Andyjr1515

And the body carve starts. This will be a 'carve a bit, stand back, consider, carve a bit more' and will come together little by little. As a start off, @fleabag wants me to see if we can achieve a bevelled edge - a bit like an SG - so that's where I'm starting and see how it looks as the carve develops

Happily for @fleabag's health, this one would be the project AFTER his

Me too

This is interesting. I might have just the project for it!

OK - just to take everyone's mind off the f*****g headstock ( ), I knocked up a quick prototype of the pickup cover the Armstrong custom pickup is going to be built into: The real one will be all purpleheart. It took me a while to understand what Aaron Armstrong and @fleabag had in mind (I'm a bit dense at times) but basically, in the same way as a pickup is often expoxied or waxed into a metal of plastic housing, the pickup innards will be epoxied into this. There will be height adjusting screws in the two end pieces so it should act like a typical soapbar. What I am pleased with is that the purpleheart sliced readily down to 1.5mm for the top and sides and the box seems reassuringly rigid I'll make the final version over the next few days and get it over to Armstrong Pickups for them to build the pickup into it.

Yup - best without

More seriously, this is one of those make it up as I go along see how the flow at each stage points to the direction of the next stage In normal circumstances, the top would be the same size and then the carve or chamfer at the sides would cut into - or not - the middle lamination. In this case - at this stage, I have a top whose width is determined by the width of the walnut and a back pitched at the maximum width of a Fender Jazz / Precision so that we know it's going to fit in a standard bass case. Now I have it all lined up for the neck and the body, I can re-look at how best to do the cut-though of the layer cake and - in discussion with @fleabag - whether it will look best as a curve or chamfer. If you assume an SG-type chamfer, which is @fleabag 's preference, then I think the overlap for the back rear bout on the treble side is actually too wide and, if so, I will slim it down a touch - otherwise the chamfer would need to be far too shallow. That's what I like about these kinds of builds - they are a bit of an evolution of design.

Yes - me too

Last thing to do before gluing the top on is routing the cable channel between the pickup area and the control chamber And then it's a case of gluing the top on. CONFESS!! CONFESS YOU MOTELEY-MINDED NUT-HOOK! That's its punishment for not responding compliantly to the earlier stern talking-to...

Whose 5 string system have you gone for, Jez? Same one? I saw how pricey Steinberger systems are and wow...price of a small maisonette!

Anyway, I got bored with the discussion, so I've glued it back on. And in real life, it looks spot on So just wait until tomorrow when no doubt I'll mess something up, then everyone can talk about that instead

Well, I managed to knock some small nails through the string ball ends into the stump. Seems to be holding. Just got to find a way of tightening them at the other end. I've cut a few bits off the Schaller...haven't worked out what I'm going to put in their place, but I'm sure I'll think of something!

OK. Done

And to the second - and most important - neck socket carve. First, I had to line up the top and know that it wouldn't move around and that I would be able to replicate that position when I glued it finally to the back. I lined up everything from the top and from the back and put a couple of woodscrews in places that will be under the bridge and in the pickup chamber. I will use the same screws to stop the top sliding around on the wood glue when I come to glue it: This is broadly the shape: Started with chisels to hog it out: Then moved onto goose-neck scraper and files: And finally 'crept up on it' with sandpaper wrapped round a circular stick. I have to just do some fine-sanding so it sits fully seated and in place by itself, but it's pretty much there: And - admittedly to my surprise - it looks like the back stripe might even line up with the skunk stripe of the neck! Still a lot to do - but starting to look like a bass!

Been a more productive day than of late... Neck positioning checked, heel marked and cut out, ready for the 'wrap around' carve at the front: And to allay any fears @fleabag may have:

Oak is, of course, as heavy as lead and blunts tools like they are made of putty...but it's a wonderful, wonderful wood - and that is SUCH a nice example...

I decided that if the back wasn't going to respond to a stern talking to, it was likely to put two fingers up to a mere handplane. So I got the big router out. No more Mr Nice Guy! Last year I took the time building a simple router sled that I could use for things that were too wide for my thicknesser. So out it came: It doesn't matter about the back - a slight curve actually will enhance it - but I had to take the hump off the top. Took about 3mm off the peak to get the relevant area flat. While the rig was set up, I decided to flatten the joining face of the walnut too. This one was just a 0.25mm skim: And we are left with a good close fit which will now clamp properly and without internal stresses and strains. Even dry fit there's no gap: So next job is to rout the pickup to control chamber cable routing, and then dry fit - held in position with a couple of wood dowels in the bridge and pickup positions so that I can start the carve of the the neck access with the ability to take the top off to use scroll saws, etc. before I glue it and do post-glue the 'final fitting'. During the gluing of the top, the same dowels will be used to ensure the positioning is held. Andy

Yes - I made a bass neck from Ovangkol. Made me feel queasy...

OK - after spraying the underside of the back with water, to simulate and counteract what the glue will have tried to do when it was originally clamped, it has spent all night heavily clamped to a completely flat surface. This morning, took the clamps off and it sprung back to exactly the same radius as if nothing had happened. Clearly, it has been influenced by the modern approach of 'I am what I am! This is my shape and I'm proud of it!' So I'll be flattening it off with a Stanley plane.

Oh...and it smells like poo. 'Better in than out', to amend an oft heard phrase in lifts and aircraft cabins.

Thanks! And I know what you mean - but I'm actually not convinced it is a great wood for a top. Purpleheart is one of the set of species whose colours naturally alter with time, exposure to uv light, exposure to air, etc.. The process is admittedly slow, but is almost always accelerated with full exposure to daylight. In the case of purpleheart, the purple tends to deepen over time, but will eventually start moving towards dark brown. For what will become a feature stripe, that process is very slow and would not be a noticeable problem. Ditto the plates - because they are contrasting to the top, they will always show the purple tinge, even if that is less intense over the years. But a full top...hmm, not so sure. Wonder if anyone here has a purpleheart-topped bass or guitar to prove me wrong

Well vicious clamping is what's going on at the moment. I've given it a stern talking to as well

A slight delay for a good reason I'll come back to... But the next step on the task list was to check that my calcs of top thickness and bridge height and neck angle were right. Simulating the scale-length position of the bridge on an offcut of the walnut, I positioned the neck in its pocket and put a straight edge across between the nut and the saddles: That bit was spot on. The slight delay? Well, in spite of the back sapele /purpleheart having been glued clamped on the flat until fully dry, and kept is a cool dry cellar ever since...it's developed a curve. A curve that, had I been planning a Swift-lite like scooped back, I would have been quite proud of! I've clamped it again but now need to leave it a day or two to see where it's going to settle. The curve at the back is fine but it leaves a hump at the top - which would need to be flattened before I glued the walnut. And I don't want to do that if it's then going to return to its original shape!. Still, it won't stop me from starting to chamber the back and routing the cable routes, etc so shouldn't delay anything.

Fascinating! I really had no idea that Padauk did this. I look forward to seeing your further trials, especially ref 'fixing' either the grey or the orange, use of uv light, etc..