Andyjr1515

Very impressed indeed. In fact, wallet moths may be released into the wild before too long....and, trust me, that really doesn't happen very often. In fact...that generally just doesn't happen - at all!

Looking good from here

I like fretless basses This is the Jack Bruce Tribute I made for our band's bassist, Pete. I get to play it occasionally when he lets me : I liked the sound and feel of Pete's so much, I built one for myself - my own design but using similar timbers and dimensions. Even though this one has Seymour Duncans, it has a similar vibe to it: When I built Pete's tribute, he gave me his old goose-turd green Yamaha RBX270F to do whatever I liked with. I decided to give it the 'myrtle veneer treatment': Nice players, those Yamahas

What @stewblack said ^

Just back Great, great bash. Many thanks to Mrs Scrumpymike and the amazing catering team for their endless energy, cheerfulness and wonderful food & drinks, many thanks to Scumpymike for the organisation and thanks to all the attendees for the warm welcome, the interesting chats and the sublime basses and equipment on show! Andy

Yes - I like the look of that!

That looks very nice indeed!

All of them look pretty good, but that is indeed a lovely piece of walnut!

Yes - the strap and sit positioning is all important. That's actually how I fixed the semi-acoustic ... I changed the strap button position. The neck swung up, the body swung sideways and, as if by magic, I could reach!

As I say - it depends on the bass. This is the closest I could get originally on one of @W1_Pro 's basses - one of the most interesting projects (and a LOVELY semi-acoustic bass). There's no trickery here - it's hanging on the strap and my arm is fully straight. And yes, I'm a short a**e ... but at 5' 7" I'm not THAT much of a shirt a**e Oh...and this is a 34" scale! It had a happy ending though - making it one my favourite projects. With a bit of Andyjr1515 magic (ie total fluke) we got it here: Anyway - why we are having this discussion in the first place is because we're floundering a bit and killing time because the OP needs to give us a bit more information of what and why and what trying to achieve (hint, hint) - and, of course, PICTURES

Also, depending on the bass, 35" can be a huge stretch just to reach the first fret. OK of you're a tall guy but no good at all for short a***s like me

Based on the fact that my bodies nowadays are usually closer to 25mm (but I'm, admittedly, weird), then structurally and for fitting any 'normal' electrics and pickups, 40mm is plenty, plenty

Looking great!

In terms of the way the veneer bends, the paper backed veneer acts just the same. However, it does help prevent splits running for some veneers so could be a benefit on this one. If you are going to do a centre join and apply the veneers in two operations, remember that: It does shink a little as it warms up so will try to pull away from the centre join It floats on the molten glue and so, until it is properly secured, can shift around a bit I fit one side, check that the join is still completely straight, then secure the join first, using the iron to push the second sheet into the join then hold firmly with the cloth until it's grabbed - I effectively tack it like that in 4-5 places along the join then close up the complete join. I've seen it done different ways too but that way works for me personally

Well - that was interesting. It should be said that I used one of the more forgiving veneers - myrtle. Although quite figured, the grain is multi-directional which has advantages on something like this. This is the iron I use - it's an old heat-shrink iron that I find nice and small and easy to hold - but any household iron will work (the smaller and lighter the better). Steam irons should be used completely dry doing it the way I do. Basically, I heat it until the glue melts and then press down with a cloth (or chamois in this case) long enough for the melted glue to re-solidify (about 10-15 secs). I use the iron itself to ease the veneer into shape. I secured the heel first: Then secured the spine of the neck 'cylinder': Then eased the veneer round the curve - and WOW - look at that!!!: The 'grain' is in line with the bottom diagonal so the neck is at roughly the correct angle of a typical Warwick horn. BUT - even though that has bent remarkably well, can you see the split just starting to form at the right hand side? That's where the neck heel is and that is where the double curvature is. Closer up you can see it's basically pulling itself apart: There would be a similar issue at the spheroidal end of the horn. So - trimmed straight - this is much better that I would have expected: But - in that you have to get to the join in the body - it will be the double curvature that will be challenging. Probably not impossible - but certainly challenging and where a compromise of the amount of wrap over would probably need to be accepted. Oh - and at one of the sides of the heel, I spritzed at little bit of moisture - and the differential expansion immediately found all the grain lines and, again, pulled itself apart. Hope this helps, @Jimothey

No time like the present. Quick reminder how I do it while I'm waiting for the glue to set. Ignoring the stuff at the back of my hastily cleared workbench, this is my veneering kit (plus an iron, of course): Basically: a sponge roller and tray (DIY in the gloss paint brushes, etc area); a water spritzer (superdrug, etc travel atomiser); Evostick PVA wood adhesive (green bottle - not the blue waterproof type) I roll an even and thin but complete coating of PVA on the veneer (bit of offcut I used for stain trials): See it already starting to curl like crazy from the differential expansion. A light water spritz on the back and it flattens by itself: Then a light even covering of PVA on the neck: Then wait 1/2hr or so for that glue to dry while I type this up and look for the iron I am allowed to use...

It's hard to say @Jimothey , but I would have thought the best you could do for the adhered join line is somewhere here: Only way of knowing is to try it. If I get time later, I'll have a go at veneering this old Yamaha neck - it'll be about the same radius: I'll do it at an angle to the grain to simulate the angle your top horn would be at...

It can help to sprink some fine water spray on the veneer just before you form it, although it is immediately dry once the iron gets to it. Also, the way I do it (coat both surfaces with PVA, let dry, iron on) i find I also have to lightly dampen the back of the veneer as I apply the PVA to the front to counteract the curling (sometimes severe)from the dampness of the glue making one side of the veneer expand. At the E Midlands bash in May I'm going to be doing a live demo of veneering a body. It's straightforward once you've sorted the tips and techniques - but there are a few tips and techniques to be learned...

I'm not sure I'd abandon the idea, @Jimothey - it's more about taking steps to increase the chances of success and modifying expectations of how close you can get. I can't remember how much of the iron-on approach to veneering I've gone through recently, but once the bulk is on and attached, I then ease the edges round - using the hot iron as the shaper - as far as they will comfortably go and stick by using the iron to deform the veneer and then hold down with a cloth very firmly until the melted PVA has cooled and gripped. Some veneers are better at this than others because some will split more than others. Then, when I've bent it round all the edges as far as it will go, I then trim around the glue line and finally sand round the glue line. So my cautionary note is simply that the strip of veneer on the top horn will be thinner than on the example you show, because that is a wooden top sanded round and not a veneer. But you will be able to get it to curve part way round. The less extreme the curve, the more it will curve round. So, if you went for an oval carve on the horn rather than a cylindrical carve, then the veneer will cover more of the horn. Does that make any sense? The veneer itself generally isn't that expensive, so worst case is that you have to scrape it off. That's pretty easy - you just heat it up with an iron to soften the glue and use a decorator's scraper - if you use the right kind of PVA, this is completely repeatable in terms of re-melting and cooling. Then you've simply need to sand off the PVA residue and you are back to where you were.

If all goes to plan, I will be doing a live demonstration of veneering a bass body top. If all doesn't go to plan, I'll be demo-ing how to light a BBQ using a sheet of veneer and a wrecked bass body.

As I said above, an arm relief bend isn't a problem - even though it's going diagonally across the grain: Most veneers are remarkably flexible considering they are 0.6mm thick. But - it's the double curvature that's the challenge

Theoretically yes - but don't forget that you will only be able to achieve a very limited curvature at the top horn (because it is essentially circular - and the veneer has limited bending, very limited in terms of double curvature) you would end with a thinner and shorter strip than on the above example. Same goes for the edges - they will curve round to an extent, but again not as much as the above. This is an example of a similar grain pattern on a bass did a few years back - but it is essentially flat-topped, including the horn. There is a fender-type arm relief, but that is a single curvature, which works fine. It's the double curvatures that are problematic. So yes - the white ebony could look great - but veneering a cylindrical top horn, even partially, is going to be - at best - "challenging" :

Lovely bass

No problem - we are all waiting enthusiastically to see how it progresses By the way, in case people are inspired to use inks themselves, there are some ranges of colour that seem susceptible to fading and some specific colours that definitely do within those generalisations. Generally, the blues and purples seem to fade the most. Having said that, the blue/turquoise guitar in the example above still looks the same colour as when I did it in 2014 - and it's been hanging on a wall near the window until very recently! There is an interesting accelerated fade test of the full range of Diamine inks on one of the fountain-pen enthusiasts web sites: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/250572-all-diamine-inks-mini-fade-test/