Andyjr1515

Great job. I think the necks are generally maple. The wood you see on the mating face under the fretboard will be the same as if you stripped the finish off the back.

Lovely job.

You lucky, lucky man. Great bass from a great builder

Hmmmm....and has anyone actually figured how they should dispose of replacement blades, single edged razor blades, etc, within domestic waste and recycling regs and guidelines?

Now there we have the quandry of modern life! Disposable blades would normally lead me towards a Swann Morton scalpel (which I generally use for most jobs). For this specific task though, the Stanley disposables have had the edge in my personal view (forgiving the pun). But you are right, of course, @Grangur - I'm sure other suitable and more sustainable products are available. If I find one, I'll change the thread.

Many apologies - I ran out of time before disappearing into the Scottish highlands! However, here's a link from Projectguitar.com where, a few posts down, I cover the approach fairly well. The photos should be there for the important sections. Hope this helps! http://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/48449-veneers-without-the-tears/

I think that's a great plan. Both the 5 string and the thru neck aspects involve tackling steeper and rockier learning curves and you will come out the other end not only with a great bass but with a significant extra skills under your belt

Hi @Happy Jack I'm not convinced that t-cut or similar will sort the milkiness. I think the milkiness is most likely to have been that moisture was prevalent during the spraying and is trapped in the finish. I have a neck on an Indie 6-string electric that is just the same and the cloudiness is throughout the thickness of the varnish. Furniture makers have various scary ways of dealing with it - including coating with various substances that draw out the moisture. Some techniques can be seen here http://homeguides.sfgate.com/fix-milky-finish-wood-47528.html. The denatured alcohol one looks the least risky but you never know. Like all things to do with finish, if you try it, start with a small area where it's not going to show if it doesn't react as expected...

Yes - the wooden one for my money. Fascinating how different the guard makes the bass look. It completely changes the mojo

That has all the signs of being 'on a roll', Jez. Your output is higher than mine and yet you work hard for a living! Presumably your family are locked in the attic? I find that doing that speeds up builds no end

That's going to look predictably perfect, Jez. What wood dust did you use? I have to do something similar on @Len_derby 's poplar burl top...

Ah - OK. That is different to how I'd envisaged it on the first read. Makes sense. Clearly, I need to read up a bit more on jointing - this approach is certainly new to me! Thanks for the detailed explanation

Interesting stuff ref the planing - it certainly is borne out by the result! So have I understood, is your jack-plane blade gently radiused? Ref the chambering, I basically follow the same logic as you where I can - I visualise the body as a centre-blocked ES335 or similar with a continuous beam from nut to bridge. Of course, the reality - once you've sliced through it to within an inch of its life with the pickup routings - is somewhat different. On a lightening project for @Harryburke14's very heavy Harley Benton, I actually did chamber at partial depth across the 'centre block' and there was no audible difference to my ear: But generally, I do something similar. This was my last one: Again, if you envisage how deep and wide the pickup routes are (this had twin humbuckers), then the reality is that the body is strong enough / rigid enough/ tonally good enough to chamber in the centre block too. But, like you, I prefer not to if I don't have to.

Yes it is But done manually like this, just takes care and time. Normally this would be done on a CNC

Well - I was fully expecting that the first shot at the block routing would end in a scrapper. But - unless I mess up getting the ebony rectangles in - I think I was wrong! To my utter surprise, the block routs appear to be clean-sided and in the right place: All of the inner rectangles have been routed flat but will be chiselled individually when I fit the ebony rectangles - they must be deep enough to sink in the sides without being too deep to below the fretboard height in the middle. Back to the reason for the repositioning on the template.... Basically, the fretboard blank is double-side-taped to the metal template for both fret slotting and for routing the rectangles. In both cases, the template is positioned by use of a small index pin. However, in the fret slotting jig, the index pin is offset to the position of the cut: However, the template rectangles for the blocks are in line with the index pin notches in the template - not offset: And so, after fret slotting, the fretboard blank needs to be repositioned so that the rectangles are central and also that the index pin notches are now in line with the fretslots and not offset: I'll bet that's as clear as mud, isn't it

Beautiful

Great job Now waiting to see the next one

Off to watch some music this eve so just a brief update. Tackled the blocks routing. That required the board to be radiused and then slotted: Then, removal from the template and re-positioning back onto the template to rout the outline. The raggedy edges from the slow speed and non-ideal bit are actually clean and will tidy up just with some sandpaper: And then started hogging out a touch with a larger bit. Final leveling and height adjustment will be done with a chisel. I'll pop a bit more detail in tomorrow. It's worked out better than I expected for the first go, though...

Cracking job @BrunoBass

Looks great, @BrunoBass

This is looking very tasty Ref the headstock veneer - if I get time tomorrow I'll do a quick A-Z of how I iron on veneer rather than clamp. Great thing is that it gives pretty much instant results and you can see what you're doing. I did a live demo of the technique at the Midlands Bass Bash.

Saw this one in the flesh this afternoon. It is so, so, so well built it's crazy. And it's lightweight! Top drawer on both counts

Hi, Christine I've used that bridge in a couple of my own builds so if you hit any stumbling blocks, just give a shout. This is one of them:

...and reading back, I've just remembered that you have rods in anyway. The bit I'm not sure - now I am also remembering that your neck has that intriguing twist in it - is what purpose the truss rod has anyway? I can't see how, if tightened, the rod would give a meaningful relief (that is, in which plane would it creating the relief??). If I'm right, then the stiffer the neck the better - in which case the thicker fretboard and carbon rods will help and not hinder. It's just a guess though. I might be completely misunderstanding the design...

I think that depends on the stiffness of the fretboard, not the thickness (although these can be related) because the truss rod acts on the whole neck. Does the fretboard bend at all? Also, think carbon rod stiffened necks - one holy grail seems to be building necks that do not bend. I think the only issue might be that, in order to maintain the planned thickness of the whole neck, the truss rod slot will need to be 2-3mm deeper in the neck itself - and that might be getting the bottom of that slot very close to the bottom of the neck, particularly at the nut end. You could, of course, rout a shallow slot in the back of the fretboard.