Jabba_the_gut

I've had a good think and at this moment in time I'm going to skip adding a logo to the headstock. I think there is enough going on with the spalted veneer and black line front and back that a logo might be a bit too much. I'll still do a mock up to see but I do like it how is and I need to look at a truss rod cover, which again would make it a little busier.

Next little job was to sort the magnets in the control cover. I'm using some very thin magnets so all that is needed is a shallow recess in the cover for these - a job for the Dremel. I don't like Dremels for many things but this is one job it is very suited for - all it needs is a burr bit to make each recess then the magnets can be epoxied in place. Always a good idea to check which way the poles are on the magnets else they might just be pushing the cover off when they don't pair up with those in the bass body!! Check and check again.....(ever get the idea I might just have done that once before?....) Once the epoxy has set the back of the cover can be sanded ready for copper shielding foil to be added. That's another little job complete. I got the thicker fret wire I wanted for the zero fret so I've fitted that and trimmed a nut to suit. Next job was to tidy up the fret ends. First part of this is to file the ends to an angle. I made an angle block out of a bit of spruce and clamped a file in it - works just fine. Always worth masking the fretboard to prevent crud or scratches. Next up is filling the fret slot ends to match the board. I always keep small pots of the sanding dust from radiusing the fretboard for this job as it will be right colour

Hi, I've used (sharp) flat bits to cut machine head holes and they turned out fine. The only thing you must do in my experience when drilling these holes is to have a pilot hole and clamp the neck to another piece of wood so there is no tear out when the drill passes through the back of the headstock. Takes a little longer to do but results are worth it. As usual, always good to give this a try on a bit of scrap first. I haven't used a forstner bit for this (yet) but I think the Axcaliber ones that Axminster tools do are really good. I've used a few of these for other bass related jobs and have been very pleased with them. I might just buy one for doing machine heads as the cut from these is very clean. Cheers

@Fishman Just for info , there’s a clear one for sale on here. Have a look at Old horse Murphy advert if an MM one is okay for starting a custom layout.

I've just looked back at the mock-up for a five string version - think that would probably be another project in the near future but with a slightly longer scale (27" or 29" I'm thinking as that would look more in proportion to the extra width of the bass). Anyway, that's something that can be drawn on paper s I've got enough other things to finish first!!

Nice heavy piece of fret wire has now arrived to make the zero fret. Will hopefully be able to get on with some more of the neck this weekend (well, it's not like I'm going anywhere....). I also need to go back to the other body and necks that I started earlier on in this build and decide what to do with them!

Next small task was to paint the control cavity with conductive paint. I'll paint the cavity but use foil on the back of the cover as that is nice and flat. I'm using an EMG MMTW pickup for this that has a push pull pot to split the pickup from MM to J. I've not use one of these before but I'm giving it try as it should give a reasonable range of tones. I'm also going to combine this with an EMG BTC preamp for treble and bass control on a stacked pot. This is how the components will fit in the cavity - should be nice and tidy when done. I chose the MMTW after I'd joined the two halves of the body so the holes that were drilled for pickup wires will be too small to get the EMG connectors through. There's plenty of room to run the cables but just not the connector. I'll make up new cables and crimp the connectors once in place.

I got an old multigym from a friend a while back for my son but he didn't use it so I converted parts of it into a handy stand for drying guitar bodies or necks once a finish was applied. The body has now had a sealing coat and a couple of coats of satin lacquer applied by rattle cans. The finish has turned out quite nicely - helps when the weather is dry and warm.

Very, very nice!

Fret tangs trimmed and frets installed. I bought a small arbor press a few years back and got a mate at an engineering firm to modify it so a fret press caul would fit. It really makes the job so much easier and is a vast improvement over a drill in a drill stand. I've still got the zero fret to do but I need a slightly taller piece of fret wire which I'm wait to arrive. Next task will be to continue with the body.

I’d generally sand to 320 or 500 before looking at a finish. Don’t know if that is right or wrong but it works for me! The first coat can sometimes look a bit rough as it will highlight any places where you haven’t followed the grain when sanding or where you haven’t got rid of the deeper scratches from the previous, thought grade of sandpaper. Looking forward to seeing more pics of this. How are you getting on with the scratch plate?

I did some further sanding to the neck as the profile didn't feel quite 'right' whatever that may be. I probably only shaved a mm (ish) off part of the back of the neck but that made it feel quite different. It always amazes me that you can make small adjustments and it can completely change the feel as the profile changes. I decided in the end to radius this fretboard to 12" (I'll still try a flat board but I'll do that on the other neck). I always use chalk marks on the fretboard so I can get an idea of how much needs sanding - when all the chalk is gone the job is done! I've cut the frets to length. They are ready to have the tangs nipped so they won't show when fitted. That's the next job.

Nice mod. Those Delano hybrid pickups are really nice - wiring is a bit more complicated than usual. I presume you are going to wire it the standard way i.e. humbucker is active, jazz pickups are passive, or do you have other plans? Cheers

Probably a good idea as it is a nice looking project. There's quite a bit of interest of short scale/uke type basses, I'm sure others would also be very interested. It's also nice to see wood getting recycled and the use of native woods like beech. Just a shame it looks like a Rik...!!😉 Cheers

I know what you mean. 9' x 9' is a decent enough size to start with but it soon goes when you add things like a band saw, router table, hand tools, storage etc. I am looking forward to getting this place sorted but it taking much longer than I hoped - the garage is still full of boxes to sort since we moved. Too much rubbish and time for a skip I think!! Look forward to the Uke build diary! Cheers

Luxury....

Maybe have a look at a Bronco bass bridge - think the spacing on those if 17mm and it should look about right for this. Cheers

I still need to get the garage sorted into a decent workshop. At the moment, this is the only bit of work surface I have to work on. This is a fold down thing that the previous owners of this house made and so far it has worked well for me, so much so I'll look at doing something like this but a bit more solid when I finally get to sort the garage out!!

Neck shaping is now mostly done. I'll make a few measurements to ensure the thickness is correct down the entire length of the neck and make sure it feels right. I'm leaning towards rounding the fretboard on this neck and trying a flat board on the other neck. I also need to sort a logo out for this headstock - I'm thinking the using one is too large for this so I'll look at options for making it smaller. I'm tempted to use mother of pearl of similar by way of a change!

Hi Richard, I've got literally 10 mins if you would like me to join to test this. Cheers

One tip I picked up from someone for when you want to stick stuff together with tape to stop it sliding but to make it easy to separate later and leave minimal gunk is this. Stick masking tape to each of the two surfaces you want to hold together then put the double sided tape in between them. Works a treat for slotting fretboard or holding templates down whilst you use a router. Look forward to the next steps of your build. Cheers

Cheers for the comments. I'm hoping this headed version works well - we'll see!! I've finished veneering the front and back of the headstock and I'm pleased I decided to do it - I'm really pleased how it has turned out. Next job will be lots of shaping and sanding on both the body and the neck.

Reverse of the headstock veneered - now to do the front which will be a little trickier as not to get glue in the truss rod. As I posted before, I'm not doing this in the correct order as I decided to do this a little later down the build process than you would normally plan!! Glad I've done it though as I think it looks quite nice so far.

Completely in the wrong order of doing things but I actually think a spalted veneer headstock would look quite nice...that's the next task then!!!

And the last job to be done before I start with lots of sanding on the body was to make a control cavity cover. Again, I made a template for this and used an offcut of spalted beech to make a cover.