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My First Bass build - Short scale (30") and a bit of experimentation with the fretboard...


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Couldn't get any fret wire until Monday morning, thinking of going for medium jumbo stainless unless anyone says anything different for a bass...

Got on with buffing the fretboard ready for doing the frets.

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Then squared up the edges of the body sections so they are ready for attaching after doing the frets.

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Sanded the neck profile, back of the headstock and volute up through the grades. The join on the back of the headstock disappears when cleaned with Isopropyl and shows again when dry, so hopefully it shouldn't be too visible under the finish (not sure what finish yet!)

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The volute is nearly equal on both sides, just a small amount to remove still on the right underside. Happy with the transition from the neck to volute now.

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As mentioned earlier today, picked up the frets and got to work putting them in.

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Wicked some CA into the ends before snipping to ensure no movement. You can see how low profile they are from this shot, 0.9mm high before fret levelling and crowning.

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Snipped the edges as close to the fretboard as possible. 

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After snipping both sides taped up the fretboard and marked the tops with a sharpie before levelling and crowning.

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And after clean up and buffing/polishing removed the tape, very pleased with the result. 

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Can get on with attaching the body wings tomorrow. :) 

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Body glue up day...

First masked off the lower end of the fretboard to prevent any squeeze out going on it and then put some pins into the wings and drilled locator holes into the the through neck.

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Then glued and clamped the first piece.

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Once it had dried I repeated the process with the second piece.

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When it was ready it was out of the clamps and on with marking out the rough shape.

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And then onto the carving stage.

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And yes, I still need to clean up...

This is how far I got before close of play today.

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Taking shape nicely. :)  

 

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18 hours ago, mwez219 said:

Interesting neck shape. Would love to see it being played.

It will change slightly when I do the heel, I always leave a bit of excess on the neck profile for the transition from body to neck. Once I get the body shaped and thickness done front and back I will move on to the heel. 

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Continued with the shaping today. Back and bottom edge first.

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And then the horns. 😈

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Next up was flattening the back. Still needs plenty more, but it is close to levelled off.

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And then got started on levelling the front, before the wife said it was time to down tools.

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Not quite level yet, but getting there. The join in the top wing is bugging me at the moment, had managed to do quite a good job with grain matching when it was joined, but after sanding the grain is looking different on both pieces. Hopefully it will look better again after it is fully level and has been sanded up through the grades.

 

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Just now, mwez219 said:

Looking mighty fine to me

I love neck through body guitars but have not had the wherewithal to try it yet, but and that’s a big but I may try ordering some more timber and give it a go. Seeing your build has inspired me.

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10 hours ago, JGTay said:

The join in the top wing is bugging me at the moment,

What join??? I went back to view the first posts where you mentioned the join and I couldn't find it! Neither can I see it in the last photos. Well, truth to be said after having re-read the post where you told about it I guess I now can locate it but it really doesn't show. This reminds me of the "contests" by @mistermikev about finding a join or mistake: After having been told that there really is something to find, it can be found. But I still struggle with finding the join on yours.

 

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7 hours ago, mwez219 said:

Looking mighty fine to me

Thank you. 😊

7 hours ago, mwez219 said:

I may try ordering some more timber and give it a go. Seeing your build has inspired me. 

Just make sure to get as much done as you can before joining the body wings. I usually cut out for the pickups as well to make things easier, but haven't this time as I don't have the pickups yet for dimensions. 

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22 minutes ago, mistermikev said:

you mean this join right here? 

That's the one. I am still flat sanding the front at the moment and the grain patterns are starting to look a bit better, there were a few dips around there that were putting my eye off. 

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3 minutes ago, JGTay said:

That's the one. I am still flat sanding the front at the moment and the grain patterns are starting to look a bit better, there were a few dips around there that were putting my eye off. 

well it's never as bad as it seams!  (lil joke there lol).  

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3 hours ago, JGTay said:

if I don't point things out no one will notice

There's a saying: A fool won't notice, a wise one won't tell.

And I was looking at the wrong place all the time! At first I thought that @mistermikev was joking! That's an awesome butt joint!

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