lettsguitars

is it a lefty?

[quote name='umph' post='1033411' date='Nov 22 2010, 11:49 PM']found fret work alot easier than i thought it'd be. Essentially involves flatting them to the same height then reapplying a curve and smoothing them out etc. if you take up this course be prepared to do epic amounts of sanding ;o[/quote] you can eliminate most of the sanding with cabinet scrapers. those things will save your life if you spend a lot of time with dodgy carcinogenic hardwoods. bass looks cool, should be alright routing pups later. i had to widen a danelectro neck pocket for a mate after making a new neck for him. router cut through that thick cheap sparkly sh*te with no trouble.

thanks for your comments!

[quote name='danbowskill' post='1034924' date='Nov 24 2010, 11:47 AM']the coulors on that body look lush! sweet[/quote] yea, the ziricote turned out less grey than i expected. nice dark chocolate brown. hope it don't melt!

reet then, next up, side dots still to go, pickup on its way, clean up, wax and polish, setup and she'll be off to pete next wednesday ish. the access cover in these pics is just resting, just in case you're thinking it looks a bit scew wif.

[quote name='henry norton' post='1034776' date='Nov 24 2010, 09:41 AM']Respect to all the Fender cloners out there but it's nice to see someone applying some original thought to their basses. Like the little (cocobolo?) chunks on the ends of the wings - is it just for show or is there a purpose to them?[/quote] cheers. you are right my friend, 'tis cocobolo, and yes, just for show. however it does leave those edges less prone to dings.

frets in, ready for a bevel and dress. all good.

been a bit lazy the last coupla days. got the fingerboard dead flat and radiused today, looking great. also, ebony bridge, tailpiece and nut blanks cut. frets tomorrow and catchup with i.m.p for the latest on pickup. should be good to go pretty damn soon. pics tomorrow. easy now. jon

new pics. neck carved, holes drilled, and all that malarky. she'll get a nut and some frets in the next couple of days. then we're just waitin for the scatterwound soapbar from ben. should be ready next week. not sure whether to vacuum form the pickup covers, or go with wooden uns. what d'ya reckon pete?

glad you like it. got quite a bit done today. body carved and a coat of oil. access cover made, not the afro cover i intended, as the last piece had a long split, so i went with swamp ash, and it looks pretty funky. headstock cap glued on. headstock and neck should get shaped and carved tomorrow. been takin shots of my progress but then realised my slr had no card in it, so i've lost a few shots, mainly ears being glued on, nevermind. heres what we got. . . .

reet. cat's eyes on and body routed. fingerboard on, headstock glued and ready for some ears. had to slightly adjust the bass horn shape due to some cocobolo tearout but it's all good. today should see the the neck pocket and control cavity routed, cavity cover made from matching afrormosia, ears on headstock and possibly body carved. we'll see.

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1012261' date='Nov 4 2010, 04:22 PM']Hello all, The nice bit of labernum I've got's gonna be seasoned and ready to turn into a bass after xmas, so I need to start thinking about the neck. I've only ever made bolt-ons before so I'm slightly worried as to how the thru-neck's gonna turn out. Basically, I need to know if there are any special tools or techniques one can use to ensure that the wings are totally flat against the neck? Or is it a case of taking extra care with the cutting and sanding? Also, can anyone recommend a particular glue? It's a double-cut, by the way. Actually, would a single-cut be easier for a first-timer thru-neck? Thanks Truckstop[/quote] hello, i've never made a neck thru myself but i'll try and answer your question. firstly, i have always been confused about the neck angle on a neck thru. i obviously flaten the fingerboard side of a neck on a jointer, and taper the back. so as the heel is flat against the body, this creates like a 3 degree back angle. i'm not sure i would want a bass that had no neck angle as it puts your left hand way in front of your right hand. now, to get that angle on a neck thru you would have to bandsaw that angle into the centre block section of the neck thru, or a router jig. but to answer your question. basically when you glue the wings on, just make sure you clamp, or weight all peices down onto a flat surface while glueing (titebond original), and then clean up with a sander. pretty straight forward if you dont mind about that back angle.

ok then. pete asked me to build him a custom 4 string after seeing my work on ebay. after a quick chat on the phone, we decided on a 34" scale ziricote and mahogany deal, . heres the first series of pics. while waiting for petes timber to arrive, i forged ahead and made a 'prototype' out of meranti and some cocobolo i had in stock. pete sent me some pics of basses he loved and i jiggled my designs around his ideas. the pics he sent were of ken smith and wal basses. heres what we ended up with. follow as we turns logs into axe. pics of template, logs, roughed out body and kingwood fingerboard. pete stated that he was into the lighter centre block. Also body will be getting some cocobolo 'cat's eyes'. also, pics of the finished 'prototype' which is currently for sale on ebay. the nut must have been knocked off centre during the shoot which makes the strings look badly aligned. my nuts (ooh er missus) are not glued in, but sit in a very snug slot and do not move around easily. just unfortunate that i didn't notice at the time. to reiterate, strings are perfectly aligned with the sides of the neck in reality. meranti cor, coco top, zebrano stripes, afrormosia and swamp ash back, purpleheart and walnut cat's eyes, meranti neck and purpleheart fingerboard. kent armstrong neck pickup, one vol one tone and possibly a coil switch in the future. some pics removed coz of space restrictions

[quote name='Metalmoore' post='772590' date='Mar 12 2010, 11:23 AM']I just hope he replies to this thread or me and clears things up with both of us. Hopefully he can explain himself.[/quote] i wouldn't bother. that neck looks rough as. . .