Andyjr1515

I think I'm down to do a talk on the progress towards building lightweight guitars and basses and their respective trials, tribulations, considerations and results. What do you reckon - 20 minutes plus questions? All being well, I will have 2 or 3 examples with me and I think @Len_derby is bringing his Swift Lite along too. Raffle sounds good...I'll have a scout if there's anything I can contribute if everyone else can too Cakewise, not sure our former cake-making wonders are able to come this time round so maybe, those folks who can, bring along some biscuits / bought cakes / buns, etc to stave off the hunger pangs?

I think it's a great project, Marco. I look forwards to seeing the result. It will look stunning with the Thuya...

I don't use templates, Marco, so unfortunately can't help on this one. However - a word of caution. Do bear in mind that there is no consistency whatsoever across the makers of J pickups on the sizes and lug positions - there are even multiple sizes and shapes within the Fender ranges! And for many makers - especially Fender - there are often no dimensions or drawings available on their specs For a J nowadays, I never do ANYTHING with J chambers until I have the pickup in my hand! I then use the actual casing to make my template or - more often - trace round it on the body wood and then Forstner and chisel the initial chamber before using a bearing flush bit in the router to achieve the final depth and flat bottom.

You've definitely got the building bug, Andy! Welcome to the club

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you....

Some woods are quite toxic - but no...my issue was how difficult it is to work with rather than what it did to me. It is VERY oily so: - try to sand it - however coarse the sandpaper - and the paper immediately clogs and you just can't unclog it. It took me two days and a lot of sheets of sandpaper to sand a single fretboard (which looked wonderful when it was finished, mind you) - try to glue it, even after de-oiling with acetone, and it won't glue. It's the only fretboard I've ever had to use epoxy for...

And before you ask - the answer is NO! One close shave with one's nemesis is quite enough for one year!

Much, much worse... ...oh, gosh, much, much, much, much worse

It is lovely...if you are an owner or a player. It is also, by a hefty margin, the least favourite of any of the woods I've ever used as a builder. Major kudos to ACG for building a whole body top in the pesky stuff. Back to the original thread, @eude , that looks a fabulous build...

It's why there's such a fuss about so many people putting unseasoned wood in their woodburning stoves...

@TheGreek's Psilos bass was English Sycamore, Jez Beautiful wood. The Osmo 3044 RAW keeps the whiteness...

The rule of thumb I use for balance on the strap is for the strap button to be in line with the 13th fret or lower. This at the moment is sitting at around 16th? I think neck dive might be an issue however heavy the bridge is. As such, I would also bring the bridge further back. You could always deepen the lower horn cutaway so you don't lose access to the upper frets?

I'm a great fan of Harley Bentons - and I build custom basses! They do tend to be heavy, but generally very well made and good performers.

There are two companies that have very similar web names. The specific one I tend to use is exotichardwoodsukltd.com David Dyke is also a reliable supplier. Not sure if either of them stock holly but worth a peep on their respective websites.

Yes - I mentioned that to Peter. We talked about the nice fret job too.

Look familiar, @fleabag ? It's gone to a good home already

Only just got back from the fabulous SW Basschat Bash but wow - what a review I'll post the clip tomorrow if I can work out how to get the blighter OFF the aforesaid oldish iphone. And many thanks, once more, to @fleabag for such an interesting project And hope today's non-bass related challenges went OK, Pete!

Having read the question, I was going to do a detailed answer, but this ^ is much clearer than my usual ramblings and spot on.

Another Lindy Fralin fan here

Looks fab. Bagsy the table next to yours so I can bask in the reflected glory! I'll bring my pac-a-mac to fend off all the slobber that will be flying around!

You can, of course, always colour stain the natural wood so maybe get the best of both worlds. I rarely use solid paints but quite often stain. I personally tend to use inks (although you have to be a bit choosy on which colours as some will fade) and you can achieve quite bright colours even on dark woods. This is more the normal stuff I do: Red calligraphy ink Mixture of blues and turquoise fountain pen inks: And then there's the cor blimey @TheGreek 's Alembicesque save. Again, pen ink The inks soak into the grain lines more and so naturally darken to enhance the grain pattern.

Very neat in that chamber!

He's got them

OK - all bagged up and ready to go: One final job before I did that was to pop some spare strings on to do an initial setup so that @fleabag has at least a head start. So that means MORE PHOTOS! Forgive the self-indulgence:

Yes - it might be