Jabba_the_gut

[quote name='loki' timestamp='1349186695' post='1822961'] Hey Jez, how did you get on with this? Scott. [/quote] Hi Scott, I sort of bottled it!! I decided to put LEDs on the front of the fretboard rather than on the edge - I decided that might be easiest for my first attempt at this! I made a strip of LEDs (as detailed previously in this thread) and used 1mm fibre optic cable to make the markers on the fretboard. These are just about invisible until you turn the LEDs on. I was careful to place the markers so they would be between the strings rather than under them. The only thing that was a bit awkward was that with using surface mount LEDs about 0.8mm x 1.6mm in size along with 1mm diameter fibre optic, you've got to be [u]really[/u] accurate in locating them. I was fractionally (about 0.5mm) out on a couple and they don't shine quite so brightly on the fretboard - not much different, but enough that I notice!! In hindsight, I could have done the edge markers without too much bother but I'd already commited to doing the fretboard by that point. Next time I'll use some slightly larger LEDs if its for the fretboard, or I'll just have to be a little more accurate if I decide to put edge markers on. One thing I did try was using white heat shrink over the 1mm fibre optic cable to give a really nice looking marker for dark wood fretboards - stands out nicely when LEDs are off and then looked good with the LEDs on. I'll stick a couple of photos up tomorrow, but it turned out ok overall. I'm still building the bass, which is coming on nicely. Just thinking of how to make the connection to a battery through contacts on the neck and in the pocket was enough of a headache also. As with all these sorts of things, I've learnt quite a few lessons along the way. It's been great to get advice from yourself and other folk on this forum - saved me making some mistakes and given me ideas for next time. Cheers again Jez

Thanks for the details. Might be safe then - I'll just carry on as (sort of) planned!! Cheers

I've just thinned the neck for a 5 string bass I'm building and I'm wondering if it is too thin. The router moved a little while I was doing this and I've taken about 2mm more than I wanted off the thickness of the neck. The neck is now uniformly 23mm thick across the length - I didn't really want it to be less than 25mm thick. Does anyone know if 23mm is too thin and will cause me any problems? (It's made from quarter sawn maple with a wenge fretboard) If it is, I'll fix a new bit of maple to the back and reshape, should be able to make it decorative to hid my mistake!! Cheers Jez

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1348526021' post='1814926'] nice. What do you use to cut the frets? that's the one bit I know I would struggle to do with accuracy. [/quote] I bought the fretboard pre-slotted for this one. Can't remember exactly where I got it from - think it was from a seller on eBay who cut it for me.

Started shaping the body a bit more......getting there, but slowly!!

[quote name='nugget' timestamp='1348135853' post='1809719'] It's been put away for a while, I've got a couple of other little projects to finish then I've got 2 builds to start for others so mine has to take a back seat.... I've just realised you're only just up the road from me, let me know if you ever need anything [/quote] Cheers for that. Might give you a shout in the near future - be interested in seeing the basses you've made.

[quote name='tonyf' timestamp='1348084156' post='1809147'] in terms of routing, guess i'd be a little nervous about making mistakes as i've not used one before but i guess that's where a few hours of practice routing pickup cavities and neck sockets in scrap wood comes in handy. [/quote] That's where these template cutter bits come in. Make a template out of ply about 6mm+ thickness then try routing it on a scrap of wood. You can then try fitting a pickup or whatever into the cutout to see if you have it right. It's a bit of trial and error and needs some patience to get a decent result. I often use bits of wood veneer stuck to the edges of my template to correct where I've got it a little wrong!! The thing with routing is not to try to cut too much in one go - if you do the router might snatch at the wood and chip a chunk out (found that out being impatient once...). The other good thing about using a local joiner is that if you are making a body out of 2 pieces of wood, the joiners will have the machine tools to get a nice, square edge on each piece to join together. They guys I've used round here have been really friendly and helpful - there is also a cabinet maker I have spoken to about different woods and finishes, who gave me some good advice; I hadn't heard of a cabinet scraper until then and that has also been a useful tool. Cheers Jez

[quote name='nugget' timestamp='1348077359' post='1809006'] If you're useing nickel-silver fretwire then you wanna over do the radius on the fret before fitting quite a lot so it's too curvey. Tap the ends of the fret into the slot first then work from middle outwards. This puts some sideways pressure on the tangs and frets hold better. With stainless frets you want the radius to be as per fretboard before tapping in. I really cant see any reason to use superglue (or anything like that) to hold frets, it's just not necessary and it's only gonna make a mess and really screw things up years down the line when you need to take the frets out for a refret. If you get one fret that doesnt seat properly just whip it out, and stick a new over-bent one in rather than bodging it with glue. Wenge does splinter really easy and you have to be very carefull when cutting across the grain [/quote] Cheers Nugget. How's your latest build going?

[quote name='tonyf' timestamp='1348069060' post='1808838'] That looks absolutely fantastic. Seriously impressed! Even more worrying, I'm starting to get a bit of a hankering for clearing the shed out and having a go myself. As well as the build diaries on here, I've been looking at loads of build vids on YouTube. I've built a bitsa but obviously starting from the ground up is a total different story. From your own experience, what's the minimum kit you need (ie hand router, drill, jigsaw etc). T [/quote] There's definitely something satisfying about building your own bass from the ground up - I think there's a few folk on here who have that bug!! From my own experience in terms of kit I don't have masses of kit but will buy odd and sods as I go along. I have a Black and Decker router (nothing flash), a cordless drill and an electric drill. I got a drill stand and a woodwork vice off Freecycle both of which are very useful (there was a bandsaw on there once but I missed out on that one). For the router I have a few straight bits of varying sizes for cutting truss rod channels, but one of the most useful bits if a template cutter (this has a bearing on it that you guide round a template so you can get accurate cuts). I also have about a dozen g-clamps and a couple of sash cramps for joining two halves of bodies. If I buy some wood that needs thicknessing or when I want the rough outline of a body cutting, I go to one of the local handyman centres or joiners. For those tasks I think you do need specialist kit like a bandsaw or a thicknesser, the local guys are great and only cost me a couple of quid. This bass is only my second ground up build so I'm very much still learning - I'm sure any of folk in this forum would quite happily give you any advice if you are thinking of having a go. I did buy a couple of books, that were quite handy, as well as looking at stuff on the web. I bought 'Electric Guitar Construction' by Tom Hirst which I found quite useful and 'Electric Guitar & Bass Design' by Leonardo Lospennato' which I thought was really interesting. Hope this helps! Cheers Jez

Ah...didn't spot that typo!!! I bought the fretboard with the slots pre-cut for this one. Next time I think I will have a go at doing that myself to. I'm trying to learn a bit more with each one I build. I'm kind of leaning towards using superglue to hold the frets so thanks for letting me know how you found it. Cheers also for the advice regarding pre-bend frets - that might save a bit of time. Cheers Jez

Finally cut the neck pocket - turned out quite well. Time for the fun bit shaping it now!

I'm getting close to installing frets in a bass I'm building and would like to know if I should glue the frets in. I found mixed opinions from the web and I'm guessing this topic has been discussed on here at some point (though I couldn;t find a thread) I've got two necks I'm going to do, one has a wenge board the other is maple if that makes any difference. These are also new fretboards that have not had frets installed before. There seemed to be a fait bit of stuff on the web from using Titbond, superglue, epoxy resin or not using anything at all. I'd be grateful for anyones opinion on this.... Cheers Jez

Still plodding along with this!! I installed blue LEDs on the fretboard - no other reason than to see if I could. Seems to have worked out ok. I've used threaded inserts in the neck the allow it to be attached by bolts rather than screws. The inserts can be a pain in the backside to fit as they are made from a relatively soft alloy; the allen key can round off the socket before it is completely seated so you can't get it all the way in and struggle to get it out again. I've cut the template for cutting the neck pocket, just need to get on and do it now. I've also cut the control cavity out and made a cover out of spalted beech from a leftover. I think it looks quite nice.

I've now shaped the outline of the neck and headstock. I've also drilled the holes for the tuners. Just need to shape the heel the I'll look at cutting the neck pocket on the body. I'm going to try to fit blue LEDs to the fretboard - not sure how that will turn out, we'll see!!!

As I know folk on here like a bit more details, here we go. The truss rod and swamp ash came from Tonetech supplies, the wenge veneer from Nantwich veneers (comes in very long sheets), the maple neck, blank wenge fingerboard and spalted beech came from eBay. It's been stuck together using Cascamite wood glue. I'm still undecided about fitting LED edge markers on the neck - might be too much faff with more to go wrong but still tempeted to try it!! I've now fitted the truss rod and veneered the headstock to match the body. Anyway, here's a few more photos of progress.

That neck looks wonderful. Out of interest, what are the two bars running parallel to the truss rod?

Can you useTraffolyte for scratchplates? Seems to be the right thickness and comes in sheets up to 4' x 2' [url="http://www.ukengravingservices.co.uk/latest-news/test-post-11"]http://www.ukengravingservices.co.uk/latest-news/test-post-11[/url] WDMusic and CH Guitars do sheets of material but I guess they are the retail and ebay ones yo have looked at.

Quite tempted by these myself but I know they'll just end up in the parts bin!! Bridge looks like a Schaller roller bridge to me (correct me if I'm wrong) and there's some other stuff as well. Postage seems a bit on the steep side at but the parts might be good. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Guitar-Dimarzio-pickup-Machine-heads-and-Bridge-6-string-bits-/180952946176?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2a21a2d600"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bass-Guitar-Dimarzio-pickup-Machine-heads-and-Bridge-6-string-bits-/180952946176?pt=UK_Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2a21a2d600[/url]

That looks cracking! How are you going to finish it? Just trying to get some ideas of how to get a decent finish on spalted beech. Cheers J.

Starting to make a bit of progress with this build but it's been slow going so far. Pickup routing complete and bridge holes drilled. Next task is to get the neck pocket sorted.

Thought I'd post a picture of my SUB basses.... Must get some better photos as this doesn't really do them justice.