Andyjr1515

And...it's finished!!!! The 'last few jobs' always turn out to be a 'myriad of final jobs. Anyway, all sorted. I'm passing it across to Alex tomorrow - I will try and get him to do a bit of recording at one of their band practices but, in the meantime, you'll have to trust me when I say it sounds great Although it is just a small wiring change and no hardware change, I've opted NOT to go for the P-rails standard wiring system which gives: Full series humbucker; parallel humbucker; P90; Rails. I've used that system in a number of my own gigging guitars and I found that: - the fact that both pickups are always in the same configuration for the four options is actually, ironically, quite limiting. I was always hankering for, such as, 'neck pickup full series humbuck for the depth, mixed with bridge pickup in split coil mode to add a bit of extra treble and dispel any muddiness' and similar - I also never, in practice, used the rails by themselves...not enough ooomph - and I never, in practice, used the humbuckers in parallel...not enough depth I talked that through with Alex and, for kickoff, we decided to have a standard split coil option for both pickups where the operating coil in each case was the P90. So he can go full series humbucker with 3 way options, P90 with 3 way options and one (either) pickup P90 and the other series humbucker. It's a 30 minute job to change the wiring to the 'P-rail standard' options if he wants to try that in the future. Anyway, here are some of the arty-farty finished pics: Many thanks for looking and for your kind comments - in spite of the fact that it is another one from 'the dark side'. It's hugely appreciated

All getting very, very close - Pickup rings are fixed - Hatch and trussrod cover magnets are in - shielding done - bridge earthed - pots, jack plate and switch in place (not wired up yet) - spacer/nut shaped ready for final slotting - luminlay side dots fitted - strap buttons fitted All being well, the next two days should see it finished and playable. Here's how it's looking (ignore the overage on the two strings - the final set of fitted strings will be clipped):

Well, on the final furlong. Basically, the finishing is finished and now just have to do the shielding, fretwork, electrics and final assembly/setup. The final stages of ebony sand-only and alder/maple Tru-oil slurry-and-buff is coming out nicely:

Close - the final grade that will use for the final sand (this is the 'reveal' sand), will be the 12000 grit microweb, which is "like brushing the ebony with angels' eyelashes"

I mallet-tapped the outline of the rugby-ball jack plate with a variety of radius chisels and then used a small chisel to start creating the rebate: Once it was all level, I rounded the sides, drilled the hole with a 20mm forstner and popped a drop of tru-oil to match the alder before doing a trial fit: And after a couple of experiments, I had a go at the ebony. The great thing about ebony is that it will sand/polish to a good finish. What I didn't know was whether the brown streaks would behave in the same way. They do This is after around an hour, progressing through around 15 grades of emery/micromesh from 180 grit up to 8000. Nothing else - just sanding through the grades: There are a couple of dints that I will lose by repeating the process, but this will be pretty much how the top will finish up.

I've added a corresponding ebony thickener at the back of the headstock and applied the second reveal coat of tru-oil after a bit more slurrying: While there is often madness in my method with my builds, every now and again (I suppose statistically, it must happen occasionally) there is some method in my madness In this case, it is that, because the two lower tuner positions from the upper view are the top E and B, then the break angle is maximum for these two strings. And yes - there's plenty of sanding to do here : Here's the top after the second reveal coat. That's at least starting to get there... My 'still to do' list is actually quite short. All being well, we should have a playable guitar by this time next week

I spent some time this morning with the guitar strung up and on a strap for me to 'fit' the neck profile to suit Alex's style of playing. Basically, he played, I then scraped material off the neck haunches and then he tried it again. This was repeated over an hour until it 'felt right' for him. We can do further tweaks once it's finished and he can play it with amp/etc but it's probably close enough for me to start the final sanding, which I started this afternoon. As folks who have watched other builds will know, I often use some Tru-oil slurry and wiped to act as a grain filler and also as a reveal coat... to spot dints and lumps or sanding marks that are difficult to see on dry sanded wood. The good thing is that it also lets bot Alex and me see how the final colours and grain are going to turn out to be. I think it's going to be quite nice:

Those should work fine

You will find that a teeny thickness of (tapered) shim makes a huge difference. I'm sure you are aware but, for others reading, the thick end of the tapered shim will want to be at the bridge-end of the neck pocket to correct very high action. Whose shims are you using? By the way, adjust the relief back to 'just perceptible movement at the 7th when fretting at the 1st and 16th' before you fit the shims.

Yes, your approach is the right one @northcountrybob - your first job in the set up is fitting the shims to sort that action out. The intonation sharpening of, particularly, bass notes is caused by the tension increasing as you press the string down onto the fret - basically, you are bending the string like a lead guitar player, albeit vertically (and not as much ... and much more elegantly than a lead guitarist ). So the action height directly affects the intonation. And neck angle, of course, directly affects the action height.

To the back hatch. You will note that there is always a bit of madness in my method when it comes to guitar and bass builds. Does that rebate rout above cut into the ebony strip? And doesn't that mean that the black line will be broken with an alder hatch when it's fitted?? Well...yes...and no. Yes it would if I didn't add a matching strip to the hatch I made my normal paper template with some A4 and a fingernail: Cut out with a scalpel, I then had a template for the wood that I could double check fitted properly into the rebate, and also a reverse template so I could choose a 'sympathetic' grain pattern from my various alder offcuts. This would probably work: So next job was to cut out the hatch - a teeny bit oversize - and add a matching ebony strip: To fit the hatch, I usually start at one of the curves and sand/check the radius repeatedly until it fits the rebate exactly, and then progressively sand the overhang from there at one side or the other to progressively create the close fit all the way round. It takes a while because you don't want to over-sand anywhere! But eventually, it's done: And the ebony strip lines up! Next step is stringing it up for Alex to be able to play it while I fettle the shape of the neck profile, and then I can start the final sanding and start on the finish

Well family stuff and domestic 'projects' largely clear and so I'm back to the build I'm not quite at the final furlong stage, but certainly getting closer to it. Next jobs were to finish the rough carving on the back and getting ready to sort the control chamber hatch. For the carve at the back, because it's curved, I am mainly using the larger of the two round-bottomed Ibex thumb planes and also the gooseneck card scraper: Don't let anyone tell you the Ibex planes are toys - they really are precision planes: Those curly shavings are rock maple and ebony! I used a bottom bearing rebate router bit to follow the chamber and mark the outer edge of the rebate - but the curve of the back makes it difficult to get an even depth of cut and so the rebate was cut to final depth using carpenters mallet and some sharp chisels. Done, ready to create the paper template and cut the hatch:

As the others have said, if it plays OK, leave well alone

Only just caught up with this, Mick. That looks great. Good job with the leather!

Yup - and for the same reason

That's beautiful...

Not bad at all

The CA glue I tend to use for this kind of job is this: Even if I wasn't drilling any holes, I would still tend to use a precision dispensing tip. They just push over the bottle spout - this size below has an outside diameter of less than 0.5mm and therefore allows you to control quite accurately the amount of glue coming out of the bottle and making sure it is running along the crack line and nowhere else: But, whether using a tip or not, do wear rubber gloves - it can flow very freely and you really, really don't want to get your bass neck stuck to your skin! Option 2 has a fair chance of working OK. However, if you did want to try Option 3 and you have a drill, the only other thing you need is a 1mm or 1.5mm twist drill. This below was a 70's custom that a well-known Notts player of the era hadn't played for decades because of cracks and movement in the set-neck jointing. Here's the drill I used and the CA glue tip I would be using to dispense the glue with: And some of the holes I drilled along the crack lines. Here I am checking that the dispenser tube would go into the hole deep enough: I drilled more holes for the cracks either side too, then - after masking it all up and putting my rubber gloves on - pushed the nozzle onto glue bottle and squeezed a liberal amount of CA deep into each crack, letting the capillary wicking process to suck all the glue into all of the hidden areas of the cracks. When he passed it across to me, you could move the neck in any direction with no effort at all. I passed it back to him after the above and he was gigging with it the following weekend for the first time in 30 years

How is that done? In my small head there is a question "What if neck spacing is slightly off so new hole would be too close to old one?" If the holes are 'just off' then yes, it's more difficult because you have to plug the old holes first. I was thinking of the Cort 3-screw arrangement used on some basses...I'm pretty sure that those are in different positions. Good point, though - do you have a photo of the neck fixing area from the top and from the back?

Hi There are a number of variations of neck heel design across the Cort models. But what I don't know, is whether any of them are compatible with the 'standard' Fender heel shape and length. I would be less worried about the hole positioning, though - you would just drill new holes in the Cort positions. In terms of mending the present one, I think there are three options: 1. The 'proper' way. Big job and not risk free. Removal of the fretboard; splitting of the scarf joint; clean up; reglue; replacement of fretboard; levelling and re-crowning of the frets 2. The DIY 'might work' way. This is a variation of @songofthewind's suggestion. Standard wood glue, such as titebond, is no good for my variation. A proper low-viscosity CA glue is best for this (I can send a link to ones that will work). This glue is so thin that it 'wicks' into the crack by capillary action. - Mask round either side of the join line with decorators masking tape; bend the neck as you described to open the joint a touch more; apply the CA around the joint, which will suck the glue deep into the cracks, until it won't take any more; release the tension on the neck and wait the the CA to fully cure. On this kind of process, I would leave it at least an hour before restringing it. 3. A variation of method 2 and is a DIY method that 'probably will work'. Here, you drill a few very small holes directly into the crack and use a micro tube end for the CA glue. You then push the micro tube into the hole and squeeze the CA glue in until it starts appearing around the crack. You are, of course, left with a few small holes showing but this method ensures the maximum chance to get the CA glue deep inside the crack. I'm out in a few minutes but this evening, I'll send a few shots of this method to show what I'm talking about. and send some links to the glue and microtubes.

Yup - looking good

I think there maybe something in this. The clearance between the locking pin end and the bass's button is tight. If the button is at all tilted relative to the locking pin, it isn't going to release. It is worth having a close look at if the strap button is moving at all. If so, then shimming under the button might hold it still and then try to hold the locking pin carrier as parallel to the button (whatever the angle it is sitting at) while pulling the locking pin clear and sliding the assembly clear.

I'm actually broadly with @BigRedX on this. The fretting on a guitar and bass are both approximations. Folks have tried to compensate with compensating nuts and z shaped frets but, most of the time it is close enough to all but the most discerning ear On your original subject, that makes sense: - The intonation adjustment is because the string is actually bending, albeit vertically, when you press it down to the fret. - And the higher the action, the more it is bending and the sharper it sounds when you fret it - And a loose truss rod will bow most in the middle. - So a loose truss rod will lead the strings to sharpen more for the middle frets and less at the 12th...which is exactly what you found - And straightening the neck with the truss rod reduces that bow which lowers the action most for the middle frets, but not a lot at the 12th. And so the excessive sharpening of the middle-fretted strings will reduce and at the 12th will remain largely unaffected...which is also exactly what you found

Yes - as @itu says, this type of adjuster doesn't actually need an allen key to turn it. It works like a ships capstan - basically any length of steel that fits in the hole can be used as a lever to turn the adjuster. But actually, an allen key is ideal because you know it is not going to bend - pick the largest size that still slides fully into each hole.

Next is lining up the bridge. If ever there was a 'measure 14 times, drill once' it's this! First thing I did was to check the full movement of the bridge rollers from fully forward to fully back. Probably enough for a square-on positioning - but there's no point in even banking on that and so I will incorporate a modest backward sweep to aid the intonation of the bass strings. Then to position, I fitted a couple of strings, threaded through the stop tail to the outermost tuners and taped it into position. I could then slide the roller bridge under the strings and position it to scale length on the top E with the roller fully forward (intonation for the top E is usually relatively close to scale length but, if anything, will be a teen bit further back - it will never be shorter than scale). Then, once I'd positioned it so that the two strings were where I wanted them in relation to the fretboard sides, I could press the spike of a bradpoint drill in to mark the centre: Then use a forstner for the bridge insert-holes: And finally, with fingers crossed, hammer the inserts in and try it! Big phew! Then the same process for the stoptail. And, at this stage, I couldn't resist a quick mockup . There's actually a LOAD of stuff still to do, but my excuse for the indulgence is that I need Alex to 'play' the fitted strings so that I can fine tune the profile to his specific needs...so that means, at least, that the 6 strings need fitting. And surely they would be lonely without a few knobs and switches teetering at their intended positions: Oh - and it would be churlish not to wipe some of it with a damp cloth to see what the final colour is going to be ... I think it's going to be quite a pretty guitar! And that has Basschat up to date with Guitarchat. There'll be a week or so's gap before any more progress - I need Alex for the final fit of the neck profile and his availability and mine over the coming week or so mismatches to an almost impressive degree!