Mr Natural

Hate that I couldnt make it up there this weekend. I really wanted to go. Congrats on best of show.

this build is so badass. You have a great eye for detail and the concept- putting it together- well executed. Great job.

I think you nailed the color

Nice job man. These are great.

did you put the same caps in the custom? (I must admit I was wondering if there would be some bees in there, but I can completely understand why you might not). They look fantastic by the way- again great work.

Looking good Wes. 2 questions- did you ever get into those Kahler Spider trems at all? I had an old HM Strat that i had on trade- and that trem- at least i thought at the time- wasnt too bad- different feel than a floyd but I remember liking it- Interesting observation on the mahogany smelling bad. any idea where the wood came from originally? That is some serious light colored mahogony, at least on my monitor it seems like a really light tan - wondering if you know any details on the source of it. I have one source for genuine mahogany here in Atlanta- and I find it interesting to keep track of where it came from and color/weight/tone/etc. I have seen some variations in the color- and most definetely in weight- but never 'smell". I have been stock piling mahog as I have been thinking its just a matter of time before CITIES says- eh- no more.(and I want the good stuff for my retirement years- not to mention now). I happen to love the smell of cut mahogany- then again- I am a bit of a freak so who knows. Just curious if you had any details on it. Thanks.

That binding laminator is FREAKING AWESOME! Good to see you back on this site. Enjoying the build and details- great work as always.

I know that feeling- and I did the same thing- and I still got the carve wrong!- I carved a ball - as in round on all sides- the actual bass this was a copy of- actually has a flat section where he/they didnt carve the complete sphere. I didnt know this until I saw a side view of the bass on Carla Freestep's photo website. And it was too late to see that photo- I had already carved it. I had dozens of photos- and none showed the flat area. The dark walnut on the original "hides" the fact that the ball is actually flat on the very front of the bass. You dont see it unless the angle of the photo- or lighting is just exactly so. So- you arent painting this one black right? (I think)- it would be a shame to cover up that wood- great carves so far man- looking forward to seeing this one. I dont know about you- but I really enjoyed the carving part of the build. Scary- but satisfying!

So the laquer has cured long enough on this one- time to wire it up. I was originally going to use a P-90 in this- but have decided to use a Seymour Duncan P-Rails instead. I have wanted to try this for a while- this seems like a good project to do it with. This pickup has a p-90 sitting next to a single coil "rail" pickup- so you can switch between the rail, the p-90 and then both together for a humbucker. We'll see how it turns out. I need to make a decision about the cap- wiring instructions show a .047- and the old bag of caps reveilled that I have the following- 1)-unknown cap- only marking is .047 on end cap is black with brown, purple and yellow stripes 2)- Sprague Vitamin Q 3) Cornell Dubilier (I am thinking about using this one- its the only one I have) 4) Orange Drop. I am too lazy/dont have enough time to set up a test station and try them all out- I am thinking about the Cornell Dubilier- has anyone used these before? I typically will use the orange drop- only because I bought a boatload of them and have them on hand. My brother gifted me a bag full of misc caps a few years back- and I pulled these others out of that bag. Typically my ears arent that fine tuned that I can hear "real" differences on these- usually you can hear the difference on some cheap ass ceramic caps (like stew mac stuff) vs a decent cap-anyone have an opinion on these caps?

so- after trying the riffler set and some various files- decided the best way to attack these soundholes was with a dremel and inlay bits. You can see to the left where I ended up "squaring" a radius in the one soundhole- gotta fix that. I also ended up routing the back of this board a little thinner so there was less material showing thru the holes (I did that after this photo)

I totaly agree with your statements about prepping Cocobolo- but I just want to note I have had success with Watco Danish Oil on cocobolo. I have a Carl Thompson style bass I made 7 years or so ago- and the center block is made of cocobolo- and it hasnt leaked or fudged up at all. Like you said- its all about the prep. I would add to your prepping that once it seems to be cleaned up with the "acetone bath" (literally) and the cloth is all but clean, let it sit for a week and do it again. If there was "considerable" oils from the first swipes the second go round- Then let it sit for another week- typically the third time is the charm. ( I had to do it three times for that thick center block). At the time I did a test side by side with cutoffs using Watco vs I think Forbees and maybe Minwax Tung oil (blend - not pure Tung oil)- and both Tung Oils took (literally) 6-8 weeks to cure hard. They were sticky for weeks. The Watco was dry in like one day- maybe 2 at most. That first coat of Watco has to go on heavy- let it sit and soak in, then wipe it off. 2 more light coats using steel wool and its done. A little wax and it shines up nice. Easiest finish I have ever used- but the prep has to be done like you said. I am not sure I would suggest Danish Oil for this issue Jaycee is having- but then again I have no experience with decals so who knows.

So I futzed around with this last night a bit. tracing paper on the template to get the general layout of the soundholes I layed out the hollowed out area on the top (white pencil lines)- and overlayed the tracing paper with carbon paper underneath that to transfer the layout. 2 things here- the body (by design) is slighly smaller than a real ken lawrence- its not as wide- I did this on purpose so I could use this wood. The solid part of the body where the neck will join is therefore larger- so- I will need to adjust the soundholes to fit within the hollowed out section. you can see where I have adjusted the holes to fit within the hollow area I started to drill the holes- mostly worried about the very end sections of the holes here- getting those radius's with drill bits- I will be cleaning this all up this weekend- I may finally get a need to use my Italian Riffler set that has been sitting collecting dust for the last 20 years.

here I have the middle attached to the back and I am doing the same thing as I did with the top- though I am leaving the bottom half wall I bit thicker as it will have a control cavity behind it not sure why- but I ran a small route between the chambers- last minute thing- really not sure why- dont plan on using it for wiring- but its there if I ever need it! gluing the middle and bottom sections of the body- when I glue the top on- since it is already cut to shape- it will become the template for the middle and back pieces

This bass body is in three pieces- here I am routing the top to shape I made a quick lay out template and traced on to the middle section of the body- and drilled starter holes and used a jigsaw to remove the material after cleaning up the jigsaw cuts a bit with a file- I attached the middle section onto the top- and removed material leaving about a 1/4" on the top piece

so- i was going thru my pile of maple- looks like everything I have is flat sawn-was hoping to find a piece of quarter in there- but no luck. I pulled out my templates and started laying everything out- noticed (forgot about) the bass templates I have. Now- let me state that all the guitar templates I have bought from Guitar buidling templates have been fine- no issues- the bass templates- the necks specifically- well- they cut them to make it easier to ship. Well- by doing so- they effectively make the neck template useless. and you cant really "glue" it back together- the kerf is too wide- and there will be a hump. Now- necks are no biggy- as long as you know the nut and end measurements its easy enough to "make a new one"- and the headstock shape is good on this template- its just- I hate making templates- and it would have been nice to just trace and go- or route and go, or basically not have to deal with this. here i the cut I am refering to and while I have 5 different guitar templates from them (no issues with the guitar templates)- this one (jazz bass)- the neck template and neck pocket template do not fit. Sanding isnt an option either as the angle of cut on the neck pocket and neck are different and the centerline will not stay true. Now in all fairness to the company I purchased these from- this is the first time I have used this template- and I bought this more than 5 years ago. I never brought this up previously (with the company)- and perhaps this neck and neck pocket not lining up is due to the templates "moving" due to moisture or something- but I doubt that- all the guitar templates I have are still spot on- so....check yer templates when you get'em. So- I started to make some templates this weekend- and then my bandsaw blade broke- so- I went to work on the KL bass I have started. total hours this weekend- .75 running total 7.25 shop tunes: Riot: Restless Breed, The Rods: self titled debut

Thus my previous question. I am most interested in how this turns out. The Veillette 12 string I am building- I was going to go with an undersaddle pickup- but seeing that the strings are in unisons (not octaves)- I really wanted to go with a TOM type bridge so I could individually adjust each unison set of strings. Some piezo loaded TOMS look like they have the slot exposing the element (or have some type of buffer material- so I have been fearful of spending the money and trying to slot each saddle only to fook it up cause I have filed into a wire or am unable to file deep enough for the element to work. That would be my luck. If you are sucessful- I may go ahead and be a lemming and follow your lead. (and thank you for blazing that trail! perfect timing!) The build looks great. I can appreciate the amount of work that headstock has created for you. Cant wait to see and hear this one.

That headstock is just plain sexy. I dont know how else to say it. Great job on the binding man. seriously. I still think this and your other thread on the les paul/355 should be pinned. So much great info and specs, and pics. Thanks again for sharing and taking the time. Do you use the same donut for binding for the les pauls that you did with the 355? Ken at upnorthstrings sent me either an email or something written with the donut specs on it when I bought plates from him a few years back- I seemed to have misplaced it though.

got one of the "s" blanks thicknessed (router jig) and body outline shaped. I used the 3" robo-sander drum on the drill press on this one after cutting pretty close with the bandsaw. Cant wait for the humidity and temps to lower- its just not fun in the garage this time of year- even after sundown. Total time today- 1.5 hrs Running total- 6.5 hrs Side note- Not that anyone cares- but I figured I would throw out there what I have been playing for tunes in the garage- this weekend I dug up a box out of my closet with many of my old cassette tapes- threw on Robin Trower's Twice Removed from Yesterday and Iron Maiden's Killers. Havent listened to those two in quite some time. I was pleasantly surprised there was no tape warble. (Yeah) I would give my left nut to be able to sing like James Dewar- man what a voice he had.

P Bass- maple fretboard (fretted) J bass- fretless ebony, rosewood or cocobolo board- not sure yet Strat one- ebony board- fretless with sustainer pup strat 2- maple board

wow- you got me there oblaty- that is what I get for posting to the group at 1:01am!

While most of my builds are of "different" types of instruments you dont always see everyday- I wanted to try and put together some standard builds- taking the time to document all the time/processes/etc I put into it- so as to get an idea of just what it would take to do a "production run" of roughly 4 instruments in terms of my time- in my "world". as some of you already know- it typically takes me a year or more to complete one instrument. I just dont have the time I would like- and many times I get into a build and I just need a lot of time to "figure stuff out". My goal here is to finish these in 6 months or less- probably wont make that goal- as I do have other projects going- but you never know. No Scarf joints and all that crap to deal with- I have templates and all already on hand. I had some old alder laying around that I wanted to use up. The boards have about 9- 10 inches clear of any wane/bark/inclusions- and to get 4 bodies out of this I am going to have to ditch center joining these and go the 3 piece body route- with big fat boards in the middle of each. I typically center join boards- so this is something new for me. So far- printing out plans, planing out cuts/cleaning up wood, jointing, gluing up board- 5 hours total. If I hadnt been so lazy and moved the mitre saw off the table saw and used it instead of the circular saw I probably would have shaved 30 minutes off that.

Ken Lawrence Chambered Brase Bass Copy- Popular Body Maple neck 32 inch scale Rosewood fretboard- fretless with inlaid lines This project is to use up some wood I have had laying around- and now just seemed like the time. laying out the popular-and starting the "oh so fun job" of making templates:

nice recovery man. That ill fated route might have put some out for the count. Glad you didnt go all Pete Townshend on it. At first glimpse it looks as if the balance (weight) could be off- but I guess with that upper horn as long as it is and then the weight of that bridge- I could see how it will probably lay flat when wearing a strap. Hoping I will make it up to Raleigh in a few weeks- all depends on work (unfortunately). I miss that show being here in Atlanta- but if you ever came down here for it- you might recall the last few years it was here is was pretty weak. It went from being really great to crap in a matter of 3 years if I recall correctly.

I like it. I liked it before- but I think I like it natural now- and the neck is killer. 2 questions- do you notice a difference in sound as compared to before? 2nd - and forgive me if you already explained this in previous thread- but is that headstock the "sinister goat" style? I see the ears, or horns- in it. I immediately thought of your twins build and the sinister goat logo when I saw this headstock. I may have missed that before and captain obvious just smacked me across the face.

thanks for the corrected link Blackdog. I forgot in your previous build thread you included the binding specs. (and many thanks for the efforts of your research!) I am digging that jig for the neck angle. I have seen a somewhat similiar one for a handsaw/flushsaw but not one like this for a router. very cool. as always I am loving these threads you put out.