Dean Reeves

Thanks for the tip, it's a shame that there isn't an Ace within 100 mi. from me.

So, being that I am building my first guitar I need to fill in some gaps in my available tools. Most important on my list is a spoke shave. A good spoke shave. I wanted to buy from a local retailer so that I might be able to judge what quality level I actually needed. I don't really want a cheap stanley, but I also don't think I need a $135 LIE-NIELSEN one either. I have so far gone to Lowe's, Layman's (local) and Meeks (local) and have yet to find anyone who even knows what a spokeshave is. I know that my area is saturated with commercial construction, but how can you run a hardware store, or be the "Tool Specialist" in a joint like Lowe's, and not even KNOW what a spokeshave is?

Ok, I appreciate you guys all giving input on the quality of my top, but as I've said, it's a done deal. I'm going to use it for this bass and be more careful about what I buy in the future. As it stands I can't use e-bay because I'm on a dial-up connection, and e-bay is about the slowest site that I've ever come across on dial-up. It takes on average 5-10 minutes just to open a product page. So if I wanted to look at a page full of tops (@ 25 items per page) it would take about 3-4 hours just to look. Not worth the time. Anyway, as I said, I really do appreciate the advice, and the support, of you all, but I don't want this to turn into a gilmer-trashing thread, this is the thread for my current build. And like I said, I could NOT be happier with the fingerboard I purchased from them, so I'm still not sure about the company. I will probably buy from them again, but next time I will get more information about the wood that I buy before I give them my numbers. I know alot of you have purchased from them, and were very happy. There have even been some that have been shocked that it came from gilmerwoods.com because their experience with them has been so great. Don't count them out because of my one bad experience. I hope that this will put the issue to rest. Thanks, -Dean II

I vote #1. It looks more playable, and I've always prefered curves to lines.

Thanks for the tip Xanthus, I was thinking of something along this line. I'll just have to wait until I get them all sanded out before I can really tell what my thickness will be. Hopefully I won't lose a full 1/4"

So, I don't want my project thread to become a "Complaining about Gilmer" thread. Here's new (great) news on my progress (not much, but a good deal!). I decided that to fix this top it would be best to sand it, and since I don't have the money to get a good thickness sander I'd have to hand sand it. I've noticed on here that alot of you guys have granite slabs you use for sanding flat, so I decided to try and get one. After a bunch of calling around I found a place that had some scrap ends they'd sell me. I got a 1 1/4" thick, 26 x 17" granite slab (which should be more than enough for my uses) for the low low price of: $10.00 !! I was pretty happy, although I didn't like carrying it much it's going to be worth it. Kind of makes for a boring shot, but I like it!

I know, but really what the heck can I do about it at this point. They official stance was "We'll trade it for something else of the same price." Well, then that puts me at another 3-4 weeks after shipping, not to mention it was the only piece of figured maple that price on the entire website, so I would have to re-think the entire design around different woods. As it stands i'll just have to use it, and be a LOT more careful when I purchase from them in the future. Thanks alot for your input tho' I kinda felt that way myself.

If you buy from Gilmer ASK ABOUT THE CONDITION OF THE TOP!!! Most of their tops are for 1/2" tops even though they are 3/4" thick, I just got burned on this one by them. For more info check out my post: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=40570 There are pics posted of my top, the ones from the site, and the ones I took. Yes it came from Gilmer.

Thanks, I am aware that it's for dents, but any swelling it can cause will be helpful. I'm going to have to block sand this thing flat, so the less I sand the better!!

I just got off of the phone with gilmer, and I have to admit, his explanation was pretty good. Although the piece was 3/4" thick, it was made for a 1/2" carved top. While I would rather have a thicker piece, I think I'm just going to make it work, because it is a pretty rare grain. While there are birds eyes on it, it actually has what looks like partial flaming/partial quilting underneath the eyes. This is a very rare figure to find in birds eye, and I have some birds eye veneer that my father bought 25 years ago that was the same kind of lucky score. Basically my only option on the top is to sand it. I think I'll try steaming it first so I can sand as little as possible, then re-design my back thickness around that. Like I said, I've only heard good things about them, so I do have a tendency to belive what the guy is telling me.

Greatest... Idea... Ever... I don't know how many times I've sat broke with a pair of scissors and the bottom of a milk jug.... My old video store card (and my Barnes & Noble card actually)used to get laughs b/c it had a pick shaped hole in the bottom... I left the strip alone so it was still usable

Thanks Xanthus, I e-mailed them about it. I don't know how much good it will do, but I'll find out tomorrow. I know being a hobbiest type of builder (for now) they won't be losing much of a customer, but I hope to be able to make more guitars in the future and was really hoping they'd be a company worth being loyal to. That remains to be seen. I bought these pieces becuase it seemed like a deal. It was a bit thin for what I wanted. I was going to get the quilted book matched maple from Stewmac, but I decided I'd save $75 since it's my first build. Now I kind of wish I had bought the quilted. Oh well, time will tell. I just hope this doesn't happen to anyone else.

Here are the pics of the wood I recived from gilmerwood.com 1st the Cocobolo, I couldn't be happier! But here is the Bird's Eye Maple I recived, if you look at my previous post in this thread you'll see that the shot they posted used full frontal flash which covered up the huge chunks out of the front (Most are about 1/4" wide by 1/2" long and about 3/16" deep) Here I shot it with some side lighting and the truth is revealed. I'm going to e-mail them about it, but I don't know if anything will come of it. By the time I get done working these chunks out my 3/4" board will probably be about 1/2" which is not what I thought I was buying...

I now have all of the wood that I need, but I'm having a hard time finding someone with a planer and joiner that I can use. I really want to get started, but the lack of tools is holding me back :oP On another note I was pretty dissapointed with my top wood I got from Gilmer Wood (gilmerwood.com). It has an incredible figure surrounding the birds eye's, but their planer must have been dull, and I'm guessing they just shot it through because there are quite a few (20+) chunks out of the top where the blades poped an eyelet up. I'd guess that out of the 3/4" thick piece once planed there will be 1/2" usuable wood in it. This is not cool. I thought about getting one of the 1" - 1 1/4" quilted tops from Stewmac, but thought I'd go the cheaper road and get this Birds Eye from Gilmer. Now I wish I had spent the extra $75 and got the quilted. On the other hand my cocobolo fingerboard is as straight, flat and beautifull as I had hoped. I would have rather them sent the top to me just sawn and un-planed than with chunks missing out of the top... I'll post pics this evening.

I think I'll go with a 2 truss 2 CF setup with the original lamination (M-W-M). I appreciate all of your input, but as much as I would like to do the M-W-M-W-M-W-M Lam, I really don't have the tools to make it work without taking MONTHS longer on the build. As it stands I'm already going to have to find someone with a planer that can help me out pre-glue up. I went into this thinking that I still had a 12" planer at my disposal, but "suprise!": I don't. Anyhow, after reading many of your guys posts I re-read what I saw earlier and realized that they were talking about a One Piece neck. Rift sawn on a 1 piece is not doable (obviously) I think I should be ok. As for the weight, I don't know what I can do to make it lighter. The carbon fiber should be lighter than Maple OR Walnut (as far as I understand) so routing wood out, and adding the CF should actually make it lighter. I want to use schaller locking mini-bass tuners (which I've read are the lightest) but as of yet I've only been able to find 2 to a side (4 piece) sets, and the idea of buying another set and having 2 extra tuners is unappealing. Not to mention that all the sites I've found that deal those tuners are on back-order. Also, The neck is going to be pretty thin for a 6-string. I'm mapping everything out in Adobe Illustrator so I can make custom templates, and the neck should be 7/8" thick at the nut and 1 1/8" at the body. I might even make the back of the neck a bit flat to lose some more wood. Not enough to make it uncomfortable, but enough to make it weigh less. Anyway, this is my first build, as long as it's tunable & playable I will measure it as a success. I'm aiming for perfection, but have no delusions that I will attain it Thanks again for all of your responses and help!!! -Dean II

It's a 6-string bass neck, so there is ample room for extra carbon fiber. I guess I should have specified. OP has been edited with illustrations. Thanks for your fast replies!

So I just read that flat sawn maple is inappropriate for neck wood. I have 2 pieces of flat sawn maple (with the dreaded 45 degree grain) that I just recived for my bass neck blank. if I am laminating them with a 1/2" piece of walnut between , and I plan to have 2 hot rod's and 3 carbon fiber stiffening rods ( 1 between the truss rods, and 1 on either side of the neck) would this be enough support to not have to worry about warping? If it's not good enough, what if I were to split each piece of maple and add an additional piece of laminate between them and flip two of the maple boards? I read on Warmoth's website just a minute ago that they use flatsawn maple on all of their bass necks unless you pay extra for the quarter sawn. Any help would be appreciated since I was planning on getting started on the glue up soon :oP Thanks -Dean II

I obviously don't have any experience in the matter, but if he were to dowel blocks into the tips that needed re-shaped wouldn't that give enough strength? I understand that just glueing to the end grain would be as weak of a joint as you can get, but since it's going to be under paint I don't see why doweling wouldn't give the extra strength needed to make it shapeable, and last. Of course it would be tough to get the drilling perfectly square, but if a person wanted... -Dean II

I read an article about neck thickness recently that was kind of eye opening. It said that while thinner necks seem easier to play at the start, they actually cause more strain on the tendons in your hand then a thicker neck. Basically it was saying that the further away your thumb and fingers are, the stronger your grip. Of course people with long fingers are going to have a different idea of what thick is. And advertising them as "Fast" or "Super Fast" necks is kind of ridiculous since flamenco guitarists can play extremely fast on the crazy-thick necks those guitars usually boast. Just my $0.02 -Dean

UPS FINALLY ARRIVED!!! 2 more pieces and I can start thinking about getting this thing laminated up!!

This is the "U.Z.R.T.O.C.B.B.F.V. (H.A.!)" (or "Pagelli's Ultra Zero Reduced Three Octave Comfort Balanced Body Fretless Bass With Hyper Access") It's call the Goldbass in Robert Shaw's "Hand Made Hand Played" (a great book for inspiration) While I know it's the bass the design could easily be converted into a guitar. If you want I could lend my Illustrator design experience and help you get some schematics worked out. I'd just need scale length, pickup layout and preferred headstock layout to get started. I like this b/c it gives you the access you want, but doesn't really look common like the V's or the other big name guitars. Just food for thought! -Dean

Thanks Xanthus. I guess it may be overkill, but I really want to shape this thing as thin as possible, and hate to think of doing all this work just to have the neck twist. I appreciate the reply, it gives me a bit more confidence in the design (something I can use right now!) Now if the UPS man would just get here

Thanks guys. I've never heard of Ritter, it's more heavily inspired by Carl Thompson and his Rainbow Bass he made for Les Claypool. The butt string attachment will be reinforced by recessed grommets. And as for the headstock thing, it's just that if I'm going to have the strings asymmetrical I would rather have them com straight through the nut to the tuners. It's nit-picky, but so am I Another note is that while I have thrown most of my software and design training at this thing in the last month, I drew the actual body shape over 10 years ago (I think 98, but not positive). This thing is a long time coming for me, now I just hope I don't have any major f-ups... I have wood coming in tomorrow, and it's not a moment too soon. I can't even sleep well anymore for all the fantasizing I've been doing about getting started. Two questions for anyone who might know: #1- When installing the truss rods & carbon fiber supports should I fan them out so they are evenly spaced at the body as well as the nut, or should I cut them in perfectly straight so that they are bunched up in the middle at the body end? #2- Since my fretboard length is 27ish inches, and my truss rods and supports are 24 inches should I possibly stagger the routs so that the truss rods are at the body end of the fretboard and the carbon supports at the neck? It seems like there should be a way around the 3" gap between my neck length and the truss rod length. Thanks -Dean

This is a thread for my first build, a 6-String fretless bass. I was going to make it a 5-String, but I couldn't find a visually appealing layout for my tuners on the headstock design that I had. I know it sounds ridiculous to re-design an entire build to save re-designing a headstock, but that's the kind of nut-job I guess I am Anyway, here is the technical drawing of my bass: Larger size: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j53/dean...i/Bass04-04.jpg And here is the "Photoshop Imagining" of the bass in color wood grains. Though I have some pickups and such drawn in there, it's not going to be my final layout: Larger Size: http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j53/dean...i/Bass01-05.jpg This is the Bird's Eye Maple top that I purchased from Gilmer Woods, It's bookmatched and measures 3/4 x 14 x 21" if memory serves: And this is the Cocobolo fingerboard I'm using (second to last in the lineup): It's a 36" Scale bass with the back and neck made of laminated walnut and hard rock maple. Since it's my first bass I am erring on the side of caution and using a 2-Truss rod, 3-Carbon fiber support design. I figured better to have the neck too stable, then not stable enough. It's going to have one EMG-HZ bass pickup, and I am hoping to add a Killswitch during production. I really want to try a kill switch on the bass, but I don't want it to look like something that was just drilled in after the fact like so many killswitch mods do. If at all possible I want the kill switch button to be made out of a knob just like the ones I'm going to use for tone/volume so it will blend with the rest of the design. All of that being said, questions, comments & of course suggestions are always more than welcome. I look forward to hearing what you guys think!! -Dean

Thanks for the tip on the kite parts, sounds like a deal! I was looking at sewmac and their c--f supports were $18 each