Andyjr1515

The next bit is even more scary. Taking off the neck jig, I now suspend the body over the cellar floor using only the jaws of the workmate protected by some bits of cork!!!!!! And then rout it!!!!!!!!! And to my great relief and surprise, it fits... ...and more surprising, it even fits in the right place (14th fret): Happy chappy...until, of course, I get to the next scary bit....

Next is one of the scary bits - routing the tenon on the neck and the corresponding mortice on the body. First, I needed to work out the neck angle. Clearly, there are very limited options for adjusting heights on acoustics, so this has to be pretty close before the final hand fettling. In broad terms, the angle is going to be the line from the body joint to the top of the bridge. The saddle will then lift the strings 2-3mm to give the requisite action height. I use an engineers protractor: My routing jig is a rough variation of the OBrien fancy rig, using an old Workmate and templates from G&W. The neck is positioned with some studs that fit in the trussrod slot on a hinged (very rough) plywood board: This board is held by the hinges on the workmate, and angled using a threaded bar/knob/ insert arrangement: The a shorty flush bearing bit, and I get this: The next bit is even more scary...

If it is affecting both pickups, and judging that those pickup to pole distances are certainly not completely out of order, then it is not likely that the pickups that are giving you the problem. Apols for the poor picture, but the circuit is probably this one: The Phat pot is the one at the far right before the jack. As you can see, all of the signals go through there on the way to the jack, so a failing battery would affect all of the tones all of the time (and a fully dead battery would mean no signal at all). So easiest first step is put a new battery in and see if it helps. If that doesn't help, then what I would personally do next would be to simply bypass the Phat pot. In simple terms, that means taking the earth coming from the tone pot direct to the earth tag on the output jack and taking the 'hot' coming from the volume pot direct to the tip tag of the output jack. In more detail, referring to the above diagram, I would: - take the battery out and desolder all the connections off the jack (the black from the battery and the black and yellow from the Phat) and off the Phat pot. - then solder the black that originally came from the Tone pot to the Phat, instead, direct to the earth tag of the output jack. - Then solder the 'hot' green that originally came from the volume pot to the Phat, instead, direct to the tip tag of the output jack. The ring tag on the output jack should now have nothing attached (Note the colours I refer to correspond to the diagram. The wires in yours maybe different colours but, whatever colours they have used, you should be able to follow the wires from and to the same places.) Hope this helps

The answer is yes, but before spending money on pickups, it is probably worth a bit more investigation on the issue. Have you got the same volume drop on both pickups? Have you changed the battery? The Phat EQ is always in circuit so the battery will affect it whether or not it is turned up. What are the distances of the G and E strings from their respective pickup tops? Getting the pickups to lift properly is an easy fix if they are too low. The next thing I would do, again a easy fix if you're OK with a soldering iron, would be to bypass the Phat pot altogether. If you can let us know ref the above questions, I'm sure we can guide you through to the easiest and cheapest fixes.

It is indeed The fretboard will be sanded a number of times with a 16" radius block, progressively down to 1500 grit or so. At that point it should shine without the need of anything on it. At the moment I'm still using 120 grit so it's fairly brutal (and ebony being ebony, pretty ineffective). Basically, the mother of pearl and epoxy will sand down way, way before the ebony does. And yes - you all knew I couldn't wait until the morning....

Matt is opting for a plain fretboard with just a couple of swifts at the 12th fret. As usual, I cut the MoP shapes out with a jewellers saw: Then pencil round them and rout out with a 1mm Dremel bit, using a precision router base: Then mix epoxy with some ebony sanding dust. In the morning this will be sanded flush and any gaps, etc, will be invisible

Oh, my... I designed and built this before the G&W one appeared on the market: ...and - though not faultless - was very pleased with it. And so was reluctant to take the fairly hefty outlay of the G&W one. But trust me - this is SOOOOOOOOOO much better! Quicker, more accurate, MUCH easier to centre everything. Less than 10 minutes got me this: Then no more than another 10 minutes with the sanding block to get to this: If I compare that with the two days it took last time I tried to sand ebony with a block only (AND that one came out skewwhiff after all that)... Very pleased with the investment - even including the cost of the rather pricey extra radii for future projects.

There's a very steep learning curve involved but, as the saying goes, if I can do it, anybody can do it

Yes - one of the few things that makes my blood boil. In my case, a different but equally well-known supplier - gave the misleading implication that they stock the products, but they only order from their own UK non-stocking supply chain partner for them to order from the States once they receive your paid order. 5 weeks later, after many phone calls and emails it arrives, States to handler, handler to well-known UK supplier, UK supplier to me. Had I known, I would have ordered direct and got it cheaper and in less than a week, including customs clearance. When I was in the supply industries, I'm sure there was a name for this type of business model. Oh yes, I remember now...."shoddy"

OK - so onto JIGS AND FIXTURES NEEDED BUT WHICH CAN EASILY BE MADE 1 Top and Back Radius Dishes Messy job, but relatively easily made with a couple of MDF or plywood boards, a router and a swan-neck scraper: Bit of schoolboy maths will allow calculation of the depths of the routed steps. Usually the back is dished to around 15 feet and the top to around 25 feet 2 Go-bar rig Easy to make with a couple of stout boards (I used chipboard but it's not really strong enough - 20mm ply would be better). 4 threaded rods, some nuts and wingnuts and you have the rig, then dowels or fibreglass rods to apply the pressure. I think I got the fibreglass rods from a kite parts supplier. 3 Mould Various ways of making these from solid wood sections to this lightweight 'does-the-job' version 4 Routing rig for tenon and mortice or dovetails I modded an old workmate and fitted it with some G&W templates 5 Jig for applying pressure to bridge wings when clamping I'm sure there's stuff I've forgotten. I'll highlight if I come across more in the build

Just a slight diversion. A few folks who are or have been considering building an acoustic bass or guitar have asked during this and previous builds what specialist tools and jigs are needed for such a task above and beyond those that most builders will already use. I would be delighted if other Basschat builders had a bash - whether bass or six-string - and it can be a bit daunting, particularly with so much expensive 'stuff' you see on sites such as Stewmac and LMI, so happy to feed back those things I've found pretty essential Well, as always, this is just my take based on the four acoustic builds to date of: - what you really need to buy (not much, but very difficult to get a successful outcome without) - what you really need, but can make (compared to a solid body, there are quite a few pretty essential jigs and fixtures involved with an acoustic) - what you could buy, but - with care - you can also cobble together reasonable DIY alternatives As always, there are a number of ways of doing things. Clearly, I can only show you pictures of the ways I do it but will, where possible, refer to the common alternative methods. ESSENTIALS BOUGHT, BEGGED OR BORROWED: 1 Bending Iron or Rig Yes - I made one for my first build, but that involved pointing a gas blow-torch through a metal tube straight towards my stomach. So, in the interests of safety... I now use an electric bending iron and hand bend: These are very expensive. There is an alternative. A hot silicone blanket and former arrangement (I think these are sometimes called Fox rigs?). These are large, one size and very, very expensive...and almost impossible to get hold of in UK 2 Bridge Clamp It has to reach in the sound-hole to the bridge and be shallow enough to fit inside the body. 3 Spool Clamps Clever people make these themselves. I buy them. 4 Some way of cutting a binding channel on a spheroidal back and top Various ways of doing this, from the cheap (but skilled) double scalpel tools, to this that I use: Not the easiest to use but relatively cheap. To the palm router rig that people like LMI sell. Good (although quite tricky to set up) but eye-wateringly expensive. 5 Dremel radius jig If you have a Dremel, you probably already have one of these. 6 Thickness calipers I'd love some dial gauge ones but they seem to be inordinately expensive. These are cheap but only JUST do the job (and not really well enough) Next post I'll outline some of the jigs and fixtures - most of which can be made.

This coming week should see a bit more progress. I have the fretboard radiusing blocks and stuff arriving today (Matt wants a 16" radius) and have recently received the pickup systems. I'll go over the pickup considerations in another post but there is a critical-path sequence of events that I have started preparing - especially as my sequence will be a bit unconventional. Basically, I will be routing and dry-fitting the mortice and tenon neck, so I can dry fit the bridge, so I can fit some of the electrics BEFORE I fit the back... The short term sequence will be: - thickness and radius the fretboard and - dry fit the bridge which then lets me - work out the neck angle (up/down and side/side) so I can then - rout the body heel block mortice and - rout, chisel and sand the neck tenon to be able to - dry fit with bolts and threaded inserts to be able to - confirm the fit which lets me - glue the fretboard to the neck and then - confirm the position of the bridge (not glued yet) to - fit the bridge plate mic and transducers to be able to then - glue the back and - rout the channels for the binding while also making a start on - profiling the neck to templates off Matt's favorite guitar This morning I've done one of those tasks I've shaped the underside of the ebony bridge. Remember - the top is not flat. It has a spherical radius of 25 feet. And so the bridge needs that too. First task was to approximate where the bridge is going to fit: I then used a variation of the 'engineers blue but using chalk' technique, using the scratches off a sheet of emery cloth (which has the flexibility and weight to settle into the 25 foot shape) when the bridge was sanded lightly up and down the body length a couple of cm, which showed me where to scrape (using a single-edged razor) until the scrapes on the bottom were even over the whole of the bridge. This was it getting close, with just a remaining low-point on the leading edge: Ref the radiusing of the fretboard, I've finally bitten the bullet and ordered a G&W jig. Concept is the same as my homemade one which has served me well - but I would have needed to make another carrier to accommodate the 16" radius and it was easier (and probably more accurate) to get a machined aluminium setup like the G&W one. This was my homemade rig - I'll take some shots of the G&W equivalent when it arrives:

That's a VERY neat job. Kudos!

Well, all I can say is that you are all sweetiepies You lot will make me blush... You are very kind @gelfin It was a great project to work on and I am delighted it's still going strong Oh....and I've still got the Strutter! CAN IT REALLY BE MORE THAN 2 YEARS!!!!! If you are still interested, PM me some dates we can meet halfway and it's yours

Done a couple of jobs on it. Had a week of family commitments, but also been trying to sort some decent electrics before I put the back on it. Just ordered the stuff. I'll update the thread shortly

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!