Wademeister Posted June 6, 2010 Report Share Posted June 6, 2010 So I got the bug to build another bass like the one I did about 5 years ago. This is the design and very basic computer rendering. My redwood isn't this red, nor is it as orange as it looks in the pic from the ebay ad. I looked at this for days on my computer screen and decided that even as nice as that redwood looks, it still has to have the pickguard. The body shape looks wrong if I don't have that pickguard shape in there. Bought this beautiful piece of redwood when I did the first one and the wood has been hanging out it my closet all this time. I picked up a nice piece of cherry for the (through) neck and body, and a pretty but not over-the-top piece of maple for the fretboard. I didn't realize I was playing it so close with the cherry. In this pic you see the entire cherry board cut an rearranged into what will be the bass. Those two little blocks are all of the unused cherry! I have it all laying on top of a full size print of the bass, along with most of the maple board. Here's a shot of the fretboard, the dark spots are shallow burns from the table saw. We use that saw for cutting aluminum plate so it's probably not as sharp as it could be! I'm thinking I may use Arizona desert ironwood for the block inlays since it would be a nice color for this bass and is a native North American wood like the rest of the bass. I have all gold hardware and gold fretwire from LMII which I think will look great but the yellow/gold inlays may be over the top so have to think about that for a while. I'd also like to know what you guys think about making the neck from a single piece of charry just as it is now. I've read that cherry is more stable than maple so it's probably structurally fine as it is and would save me some additional sawing and gluing. I also don't want to get it all stripey looking, but at the same time I feel better about having some contrasting grain to add stability. I'm tempted to put a piece of that maple in the center of the neck... hmmm. Pretty tasty looking edge grain. After I decide whether to put the maple in the neck or not, I can go ahead with the possible neck blank, scarf joint and body wings. Whattaya think, put the maple in the neck? Or some walnut? I have some nice but plain looking walnut I could use... or I could trash the all American idea and use some bloodwood I have hanging around.. If I use the bloodwood I may also go with a very pretty piece of morado for the fretboard. GAH! No! Gonna stick with that maple fretboard for this bass. Maybe bloodwood and morado on the next one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted June 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2010 Wasn't terribly happy about making a one piece neck so I decided to rip it and make a three piece. At first I thought it was going to end up too narrow but after checking it out closer I decided it would be ok. I feel good about it now =) Was a little disheartened when I ripped the neck closer to final thickness in preparation of the scarf joint. That saw cut opened up a big void that didn't show on the outside of the board. After a few test cuts I got down to solid wood and didn't get to the point of having to scrap the neck. The blue ink line on the plan shows where the wood is now in relation to the planned outline. About an 1/8 inch to spare. PSHEW!! Nevermind the black stuff all over, that's saw wax and aluminum dust from the metal cutting saw. I like to clamp the headstock and neck pieces together and drill them for locating pins before gluing them up. Here you can see the locating pin holes... ...and the scarf joint is done! I'll pull the pins out when I'm ready to do some more cutting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted June 15, 2010 Report Share Posted June 15, 2010 looks like you might end up with some nice grain on the back of that neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 looks like you might end up with some nice grain on the back of that neck. I think you're right! Happy father's day to me, I got to work on my project all day and I loved it! Got a lot done. Started the morning by finishing up some 3D modeling and making the CNC toolpaths, then got to cuttin some wood... First I cut a couple pieces of MDF and stuck the blanks down with bondo. Several reasons for this. For one, I don't have to be particularly careful gluing up my blanks or flattening them out before cutting. Since bondo is so thick it fills any gaps I might have. Also, since I stick them down with minimal pressure they won't spring when I let them go. I just put some blobs of the stuff on, lay the wood down and kind of skate it around a bit to spread the bondo out some. Here you can see some bondo squeezing out in a couple places and you can see some pretty serious gaps that aren't a problem. Two blanks, ready to cut... Since this is a CNC build, I stuck my blanks down to pieces of MDF so I could vacuum them down to my router table. Works great. I just take a small drill or other tool and visually line up one of the glue joints. When it's nice and straight, I turn on the vacuum, find my part origin and let er rip! Well not exactly. I watch it pretty close and keep the scrap pieces out of the way, keep the shavings more or less swept up etc. Holds securely through the cut... The bondo breaks easily when the cut is done. I lay the project on the edge of a work table and flex the MDF down carefully until it cracks loose. My pry a bit with a putty knife here and there too if it's stubborn. NEXT! This one's mahogany maple and bloodwood. The pic gives just a hint at how nice that maple really is. MMMM! I'm liking that one. And the cherry is looking mighty fine as Paulie suggested Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted June 28, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Spent another quality Sunday working with wood in the machine shop. Didn't get a whole lot done but I did finally resaw my redwood and got the headplates glued on. Doesn't look like much at this point but it's showing a hint of what's in store. Resawing on my Roll-In saw. Took a lot of patience but did a good job eventually. That saw will blow right through this stuff but I was very careful to keep it right down the center. One down, one started. I think I took over an hour each, I didn't have a lot of wiggle room here. There they are glued into tops with fretboards between them. I'll probably use the maple for both but I may use the morado in the middle for one of them. That's a really nice looking board... Head plates in place! Got a lot of material to take off still but it's starting to show some promise. Next step will be to trim and bind the headstocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geo Posted June 28, 2010 Report Share Posted June 28, 2010 Awesome work! My first from-scratch build had a redwood top... it wasn't all that playable, and after 4 years of string tension without a truss rod, the action is about 1/2"... still, that figure has a soft spot in my heart! That guitar sure did sound good in DADGAD... ANYWAY... great work, can't wait to see these done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted July 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2010 Got the headstock binding on! I like these tuners a lot but they're a little heavy. Got the Res-O-Lite gotoh's in chrome for the maple/bloodwood neck bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted July 18, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 18, 2010 I got all that ugly bondo off there at last! Cut quite a bit of thickness off the top and put the radius on... Love those action shots with the chips flying. I can't believe my camera snapped a still shot of that endmill at 12,500 RPM! Hand drilled the hole for truss rod adjustment. I'm hoping this will finish out well enough to not need a cover. The headstock face will have a nice radius all around the access cutout when it's all done. Got the truss rod channel a bit too tight and had to sand and scrape the inside a bit but it's still a nice snug fit. The first neck I built had a rod rattle so I've been careful to get everything good and tight since then. Got the allen wrench in there to be sure everything is lined up right. Also the slots on the body are for the wiring. Ground wire to the bridge and a channel for each pickup. And a location hole to keep the top from slipping around when I glue it down. Starting to take shape! I've got the tops trimmed to fit around the neck but oversize all around the body. They're just posing for the pic right now, hope to have them and the fretboards glued on in the next few days. Mmmm, fretboards... I like this piece of maple. Not over the top but somehow seems happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted July 19, 2010 Report Share Posted July 19, 2010 Wow... those redwood tops are stunning! Can't wait to see those finished! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted July 20, 2010 Report Share Posted July 20, 2010 these things are coming along realy nice. cherry never fails does it, slightest carve & its freaky grain city What kind of finishes you thinkin of ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted July 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2010 I've been going around and around about the finish for these and decided that no matter how much I read I'm going to have to see it for myself. So far I've tried one sample with Minwax wood hardener and hated it. Looks so dark for some reason and the figure is overly accentuated. Tried superglue and it's nearly the same but not quite as bad. One sample has Formby's Tung Oil finish on it and is looking pretty good. Nice depth and movement to that finish but I kind of got pissed at Formby's when I learned that there's no tung oil in this stuff. Not that I care so much about tung oil or not, but why lie to me? If it's thinned varnish without tung oil, put it on the label! Might be great stuff but I'm put off because of the name now =P I have one redwood sample being prepared by the shop near my work. They do some great finishes on corporate jet interiors and they'll do my whole finish for free if I want. On one hand I'd like to do the finish myself but on the other, a professional job for free is pretty nice too! As if that isn't enough, I've also got some Waterlox Original high gloss on order and plan on ordering a kit of Rustin's Plastic Coating ( http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/...ection35_03.htm ) today as well. After I have finished samples of everything I'll go with whichever one looks best to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted July 20, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2010 ... of course right after I posted that I looked at the superglue sample again and it's looking pretty good. Much brighter since the last sand and recoat. That will teach me to post incomplete results Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted July 26, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2010 Wow, it's been wood-MANIA for me this weekend. Started off by getting the tops and fretboards glued up... The tops were sanded flat to .160" thickness and clamped on the pre-shaped body. I used 1/4" MDF plates with packing foam top and bottom to pull the top down nice and snug all over. It worked pretty well. No gaps around the edges, no hollow spots that I could hear by knocking and no voids visible where I cut through the top. Then put the shape on the fretboard and routed for pickups etc. This is one dead true neck The easy way to cut the binding channels... Won't be too long now before I get to see this wood with some finish on. Getting especially excited about it now since it's become more guitar than lumber Ready to start binding. Pretty tired so I'll wait to start this step. Maybe after the pizza arrives I'll be ready to go at it again. I'd really like to get this wrapped up since I have the heat gun borrowed and this redwood is so fragile the edges practically chip at will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted July 27, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 these things are coming along realy nice. cherry never fails does it, slightest carve & its freaky grain city What kind of finishes you thinkin of ? Looks like it's going to be Rustin's. It seems to show off the redwood grain better with less darkening than any of the others I've tried as well as being the quickest and probably easiest to use as well. I brushed two heavy coats, gave a light sanding with 400 grit and brushed a 3rd coat. Didn't take very long at all and very little effort to get this so far... Without flash... With flash, that's just nuts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauliemc Posted July 27, 2010 Report Share Posted July 27, 2010 You should try to get as much natural light for a pik as possible. Blue sky & bright, never fails to produce a good pik. Not that I ever see a blue sky, Im in Ireland. Land of the perpetual cloudy - overcast day Still cool lookin, kinda has a corugated sheet steel look to it. Should be realy sweet when its done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted July 31, 2010 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2010 You should try to get as much natural light for a pik as possible. Blue sky & bright, never fails to produce a good pik. Not that I ever see a blue sky, Im in Ireland. Land of the perpetual cloudy - overcast day Still cool lookin, kinda has a corugated sheet steel look to it. Should be realy sweet when its done. I usually work on the things until I'm pretty tired and the sun is long gone. When I get them finished I'll be sure to get some good natural light pix, I think that's a great idea. Got the binding on! I hadn't planned on binding the fretboard but the moment I saw it on top of the neck I knew what I had to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 2, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 Progress! No more boring pix of the thing on the machine, just results today =) Cut electronics cavity, fret slots, inlay sockets and paua inlay for one of them. I wasn't too sure about that paua abalam when I first got it, but it seems to really look good on my fretboard. Just laying in the sockets for the pic, I'll glue them all in after the other sisters' inlay is cut... The other one is getting white pearl. Pretty sure at least, since I have some really nice looking stuff left over from my knife making days about 15 years ago... I've seen a lot of white pearl blocks on maple boards and really liked them but if I drop them in this one and it doesn't look right I'll order some black lip. I'll have that figured out in the next few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2010 (edited) Pearl inlay on maple. Whatta ya think of it? Was pretty bland looking when I sanded everything flush but before buying black lip shell and cutting the inlays out I decided to see if the Rustin's would make much difference. Yep, it did... Before After Edited August 6, 2010 by Wademeister Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted August 6, 2010 Report Share Posted August 6, 2010 i am really liking these builds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ripthorn Posted August 6, 2010 Report Share Posted August 6, 2010 Pardon my ignorance, but how did you cut those fret slots only part of the way? I always thought a bound board had to be slotted first, but I guess I am wrong (never done a bound board myself). By the way, builds are looking fabulous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 6, 2010 Pardon my ignorance, but how did you cut those fret slots only part of the way? I always thought a bound board had to be slotted first, but I guess I am wrong (never done a bound board myself). By the way, builds are looking fabulous. I think traditionally you would slot the board and then bind but I'm using a different set of tools so my methods and order of operations may not be the same as what most people are doing. I cut the fret slots on the CNC router at the same time as I cut the inlay sockets. Here is a good view of the slots and inlay fit... Thanks for the nice words guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2010 Progress again! Installed the side dots. I put pearl side dots in the first bass I built and I can't see them half the time so nothing fancy here. Just the white plastic 2mm rod from lmii. Proud of my scarf joints Also spent about 8 hours sanding today and put a first coat of Rustin's on. I still have a little work to do before It's really ready for finish but I wanted to see! I can't believe how much darker the mahogany is with finish on it . STILL thinking about cutting those pearl inlays out and replacing them with blacklip pearl. They look pretty good but when I get it next to the paua inlay... man, that paua is outstanding. I'll probably leave it but I have some black lip on order. We'll have to see how that ends up, right now I just don't know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted August 9, 2010 Report Share Posted August 9, 2010 leave the pearl - i always liked the look on old jazz basses, and they do get more visable as the maple ages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wademeister Posted August 9, 2010 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2010 leave the pearl - i always liked the look on old jazz basses, and they do get more visable as the maple ages I like the way you think Wez. The inlay stays as it is. Saves me some work too and I'm wearing down a bit Really should have just built one at a time but hey, I had all that wood hanging around and couldn't decide which to use! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam_c Posted August 9, 2010 Report Share Posted August 9, 2010 Always wanted a ric style but wasnt sure how comfy they would be to gig with. These look great! I think once that maple/white pearl neck is fretted then it will get the extra contrast it needs. If you were cutting with cnc, it might have been cool to cut a 0.5mm channel around the edge of the pearl blocks and filled with black CA, just to outline them slightly. The cherry is my favourite at the minute Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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