Purpleheart 10 String Chapman Stick Copy

[Mr Natural]

I have been wanting to try this for a while- it took me a bit to figure out how I was going to deal with the hardware "issues"-namely- the adjustable bridge. I have a plan- not sure if it will work- but here I go anyway.

Purpleheart 10 string Chapman Stick copy

36" scale

EMG FT pickups encased in wenge module

"older version" style nut (individual brass studs)

"Plan A bridge"- adjustable bridge- like the newer style- except made of wenge with brass stud "saddles"-

"Plan B bridge(if plan A fails)- individual brass studs (like the older model sticks)

1/4" steel rod truss rod with "ghetto" adjustment system :-)

jumbo frets- like the older model sticks

laying out cut lines on the purpleheart board- sticks are multi-lams these days- typically 7 or more- I am using only 4 lams

glue up after running the gluing surfaces thru the jointer- notice I have flipped everyother lam end to end to flip the grain direction

running thru the jointer to get near final dimensions- 3.25" wide by 1.75" deep- final length will be approx 45.25 long- this is roughly 51" long.

laying print out checking how things will line up.

[Dean]

I had a friend who could really play one of these.Looking forward to the finish product.

[ScottR]

Dang that's a decent stack of bodies in the background. You've been holding out on us.

SR

[HuntinDoug]

Very cool! I started one about 4 years ago. In mid stream I changed a bunch of things...Then decided to make it a tapping bass. I used the individual bridges and just milled out a larger radius on the butt end to accept a DR bass string with a taper. It worked well. I also used the "pyramid" fretwire from stewmac. Are you gonna do the beveled neck profile, or make it more like a C-shape?

[Mr Natural]

Scott- yeah- I am behind big time on updates- work has gotten in the way- but I have vacation next week and hopefully I can get caught up-

my lapsteel build is complete- and it actually has a new home- but my son borrowed my good DSLR camera and low and behold- dad's memory cards(with pics) are now missing- lovely. So next week when finals are over said 15yearold will be scouring the house to find said memory cards (yes- he lost both I had in the camera bag.)

The ken Lawrence bass had a bit of a hiccup- the truss rod broke- it was the last of a batch of six hotrods I had bought from stew mac ages ago- anyway- I always check the truss rod after glue up- and I no more than gotten the allen wrench in the rod and it broke- poor weld from what I can tell. hell- that rod has been in my garage probably 6 years- so- who knows- anyway- first time I have had to perform neck surgery- it went well- for the most part. when I find the memory card I will post pics. I was going to scrap it- but its a 32" scale- and that is the only 32" scale fingerboard I have on had- and dont have a template for 32" for my fret slotting jig- so- had to try to save it

The four fenders are just sitting there- waiting for their turn- and I have a couple of others that you cant see in the pic that are just- waiting- havent even started build threads on those yet. You know me- I take a year or more to build one.

Doug- I will be going with the beveled neck profile- like the actual chapman stick. how did that pyramid wire work out? I was going to try that- but I have so much jumbo wire on hand I figured I would use what I had- plus the old sticks had that on them. There is tad bit more height on the jumbo I have compared to the pyramid- so I figure it might help to have once I level it all out. and being level is key here for sure.

[HuntinDoug]

My project is still gathering dust. I haven't got to the point of fretting... The newer sticks have a "rail" fret system. I'm still not 100% sure how that works. But, I did notice in my research that the frets were very tall, and the action is very low.

You may want to look into the single guitar bridges over the single bass bridges. I was originally looking at building the 12 string grand. If I recall correct, the strings are spaced too close for the single bass bridges to work.

[Mr Natural]

"If I recall correct, the strings are spaced too close for the single bass bridges to work."

Doug- you are 100% correct cause trust me- if there was a way to use a pre-fab bridge piece- I would be all over it.

I hope my bridge plan works- we'll see.

[Prostheta]

Hipshot now make a 9-string hardtail guitar bridge. Not exactly 10, but certainly off-the-shelf anyway.

[Mr Natural]

I changed my mind about the pickup module- I will be making it out of walnut instead of wenge. The couple of boards of wenge I have are flatsawn, and frankly they are just plain ugly.

A bit of work today- did some research and pulled a diagram off the US patent site- which shows all the interal routes on the pickup module- nice. I sized up the module with graphing paper- making sure I was measured evenly on opposing sides.

glued to a freshly planed piece of black walnut

a few minutes with the bandsaw and then belt/disc sander and the shape has been cut.

[Mr Natural]

todays progress-

hogged out some of the wood where the pickup module goes with the drill press - then set up a couple of guides with mdf cut offs

routed out the pickup module cavity- total depth is 7/8"- notice the tear out at bottom right of picture- I didnt see it while I was routing- and luckily the pieces are still attached. I forced some glue up under the splinters- pressed them down with some wax paper inbetween a flat piece of wood and weighted it down until it dries. hopefully it will sand out with no noticeable tear out.

[Mr Natural]

The stick is 1.75" thick- and my slot fretting jig is designed to cut a single board (well- a board taped to a master board template).So I had to make a new one. I stole this jig idea from someone in this group back a few years ago- I went looking for the posts- but couldnt find it- so if it was you I lifted the idea from- my apologies for not giving cred where its due.

Some 1X 4 scrap oak cut into 15" long pieces- glued and screwed together to form a basic miter box.

the "guide block" glued and screwed together across the top of the box

a trip thru the chop saw to cut the box thru the guide block, the board underneath will become the base of the whole jig

Edited December 21, 2012 by Mr Natural

[Mr Natural]

The jig uses a indexer in between the cut- the idea is to double tape the master fretboard template to the bottom of the board you are cutting- the indexer lines up the saw blade with the fret slot in the master- which you then cut the board you taped on the top of the master template. I found at Home Depot a Stanley heavy-duty Utility blades- the package says they are .024" thick- they fit my LMII boards I use for masters perfectly. Here you can see where I am making sure the blade is at the right height before gluing it in.

top view of the jig- I have placed the saw into the cut- then glued, clamped (and will screw) the second part of the box onto the board.

side view

[pan_kara]

The stick is 1.75" thick- and my slot fretting jig is designed to cut a single board (well- a board taped to a master board template).So I had to make a new one. I stole this jig idea from someone in this group back a few years ago- I went looking for the posts- but couldnt find it- so if it was you I lifted the idea from- my apologies for not giving cred where its due.

I'm also using a jig of this type - I believe the post was linking to this page: http://www.sixgunguitars.com/fret_slotting_jig.html

[Mr Natural]

and then there were slots-

cutting this purpleheart is a royal PIA. seriously tough stuff. How I long for a proper bandsaw. The benchtop 9" Ryobi (toy) wouldnt be able to handle 3/4" of this stuff let alone 1 3/4" thick. I am having to use the drillpress to "hog out" material before I kill my router bits with this stuff. one day.......

[Prostheta]

Purple heart has an annoying habit of burnishing so any slightly dull tools will make a slippery rut with no purchase to cut more stock. Then that heats up from the friction and dulls cutting edges! As soon as PH becomes a slow cut, advance back out, remove waste from another angle then start over. Low tpi blades help a bit. I had a couple of PH workpieces many years ago that I gave up on due to them killing bandsaw blades and being generally impossible at my level of tooling. Don't let it kill your Forstners!

[Mr Natural]

"Don't let it kill your Forstners"

Prostheta- I have used nothing but my junk bits on this-drill bits only- my benchtop drill press just doesnt have the power to really push a forstner into this and do anything.

So- attending to the headstock- first cleaning up the surface of the headstock from the drill bit digs

using my black and decker 1/2" precision belt sander to dig into the radius left from the belt sander. I would have used my spindle sander but my brother in law has it. I have to admit- I love this tool. I will further clean this up with the round edge attachment on my mouse sander.

[Mr Natural]

A little research into the stick from their patents on the us patent site. It appears that the screws used for the bridge and the (old style) nut were 10-40 thread brass. well- I cannot find 10-40 thread- I am sure its out there somewhere- but google didnt provide me results where I could buy it. I checked McMaster-Carr which is the first place that comes to mind for me for these sort of things- and they didnt have 10-40 either (unless 10-40 is now called something else)- anyway- good ol home depot had #10-32 thread brass machine screws- so I thought I would try those out. about one minute on the belt sander and I had what was show in the picture below. quick and dirty work- just to check if it will work. I have a set of Stick strings- and this size will do nicely. 2 things I learned immediately- I will need to hold these by hand so not to damage the threads- (heat I found out is not an issue-at first I used vice grips to hold the screw thinking the screw would get hot- it didnt) and I will be using my opti-visor to make sure I am just shaving off the head of the screw, keeping it true and not putting an angle into the head like I did below.

Edited January 5, 2013 by Mr Natural

[Mr Natural]

so- this one has been sitting for a while. got a little work in on it today.

cutting the headstock- piece of oak with a true straight edge as a router guide

despite my trying to be careful-and taking what I thought were shallow cuts- this purpleheart is determined to tear out on me. this will be fun to fix.

headstock done- minus the repair and rounding off the top which I will do on a sander

[Mr Natural]

laying on reference lines for the truss rod. This truss rod is made of steel square from local hardware store- with a steel threaded rod on the inside. One end of the threaded rod will have a nut attached for adjustment, the other end will have a nut welded on - so when the loose nut is turned- the rod will either push or pull depending on which way you turn. the welded nut end will also have a 'T" in the square rod. More pictures to come. my first attempts at cutting this square need to be cleaned up on sanding disc.

[Mr Natural]

bumpity bump bump. this one is coming back to life- defrosted and resuscitated. Updates coming soon. 

[Goodkingzog]

I have a Stickbass, 36” scale 8-string - really looking forward to how this turns out

[ScottR]

On 5/12/2018 at 8:55 AM, Mr Natural said:

bumpity bump bump. this one is coming back to life- defrosted and resuscitated. Updates coming soon. 

Oh damn, I totally forgot about this build. How many cobwebs did you have to pull off?

I'm looking forward to regaining the excitement I had five years ago watching this one come to life.

SR

[Mr Natural]

so- this is going to be fun. I am trying to replicate the truss rod on the stick- I have a square steel tube and threaded rod- and mechanically I have it figured out (I think)- but what I dont have figured out exaclty yet is how I am going to route out the channels at the depth I need. So- let me try to explain- 

The layout from the back- now- most of this material back here will be gone- I am doing this so I have a flat surface to do the layout on- and I am pre-drilling with some cheap ass Freight Harbor drill bits I paid like $3 or $4 bucks per pack  for years ago (bought 4 packs of these- if they dull- eh- toss)-anyway- the layout:

this line below shows where the back of the neck will be- ie- the steel tube will be flush with the back of the neck- and as you can see- there is considerable depth. The stick has a neck thickness of 7/8".

my plan of attack here is to use my cheap o drill bits and hog out the majority of the channels FIRST. I am measuring the the depth of the steel tub- and I will make sure to drill down just short of that- taking into account the brad point on the bit. Theoretically I could go ahead and just drill to depth- but- that would leave the brad bit divots- and while no one would see that- I would know it. I want it neat if I can pull it off. The problem I havent figured out yet is how to get a router bit that will bottom out on the bottom of the truss rod channel I need to make. with the wood on the back of the stick as it stands- I have a nice flat surface- and I will be able to use a router table with edge guides once I remove the back of the neck wood- however- where the truss rod channel has a "T" shape- there is a curve from the neck depth to the back of the wood where it is now- and I dont have a bit-that can reach that deep-not safely anyway.  Maybe I didnt explain that very well- its late- I have had a few- and Australian Football League is on and I need to go watch it. Later peeps - more to come.  

drilling this is like drilling iron. My benchtop drill press is SCREAMING. having to back out- let the RPMs get back up- drill, scream, back out, let the rpms get back up, drill, scream, back out, repeat. One day I will have a decent drill press, and bandsaw, and other stuff. 

 

[Prostheta]

Sounds like the drills weren't cutting at all. More than likely trying to push their way through the wood as opposed to slicing it. In my experience, those lose their temper and ability to hold any sort of edge as soon as they get hot. Bin 'em. They're a liability to your workpiece, and I wouldn't risk it. FWIW, buy a couple of QUALITY bits such as proper HSS or even M2. They will cost a little more each than those crappy sets, but they'll keep working well after this job and produce a better cut. Trust me on this. It's also worth pecking your way through abusive woods like Purpleheart. It burnishes up and blackens with heat which will kill drills in no short order.

Looking forward to seeing your truss rod fabbed!

[Mr Natural]

Pros- I actually think its more of an issue of power- I can chuck one of those bits into my power (hand) drill- and it drills just fine- minimal loss of power- but- my cheap ass bench top drill press just doesnt have the balls to plow thru me thinks. Of course- the issue being able to keep a perfectly straight plunge which is impossible by hand- and I am not really into buying one of those hand drill /drill press converter thingys. I hear you about sharp good bits-I may pull out my better bits and just test your theory- but I really think it is more a matter of lack of power in the drill itself. Bench top tools -unfortunately, only get you so far. Better than nothing, but often fall short of needs.