dsdesigns

lol! it is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt....

If your hunting for the warning button, you won't find one....i didnt put one on this build....maybe next one. lol

waiting for the coat of oil to dry before I test the tuners...the inlay was not planned but after having to do something with the headstock after the router mistake, I decided to keep dropping the dots....once you pop, you can't stop. Ive got abalone topped control knobs for the bottom two knobs to complete the inlay.

Well, if worst comes to worst I can always leave it hanging from the pull-up bar in garage as decoration. At least something hangs from that bar...

Ah.... great point. I will install the tuners and run some lines to nut. I'll shoot a picture tomorrow and let you examine further. Plugging and re-drilling would not even make the top 5 mistake/fixes on this build, so I wouldn't mind. lol. Thnx for the heads up!

This is after the first coat of Tru-oil. I put the first coat on generously...will wipe it down and then apply thin coats every 8 to 12 hours or so...in retrospect i should have worn gloves...the smell is intoxicating.

I decided to go with active. I got the carvin 501B module and soapbars. The gotoh tuners fit perfect, the headstock is slightly tapered by 1/8 in from nut to top. As far as attaching the wings to the neck, I first made sure the wings and neck were equal thickness. Then I used two small clamps, positioned half on the body and half on the neck. I put them perpendicular to the long body clamps, one at the cutaway and one at the bottom. If that makes any sense. That kept it from sliding at all. I also let the glue stand for about ten minutes before I attached them. No problems.

I have roughly 1/4 in extra space as i was planning on adding a layer of foam...do you think an 1/8 in wood baseplate would be thick enough? i can make it 1/4 in without any foam....would there be any electronic disadvantages of using a metal plate?

off topic questions, how high should i sand the purpleheart fretboard? i have it at 320. planning on adding a coat of oil.

do i need to ground the bridge? active electronics and copper taped cavity.

as always, thanks!

The back cavity was cut too close to the center of the body, thus it came through the pickup cavity...Any ideas on how to fix the pickup holes so i have something to screw the pickups too? i dont have much depth as the battery cavity is almost directly beneath one of the pickups. Thanks

I am still waiting on the rest of the dots to finish

I set the cap into the headstock in a 1/16'' knife-carved recess. It rests about a 1/16'' proud of the rest of the headstock. I am happy with the way it came out, kinda a 3 dimensional look. I will insert two abalone dots in the glue/sawdust holes. I will trim the holes to create a recess for the tuners as i did with a portion of the A string peghole.

it was an amazing eveing of jacking the headstock up....it started with one small mistake then i tried 'fixing' it. seeral more mistakes later i get to make a veneer.

I have got to fix the headstock before final sanding and test fitting

_{So, uploading pictures is taking a while so I will give some specs that ive went with:}

_{The style I was going for is a mix between Tobias and Warrior}

_{35'' scale, 6 string bass, curly maple purple heart 5 piece neck with a 16'' radiused purpleheart fretboard, walnut body with maple top and back, purpleheart/walnut/purpleheart separating wings from neck. I decided to include this due to not tapering the lams when I build the neck four years ago. Its one of many mistakes that I have grown to enjoy fixing and think it has turned out better than planned. I inlayed several side markers onto the front of the fretboard in an S pattern...I dont like standard dots on the front and actually wish I would have left it plain....oh well. The rod is body fed so i built a cover from the excess neck blank to match. Gotoh tuners, carvin bridge (16mm spacing), pickups and module, stewmacs dual rod. Ive run the jack into the recess in the bottom of the body so it is hidden...I will be finishing with oil and wax the way Wes has described. A couple of issues I ran into....carving the neck a little thin, router mishap which dictated where I placed the battery, also, do use the right sized bits. I did not plan drilling the headstock too well and started to route the center of the holes as a guide for the drill but it slipped and has left me making a new veneer for the headstock. Purpleheart is kind of frustrating to hand sand. I do have a few questions.......}

_{What grade would you sand the fretboard too? I have it at 320 and do plan on giving it at least one coat of oil. I had heard if you sand too fine, it may not take oil so well.}

_{Do I need to ground the bridge? They are active electronics....I am covering the cavities with copper.}

I hate to be the guy that resurrects an old thread but I have progressed with the build, albeit several years later. I really began working on this about two months ago. I found the neck under my bed and thought, oh yea, I was going to build a bass. Aftee purchasing many tools and all hardware, I began.