Andyjr1515

Bit of a delay. I ordered some new Nordstrands from a reputable supplier - I prefer to cut the chambers while I still have a flat top and no fretboard in the way, and I NEVER cut chambers for Jazz basses until I have the pickups physically in my grasp - and this is what arrived! Dirty, old and rusted something's someone has taken out of their bass while presumably fitting their nice new Nordstrands and fancy bridge. Anyway, while I waiting for the replacements, I've got the fretboard all ready to fit: Fretboard fretted and neck truss-rodded : Demarcation veneered at the back: Luminlay small dots for the over-body. I usually forget these and they are a BEGGAR to fit once the fretboard is fitted! So, prior to gluing the fretboard: Next steps - receive pickup replacements; cut pickup chambers; glue fretboard; carve top

Looks great from here. I agree with you about the shape - I suspect it's going to be nice to play as well as looking refreshingly different.

That's beautiful, Scott. Very neat work in all respects.

You wait until you are as old and decrepit as I am, you young whippersnapper, Carl. You'll think, "If only I'd taken notice of...er...hmm...well whatever his name was, and I might have been 6 inches taller in my old age!" Mind you, I wasn't even 6 inches taller as a young man...

That's very clever stuff. Fascinating

I should add - when I say 'chambering' should include other forms of material reduction, such as significant external carves

As Scott says, I've been going slimmer and slimmer. The balance of factors is basically: thickness is about weight; thinness is about practical considerations of functionality. For a neckthru, the considerations are accommodating the depth of the pots, etc and the depth of the pickups and fixing screws. For a bolt on, the additional consideration is the neck pocket platform. Additionally, balance has to be considered if the body is light and the strap button (top horn) is rearward. My personal conclusions so far are: 1" is about the limit for a neckthrough but this takes careful choice of hardware. 1 1/4" allows use of a standard jack rather than a cylinder jack and also is about the limit for a bolt on 1 1/2" allows some deeper electric such as some push pull pots but is about the limit for the heavier woods 'normal' weight without chambering 1 3/4" without chambering is going to be heavy with many woods Above 1 3/4" without chambering for the heavier woods is going to be too heavy for many players I stress these are personal conclusions...

I think I may have been lucky with the recent woods but no - no trickery and no tear out at all at the moment. I'm not going at it lightly either as you can see by the thickness of the shavings. One point though - for which you can take some credit along with @Prostheta and others, is that I've started burnishing it with a leather strop and a touch of autosol. It does, as you both said it would, work wonders indeed

Last time I went for a 'well person's checkup' at the local surgery, the GP told me that for the health of my heart, I should do "1/2hour of intensive effort at least once a week that you enjoy and that makes you hot and sweaty" and then gave me a big wink. How the Dickens did he know I have a Veritas Pullshave??? Sure enough, 1/2 hour later, I'm hot, sweaty and pleasantly fulfilled: What a doctor! What great advice!

The toast would leave tell tale crumbs but the pints could go down quickly enough leaving no tell-tale signs at all...

I know what you're thinking, Norris. With you having seen some of my builds close up - and more to the point, me having seen your builds close up - you're thinking, 'Surprisingly neat'. And you'd be right Certainly, it was what MrsAndyjr1515 said just....

Next step on the critical path is finishing off the fretboard. For my last build I made a complete change and fully finished the fretboard before gluing it on - I personally found that much easier to do and it resulted in a much more accurate finished result. So while the fretboard was still on the blocks template - useful if I c**k it up and have to route an inlay out and start again - I tackled the ebony inlays. While the outline was accurate from the template, the fiddly bit was getting the centre area at the right height. I am using quite thin ebony sheet and needed the middle to be a teeny bit proud of the fretboard but with the sides properly set in so that I didn't find myself sanding fresh air when radiusing them. I used the router bit in the press drill to get the basic level and ensure flatness, then fine-tuned the levels with a chisel. For the ebony, I cut slightly oversize and sized them individually with teeny adjustments by sanding or chisel Here we are with 6 in and 4 to go: It took most of the day, but sanded - and with no filler or wood-dust epoxy at all - my, how satisfying was that??? :

A belated congrats, Scott. A very well deserved win of the GOTM

Very exciting. That looks a nice-sized CNC you have there My CNC is of the 240 volt manual router type - Completely Nutter Controlled

Very nice work

No - just time pressures :)

By the way - this gives some indication of how much wood is going to be removed!

Still on catch up to present status, worked out the neck angle based on a very nice Schaller bridge I got. I always draw out the string runs, fret heights, saddle adjustment, etc, full size for a through neck: As it happens, the answer was 'zero neck angle' Having worked this out, I could cut the slot and plan/side shapes from the maple/walnut/ maple neck blank: And then glue the back (oversize) wings on: Next were the chambers and cable routing slots and a redwood demarcation veneer on the back of the top. The weight lightening ones are relatively shallow at about 14mm, bearing in mind that the body will be slimmed down considerably in the carve: I popped a bit of veneer in the 'f'hole chamber to give the illusion that it is deeper than it actually is: Then an essential part if you are doing major carving - a paper template of exactly where those chambers are! : And finally, top on and back wings routed flush: And that, folks, is up to date with where I am today As always, thanks for looking. Andy

Hmmmm...I did have a think about that but, as you know, thinking doesn't really work for me. I came to the conclusion that cutting them accurately and square was probably a better route. But, as you know, cutting things square and accurately doesn't really...

Thanks! I snuck in a quick photo before Jane's was delivered and after Pete had lent me his piccolo to take to a forum meet

One thing new to me was adding blocks. In the end, I ordered a template from G&L. It's incorporated in a 34" fretslotting template, although the blocks are not offset to suit their mitre-block index pin position: I gave it quite a bit of thought of how best to use it - and made sure I'd got some spare maple for what I thought to be a likely mess up or two. In the end, I decided to first radius the board and slot the frets: I then made up a platform that would position firmly in the press-drill T-slots: ...and put in the index pin exactly where the router bit would be positioned: So basically, the fretboard will be attached to the template that will be guided by the pin. Here it is prior to the fretboard being fixed: I then attached the fretboard to the template again, lining up the fretslots with the notches in the template. Finally, rigged a way of holding the pressdrill handle in the down position to leave two hands free to trace the outline: I then put a larger bit in and routed carefully inside the cut to end up with a flat surface just below the shallowest point on the fretboard: I'll finish off with a chisel when I start fitting the ebony pieces to get the depth spot on but it basically tidied up nicely:

I just spotted this too. Clever stuff. I'm told that similar techniques were used on roofs of many medeivil medeaivle medievil old cathedrals and halls.

I'm a bit behind on threads. One reason is that old adversary, time! One of the things I've been busy with is a 4-string bass for a fellow Basschat member, Neil. We live quite close and watched each other's bands but he has recently stepped down from his band due to shoulder issues. He's OK with a nice Yamaha semi he has, but the band needs a more traditional Jazz sound. He's been watching the evolution of the Swift Lite builds, from piccolo bass to rhythm guitar to lead guitar: ...and asked me if I could have a go at a Jazz-type setup but with a Swift Lite body construction. This is how it came out on paper upscaled to 34" bass: Ignore the headstock - I did a quick clip on Inkscape because one thing he wants is maple neck and block inlays so I purloined a stock fender photo. Cross section is planned to be slim (30mm max) and curved: Woods are a burl english poplar and very light swamp ash back: I've got to the stage of fixing the back to the neck and the top to that assembly - I'll do a quick photo update over the next couple of days

Some great things going on here again, @ScottR

Yup - same