Lyss

Gosh... where's my head at. The whole point of this is that it's a 5 string fretless. Oops. 
You know when you wake up in the morning and you have an amazing idea that you have to put down on the appropriate medium? 
Anywho, Yeah, i guess I won't have to worry about the frets lol. 

I've been deciding on neck materials and color options. This bass is going to be BLACK. The fingerboard will be maple, epoxie finished black, the frets will be anodized black stainless steel (I know a guy), the neck will be painted satin black, along with the body, the contours and hardware will be gloss black, and I'll have to figure out what I want to do for position markers.

Hopefully I can get the fretboard the same black as the rest, and then do gloss position markers. 

I know it's not very exciting for you woodporn types, or you color artists, but this is what I want

The person who owns the property says it is from 1908. I'm not entirely sure how accurate that is, but I have no reason to not trust him. I can't find a manufacturers plate anywhere on it.

Also, here's the bandsaw.

Today I cut out the body, sanded up the edges clean, and cut out the headstock... I may have done the headstock out of order... We'll see how I feel about it when the neck construction happens. 

Hi!

My hero is Steve Digorgio, and I've always wanted an ESP 5 string Forest style bass. But dawg gawn-it, every time I go into a guitar shop and want to buy something, I always say to myself "I could build a better one..."

I've built a few guitars over the years, and I ended up moving in with some crummy roommates who decided that my materials were up to sell for rent. Needless to say, I don't live there anymore. It's taken me some time to settle down and gather materials, so this is going to be my first build since 2009! I work at full time B3 Imagination Studio, which is a foam fabrication maker space. My boss said I could take over the shop at night to make a guitar sometime, so here we go!
 

Here's my transfer template made from 1/4" ply. I could build this entire thing with the CNC router we have here, but I want to do one with a band saw first

We have a gigantic 14" router from the early 1900s. It's been fitted with afterthought/safety regulation covers to keep you safe from the wooden spoke death wheels inside, but it cuts through most wood like butter! 
Oh, I made a headstock transfer template as well.

Now, I asked for a 1 or 2 piece mahogany blank, but I ended up getting a 3 piece. Ah well. I'm painting it anyway. And I'm not sure how I feel about tap tone voodoo, but the 3 pieces definitely don't resonate with each other. Note the expert avoidance of those knots. 

More to come!

This is some beautiful work! 

And it's totally cool to see someone else working through mental barriers. I have some anxiety and OCD, so this gives me hope!

Hi!
So yeah, wood and water don't mix. But I have access to a waterjet cutter at work. I also have access to a CNC router, but like... the waterjet is so friggen cool. Anyone have experience cutting out guitars on one?