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build #11 - Snuffy's Billy Bongo bass


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I might have missed something here, however I'd think that an integral ramp would require a lot of stock removal. I would vote for a recess that joins up the pickup routs so that the ramp itself can be adjusted to match height and radius under the strings. It's also a way of dialling in how deeply the player can dig between the strings. This would have been an ideal option earlier in the game as the section between the pickups could have been cut out for this purpose, producing a grain matching ramp.

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For a built-in ramp a neck-thru with the fingerboard extended down to the bridge pickup might also be an option. But as @ADFinlayson said, the player may want it removed and not have the skills needed to do so.

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That's very true. If it were to restore the instrument to the exact look without a ramp, definitely. Whilst completely hypothetical at this stage, a matching ramp with a radius that can be lowered down to body height to be near-flat works in that respect. A fixed size ramp doesn't allow for player adjustment, however that adjustment does mean a certain degree of permanent design work in the instrument.

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Well we have the start of a ramp, I got a few faceplates from maderas barber which I highly recommend - they're only about £5 but they're 6-8mm thick and big enough to get almost 3 face plates out of. which meant I was able to get 2 offcuts to glue together for the ramp and enough left over to make a large control cover (the old golden pheobe control cover warped when I glued 2 4mm layers together). 

I still need to put the 12" radius in the ramp, round it all off and drill some screw holes. My radius beams are not wide enough so I think I'm going to rough it out on the disc sander then finish it off by hand sanding.

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I've used brass inserts and machine allen screws for the control cover. There is going to be a 9v battery in there because snuffy doesn't like battery clips and I expect plain wood screws will end up de-threading the wood after a few battery changes. Took me ages to track down the right screws and inserts, the only place I could get the brass inserts was ebay/china but the machine screws are really good quality screws from accu.co.uk - only trouble with that site is most things have to be bought in min batches of 100 and their threaded inserts are £1 each!

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2 hours ago, Prostheta said:

If you have excess threaded inserts, I'll buy them if that helps. I could do with a couple dozen!

TBH I really like them and I'll be sticking with them for future builds, for the price you might as well get yourself a bag of 100

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/710-53481-19255-0/1?ff3=4&pub=5575536527&toolid=10001&campid=5338593098&customid=&mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fitm%2F100x-M3x6-Brass-0-6x0-43cm-Cylinder-Knurled-Threaded-Round-Insert-Embedded-Nuts%2F273292787795%3FssPageName%3DSTRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT%26_trksid%3Dp2057872.m2749.l2649

These are the hardened steel hex scews, they're very good quality, work out 2p each but some of thier itemshave to be bought in batches of 100 from Accu:
https://www.accu.co.uk/en/countersunk-socket-head-screws/495095-SSK-M3-10-10-9-Z

I also bought 20 of their steel hex wrenches which work out 10p each
https://www.accu.co.uk/en/hexagon-socket-key-wrench/495452-HDKS-S-2

I did some testing and gave the allen keys and hex screws some abuse to see how good they were, they're definitely not soft metal so I highly recommend. 

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I'll grab bags of a few sizes. M2, M2.5 and M3 cover most things. Cavity covers and pickups being the most important ones. I figured you'd bought an excess from the UK company and thought I'd free up money tied in. Yep, cheap enough. Better than £1 each! 

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42 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I'll grab bags of a few sizes. M2, M2.5 and M3 cover most things. Cavity covers and pickups being the most important ones. I figured you'd bought an excess from the UK company and thought I'd free up money tied in. Yep, cheap enough. Better than £1 each! 

Somethings on accu are quite reasonable like those hex screws, but their screws suitable for pickup rings work out 26p each which isn't too bad but when you've got to buy 100 @ £26 it gets a bit steep, then again 8 screws per guitar, you soon get through them. 

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it's getting there. I got the ramp and control plate sanded up to 320 and a couple of coats of crimson oil on them today

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Got the bridge holes and earth wire hole drilled and did a bit of a test fit, there were a couple of bottles of Hopping Hare that needed testing too :) 

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and I've spent a couple of hours on the frets tonight - damn I hate stainless steel. They're levelled and crowned and the fret ends are done, I just need to get all the crowning file marks out of the tops before I can buff the frets and scrape the fretboard. Not too many jobs left to do.

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Yep. It's very much set and forget, however unlike NS it doesn't have nearly as much malleability. I've found that SS needs radiusing as close to the final radius as is reasonable, so springback doesn't pull/push the fret out of place. NS can be mashed and abused into position by comparison.

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9 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Yep. It's very much set and forget, however unlike NS it doesn't have nearly as much malleability. I've found that SS needs radiusing as close to the final radius as is reasonable, so springback doesn't pull/push the fret out of place. NS can be mashed and abused into position by comparison.

yeah I had a real PITA setting those frets, I ended up having to wick in super glue and clamp each fret for a minute before moving on to the next. 

1 hour ago, ScottR said:

I love it. Once you get it polished it stays polished. It wears like.........stainless steel.

SR

you're right of course, SS frets are the better longterm option and they feel great once the've been polished up nicely, they're just not much fun to hammer in, level and crown. 

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I'd say that this is one of the cases for using a water-based glue like Titebond and clamping the frets. As the tangs move down into the fret slot, they leave a small groove in the endgrain of each slot which the water in Titebond can encourage to swell back up behind the teeth. CA fills these and provides mechanical adhesion, but is a PITA for refrets if you're not aware that it's there. Heating a fret using a soldering gun with the element cut and using the wire in its place is one way of unseating frets 😉 Either or. Where possible I try to be as "minimally permanent" as is reasonable. 

I actually just did a refret on my old 80s Aria Pro II RSB-600 using CA to aid the tangs in gaining a foothold in the otherwise tired slots. It just gets everywhere and invariably you end up glued to the instrument and/or tearing off chunks of finger. Do not like. Still, where needs must.

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18 hours ago, ScottR said:

Simply stunning, and the back and neck look like it was grown specifically to pair up with the top wood.

SR

From a whole other continent too :D 

35 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Machines are for sissies...

Good old elbow grease makes them shine the right way!

 

I must be a sissy then because my right shoulder is giving me agro today 

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1 minute ago, ADFinlayson said:

I must be a sissy then because my right shoulder is giving me agro today 

No no no, that's artistic suffering! No real work can be done without pain, no art is real without suffering!

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