Prostheta

Thanks Al - i'm trying to avoid clearcoats as I don't have enough clean non-dusty space to let them cure at present! On the test pieces, rattlecan lacquer popped the finish out a treat but I do prefer the feel and *lighter weight* of an oil finish, but the matt/satin areas kind of put me off it a little. I guess I could always practice French polishing! I'll try and take a set of "in-process" photos on my test scrap to see what we can learn from that....

Hey all - I've been practicing on various bits of scrap with varied results, but has anyone got tips on how far to sand back the initial black dye coat on things like flame maple before colour coating? If anyone has a picture of this stage it would be cool, as I'm not 100% on what ratio of black figuring to "clean" maple should be left for best popping of the figure. Also, when I colour coat the black dyed areas appear much more matte than the newly coloured areas. Obviously this comes out with clearcoating, but I'm considering an oil finish. Has anyone got experience in using alcohol dyes on maple and finishing with tung/danish oil? Sorry, but search didn't specifically reveal all the answers I needed!

I like the 4-a-side headstock design - I personally would reverse it to oppose the sweep of the body. I did this on the Iceman and it looks so much better and "balanced".

Emperor do it so much better Matt! It's become too formulaic, this whole BM stuff. We went to see Cryptopsy a few weeks back, and we were up front (Mull was partaking in worm snacks!) whilst the "hardcore" corpsepaint BM fans lounged around in a corner looking broody/shy/self-conscious or whatever. </waves Emperor tickets>

I'm going to consider not adding a volute to the five-string i'm building, but I do like the visual aspect of the curvature, especially when you're using beautiful laminates. I must be the only person sat on Cosmetic Volute Island here!

I see. That's pretty interesting as i've never come across anything referring to the mechanical contributions of the glue itself in terms of stability or indeed potential for warping. Is this caused by the "chemical bonding" of the glue into the surfaces of the woods or by movement of the glue medium whilst curing?

Does Mr Benedetto advertise Ed Roman's matched "US deep neck set tone veneer grails" pairs in the back of the book? I'm sure that a veneer won't have enough mechanical strength to pull a headstock out of whack even if it does warp. Does this have anything to do with the volute curve or just unbalanced laminations in general?

In that case, nab it and petition your tutor to resaw it for you into laminates!! :-) Oh yes, Thunderbirds have walnut laminates in the necks as well as mahogany so it was a bad example by me :-( I can't see why you can't use it though. Just pick some nice straight-grained stuff (down the length) and you're laughing.

Laminating is definitely good for strength, no doubt about it. Gibson Thunderbird basses have mahogany necks, although they're laminated to hell and back! Is the wood you're using well dried and stabilised or pretty "green"? If it's not dry (8%-12%?) then you may experience warpage whilst it stabilises. For what it's worth, whatever happens you'll get more out of the learning experience than the bass itself - you can always make more from what you learn! Plus you'll most probably end up with a decent bass as well :-) Here's one of my favourite basses in the world, pretty much a tribute to mahogany. http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/ite...back-detail.jpg

In hindsight, i'm taking my maple down to about 3/4" to 1/2" as i'm adding core and back woods now. Same thing applies, but there will be more tenon in the construction now.

This is exactly the way I'm making the body for my next bass build. The neck is multi-laminated and I'm only wanting it to show on the rear of the instrument. Then again, I might overcomplicate it and show five of the laminates on the front and all seven on the back. SwedishLuthier is right in the process. That's how I'm hoping to achieve this. I'e planned the "cutting and planing" part to be done by routing to get rid of the majority of the neck tenon on top, and the rest by planing with jack and bullnose planes. Let us know how you get along as it's quite a cool job!

Apologies if it's already been mentioned, but get yourself a good vacuum cleaner and lots of duct tape to pick up the dust and chips you're generating :-) I gather you probably don't have tools that have dedicated provision for extraction yet, but everyone has a vacuum cleaner! The duct tape is for mounting hoses temporarily in places where dust and chips gather, and to keep your work clean.

Wrap a bit of greaseproof/cookie paper around the truss rod before you glue it up - like a tube, which you can pull out of the truss rod hole when you release the clamps. You don't want to succeed in this repair only to find you've seized the trussrod. Remember to slacken the rod before you clamp up too! I agree with Chunkielad in that it looks pretty clean as a break. A fracture is a lot easier to mend than a tear. If all the parts sit back snugly in their original positions like a jigsaw then you'll be fine. I think the biggest problem will be your endgrain gluing - as posted on the forum previously (a cabinet makers trick no less) by someone other than me, you can lightly dampen the endgrain edges with a little water-thinned wood glue prior to full stickup to "pre-glue" to help the glue bite better. Be careful not to fill up the snug fit you've got though :-) Best of luck. Take you time and please post progress - I'm betting you'll succeed on this one with a bit of effort! +1 on the ebony too. No harm in adding extra strength once it's all glued up.

I've not read much in relation to birch, but I believe it is usable.

FYI, birch and pine, and "fluffy pine" according to my Finnish wife, Nina are the most common in Scandinavia. Try planting mahogany there and it would be killed by the wolves or the snakes dude. Anyway - old wood used for tables and doors tends to be stable as well as it's had plenty of chance to decide whether it wants to warp or check or not :-)

Dude, Danelectrolite is the physical residue you gather when you lick your finger and stick it in the wind :-)

Did I not mention that? Sorry. I actually reposted my thread from UKGB and didn't proof it....bu yes, it is!

Just a sneak peek. I decided to mock one up to perfect my hand carving for the violin-esque (recurves?) around the edges. I'm going mahogany/purpleheart/mahogany for the neck with a scarfed headstock joint (first one so I'm scared). I'm going to measure it up for one of the 34" scale fretboards I have, although the deep neck curve works better with a 35", 26-fret board. Time to buy a fret slotting mitre box methinks. Might have to acquire more wood in the near future too.... CLICKY The "actual" Vampyre I'm planning on after perfecting this one will be a five-string bass with a "semi-through-body" neck construction. The tenon will be 5 laminated layers of flame maple and bloodwood with ebony pinstriping. The body will be a full cover bookmatched top cap (hence semi-through) of flame maple. The "back wings" will probably be something crazy like walnut or whatever I can get my hands on. Again, more ebony pinstriping between layers. An ebony fingerboard would be in order also methinks. UPDATE: Routed pickup cavities for 2x EMG 35DCs, tidied up some of the carving. Laminated two pieces of mahogany and a central purpleheart strip and scarfed a mahogany headstock on at ~8°. After sizing the neck, the set neck tenon pocket was routed (Myka method!!) after which the neck sits so snugly you have to push it in with some force and you can lift the body up no problem. That'll glue nicely then sir! I've marked on where the neck meets the body so I can shape the heel snug to the cutaways. Wooha!! http://www.prostheta.com/guitars/vampyre4_2.jpg http://www.prostheta.com/guitars/vampyre4_3.jpg http://www.prostheta.com/guitars/vampyre4_4.jpg

Exactly how I did it, except I was paranoid about losing the Koa to carelessness. The secret mixture in question is a mix of car claying lubricant and water as it plasticises the wood nicely without leaving anything that acetone can't remove before finishing :-)

Irrelevant. I use EMGs proudly, so you might as well build out of Danelectrolite, plastic or belly button fluff.

I managed (amateurly) to curve Koa on the headstock of my Tele build around 60° of a 2" radius curve. It just takes practice I guess, and hell I need it! I just wet the wood with a SecretMixture™ and applied gradually increasing amounts of pressure using cauls and clamps, whilst adding more SecretMixture™. Took about four hours to do, and left it for a couple of days under pressure to dry through.

Good call UncleJ - I wonder if I can get that in the UK....sounds like it would be good for strengthening the weak points on headstock and body tips, especially as the pointy ones have a special place in my heart :-)

Thanks! It was hairy business trying to bend 1/16" thick Koa up that curve....!! I'm going to shape some kind of ebony cover for the truss rod at some point and engrave it. I can't bring myself to inlay or cover that Koa in any way.... I'll go with the ebony pegs if I can get some for the tuners I'm using....

Just what I was wondering. I wasn't clear on how pure CA vs. dust bound in PA would shine up. There's the answer! I hate mixing epoxy :-(

Before you do so...what did you mean by lacquer exactly? Wax and oil, steel wood is happy with. If it's a lacquer then I'd hold fire on that one till somebody a lot more experienced than I contributes to this thread!