THIRSTYGUMS

Inlay is finished! and looks pretty good too

SO SOOOOO many fantastical myths and legends about the ancient do's and donts of 'proper guitar building fly around these forums that im surprised anybody gets anything done! Seriously guys it isnt alchemy! Look at the designing and problem solving logically and objectively, having one pickup does not negate the useability of 8 strings.

heres my entry:::::: THE KRAKEN!!!

and heres a link to the building of it:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.p...ght=sea+monster

and heres me playing it!:

A jewellers saw is by far the quickest, cheapest, most accurate and painless way to do it! Ive broken 20 carbide drill bits in my pearl blocks and only about 3 saw blades so far. Try it, it sounds old school and laborious to use a hand tool, but it is by far the best way

GOTSA BE ASH MAN! purpleheart will weigh a TON

Wow, really really really nice build on that there bass! I really need to get around to playing a fanned fret anything one day, in hopes that I'll be converted if only my GC carried "fun" instruments...

My only comment is that I would do something with the end of the fretboard. There's a wee bit too much wood left at the end, fanned frets and all, but that's just my personal taste.

Nice work!

playing muic is all about fun, if you dont have fun.... give up!

There's a whole thread on the Novak patent over at TB. As it turns out, Novak's way of calculating the fanned fret positions is not nearly as accurate (intonation) as choosing two different scales for the top and bottom strings, and connecting them.

Sooo if i did it, he woudln't be owed any cash? That's quite nice.

In best Chris Rock voice-"I dont owe novak a gat-damned penny! mmm mm", i live in Ireland, his patent and copyright only appies in America. In Europe i think he'd have an extremely hard time getting that design patented as its been seen on Italian and British (to name a few) instruments for something like 600 years as documented by artists and writers and exhibitions in museums all over the continent!

Whoa. That is some very nice work, all clean and professional. I've never played anything with fanned frets before, it looks like it would be confusing to play. But again that is some great work, thought about gotm at all?

I cant comment on fanned fret guitars (chording might be difficult) but for basses fanned fret is the way forward folks! Its so much nicer to play a fanned bass and not confusing at all, try this little experiment:

hold your hand up in front of you as if your holding a guitar neck and fretting a note, Now make motion as if your sliding your hand up and down the neck at the same time keep your elbow more or less stationary (as it woud be if you were playing) now draw an imaginary line between your thumb and forefinger. Watch how this imaginary line arcs like the hands on a big clock as your hand moves up and down the invisable neck. That line corresponds with the angle of the frets at every step up the neck, now for bass where you rarely make chord shapes every note justfalls under the correct path of yourfingers!

Im not shure how clear that is but...

once you try fanned fretboards (and it takes about 15 minutes to get used to it) your normal basses just feel clumsy!

p.s.

ummm whats GOTM????

Beautiful work and a cool thread over at talkbass.com!

I was wondering about the fanned fret neck - how do you calculate the correct angles for the frets?

well the answer to that is surprisingly simple...... IM IN CAHOOTS WITH THE DEVILLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!

ummmmmmmmmm,,

I use a fret calculator called fretfind, heres a link:

http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/2d/index.php

then you just measure, measure, measure

Hi all, thanks so much for the positive feedback on my work so far, im posting a link here to a thread i did for my first Bass on Talkbass.com (great site, i encourage you to join)

heres the link

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=256832

have a look if you feel so inclined!

Thanks for the comments. All I was saying with the artistic talent comment was that I am not great at drawing off the top of my head and have to trace or copy other designs. I was just being clear that I wasn't trying to gain credit for it being an original design.

I used MOP blanks that I bought from some guy in Australia off ebay.

I'd definately consider doing some work for others in the future but to be realistic that is a few years off yet due to my domestic situation and my portfolio being a bit limited.

Chris

For info this is where I got the idea from.

really?? yours is better!

I've also been trying some staining using the black, sand back THEN colour method which i believe Ritter uses to achieve those ocean deep quilted finishes:

:

and.....................

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j164/THI...S/GREENNNNN.jpg

Nice, but the pics are too big, resize pease!

a little update, still waiting for parts unfortunately so ive been carving the J Customs Logo outa sum pearl

;

ebay, evilbay, fleabay, cheepay, search for NEON sheets/rods/plastic/e.t.c

thats very very nice, a total success. A huge pat on the back to you Doomlord, keep posting projects. What did you use for the inlay, blocks of pearl or laminate?

as for having "NO ARTISTIC TALENT" thats patently rubbish, as everyone here will agree im sure!

fantastic piece of work.

looking awsome. what will this thing be tuned to, BEADGBEA? also how thick is your headplate, backstrapping, and headstock?

With a band name like Putrefy, I'm gonna have to guess it will have a low F instead of a high A.

exactly! Low all the way

ha! shes a stunner! beautiful! its the elegant graceful curves and subtle yet sexy finish that gets me rigid!

now i just have to wait for parts to be delivered

Wow, very professional looking, and the shape definitely works for me. But why a two-piece maple cap as if it were bookmatched when it's not (unless I'm blind)? I would have just gone one-piece.

mushy, that is a bookmatched piece, i cut it myself!

AAhhh wel spotted! Im a student at Belfast art college doing ,funnily enough, product design.

these forms are mind bending

installed the tuners today:

the arched bak veneer isnt rocket science, you just have to coerce the wood to co-operate, bully the thing!

heres what i did:

(poor pic i know, sorry)

first soak the veneer in hot water on the stove, then bend it round a rolling pin and allow to dry outside for an hour, once thats done its more or less the right shape for joining.

Then just clamp the flat part down first, then squeeze a rolling pin against the curve and clamp!

I have to say it is working out better than I had hoped. Always a bit nervous when I build something new in case I have missed something blindingly obvious and on past projects I have made some spectacular messes.

update,

here im cutting the frets, tip! this may well be the oldest trick in the book but i didnt know it till it was pointed out to me so ill pass it on nonetheless: Take a candle and rub it briskly up and down each side of the saw blade teeth until the metal starts to look cloudy, blow off any little fragments of wax left behind then do the same on the side of your steel rule. The saw will cut effortlessly through the hard, brittle wenge or ebony and you will minimize any tearling out and splintering.