Son of Magni Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Roundover before you glue the neck in....most definitely. I distinctly recall hating the task of feathering the roundover transition against the neck on my neck-thru. Without the neck, you can run the bit right to the end of the neck pocket (if you want). Thanks for confirming my suspicions Erik. I'll round it over first. The worst is that I do my roundovers with files and the thought of filing the body close to the glued-in neck sends shivers down my spine Unfortunately I don't have a good pic of blending the body to the neck. But I rough shape the neck and roundover the body. Then after I glue them together I go at it again with the rasp to blend the two together for a nice smooth transition. Ideally it should end up looking like it was all molded from one piece. Someday maybe I'll have pictures of every step I guess what I'm saying though is, if you assume you're going to blend the joint then you won't be worrying about nicking the neck with your file... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted October 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Jon, I didn't remember so I went and had a look and at the same time took a pic for you. So I just basically lower the router a bit and it's still on the straightedge. After looking at this I can tell you that my hardwood edge is 7/8" thick and the cutter area of my bit is 1" long. I took two passes so the cutter head wouldn't take too much material out at one time and risk chipping the neck. Magni, thanks for the tip. The neck will be blended. I wasn't worried about nicking the back of the neck I was worried about nicking the small gap between the edge of the body and the front of the neck where the fingerboard is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son of Magni Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 (edited) Magni, thanks for the tip. The neck will be blended. I wasn't worried about nicking the back of the neck I was worried about nicking the small gap between the edge of the body and the front of the neck where the fingerboard is. Ah, I see. You do have to take some care. The horns can be in danger too depending on your design. But I find neck carving and neck to body blending to be about the most fun and rewarding tasks of building an instrument Using a router or even a router table, these I don't really enjoy... Edited October 26, 2006 by Son of Magni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted October 26, 2006 Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 Thanks Phil, I appreciate it. I see my true problem now. The bit I'm using is a 3/8" bit, and the ball bearing is VERY small. I'm thinking with a bulkier bit, I wont run into the load of problems I'm having now. I'll make sure to purchase a couple new 1"+ bits for my next attempt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted October 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2006 I've got two bits like that of two different diameter. I love those, they're from Freud. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted September 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 (edited) I haven't posted pics here in an eternity, more than two years from the posts I can see in the thread This bass is the longest build I've ever done. It's been 2 and a half year already. There was a lot of interruptions during that time. It will very soon be done though. I give myself less than two months at this point. Well at some point a year or so ago, I glued the top on the body. This is a set neck bass. So I cut the shape of the neck joint into the top, glued first the neck on the body then squeezed the top through the neck onto the body to glue it. I started shaping the neck (months) after that. Edited September 9, 2008 by Phil Mailloux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted September 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 (edited) This is what it looked like once I had the neck done and had done the shaping of the body. I wasn't happy with the shaping and wanted to do a nice carve to it so I've been playing around with that for the last few days. This is the last pic where I'm at right now. Edited September 9, 2008 by Phil Mailloux Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 You make some friggin' classy looking instruments man! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted September 9, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 Thanks Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killemall8 Posted September 9, 2008 Report Share Posted September 9, 2008 oo thats nice after the carve and the beveling of the body. i love those bevels, it fits the quilt perfectly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bass-Man43 Posted September 10, 2008 Report Share Posted September 10, 2008 Man, I absolutely LOVE carved top basses like that, I just have to get the gumption up to do one myself. Looks awesome can't wait to see her done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Mailloux Posted June 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Updating a 3 year old thread I finished building this bass about 2 weeks ago. It was on the backburner for a couple of years because I was busy building custom instruments for a couple of customers. I handbuilt two musicman pickups built to pre-EB specs, although for a 5 string. They're connected in series with a two band Aguilar pre. I used scraps of the top and back to match the headstock, wooden pickups covers and electronics cavity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 WOW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkshadow54321 Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Looks really cool! Any chance of a full back shot so that we can see the full effect of the neck laminates? Keep up the good work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr_Buttman Posted June 15, 2009 Report Share Posted June 15, 2009 Very nice bass. Go GOTM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted June 17, 2009 Report Share Posted June 17, 2009 Oh my gosh................... That's so beautiful!!!!!!!!!! The pickup covers really tie it all together! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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