Andyjr1515

What pickups are you going for?

Hmmm....tricky one. Normally, I favour black hardware. But I keep looking back to your first photo and, well, that chrome does add a crispness to the look. I'm really not sure. I bet that helps a LOT!

Looking good. I've considered that approach for fully hidden through neck in the past - but decided that it was WAY beyond my skill set.... I raise my glass to you, sir

And who can ever resist a quick mock-up

And with the final red spirit stain added. A touch of a deeper colour but definitely in the right spectrum:

So onto the neck staining proper. Not finished but getting there. After sanding and sanding and sanding, there's only one way of knowing whether you've cut down not only the varnish, but also full through the whatever-it-is-they-pre-coat-that-sands-like-wood-but-isn't. And that is to put some stain on. In that my bottom coat will be the red calligraphy ink, that's what I used to check it out. Anything not wood will reject the stain: So back to all the similar patches with more sanding until the stain was able to soak in pretty evenly: Then the purple on top. This is the one that is probably less colour fast, so when it's dry, it will have a red colour-fast spirit stain on top. But even with just the two colours so far, it's beginning to get there: The final red coat will take a bit of the purple out of it and even the colour a little In the meantime, the body finish is getting close. So later this afternoon the final stain coat on the neck and then we are starting to get close to the finishing stages.

I think the clue is in what you say at the beginning - that a few of you had problems. I would say almost certainly it's an issue with the venue. Flourescent lights, dimmer switches and circuits, some pub pumping systems...there are some places that are almost impossible to dehum.

Superb!

Yes - the rosewood fingerboard will tone it down a touch

The body has had its second coat of finishing and is drying. In the meantime, most of the varnish is off the neck. @fleabag wants the neck and headstock to match, as close as practicable, the purpleheart. A number of you know that I generally use inks for staining but some of the purple inks have a less secure colour fastness. Red calligraphy ink, on the other hand is pretty secure - think Lindisfarne Gospels - as are Chestnut spirit stains. So I reckon one part purple and two parts calligraphy red, overlaid once dry with Chestnut red spirit stain should do nicely. It's certainly the right colour!

I go for 10 degrees with a volute and no scarf joint. Never had a break yet and that includes one that has been shipped 14000 miles on 6 flights plus countless courier van trips!

Yes - I agree with @Grangur. If you are losing the whole signal: It's usually the lead If it still does it with a new lead, then it's usually the jack socket. If the jack socket is clean, is making good contact, holds the jack firmly with no loss of spring, then it's usually a short or a solder joint / connector joint or connecting wire just about to break at the joint If the pickups have been working well in the past, it is very, very rarely the pickups ( unless they are very old and are from a Hofner violin bass ) If you go down in that order, you should be able to sort it quite quickly.

I like that decal! Very slick. The colour looks good. From the photos it looks a deep blue grey but difficult to be completely sure because it's so pleasingly shiny

Yes - for my choice, I would always go for angled. The Fender-type of scallops add too many compromises and are actually quite difficult to pull off successively.

If I get something wrong with the neck angles and so on, it may have to be kept in a glass case because it CAN never be played

Well, the acoustic's fixed but it's a bit late to start stripping the neck. But never too late for a quick mock-up:

What - you mean the 'traditionally purple bass neck' ?

And - at last - the first coat of the proper finishing: Still might do a bit more carving on the 'nose' - I think a modest concave might work better than the present convex? The great thing about the Osmo is that you can do those kinds of things even while the rest of the body is having the coats fully curing. I'm using the Osmo Polyx 3044 RAW. It is designed to specifically minimise the darkening and 'yellowing' of lighter woods that most other finishes result in which, for this particular walnut, enhances it rather than it going too brown. It's the same finish I put on @TheGreek 's Psilos bass where I wanted to keep the white poplar white: This was the Psilos with tru-oil. I think you can see the orangey yellow tint. I love tru-oil - and the tru-oil tends to bring out the figuring more - but this particular Osmo formula is sometimes better for those lighter woods. It all depends on the woods and the design: Next job is a quick rescue of our band's vocalists acoustic I made him for his 70th (yes - it's an old-man's band!) that was knocked over recently and squashed the zero fret a touch: And then - probably over the weekend - it's sanding down the neck and out with the inks to try to match the purpleheart. Haven't had the inks out for a LONG time

Shuker basses are stupendous. You will be very happy with it.

Well I can assure you SHE wouldn't say that!

Here's the oak back of the 6-string electric I did. Personally, I reckon this gives, for example, Ash more than a run for its money in terms of figuring. Total playing weight 5 1/4 lbs and acoustically rings like a bell

@fleabag 's idea for the control chamber is to duplicate the purpleheart theme and mount the controls from the top on a purpleheart plate, similarly shaped to the pickup cover. It should look pretty good once the top is the right colour and finish. The controls are going to be straight-lined with jack on the top: ...sitting in a chamber below: ...under a cover which, once it's had its finish applied, will be the same colour as the pickup cover: Canon DSLR's struggle with reds and purples. The actual colour of the pickup cover is closer to the top photo than this. Still got to do the final filing and sanding of the lower cutaway, and maybe a bit more off the nose transition, but this is how the back is starting to look: ...and then later this afternoon I'll be sanding it all down to start applying the proper finish so I can then start turning my attention to stripping and staining the neck

Just watched your video, @Marcoelwray and quite agree with you. I find it a pleasant wood to work with and adds a bit of gravitas to the instrument with its rigidity. One of my lightest...correction, my LIGHTEST lightweight electric guitar has an Oak back. And it sounds great. I think Ben of Crimson does some good stuff, but he does sometimes tend towards stating personal opinions as established facts.

^ this

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure - @fleabag ordered it directly from Aaron Armstrong and I just had to send the cover. @fleabag ?