al heeley

Nearly there...

Not happy about the finish but I think it's the best I'm going to get within the limitatins of my equipment, ability and patience.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v609/al_heeley/r1n.jpg

Yes, that's a sound idea and something Wez also recommended, I'll try to minimise the heel as I'll have a good long area to bolt on to.

The warmoth gecko uses a similar construction where the neck after the last fret continues another inch or so then gets planed off level to the body.

The body shape is basically a slightly tweaked Warmoth Gecko profile with a little more waist and the heel cut in, apparently very like a Digwall - although I drew this out before being directed to the Dingwall site and realising the similarity - honest!

The plan started off with me drawing round the outline of my Gecko 5-string then making the waist a bit more pronounced. Glad you like it

The fret markers are not keepers, it looks like a load of dominos.

I don't think 34.5" is such a long scale length for a bass, its a good compromise and only half an inch longer than standard Fender precision or jazz. My standard fretted B to G 5 string has a 35" scale. The rule of thumb for fanned frets seems to be that the scale length steps 3/4" per string in order to optimise the frequency resonse and tension benefits this type of construction gives.

Regarding pickups and pre-amps, i have still to decide. Too much choice - any suggestions and recommedations gratefully received.

A new project is brewing. I want to put together a fanned-fret 5-string, low E to high C, 34.5" scale for the low E up to 32.5" scale for the C. 46mm nut, some wood left over from previous builds include some nice sawn and planed maple for a bolt-on neck, and a mahogany-zebrano sandwich body.

Here's first plan sketch - everything else is up for grabs.

+1 on Hiscocks and don't forget Dan Erlewine - you can learn a lot about the instrument by understanding their construction (and repair)

I bought a load of tiny ones off ebay - Neodynium, they're amazingly powerful. really neat to recess in the wood for holding on a TRC or ctrl plate. Just don't swallow them, they cause really serious havoc int he guts of any toddlers you may have around the house.

What a lovely build! Great to watch this work come together and a superb eye for detail

Great work - thats looking really sweet.

Disaster - about 10 mins after taking this pic I noticed the top started crazing. I had not spent enough time levelling off earlier priner coats or the wood. it really started bugging me so i 've just spent the last hour in the garage sanding all the paint off back to bare wood and preparing to start again.

Been loading on the Rustins Plastic Coating. Body about 80% finished now.

Neck pup cavity routed. Here's a quick progress shot.

Thx Setch for the Rustins finishing advice

Guitar electronics dot com or seymour duncan schematics will give you loads of wiring schematics.

I'm not familiar with the guitar - what pickups does it have (ie: single coil or humbucker, how many...)

What control knobs? You can then match your requirements to a suitable schematic and get the sucker up and running again.

[unashamedly bumping this old thread] Setch - your Rustins PC finishes are so excellent, can you talk me through the finishing steps?

Fender Telecaster - an iconic electric solid body guitar, virtually unchanged since it first hit mass production in 1953. Simple, strong, effective. A great first guitar to start with. The first and original retail electric guitar ever made.

Black really does it for me.

Here's the first primer/undercoat.

Moving on nicely. Finished profiling the neck. Wings jointed and glued on. Neck block planed flat and flush with wings. Top wing routed and binding fixed.

Next job: Rout for pickup cavities and stick on the fretboard.

Beautiful bass - always top class work from you!

2 times the distance from the nut to the 12th fret.

Scale length is measured from the front of the nut to the bridge where the string sits in the saddle - the front of the nut being the side that butts onto the fretboard, the back of the nut faces the headstock & tuners...

Wiring up the pickguard.

Nothing fancy in the end. 500k pots, 0.047uF caps, no extra 'bright'(bass cut) cap or push-pull, output will go to a single mono jack.

OK, thx for the info guys. I'm going to go ahead with the Rustins plasic coating 2-pack i already have on the shelf here to act as sealer,. dye it up for the colour then use it as a clear coat. I'll save the epoxy treatment for another project where I have bigger pored wood to finish.

What is special/different about the finishing epoxy then? Is it just a more user-friendly viscosity for spreading, for example?

Yes they do actually, it's on their website:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product-Zap-Z-P...Resin-23719.htm

Basses are great fun to build - far more creativie scope as bassists are a much less conservative lot.

have a look round the TalkBass forum for some informed views on bass designs.

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=57

Reading thru a lot of posts here about epoxy used as a grain filler. The only epoxy I'm familiar with is the 2 tubes of Araldite epoxy glue you mix together so you can stick pianos and relatives to ceilings, etc..

What sort of epoxy is commonly used for grain-filling, and where can I find it in the UK?

Cheers!

My Ric bass build: Thinking about the finish options within my reach.....

I want it black. I'd like to dye the maple cap really dark blue - black then put a few coats of Rusins Plastic Coating over it to a high gloss, maybe get a tiny sniff of the grain underneath.

OR

Can you dye the Rustins Plastic Coating? then just go for a deep opaque blue-black painted straight on and buffed to a shine? Would that give a better finish?

Don't laugh: anyone ever used Quink black ink as a wood dye? :o