bassman

I am using hipshot aluminum hardware (satin) for my current bass build, I believe they have the same available for guitars.

He was asking about using mahogany on a bass neck, which is not only much longer than a guitar neck but can have about 50 pounds per string pulling back on it. I am not saying it wont work, because I am sure it will. However I like using wood for a bass neck that I know is strong enough, bubinga, purpleheart, maple.

The only real difference I see with your jig and the moretraditional approach of glueing is that you are applying more pressure to the edges of your laminates. The wooden blocks you are placing across the laminates are bound to flex a little since the "clamps" or bolts are tightened in unsupported areas. This is however splitting hairs, hairs that may not matter, I really dont see any advantage to your method of clamping, over the alternative of just laying a board across the top, and one across the bottom and the using them as clamping cauls. If I was worried about getting equal pressure across ,my glueups, and I am, then using harder wood than the pine you use is the way to go. I use either very thick and quality plywood or oak/maple. It will flex less and act more as an extension of the clamps than a softer piece of wood that will more likely put more pressure directly under the clamps than in the spaces between them.

Warwick thumb basses (bolt on versions of course) have just a hair over 2 inches in contact area for the neck pocket. They use four screws. I would use three screws or bolts minimum, unless there was some sort of tenon going into the body, then I might be comfortable using two.

Excellent idea Lovecraft! Now I just need to find some eyelets that will match my satin aluminum hardware- and give it a shot- or cover the polepieces if that idea fails.

They ARE visually aligned- just not laser cut accurate- I would not use a pickup that looks wrong. I am talking hair line differences here. Lovecraft, that would be my first course of action but the magnets are arrainged in the radius of the fboard- 20" radius.

I have just finished creating a humbucker for my next bass. The pickups are an original design. I cut the forbon for these and everything, I am going to make a wooden cover for this pup. The problem is that as visually lined up all of the polepieces are (10 of them- five string bass bucker) they are slightly different than the template I made for drilling the ten holes in the top of the pup cover. The are just off enough that all ten wont line up perfectly in their holes, instead of drilling oversized holes I imagine that I could make a mold of the humbucker, and use their indentions to make a perfectly matching template. The molding has to be something that is strong enough to actually guide the drill bit into the new template- so of course wax won't work- epoxy might just be a pain in the arse. Any other ideas? Thanks...

Do not use wood that is no properly dried. Generally speaking, wood needs about 1 year per inch of thickness to properly air dry. Even when I buy wood that should be properly dried I still let it acclimatize to my house for quite some time before I use it. If you want to save some money on wood, then buy some "fresh" wood right now for a guitar you will build next year, or the year after. If you want to build a guitar now, or in the next few months thenn buy more expensive wood that is already cured properly. Using "fresh" wood for a guitar, will probably lead to an unplayable guitar, either twisted or cracked. Do not waste time effort or money in this manner.

"Routing the inside and then cutting the outside makes a huge difference compared to cutting the outside then routing the inside. " SO very true, good thing I figured this out before making my first pickup covers last year. I would never try it the other way around, unless I wanted to explode my almost finished pikcup cover. Russ, the covers do look very nice.

Yep, just route a straight, flat bottomed channel that keeps the width and length snug. I notch out an area for the bottom rod to project into, this probably wont make a lot of sense until you get your hands on one. They are the only rods I have used, I have no reason to switch to another kind at this time or in the forseeable future. They are very simple to install and give you a wide range of neck adjustment. There have been a bunch of posts regarding this subject, using the search feature should give a wealth of info on the subject.

I certainly didn't mean to give anyone dangerous advice... but of course I didn't, and never would, feed it over the joiner blades with my hands, push blocks are the only way to do it even remotely safe.

Here is what I just did last week. I clamped my two pieces together (using strong spring clamps to leave clearance room) so that the angle pieces lined up nicely. I then ran the angled surfaces over my joiner a few times- perfect results. But be extremely carefull, this is definately not the safest way to use a joiner.

You got it! However I amusing some stable layers of maple and walnut-about 5 layers actually. The very last layer may be figured and funky though. While experimenting last night I ended up getting the best results without using a backer (cork) on my clamping caul, with the cork on the veneer just would not fully conform to 167 deg angle. Steam and moisture did not seem to give me any benefits- the veneer bent just fine without it. I am dong this on a one piece quaterssawn bubinga neck, even though I usually prefer laminated necks. I am also going to build up the heel block area in a similar way. Off I go to glue up layer #2...

bump...

Or course, keep in mind that you should ideally have your strings centered between each pair of corresponding pickup magnets. Not that Fender seems to worry about it that much;-)

How does it sound?That is the real issue. Plug and play to find out for yourself. Some guitars (basses especially) have virtually no "pocket" they are just bolted on, the most important contact areas are the bottom of the neck pocket and the heel of the neck. If those are solid then it should be ok, that is not to say that a tight neck pocket is not desireable. You may have problems with the neck twisting within the pocket if it is not secured tight enough, I have seen this problem in a couple of Fenders.

"If you recess the bridge, angling the neck is unessesary???" Sometimes, this is true. The main goal is to be able to achieve your intended string action. A full scale drawing (side of the guitar perspective) will inform you of correct orientation of the different planes of the bridge and the neck. You basically want the string laying either directly on top of the frets or just above them when the bridge and or saddles have been fully lowered. If this is accomplished by either angling the neck pocket, recessing the bridge or both, then you should be able to raise the strings to your desired string action.

I have found some madagascar ebony locally, I have never seen any before nor looked for it (of this usable size that is). There are several pieces and they are all 3.25"Wx1.25"Tx42"L, and priced at $33 a piece. I was tempted to buy all five right on the spot- I only bought one of them. Considering that I have never seen pieces of this size before, I would assume you folks do not come across ebony of this size very often either,did I make a mistake by not buying all five pieces? It would be great for multi-lam bass necks, this size could even be used for a neck through bass, that is scarf jointed of course.

I will soon backstrap the headstock on my scarf jointed bubinga bass neck. I have plenty of ideas on how to do it but I am not sure which way is most appropriate. My idea- steam the veneer and bend it into the 13 deg. angle during a "dry clamp" to make sure that particular piece wont split, after I am sure it has not split and is properly conforming to the angle then proceed with gluing in on (while it is still warm and damp). It will be glued in with a caul of the same angle, faced with 1/8" cork. Do the same with layers 2,3,4+5... allowing 24 hours between allowing for both the steamed wood and glue to sufficiently dry. Am I missing anything obvious here? Will the steamed veneer prevent the titebond from curing properly by addng to much moisture to it? I think my planned approach will work just fine, I am just looking for a little experienced advice before I proceed.

I have some cocobolo that looks just like that...

First of all,it is 30" seems a bit to short for a bass neck blank unless for a headless bass, though it may have just enough length to work. I know that it wouldn't work for my next headed bass, you need to carefully check your own plans. Maple alone is usually strong ennough, ever played a Fender? However I prefer to use graphite rods for extra reliability, you might want to do so, especially if the malpe is flatsawn.

"But what I'd really like is a translucent emerald green stain like This bad boy." Then get some flamed maple and stain away, really. I have only used coco on my fingerboards so far, no prolems with an oil finish there. As with glueing oily woods a thorough wipe down of something like alcohol or naptha will make adhesion and finishing easier. Others here have more experience finishing cocobolo- hopefully they will chime in. I have some really beautiful coco that I have been eyeing for use the past few months (for a top), but it is line behind some other sweet "stash" wood.

White=hot black=ground

It does depend on the specific pieces of wood you use, not just the species... one piece of cherry can be more like maple, and another can more like walnut... Sometimes the results are not always what you expect, check the density and strength of the specific piece you have in mind for a better understanding of what results it may yield.

For playing shows, I would never get less than 300 watts... Unless you want to always feels buried beneath the drums and guitars.