Infinity Bass

[Akula]

Did a quick test-fit of the bridge, nut, and tuners, so I could string up two strings and make sure I didn't muck anything up big time before finishing. This is partly because it always makes sense to check one last time if my bridge positioning was actually correct (even though I measured it a dozen times before and after routing), and also because I'm keen to "hear" the instrument for the first time.

 

As I started the saga of sanding up to fine grit, I noticed the top was creaking a little in a spot near the output jack. I softened up the join, pried it open a little, and squeezed a load more glue into there before clamping it back up. It put my sanding schedule back by a night, and at this point it's probably plain to see that I'm clucking to finish this thing, but I decided to do the right thing and play it safe. I've cocked up enough things on this build by rushing!

 

I always, always struggle with end-grain sanding. I think my grit steps went 150, 180, 240, 320, and yet I still ended up with scratches everywhere. Last night I hung up the guitar for the night and settled into a six pack, before coming back this morning with a hot wet towel - I did some serious grain-raising in between each step of sanding grits. This photo was from last night, I was much more satisfied with the final outcome after grain-raising between grits.

 

Side dots! I actually installed some 2mm plastic dots, quite a few weeks ago. They were awful. I drilled a few holes wonky, and the dots didn't sit in the holes straight, because a 2mm drill bit will make a slightly larger than 2mm hole, and my inexperienced self didn't realise that until they were glued in with CA. Oh, and the CA made a hell of a mess everywhere. 

Take two. I bought some 4mm aluminium tube from a hobby shop, and then used a 3.5m brad point bit to drill through my plastic dot fiasco. In future builds, I'd definitely use aluminium tube again, but probably a smaller diameter. I kinda had to go for 4mm tube, just to make sure I could cover all my previous mistakes and still end up with straight side dots. 

I did file flush and sand up to a shiny finish, but I seem to only currently have a photo of mid-install. I'm tempted to fill the centres in with black epoxy, but I'm undecided as of yet. It's a fairly easy thing to do later, and also easy enough to undo with a 3mm drill bit.

 

Finally, I tucked into the can of Danish oil. 

I'll go through my finishing process, really just to vocalise to myself what the plan is; and in the hopes that if I'm making some grave error, a helpful voice shall pop up and set me on the right course.

As mentioned, I sand up to 320 grit, then clean all the sanding dust off the guitar with a rag, and compressed air for hard spots. Then I get the Danish oil decanted into a tub and warmed up, and apply it in a pretty heavy coat. I keep rubbing it in for about ten minutes, then I take a dry rag and wipe off all the excess. For the next hour I potter around the shop doing odd jobs, and wiping off any oil that comes rising out of the wood. 

 

After about an hour, I do a slurry coat - applying more oil with 400 grit sandpaper, and rubbing it in little circles. I found there was a bit of bleed between the walnut and maple, so I had to keep a dry rag handy for wiping off any walnut smears on the edges of the top. I had half a mind to mask off the different woods and oil-slurry them separately, but I didn't want to create a line in the finish. I think it came off okay. 

 

It's hanging out to dry for the night, and in the morning I'll do one more slurry coat with 600 grit. After another day of drying, I'll probably do a week of light rag-rubbed coats of oil at one a day, in the midday when it's warmest. After that it'll be a week of cure-time, followed by wax and buffing.

 

Mmm, I just love the smell of Danish Oil.

[Prostheta]

If you're struggling with endgrain scratches, you're not spending enough time with each grit. Low grit scratches are HARD to sand out without slight reshaping. I have a bottle of DNA which I spritz often to observe progress. Sanding in one direction exclusively per grit (say, 4 o'clock to 10 o'clock, then 8 o'clock to 2 o'clock) shows when the current grit has removed scratches from the previous one. This requires discipline and patience, but absolutely works and produces results.

[Bizman62]

Another thing that can cause scratches is too much pressure on the sandpaper. You can't make the grit go deeper than down to the paper but if you try, the wood dust and sand residues create huge (compared to the grit) abrasive lumps that make serious scratches.

[ScottR]

I think you've done a bang-up job so far--this thing looks great!

SR

[Muzz]

The bass is looking so cool, I especially like the f holes and the neck to body transition

[Akula]

On 8/6/2021 at 11:34 PM, Prostheta said:

If you're struggling with endgrain scratches, you're not spending enough time with each grit

You are a hundred percent correct. I went back to the start and worked up through the stages, and this time I raised the grain between each grit as well. @Bizman62 I also took your advice and went softly, and I bought some better sandpaper too - cheap stuff makes me want to press harder, and it clogs so easily.

 

Wound up with something much better.

 

The Danish oil has had nearly a week to cure, but in the meantime I got around to installing magnets in the electronics cavity cover. Did 'em with a 5mm brad bit installed in my new drill attachment (a Drillmate, if anyone's familiar? I'd love a drill press but don't have space yet) and glued them in with epoxy. 

 

So now, how good is wax? 

 

[Prostheta]

That's absolutely excellent. So much better than my attempt years ago.

Raising the grain with water causes partially cut and unsupported fibres to deform and rise out of the surface, which makes them easier to knock off with sanding at a light angle to the grain direction. It's better for long grain than end grain.

[Akula]

1 minute ago, Prostheta said:

That's absolutely excellent. So much better than my attempt years ago.

It's also so much better than my own attempt almost ten years ago. Whatever happened to yours? And thank you! 

Raising grain is a technique that my old woodshop teacher taught me in DT class at school - I remember he taught me the same about end grain, but he also said it would always help with finding a smooth finish no matter where it was. Your note of "spritzing" denatured alcohol reminded me.

[Prostheta]

I wasn't happy with the ivoroid binding and the Macassar Ebony back cracked severely. That and the wood used for the neck wasn't as stiff as I was hoping.

Denatured alcohol shouldn't raise the grain as severely as water, which is why I prefer it. There's only so wet that you can make a workpiece before you should leave it to reacclimate and lose the moisture. Also, several glues will degrade or fail completely with water.

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, Akula said:

So now, how good is wax? 

My limited knowledge in your language leaves me puzzled here... Do you mean you'd like to know if wax would improve the finish, or do you mean you'd like us to tell how well you've waxed the instrument?

[Prostheta]

Wax is as close to there being no finish as you can get. It has very limited protection of the wood. It's often used over thin oiled finishes and can be burnished in to feel as though you're playing on the wood rather than on a finish. You can use it a number of ways, however once you've got wax on there it's almost impossible to completely remove it to apply another finish. Toluene or similar can dissolve wax, but still ends up spreading and packing it into the wood very easily.

Why wax in particular? Because Warwick?

[Bizman62]

32 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Wax is as close to there being no finish as you can get. It has very limited protection of the wood. It's often used over thin oiled finishes

Exactly my thoughts as well. That's why I was asking. Wax over the Danish oil @Akula mentioned should give the thin finish some protection and could even make the surface a bit harder. Over bare wood, I wouldn't suggest wax.

[Prostheta]

An oil finish that doesn't build to a discrete film over the wood is nice feeling when waxed. The wood can be soaked, wiped until coming back dry and burnished with steel wool (or synthetics) lubricated with a little oil, wiped back, then repeated until the surface is smooth and consistent. Knocking back the surface with 00000 wool or the equivalent and burnishing up with wax would work. There's many ways to do this, and I think for most it becomes a feel thing. Some like this, some like that. None of them are really truly protective finishes though, but you can't beat the touch value.

[Akula]

22 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

My limited knowledge in your language leaves me puzzled here... Do you mean you'd like to know if wax would improve the finish, or do you mean you'd like us to tell how well you've waxed the instrument?

Haha! I do apologize, I may have lapsed from English into "full Aussie".

The turn of phrase means, I've already waxed the instrument and I'm looking for encouragement on how wet and shiny it looks. Almost like saying, "how good was that last beer?'. It's a rhetorical thing, we use it on cops all the time here.

 

21 hours ago, Prostheta said:

Why wax in particular? Because Warwick?

Yes, and same reason as you've already stated:

21 hours ago, Prostheta said:

to feel as though you're playing on the wood rather than on a finish

That's why, at a guess, Warwick use the finish. Although, going off my Corvette, they probably use some kind of a poly over the Danish oil. That's a total guess though.

 

The bass seems to me, at this point, "finished". It's hard to the touch, and just acts like how a finished guitar should underneath human fingers. 

 

 

One thing I would like to put to the hive-mind of information that is you good people: at one segment of the body-to-top join, I've noticed a glue line. Not visually, but haptically. I can't see anything, but I can feel a ridge where the maple top joins the walnut back, right around the lower side around the f-hole and controls. 

Could this be some reaction to the glue? Perhaps where I opened the join and injected some more adhesive? Did I not let that glue "set' enough before finishing?

Will some 1200-grit and a touch of oil fix it?

[ScottR]

1 hour ago, Akula said:

One thing I would like to put to the hive-mind of information that is you good people: at one segment of the body-to-top join, I've noticed a glue line. Not visually, but haptically. I can't see anything, but I can feel a ridge where the maple top joins the walnut back, right around the lower side around the f-hole and controls. 

Could this be some reaction to the glue? Perhaps where I opened the join and injected some more adhesive? Did I not let that glue "set' enough before finishing?

Will some 1200-grit and a touch of oil fix it?

I've seen this happen. Often is is the result of wood swelling with humidity and squeezing any excess glue out of the joint, even if it is fully cured. 1200 and oil ought to work nicely.

SR

[Bizman62]

I'm with @ScottR, the woods may not have been equally dry and/or they behave differently with the atmosphere. Either it's a glue line or one or the other wood has swelled a bit. It's always a nightmare to sand the multi-laminate neck through level with the wings. Each and every layer seems to live a life of its own no matter how long the woods have been acclimatized in the very same space.

[Prostheta]

3 hours ago, Akula said:

One thing I would like to put to the hive-mind of information that is you good people: at one segment of the body-to-top join, I've noticed a glue line. Not visually, but haptically. I can't see anything, but I can feel a ridge where the maple top joins the walnut back, right around the lower side around the f-hole and controls. 

Could this be some reaction to the glue? Perhaps where I opened the join and injected some more adhesive? Did I not let that glue "set' enough before finishing?

Will some 1200-grit and a touch of oil fix it?

 

It is likely down to water from the glues used. Commonly you get sunken joints where the wood around the seam expands, and if planed flat too early will leave the wood to sink back from flat, leaving a sunken line. It can happen inequally, so it might be that one of the woods is uneven with the other. Don't inject glue! This may be the "reaction" you have in mind, just water. Let it be, sand and fix it later in the month. I usually leave extended periods between major operations, especially glueups. Wood will do funny things when you poke around inside it, so it's best to let it do its thing and get back to work when it's stabilised.

But yes, once that's happened then go back in through the grits and oil back up. It should be invisible if you feather it well.

[Akula]

Ok, my first of three builds that I finished but never had time to post about. Sorry y'all! By now the regulars will know that I work an insanely irregular job, and occasionally my brain gets turned off to the world around me for weeks or months on end. 

 

I finished this one shortly after my previous post. The electronics were easy - I'd taken the preamp, pickups and pots from another Warwick bass, so it was all plug and play. I did change from two pots (bass and treble EQ) to a single concentric pot, but that was about as straightforward as you'd imagine. I had a few issues with squeezing it all into an Infinity-sized body and cavity, but it's wedged in there and it works.

Hardware was a dream. Warwick really nailed it with their 3D-intonation bridge, and the Adjust-A-Nut made the first setup quite breezy. 

As for the raised line between top and back, I ran it over with some finish-grade sandpaper and it disappeared, without even leaving a visible mark in the oil finish. Whatever it was, it wasn't much. 

 

Job done.

 

I will get some better photos tomorrow, because this one shot doesn't do it justice, but there it is.

Now this video poses the question to you - does it growl like a Warwick should?

 

[mistermikev]

must... resist... urge... to... pick-shame... hehe.  

sounds really good.  nice playing.  great looking bass.  nice work.

[Prostheta]

Amazing that you built a lefty version as well!

Job well done. Whether you use a pick or fingers matters not. The tone dialled in reminds me of Alex Webster a lot, so does it growl? Yep. Yes it does. Long haul but worth it in the end man!

[Akula]

19 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

Amazing that you built a lefty version as well!

In this day and age, you forget to H-flip one video.... Haha.

Thanks guys.

I am definitely a pick player, taking my lead from the greats such as Matt Freeman, and in the realm of Warwick bass guitars, Marco Hietala. I wish my playing were up to their standards, but it's not.

Anyways, I'm satisfied with the aesthetics, ergonomics, and sound of this bass, and there shall be more photos to come - as long as tomorrow's a sunny day in sunny ol' Sydney. 

[Prostheta]

Marco's style is very much like a rhythm guitarist. I'd even compare him in many ways to Lemmy in how he fits within bands. He's chilled out a lot the last decade though, and I miss Tarot. You can see a lot of Marco's rhythm style playing during the verse and chorus.

 

[ScottR]

Well done! Great looking and sounding bass.

SR

[Muzz]

What a beautiful bass, all the features and wood choices work together, and the tone is bangin, awesome.

[mistermikev]

not to divert too much... but was only joking about the pick, no offence meant.  for the right style... punk or metal in particular... actually preferred.  that said... "pick shaming" is a real thing... and ppul do it... and it's amusing to me.  rawk on.