Andyjr1515

...and there's another thing I'm going to blame David Cameron for in a couple of years time!!!! Looking really good @psikoT

Love....no, LOVE the faceplate! I think that's an idea eminently worth stealing I like the look of the body too.... What overall thickness are you aiming for?

I think that was a sort of compliment, @Prostheta Let's be optimistic and assume it is....thanks Ref the crushed wood, I wasn't overly concerned because the backs are at least 4mm oversize where the clamps are and very unlikely to show any deep bruising. Also, on a pragmatic level, my clamps generally weren't wide enough to take a decent thickness of caul Some wider clamps are now certainly on my shopping list. I am also starting to accumulate a variety of lengths and widths of cauls. I am sold on the concept and they will be essential when I glue the top on. I have some great off cuts of the marine ply I used for the acoustic neck routing rig which are absolutely ideal. I have an ambition on this build of needing NO filler for any of the clamped joints! I know...scary, isn't it!!!!

First half is on and flat and level with the neck: ...and from the back: The critical surface, based on the fact that the top is so variable, is the top-surface of the back. I remain comprehensively rubbish at producing flat large surfaces and I didn't want to trust that the second back panel was exactly the same thickness so, to glue and clamp that panel, I have turned the bass upside down. Put me out of my misery....is that conventional too??? Anyway - the one side of my workbench is flat, so I've used that as the datum, with vertical clamping as well as horizontal clamping. For good measure, as I was tightening up the side clamps, I also energetically whacked the two components with a heavy mallet to make absolutely sure it was all flat against the workbench top: It has a combination of vice dogs, sash clamps and conventional screw clamps. Based on the other side which has no gaps at all, I think this is OK even if it does look light on numbers - saying that, the bench vice and sash clamps are applying a significant pressure. In the ideal world, I would have left the back panels square (which would have made it easier to use a line of bench dogs with the vice) and then cut out the shape but my teeny bandsaw wouldn't have the throat size for the job. Note the clingfilm to make sure that it doesn't comprehensively glue itself to my workbench

That look soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much better than the original finish Well done!

Yup - lovely job

You know there are things in life that give you that warm glow of contentment...like knowing that this is someone else's house, car and bird-poop

Actually, that is a lichen-type bloom. Looks like chewing gum stains on a badly maintained city pavement! Now, on the other hand....round at the front of the house... : Yes indeed - it's a bit of a shocker. Can't think of anything I've ever done conventionally before. Anyway, it's worth a try. Having said that, I probably won't do it like I should and that will make me feel a bit better about it... I'm not sure if this is what you meant, but below is how I'm tackling it. After sawing the rough taper of the neck and squaring up the joining surfaces, this is the first side going on: I have some wenge veneer between the two components. With the veneer already bonded to the top, it will basically surround the neck joins and, other than the different body woods, look similar to the camphor single cut bass I did earlier in the year:

Bit more progress on this. The figured top is moving all over the place in terms of flatness so I'm going to have to .... I can't believe what I am about to say ... do things conventionally! As many of you know, I would normally make up the body (top, back and slot) and then slide the through-neck into the slot. But on this one, I am going to have to glue the back wings to the neck beam and then glue the unruly top onto that (with good glue and plenty, plenty of cauls and clamps) In terms of preparing for that, I've: Drawn the side view full scale to make absolutely sure I have calculated the (zero) neck angle correctly Thicknessed the neck beam to finished depth Thicknessed the neck beam to finished max width Cut the notch in the neck beam for the top to slot into Cut the side-view shape of the neck or...in pictures... The full-size drawing: Routing the notch in the neck beam The basic components: I will at some stage be gluing the back sections to the neck: then, after routing the control cable runs and control / weight relief chambers, glue on the top: But before I do any of that, while the neck is free and unhampered with body components, do the main bandsaw work:

Yes - looks very good indeed. The back carve is just right. There are some really nice features on this - I like that little detail on the headstock very much

....and I'm delighted to say that it is the best neck splice bonding I've ever done. Folks, if you haven't yet read @Prostheta 's tutorial on clamping, it's well worth a look

Actually, @Prostheta , I think you are going to be really proud of me Having re-seen the splendid illustration you put on your tutorial, for gluing the walnut onto the first mahogany splice, I used the full length of the second splice as a caul for the clamps. Even more impressive, perhaps, is that if you look above, it is the right hand side I'm gluing. Both ends are clamped in the wide vices, but with spacers to allow....wait for it....a wide thick marine ply caul for the whole of the middle between the two vices!!!! The clamps in the front of the photo are a couple of 'just in cases' to make sure the vices weren't angling the joint.h Bit worrying, really. Mind you, I've got lots of dubious practices still left in my arsenal.

Top is now cut and the sides sanded (top not yet finish sanded): The wenge demarcation veneer can be seen at the bottom here. I'm hoping the end grain pattern of the mahogany bodes well for when I cut the chamfer! : The neck has been sanded with my large levelling beam (although to be honest, it didn't need it - two superb and beautifully planed mahogany neck outer splices supplied by UK luthier timbers supplier David Dyke ) and the walnut centre splice glued, offset by 11mm to form the channel for the truss rod: ...and with that clamped and set, the second outer splice glued and clamped: It's not often I've made such a lot of progress in one morning - the provision of even this small work-space and proper workbench hasn't half made a difference!

This is looking really nice. Like @ScottR , I also generally carve the back, if only to scoop the curves and take a bit more weight out. As a matter of fact, how has the weight come out ref your earlier comments about weight relief ?

From what I can gather, the more figured bubinga is, the more difficult it is to bend. Straight-grained bubinga is said to bend well and 'waterfall' bubinga is said to be difficult. What will you be using for the bending?

Yes - I like the second one too. In this view, I like the movement: And this way round, Scott... ...we see the flames flickering around Bert's horns

Well, the top gluing seems pretty sound and the panels - at the moment - are staying largely flat. As we all know with figured tops, the best of the bookmatching is ALWAYS where most of the hardware goes. I assume everyone does the same, but I always pop a mask over the wood, dampened to see the grain, and place on some hardware paper templates or the actual bits if I've got them. Here, the fretboard and bridge pickup are not intended for this bass - but they are in approx the right places. I haven't put any sample knobs on, but can envisage where they will be, including the big settings plate of the varitone. I have a choice - this way round: ...or this way round I think I know which I prefer. For interest sake - because, folks, you KNOW I will ignore even a strong consensus if it doesn't suit me (or, as my wife would say, "why the hell do you ask me if you're just going to ignore what I think????!!" ) - which one grabs your eye?

I've never used bubinga for an acoustic, although it is a popular choice, so I suspect that it isn't too bad for bending, but I can't be sure. However, I think the bubinga acoustic sets I've seen on sale in various places tend to be a plainer grain - presumably for the enhanced stability and workability - although I have seen some finished guitars with quite strong figuring.

It's a UK specialist woods supplier here http://www.exotichardwoodsukltd.com/ The Bubinga two piece blanks currently retail at £66 but, for those, you can't see the specific pieces you are getting so presumably not guaranteed to be pommelled figuring. On the other hand, his extensive range of tops and acoustic sets have photos of the specific piece you are getting. Mind you, some are v expensive (look at the Blackwood acoustic sets at £750!!!) Its from here I also got the camphor for my recent single cut bass. If you do a Google search rather than use the link be careful because there is another supplier called Exotic Hardwoods. The one I use is Exotic Hardwoods UK Ltd

It was my wife who took delivery of the two sides wrapped together in black plastic. The post man grinned and said, "Here's the brieze block (concrete building block) you ordered!" It was certainly the right size and weight! It's a VERY heavy wood....

Ah, but you are forgetting that through a subtle process of charm mixed with subterfuge, what Pete thinks he wants is entirely and only what I am prepared to give him

The mahogany I am using is far from straight and planed. Spurred on by @psikoT's recent post, I spent quite a bit of time making a much more substantial router jig to level and thickness the back panels. I have a decent thicknesser, but of course it's then 'banana in, banana out' syndrome when you are dealing with uneven surfaces on both sides, which these pieces are! This is the rig I built out of some very stiff and surprisingly flat and stiff IKEA shelves we no longer use! I have shamelessly stolen @psikoT's basic design: ...and this is one of the back halves after initial thicknessing: These are how the two halves will sit, with the neck splices in the middle: The 'devil's top' is going to take some thinking about. Probably because of the grain direction (basically what gives it such a stunning figuring) the panels are VERY bowed. I may have to - it had to happen sometime - build the thing conventionally! That is, add the back wings to the neck, then clamp the top panels onto the flat surface. For those who follow my other threads, you will know I usually do it the other way round, which freaks out many a decent builder Anyway, to try to avoid such a shameful thing as convention, I am seeing if they will flatten. I thoroughly soaked the concave side, clamped it straight and will left it overnight to thoroughly dry. That wasn't terribly successful, though. The thicknessing with a router worked fine with the back slabs of mahogany but less successful with the top. As mentioned, the grain pattern encouraged a longitudinal bow. Although the wetting and clamping seemed to substantially take out the bow, as soon as I started thicknessing with the router, the bow reappeared, broking the two sided tape bond allowing the panels to rise and the router to dig in. In the end, I just used the Makita thicknesser - they will still be banana, but at least with a surface capable of being clamped dead flat! So, that done, time to glue the two halves of the top:

Yes it does - and it is said to be a pretty weighty body. This is from a UK distributors review "There is a fully adjustable bridge and some hefty looking machine heads which unfortunately don’t help the tendency of the instrument to be somewhat neck-heavy." With the changes I'm planning, though, I'm not expecting a problem.