Narcissism

I'm jealous of Drak, because he picks up most of his woods locally as far as I know. I like the hands on experience when I'm shopping

Thank you for the links though, Resto! They'll probably end up getting used over all the other ones I've looked at

Man, I have no clue where you find all your figured wood! I suppose some creativity on how you can use it comes into play, but jeez that looks good!

I can understand jazz bassists moving the pickup towards the neck more. You get more low end there, which gives you a sort of standup/double bass type sound. Good stuff!

The gray mdf looking color looks like it might be primer.

For my playing style and visual preference, I would have had the pickup more centered between the bridge and neck. However, I see a lot of people pivoting off the neck join lately. Also, the diversity in the sound that you mentioned is key. Just my opinion/trailing thoughts.

I like that you're taking your time with this build. A few weeks ago, I decided to figure out what this stupid pointy stick thread is about, and I really did enjoy reading it! Though it took me 3 days lol.

I like how you build, shoot the ****, build some more etc. It's like watching an episode of "this old house" or "Yankee woodshop".

How much for the neck?

To me, the headstock looks pretty thick. I'd thin down the headstock, while thinning out the voulte. If you look at killemall's builds, you'll see what I'm talking about. His are a bit oversized, and in a similar location with what you have to work with.

I'd like to see some other opinions though, as I've never made one

Looks good!

A coat on the guitar forum seems to be defined as a layer of paint/clear. You can have a thick coat, or a thin coat. A thin coat can range from a barely visible misting to a visible coat. A thick coat can range from a visible coat to a droopy sloppy mess. Either way, I'm pretty sure that a coat is just a layer of paint/clear that melds into itself. If you wait a bit and then spray again, I'd call that another coat. I think its all subjective.

It pays to have huge hands and long fingers.

That's what she said

When routing the neck pocket, be aware of the length of your screws, as it would suck to see them pop out of that nice fretboard. I'm not accusing you of forgetting, I just thought i'd throw it out there as its a common mistake.

As far as your action goes, I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But if you do want to fix it up, I would glue a piece of similar wood to your plug and sand it so it looks like a contoured rise.

Good luck!

The scarf came out nicer than I was expecting! Now I know that the one I made will come out okay, because the one you made started out the same.

I prefer the Tostito's hot salsa.

On my first build (the 5 string bass) I broke off not 1, but 6 screws in the body before I finally got it through my head that maple and mahogany can hold a thread in a wider hole. I still fuss about it.

I built a corvus

On my most recient LP build, I had an expensive piece of black limba that was to be cut with a band saw into 2 neck blanks. The person who cut them returned them to me in less than favorable shape... I still have the pieces, and I'm still deciding on weather to throw them out, send them to moth to make pens out of, or to cut them into strips to use as laminates when I get a band saw.

I also figured out that a chisel and a drill aren't the best tools for making pickup cavities (as seen in my RG-RR build)

So far, out of 5 builds, I haven't made a flawless guitar. I'm gonna call it practice, and build a few more!

Carvin makes some OK stuff for recording. I have an Ampeg BXT410 that I bought for 500 used. Maybe that's an option? I also got the head (Fender Bassman400) for 200 used. I'd say head over to the local music shop and see what they've got. A lot of the time you can make a deal with their used equipment, depending on the condition.

Ampeg, Laney, Peavey and Mesa all make really nice amps. Peavey will probably be the most cost efficient. Good luck!

I normally figure out the center line of the guitar, and the neck, and then place the bridge. Then I use that placement to measure out my scale length and place the neck pocket.

all good suggestions and basically the same thing I just said! Good luck!

All this time I've been trying to make a 3* offset leveling jig so I could just carve out the pocket at an angle with the router. Cutting the angle into the heal is a really good idea!

You can really hear that P pickup! It sounds just like a stand up acoustic bass, only like... present, and not just one of those background things that you only hear when all the other instruments aren't playing. i want one.

That's actually pretty sweet! I'm interested in what the rest of the build will look like. Is this your LP of kickass, kinda like what my SG is going to be?

I donno about a fretboard, but I have a few ideas on what I can do. I have some walnut that I'm thinking of laminating with some thin strips of flame maple. I have some Birdseye left over as well. We'll see.

Sorry I missed the question o weather or not these were supposed to be two neck blanks. Yes, it was supposed to be 2. I figured if he messed up on one then the other would at least be salvagable.

Wait... who cut these?

Chris

this is what happens every time I let anyone do anything for me. It comes back wrong. I cut the initial body blank with my jigsaw, and that came out perfect. Maybe I'll just get some new blades and use the jigsaw until I get a bandsaw setup next year... Or maybe I'll just hold off on my builds till I get my own tools.

Pictures???

[edit]

because I think it deserves repeating:

From now on, I cut my own wood.

Sooooooooooooooo... I've got some firewood neck material now... I got the limba neck blank back today, and it made me really wonder if he followed any of the instructions, or if he even knows that a guitar neck is stress bearing... Its complete garbage now. *sigh* That was a nice piece of wood too... So much for the "build the guitar out of one piece of wood" plan... This really sets me back.

He felt bad and wanted to pay me after. He's giving me a 6" jointer, which is pretty sweet.

So...

I'm gathering up my plans right now, and seeing what I can pull off with what I have, and what I may need to buy. I bought a piece of black walnut a little while ago to build a Violin with... Perhaps I could re-purpose it?

I managed to save the headstock from the neck blank by cutting it off before I gave it to him. Good thing I did. At least I'll have a nice light headstock to work with...

I looked at Strandberg's ergonomic build, and his version with the darker woods looks kind of nice. Maybe I can pull something off like that, and use some scrap laminates of black limba I have left over from the carnage? Now that I'm getting a jointer, i'll be able to properly laminate things.

Or maybe I should just stop and go work on the SG... This really ruins my plans. Good thing I didn't pick out hardware or binding yet, because I really feel like I'm starting from page 1 again.

Alright, I gotta do some research and figure out what woods are light enough and strong enough to build a neck with that are available in my area. There's plenty of wenge, walnut, purple heart, yellow heart, Birch, maple, mahogany, iroko, cocobolo, and a few others at the hardwood store I go to... I guess buying online's an option...

**** I'm pissed...

From now on, I cut my own wood.

You know, it never occurred to me to create a clamping surface, and then just cut out the entire design after its all stuck together. I've been doing it the other way around, and then coming up with clever ways of using clamps as clamping surfaces, and getting clamps with 90* angles in them so you can hold stuff together.

Ah well, live and learn

Thanks!

Is the purple gonna be a girly light purple, or an evil dark purple?

Kinda like when Simo puts his dyed sycamore laminate between the body and top-woods on his guitars.