Andyjr1515

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!

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.