanded the edges to final shape; checked it against my template and tracing.

-- Cut off 3/16" slices of the backplate with the bandsaw and a guide clamped on the table, and chose the prettiest one.

Here's the setup I used for cutting the slices. I staged this picture after the event, so you can see the nick I accidentally cut into my blank that rendered it useless for more slices :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...gbackplates.jpg

Here's the backplate:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...neBackplate.jpg

Here's the template I'm using for cutting the recess:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...acktemplate.jpg

Here's the creepy part: check out how well some of the grain, taken from a piece in an entirely different area of the body blank, lines up when the backplate's in place:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v79/skib...plateonbass.jpg

The other thing I got done was to drill the holes for the neck bolts as well as the recesses for the ferrules (black ones from StewMac).

Next step: Drill for the electronics, drill for the bridge, sand it all, and then take it down to Maaco for some coats of clear poly.

Edited December 2, 2005 by skibum5545

[thegarehanman]

Momma's got a big bottom. Going well. Senior year was my easy year; I didn't even have a full day's worth of classes.

[skibum5545]

My neck from Warmoth finally arrived today; here are a couple pictures:

Back of the Headstock

Whole Neck

Not bad birdseye, eh? Honestly, I really didn't expect this kind of figure when I ordered the non AAA figure neck, but I'm glad these guys came through once again.

Meanwhile, I'm finishing up the sanding process to prepare this body for a nice coat of two pack. Recently, after having my car in at a local body shop for service, I inquired about the cost of having them finish this body for me, and they offered to do it for free! Naturally, I plan to take them up on this, but I just have to make sure that the body's 100% prepped before I take it in.

So, here's all the questions I have regarding prepping my body:

--Grain Filler: Should I go with epoxy, clear grain filler (from Stew Mac), plain old sanding sealer, or will the poly take care of the grain? I doubt the last one would work, I have some questions as to how transparent sanding sealer would be, I have no idea how easy the clear grain filler is to work with, and I suspect that the epoxy, while effective, would be a son of a bisphenol to sand flush again. Any thoughts from the pros?

--Various holes: How should I plug the bridge, neck, and electronics holes? Do I even need to plug them, or can I just drill them back out after the finishing process? Naturally, I plan to mask off the cavities, but I don't imagine I'll be able to plug all the holes effectively.

--Sealing the body: Do I need to seal the surface of the whole body, or will sending it in as raw wood with filled grain be enough for the poly to stick?

--Finally, are there any major compatibility issues I'm missing here?

Thanks for all the help; this project is really beginning to come together, and I'm really psyched about finishing it up.

P.S. Guitarfrenzy, I still haven't heard back from you about that replacement swamp ash blank. Maybe your PM box is full?

[verhoevenc]

That bird's eye is GORGEOUS!!!

Chris

[erikbojerik]

I would seal it before having the auto poly sprayed on. I use Minwax sanding sealer from the Depot, brushed on, and it has done a fine job of filling small grain. But I've never used it on something with huge pores like swamp ash.

So I'd fill that grain first and level. Then seal. Then sand it level with 320 (sorry, but you'll have to sand the edges by hand!). Then do it again. Twice should be enough.

[Guitarfrenzy]

So, here's all the questions I have regarding prepping my body:

--Grain Filler: Should I go with epoxy, clear grain filler (from Stew Mac), plain old sanding sealer, or will the poly take care of the grain? I doubt the last one would work, I have some questions as to how transparent sanding sealer would be, I have no idea how easy the clear grain filler is to work with, and I suspect that the epoxy, while effective, would be a son of a bisphenol to sand flush again. Any thoughts from the pros?

--Various holes: How should I plug the bridge, neck, and electronics holes? Do I even need to plug them, or can I just drill them back out after the finishing process? Naturally, I plan to mask off the cavities, but I don't imagine I'll be able to plug all the holes effectively.

--Sealing the body: Do I need to seal the surface of the whole body, or will sending it in as raw wood with filled grain be enough for the poly to stick?

--Finally, are there any major compatibility issues I'm missing here?

Thanks for all the help; this project is really beginning to come together, and I'm really psyched about finishing it up.

P.S. Guitarfrenzy, I still haven't heard back from you about that replacement swamp ash blank. Maybe your PM box is full?

Yes, my PM box gets full and I miss a lot of PM's. I've just now got some Swamp Ash ready, as I had sold all the wood I had ready, so I hadn't had any ready until recently, I'll check my PM's to make sure they are cleared out. Please PM and let me get you some wood out to you.

As far as the grainfilling goes, I like epoxy of course and it is the hardest to sand. I have also used Stew Mac waterbased clear grainfiller and it's great, easy to sand, and doesn't sink bad after curing.

[skibum5545]

Thanks for the advice, you guys.

Matt, you've been PM'ed.

[skibum5545]

Thanks again for all the help on this build. Pictures of the finished product can be found in this month's GOTM thread, here:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...st&p=282256

Comments, questions, and especially critiques are more than welcome.

[mushy the shroom]

Man that thing is killer. Glad to see you got the neck working. I kind of wish you had some higher-res photos of it.. if there's a problem with Photoshop, we could easily host them on Drastic-Creations (Static-Line's old host). And.. for your GOTM entry it seems that a few of the images don't display.

[skibum5545]

Thanks for the help, man-- I got the GOTM links fixed (I hope). The downsizing is thanks to trusty ol' Photobucket, but if you can help me upload stuff (tomorrow maybe?) it'd be appreciated.