Prostheta Posted November 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2006 Hahahaha :-D Well, I'm sorely tempted to finish it with Rustin's Plastic Coating although the size of the pores on the padauk are quite scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundAt11 Posted November 30, 2006 Report Share Posted November 30, 2006 Wow! It's coming along great. I wasn't quite sure how it was going to look, but the Padouk looks perfect next to the flame Maple. The neck with the perfect headstock shape and fretboard (people really need to give Bloodwood a try) still looks as beautiful as before. Do you have some photos of the oiled Padouk and Bloodwood taken? It'd be interesting to compare the two. The last time I sprayed lacquer on some scraps, it sat on top of the Bloodwood and wouldn't absorb well (no pores), but it soaked right into the Padouk really quick (huge pores). So I'm curious as to how the oil works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted November 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2006 I've not test oiled any padauk yet, especially as I'm in two minds on how to finish the bass. Oiling will be done if I leave it all natural, but I'm tempted to leave a thin faux binding strip around the outside and dye the top a deep rich red on black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 (edited) UPDATE!! I built up the router table and used a 1"/45° chamfer bit set to chamfer 5mm up from the black pinstripe line to rout around the entire body up the the recesses near the neck, including into the side recesses. From there I used a combination of chisels, planes and spokeshaves to work the side up to the contour I drew up on the top of the body. From thereonin I just sanded with 80 grit and brought it up to 120 for the photos. The carve is nowhere near finished as I still have to do the bottom half of the body (only a rough carve right now) and the back needs to drop down for the bridge and tailpiece. I'm almost 98% certain I'll dye the top red on black and use Rustin's plastic coating. Tomorrow I'll probably plane down the bookmatched veneer I'm making for the headstock. Either that or I'll destroy it in the process. We'll see. LARGER VERSION OF ABOVE View 2 of carving View 3 of carving Edited December 2, 2006 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyd Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Looks great where are you going to get your hardware? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 I've got most of the hardware already sorted. I bought a Warwick aftermarket bridge and tailpiece set, although I still need to sort out the tuners. The bridge is a two-piece with a base set into the body of the instrument, and the top piece with the saddles on attaches via two allen bolts. The tailpiece is a slight V which also recesses into the body by about 1/3" or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottyd Posted December 3, 2006 Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 Cool, where did you get these? I am interested in this type of setup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 http://www.basscentre.co.uk although there will be other outlets. I presume it's through the larger Warwick dealerships. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travismoore Posted December 3, 2006 Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 Cool i really like it cant wait to see it finished =) Then il come to lincoln and steal it from you! MA HA HA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 If you can pry it out of my cold dead metal hands man :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 (edited) Now who was it who told me to be careful about pulling the oils out of padauk with acetone? I'm not going for a peach guitar, no way :-D I completed the carving today, and routed the recess for the bridge base. Also managed to create a 1/16" thick bookmatched veneer for the headstock which I intend to create Forstner'ed recesses in for the tuner bushings similar to my Yamaha RBX775. LARGER VERSION OF ABOVE Obligatory second shot! Oh yes, you'll also notice that I have added a very slight Metal Matt inspired constant radius over the top of the instrument so it is no longer perfectly flat on the top contour. The back needs work next, although I'm tempted to settle for a simple flat back with a gentle roundover around the perimeter. I wait to be convinced otherwise on this score! Edited December 3, 2006 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UNIT Posted December 4, 2006 Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 oh my F*cking gosh that thing is sexual. it would be great to see this shape without wrecking its curves with the warwick type headstock... wade Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 I'm using a 3 over 2 "standard" wavey end headstock which I'll post more pics of when I've done some photogenic work to it ;-) It's a bit mid-process right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted December 4, 2006 Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 Now who was it who told me to be careful about pulling the oils out of padauk with acetone? You still have plenty of sanding left, don't worry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 Indeed - thanks for reminding me.... I have the padauk to radius and round over on the back yet. And the neck tenon to install... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 (edited) Now who was it who told me to be careful about pulling the oils out of padauk with acetone? I'm not going for a peach guitar, no way :-D You'll also want to be careful with the sanding finer than ~220, as the padauk dust will get into the maple. I'd apply a thin coat of shellac to the maple edges nearest the padauk to keep this from happening. But you don't want to hose down the entire top in shellac, as it will tend to inhibit the dye penetration. Then when finish-sanding on the top, use sandpaper that has never seen the padauk. The Mantra....to be repeated until it becomes second nature in your thinking.... Test It On Scrap First Edited December 5, 2006 by erikbojerik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 Much appreciated Erik. I'm planning on taping off the lower edge of padauk prior to finish sanding the top edges, and shellac'ing them to mask them off prior to dyeing the top. It's also why I insisted on a small black pinstripe between the top and back to give me a little bit of a break, therefore more to work with :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmarlin Posted December 5, 2006 Report Share Posted December 5, 2006 That beast is looking very cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Apologies for the low quality images. I really should get some sorted in daylight to indicate progress as artificial light and flash makes unfinished work look mega rough. I am currently routing out padauk from the back to fit the neck tenon, plus I'm cutting the recess out of the front where the fretboard will emerge. I've calculated the angles accurately so that the bottom of the board emerges straight onto maple, and I've left enough play to hang the board over the far edge to disguise the join :-D I didn't have time to complete the work tonight, so a sneak guess at how it's going to look is all I have. The bookmatched and pinstriped veneer for the headstock was a success (yay me!) and has been Titebonded on with yet another pinstripe underneath. This is being rounded over at the edges an smoothed towards the centre (too slight to call it a carved headstock top!) to tie in the organic carves of the body. The headstock is deliberately quite thick as I'm going to dish the tuner locations down just beyond the pinstripe and paint the wood revealed underneath black (roughly 4mm). The edges of the dishes will be smoothed over also. On that note, I plan to buy a 1" dished router bit to make the control pot locations. So much to do, so little time. I figure that a black sandback with deep red dye over the top will make the headstock veneer look super awesome with the dished and recessed tuner bushes. To make life simpler for me (in case I cock up) I'm going to make the headstock inlay a simple signature of abalone, inlaid into an ebony circle which I can easily install. Can't afford to go wrong inlaying abalone straight into that maple! (ps. the image size is smaller than 640x480/307200 pixels!) Oh yes - I'm very tempted to paint a black line down the centre of the bass over the maple only after I've done the black sandback as an afterthought, to tie the body in with the pinstripe on the headstock. Still malleable on that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRossitter Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Hey Prostheta, Where do you plan to get your bridge hardware? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Got it from a Warwick dealer, hence why I've already routed the mounting points :-D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnRossitter Posted December 6, 2006 Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 Yeah I was about to ask. I talked to our local Warwick dealer as well and they said that I could get them, but Warwick would want to know the serial of the unit it was to replace. I got the impression that they (warwick) didn't want to just sell them to any tom dick or harry on the street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 6, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2006 (edited) I wasn't on the street man, I was in front of my computer. That's probably why. Edited December 6, 2006 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 29, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 29, 2006 (edited) UPDATIO!! Not much done apart from further sanding on the top, and routing the mortice (can you call it that?!) for the semi neck-through tenon. The routs for the tailpiece and the bridge need widening slightly (I find it difficult to put wood back in) and the faux binding stripe around the edge tidying. Once the tenon is in place, I'll sculpt the heel and we can look at some shellac-induced crazy dyeing!! I'm a little tempted to add some blue to the red dye I have to add a purplish tinge. Somebody talk me out of that one if you will. CLICK FOR LARGER VERSION Edited December 29, 2006 by Prostheta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted December 29, 2006 Report Share Posted December 29, 2006 Noooo blue. Black and red only, keep it br00tal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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