Andyjr1515

Good tip @ped. Certainly a lot cheaper than a set of nut files !

I lacquer first. For wipe-on finishes you tend to get a bow-wave effect as you go over the hole. For spray, you tend to get pooling around the hole. As @Christine says, a decent bradpoint drill will cut cleanly through the lacquer. Twist drills can be a bit more problematic. In both cases, centre-punching before drilling the hole helps enormously. Hope this helps.

Only just spotted this. Wow! Great place to go, though Having travelled extensively in my previous job, Italy would be high on my list, given free reign... Trust you will carry on with your immaculate builds

The easiest and cheapest way is to: Take a piece of paper, cut a hole (school set compass and a razor blade or modelling knife) the size of the main tuner bush. Pop it over one of the tuners and press on the two pins to make an impression. Take a piece of scrap 1/8" wood or ply, around 1" x 0.5" big and scribe the tuner bush circle on that too Line up the paper bush hole over the circle you've just drawn and use a pin or sharp nail to press through to the wood the two centres of the pins. Drill holes in the wood of the tuner bush diameter and the two pins diameter Check the fit of the three holes over a tuner If not OK, make another one, adjusting the pin centres as appropriate. But assuming it fits, pop the tuner bush drill through the headstock hole and slide your newly made template over it. Drill your two pin holes in the headstock. Time to make...say, 30 mins. Cost, zero. A photo would have helped but I'm typing this on a train. Hopefully it makes sense.

I suppose it's down to the myriad of things that can affect a finish, but it is a bit of a mystery why some go swimmingly well - and some just flippin' won't!

That's certainly looking really good from here

What I did have to chuckle at was that, after 7 or 8 examples of 'This isn't JUST a custom neck.... this is an M&S custom neck' they the ended with, paraphrased, 'or you can have all-maple which we use for most of our instruments'.

It is! I have also the glass-reinforced tape that is often used for binding and you can break the wood quicker than snap the tape! However, on this particular job the spruce top wood is so soft grained that it is too easy for the fairly rigorous sticky on that tape to bring the top surface of the wood with it when trying to remove it. I find the 3M masking tape much safer.

It's when you build the next one, you remember the things you meant to do after the last one. "I must buy or make some more spool clamps" I NOW remember saying and remembered at the all-important dry-run (there are things you don't want to be messing around with - such as setting the clamp heights - when the glue is on and drying!) But it is quite close fitting so, rather than wait a few days for extras to arrive, I reverted to my previous compromise of using tape to keep the pressure on the in-between bits. Based on the additional squeeze-out, it's probably OK.

That is flippin' gorgeous!

If the strap button is in line with somewhere in the12th - 13th fret area, there probably won't be a problem. Also there are more lightweight tuners on the market nowadays. To be honest, it is a secondary issue if a bass is just too darned heavy to play comfortably. As a matter of fact, how heavy is it?

Yes to both questions is the simple answer. Ref the headstock, then yes, wood can be added back - all the structural stuff must presumably be there (otherwise it would have fallen apart already) so it is more about the practical challenges. It would involve thicknessing a suitable piece of wood, creating a clean and matching join, without affecting anything structurally important and then hiding or flaunting the visuals. And yes - there are a number of ways of taking weight out of a body: As @bazzbass says, you can remove material under pickguards if they are fitted You can create a false control chamber at the back You can reshape the body If the pickups and hardware are not too deep, you can plane some thickness off the back - this can take a lot of weight out There are challenges for all the above and sometimes unexpected consequences (such as lightening the body then realising you bass has developed neck dive!) and the more you want to hide the evidence, the more of a challenge it is. But it can be done.

Final bit of tidying up before gluing the top on, but that's enough for one day. The top is basically ready to fit. The dark centre line, by the way, will disappear at the final sanding which won't be done until the back is on and the binding too.

Well, this is probably as far as I dare go: It will be a little while before I glue the top on so might have a further tweak but, as I said earlier, I don't really know how far to go - or where - so it's probably best leave it hereabouts. There is a great video here - the first 30 minutes is theory but skip to 31:29 and he demos tapping it at his starting point and then progressively as he mods the braces: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei5-DkVTrEE The slightly sobering thing is that I finish, soundwise, basically where he starts! But, I think this is probably pretty much where my previous build was when I halted further tweaking so, hopefully, it will sound the same when it's finished...which was, after all, the purpose of the exercise. The only bit that completely escapes me (and did on the last build) is the flex on the bass side he talks about. I've seen other folks wobble it like an Australian whatever-it's-called showing how flexible it is. I do the same thing and it's as stiff as the proverbial board! Anyway, I'll pick it up in an hour or so and give a tap and, if it's as good as I'm going to get it, then get on with the exiting bit - gluing the top to the sides

Usually when things happen to me that are 'mostly invisible' I have learnt to leave them alone. Mostly invisible to you means definitely invisible to most people....

That is indeed a splendid finish

And most of the rest of the braces are on:

And most of the rest:

And out comes the Go-bar rig again, but this time with the 25 foot radius dish. Lots of careful marking out of the bracing positions and then the all-important X-braces are glued in place first, with the radiused bottoms pressing the top into its spherical shape: It maybe one of those urban myths, but that little hardwood stiffener across the X brace joint is said to make a significant difference to the tone... There's a clip somewhere with a demo of without one and then with one subsequently fitted which is fascinating. I'll try and find it.

Looks normal to me. The amplitude of the vibration of the lower strings is much greater than the higher strings and so the nut slots need to be proportionately higher to prevent buzzing on the first fret when playing on the open strings.

Interesting external copper strip connecting the bridge and cavity.

Very classy

Normal stuff with installing the swift - jewellers saw: Dremel with precision router base: Epoxy mixed with wood dust: The slightly ragged edges and black dots round the purfling will disappear with the final sanding, but this is broadly what it will look like:

Back to the acoustic. The purfling round the rosette is done. I will be inlaying a swift into the rosette over the next few days - this is just a paper template - and also scraping and sanding the purfling flush. Went a bit mad on the purfling this time

Yup - global warming... (actually, not so far off the truth - I reckon this year the number of swifts is 2/3rds lower than pretty much every of the past 35 years. Bit of a concern...) In terms of the one swift, I've replicated what Tom had on a couple of Ibanez's I did some work on a few years ago. Just picked up another one for the same treatment so, fear not, there will be plenty of swifts around at his place By the way, @TheGreek - recognise the headstock veneer?