JayT

OK its been a long time, but since I have the bug to start a new project I had to wrap this one up. It was a long hall, with many stops and countless issues & headaches ending in a mad rush --- twice I almost scrapped the whole thing but I finally put on my big boy focus pants and it came together! And I feel like it plays twice a good as I was expecting ... which is nice. Anyway, I hope to be back to PG on a regular basis. Man that last GofM (the AstroCaster) is a thing of beauty.

I've further tweaked this design to be more of an off-set body, smaller also -- basically copying the Wolfgang Special for most specs. Let's see how long it takes me to actually make the first cut .

After a looooong break I've revisited this build, having to refinish it....again. Also had to hand paint the head & branding since white slide-ons aren't a easy option for me. But feel re-inspired to finish this one up since I've got plans for a new "shredder" guitar I want to start. I refuse to start that until this one is off the bench

@nakedzen I’m finding out that I’m not great at binding—but keeping at it

Binding done mostly- that was a learning exercise for sure.

First binding attempt

Neck pocket nice and tight and using my cheap & jerry rigged tools managed to get the fret wire in and rough filed pretty quickly— at least compared to my first 3 full builds it sure is satisfying when you can tell you’re getting better at something new you’ve been sending your valuable time on.

Snail’s pace - but some progress on the neck I got a little sand happy on the headstock and it might be too thin. I’m afraid the string retainer screw might be a couple mm to long and punch through I worked the original thinning scrap — maybe I’ll stain it same color as the body and glue down as an interesting veneer for extra thickness…TBD also the fingerboard grain is pretty deep. Could/should I fill with wood dust & seal? Any help or advice is appreciated!! anyway it’s comin’ along

Some progress

If I see another “first build” crafted anywhere near this well and looking fantastic to boot I’m going to just walk into the ocean. @Dave Higham this is a GOTM contender for sure, great work!

I like to think of myself as “industrious” — but I’m not sure what you mean

@Bizman62 but the margin for error when making the inlay cavities is almost zero. If I make (carve? excavate?) these cavities after the fret board is radiused the cavity will have a radiused bottom. I mean using my dremel mount…

The Annapolitan Elephant Built in my laundry room/shop, its my third build overall -- and the first bass attempt. Full 34" scale length with a Musicman style pickup. Since I'm a novice and still figuring out the basics I used mostly generic/non-name hardware and spent most of the budget on more tools. Despite the "affordable" parts I think it sounds great, surprisingly bright. The body & headstock shapes are my own design, refined from my "Teetotaler" guitar design. The overall specs match pretty closely with a modern Fender P-bass - my interests are more in aesthetic design and the woodworking rather than trying to trail-blaze new, ground-breaking specs. No chance of me stumbling on that anyway. Ash body, maple neck and fingerboard, with walnut inlays. Body is stained using Rit Golden-yellow dye and finished with Minwax polycrylic clear gloss. The neck and fretboard are finished with TruOil. The build thread is here: Thanks for checking it out!

100% Done!

Finished up my first bass build and beginning work on the next! Here's the mockup: Not 100% final on the pickguard shape yet -- but this is getting close. I'm using this Ricky clone as inspiration: baby stepping my skills - so this'll be my first attempts at translucent burst dye mother of pearl inlays binding on the body So far I've got the blanks milled and body cut out. Question - the inlay material I got is so thin! How is this going to work on the radius? Won't the edges get sanded down to nothing leaving wood showing...even if I put them in after is sanded? I needed thicker material, right? This is only like 2mm thick!