Primal

Yea, I think the pickup cavity it just going to take practice making templates (I can't buy from Stewmac because I will be routing for 6-string jazz bass pickups). This time I will try making the templates out of maple rather than pine. Maple is more forgiving (read: tools don't eat it up as quickly), so hopefully I'll be able to make it more precise. Here's another question. On this next bass, I want to put the truss rod adjustment down near to the body. However, by my calculations, the other end of the truss rod will be approximately 1" short of the nut (center of the nut, since it will be a fanned fret bass). Should I be concerned about this? I'm thinking no, especially since it will be a laminate neck (three laminates will most likely be maple, with 2-4 being some other type of wood, walnut being a likely option). The way I figure, the laminates, coupled with a good sized volute, should provide plenty of stiffness. Keep 'em coming, guys, and thanks for the replies so far!

Jazz bass pickups (as well as most bass pickups I've ever seen) have very tight corners. If I were routing for guitar humbuckers or something it wouldnt be a problem, but getting a tight route on bass pickups is different.

Yea, sorry, 3/8" bit. And yea, I know that ambrosia isn't its own type of wood. I just mentioned it because thats what it was sold under. I know its maple. It does have some different coloration patterns (not your typical hard rock maple).

Okay, so I've been researching my next bass build. Thanks to THIRSTYGUMS' bass, I've decided try my hand at building a fanned fret bass. But, that's not what my question is about. I've got two pieces of flamed Ambrosia (maple) that I will be using for a laminate top and back. I'm planning on this bass being another neck through, with the neck only going through the center lamination (walnut, with wings attached) and then gluing the top and bottom on. My only concern is cutting the slot for the neck/fretboard to slide into. I haven't been able to find any sort of tutorial on how this is effectively done. My second concern regards routing the pickup cavities. I've determined that pickup cavities are my weakness. My main question is how the tight corners are routed. I've never heard anyone mention using a 1/8" router bit or something similar to route those corners, and my 1/4" bit from Stewmac just doesn't cut it. I have thought about drilling the corners with and appropriate sized bit first, but every time I've tried it it has always come out bad. So, guys, what are your secrets to getting those perfect pickup cavities? I had a few other questions, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. Thanks, Chris

Oh, no worries thegarehanman, I was just posting that Warmoth neck because I think its neat!

As a side note, take a look at Warmoth Gecko Bass necks (such as this one: http://www.warmoth.com/showcase/sc_guitar_...subMenuItem2=0). Although their scarf joint is closer to the nut, its still not right under it, so its no more stable than mine either.

The placement is dependent on the size of the neck blank. Since this was for a neck through bass, the neck blank was about 2" thick. The thicker the blank, the further back the joint. If I had been using a 1" thick blank, the joint would have been much closer to the neck.

Yea, belt sanders are great for rough shaping the neck. I removed the vast majority of the material in about 3-5 minutes with the belt sander. Then I followed up with rasps and sandpaper to get the final shape. To get back on topic, the only reason the joint is visible is grain variation in the walnut, and slight color variation in the maple. Still, it worked like a charm for me.

That was my first build, btw. I even did the majority of the shaping of the neck on the belt sander, too (much like the way Gibson does it, if you have ever seen any of their factory videos).

First, rough cut the scarf joint on a bandsaw. Then, clamp it together, as if you were going to use the planer method. Only, instead of planing it, take it to the belt sander. I probably should have made myself more clear, however. The actual belt sander was used to do most of the work. My belt sander also has a disc sander attached to it, which is how I made certain that the joint was square. Patience, of course, is a must. This is the best picture I have of the scarf joint at the moment. You can see the joint near the edge of the image: Here is a picture of the scarf joint after sanding: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/insignia100/scarf.jpg It has been 3 years now, and the joint is still solid as a rock, and still nearly invisible. It may not be the best way to do it, but considering the tools I have (or don't have) at my disposal, it turned out damn fine. I'll be using the same method on my next bass. EDIT: Found another picture of the neck. The joint is near the top. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v104/ins...shing/neck3.jpg

Classical guitars have no radius, and some of the chords classical players play are far more difficult than what most guitarists play.

I used the belt sander method and it worked perfectly. *shrugs*

Fender has been making flat sawn (I assume thats what you mean by plain sawn?) for years. If you are really worried, you could always put some carbon rods to reinforce the neck. Personally, the idea of having a 1-piece padauk neck just sounds awesome. However, I'm also a fan of laminated necks. So, unless someone else knows any reason why you couldn't use a 1-piece flatsawn padauk neck (with or without carbon reinforcement), I say go with whatever look you like best. If you decide to laminate, definately get some maple veneer to put between the padauk and mahogany laminates.

Yea, man! The angle is just right! Trippy, indeed.

Do you have a belt sander? If so, scarf joints are super easy.

Glue the binding to the fretboard and the frets.... huh? Not sure what you mean there...

One thing I feel I should caution you on, you say that where you are, guitars are overpriced. I certainly hope you don't think that building a guitar is going to be any cheaper, because it won't if you are just starting out. You should probably do a bit more reading up. If you use a hardtail or TOM-style bridge, you won't have to do any routing. As for placement, that is determined by the scale length you decide to use. Do you know what scale length is? It is the distance between the nut and the bridge (ah! scale length tells you where to place the bridge!).

Take a screenshot (Print Screen key on keyboard, then open up MSPaint and press Control+V), upload the picture to photobucket, and post the link.

I use Elmer's Wood glue and haven't had any trouble so far.

I only see one problem with it. From what I understand, CF rods are only effective if they are epoxied into their slot. If you put them on each side of the truss rod, it would be extremely difficult, even impossible, to epoxy them in satisfactorily. However, this is all just conjecture.

Out of curiosity, Col, is your circuit overdriving the signal in any way? When I had the fizz/fuzz problem, I determined that it was due to my circuitry overdriving the signal, effectively sending a distorted signal to the driver. After backing off the gain, the fizz/fuzz completely disappeared.

If the pro you take it to really is a pro, he should be able to tell you exactly what you need.

Ebows are just like this project, only in a compact case (and some fancy circuitry, but the concept is the same). It has its own pickup to pickup the strings and a driver to drive the strings. You will NOT be able to build one of these, as it is MUCH more complicated than this sustainer project, for many reasons, one of which is EMI issues (which is solved in the Ebow by secret, patented means).

Pictures posting rules. Please read.

It's perfectly fine for him to start a new thread. This issue question isn't just for sustainerites (hey, can I trademark that? ), anyone dealing with electrolytic capacitors can benefit from this thread.