a2k

Still kicking along! I got the holes drilled for the neck and the fingerboard radiused last week. I would have loved to have one of those fancy laser beam drill presses like @KnightroExpress's got in his new shop, but it still worked out okay. Now I'm waiting on some of the tiny parts I neglected to purchase earlier (pick guard screws, side dots, string tree, long drill bit for wiring holes). But at least I got to bolt the neck on and play some air bass.

For sure! My favorite builds here change constantly.

Look at you guys bonding.

My first project was a neck through - I was stressed about routing a neck pocket and getting the neck screw holes in so the neck was straight. Figured I'd skip all of that stress and it turned out great. Of course I'm making a bolt on now and it turns out neck poked and screw holes aren't all that hard, but if I knew that I might not have a neck through bass right now!

From my scrap tests, it seems like putting oil on is fine, but the rumors I'm reading around the internet claim that if any oil gets into the fret slot, there's a significant risk of the frets popping out. So I guess I'll fret first, and then apply the truoil carefully to avoid gunking up the frets. It didn't take much to make the birds eyes pop anyway.

Gotcha. I think I'll get what I want without using dye on the neck, but I'm thinking I'm going to dye the pick guard. Should I put a layer of tru oil on the fingerboard before installing the frets?

I probably didn't "flood" my test well enough initially - I was too concerned about ending up with a gummy layer.

Yesterday was neck carving day! I'm still amazed by the magic of this process. A quick afternoon's work turns a plank of wood into a bass neck. My first pass through resulted in a neck that felt a little too square, so I went a little deeper and now it feels great. Action shots: I also modified the headstock shape to not scream "fender". My brother called it the "eagle beak" but my wife quickly pointed out that it looks like a penguin. I also managed to get my hands on a bottle of tru oil that I'm thinking I'll use on the neck and fingerboard to bring out the birds eyes and flame. Here's a test with two very thin coats: I think this will work, but I might want to make the flames come out a little more. Any experience using a dye under tru oil? For the body, I'm rethinking my original plans of blue dye and may instead dye it brown - something like this: I've got a pack of kita dye and am thinking I will do brown and then dark brown grain filler. Can anybody point me to the steps for the ash two-tone dye + grain filler process? I've got to figure out a way to do this with limited access to most finishing products. Next week, I will be drilling holes (for the neck, the bridge, wiring, and pick guard) and putting a radius on the fingerboard. Then the sanding begins...

Good to hear the body came out tear-out free! I've taken to removing just a little bit at a time with the router - it takes longer, but things go so much more smoothly (pun intended). How is alder to work with in general? Both neck ideas sound good. A single piece of flame birch would be really striking, but so would the 5 piece/3 wood laminate. What's the fretboard going to be? I'll be following along with this one. I've got it in my head to make a series of toy basses (I mean guitars) after I finish my current build. I'm especially interested in seeing how you figure out and route the pocket for the neck angle.

At this point, it's back to exactly where it was when I glued it - there is no visible split to get glue into. Hopefully sealing eliminates most of the problems (and not being a complete idiot and leaving the bass in the car over a weekend in a crazy hot humid climate). So I'm with you - if it does come back, I can revisit the options (though #5, scrap it, would be the most likely due to challenges with sawing a finished bass in half). Plus, maybe - just maybe - the bridge, once in place, can serve as an anchor in holding the wood together if the wood decides it wants to move again (though the split didn't go that high and the bridge screws go at the wrong angle). On with the project! I got fret markers installed yesterday.

I reserve the right to scrap and start over anything at any point - this is the only thing keeping me from being paralyzed with the fear of not getting something right. The split has now completely disappeared. You wouldn't know it's there if I hadn't already told you. I woke up this morning ready to cut the body in half, but I think I'm going to let it sit until next week and figure out what I'm going to do. I know it's ill-advised, but I might not sweat it, knowing that I can always crank out another body if I need to. Meanwhile, progress has not stopped! The neck looks like a neck now. Here are some action shots: I had to go over to the auto shop to use their larger drill bits for the tuner holes. Gotta order my own - those car guys cover EVERYTHING with grease. Here are the 'scraps' that will likely become a guitar neck in my next project. I just had a vision of a double-neck guitar/bass. Slow and steady with the router. The final outline of the neck... Fits great in the pocket (subject to change if the body gets cut in half next week). All of the wood parts together. It's gonna be interesting to see how quilted maple, flame maple, birdseye maple, and ash all look together. Today I'm going to thin the headstock, get the headstock transition done, and potentially install some fret markets.

Just making sure I understand - are you suggesting cutting the body in half along the glue line and then either: 1. inserting a thin strip to account for the kerf 2. just glue it back knowing the shape is changed a little (and then adjusting the pickup cavity and neck pocket accordingly)

Oh man, I am an idiot. I've been so concerned about letting the neck dry, but I left the body in the back of my car over the weekend. Typhoon Chanthu rolls into town, temps and humidity go nuts. Yesterday, I pulled out the body and found a split in the join on the bridge end of the body. Yuck! Here's what it looks like (maybe not as bad as it looks - the split goes about an inch and then transitions into my center line):: Here's the view from the back: After sitting indoors overnight, things came back together. Here's what it looks like now: And from the back: The join in the upper part of the body is holding good. I don't think there's a high risk of the bass spontaneously falling into two pieces, and hopefully finishing the body will make the wood move less. At worst there is that risk, and at best, there's gonna be a line. I won't make this stupid mistake again. Some thoughts on what to do: Try to get some wood glue in there to mask the line and maybe provide a little more adhesion. Pack it with CA glue and ash saw dust Put in wood filler Route a line from the end of the bass to the pickup and glue in a matching piece (either all the way through or 1/2" deep Start over with a new body Additionally, I might need to get creative with finishing. My plan is to put a blue stain on the body - maybe I do some sort of blue burst and darken the edges to hide this split. Ideas? Tips? Help! Thanks, Aaron

I didn't notice any movement, so hopefully we're good. I was cracking jokes with my guitarists last weekend that I was going to make a guitar out of the scraps from this bass. They didn't find it funny, but that is exactly my plan.

I'm back at it! I finally got through all of the summer madness and should be able to maintain a steady pace on this project at least through the next few weeks. We can chalk it up to another month drying time for my wood. (In full disclosure, I've been lurking all of the other active threads.) Last week I got in on Friday and got the truss rod channel cut and fingerboard glued on. It felt great to be back at it. I really like the feeling of satisfaction that comes with a truss rod fitting snuggly in it's channel. Simple stuff, but really one of those strangely enjoyable things. Anyway, some pics... Getting things measured and ready for the cut. I use a router table and fence to do the channel, so I needed to leave the board squared off. The truss rod happy in it's new home: I used some little pins to hold the fingerboard in place while glueing (one of many tricks I learned here): My glue-up station: Using every clamp I could: Celebrating my return to the shop (Japan's jumping on the IPA band wagon): Up this week: - holes for tuners - rough cut headstock outline - thinning headstock - rounding transition between fingerboard and headstock - rough cut the rest of the neck - routing neck outline I've got to to some color tests of my blue stain as well to figure out my finish plan. The forecast calls for rain all week, but if I get a clear afternoon I'll sneak that in as well.

Interesting project. Looks like a really pretty top and back. You mention the neck and center block are one long solid piece - so do I understand correctly that the center of the body (underneath the bridge) is solid? If so, I wonder what the acoustic advantages are of having the bridge located where it is instead of closer to the tail edge of the body. What about moving the tail-end strap button to the back of the body and closer to the bridge? I know that's unusual, but it seems like that would help shift the position of the bass to make those low frets easier to reach.

You are sure the fretboard is too low and it's a bow in the neck? Just making sure... Likewise, is the nut depth pretty close?

The one that always gets me is "TIA" or even worse, "thks". IMHO, if you are going to thank someone at least take the extra second and type out the letters.

fwiw u b getting all l33t on us newbs. What's an Internet forum without a bunch of strange acronyms. Let's make some more up.

Carl moonlights for the MPAA and has deemed your video to be safe for children with parental guidance. The bass is looking great.

The good news is that I made it through the insanity that is the Japanese vehicle registration process and am good for two more years. It culminated in a day spent driving each car to the vehicle inspection office where I shuffled a series of papers and tax stamps around a series of buildings and lines to get things stamped, filed, and scanned. Midway through the process I realized that I was the only person waiting in line not wearing mechanic's coveralls which means that either: People in Japan don mechanic's outfits while doing car related things People in Japan outsource the crazy vehicle registration process to their mechanics My guess is #2, though given Japan's love for cosplay, #1 isn't out of the question. The bad news is no shop time for me this month. I'm now heading into several weeks of travel, so I'll pick things up again in August. I don't want anybody to think I've dropped off the planet! I will be back with some progress in a few weeks. In the meantime, my neck wood is getting some extra time to dry and settle, which isn't going to hurt. And I'll be lurking in other build threads...

He sounds like a very interesting guy. The round pickups are an interesting concept - it allows for scaling the number of strings without having to make a bunch of different pickups, similar to a 1-string bridge. Some of the models allow for the pickups to be moved and rotated, as well, to get different sounds.

I'm glad to hear that for every little detail I obsess over, there are others that have thought about it more. My shop time this week was eaten up by the mind-boggling process of renewing vehicle registration, insurance, and all of that here in Japan. I'd like to say next week will be different, but the bureaucrats still have more steps for me to complete before our cars turn into pumpkins on July 23. So instead, let me share these photos of some very unusual Atlantansia basses I came across at a shop here recently. They also make a 1 string fretless model.

I hear ya. Hopefully real tests will give me some better ideas. I have also burned considerable brain power debating having the truss rod access be on the heal or headstock. Heal access is more traditional and seems stronger, but headstock is much more accessible. Probably gonna go headstock.

Sparkly!