spacecowboy

I got a Bosch one was about £60 ish and it's brilliant. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001E4EJ5S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_FEXWRQHD59GZR3KXN58M?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 I also had a small Makita knock-off palm router which I hate with every inch of my body.

Yes! The output jack is going on the front by the knobs, I always thought it looked bad there, but then I realised my Marleaux has a jack there and looks great... Also if Fodera think it's a suitable place for it then who am I to argue! ☺️

H'ok some updates! Started the body carve and shaping proper now the fingerboard is on. This one has plenty of shape and movement in the body so it's taking a while to balance out all the curves but it's getting there. I've rough cut the cavity cover and just need to sand and profile the edges, I'll be blending this in with the curves for a nice finish. The "groove" in the central wenge piece at the tail is so I can pop the bass between my legs when playing in a "classical" position, which makes it very comfy. Popped some white spirit on to clean away the grime and the ash is truly coming alive, the bass has only been sanded at 80grit so far so lots to go but the grain is lovely! Note the flat section on the upper horn this so I can lay my wrist flat against the bass while playing and that should help my sometimes awful "bass wrist" Lots of sanding to go and need to get the bridge and cavity cover sorted, oh and router the pickup slots in the cover, but well on its way. Thanks for looking!

Essentials for me are, Router (preferably not a palm one if you like your hands) Bandsaw Card scrapers (especially a gooseneck) Half round file Gouge chisel I'd like to think I could get by with just those. If I could add just one more tool it would be either a number 4 plane or spokeshave.

Threaded inserts installed in the cover cavity and holes drilled for the bolts to sit in, thankfully all lines up well, did have springs to push the cover back up when the bolts where loosened but I've found foam to be a much nicer solution so I'll be installing two foam blocks to the underside of the cover between the bolts. I have 3D printed this little jig to help with getting my drill holes nice and aligned and consistent, the two dots on the left are the 24th fret, far right 12th and centre for the rest, there's an allignment groove in the middle of each so I can line them up with the measure between the fret. All markers done, need a good clean up to get rid of the glue but I'll do most of that work when it's glued up! Need a much better jig or setup for gluing the fretboard on, too many clamps, too time consuming! Will be able to start properly on the carve in the next couple of days and work on shaping the bass.

Fantastic work

Well... You'd think I'd learned my lesson after dropping my fret press caul on my big toe... Lots of swearing for 5 minutes ...

Frets filed flush to the board, none of them had moved or tried to wriggle free so that's nice! Just waiting for some inlay material to arrive before doing the fret inlays then I can glue the board on! made a start on the nut and got the inserts installed, grub screws fit and raise the bridge up well, won't notch it until the strings are ready to go on and I'm setting all my heights. It's the same wood piece as the fingerboard so I assume they're happy being back together! And this handsome chap is my dog who is busy telling me I shouldn't be in the garage on such a nice day!

Absolutely brilliant! Thanks for this! Looks like a need to make myself one of those space age tools for running against the stone first! Seriously though that's probably the easiest to understand guide I've seen! Should get it published online pronto!

So I usually always post good news and it sometimes looks like nothing goes wrong during a build... but... I managed to totally balls up the fretboard glue up by not fitting my carbon rod properly and not realising until half of it was clamped up 😬! About a 3mm gap was visible! By the time I got the board off some of the glue had hardened so it wasn't going to be easy to clean up to glue straight back on so... That fretboard was binned as I couldn't trust it to be perfectly flat and this new one was made. Actually remembered to put the truss rod tool access in to the fretboard too before gluing it, something I forgot on the last one! Frets went in nice and easy, the last frets I used only had 2mm heads and they felt very small so I'm back to 2.7mm on this board. Going to leave the fretboard (currently backed on to a steel bar to keep flat) until tomorrow so I can see if any frets have popped up, and now that's done I can get the nut started!

Best of luck mate! Looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Yeah I use the gooseneck alot and the rectangular one every now and again, I've watched a couple of vids on it, probably more just getting on with it! 🙂

Please share your knowledge oh wise one! I can't for the life of me find any guide that makes me confident enough to get sharpening them, I love my gooseneck scraper but I'm fast running out of uber sharp edges! Any guidance that you followed would be brill!

Yeah no doubt naked is best! I use a satin lacquer at the moment you can still feel the timber but it gets a nice Matt sheen, I used it on my last build for the first time and I love the stuff, smells great, goes on easy, buffs well and you still get that wood feel!

Weather has been very very good here in the toon so not alot is getting done, but I did have a go at the headstock volute thing I decided to put in, I personally think it looks ace and I'll be able to etch the bass name or my name on it, or something! Still got blending and rounding to go and the volute isn't the final shape but the idea works for now. This batch of wenge is very very dark when some white spirit is on it, it'll look lovely lacquered!

Pickup cover and ramp cut and shaped ready for routing I had 4 ideas for this cover, solid ash or wenge, or reverse the ash / wenge splits but felt this option looked the best. Installed the inserts for the bridge in the bridge slot. Wiped the bass down with some white spirit before thinking about the next list of jobs to be getting on with! But for now the sun's out and I want a beer!

Got t'ther side of the pickup cavity routed, thats pretty much all of the work done for the router now on the body and neck! Hooray! I'm fitting Bartolini Original Quad soapbars to this bass and currently have 3 pre's I can wire in to, think it'll either be a Glockenklang 2 band or EMG 3 band... the Bart's will be housed in the pickup cover in their own routed slots and then I can move the entire cover / ramp assembly up and down with the hex screws. Got a bit more of the carving done on the back, this will be enough for now and I'll finish it properly once the fingerboard is on and I'm blending the radius' in, but happy with how it's going so far! I have the pickup cover / ramp gluing now and will be able to shape and fit that after work tomorrow, and I will be aiming to get the fretboard on the neck by tomorrow night!

Bass is out the clamps and the bridge slot was finished. Then time to remove some meat from the wings for the pickup cover / ramp, forstner bit comes in very handy as always. One side of the cover / ramp is done, and I'll get the other half done tomorrow!

Got the fretboard side inlays installed and trimmed flush... I did a quick check to make sure everything was still lining up and what needed to be square was and... ...Glued the top wing on so I can move on to finishing the routing on pup cover and bridge, then carving and shaping properly begins! Excited to have a rough bass come out the clamps tomorrow and sit it on my knee, the 30" scale seems amazingly comfy reach wise so I think this is going to be a fun bass.

Not a huge amount done today but I managed to get an hour and a bit in, trimmed the fret board down to profile and got the frets in, thinner fret profiles than usual to help with the spaces between frets on this 30" scale, no headaches should be able to get the other wing glued on soon!

The Wenge? I find it very nice to work with, not too hard, the worst bit is how brittle and splintery it is when you first cut and carve in to it! But it smoothes down wonderfully and isn't hard to shape, I don't find it dulls any of my machines or tools any quicker than other wood either! It's my favourite wood, it's why I use it all the time! 😉

Started to roughly improve the profiles of the wings prior to gluing to the neck, I want these as rounded as I can get them however the lower horn has a sharper point which I really like, it'll make sense later on! Another check to make sure I'm not taking too much off prior to glue up! Started tapping away on the upper horn to start the weird taper down to the neck con cave feature most single cuts have! 40mm bowled down to 20mm will take a while but this is a start! Felt like I had enough of the bottom wing down to get it glued on, it will help me decide where I want the scoop on the upper wing before I glue that on too, I don't have so much a belly... Rather ribs... They need a tummy scoop too! That's it for today though, got a Chinese on its way (2 hour wait mind!!!) And me and the missus have lots of Fargo to catch up on! Thanks for looking!

So it didn't go too badly at all, nice fit just need to continue to blend it down and in to the volute, hindsight would have been to sink it in to the headstock a couple of mm and sanded it flush... I know for the next one! Routed the cavity cover recess and started a finger groove to remove the cover I'll only be able to finish this when the wing is glued on... Got the hole drilled for the pickup cables pre glue as it's so much easier! Jobs list is building up best get cracking!