Bass number two (にばん): the blue growler

[Prostheta]

It's not the wood immediately within the crack itself that is having issues with moisture exchange Scott, but I get where you're going with that. It's the rest of the wood in either half moving as an entire piece which results in cracks in the areas of least strength. That it happened in the seam either means that both halves were pulling in completely opposite directions and/or there was a less than satisfactory bond at that point.

It was an extreme of heat and humidity though, so you kind of of expect that something like this would happen somewhere. I stored an 80s bass body in the storage outside and forget about it over the winter. The cold does funny things to finishes, and nothing that that (I get to use that twice!) body has experienced in thirty years. Bang, one Finnish winter and it was toasted.

[a2k]

17 hours ago, ScottR said:

Right or wrong I'd be tempted to force some titebond into that split next time it opened up and then clamp it up tight. There is no mechanical stress on that joint trying to pull it apart, just humidity exchange. And sealing it will eliminate most of that problem. the worst thing that can happen is you'll have the exact same options you do now.

SR

At this point, it's back to exactly where it was when I glued it - there is no visible split to get glue into. Hopefully sealing eliminates most of the problems (and not being a complete idiot and leaving the bass in the car over a weekend in a crazy hot humid climate). So I'm with you - if it does come back, I can revisit the options (though #5, scrap it, would be the most likely due to challenges with sawing a finished bass in half).

Plus, maybe - just maybe - the bridge, once in place, can serve as an anchor in holding the wood together if the wood decides it wants to move again (though the split didn't go that high and the bridge screws go at the wrong angle). 

On with the project! I got fret markers installed yesterday. 

[a2k]

Yesterday was neck carving day! I'm still amazed by the magic of this process. A quick afternoon's work turns a plank of wood into a bass neck. My first pass through resulted in a neck that felt a little too square, so I went a little deeper and now it feels great. Action shots:

I also modified the headstock shape to not scream "fender". My brother called it the "eagle beak" but my wife quickly pointed out that it looks like a penguin. 

I also managed to get my hands on a bottle of tru oil that I'm thinking I'll use on the neck and fingerboard to bring out the birds eyes and flame. Here's a test with two very thin coats:

 

I think this will work, but I might want to make the flames come out a little more. Any experience using a dye under tru oil? 

For the body, I'm rethinking my original plans of blue dye and may instead dye it brown - something like this:

I've got a pack of kita dye and am thinking I will do brown and then dark brown grain filler. Can anybody point me to the steps for the ash two-tone dye + grain filler process? I've got to figure out a way to do this with limited access to most finishing products. 

Next week, I will be drilling holes (for the neck, the bridge, wiring, and pick guard) and putting a radius on the fingerboard. Then the sanding begins...

 

[Prostheta]

As far as dyeing the neck goes, I would try and steer clear of using heavy applications unless that is a look you're going for. Accentuating figure is a double-edged sword in that it dampens the play of light ("chatoyance") that you see in figured woods. It pops the figure but flattens it. Thin initial coats of oil don't look very good, and so generally one floods on the initial coat(s) to achieve penetration of the surface as much as the wood will take. Necks are difficult because you want to protect the fingerboard as oil can unseat frets or gunk up your mojo.

Figure explodes under oil, but it has to be fully wetted rather than thinly-sealed. That initial flood coat allows the wood to take up as much as the surface can, then is wiped off. Subsequent coats are thinner to build up a film finish. Tru-oil builds more heavily since it's a polymerised oil.

 

Before (this is raw Linseed):

 

During flood:

 

After you wipe off the flood coat, it drops back to a less impressive satin sheen however the figure will spring back strongly when you start adding more oil.

[Prostheta]

I mean, I don't want to discourage you from dyeing the neck however I think that less is more. A super-thin brown-amber can replicate aged Maple, but it depends on what you want. The movement of the figure or the visual contrast.

[a2k]

3 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Thin initial coats of oil don't look very good, and so generally one floods on the initial coat(s) to achieve penetration of the surface as much as the wood will take. Necks are difficult because you want to protect the fingerboard as oil can unseat frets or gunk up your mojo.

I probably didn't "flood" my test well enough initially - I was too concerned about ending up with a gummy layer. 

[a2k]

2 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I mean, I don't want to discourage you from dyeing the neck however I think that less is more. A super-thin brown-amber can replicate aged Maple, but it depends on what you want. The movement of the figure or the visual contrast.

Gotcha. I think I'll get what I want without using dye on the neck, but I'm thinking I'm going to dye the pick guard. 

Should I put a layer of tru oil on the fingerboard before installing the frets?

[Prostheta]

When I flood with Tru-oil, I remove it after about an hour or so and add a little more during that time if areas dry out or become "wooly". The thing I've found about Tru-oil over the years though both through mine and other's experiences is that it is highly flexible in how you use it. You get people having pissing matches over each other's opinion over which is the "right way to use it", which is amusing since usually they're both right.

Definitely avoid letting it get gummy. Tru-oil cures (I believe) exclusively through contact with oxygen, so a flood coat will dry far more slowly under the surface than a thin coat. The objective when I work it is to allow the oil enough thickness that it doesn't dry on the workpiece surface. Maybe skinning on the oil itself (if you leave it long enough) but you remove all that anyway. Once the flood is wiped back and allowed to dry it provides a nice base to build the rest of the finish up onto.

Again, look at anecdotal reports on how people use it. I believe you can pick and choose from everybody's experiences with Tru-oil and use it to tailor your own approach. It's fairly forgiving stuff, so as long as you don't do anything too crazy or impatient it'll work.

[Prostheta]

3 minutes ago, a2k said:

Gotcha. I think I'll get what I want without using dye on the neck, but I'm thinking I'm going to dye the pick guard. 

Should I put a layer of tru oil on the fingerboard before installing the frets?

 

Never tried it. In fact, I've never finished a fingerboard in my life, which is maybe why I'm tempted to use a flame Birch board on my Lancaster.

Test on your scrap and see what seems right first before deciding in front of a keyboard. 

[a2k]

From my scrap tests, it seems like putting oil on is fine, but the rumors I'm reading around the internet claim that if any oil gets into the fret slot, there's a significant risk of the frets popping out. So I guess I'll fret first, and then apply the truoil carefully to avoid gunking up the frets. It didn't take much to make the birds eyes pop anyway. 

[Prostheta]

It's not quite as bad as The Internets would have you think. Oil certainly doesn't help in a fret slot, however it's not the sole reason for a fret popping. If you soaked a fret slot, that's a problem perhaps. Just mask off the board and don't slop it around is the most practical advice I guess.

[verhoevenc]

@Prostheta, if I see you using gorgeous masur birch for finish test swatches again I will cut you.

My $0.02,
Chris

[KnightroExpress]

I dab a bit of oil on my fretboards during the finishing process. Just go light and you'll be fine 

[Prostheta]

45 minutes ago, verhoevenc said:

@Prostheta, if I see you using gorgeous masur birch for finish test swatches again I will cut you.

My $0.02,
Chris

It absolutely grows on trees around here, Chris.

[verhoevenc]

9 hours ago, Prostheta said:

It absolutely grows on trees around here, Chris.

Then by all means let me give you my address.

Chris

[Prostheta]

Karelian Birch grows smaller...."stunted" is more appropriate. It tends to include more knots and the like, however if you were happy to cover the ludicrious cost of Itella Posti shipping I'll see what I can rustle up. Probably printing some kind of template and doing knot avoidance would be required. Unless you like sound knots.

[a2k]

Still kicking along! I got the holes drilled for the neck and the fingerboard radiused last week. I would have loved to have one of those fancy laser beam drill presses like @KnightroExpress's got in his new shop, but it still worked out okay. 

Now I'm waiting on some of the tiny parts I neglected to purchase earlier (pick guard screws, side dots, string tree, long drill bit for wiring holes). But at least I got to bolt the neck on and play some air bass. 

[KnightroExpress]

Looking good!

To be honest, the lasers aren't very handy. They need to be realigned every time your workpiece height changes and move with vibration after a brief time anyway. I'm not THAT obsessed with lasers.....ok maybe a little

[Prostheta]

I have a small carbide-tipped pen which is used for scribing/marking metal. That's all I need for marking out my holes. Also stabs you in the leg if you sit down with it in your pocket which is equally as useful.

[a2k]

I haven't been good at staying up to date with my documentation here, but I have been making some progress. A few highlights

• I had fun with lasers! 
• Making a good pick guard is the hardest part
• It's not finished until it's finished.

Photoz...

Got all of the holes in drilled to mount the pick guard. So far so good...

Except when I went to drill the jack hole, this happened:

Fortunately it split along the grain and I was able to glue it back. So far it's holding well.

Side dots installed. Those things are TINY!

Sanding until my arms are numb...

Frets in place. I saw those cool neck pillows you can get, but a bag of beans seems to work pretty well. Plus after the frets are in, I can use them to make some chili. 

Now, on to the lasers! Turns out the wood shop has a laser engraver upstairs. So I sent over a few files and had them engrave the headstock. I think it's a nice touch, and I like the irony that the only non hand made think is the phrase "hand made" on the back of the headstock. 

Now I'm playing with stain. Got a coat on the body. I need to get a sealer so I can fill the grain with a dark dark dark brown. 

I also plan on making the pick guard darker to get more contrast. 

And finally, the neck with it's first coat of truoil. Amazing how that stuff pops out the figure in the wood. I hope the one piece neck is stable - I really like the way it's turning out aesthetically. 

 

That's the news for now. Work has me heading back to the States for a week starting tomorrow. I'm going to resist the temptation of bringing some wood sealer back with me, and instead try to find some locally when I get back. I'm excited to play this bass! 

 

[ScottR]

8 hours ago, a2k said:

Sanding until my arms are numb...

You're not done yet, you've got to sand till your fingerprints are gone.

Looking good, especially the neck.

SR

[Prostheta]

Good save Aaron. You've also come a long way since the first one....that looks fantastic!

[a2k]

No pictures today - I just stopped by to vent my frustration on the finishing process. I've dyed four times and sanded off the dye three times so far because I haven't been able to get the results I wanted. Finishing is tough. First time, the color wasn't quite right. Second time, when I sanded back the grain filler, it left the color really blotchy. Third time, the color wasn't even close to right. It's amazing how much not liking the way the finish is looking has effected my entire world view - I'm not looking for perfect, but I am unable to live with the wrong shade of brown. It's even hard to go to sleep at night with a color I don't like on the bass. 

I had drifted away from the original idea of this project with the belief that the wood was guiding me to a different place. But when I got to that different place, I didn't like it. To quote myself from my first post in this thread:

Quote

The plan is to do a P Bass with a few twists. While the Koi is a "swiss army knife" do-it-all bass, this next one is going to be purpose-built. I'm going for a more aggressive, biting sound and a feel that inspires you to rock out.

So the fourth time, I'm going back to my plan and doing something completely different than the previous three. It's gonna be a little bit aggressive, biting, and (hopefully) will inspire a little rocking out...

Things are currently drying, pictures to come. 

Edited October 21, 2016 by a2k
fixed some bad grammar - maybe someday I'll learn to proofread before clicking 'save'.

[Norris]

I did some test samples for my guitar, to see if there was much of a difference between doing the grain filling before or after dyeing. They both looked about the same to me. Therefore when I come to do the guitar I'll grain fill first to reduce the risk of over-sanding through my dye.

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Norris said:

I did some test samples for my guitar, to see if there was much of a difference between doing the grain filling before or after dyeing. They both looked about the same to me. Therefore when I come to do the guitar I'll grain fill first to reduce the risk of over-sanding through my dye.

+1

SR