Andyjr1515

Never give up. Besides, there's still plenty of time for me to f*** it up yet

I will have to a modicum - the neck is sitting on top at the moment because it is a touch wider than the pocket. I'll have a peep tomorrow to see if it is best to tweak the neck or the pocket as I will, in any case, be carving the neck heel to blend in with the upper-fret access cutaway

And we have a neck! Looks decent And certainly it is the right length and the right number of frets Quite a bit to do on it in terms of reshaping the profile, sorting the headstock shape etc, etc, but at least I can now also start to finalise the bridge and scratchplate shape and positioning too.

Personally, I don't think 19 frets is a major limiter for the great majority of players. I would actually say the same on a 6-string electric, but particularly on a bass the number of folks who ACTUALLY play those very top notes is relatively small (although I'm aware the fear of 'but what if I DID want to play those notes?' affect us paranoid players too. And I say that because it is unquestionably because I don't have a 24-fret bass that I, personally, suck at bass ) I like some of the features you're building into this. I'll be watching this one

I agree. The back will be too if the Camphor comes out anything like Kert's singlecut!

The good news is that the neck has got to Nottingham! The bad news is that I have now had to pay the customs, etc … but actually, at £28, that was better than I was expecting So - in that I have to do further coats anyway, I've started looking at the black stain options and am in discussion with @scrumpymike whether he wants me to try a black/grey burst or just go with black. The stain is working quite well - I'm using Chestnut Spirit Stain. This is after a couple of coats. It would have more and the finish will also further darken it but - for notoriously difficult black staining - it's an encouraging start: One of the curiosities of black stain, particularly on Alder, is that the grain shows lighter than the surrounding wood - when using any other colour, the grain will always show darker than the surrounding wood. And the old trick of sanding down and reapplying doesn't work when black is the actual stain. This first coat shows what I mean: The reasons become clear once you start thinking about it. One for the family gatherings when the conversations go quiet over the Christmas period.

I started by drilling with a forstner bit to get the basic datum: Then chiselled out the excess and squared the back end: Then fitted the inserts. The centre space where there wasn't a cutaway is a bit narrower than the four original cutaways. Having said that, not the squarest or most even job but 70% of this is going to be covered by the bridge - and it's all going to be stained black with the rest of the body anyway Then a quick block-plane and sand and this is basically how it will look, albeit everything trans-black: I will now do the full sanding down to eliminate any dings and dints but can't do anything else until the super-slick UK customs and parcel machinery (literally) delivers the goods

Well, after taking already 3 times as long as it took the neck to cross the whole of the US on multiple flights and then across the Atlantic to UK, there is just a hint now that it might make the last 150 miles before Christmas. Then I am expecting 20% VAT, 15%ish Customs and, probably a £30 handling charge by Parcelforce for the privilege of them passing the payment across to HM Gov. Well come Brexit, when presumably this will be the norm for buying stuff from Europe too, then brace yourselves folks! But - it does mean that I can start the prep for finishing the body. No point in actually starting the staining, etc, because the pocket and heel may yet need modifying, but I can get it to the stage where that is ready to be done. One of the jobs is to fill those odd cutouts that are below the original Rascal bridge. Trouble is, they are going to poke out in front of the new bridge. I could use filler, but, with a stained finish that is going to show - and not in a good way. So I'm going to add some walnut inserts: I'll add a middle one too to turn the angled line into a 'feature': I'll see you in a few hours

Luminlays on the bass side would be easier - unless you are specifically going to the WOW factor (and there's nothing wrong with that ) Why would channelling the bass side be worse than channelling the treble side? Also, have you played much fretless @jebroad ? I find the dots on the fret position (and yes - still 3,5,7,9 etc) rather than in the middle much easier to use on an unmarked board - and if you need LED's I'm assuming that even if it was a lined board you aren't going to be able to see them in the dark? I like your final full size drawing shape, by the way

OK - thanks Yes - what you are considering will help because it will pull the top of bass body closer into your chest. As I mentioned earlier, the button screw should be OK there.

So when you say 'tilting forward', which way is it tilting? Are you talking about a tilt in the same direction as neck dive (isn't that just neck dive?) or that the top edge of the body is leaning away from you? Or something else? I ask because the possible solutions are different in each case. In terms of whether the top horn would take a button screw, the answer is 'probably' unless the whole of the sides are made of thin bent laminate.

Yes - I've gone for the maple fretboard, undotted, paddle head. Leaves the options open. It's taken less than two days to get to Heathrow...I'm expecting it to take a lot longer to get here from Heathrow!

I 've got an Eden 30" 21 fret coming from USA. I'll let you know what I think to it when it arrives...

Thanks. And yes - I'm following your thread closely too!

Beats me why Fender don't do this as a matter of course. It makes SUCH a difference to the upper fret access, whether a Rascal bass or a Stratocaster electric. It's not even that they can claim it affects the performance - they do fit a similar plate on some limited models. Anyway, we've got it here now : The Fender plates are hard to come by, so this is one from Northwest Guitars - nice quality. Holes were a teeny bit out, though, so I drilled out and plugged all three and started again. I will carve the neck heel to match. And, talking of the neck, that's already gone from Eden to Los Angeles and Los Angeles to New York and New York to UK and has just landed at Heathrow! If the UK mail gets fully into gear, hopefully it should be with me by the New Year

Looks good. On to the next one, then

Bit of waiting time until the neck arrives. What Mike and I will be arranging while we are waiting is him taking profiles of his favourite playing neck. I do this for scratch-built necks as a matter of course but it is usually possible to do with bought necks too. All basses have their own feel, but what it seeks to do is to achieve a comforting familiarity of playing experience. I'll send Mike some proper instructions but it is a simple process. Basically, you protect the neck with sellotape or low-grip masking tape at the 1st, 7th and 12th fret positions, then use a simple carpenters profile gauge (which will be in the post to Mike this afternoon ) to take the shape at the three points and the depth of neck at the 1st and 12th: Each profile is transferred onto a piece of A4 paper: And then Mike just sends me the piece of paper: I then check the depth of the neck and then cut a profile template and get the scrapers out and tweak the shape to match: Right. Better get the profile gauge in the post!

Actually, the neck I've ordered does already have side dots - on both sides! So when you do that stuff, Mike, that we all enjoy at the bash where you wrap the bass round the back of your neck and keep playing, you'll even be able to see them then Actually, that's a good reminder. Don't forget to invite the chiropractor this time...it did take an awfully long time to extricate the bass last time...

By the way, if ever you did want to put a pickup in it, I can thoroughly recommend the K&K Pure Mini. It is passive and has no controls. Just three small disc tranducers that fix directly on the bridge plate inside the body. Only mod to the bass is drilling a hole for the jack. It is not overly expensive, is simple, and returns one of the most natural acoustic sounds on the market.

The similar one on Amazon shows electrics (4th picture): https://www.amazon.co.uk/APC-BG300-MX-CW-Guitar/dp/B00KIIPXT2 They make some interesting instruments of all sorts and a number of models have closed tops, but all the ones like that I've seen also have a preamp block next to the player soundhole. Looks nicely made, @Elfrasho. Let us know how you get on with it in the mix

Not saying you can't have dots too...but, like in an M&S ad, they will not be any old (Eden) dots - these will be Andyjr1515 dots

Yes. I've gone for one with no top dots so a couple of swifts at the 12th?

A cancelled visit has given me a few hours I wasn't expecting so I've been sanding! To be honest, not bad at all. Ibanez's are the worst - the last layer is like armour plate! But this cleaned up relatively easily. A little more to do to get rid of dinks and dints, but this is looking pretty good: I had assumed that I might have to veneer or cap the top but - even though this is a 3-piece body, the grain matches so well I don't know that you'd tell it from a one-piece, especially once the scratch plate is on it. This afternoon's job is more web searching. I'm going to put a cut-away plate on it if I can find one (and take more of the corner off than this example) to aid the upper-fret access: I'll also look at how large sheets of ebony stretch to - Mike wants an ebony scratchplate if that's possible. I'm not sure that Ebony sheet gets to that size but have a few ideas up my sleeve if not I'll probably wait until the neck arrives, but I also have a cunning plan about what to do with the cutaways that the original Rascal bridge needed and which will probably show in front of the bridge that Mike's sent to me or any other suitable design. It's good to be back in the dark cold cellar again!

I'm pretty sure it isn't the same Eden but, as you say, the online feedback is generally reasonable. I'll know within 5 minutes of receiving it whether or not I can use it so no great shakes. It will be useful if it is OK because I am asked quite often about short scale builds and custom built necks do add a significant cost hit, which often knocks the project out of the running.

There are many very nice features in this build. Some great stuff going on here.