Andyjr1515

And that'll be the trussrod and nordstrand pickups, then

That's looking really smart

I put a teeny bead of titebond along the tang, then hammer in the fret and then clamp a radius block on until the titebond has gripped: Here's the board now with frets trimmed and chamfered:

Like a crazy person, I didn't take a photo - but basically I hammer them in then clamp a radius block onto the freshly installed fret onto the flat workbench. I'll have to mock-up a photo to explain

And we have frets! Ready to trim and bevel once the glue's fully dried. Then a demarcation veneer and then glue it on the neck

Looks good and I'm sure covers all the basics. A lot more sophisticated than my first one....

Well it certainly says that! Interestingly it doesn't on one of their other articles on the same subject where it stresses the importance of keeping glue away from the slot. Anyway, unless someone can prove to me it's a good idea, I'm personally not allowing epoxy anywhere near the rod slot on installation.

Great option. @donslow - do bear in mind how heavy a solid mahogany body of this size is going to be, though.

Can you post the link? Not at all sure what this refers to. Was that in relation to fixed carbon or aluminium reinforcing rods? Those would be generally glued in but adjustable rods are just the opposite - you don't want glue anywhere near them!

A close fit is preferable so it doesn't rattle and so the bend is exactly where you intend it...in the middle. Ref rattle some people pop a couple of spots of flexible sealant in, but my logic is that,as soon as there is any tension on the rod at all, there's nothing able to rattle anyway. I use a 6mm router bit going 9mm deep for the ones I use. A touch too deep is no problem, but make sure that the fretboard isn't being lifted up by any high spots on the rod top. You may need to open out either end a touch with a chisel - on some types, the end screw blocks are a touch wider. For the wood on wood fretboard joint (and any wood on wood jointing) I would strongly recommend Titebond Original. Not only does it do the job, but in the event that you ever needed to remove the fretboard, then it is possible, using heat and technique, to do so, and without damaging the fretboard. With epoxy or other similar glues, it would be a 'router off' job

My two were a touch further back but I'm pretty sure it was simply the sizes available: Let's put it this way, if it was me building it, I would be perfectly happy putting it where you plan to. The truss rod shouldn't be glued in at all (if that's what you meant) - they need to be free to bend and flex. You can, if you like, add a capping strip - but to be honest that's to keep the glue out of the slot more than anything else. The second one above has a piece of acoustic guitar binding as a cap and this was glued with a bead of cyano wick'd into the gap. Trouble is, capping means a deeper slot so nowadays I don't cap it at all - I slot it for the truss rod square bar to sit flush with the join and pop a strip of masking tape over the slot to stop the fretboard fixing glue from getting into the channel or truss-rod threads:

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure that's where I would put it. Let me have a look where I put it on the two single cuts I built. I should have the photos...

Ref the taper - yup - perfectly good way of doing it.

Ah - OK, no problem Anyone got a view about the truss rod on a single cut, builder folks? My view is that the end of a truss rod only wants to be an inch or so into the bit that can't move (ie where the body first meets the neck). Trouble is, on a single cut, that can be a long way down the neck (viewed from the body)! On the other hand, putting the rod into a place that can't bend is, at best, pointless and, at worst, a potential unwanted stress point. Or have I got that wrong?

I'm still unsure about that neck/body positioning @Jimothey . When you put the tapered fretboard on, won't the neck show? I've got to nip out, but I'll try and photoshop what I mean when I get back

Starting to get there. And no break-through into the chambers! And why is the grain pattern so different on the two halves? It's the same timber but simply that the carved side is flipped between the two pieces. There was what looked to be a void on the smaller side that I couldn't afford to risk breaking into at this point of the carve (sometimes these voids appear from nothing in the middle of a solid piece of wood!). It was safer to flip it over and have that area a no carve zone than risk what would look like a flaw in the finished back.

Quite a bit of the bulk is now removed. The lower bout will be slimmed (to maintain the radius as it is shorter) and there is now quite a bit of more subtle carving to be done to get the curve even and smooth. I will be shortly moving to cabinet scraper for the rest of the back carve. You can see how much wood has gone, though, already: And maybe you can see why I took the template of the chambers: The chambers are as deep as the ash is thick where it meets the neck, so too shallow a carve and I could break through the back. Knowing exactly where those chambers come to is therefore essential. I will be aiming at 3mm from breakthrough at their thinnest. I won't be carving the top until the pickup routs have been done, but this is a decent time to start checking the weight. This is most of the weight componentry, less the pickups and pots, still with a lot of wood to take off - especially the neck carve with a lot of heavy maple to remove. Yes - MrsAndyjr1515 was out: So just under 6 1/2lbs. The pickups, truss rod, and electrics will add around 3/4lb, but I should lose most of that with the further wood removal. Target for finished bass will be 6 1/2lbs or less. Ref neck dive control, there are a number of things in play: The bridge is well back The strap button is in the 'goldilocks' zone I'm fitting these really nice lightweight Schallers: Final update, Neil has chosen the pickups. A couple of Nordstrands, passive, master vol, master tone, blend. Great choice!

Really interestd in this. Great stuff, @jebroad

Wow - this is a whole new level of excellence! Great wood choices.

Last time I went for a 'well person's checkup' at the local surgery, the GP told me that for the health of my heart, I should do "1/2hour of intensive effort at least once a week that you enjoy and that makes you hot and sweaty" and then gave me a big wink. How the Dickens did he know I have a Veritas Pullshave??? Sure enough, 1/2 hour later, I'm hot, sweaty and pleasantly fulfilled: What a doctor! What great advice!

Fretboard not glued yet - quite a bit to do before that happens - but starting to properly look like a bass!

That looks a good joint!

Blast! Well, based on it feeling like the fretboard has taken longer than the body so far, I'd better just remake the body and persuade Neil that learning to be ambidextrous is a real life-skill!

Well, it was a lot of work - but on a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfying was that?

And to the next scary bit - cutting and gluing the ebony blocks. The process was straightforward but needed to be quite accurate. Not only does the ebony have to be cut spot on, but because of the radius, it needs to be certain that the middle is proud of the fretboard but the sides set into the fretboard so, when attacking it with the radius block to smooth them flush, I don't sand into fresh air. Here's 6 done and 4 to go: And here's all 10 in place: I'm going to leave it on the template until I've sanded them flush - in the event that any or them are flawed, it then would be a simple job to rout out the ebony with the index pin still in the right place and re-do. In the meantime, I popped across to Neil's and took some profile and depth measurements from his favourite playing neck: Every bass has its own feel, but making the new one to similar profile and measurements should make it have a comforting familiarity when Neil gets to play it