Mr Natural

the two points in Chris's statement above I think are most important-as far as a clean cut is concerned- at least in the numerous FAILURES I have had- and reading in this forum-and other wood working forums- I used to use almost the exact bit Curtisa used- changed to an angled bit and found that the fuzz and lift/shattered edges went away.Pulling the wood away (rather than back tracking a cut)- downhill cuts- all that is the way to do it.

I think router tables are 20 times safer than holding a power tool spinning at 1000x of rpms. If you are about to sneeze- you can pull the object away from the blade- if you are holding a router- different story. Every cut should be "mentally planned" ahead of time- my router is spinning this way- my push is this way- my hands will be here while I make the cut. I will stop here, I will approach there. etc. I do this everytime- and I can atleast say I still have all my digits still. Doesnt mean though I wont encounter something at some point- but if I think it thru each and every time- the risk is minimized.

I must admit defeat when it comes to maple though. I still use a robo sander on horns as I just cannot seem to win- or rather- I am not willing to chance it once I have that much work and or cost into a project to risk tear out. I admit it openly. I am chicken in that respect.

I dont want to harp on Chris's video- but if any noobs are watching/reading- please wear safety glasses whenever you are using a power tool.

very cool!

Looks great- and I have to agree with Geoff- I think the solid tailpiece will look better. It sucks about that first tailpiece, seeing it was finished and all.

Did you get a chance to see how it sounds (with six strings) before she blew? (wondering how your new slots worked out). (details please!) Thanks.

that is one tasty looking kebab

A little research into the stick from their patents on the us patent site. It appears that the screws used for the bridge and the (old style) nut were 10-40 thread brass. well- I cannot find 10-40 thread- I am sure its out there somewhere- but google didnt provide me results where I could buy it. I checked McMaster-Carr which is the first place that comes to mind for me for these sort of things- and they didnt have 10-40 either (unless 10-40 is now called something else)- anyway- good ol home depot had #10-32 thread brass machine screws- so I thought I would try those out. about one minute on the belt sander and I had what was show in the picture below. quick and dirty work- just to check if it will work. I have a set of Stick strings- and this size will do nicely. 2 things I learned immediately- I will need to hold these by hand so not to damage the threads- (heat I found out is not an issue-at first I used vice grips to hold the screw thinking the screw would get hot- it didnt) and I will be using my opti-visor to make sure I am just shaving off the head of the screw, keeping it true and not putting an angle into the head like I did below.

"Don't let it kill your Forstners"

Prostheta- I have used nothing but my junk bits on this-drill bits only- my benchtop drill press just doesnt have the power to really push a forstner into this and do anything.

So- attending to the headstock- first cleaning up the surface of the headstock from the drill bit digs

using my black and decker 1/2" precision belt sander to dig into the radius left from the belt sander. I would have used my spindle sander but my brother in law has it. I have to admit- I love this tool. I will further clean this up with the round edge attachment on my mouse sander.

so I mentioned in one of my other build threads that the neck on this one ran into a hickup. I was starting to shape the sides of the neck on this with the belt sander- and I realized I hadnt tried the truss rod. I typically give it a turn or two left and right to make sure I didnt glue it down etc. So- I put the allen wrench in- and I no more than get the wrench in the hole and the head falls off the truss rod, like it was barely attached. ok-so-surgery time. This is a first for me. well- it didnt go too well. I was able to get the rod out- but I had tear out along the neck. I drilled from the back of the neck and started to route out from there- and this maple just shredded all to hell. I pulled out the rod- replaced it with another- and then filled the back with a filler strip of cherry. You can see the glue/sawdust lines below. Not pretty. I was about to start over- but this is 32" scale- and I really didnt want to waste the finger board- so- depending on how this ends up after carving I may end up painting neck- we will see.

and then there were slots-

cutting this purpleheart is a royal PIA. seriously tough stuff. How I long for a proper bandsaw. The benchtop 9" Ryobi (toy) wouldnt be able to handle 3/4" of this stuff let alone 1 3/4" thick. I am having to use the drillpress to "hog out" material before I kill my router bits with this stuff. one day.......

wow. just wow.

The jig uses a indexer in between the cut- the idea is to double tape the master fretboard template to the bottom of the board you are cutting- the indexer lines up the saw blade with the fret slot in the master- which you then cut the board you taped on the top of the master template. I found at Home Depot a Stanley heavy-duty Utility blades- the package says they are .024" thick- they fit my LMII boards I use for masters perfectly. Here you can see where I am making sure the blade is at the right height before gluing it in.

top view of the jig- I have placed the saw into the cut- then glued, clamped (and will screw) the second part of the box onto the board.

side view

The stick is 1.75" thick- and my slot fretting jig is designed to cut a single board (well- a board taped to a master board template).So I had to make a new one. I stole this jig idea from someone in this group back a few years ago- I went looking for the posts- but couldnt find it- so if it was you I lifted the idea from- my apologies for not giving cred where its due.

Some 1X 4 scrap oak cut into 15" long pieces- glued and screwed together to form a basic miter box.

the "guide block" glued and screwed together across the top of the box

a trip thru the chop saw to cut the box thru the guide block, the board underneath will become the base of the whole jig

great job man- I really enjoyed watching this come together.

todays progress-

hogged out some of the wood where the pickup module goes with the drill press - then set up a couple of guides with mdf cut offs

routed out the pickup module cavity- total depth is 7/8"- notice the tear out at bottom right of picture- I didnt see it while I was routing- and luckily the pieces are still attached. I forced some glue up under the splinters- pressed them down with some wax paper inbetween a flat piece of wood and weighted it down until it dries. hopefully it will sand out with no noticeable tear out.

I changed my mind about the pickup module- I will be making it out of walnut instead of wenge. The couple of boards of wenge I have are flatsawn, and frankly they are just plain ugly.

A bit of work today- did some research and pulled a diagram off the US patent site- which shows all the interal routes on the pickup module- nice. I sized up the module with graphing paper- making sure I was measured evenly on opposing sides.

glued to a freshly planed piece of black walnut

a few minutes with the bandsaw and then belt/disc sander and the shape has been cut.

It blows my mind you did this without power tools. Great job man. How many hours you got on that puppy?

"If I recall correct, the strings are spaced too close for the single bass bridges to work."

Doug- you are 100% correct cause trust me- if there was a way to use a pre-fab bridge piece- I would be all over it.

I hope my bridge plan works- we'll see.

Scott- yeah- I am behind big time on updates- work has gotten in the way- but I have vacation next week and hopefully I can get caught up-

my lapsteel build is complete- and it actually has a new home- but my son borrowed my good DSLR camera and low and behold- dad's memory cards(with pics) are now missing- lovely. So next week when finals are over said 15yearold will be scouring the house to find said memory cards (yes- he lost both I had in the camera bag.)

The ken Lawrence bass had a bit of a hiccup- the truss rod broke- it was the last of a batch of six hotrods I had bought from stew mac ages ago- anyway- I always check the truss rod after glue up- and I no more than gotten the allen wrench in the rod and it broke- poor weld from what I can tell. hell- that rod has been in my garage probably 6 years- so- who knows- anyway- first time I have had to perform neck surgery- it went well- for the most part. when I find the memory card I will post pics. I was going to scrap it- but its a 32" scale- and that is the only 32" scale fingerboard I have on had- and dont have a template for 32" for my fret slotting jig- so- had to try to save it

The four fenders are just sitting there- waiting for their turn- and I have a couple of others that you cant see in the pic that are just- waiting- havent even started build threads on those yet. You know me- I take a year or more to build one.

Doug- I will be going with the beveled neck profile- like the actual chapman stick. how did that pyramid wire work out? I was going to try that- but I have so much jumbo wire on hand I figured I would use what I had- plus the old sticks had that on them. There is tad bit more height on the jumbo I have compared to the pyramid- so I figure it might help to have once I level it all out. and being level is key here for sure.

sweet

I have been wanting to try this for a while- it took me a bit to figure out how I was going to deal with the hardware "issues"-namely- the adjustable bridge. I have a plan- not sure if it will work- but here I go anyway.

Purpleheart 10 string Chapman Stick copy

36" scale

EMG FT pickups encased in wenge module

"older version" style nut (individual brass studs)

"Plan A bridge"- adjustable bridge- like the newer style- except made of wenge with brass stud "saddles"-

"Plan B bridge(if plan A fails)- individual brass studs (like the older model sticks)

1/4" steel rod truss rod with "ghetto" adjustment system :-)

jumbo frets- like the older model sticks

laying out cut lines on the purpleheart board- sticks are multi-lams these days- typically 7 or more- I am using only 4 lams

glue up after running the gluing surfaces thru the jointer- notice I have flipped everyother lam end to end to flip the grain direction

running thru the jointer to get near final dimensions- 3.25" wide by 1.75" deep- final length will be approx 45.25 long- this is roughly 51" long.

laying print out checking how things will line up.

Hey man-I contacted Hipshot like you suggested and have a 6 string bridge in black being made. 19mm is as narrow as they can go- which I was hoping for a bit tighter as well- but we will see how it goes. I have a project idea I have been sitting on for some time now because of not finding a 6 string bass TOM type bridge- thanks again for the suggestion.

I have to echo previous comments that this is quite an advanced level style of build for your first build- and you have done a pretty good job. It may be kind of late to mention this- I am just reading this for the first time- but it appears to me you are going to have a possible issue with strings lining up on the tuners. The hole nearest the end of the headstock is the one that might be a concern. I cant see how you will achieve a straight string pull from the nut to the tuner without hitting one of the other tuners. my apologies if this was already brought up- but you may want to consider- if possible- plugging those tuner holes and re-drilling. you will run into tuning issues- especially on bass strings- with the winds catching on the other strings- you will go to tune up and the winds may catch- and then all of a sudden you are playing and bend or snap/pop and the string releases from where its caught with a nice lound "PING". and your string goes flat.

and if it sounds like I know this from experience- well- lets just say I knew a young man many years ago who did his first bass and didnt have a plan/design on paper- and ran into that very issue - who that young man was- he will remain nameless.

outside of that- great job - especially for a first build

Ok I went with the Laguna 14 SUV..

I will keep you guys up on the decision.

Two words for you RAD- you suck

aka- I am so jealous. I have been eyeing Lagunas for a while- and just drooling/dreaming.

Someday- maybe once the youngest (15) leaves the nest- I can quit pouring funds into baseball and braces etc and pay for some fun stuff. .....looking forward to your updates.

I set up the router table with a 3/8' roundover bit to see what this would look like. Not sure- I think I am going to keep it like this- I am thinking 1/2" would be too much.

I guess I never mentioned this previously- but this build is somewhat of a beater build for me- or maybe I shouldnt say it like that- bottom line- the woods (maple for neck and mineral stained poplar for the body) were sourced from........homedepot.

yep- a few years back- I spied that board and said- I gotta buy it. I got the maple from the homedepot by where I work in Atlanta- they had maple in there at one time- both hard and soft, as well as some other woods you dont normally see at the HD. I think that store was some sort of a test bed- plus- the homes around there run in the $$$- Elton John has a condo maybe a mile or so from there- anyway- at one time they had all sorts of stuff you dont see in every HD. Guess they figured the area had the bread- so test stuff in there the rest of us poor slobs might not be that into. I have been sitting on this wood probably 8 or more years. Unfortunately the poplar is dry as hell- and it dents and scratches wicked easily- you can see in the pic by where your forearm would be- I have already had to steam out a nice dent I put in it flipping it over on the router table- spanked the (rounded) corner of the router table and put a nice mash in there. It came out- but I will have to reshape that part of the roundover.

didnt get much done this weekend- my youngest had a baseball tourney and we were running all over hell's half acre- I did take the mouse sander with some 80 grit and cleaned up the sides a bit where the router bearing left a nice mark- and used the spindle sander to clean up the insides of the horn sides.

then ran these threw a 3/8 inch roundover than I had set up on the router table for the Ken Lawrence copy I am making- forgeting that strats (I think) take a 1/2inch roundover. So these will probably hit the router table again with a larger bit- I just wanted to clean up the sides before rounding over- and I guess it did no harm other than taking a little bit longer to run this part of the operation. I have plans somewhere around here with the roundovers and all that good stuff.

Shop tunes- dug into the old cassette box again - Hendrix in the West. Will never get sick of that one. and part of the way thru Judas Priest Unleashed in the East. (my breakfast album from when I was 14-16yrs old).

Total time- about 1.25 hrs

Running total- 12.50 hrs

that bridge looks awesome- I wish they made it in a six string version