Andyjr1515

Hi, Wilco Is it the round 'stick' type or the paddle type? Pretty sure I've got something that would do fine you can have for free if you want to PM me your address. I'm pretty sure I've got at least one of each type new and unused.... Andy

In the background, Mike and I have been discussing various details, the most important being which part of which bookmatched set would work best. This is what we've settled on : Reminds me of those wind tunnel shots of concorde

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1509980110' post='3402987'] Hey Andy - good to see you've finally broken cover Just make sure you finish 'Rascal Mervyn Lyte' before you go (Merv was my late lamented woodcutter buddy btw - and he certainly WAS a rascal!). [/quote] We may have a name for the bass, then...

[quote name='Rikki_Sixx' timestamp='1509904328' post='3402503'] Maybe Andy could do a very limited run of basses called 'The Missus', made from her table. Limited because she might get hold of Andy before he runs out of timber! [/quote] I'm more likely to end up as one of 'The Missing'!

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1509900651' post='3402452'] Seeing the cross section in the pick-up cavities is nice. [/quote] Hopefully, unless I've got the pickup measurements wrong, they won't be visible when it's finished!

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1509903075' post='3402485'] I don't think Mrs Andyjr will be happy if you take a guitar shaped chunk out of her dining room table..... A good way to get a black eye, if that's what you're after... [/quote] But it's SUCH a nice grain. Perfect, in fact. I'm sure she'll understand

With the high tech gadgets consisting of pencil, calculator, set square and scissors, a face-on photo of a Lyte has been scaled up and cut out : Tomorrow, I will choose the best place to position the walnut for the best figuring and cut the two halves out

The finishing is actually going remarkably quickly and well so far If I'd been going for satin, the finish would already be there! But glossing the body and headstock plate is going to make SUCH a difference to the figuring. It needs to sit for a few days for the tru-oil to fully harden before I do that. Can't wait

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1509803286' post='3401760'] There is a good scrumpy mike bass in this I can feel it in my bones. [/quote]

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1509802796' post='3401755'] Having thought long and hart about buying his Rascal I watch with interest [/quote] So it's YOUR fault!!

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1509802360' post='3401752'] It's great to see you're on this phase of he build. When you wet sand with the tru oil, do you wipe off the slurry often and freshen the tru oil? [/quote] Yes - light wipe off of the slurry after each initial application. Later, that will become wipe off and vigorously buff each time

Now that the 6-string Alembicesque electric has got to the stage of 'apply finish, wait for a day, apply some more finish', I'm at last into catch-up time on some of the woefully late smaller jobs that have been piling up. The first and most overdue on the list is for scrumpymike Many of you know Mike - the South West Bash which Mike and his lovely wife, MrsScrumpy, organise is the stuff of legend! Now....many of my builds evolve as they go along. But this project has been evolving even before a pencil put its first mark on a bit of drafting paper So I'm going to summarise briefly:[list] [*]Mike has a lovely Fender Rascal: [/list] [list] [*]He loves the neck; he loves the sound; he loves the electrics and pickups. But: he doesn't like the weight; he doesn't like the 'sit' [*]So he has asked me to do a reversible re-body job, based on a Precision Lyte shape: [/list] [list] [*]Transferring the neck, hardware, pickups and electronics [/list] OK so far?[list] [*]We talked about matching the headstock paint on the new body. BUT - Mike had a good friend who was a real (yes, real) tree-felling axeman...from young man to retirement. And, indeed, Mike actually got a book published of said axeman's life story. [*]And this piece of walnut is part of the last tree he felled before retiring. And would it be possible, Mike asked, to incorporate that somewhere in the build: [/list] [list] [*]Yes, said I. [*]In fact, this then became a bookmatched-topped natural body project. And here is the resulting bookmatched walnut to make it out of : [/list] [list] [*]And that's exactly what I'm going to do next [/list]

Final build task before starting the finishing is tidying up the neck profile. I will do one last tweak once the guitar is finished and all strung up but to get it pretty close, I go by feel and then, holding the guitar a bit like a back to front cello, I use a scraper - drawing up the neck length very lightly - to take away any lumps or bumps along the length or facets around the profile curve. And that's it! Basic build is complete and finishing has now started I use a variation of the tru-oil slurry-and-buff method as a combined sanding lubricant, grain filler and sealer. The body will actually be gloss varnished eventually, but I have found this method to be just as good as a gloss prep method as a finished method in its own right The only difference (if at all) is that I probably use coarser abrasive cloth at first - typically 120 grit but sometimes even 80 grit. This is the first application following the normal 'final sand': Five minutes later, I have this: And then fifteen minutes later I have this on the back and neck too: The slurry from the sapele, wenge and purpleheart will, if not wiped off, discolour the maple, so I always wipe off the wet tru-oil from the maple even before I start the actual slurry and buffing. When dry - this will look a bit naff - as the oil soaks in differentially. I will probably repeat with a coarse grit once more, once it has fully set, before starting the proper slurry and buffing Sunday/Monday-ish In the meantime, to MrsAndyjr1515's delight, there are a couple of small guitar and bass jobs that have been waiting a while that I'll be getting on with.

Onto last build jobs. One of them is slimming down the internal control chamber top so that all of the controls poke through as they should. Because it is routing down to 4 or 5mm thickness, I always drill at least one hole first to give me the comfort that I'm not going to break through the top! To do that, I need to know at least where one of the holes is going to be. Someone asked me why the control chamber was so big...well, and this doesn't include yet the 3-way switch or the battery clip or the general connecting wires or a bit of P90 sitting in the chamber...: It's going to be quite busy! Also, the pre-wired cables can be a real, real problem with small chambers. By the way - while this was on and everything else temporarily fixed, I popped the stacked P90's on top and found some scales that I'm-sure-aren't-from-the-kitchen-despite-the-flour So, take away the control chamber extra rout, add back the cover, the strap buttons and finish (negligible weight) should leave us comfortably below 6 1/2 lbs

Quick mock up to make sure it all fits. I've fitted the slightly wider nut to test 'worst case' - and it's fine The frets haven't been levelled, crowned and polished yet so there is a bit of tidying up to do at the fret-ends but the binding blends in nicely: The fret ends have been de-nibbed so the binding is fretslot-less

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1509645857' post='3400595'] What's that comment about hindsight being the only 20/20 vision? [/quote] Indeed, Mike For more than a few reasons, I could now do with getting this one to the finishing stage (during which there is little time taken actually applying the finish but lots of spare time waiting for stuff to dry )! I'll string this up tomorrow to make absolutely sure, but this feels SO much better:

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1509642944' post='3400567'] That binding looks the dog's whatsits! I can imagine you bringing this in regularly for other builds now [/quote] Yes - probably...but preferably applied BEFORE the fretboard's been glued to the thru-neck!

Too dark to take a photo, but all the frets are in I'm MUCH happier with the resulting width.

[quote name='eude' timestamp='1509294012' post='3397856'] It's here, and it's absolutely incredible! Eude [/quote] One of the smartest looking basses I've ever seen. Superb.

14 frets done, 8 to go! It's a slow, slow job. With the ebony being so brittle, I need to avoid having to re-do any of these so I'm clamping a fret at a time until the glue pretty much sets. So far so good You can see the binding in this shot - adds a touch of class...should have done this in the first place!

And one wenge-bound board You can see the figuring in the ebony quite clearly here - which is probably one reason why the wood is so brittle. Having said that - this is a close-up shot - all of the fret tang chips will be hidden under the new frets The finished job will be better for having a bound board so it's probably just as well I made the cock up

My ipad wouldn't download the pictures, so I've only just seen the result - and it's great! Lovely job. I think it's just as well that you didn't have a buffing wheel - the paint would have been far too soft after only an overnight cure. For buffing it is usually 2 weeks minimum for it to get hard enough. Great result from the way you did it

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1509177298' post='3397114'] I watched a YouTube video a while back where a guy used just that, but he had to make his own dremel attachment using a standard abrasive wheel which he wore away into a cup shape. It was for a fanned fret guitar with cnc milled fret slots. He pre-cut and rounded all his frets before fitting them. Looked amazing whenever he was finished. Can't for the life of me remember who it was... Edit: easier found than expected! [url="https://youtu.be/moxUw3Ke2Q0"]https://youtu.be/moxUw3Ke2Q0[/url] [/quote] Clever stuff - I might try that...

[quote name='thegummy' timestamp='1509118921' post='3396820'] Unfortunately, that site only has a SPST push-pull by CTS; is that all that's available? [/quote] Didn't even notice that. A bit odd and, I agree, a bit restricting... Not sure if CTS do DPDT or not....

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1509108922' post='3396689'] Sorry to hear about needing a fret rework but the binding you described is something to look forward to. Your efforts to get it to premium standard are admirable. [/quote] More like "my efforts to hide a rookie cock up" Anyway, if in doubt - throw in a few swifts :