Andyjr1515

And the last word on this before we go back to the most important thing - that is: me! ME! MEEEEEEE!!!! Yes - happily everyone has different tastes and that's absolutely fine. For example, I personally cannot see at all the aesthetic appeal of a standard, painted Fender Telecaster. Happily for Fender, tens, if not hundreds, of millions of folks around the world strongly disagree with me. The most important thing to me - actually, as @eude rightly says, the only really important thing - is that he, the original builder and owner, loves it The next important thing to me, personally, is that I love it too. And I do. I love the history of it - a dream of twenty years ago that was dashed. If I can be part of fulfilling that dream, then I will be utterly delighted. I love the katalox. I had never heard of katalox before and it is a bit of a revelation. The photos to it no justice at all - Canon DSLR's are notoriously bad at reproducing accurate reds. It's got a natural oxblood hue to it and that redness contrasts beautifully with the ash. In real life, it looks really, really classy. Bit of a pig to work with, mind you... I love the scale length. @eude had said to me that the 31.5" would make it feel totally different and it does. I love the original carve. I suppose I have the normal paranoia of a builder and modifier whether the changes I make detract rather than enhance. The original carve was VERY tactile. A bit like those wooden comfort stones you can buy. Albeit the body wood alone weighed only a touch less than @Len_derby 's fully finished full scale bass! So, to summarise: I love @Marcoelwray 's builds I love this build Most of all, I love ME 😍 So I'm going back to concentrating on THAT

First finish coat. Well, I think that looks pretty classy already I'm still amazed what a difference 0.6mm of veneer makes...

Phew! I added the demarcation fillet to the neck joint and sorted the pickup pocket to double check it didn't need lowering and also to cut the clearance grooves for the pickup cables. Just about to start the final finishing processes on the body

Managed to knock off 3 of the remaining 14 jobs on this, including installing some blue luminlays: Assuming I remembered correctly, @eude wanted the dots on the fretlines rather than between. Assuming I didn't remember correctly, it makes no difference... @eude is getting the dots on the fretlines Probably going to start the final sanding and finishing pretty soon, then that can be hardening off while I finish the other bits and pieces.

Still got the final shaping to finish, but grabbed a spare moment to do a few of the smaller jobs. I cut some swifts: Cut the control chamber cover from another offcut of the top wood: And fitted the tuners and bridge to pop on some strings, just tightened enough to straighten them, so that I can work out the exact positions of the PJ pickups before the scary bit of cutting the chambers: I will be sinking the bridge in so that the plate is flush with the top as I did with @Len_derby 's - but that and the pickup routs will wait a day or so while I make a bit more progress on @eude 's 6-er

Lovely!

That's very disappointing... We've all been there and know just how disappointing that feels. But you will get there, trust me.

Many congratulations for being awarded No Treble's "Bass of the Week" !!!! Just spotted it. Very well deserved.

No problem. Ref your options, if it is a modern 2 way trussrod (which I'm pretty sure it is) there isn't a removable nut like on a Gibson / Fender so the option of adding a washer probably isn't one you can consider. When you tried to adjust the trussrod further, did you loosen the strings and add some medium pressure to aid the backbow as you adjusted?

Did you try turning the trussrod nut the other way?

I read somewhere that the Maruszczyk truss rods turn the 'wrong way round'. That is, looking from the heel towards the nut, turning the allen wrench to the left (ie anticlockwise) tightens it. Does the nut turn in either direction? If it turns anticlockwise, try that. For those who wonder why that may be - a standard modern 2-way trussrod has two rods - one above the other. Normally, the rod with the nut sits at the bottom. This is so - on a neck with headstock adjustment access - the nut is still hidden with the downward angle of the headstock. But, you can fit the truss rod in the other way round so that the adjusting nut is at the top. This can be useful in a heel adjustment because the nut sits higher and gives easier access for the wrench. However, if you turn the rod upside down, the rod is now bending the 'wrong' way and the nut needs to be turned in the opposite direction to have the desired effect. Easier to illustrate with a photo, but I'm away from my desktop at the moment. Anyway, @benjo - try turning it the other way unless you are already doing that

Excellent - another @Jimothey build!

Yes - it's much higher than the standard fixing screws. The i.d. of the standard fixing screw is 3mm and is usually - I think - mild steel, the i.d. of a stainless m4 machine screw is 3.24mm and is, of course, stainless giving 16% greater area over a much stronger steel. The o.d. of the inserts is 9mm, against the standard fixing screws at around 4mm. Wal are the only commercial basses I've personally worked on that fit machine screws and I'm pretty certain they are m4 too. The thing that staggered me was once seeing the tubular fuselage of an Auster light aeroplane. Welded on were 4 small brackets with the holes for the 4 machine screws holding the engine on. Now, admittedly, that will have been aircraft grade stainless, but they were tiny. I reckon 6mm tops - maybe even 5mm.

Well, I've got a few days of grandparent duties coming up but I'm pleased to say - other than a tweak still to do on the volute - the basic neck carve, I reckon, is there or thereabouts and we are now entering the 'sanding, finishing and assembling' stage: The back cover and body will be the same shade as the headstock once the finish has been put on and the body will darken a touch. The neck will probably remain this sort of colour. And I say 'the basic neck carve, I reckon, is there' because I've actually never ever played a 6 string bass - and I'm building this for a guy who has...and lots. So what we ACTUALLY have is, 'I've never played a 6 string bass but, if I did, I think this is what I'd like one to feel like' What could possibly go wrong

OK - still got to finish shaping the neck and the volute, but this is what the headstock is starting to look like. From a functional point of view, I'm MUCH happier with this: The final sanding will straighten up the right-hand walnut flash: Going to see if I can finish the neck carve this afternoon before the next stint of grandparenting!

What - more clamps??? The one remaining doubt I had with the softness of this particular mahogany was the ability to hold the tuners and their fixing screws during a lifetime of playing. I didn't want to slim down the volute for obvious reasons (by the way - this still has more carving to be done but will remain fit-for-purpose thickness-wise) but I did want to put a hardwood back plate on the back of the headstock. As such, using my last offcut of katalox and again lining it with ebony veneer, I carved the headstock a couple of mm to be able to drop a backplate in flush with the volute lead-out. I'm much happier with this functionally, but I think it will add a level visually. And please note, @TheGreek - I do sometimes take notice Once it's all sanded and finished, you will notice it hides the bit that bothers you a touch

The sellers ebay shop for the above specific ones is: http://www.ebaystores.co.uk/Falcon-Workshop-Supplies and they are in the 'furniture fixings' section

Can't find the specific supplier I got the inserts from last time but again there are loads on ebay. These are the same type I used: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/361452340339?_trksid=p11400.c100710.m5035&_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20170110123657%26meid%3Dc8d083d864ad40a394953f1879c992c4%26pid%3D100710%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26mehot%3Dpp%26sd%3D361452340339&ul_noapp=true

If these are the sort of things you are looking at @fleabag - or similar concept - : I got the M4 machine screws from GWR Fasteners who trade on ebay here: http://www.ebaystores.co.uk/GWR-Fasteners?_rdc=1 The threaded inserts were also from ebay (can't find the specific supplier I used). The only thing to look for is that they are hex-key inserted (the slot head insert ones are a disaster) and that the fins are nice and thin like these which cut through and secure neatly and securely.

Have a peep at my build for @Eude if that's the sort of things you're looking at. The screws are called either machine screws or set screws and I think the threaded inserts are called just that. I use m4 size for neck fixing. If I get a moment, I'll pop a link to the supplier I use.

Nice looking bass. I rate Squier highly and this looks a particularly good one.

That red looks good, @Christine Watching this with interest. I've always found spraying challenging...

Somehow missed this along the way! Nice design It's going to look great...

Nice job

I think the micro planes are brilliant. I use them more than anything else for general bulk removal and, using the fine bladed ones, even for pre-sanding level. I don't use a handle, though. I don gloves and generally use them two handed, sometimes straight with the length but often held crossways and drawn diagonally. The fine ones can flatten a bit and lose their effectiveness albeit after a decent amount of time, but the coarser ones seem to stay sharp for a long, long time I also use the curved ones more than the flat ones - even when I'm trying to flatten things. . I It's saying somrthing that if I had to choose between my shinto rasp and the micro planes, I'd choose the microplanes. Yes - the spokeshave is veritas. Not overly expensive but a beautiful and very effective tool