Andyjr1515

And that looks even specialer!

That looks special.

OK. I'm feeling very pleased with myself, surprised and, well, maybe just a little bit smug? Having done my pondering, I came to the conclusion that a hardwood biscuit at the heel was, from a strength of the neck joint point of view, the most effective way of preventing the front edge of the neck lifting or distorting from the neck pocket. But, looking at every tool I had, I couldn't think for my life how on earth I could cut a 3mm slot, accurately following the angle cut into the neck joint, and in EXACTLY the same position on both sides. In fact, I couldn't see - because of the 50mm tenon on the neck, how I could cut a slot at all!! Now, those who have a Dremel. You know that flexi-drive they give you with the Dremel kit that you think, 'wow, that's cool' then NEVER use... ...well, if you take a scalpel and a bl**dy great big file to it you get this! : Ok - it's not pretty, but it's actually flat. So...if you lie that on the angled face of the neck tenon, and move it from side to side while routing into the heel, you can get this: And that slot - about 10mm deep - parallel to the tenon face which has the neck angle routed into it. So if you push a length of 3mm ebony into it: ...and then say a little prayer, then it should be parallel to the angled face: Which surprised and delighted me in equal measure So then, if you clamp the flat face of the Dremel now onto the workbench: ...and then put the body flat on the workbench, and adjust the height by putting a couple of sheets of veneer and a sheet of cartridge paper to get the height exactly right, then offer the body up to the Dremel, you can cut another slot like this: Then, saying another little prayer, slide the neck tenon into the neck pocket and get a joint like THIS!!! And that was straight off - dry fit and no fettling. Before I drill the holes for the machine screws, I'll close the vertical joint nice and tight with a bit of judicious sanding - but even that is easier now there's the tab holding it in the correct position in the other plane. The shock of this working has left me so exhausted I'm going for a 36 hour lie down - but now I know what I'll be doing at the weekend

OK... ...well maybe just a nibble. Never seen a cutaway with teethmarks? Trust me, they'll all want one before long...

The slurry and buffing later in the finish process will enhance the figuring but yes, it is essentially a tight-grained richly coloured wood. When I put the coats on, which is closer to how it will look at the end of the process, it looks good enough to eat

You all know what they say in guitar building circles: "If you haven't got anything else to say, then just do a quick mock-up" Here it is in better light. Once the tru-oil finish has been done properly, the surface will be silky smooth satin but the colour tones will be pretty close to this. In real life the red hue comes out a touch more (Canon CCDs are notoriously poor for accurate red shades) but it's starting to look like a bass: Today is all about the neck joint. I'm going for stainless steel allen-head machine-screws and inserts with set-in ferrules rather than the plate shown in this shot here. I'm going to plug and re-drill all the existing holes first so that they are an accurate 4mm dia. I have some machined ferrules - slimmer than the 'normal' ones - on their way from Kay's Fasteners and I MIGHT add a couple more, angled inset from the front two in order to prevent any movement resulting from the string pull. It I was clever enough and skilled enough, I would put a hardwood biscuit joint in the heel area - but I don't think I am Once I've got the joint sorted, I can start carving the neck and heel transition. This is definitely one of the 'measure 14 times, drill once' days...

Fabulous job

Those of you who follow my builds know that I give the wood a coat of slurried tru-oil quite early in the process. This because it needs a 'soak in' coat anyway and I find it easier to spot if there are any lumps and bumps in the carve or sanding scratches. These shots were taken in rapidly losing light but probably give a reasonable representation of what the final colour tones and overall look will be:

That finish looks just as you describe it - LUSH. Great job and excellent detailed run through. There's a few tips in there I'll certainly be trying on my next finish job

No - it's going to be oiled

Started to knock the sharp corners off to match the vibe of the original carve. The light is starting to go but made a decent start with spokeshave and cabinet scrapers:

Going to continue with the body carve on this to get those edges properly rounded. I always find it helpful to see exactly where the fretboard is going to lie so I planed it to finished taper first and then band-saw cut the plan-view shape of the neck to the same taper. Or, in other words, any excuse for a mock-up Always plenty of room for me to completely f**k it up, but it's looking nice so far The carbon rods are on order, as are the set screws and inserts for the neck fixing and the luminlay for the side markers, so - other than popping the wings on for the headstock - will set the neck aside for a few days until those have arrived and so will concentrate on the body shaping.

OK - we have a securely and tightly fitted top, the back overlap has been trimmed and the carve has started Here it is rough-carved. Quite a bit more bulk to come off it to get a smooth curve that roughly matches the back but it's a start: You wouldn't think that the walnut demarcation is just 0.6mm thick! This is what I first saw on Jez's ( @Jabba_the_gut ) lovely builds at one of the bassbashes. Up to then I was generally using thicker 2mm constructional veneers, but to just add that look of completeness the standard veneers work great! This will shift a little bit onto the back burner while I finish the carve (I find it best to do a bit, walk away, come back, re-assess and do a bit more) and make some more progress on @eude 's beauty

I think it depends on how stable the temperatures are and how much is left in the bottle. Older opened product is definitely stiffer than out of a new bottle - which can catch you out if you are trying to spread it on a large area.

Yes - push-pull pots are particularly deep. You could always use micro-switches, but the blend is more of a challenge...

To be honest, I've never heard anyone knock titebond, other than it has a finite shelf life, especially once opened. I would be surprised if its not the product by most used by guitar builders. Needs to be the original one, though...some of the variants aren't as suitable.

Unless it's a particularly oily wood (such as cocobolo), I use titebond. For very oily woods I use Z-poxy

Anyway, quickly before the tone of the whole thread deteriorates rapidly, all checked and 'you can never have too many clamps when you are gluing a top on'

Could have been worse. If I'd invented it rather than nicked it, I suppose it would be an AR'sole… or is that me for nicking it

Getting quite close to being able to close the top on this. I've cut the cable routes to the control chamber and lined the main void with veneer: The reason for the latter is that the chamber is actually quite shallow, because the back is so heavily carved, and the dark veneer gives the illusion of a much more substantial void through the 'f'hole :

@TheGreek 's Psilos bass had custom coils made by Martin Herrick that Mick arranged. There are some installation shots on the front page of their website https://www.herrickpickups.com/ I seem to remember they weren't much more expensive than standard pickups and work absolutely great. Certainly worth dropping Martin a mail....

And one lined fretboard

Nice carve

One of the things that @eude and I have been discussing is the colour of the fretline markers. We've gone for redwood veneer which should compliment nicely with the top. Here is a sample I did on our cherry cupboard at home, which will be a similar colour tone to the finished katalox: Should look pretty classy. I'm aiming to have all the fretlines installed tomorrow.

Before the top can be put on, the weight relief and control chambers and also the cable run slots have to be carved. I have a bit of tidying up to do and also the cable run slots but the bulk is done using forstner bits to hog out and then a bearing guided router to deepen the chambers: The chamber gets progressively deeper the closer it is to the edge - always having to remember that the back has that significant carve! Before closing up with gluing the top, the cable runs will be cut, a bit of chambering of the top and the main chamber here will be dark veneer lined to make it look deeper than it actually is when viewed through the 'f' hole.