Andyjr1515

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 ?

Life getting in the way of the important stuff again. Next couple of days should see a bit more progress, though. And things have moved on to an extent: The pickup cover has arrived back from Armstrong's complete with pickup! Lovely job This is what I sent to Aaron: And this is what he sent me back: The body will end up lighter than this - this is just the sealing coats I'm currently using to fill voids and fissues (eg the centres of the 'whirlpools') and to show up any missed chisel marks, etc.. I use tru-oil for this bit...but that will be then sanded off and the final finishing will use the RAW version of Osmo oil that keeps the walnut a touch lighter. Tru-oil is great for slurrying and preparing the surface but does add a tint to certain woods, which is why often I use a different product for the final finishing. Nevertheless, the shot shows how the pickup will sit: The eventual colour of the walnut should be pretty close to @scrumpymike 's Rascal. I think that will contrast beautifully with the purpleheart:

Noooooooooooooooooooooo! Make another neck! Make another neck! Make another neck! Prrrrrrretty pleeeeeeeeaaaaassssseeee!

Excellent! Well done

Super job

Don't worry - I haven't gone to ground I've been finalising the body carve - just got one cutaway still to do. When I'm at this stage, I usually do a quick coat of oil - it shows up better the bits I've missed, it starts to fill the voids and I also need to see what colour the purpleheart is going to end up (for reasons explained below) . But also it always looks like sh**e at this stage so I tend not to post photos until I've started applying the finish proper. In the meantime, I'll shortly be starting on the neck. Yes - that's going to be stained. Look at the paragraph above and you may be able to guess what colour...

Oh, my goodness...

I like the colour very much. Nicely done

Watching with interest

If it was me, I would (have in the past) get some standard 0.6mm veneer and cut some strips, just short of the depth of the holes and about 1/3 of the diameter of the stud. I would then, one strip at a time, pop a couple of drops of super glue on the back, pop it in the hole and press it against the sides with something suitably round (biro case of similar). Doesn't need to be an exact fit - the glue is really just to hold it in place. Then pop the next one in opposite so you should have a lining to the holes round 2/3 of the circumference. That gives you a 1.2mm tighter fit which should be more than plenty. Then hammer the stud back in. If you need some suitably bendy veneer (some types bend better than others) just pm me your address and I'll send you a few strips in the post.

Always a bit of relief when all the machine screws match up with the threaded inserts!