ScottR Posted September 7, 2012 Report Share Posted September 7, 2012 I suppose if that doesn't work, you can revisit the idea of ebony. It is not as though people are unused to seeing black plastic cavity covers. The ebony would probably not stick out like a sore thumb. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 8, 2012 Okay, so I mocked up the instrument using textures and decided on the following combinations: The cavity cover will be straight black plastic to tie in with the pickup and hardware colour choice. An Ebony infill on the headstock ties up the other end nicely whilst the headstock logo plate ties in with the back of the neck and the fingerboard. The rod cover will either be plastic or Ebony depending on how it looks against the infill material. I'm actually tempted to bind the fingerboard with black ABS with hidden tang ends to stop the Wenge feeling like a big plain "island" of brown in between the headstock and the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 Mad jig design during class. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 11, 2012 Not much photography of work done today. The headstock template was shaped using 8mm MDF and temporarily screwed to the headstock through the tuner locations. Another few minutes on the pin router made short work of this shaping with no tearout whatsoever! Very impressive machine. The headstock was then thicknessed using the oscillating belt sander. This was carried out on the end table where the radius is, using a fence block parallel to the belt and "jamming" the headstock into the incoming belt holding the face flush to the fence. Slowly of course....not really jamming! The headstock was left at a nice 15mm with optional space left for a volute. I may not leave this volute in place, however I have the choice nonetheless. The nut break point and 24th fret location points were established on the neck, allowing me to plan out the extent of the neck taper and thickness (45mm at the nut, 76mm at the 24th fret). The majority of the waste was bandsawn clear to within 2mm or so. The rear heel shape from the body was drawn onto the rear for reference, and the neck thickness taper drawn onto both (bandsawn) sides. The Ebony infill for the headstock was cut to size and sanded straight, ready for fitting. The bevelling around the body was sketched on and the large faces taped "safe" to prevent any debris or whatever from scratching up the surface. The location of the side-mounted Neutrik locking jack was established and the bevelling "stops" marked to blend in the new flat part around the side of the body. The initial bevelling around the bottom of the instrument was carried out on a table router using a simple bearing-guided 45° cutter. This was taken from the inside of the bottom cutaway, around the bottom to the jack mounting point on both sides. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gpcustomguitars Posted September 12, 2012 Report Share Posted September 12, 2012 Looking forward to more pics, great job and a great bass! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Unfortunately, not much chance to progress the build much this week! Other projects divide my time however things are moving nonetheless. The body has been given a 45° bevel around the entire body except for the neck mounting area (I will shape this in myself by hand), the fishtail and the jack socket area. This is correct for the bottom half however the bevelling on the top half is a shallower angle to the body. I need to resharpen my cabinet scraper however it was sharp enough to make a start: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 13, 2012 Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Very clean work so far. I also like your solution for the cavity cover and balancing accents. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 13, 2012 Thanks Scott. I had to mock it up and play around with the balance of things until I was happy with it. The Ebony inlay in the headstock is the bit that ties it all up I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Not a massive update today as I still need to order more double-sided tape, Titebond, fretwire, truss rod.... I just realised that these are the first photos of the shaped headstock! This is a one-off jig glued and screwed together, with locating dowels in the tuner holes. This is for routing the recess into which I will be inlaying the Ebony infill. The slight discrepancy in the second photo is actually a gap because the headstock is not fully "in" and flush. It was merely in so I could glue and screw two pieces either side of the headstock to secure it in place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 More work carving the bevels around the body, especially on the upper scroll. The point at the front actually curls upwards towards the front which requires a bit of balancing and thought. I am undecided on whether to leave a tapered edge from the inner point to the outer scroll point or carve that into a sharp seam. Most of these things really do require feel and observation from various angles. Planning curves and visual aesthetics like these in CAD or on paper just don't compared to physical observation and decision-making. RASP! (that's meant to sound like a fart) Since the top horn is both tapered and "3D" the outer carve was carved over the line to be "brought back over" when carving the inner bevel. This helped maintain a nice flat angle. I guess you had to be there. A bit of work using a finger sander (cheating....power tools are not tr00) to rough in awkward-to-reach areas. More work around the scroll. End of play. Still undecided on the transitions in the upper cutaway. Wide-ish adjacent to the neck, tapering to the inner point and from there widening and re-tapering up to the point of the scroll.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I like where you've gone here. You really need to consider it with your neck in place, to be sure it works the way you want it to. It really is a feel thing, isn't it? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I hate the whole "feel" thing because of the arrogant connotations, but you can't deny that it is. Unless you are supremely good at planning curves in a 3D package where you can examine things from more than the plan/side views of 2D CAD there is a lot more work involved taking things from the screen to the wood. I have to say that I have pored over hundreds of photos of Carl's instruments to get it right, and in that respect I can't claim credit for any of the design. I just en-smallened the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lester Corncrake Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Loving the understated elegance of this build. But how about this genuine Carl Thompson for sheer OTT rainbow brilliance?! This picture doesn't do it total justice. You need to view the up-close images to appreciate why this "might be the most exotic and expensive CT Carl has ever built": link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Sometimes Carl's builds just leave me agog, whether it be the audacity of the ideas, the sheer brilliance, insanity.... I do however see several points which could just be done better. Look at the string-through holes in that one for example. I think mine will have more in common with this bass than anything else. http://www.thelowend.net/gallery/viewtopic.php?t=5518&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Natural Posted September 17, 2012 Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 I have to say that I have pored over hundreds of photos of Carl's instruments to get it right, I know that feeling- and I did the same thing- and I still got the carve wrong!- I carved a ball - as in round on all sides- the actual bass this was a copy of- actually has a flat section where he/they didnt carve the complete sphere. I didnt know this until I saw a side view of the bass on Carla Freestep's photo website. And it was too late to see that photo- I had already carved it. I had dozens of photos- and none showed the flat area. The dark walnut on the original "hides" the fact that the ball is actually flat on the very front of the bass. You dont see it unless the angle of the photo- or lighting is just exactly so. So- you arent painting this one black right? (I think)- it would be a shame to cover up that wood- great carves so far man- looking forward to seeing this one. I dont know about you- but I really enjoyed the carving part of the build. Scary- but satisfying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 17, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 17, 2012 Ah, you're making me pull the rabbit out of the hat too early man! This one is going to be oiled. This is just a practice run. The actual bass will be painted black and I'll be using a different wood. Possibly black Alder due to local availability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2012 Again, very little progress today as I am concentrating on making a radius sanding jig for use on the horizontal band sander and perhaps even getting some 700mm long radius sanding beams cut on the CNC. The scroll was refined and a sharp seam left from the upper cutaway through to the upper scroll point. The lower horn was also eased on the inside edge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbinst Posted September 19, 2012 Report Share Posted September 19, 2012 Beautiful carves sir! I'm loving it so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2012 Oops. Looks like I FTPed the wrong files and overwrote two older pics.... Inlaid the headstock with the Ebony infill. Clean and sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 24, 2012 Scraped flush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 25, 2012 There's nothing better than a well set up router table. Since my neck sides are not straight in relation to the centre where the rod needs to go, I tapered a piece of Birch to correspond with the neck. Two holes were drilled halfway through and small screws inserted until they emerged on the mating face by a couple of mm. This was then pressed into the side of the neck and the rearmost screw advanced in a couple of turns since the end is to be cut off anyway. The centreline measured bang on 70mm from the edge, so I set the fence accordingly, took a test cut on some scrap and measured any difference. None....bang on. After marking the endpoint of the cut (minus the radius of the cutter) the neck was slotted in 1-2mm increments until a depth of 10mm was achieved. This is when the photo was taken. To fit the adjuster and welded block end in, the fence was tapped with a hammer (in the background, actually) on one side one millimetre to achieve an offset at the centre of 0.5mm. I took the second cut after tapping the fence back 0.5mm the other side of 70mm. A 10mm bullnose cutter replaced the straight flute bit and was run through the centre (after resetting the fence) to create a rounded bottom for the adjuster and a round access hole. After the rod was checked for fit, the glueing surface of the neck was run over the jointer with a 0.2mm depth of cut (I believe it too....very fine cut), the rod checked again for fit and siliconed in place with a strip of masking tape to keep it from being knocked out. The end of the neck was cut to length and the waste used along with a piece of Ebony to fashion a plug to fit over the truss rod adjuster. As of a couple of hours ago, this was glued in place and is drying overnight before I pick up the work again on Thursday. Next I need to slot the fingerboard, taper it minus a couple of mm and glue on some more Wenge to self-bind the board. I am not going to go for a full semi-hemi job on this one since I am using stainless steel wire. All things being equal, the board should be being glued on by the end of play Thursday. From thereonin the neck will only be getting trimmed flush as the body needs work.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted September 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Okay, so today I slotted the board before cutting it to the adjusted taper. With splintery woods like Wenge, cutting the slots first before tapering is a better strategy otherwise it is far to easy to blow wood out from the ends. Of course, this can also happen when tapering a slotted board...! So anyway. After adjusting the taper from 45.0mm-(2x 2.5mm) at the nut to 75.0mm-(2x 2.5mm) at the 24th fret I glued Wenge strips cut from another board either side of the board to hide the fret slot ends. Although the grain matches it is not completely invisible, although this wasn't really the intention. This is a prototype practice model after all. Here is the fingerboard in the clamps. The two pieces of scrap wedged between the cauls concentrate the pressure on the lower half of the cauls: After the glue had fully set up, the excess was scraped off and the lower faces of the binding strips scraped flush to the fingerboard with a cabinet scraper. The whole fingerboard was then thrown through (well as fast as about 40mm/sec can be called "throwing") the thickness sander to bring the top half flush with a couple of quick (well, not quick) passes on the underside also. Turns out the last person to use the thickness sander had junked up the belts with some white crap: The fingerboard was glued up to the neck and trimmed back on the pin router when dry: Next week I plan on cutting the neck pocket into the body for a quick test fit and to mark out the heel prior to carving. Good times. Now where is that 24mm Forstner bit to cut the jack socket channel? Grr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maull Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 I love how precise and detailed your posts are on this. Great information and your prototype is turning out very nice as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted September 28, 2012 Report Share Posted September 28, 2012 Those may be the cleanest clamps I have ever seen......outside of the store. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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