Prostheta Posted May 5, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2014 That's exactly why I laminated it. Chances are that the Wengé laminates will disappear under paint but ultimately they are about altering neck characteristics such as stiffness under tension and more or less removing dead/wolf tones. Jump right in man, the water's warm :-D Everybody should build a bass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2014 Shaping the neck and heel transitions using a Liogier #9 cabinet maker's rasp. Divine work with this tool. Easy to work with, fast when you want to hog and controllable when you want to fine-tune a shape without ripping up the grain. All work done from square to shaped with one tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted May 7, 2014 Report Share Posted May 7, 2014 Sounds like you're a true believer in that rasp. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2014 Arf. Well, it's surprisingly better than what I expected. I'll write about it at a later point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu. Posted May 10, 2014 Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 This is a great project. I particularly like your comment about not trusting a jointer on the gluing face - I wondered if tearout was due to my technique. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted May 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2014 I think more often than not it comes down to choice and cut of the wood being used. I don't trust *our* jointer since it is shared and I can't guarantee that so bright spark hasn't run bark over it and chipped or dulled the blades. A jointed face is of superior quality for glueing than a sanded one, but you can't put the wood a jointer accidentally pulls off back on. I'd rather go with a perfect gapless sanded joint than one that leaves minute feathers of glue pocketing along the fingerboard seam. Which will be painted over anyway, but still. Best practice and all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whalehazard Posted December 10, 2014 Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 What's the radius on the fretboard? I'm replacing the fretboard on an SB900 for a client and the one I removed is inconsistent...seems somewhere between 9 and 12. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 10, 2014 Author Report Share Posted December 10, 2014 It'll be a Metric radius value on the originals. I'm not aware of what it was but I could do some digging. Thing is, the Matsumoku factory had a distinct habit of differences between what was on the spec sheets in catalogues and what came out of the cases. I measured the radius on the outside casing of the MB pickup from an SB and approximated a 300mm radius. That's about 12" so going off that isn't unreasonable. This neck will be 16" as the person I am making it for is quite the Cliff Burton and Billy Gould fan; lighter string gauges for bending, etc. By increasing the radius marginally it'll help prevent fretting out during bends. I'd stick with 12" as per the original, however this tweak should be beneficial for the end use. Shame you're having to replace a fingerboard. The original fretwork on the Matsumoku instruments was exemplary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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