Prostheta

Apologies for the low quality images. I really should get some sorted in daylight to indicate progress as artificial light and flash makes unfinished work look mega rough. I am currently routing out padauk from the back to fit the neck tenon, plus I'm cutting the recess out of the front where the fretboard will emerge. I've calculated the angles accurately so that the bottom of the board emerges straight onto maple, and I've left enough play to hang the board over the far edge to disguise the join :-D I didn't have time to complete the work tonight, so a sneak guess at how it's going to look is all I have. The bookmatched and pinstriped veneer for the headstock was a success (yay me!) and has been Titebonded on with yet another pinstripe underneath. This is being rounded over at the edges an smoothed towards the centre (too slight to call it a carved headstock top!) to tie in the organic carves of the body. The headstock is deliberately quite thick as I'm going to dish the tuner locations down just beyond the pinstripe and paint the wood revealed underneath black (roughly 4mm). The edges of the dishes will be smoothed over also. On that note, I plan to buy a 1" dished router bit to make the control pot locations. So much to do, so little time. I figure that a black sandback with deep red dye over the top will make the headstock veneer look super awesome with the dished and recessed tuner bushes. To make life simpler for me (in case I cock up) I'm going to make the headstock inlay a simple signature of abalone, inlaid into an ebony circle which I can easily install. Can't afford to go wrong inlaying abalone straight into that maple! (ps. the image size is smaller than 640x480/307200 pixels!) Oh yes - I'm very tempted to paint a black line down the centre of the bass over the maple only after I've done the black sandback as an afterthought, to tie the body in with the pinstripe on the headstock. Still malleable on that one.

Much appreciated Erik. I'm planning on taping off the lower edge of padauk prior to finish sanding the top edges, and shellac'ing them to mask them off prior to dyeing the top. It's also why I insisted on a small black pinstripe between the top and back to give me a little bit of a break, therefore more to work with :-D

How long did it take you to make them, Pukko? That's some fantastic work.

Indeed - thanks for reminding me.... I have the padauk to radius and round over on the back yet. And the neck tenon to install...

Simo - IIRC, that's a Wilkinson or something. The guy is selling loads of tuners and hardware and I bought a 4-string bridge off him but in a different style. Very nice gear for the price too!

I'm using a 3 over 2 "standard" wavey end headstock which I'll post more pics of when I've done some photogenic work to it ;-) It's a bit mid-process right now.

Now who was it who told me to be careful about pulling the oils out of padauk with acetone? I'm not going for a peach guitar, no way :-D I completed the carving today, and routed the recess for the bridge base. Also managed to create a 1/16" thick bookmatched veneer for the headstock which I intend to create Forstner'ed recesses in for the tuner bushings similar to my Yamaha RBX775. LARGER VERSION OF ABOVE Obligatory second shot! Oh yes, you'll also notice that I have added a very slight Metal Matt inspired constant radius over the top of the instrument so it is no longer perfectly flat on the top contour. The back needs work next, although I'm tempted to settle for a simple flat back with a gentle roundover around the perimeter. I wait to be convinced otherwise on this score!

Your advice is much appreciated Mikhail. I can't believe I forget that I started this thread! Anyway - I much prefer the PRS finish in relation to what I'm aiming for. I've shifted my goalposts slightly and decided to Rustin Plastic Coating the bass (instead of oil) with faux binding at the edges. I'm not stealing your design idea's soul though! :-D How did you mask yours off to prevent dye bleeding? I'm considering using painted-on shellac, or perhaps masking the body using painters tape and spraying sanding sealer. The sandback colour is going to be black with a bit of red added for bringing up the final "redness" with a slightly lighter sanding accent around the carves to bring out the shape of the instrument.

If you can pry it out of my cold dead metal hands man :-D

Suggestion - subscriber-only part of the board perhaps? That way the transfer would pay for itself as opposed to bringing hosting into negative equity.

+1 If the break is clean and you have the splinters then clamping it back up for repair and perhaps a refinish isn't out of the question. Did the contact point cause much wood crushing and fracturing, or was it a pretty clean break?

http://www.basscentre.co.uk although there will be other outlets. I presume it's through the larger Warwick dealerships.

I could set you an FTP account on my server but I'm not sure how long I'd be able to maintain if for you as I'm about to be hosting DetonalState.com when it's redesigned....straight out Photobucket perhaps?

I've got most of the hardware already sorted. I bought a Warwick aftermarket bridge and tailpiece set, although I still need to sort out the tuners. The bridge is a two-piece with a base set into the body of the instrument, and the top piece with the saddles on attaches via two allen bolts. The tailpiece is a slight V which also recesses into the body by about 1/3" or so.

Trust me - that's a trem. Look at the back...it has a cover for the springs! Plus it's more Wilkinson-esque, yes. My Ibanez is much nicer than that one too....I think the model is an S1640FM Prestige although they're all pretty similar really. Clicky.

UPDATE!! I built up the router table and used a 1"/45° chamfer bit set to chamfer 5mm up from the black pinstripe line to rout around the entire body up the the recesses near the neck, including into the side recesses. From there I used a combination of chisels, planes and spokeshaves to work the side up to the contour I drew up on the top of the body. From thereonin I just sanded with 80 grit and brought it up to 120 for the photos. The carve is nowhere near finished as I still have to do the bottom half of the body (only a rough carve right now) and the back needs to drop down for the bridge and tailpiece. I'm almost 98% certain I'll dye the top red on black and use Rustin's plastic coating. Tomorrow I'll probably plane down the bookmatched veneer I'm making for the headstock. Either that or I'll destroy it in the process. We'll see. LARGER VERSION OF ABOVE View 2 of carving View 3 of carving

Contoured Explorer!!!

Mike - i'm considering finishing the bass i'm building with Rustin's Plastic Coating (2 part cold cure lacquer) although my concerns lie purely with the pore structure of padauk. Will it sink into the pores a lot or should I grainfill? Popular opinion says that it fills and seals nicely so I suspect two coats would be enough. Perhaps one coat over a grainfill?

Try it if you have a good design which is structurally sound and theoretically practical. Seriously. Before this thread turns into a: - "oh, that would be like xxxx guitar but with different xxxx" Ideas can easily be dampened down by aligning them with ideas that are already in place. Follow the established guidelines of instrument making and you'll make something which is undeniably of your own making and brainchild!! Although, It'll be freaking heavy - yes.

I've got a lot to practice on routing for inlays. Much harder and dedicated work than people make out. Looks and sounds simple in practice, but hell - *one* mistake can undo every little thing you've aimed for. I think TG put a lot of work into the fretboard and the results prove themselves. I've seen bigger borders on commercial instruments!

What is the compatibility and finishing like for Rustin's Plastic Coating on woods with open pores like Paduak?

Axe. Topical joke.

I've not test oiled any padauk yet, especially as I'm in two minds on how to finish the bass. Oiling will be done if I leave it all natural, but I'm tempted to leave a thin faux binding strip around the outside and dye the top a deep rich red on black.

Hahaha. As always Setch - how much more concise and to the point can you get?! :-D Damn, you killed the whole debating thing man.

I just clamp a trued up block of wood next to the spindle on my oscillating sander. It's a bitch when it drags the wood in when you don't start on the right side though :-D At least, I blame the sander, not my choice of feed direction. Ahem.