Andyjr1515

This isn't a shot of the Alembic-esque - but it is related. And it should warm the pink torpedoles of @scrumpymike 's heart: It's his veneer going on his Lyte back, because I've got the bench back....BECAUSE I'VE FINISHED THE ELECTRIC! Here are some finished shots: There are a couple of tidy-up jobs to do (but none that need the workbench, Mike ) including adding the hatch to chamber contact strips to those that notice such things (and centreing and gluing the nut for those that notice those things too) but this is pretty much how it looks I've done some sound clips - I'll post those shortly. As always, thanks very much indeed for your interest, support, comments and suggestions along the way

Yes - I will drop them a line with some polite suggestions of small changes that would make things a lot easier for their other customers. It is a stunning bit of kit in most other ways. It is also impressive that there is no volume difference between the magnetics and the piezo at all! Never come across that before - very impressive

Armchair pulled up. Popcorn at the ready

Hi, again James (it's alright folks, we've pm'd on a different topic) When I get a linky tag thing from @Norris I know I HAVE to respond! Tru-oil. Wonderful stuff. And like always, there are choices. First of all, unless you've already ordered a bottle, a 3oz bottle will generally do at least 2 guitars or basses so plenty for one even with trial and error repeats Used on unstained wood, I would echo what @Bridgehouse said - use tru-oil with sandpaper to create a slurry. Wipe it off after a few minutes and the slurry acts as a sealer and grain filler. Repeat a few times and progressively drop down to, say 250 grit, and now, not just wipe it off but vigorously buff it off. Quite quickly you will get to a beautiful, quite durable, silky smooth satin finish like this: I do ALL my necks this way....it has to be felt to be believed Next option is to do the above just as a grain filler stage but then just apply coats of tru-oil wiped on (I use cheap household microfibre cloths) and left to dry without wiping or buffing. After a number of coats, with a wet sanding of 1500 to 2000 wet and dry every two or three coats to flatten any cumulative ripples or dust buggies and then a final couple of coats as the final semi-gloss. I say semi-gloss because tru-oil does dull down a touch after a few weeks. This one was done that way: For stained woods you do also actually have a few options: Stain it, apply a couple of coats of tru-oil left to dry overnight to act as a sealing coat, then apply wiped on coats as above, doing the first light sanding (1000 grit used wet) after, say, the fourth coat (so you dont sand into and through the stain) then carry on as above building a semi-gloss build-up I'm probably one of the few people who do it, but I have started doing the 'slurry and buff' approach with stained woods. You have to be gentler, but I've found that the slurry takes stain with is so actually, unless you are too harsh, you don't end up with bare unstained patches. Takes a bit more practice, but you can get some decent results (this used to be white): Hope that helps rather than further confuses! Andy

So - lots of fun today First of all, I had to get that silly vertical cable to lie down. You wouldn't think Schaller mainly deal in guitars and basses...how many 3" - 4" deep basses do you know that could have a control chamber that would accommodate this design 'feature'? And the only way of doing that is to invalidate the warranty on what is a very expensive bit of kit by taking off the very stiff, very thick sealed rubber boot: And while we're on the subject of 'I love Schaller, but...', if I turn round the guitar to see the other side, let me give you a quick quiz... Question: Between the two types of knob: nicely powder coated solid brass knurled, allen-key secured, standard 6mm shaft beauties push on, plastic, non-standard 3mm shaft, small top hat ...which is the dirt cheap Harley Benton offering and which is part of the Schaller flagShip top of the range (and very expensive) piezo pre-amp mixer offering? Yes - the nice knobs are the Harley Benton ones. Honestly, I DO love Schaller - great service and some great, great products but, if you're looking, fellas...come on...you are better than this! So, I found this in my bits box: And the bottom left hand bit has an i.d. of 3mm ...and when you put it on the sanding wheel, you can get this - a 6mm o.d. (you make knobs, Schaller - yes, 6mm...the standard size of the knobs you supply to millions of us!): And that fits on the non-standard 3mm shaft of the three way rotary: On which the nasty cheap Harley Benton knob itself fits: Call me uncouth, but I think that looks better : And then came the rest of the day (pretty much 12 hours) with the myriad of tweaks, and drills, and earthing and tinning and checking and planning, until: And - knock me down with a feather - it all bloody works! And the hatch still fits. And I'm going to go and have a long sit down....

Yes - the three way with a large stiff cable coming out vertically is actually quite ridiculous for something designed solely to be fitted to a guitar. The boot is going to have to be cut off for starters and see if the wire can be bent 90 degrees. The cables are certainly going to need to be properly secured down if I'm going to have any chance of using magnetic catches. I rate Schaller very highly in so many ways, but the fitting of the bridge, the total lack of instruction or guidance or even reference to the wire spaghetti coming out the botton of the piezo version, the difficulty in routine stringing and re stringing of the bridge and then the preamp where, purely because a designer has completely ignored how the product will be fit and could -so easily- have used more flexible sleeving and thoughtful wire routes is, quite frankly and in my personal view, shoddy. No other word for it.

After a bit of a disrupted week and weekend (real life getting in the way!) I've been polishing the top to see if the gloss is good enough without a re-flattening and re-application. The reason there can be a doubt is that: You can't polish it up until it is properly hard (c 2 weeks) My method - as I always stress in my build threads - will never match a well-applied and buffed poly spray finish. However, it should be 'fit for purpose' in terms of surface finish and overall look. BUT - you don't know if it's fit for purpose until it's polished... Anyway - while this does not bear well a very up-close oblique-light scrutiny, I think it is fit for purpose and doesn't need flattening down and reapplying (which, of course, can sometimes come out worse!): Now - the good thing about THAT, is not only that I don't have to do a re-application and suffer further two weeks of uncertainty, but also I can now drill the remaining control pot holes and try and fit all the fancy electrics in (because while ever there is a possibility of having to re-gloss, the fewer the streak-producing holes in the top the better ) I've started the job - I live in hope that I'll have some sound coming out of this sometime by the end of tomorrow (I could do with finishing this one now!)...although it will take me another week to work out how to get the hatch to sit properly :

Sorry to disappoint, but the ultra-light is another 6 string electric (but same shape as the piccolo bass). I know - well and truly, though temporarily no doubt, shifted to the dark side

Thanks, folks I'm hoping today breaks the back of the remaining jobs....

Thanks But actually no - that's the sister build that is shaped like the piccolo bass. It's the same woods so should look pretty similar but with that one I'm going ultra-light and ultra slim. That one is progressing slowly in the background but will generally always be second fiddle time-wise because it's for me so there are fewer time expectations

Hi. I'm in Derby if tht's any good?

Just hiding

More still to do than perhaps it looks. In house builders terms, we are at the 'First Fix Snagging List' stage The pickups are in, with sparkly covers subtley dulled with some Tru-oil Conditioner (basically T-cut!) and gold adjustment screws working against bass pickup type foam buffers. The tuners are final-fitted. Snag list, so far not too bad. It includes: A couple of high spots on the frets Bridge is sitting a tiny bit too high (about 1mm). I don't want to slot the saddles so, instead, I will score round the whole unit and carefully chisel the required drop - only needed in the black saddle area as they individually flex a few degrees up and down from the gold base fixing base Number one fretmarker is off. Bugger. Teeny, tiny amount but it would bug me so has got to be sorted! Luckily, with an ebony fretboard it's an easy and invisible fix The fret ends (spherical) are too prominent. The fret ends are now well clear of the strings so I'll go for a more standard chamfer. The nut (still loose fit) is a bit high and, once I've reduced that, the truss-rod cover will need slimming a tad. Easy job. Other than the remaining jobs of magnetic catches, electrics installation, volute tidy up, strap locks and final polish that were already on my list, that should be it.

Yes - lovely Can't wait...

And found the sapele that I was sure I had in the shed. And it's wider than I had remembered so we have a one-piece back I will add the wenge demarcation veneer to the sapele before I cut out the shape. Should be able to do that later today....

I can see the picture now I'm back on the desktop - it looks great!

My ipad isn't picking up the picture for some odd reason so I'll have a proper look when I'm on the desktop, but the spec sounds great

I'm glad yours is...mine disengaged a decade ago and hasn't re-engaged since

As you say, you are planning paint finish therefore no real issue. Having said that, if you did want to veneer the top, it is only adding 0.6mm and therefore you wouldn't need to do anything to the neck pocket at all...

Yes - the first time I saw the thread, the photos were side by side I prefer the smaller pickguard and splash of chrome on the control plate....

Onto the final tasks while the gloss varnish hardens enough to polish it up (about 2 weeks from last coat) The main one was levelling, recrowning and polishing the frets. Done I'm pleased the subtle figuring in the ebony still shows after the final treatment

This double posted so this is just my way of deleting the duplicate!

And...admittedly to my surprise...it seems to have worked. Once this is sanded flush and stuck round the edges with thin 2-sided tape, I'm pretty sure it's going to look fine. The 2-sided tape will only to keep the edges secure - the plate itself will be secured by the tuner bushes and the string tree It certainly balances the look of the bass a bit better: Next job is to find the sapele that I'm sure I've got somewhere in the shed for the back

Decent question but no, not at all The plate really does, as you say, weigh naff all - but the main thing is that the Lyte top horn is longer. This will place the strap button at about the 12.5th fret, as opposed to the Rascal which places it at the 14th fret. This makes a big difference. That is quite important, also, because the new body will be much lighter than the Rascal and this, if nothing else was done, would certainly give some issues. I suppose the only slight unknown is going to be the 'sit' of the bass on the strap. It is likely that it will sit further to the player's right than the Rascal - this will make it feel a very short scale indeed (although still longer than a 6 string electric). Time will tell on that one

Can't be absolutely sure yet, but at the moment I'm planning to be there, Mike