loosetoe

Hey Ski, A customer? not really..a brother-in-law. Yeah. I don't do this for $. I build cabinetry and furniture as a hobby. This is just a natural extension of that hobby. Finish? I will probably use the Watlerlox orginal finish again. I like varnishes and wiping varnishes in particular. I am a bit concerned about the coloration of the zebrawood with a varnish. It browns pretty heavily with an oil based finish. I think a sythetic wax looks best on it, but such a finish is not sufficient (IMO) for an instrument. The pickups are EMGs that have been veneered with the zebrawood as shown above. This was at the behest of my B-I-L. I would have prefered bartolinis. I really like the neck joint here. I think it is darned attractive, and a WHOLE lot easier to carve than the through neck version. -Wayne

After a long break, I've been working on this instrument again. All of the machining is complete. It should be final sanded this weekend then on to finishing. Zebrawood pickup covers. Next to my Rickenbacker to show Scale Whole Rear of instrument Close up of the Neck Joint Veneered Rear of the headstock Some of my other instruments

Some of you may remember me. It has been over a year since I posted to this board. For the last couple of weeks I have been building a 5 string fretless bass. It follows the same single cut shape as my personal 6 string does, but is a shorter scale 36" instead of 38" The body core is Swamp ash with bookmatched quartersawn Zebrawood front and rear. The neck is Wenge with a mild birdseye maple fingerboard. The fingerboard will be epoxied for longevity and colorfastness. The fretboard has small position markers markers set on the top of the board. This is inlaid wenge veneer. The bass on the right may remind a few of you of my prior work. The Zebra will probably not be carved as intricately as the maple bass but it will still be carved a great deal more. I think it looks too chunky right now. http://home.grandecom.net/~wlousteau/images/Zebra2.jpg http://home.grandecom.net/~wlousteau/images/Zebra3.jpg http://home.grandecom.net/~wlousteau/images/Zebra4.jpg http://home.grandecom.net/~wlousteau/images/Zebra5.jpg http://home.grandecom.net/~wlousteau/images/Zebra6.jpg The bridge is a Wilkinson 5 string adjustable bridge. It will probably be fit with Sperzel tuners. No decision on pickups or other electronics yet at this phase. As you can see I am doing a set neck this time rather than a through neck. This was done purely because this was the type of woodworking I felt like doing. This neck joint will be interesting in the end. The headstock is veneered front/back with matching pieces from the body. Two double adjusting truss rods reside in the neck. This was something I vowed to do an all basses I make. The adjustability on the maple one is not sufficient. The headstock is also slightly smaller than on the maple one. P.S. - There was a six string "twin" to this bass until Monday night. One blemish-too-many forced me to "pull a Drak" and end up with some new firewood.

Phil, What happened to the two truss rods idea? In your first image and desription you refer to the two truss rods, yet now you show the carbon rods and one truss rod. Why the change? having built a similar instrument, I would recommend the two truss rods. -Wayne

kench, Everything you have posted here tends to suggest sanding scratches. You admit in your first post that you "sand acrooss the grain" (sic). This is a common mistake that people make Sanding across the grain will literally rip the top layer of wood exposing pores at angles across the grain that will be VERY VERY obvious as you sand to higher grits. A finish or wiping with liquid will highlight these lines even more as these pores will absorb more finish than other areas. Further, your progression of sanding 80->120->220 will only exacerbate the issue. Skipping grits like this will never remove the scratches left by earlier grits. Take your time and do each step: 80 > 100 > 120 > 150 > 180 > 220 > 240 > 340 > 400 > 600 > 800 If you do not remove the scratches by using progressively increasing grits, you will think all is fine until you get to a high grit (your 120 - 220 jump) at which time you'll notice the presence of the scratches that you did not remove by jumping. What you have said fits this scenario EXACTLY; and is completely in-line with your statement, "the lines appear only on the smoothest areas". MKGBass pointed this out earlier. Remember the point of sanding is two fold: 1. to smooth and level the surface and 2. to remove machining marks (like those caused by a table saw) You seem to be doing #1 fine, but at the expense of #2. Further, You say you do not get this on the sides. This can also continue this theory as the end grain present on the sides will not display the same tendencies. Expect it to take at least a couple of hours to finish sand the body. Barring this, I recommend using a cabinet scraper. You mention using chisels to "get the lines out", but that is like using a steam shovel to plant a rose. A cabinet scraper will remove a very fine amount of surface if used correctly and will lessen the amount opf sanding required in the long run. I really prefer the cabinet scraper methoid as when properly used you can begin finish sanding at a much higher grit (~180). Plus they are incredible cheap tools. -Wayne

I just wanted to thank those of you who offered kind words during the build of the bass seen below. I'm not much of a guitar/bass afficionado. I don't really know how to play them, I just wanted a fretless bass, so it became my prior woodworking project. I am now moving on to other woodworking projects. I may build another guitar/bass one day; and if so, i promise to document its progress here. For now, I'm building a grandfather clock out of cocoblo (rails /stiles of the cabinet) and spalted maple (paneling). Before signing off here I wanted to share some images of the custom case I had made for the bass. Due to the unconventional shape and scale of the instrument a production case just wounldn't cut it. I found the manufacturer though the search function on this site. http://ibeamcases.com The site seems to be down now, but they built my case to my specifications for a flat $200 fee. I couldn't be happier with their craftsmanship. I find the price extremely fair when you consider the nature of this service offering. Thanks again for your help and opinions. The quote where one guy said my original design reminded him of Florida still makes me laugh. He was right after all. Signing off, Wayne Lousteau - Loosetoe

Um, WWW, have you seen Circassian Walnut? Puts Claro to shame. Rolls Royce uses it as their trim pieces. However, this is WAY out of the typical guitar maker's budget. Circassian Walnut makes ebony seem CHEAP. $2800.00 gun stock blank I do think walnut'd be a good choice though, and Claro is a nice wood. Not sure what you mean by a "natural finish", but if you mean that you will clear the wood, then I still agree with the walnut concensus. I think maple's not bad either Here's my maple bass:

2 5/8" on the fretless R4 on the explorer Dont know onthe Rickenbacker or fender basses

skibum5545 The scale + no frets has proved ...um....challenging. I have become much more accustomed to playing it over the last couple of weeks, but man has it been an interesting experience. Strangely I have foundit to be the lightest bass I own which has really surprised me. I figured it would be massive, but it's quite comfortable. darkmavis I am not familiar with Seppard. The bass is 1.25" thick. This is actually thicker than I orignially wanted, but going much thiner would have required a few more steps of planning. I played on a 3/4" thick bass at the local high end bass shop. It was made by a local luthier whose name excapes me. I was really surprised at this instrument. The thin body was so strange, but nice and light. I dont care for instruments that weight a ton (Warwick). BTW, if i could paint like you, I would definitely do it for a living. That finish is awe inspiring. -Wayne

Well next month you and primal can compete for Bass Of The Month. Nice work. Walnut has a wonderful look and feel. Nice job, you should be proud, Wayne P.S. I'm pretty sure I can answer therussian's question about the brown mark. It's the burned in Warmoth logo (see quote above). --DANGIT YOU TYPE FASTER THAN ME--

I ROUGH cut my 38" scale to 52 then went from there. So I'd venture to say yes 48 is enough. Ebony seems too expensive to me as well. Macassar ebony is nore like $65 b/f here in Austin, Texas. And the only chunks I can find are ~3 b/f. Too rich for my skill level.

LOVE the heel! If i build another instrument, im shooting for a heel like yours or one like this (in my dreams): I also like the maple tapers at the bottom of your neck. Class act. Are you pleased with the tru-oil so far? It's not my favorite oil finish, but it looks very nice here. -Wayne

Dave, excellent work! you should be proud. By chance, do you happen to have a pic of the rear end of the guitar. (not the back, but the lower side). I ask because in looking at the picture, the wood doesnt seem to have discernable end grain. The wood in the horns looks like face grain as does the top. -Wayne

This thread REALLY surprises me. At a whopping 28 years old I must be completely outdated if people think that a BC rich 10 string Bitch looks "gay" or otherwise un-cool. Just a decade ago I thought the Bitch was THE metal guitar. An American made BC Rich 3x3 head with just the R logo. THAT WAS IT! Forget the Warlock... too obvious. A Jackson RR with reverse headstock?....only if it had teenage mutant ninja turtles stickers on it. Seeing John Christ play his black bitch on the Danzig 2 tour just made me think that was the epitome of the cool guitar. Jet black, through neck, sensously curved...and a shiny "R" on top....Somehow extravagent and understated at the same time. Now I see that younger guys are bashing this instrument. Much less a 10 string. Having seen 2 of these instruments in the flesh, I was AMAZED at the craftsmanship of these instruments. That is a SOLID Quilted body guys. No 1/8" or veneer tops here. To me this is the equivalent of an Alembic. Top quality all the way! Don't get me wrong. The instrument pictured shared VERY little with today's BC rich's. So thank you all for reminding me just how quickly one can get old and out of touch. I'd take this guitar ANY day...IF that's "gay"...I'm fine with that!

Dave, You should enter this in GOTM! These same 2 guys talked me into putting mine in there. That is inspiring work. Those LEDs will make alot of people think about doing it. And inspiring others / getting ideas from others for the next project is what this is all about (IMO). Why not? -Wayne