Simo

Had to go with Simo. Just a beautiful example of complex simplicity: flat top(although spalted), 24 frets(on a singlecut), no inlays and silver side markers, and I'm pretty sure those were emg bass pickups right?

Thanks The pickups are EMG P81/P85, they're exactly the same as the 81/85 humbuckers, just in a P90 sized housing.

Spalted Maple Singlecut

24 frets, 25.5" scale

Body: American Cherry
Top: Spalted Maple
Neck: Maple/American Cherry
Fretboard: Ziricote

Inlays: Sterling silver side dots

Pickups: EMG P81/P85

Dunlop Flush-Mount strap locks

Ebony knobs

Body Finish: Rustins Plastic Coating (brushed)

Neck Finish: Hard wax oil

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Custom pickups, with Ebony covers.. courtesy of German Pickup guru Harry Häussel

I have seen those colors in box elder, but don't have a clue as to how well they hold up after finishing. Have you used this before Simo? Will you be able to keep those great colors?

I've not used Box Elder before but I understand from what I've read that the colour will fade over time in exposure to sunlight. I've not decided on a finish yet but it will be something that contains uv inhibitors to help preserve the colour.

The fretboard blank has arrived this week.. the fretlines will be a pink/red colour to match the top, so I've gone for a plain Ebony board to help those stand out. I've also taken an off-cut from the body, bookmatched it and planed it down to use as a headstock veneer.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!! There's actually some dust in Simo's shop! Surely that's a sign of the apocalypse.

I can take a picture of the inside of my dust extractor if it would make you feel better

Hi guys, I've not been around here for a few months, just thought I'd post some pics of one of the builds I've been working on...

This will be the first singlecut bass I've built, the shape is basically a singlecut version of the design I used for the 5 string fretless (and the 6 string Redwood bass I built last year). The spec is as follows...

34" scale, fretless

Flame Box Elder top

African Mahogany body

Bolt-On neck, Maple

Ebony fretboard (with fretlines)

Hipshot hardware (black)

Custom made Häussel Bassbar pickup (bridge) & Häussel Jazzbucker (neck)

Flame Box Elder top:

African Mahogany body blank (2 piece):

Body cut and sanded to shape (the top has been wiped over with a damp cloth to raise the grain)

Carving the rear contour:

Control cavity routed:

Pickups marked out, ready for routing:

Long time, no update!...

I was unable to get the neck finished inside the competition deadline, but I was still allowed to enter and I'm pleased to say I won I've had to do some re-finishing work on the body since then, after knocking it by accident against my vice which left a nice mark on the back of the body I've been busy with other projects over the last couple of months, so I haven't had much free time to spend on it but it's finally nearing completion, I'll post some pictures and hopefully some sound clips/videos when it's done.

Here's a picture I took for the voting poll, assembled with the un-finished neck.

Luckily the deadline for the competition has been extended for another month, to give slackers like me time to finish The finish is looking good so far, I've been really impressed with the Tru-Oil.

Did you do anything to pore fill that Claro walnut? I can't tell from these shots.

SR

Nope, no grain filler or sealer, just Tru-Oil.

This is beautiful simo, i've been following it, and I had to join just to comment. Love the shape, love the feel, and the wood combination is surprisingly really nice. I usually don't like multiple figured woods together. cool headstock shape too. I will be building a 5 string fretless next with a friend that im really excited about

Thanks

3rd coat of Tru-Oil, starting to shine up nicely...

First coat of Tru-Oil...

Beautiful instrument, as always little OT question. Are those black strings good? Friend of mine wants some purple on his guitar.

These are different to the coloured strings you'll see on most guitars... They're Labella Deep Talkin' nylon tape wound strings, which produce a more upright bass tone due to the layer of nylon wrapped around the metal winding. For standard electric/acoustic coloured strings try some DR's. I use the DR Black Beauties on my acoustic.. the coating is barely noticeable, they last very well (without losing the coating) and most of all they sound great.

I've strung her up today for a test fit, just to check everything is as it should be before I get stuck into final sanding and finishing...

Sorry for the hijack Simo. Excellent work as always. Are the silver side dots just rosewood dust and CA?

No dust, just black CA.

iv been using aluminium tube for this but recently went looking for some silver tube and found some on a jewellery making site. dont know how they compare in price to what you've been using but heres a link

EDIT: actually, having looked around that site there are crimp tubes and you get 100 of them which comes out at MUCH less than the long tubes

The ones I use were from ebay, I brought them quite a while ago so I can't remember what they cost. I found the longer crimp beads tend to come with the hoops.. the smaller, hoop-less tubes are often only a couple of millimetres long, which would make fitting them a bit more fiddly. Snipping the hoops off is easily done though, and it definitely beats cutting sections of long tubing down.

thanks for posting that link. and Simo, thanks for the quick tute on how to do these.

I will probably use this technique in the future, so again- Thank you.

I love learning new things on here....

No probs

Back on topic, I love the silver side dots. What is your technique? I assume you fill the tube with a dowel of fretboard material and then put the whole thing into a regular hole?

They're 'crimp beads' sold for making jewellery. They normally come with a hoop on one end, so I snip that off with some fret cutters, add a drop of black superglue in to the hole and tap them in gently with a small plastic faced hammer. I leave them slightly proud of the surface and once I've added some more black superglue (if needed) to fill the centre of the inlay, I use a small, flat file to make them flush to the fretboard.

Sterling silver side dot inlays...

Is that a shinto rasp? How do you like that for carving necks? The build is looking sweet.

Yep, that's a Shinto rasp. I couldn't recommend them enough.. I use it for all my neck shaping, body contours, etc. They're reasonably cheap, they stay sharp and they cut very fast, without clogging.

I'm assuming the fret lines are maple veneer. Are you trimming out roughly fret sized pieces and sliding them into the slot and then trimming them flush or do you have some other method of doing that? Are you using a spot of glue or more....or none?

I use strips of Maple purfling (which is .020'' thick, so it fits the fret slots perfectly), they're glued in with superglue. Once the glue is dry, I snip the ends off using fret cutters and then sand everything flush.

The radius and fret lines are done and I've made a start on carving the neck

Maby its just me, but your piks give the impression that your shop is an environment of absolute serene tranquility, So clean, so bright & so pristine. very relaxing.

Not like the mindless swamp of khaos mine seems to turn into every day

If only

Someone needs to figure out how to put a bearing on the spindle to create a pattern following spindle sander...or has that been done?

Yep, the Robo-Sander.. http://www.luthiersfriend.com/robosander/robosander.html

Some more progress.. the neck ferrules and inserts have been drilled and fitted and I've routed the heel with a cove bit, ready to begin neck shaping tomorrow.

I ticked a few more jobs off the list today, it's getting there slowly but surely...

The control cavity has been routed (apologies for the blurry pic). I'm using a single volume control and a mini toggle to switch between the Acousti-Phonic's mid/dark tone.

I use a stationary belt sander, followed by a spindle sander for the hard to reach areas.

Oh Simo...you two timer....LOL derned Brits always looking for more love...LMAO Nice work Simo

haha cheers

Headstock shaped & tuner holes/recesses drilled...