al heeley Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 Just managed to salvage enough of the final mahogany offcuts to put together 2 pieces for a bass body. This is the rough-cut blank in need of shaping. The top horn will be a lot more slender and the bulge where the ctrl cavity will go will be flattened off a bit. I have an old neck from a fretless bass I bought a long time ago, it was a pretty crappy instrument, finished in white metal-flake pearlescent polyester. Very eighties. Basically though the fretboard is a really lovely aged and hardened piece of (presumably) rosewood. So the neck is well worth a transplant, together with a pickup upgrade. Not sure whether to leave it as a solid piece or cap it with something nice, a piece of dark walnut and an oiled finish would be great. The back has a few holes and gouge marks in need of repair before I get stuck in with the shaping and routing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 Cool, sounds like a fun project. I agree that the horn and the side of the body need a little fixing up. And IMO you shouldn't do a natural finish on this like it is. A cap on top would be nice or something colorful, but the two halves of the body don't match in color, so don't clear over it as it is now (unless you want to of course). Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted September 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 It's ok, once they've been sanded down the colour matches well, its just that the lower piece has acted as part of a walkway over my vegetable patch for the past 3 years I am favouring some sort of nice figured cap though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted September 16, 2006 Report Share Posted September 16, 2006 Sounds like it will be cool =) Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundAt11 Posted September 20, 2006 Report Share Posted September 20, 2006 That's a great shape, really nice. Let's see what's under that rough piece of Mahogany on the bottom half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted September 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 This is a pic of the rear, the inset shows the damaged sections of the back, having been used previously for some drilling and routing practice. I cut out the main damage section, routed it clean then installed a flush plate from a maple offcut to tidy it up a bit. Looks a bit odd but far better than before. The lower damage section, where part of the wood had been attached to the original fireplace, falls within the ctrl cavity rout area, so no problem with that. The body has had a bit of reshaping and has now been edge-sanded, smoothed and some contouring added to the waist areas and lower horn. It has then been rubbed with teak oil using a scotchbrite pad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Looking good and shaped i see apitty about the damage but i spose theres not much thats can be done about that accidents happen =) I shaped abit around the horn on my bass today its looking good =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inisheer Posted September 21, 2006 Report Share Posted September 21, 2006 Looking pretty good. I don't think the maple piece makes it look weird, it adds a nice accent to the wood. And I take back what I said before.....that wood's coloring does seem to match better. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted October 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 I managed to get a friendly lumber guy to slice up the think planks of walnut so I now have a 12mm top for the bass body and a big slab 50mm thick for my next body project. Here's the walnut top being glued and clamped. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/fbass2.jpg Here she is after some sanding and contouring. Lots more contoring still to go, but she's starting to look like a nice body now. Walnut is really nice wood to work with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurits Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 That looks fab, lovely shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 Wow nice ! Great accent =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 whats the lighter color between the top and the body? figure your still pretty early in this one for a binding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKO Posted October 1, 2006 Report Share Posted October 1, 2006 great job so far. Nice shape. wood looks sweet. can we get some pics of the neck ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted October 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 whats the lighter color between the top and the body? figure your still pretty early in this one for a binding. I found some long strips of white wood, about 1mm thick in an old marquetry kit that I glued along the edges of the body and sanded flush when the top went on. I then packed the height differnce up on the body with various offcuts to get a good firm area to stick the 2 halves together. The neck is just finishing headstock surgery, will post a before & after pic shortly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 whats the lighter color between the top and the body? figure your still pretty early in this one for a binding. I found some long strips of white wood, about 1mm thick in an old marquetry kit that I glued along the edges of the body and sanded flush when the top went on. I then packed the height differnce up on the body with various offcuts to get a good firm area to stick the 2 halves together. The neck is just finishing headstock surgery, will post a before & after pic shortly 'awesome, its those little details that will stand out in the end Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 (edited) forum loading issues Edited October 3, 2006 by Desopolis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted October 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 Thanks! This is my 4th body build from scratch, you learn SO much from earlier mistakes and bouncing ideas round this forum, the work gets better and more involved, and the finishing becomes less hit-n-miss. Here is an early mock up with the neck. Here is a pic of the original headstock + work-in-progress. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/h1.jpg I hated this original shape, so I planed it to give a straight edge and stuck on some walnut wings, and some dowels to plug the original machine-head holes. I then shaped it, a little too prs-like maybe, and added a carefully routed thin piece of walnut face. The back still looks a mess but it's a big improvement I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 Wow nice every time i see this bass it looks better =0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted October 3, 2006 Report Share Posted October 3, 2006 that's looking good...I've gotta say that I actually quite liked the original headstock but it's your bass! Maybe you should consider rounding the edges a bit just so that it's less PRS like & fits with the smooth, curvey body better. I'm thinking Godin LGX's for example. My only real crit is that the neck looks like it's set a long way into the body, reaching those top frets (or rather, notes) will be quite uncomfortable & awkward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digideus Posted October 3, 2006 Report Share Posted October 3, 2006 My only real crit is that the neck looks like it's set a long way into the body, reaching those top frets (or rather, notes) will be quite uncomfortable & awkward. You know, Ive NEVER seen a bass player play anything past the 12th fret, with the exception of Cliff Burton who used to play bass solos a lot, but then he never went past the 19th. I dont see the access really being a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted October 3, 2006 Report Share Posted October 3, 2006 My only real crit is that the neck looks like it's set a long way into the body, reaching those top frets (or rather, notes) will be quite uncomfortable & awkward. You know, Ive NEVER seen a bass player play anything past the 12th fret, with the exception of Cliff Burton who used to play bass solos a lot, but then he never went past the 19th. I dont see the access really being a problem. then you've only seen a bass player not a bassist check Victor Wooton, Les Claypool, Jean Baudin, Billy Sheehan...... My friend hates only having 21 frets, he "needs that high E" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted October 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2006 Heh, I only placed the neck on top of the body for the pic, its not fixed or routed yet. Lol! Neither is it acoustic, i just didn't bother laying the pickups out on it for the photo as I forgot which plastic margerine carton i stored them in for safekeeping I will look at rounding the headstock points a bit, that's a good suggestion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
al heeley Posted October 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2006 Some progress, a lot of gentle reshaping, sanding the curves, removing more depth from the front and back contours, rounding and thinning the horns, trying to get some really smooth gentle organic curves. Dark brown oak stain, sanded back the stained again, rubbing in with fine grade wire wool. Neck pocket aligned and routed, rear pickup cavity routed, just started on the neck pup pair. Holes drilled for neck bolts plus shallow sunken recess on the back for the neck area. Locating holes drilled for the bridge. It's starting to come together. Several coats of danish oil after some more fine sanding after the pickup routs are finished, thenit will be time for assembly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielM Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 wow that has really come together! wasn't too keen on that top at first but to see it oiled now I see that it's a beauty! just one question, how do you sand it? really really fine dry sanding or do you wet sand it like you would any other finish? I ask this because I'm doing a natural bass now but I've only ever done solids before and would like to know how you get it so smooth and unscratched looking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted October 5, 2006 Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Wow like it i said before awsome! That wood on the top looks really nice =) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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