spacecowboy

Yes! Another build to follow!!

That's really really nicely done! Great work!! 👌

Awesome work Haz, sounds great, big and fat!

Looking forward to the end result mate!

Looks ace! Great job!

So so good! Great work!

What happened to the Schaller? ☺️

Hi Haz, Is that an ABM adjustable nut? Bass is looking great! Keep up the good work!

Updates! Haven't made too much progress but still cracking on when time allows! Got the pickup cover glued up and rough sanded so it fits in place, need to prepare some screw mounting holes in the corners and you can see the tear out from my planer on some of the Wenge so that will need a quick fill but nothing major. I've used Ash to indicate where the pickups will be lying under the cover so I can ensure I play over the top of them. You can see these from the top too when in playing position. I popped a little bit of Ash around the entire edge too as I think it helps make it look classy, what it will definitely do is allow me to see if I have the cover level when installed on the bass. I've made some Wenge knobs too so everything matches up, the grain on this selection of Wenge is crazy, it's a bugger to sand but I think with some perseverance it's going to look lovely. Next! Electronics cavity routing and start the cavity cover, finish the body contour shaping and sanding. I'm still focused on getting the body and all it's parts finished first before cracking on with the neck!

For me, I love them, I really do even if my build diaries tell you otherwise... What I dislike about them is how quickly things can go from smooth sailing to rough seas. I understand the good jig argument and agree this is essential, but in my experience even with a good jig, it'll depend on the wood you're cutting, If you're routing wenge for instance and the router catches some crossed grain it can cause catastrophic damage to your work, it'll quickly rip a good chunk out of your timber regardless of your cutting depth, alder and ash however, rarely a problem will occur. Brilliant tools, superb finishing capabilities but unpredictably destructive at times. Like @SpondonBassed says, a healthy amount of caution and respect for the tool is essential!

Haha it's just in my nature to CAD everything first and get something in 3D in my hands, as a business we use proper rapid prototyping but on our desks we use the relatively affordable Anycubic machines, they're about £300 and PLA material spools are around £25 and last ages, very stable with very little clean up. I wouldn't replace an MDF jig however they're quite brittle.

From my experience of this place everyone is more than happy to help share their expertise and experience, it's a definite learning curve and there's lots to get wrong but it's very fun.

That's the perk of my job I'm afraid... Need a lot of 3D printing in my line of work and now we're working from home... The printer came with me 😉

So... The Claro Walnut turned up and it doesn't really look like what it does in that photo... the frog is barely visible... so... I have some walnut for something else... like the bin. Updates! Got the body blank glued up, picked up some Wenge with beautiful grain, decided to sandwich in a slice of swamp ash to help keep the weight down and mix up the visual a bit. Routed out the body shape and marked up the pickup cavity / cover section ready for drilling and routing. That neck on the right of the photo ended up being 3mm too thin... bummer... I'll use it for something else. Routed the cavities, I absolutely hated this job, I hate routers at the best of times but this job tested my resolve by the end of it I was absolutely sick. I've also started knocking the edges of the timber here to start shaping the curves. I have some felt lining to put in the pickup cavity... perhaps weird, but it looks lovely, the pickups will be mounted as normal with screws and springs but I think the felt just sets the whole thing off... Belly scoop popped in, got a cut in for my arm and scallops for my knee, super comfy so far. I 3D printed my pickup cavity blank with the pickup positions in so installing the pickups can be an easier job, I'll also use this print to route my pickup cover which I have gluing up now... but I really want that to be finished before I reveal it for thoughts... Next! I want to carry on working on the body before I start a new neck, this is the best bit of doing a bolt on bass you can work on every element individually. I'm going to get the electronics cavity started and I'm hoping to get the pickup cover finished while the weather is pants tomorrow. Body needs more shaping and sanding but it's coming along nicely. Thanks!

It's the same headstock / nut layout as my neck through build and they were fine so hopefully all will be well here. The position of the string trees will need looking in to however as I'll be using 2 hipshot style "3 string" trees so the A will be covered twice essentially. Need to make sure there's good pressure all round

Need to see a pic of that logo!

So I bought this piece of Claro Walnut... Why? Cause it looks like a frog (...yes it does) and I love frogs. I have finished a design for a 32" scale bolt on bass that I want to make... So what happens when you combine the frog with my new design? Froggy pickup cover! 😍 I've taken delivery on the timber I want to use on this bass and the construction will be; 2 Piece Wenge body (neck pocket, chambered pickup cavity, and electronics cavity should help keep the weight down) 3 Piece Wenge and Bubinga neck, (bubinga central laminate) "Frog" Claro Walnut pickup cover with Wenge walls Ovangkol fingerboard (I have a wonderful piece with what looks like ripples on it) If I can get tarnished brass / gold hardware then I will, or I'll try and tarnish it myself, no frog would have shiny super clean stuff, so that's tuners, bridge, knobs, and bolts, which will be hex bolts with brass inserts. I have brass frets but I'll leave them shiny I guess... No headstock angle this time round, flat head stock with string trees. Using an EMG jazz setup again but with master vol, pup blend, independent bass and treble. Work will begin next week! But really excited to get this one started!

Yeah these are vinyl's mate I couldn't find much else, I'm hoping they will survive!

Yeah? That's excellent, I have family who live in Malltreath and we go paddle boarding and dipping all around the island, Newborourgh is another personal fave!

Thanks Andy! One day hopefully I'll be doing work as good as yours!

Updates! It's finished! It's taken 6 weeks but I'm done! I've called this design Aberffraw after mine and my missus' favorite beach. I got the bass all setup last night, new Elixir strings, intonation spot on, and final fret tweaks and polishing done. Back to the "what do Carbon Fibre rods do...?" question, I can say that the neck on this bass hasn't moved a mm throughout, straight as a straight straight thing. Downside is I haven't plugged this in to play yet because of work, but I'll be doing this tonight to hear, I'm happy to post some sound samples when I get some. Had a slight nightmare at the end thinking I'd done something disastrous with my pickup wiring as I had no output at all... but it turned out to be some copper shielding shorting the circuit! So that was quickly sorted out. "When did you do the pickup covers?!..." Well! An actual disastrous occurrence did happen... I had to route my pickup channels 4mm deeper as the pickups were bottoming out too soon. Of course the router decided this was a perfect time to ruin things by catching on some timber and taking a chunk out of my routed pocket, of course it was the top wood... cue launching the router across the garage and lots of swearing. What this did mean was I could make some pickup covers, and I'd have to route new housings for those and because they're bigger than the pickup the problem would go away... luckily they look much better than the bare pickup so this was a blessing in a very frustrating disguise. Seriously though... Routers... bastards. I also have my headstock logo finished having this produced as a metallic brass transfer but just need to wait for that to come! It's my surname signature. So spec wise the bass is as follows; 35" Scale 5 String 24 Medium Jumbo Silver Nickel Frets 7 Piece laminated neck through of Wenge & Ovangkol 3 Piece Body laminates of Swamp Ash, Wenge, Spalted Sycamore Maple top Wenge Headstock Laminate Tung Oil with Wax Finish EMG Active J5 Pickups with passive VVT electronics Magnetic cavity cover and truss rod cover Dual Action Truss Rod 2x Carbon Fibre Rods Warwick Tuners 3+2 Warwick JANIII Nut Schaller 3D5B Roller Bridge Harley Benton Strap Locks Harley Benton Black Dome Knobs Switchcraft Barrel Jack Elixir Nanoweb Strings MOP Side dot inlays Thank you for everyone for feedback, comments and support, you're all a credit to this forum. B

If anyone wants to know the results of applying Tung Oil to your bass and finishing with Warwick Wax after then you can see the results on my bass build... it worked fantastically well. definitely recommend!

I haven't weighed it yet... however it feels very light, lighter than I thought it would be, I picked up my Marcus Miller last night for the first time in ages and it felt like a boat anchor!! I have some digital scales so I'll get a weight done soon! Thanks re. Electronics, I'll be doing them tonight so no doubt you'll have a message coming!

They're Warwick tuners from Thomann ☺️

Updates! It's a beautiful day so I thought I would treat the bass to a little bit of sun before I retire to the garden for a sunbathe myself. The Wenge grain on the neck and finger board is insane, I'm really happy with how this timber has come out. Now to enjoy this sun. B