2nd bass build

[JayT]

Finished up my first bass build and beginning work on the next! Here's the mockup:

Not 100% final on the pickguard shape yet -- but this is getting close. I'm using this Ricky clone as inspiration:

baby stepping my skills - so this'll be my first attempts at

1. translucent burst dye
2. mother of pearl inlays
3. binding on the body

So far I've got the blanks milled and body cut out.

Question - the inlay material I got is so thin!  How is this going to work on the radius? Won't the edges get sanded down to nothing leaving wood showing...even if I put them in after  is sanded?

I needed thicker material, right? This is only like 2mm thick!

[Bizman62]

2 mm is plenty especially if you put them in after radiusing.

At some point I did some math which I later transformed into a formula for comparing the radius to the edge to edge straight line, i.e. how much higher the center of the fretboard is. Note that if you're going to put the drops on the side of the fretboard like in your previous build you can halve the width of the fretboard as you'd only need to know the height difference on that area. Even further, you can just calculate by the length/width of the inlay pieces as they're the only things affected. Thus W could be either the size of your inlay or half of the fretboard. And Y will tell you the depth of the inlay carve when the inlay goes to zero at the ends. So if Y is less than 2 mm then 2-Y=the thickness of the inlay material after sanding the inlay flush with the radius.

[JayT]

@Bizman62 but the margin for error when making the inlay cavities is almost zero. 
If I make (carve? excavate?) these cavities after the fret board is radiused the cavity will have a radiused bottom. I mean using my dremel mount…

[Bizman62]

1 hour ago, JayT said:

If I make (carve? excavate?) these cavities after the fret board is radiused the cavity will have a radiused bottom. I mean using my dremel mount…

That's true. There's ways to go around that although 2 mm is even on the thicker side. I just took a look of trapezoid MOP inlay pieces, the widest was 43 mm across the fretboard and only 1.5 mm thick.

I suppose your inlays are about 15 mm long/wide across the radius? No matter what, I did the math with a 12" (300 mm) radius at the widest end of the fretboard. As a 4 string bass fretboard is 40 to 60 mm wide, half of the max width is 30 mm. Thus Y (being in this case the "quarter line") would be 0.375 mm at the most and 0.3 mm at the least. Since your inlays are narrower than half of the fretboard you'd have to put about 0.1 mm more glue at either end of the inlay pieces to fill the gap in a radius bottom cavity. That's the approximate thickness of a human hair.

[JayT]

Some progress

[mistermikev]

On 10/13/2021 at 6:27 PM, JayT said:

Finished up my first bass build and beginning work on the next! Here's the mockup:

Not 100% final on the pickguard shape yet -- but this is getting close. I'm using this Ricky clone as inspiration:

baby stepping my skills - so this'll be my first attempts at

1. translucent burst dye
2. mother of pearl inlays
3. binding on the body

So far I've got the blanks milled and body cut out.

Question - the inlay material I got is so thin!  How is this going to work on the radius? Won't the edges get sanded down to nothing leaving wood showing...even if I put them in after  is sanded?

I needed thicker material, right? This is only like 2mm thick!

i know you aren't asking for my advice or anything and no trip to hollywood here but my honest impression is that if you don't do a pearloid pickguard, pearloid binding and white pickup covers I may never speak to you again... then again you would probably want that so... on second thought if you don't do that I will speak to you more.  I like where this is going.  

afa radius and sanding away the inlay... I always worry about that too.  one compromise might be just running the inlay router right on the radius.  do a first pass to get the edges straight and then a slightly lower pass where u try to keep the router at an angle that is somewhere around the median angle there... so the inlay goes in angled. 

if you really wanted to get cute you could setup a mini router sled for your router and make it angled then mount your fretboard and use it to keep you angled. 

Either way I would do the radius first so you can see approx where you are at.  just a thought.

[Andyjr1515]

For inlays on a curved board where I've used a dremel/precision router, I personally just deepen the router bit a tough and take the 'hump' off.  When the epoxy mixed with dust I use is put in, it fills any voids but it means that the extremities of the inlay are properly seated.

Love the last build - looking forward to seeing this one develop.

[JayT]

Snail’s pace - but some progress on the neck 

I got a little sand happy on the headstock and it might be too thin. I’m afraid the string retainer screw might be a couple mm to long and punch through 

I worked the original thinning scrap — maybe I’ll stain it same color as the body and glue down as an interesting veneer for extra thickness…TBD

also the fingerboard grain is pretty deep.

Could/should I fill with wood dust & seal? Any help or advice is appreciated!!

anyway it’s comin’ along 

[Bizman62]

8 hours ago, JayT said:

Could/should I fill with wood dust & seal?

It does look a bit rough indeed. Then again, on my screen it's three times the actual width so it looks worse than it actually is. But none of my guitars have that long grooves on the fretboard.

Someone recently posted a link to a YouTube video where Rob Scallon built a guitar with a pro luthier. The luthier spread CA glue all over the ebony fretboard to seal it - in your case some dust would be required to fill the grain. The biggest issue with filling is to protect or recut the fret slots. Filling the slots temporarily with snugly fitting pieces of plastic should work to keep most of the slurry out of the slots. I was thinking about credit cards but they're too thick. A slice of a disposable cup (used yoghurt cup?) might be of right thickness and might not stick to super glue - they use both PP and PET for those so test which sticks to the glue the least!

[Andyjr1515]

I really like that carve detailing on the headstock.  That is something special!

I'm a bit of a heathen with my builds, but for the fretboard I would personally do a relatively dry tru-oil slurry (using wet and dry emery where the wet is tru-oil).  I would then scrape the excess off with a credit card (across the grain) to fill the grain with the slurry and also clear the fret slots before it dries too much (best done within 30 minutes).  I would then leave it overnight and then the following morning sand the residue off back to the pre-treated board.  You should find that most of the grain has been filled fairly invisibly.  If there's still some there, just repeat.

[ScottR]

14 hours ago, JayT said:

maybe I’ll stain it same color as the body and glue down as an interesting veneer for extra thickness…

 

5 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

really like that carve detailing on the headstock.  That is something special!

I'm with Andy, I think that is a happy mistake. Your correction is definitely adds to the look!

SR

[mistermikev]

 

fretboard - I vote leave it.  I think the open grain looks kind of cool.  I'm sure it would look cool filled too... but it's more unique with it open.  

 

your headstock... not meant in a negative way at all... I like the way it looks... might-could cause issue for both the string slope to the tuning machine posts, and the actual tuner nuts?  it may not be as thick as I'm seeing it.  maybe it's me but it looked from here like you still had a solid 1/2" which is typical.  looks like your overlay is close to 1/8"?  perhaps not as much of an issue for bass tuners.  just thought I'd mention.  might look nice with some recessed tuner nut holes should you find it needs it.

 

anywho, looks good!

[JayT]

Neck pocket nice and tight 

and using my cheap & jerry rigged tools managed to get the fret wire in and rough filed pretty quickly— at least compared to my first 3 full builds

it sure is satisfying when you can tell you’re getting better at something new you’ve been sending your valuable time on. 

[ScottR]

22 hours ago, JayT said:

it sure is satisfying when you can tell you’re getting better at something new you’ve been sending your valuable time on. 

Trudat!

SR

[JayT]

First binding attempt

Edited January 20, 2022 by JayT

[JayT]

Binding done mostly- that was a learning exercise for sure.

[nakedzen]

Very clean job! Hate doing binding. 

[JayT]

@nakedzen I’m finding out that I’m not great at binding—but keeping at it 

 

 

[nakedzen]

Looks great to me! Did I say I hate doing binding?

[ScottR]

That is looking quite good!

SR

[JayT]

After a looooong break I've revisited this build, having to refinish it....again. Also had to hand paint the head & branding since white slide-ons aren't a easy option for me. But feel re-inspired to finish this one up since I've got plans for a new "shredder" guitar I want to start. I refuse to start that until this one is off the bench  

[JayT]

OK its been a long time, but since I have the bug to start a new project I had to wrap this one up.

It was a long hall, with many stops and countless issues & headaches ending in a mad rush --- twice I almost scrapped the whole thing but I finally put on my big boy focus pants and it came together! And I feel like it plays twice a good as I was expecting ... which is nice.

Anyway, I hope to be back to PG on a regular basis. Man that last GofM (the AstroCaster) is a thing of beauty.

 

 

[ScottR]

Good things come to those who wait.

Or something like that.

This looks great! Love the color, front and back.

SR

[Crusader]

I like the Fret marker idea

[henrim]

Well done!