Andyjr1515

First of all for the others reading, @honza992 , let me tell them I've seen this in the flesh - and confirm it's absolutely top dollar. The attention to detail is inspirational. I don't even like telecasters and yet I'd be completely made up if I owned this beauty! : Then back to your question I think @Christine sums it up well. Chambered guitars - even semi-acoustics like the ES335 - are fundamentally electric guitars whose sound comes from the pickups. While the tone changes to an extent (every 335 type I've come across has a darker tone than, say, a Les Paul, even with the same pickups) they nevertheless will never sound full and balanced because the harmonics and sub-harmonics are picked up by the pickups, not the top. On an acoustic, various parts of the top itself resonate to this myriad of frequencies and then the resulting acoustic sound is amplified and projected by the sound box. None of this really happens with a thick top. Even slimline electro-acoustics (like the Yamaha apx ranges - excellent though they are) rely on being plugged in for the full breadth of sound. Not to say that you can't hear enough clarity to practice with a solid or chambered solid - you can. I do! And the more air around, the more volume you will hear - but you won't hear the full breadth of sound as you would with the resonating top of an acoustic. A 335 unplugged is actually quite loud - but very jangly and one-dimensional. When I next visit Nottingham (next week? I'll pm you), I can bring along my 335 clone to show you what I mean. There is, of course, the jazz hollow-body: These are closer to a 'normal' acoustic than an electric and, of course, would originally been acoustically played. Like a normal acoustic, the bridge sits on the top which then resonates. On the solid bodies, ES335, etc, etc, the bridge is fixed into the body or centre block and there is little vibration passed to the actual top Ref the later questions, yes a Tune-o-matic type bridge relies on seating on the posts, which are fixed by screw bushes into the body or central block. Incidentally, the bridge on a hollow body above, is actually often unfixed - you slide it forwards or backwards over the top to intonate (hence the term floating bridge) and when you take the strings off it falls off

Well, this is a special build for a special birthday for a special guy...so I reckon it needs a special inlay. How about some New Zealand Paua? My normal method - cut the inlays, then draw round them: Then use a Dremel with a precision router base to cut out the chambers: Then glue them in and sand them flush, then slurry and wipe with tru-oil to fill any gaps: And that deserves another mock-up, followed by a Pimms in the garden. Here's the mock-up. You'll have to use your imagination for the Pimms

Oh...and couldn't resist a quick mock-up

Still got to drill the location prong holes at the back, but the tuner holes are positioned and drilled: Next...

Haven't finished it yet (I'm about 1/2 way through) but well impressed as a first pilot. In terms of things to think about - maybe split into slightly shorter chunks? I am rarely in one place for more than 1/2hr and my memory isn't reliable enough to guarantee remembering to go back to things.... Great result though and I'm sure a huge amount of effort. Well done all!

Yes - you can still get them. Most model shops sell small packs of them, but I bought a box of 100 through the internet. I don't bother putting a burr on them - they scrape fairly well as is. You can also use a Stanley knife blade, although they do tend to cut a bit deeper and harder.

Gained a bit of time over the past few days with a visit by MrsAndyjr1515's sister, which=the two of them going for trips out, which=building time for Andyjr1515 And so, it was an opportunity for starting the headstock. I sliced a 3mm plate from some poplar offcut and veneered the back with the redwood veneer, then added a couple of wings to the headstock cut from some neckwood offcut then, after carefully checking and double checking for straight string runs and room for each of the tuner blocks, finalised the shape: I've done the slight cutaway at the top, similar to some of the other recent builds: This afternoon, all being well, I'll drill the tuner holes and then work out where best to put a brace of swifts

Hi, John Thanks! I am pleased how the blocks have come out. You've probably spotted the basic method I used, covered on P2 of the thread, but in terms of your specific questions: The perimeter of the route used a 1.5mm router bit and so the corners are a very small radius and I rounded the corners of the ebony with some 800 grit paper accordingly rather than chiselling the chambers I cut the ebony on the band saw a teeny bit oversize and eased up onto the exact fit using a disc sander and sanding block. The ebony was thinner than ideal so I couldnt risk either the middle being lower than the fretboard or the ends filing to nothing with the radius - it was therefore safer to radius first and the I could fit the depth of the inlay exactly right. This also helped reduce the amount of ebony dust contamination as I was then effectively radiusing isolated ebony blocks using a razor scraper rather than a full combined sanding block I'll pm later ref a revisit !

Actually, my own photos are still OK on the thread - luckily I was already using imgur. The formatting etc is all over the place but - it being 27 pages long (!!!!), I suspect the photos are the only things most sensible readers might be interested in. There is only so much Andyjr1515 rambling most sane people can cope with. Certainly, that's a view expressed often by MrsAndyjr1515

^^^ wot he said

The bass name came last, so the thread was called something very different It's here but it is a bit Andyjr1515 long and rambling... https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/302963-finished-a-bridge-too-far/

Me too

No - don't panic, it's just an optical illusion because of the infrequently seen phenomenon of a cast shadow . It's 0.75mm. I have some thicker ones at 0.82mm and they are noticeably stiffer to use! I do have a stonkingly thick one in an old Stanley No-80 scraper plane but that's far too brutal for necks. Thanks for the kind words about the neck carve It's the neck-through and thin-body combination that allows the neck to be so slim at the transition. It's a direction I've been exploring over a few builds. The epiphany for me was Tom's African build: # Then Mick ( @TheGreek )'s Psilos bass: And Pete's piccolo bass (that the present full-size bass design is heavily influenced by): It all stems from the ever niggling question in my head which is "Why do guitars and basses always seem to be so d****d heavy???!!"

Well - if you can get it up and running, it will be a great result Keep us posted

Bum link - copy and paste this description on ebay search and it will get you to the page I was just looking at: A2 Stainless Steel Socket Head Grub Set Screw Cup Point M1.6 M2 M2.5 M3 M3.5 M4

M3.5 isn't a common size but they sell them in various lengths here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_osacat=0&_odkw=m3.5+electrical+screws&_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=m3.5+grub+screws&_sacat=0

I think they've given up on offering any common-sense suggestions to me

Looks great, Jez. I would be very surprised if you get any slippage. There is none on Mick's Psilos bass

Back to where I started, the permitted range of outside diameters for a M3.5 fine thread is between 3.396 to 3.481mm. As you can see on the chart below, the range for a M3 thread is 2.896mm to 2.981mm which would be too small. Your reading is 3.33mm which is pretty darned close to the bottom range of an M3.5. A M3.5mm grubscrew on ebay is going to be a few pence. I think it's worth a punt.

Yes - it won't be as big as this once I've finished, though

Looking at the pictures and potential weasel words in the specs, I'm pretty sure that the Legend has a veneered top but it looks like the Euro models are indeed solid tops. @spectoremg - is there a thin demarcation strip visible between the back wood and the top? If so then it is probably a solid top. You can usually check by taking the pickups out or neck off and having a look in the chambers/pocket for the two woods. If it is a solid top, then yes - it is definitely possible to strip down to the wood, re-stain and refinish. Depending on the finish on it at the moment, it could be hard work, though...

Doing the neck is best done outside for me if possible - more room than in my very small cellar space. And much more light! I took this shot to show my grandchildren when/if that time comes. They will already be eye-rollingly bored at grandpa's endless tales of 'when I used to build bass guitars', but will, I'm sure, point at this picture with wonder. "Oooooh. What's that bright bit, grandpa?" "It's called sunshine, Billy" "What's sunshine, grandpa?" "Well - if you wait until you are a BIG boy...and then wait some more until you are a MAN...and then wait some more until you are an OLD MAN... and all the time hope and hope and hope - you too might see something like that!" "What - in DERBY, grandpa???????" Anyway - the main neck carve. Once it's been roughed out, I do almost all of the rest of the carve with a humble cabinet scraper: Using the template I took from Neil's favourite Fender, checking the fit frequently. Here the haunches are still sitting too proud: And here it's sitting just right: As well as the template gauges, I play a lot of air-bass guitar. The neighbours think I'm bonkers, but sitting it over your knee and playing it is, on my view, one of the best ways of checking when it's 'right'. I will probably tweak it a few more times before I'm finished, but here it is pretty close: What I do like about going for the thin-body-neck-through approach is that you can get some quite elegant transitions neck to body:

It it's all solid wood (unlikely) then yes - as @Reggaebass says, it's a case of stripping and sanding down to clean wood. If the figuring is a veneer, then yes with some disclaimers...the veneer will only be 0.6mm thick so it is very easy to break through when stripping If the figuring is a photo application, then no - well, technically you could still go down to bare wood and stain that but all of the figuring will be sanded away.

Pretty much....and from the look of it, that will be the least of your problems You certainly like a challenge...

Oh...and this is absolutely splendid, by the way Great job!