Andyjr1515

Well...being so [s]smug[/s] pleased with the spherical fret ends you were all waiting for the '...and then I had to take them all out again' As you know, I was a bit bothered by the narrowness of the neck. I did a mix and match of a gold tuner set and a black tuner set to match with the fancy bridge: Which let me string it up. I concluded that the strings are just too close to the edge of the fretboard giving the annoying possibility of the top E 'falling off the side' - a bit of an issue with some stratocasters. At the same time, having dutifully de-tanged the sides, I was already thinking, 'Blast! I should have gone for a bound fretboard'. As well as covering the fret slots, this would widen the top of the fretboard allowing a more comfortable width of fret to be used. So that's what I'm going to do! Luckily, the sides of the neck are still more square than the finished profile will be so I can retrospectively add some bindings and then scrape them to blend into the final curve of the neck profile. So those frets have had to come out The sort-of good news was that the frets were very nicely seated (you really don't know unless you try to pull them out) The very good news is that, using slodering iron heat and a specialist ground-ended pair of fret pulling pliers, there was very little chipping. The binding strips are on the way and, in the meantime, I can turn my attention to finishing off the headstock and control chamber

Axesrus.co.uk sell the CTS push pulls nowadays, including a metric 8mm version. I would be surprised if they are not very good.

Beautiful, beautiful job.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1508837693' post='3394691'] It's not an either or, of course Agreed, if you are into planning mastery as a professional player on a particular instrument, then the practice time becomes a bit prohibitive for mastery of many more - but most of us can make quite respectable progress on a second or third instrument while not losing the edge on the primary one. And I would argue that each new instrument becomes progressively easier than the previous one and, indeed, makes you a better player on those earlier ones. I started out with 6-string acoustic, moved onto 6 string electric, then tenor sax, then alto sax, then bass and even an outing or two bashing on my bongos. Other than not getting my bongos out too often in public (I think there are laws about that ) for most of our gigs I now play all of those. I think enthusiasm is all it takes, really. If you have that, you'll find a way around all the rest of the challenges, musical or general life getting in the way [/quote] I should add - and can't quite put my finger on why - that, even though playing bass is by far my weakest competence of them all, in the band situation it is head and shoulders the most enjoyable. I usually get to play bass for 4-5 of our set list and they are always, always the most satisfying...

It's not an either or, of course Agreed, if you are into planning mastery as a professional player on a particular instrument, then the practice time becomes a bit prohibitive for mastery of many more - but most of us can make quite respectable progress on a second or third instrument while not losing the edge on the primary one. And I would argue that each new instrument becomes progressively easier than the previous one and, indeed, makes you a better player on those earlier ones. I started out with 6-string acoustic, moved onto 6 string electric, then tenor sax, then alto sax, then bass and even an outing or two bashing on my bongos. Other than not getting my bongos out too often in public (I think there are laws about that ) for most of our gigs I now play all of those. I think enthusiasm is all it takes, really. If you have that, you'll find a way around all the rest of the challenges, musical or general life getting in the way

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1508774320' post='3394320'] I'd love to see what files etc you are using to get fully-rounded ends on your frets. My attempt to make the Pitbull feel like my B2A in that regard was close but no banana. [/quote] Not terribly sure I'd get a banana either For what it's worth, I use a fine flat needlenose and also a triangular one where I've ground one of the apexes smooth. With the flat blade I round it from the fret through 90 deg to the fretboard edge and then with the triangular one, with the smooth edge in the corner between the fret-end and the fretboard wood first take off the sharp edge on one side and then round to the fret apex, then the same on the other side. If any of that makes any sense!

And the frets are in The fret-ends were pre-dressed on the bass side and now trimmed on the treble side ready for those to be rounded too. I'm going for spherical ends to give maximum usable playing width. Tuners are on order - I won't drill for them until I have them physically in my sticky mitts! After that there are just two or three small jobs to do before I can start the final sand and finishing process. Probably be able to start that on Wednesday

Thanks, cheddatom

And onto the fretting. The ebony fretboard has that very interesting figuring all the way through it which should show through once it's been finish sanded. Less good, and probably linked, is that it is VERY brittle. And to the point that my normal method of fixing the frets isn't going to work. Instead, using a radius block, G clamp and packer, I've rigged up a DIY press/caul method: It's very slow but seems to have worked fine so far: Because of the time to allow the titebond to set enough, it's taken most of the day to get this far. I've stopped at the convenient point where I'm going to need to change the clamp arrangement as the neck deepens towards the body. Time for a beer, I reckon... The bridge is fitted and a couple of strings put in, by the way because this is no time to find unplanned alignment surprises!

[quote name='Amyton3043' timestamp='1508431784' post='3392184'] Hi wow this is my first ever bass built by Nick Springett from my requested design. My name is Alistair and you will see in mother of pearl at the 12th fret it has "Ali" which Nick did for me. Originally the bass had x2 humbuckers but I and active passive controls. We changed to EMG pickups to try and get a richer bottom end.The bass has a lovely laminated finish underneath the white but I had it changed as I originally wanted it to look like a Jaydee supernatural (my mistake). I loved the bass and always thought of trying to get it back one day....sigh [/quote] Wow - that's a bit of a result . Great thread (and looks a nice bass...)

It looks absolutely fantastic, by the way

[quote name='fftc' timestamp='1508447991' post='3392353'] Increasing string tension due to the relative positions of the two bridges? Have you tried re-tuning after each move? [/quote] ^ this. As fftc says, move the bridge, retune to pitch, then check the 12th harmonic against the 12th fretted. Excactly the same thing happens on a conventional bridge when you adjust the intonation....

[quote name='Hamster' timestamp='1508432757' post='3392196'] Well, the SEBB was a financial success and as usual we made a profit that has been distributed to good causes as follows: [url="http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/"]http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/[/url] - Specifically for breast cancer [url="http://prostatecanceruk.org/"]http://prostatecanceruk.org/[/url] - For those gentleman's nether regions http://www.4sight.org.uk/ - Supporting people with sight loss http://www.shootingstarchase.org.uk/ - A local children's hospice I am hopeful that we can arrange next year's SEBB at the same location around late September! I've already had a planning meeting, well it was actually an excuse to go to the pub, about what contacts we can approach to make a guest appearance at next years SEBB. The short list is impressive! Don't do anything stupid and book any gigs/weddings/proposals/bar/bat mitzvahs for the last two weekends in September 2018 - exact date to be announced as soon as I get confirmation. Keep it deep Colin [/quote] I look forward to it, Colin Andy

That Cedar is yummy

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1508435803' post='3392226'] Looks amazing! [/quote] Thanks, Mel

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1508431090' post='3392172'] Nice curves...reminiscent of the AJR Swifts. [/quote] Well...I thought that too when I saw how it came out I'd like to say it was intentional...but that would be a big fib

The neck carve is pretty much complete. Bit of a tweak to do on the volute but ready now to get the blighter fretted Here's how the back is starting to look:

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1508420550' post='3392078'] I like the way it looks amongst the plain soft furnishings. Please don't take that as an opinion on your choice of home decor, you've seen my hovel. On its own I was finding the burl a bit busy, I hope you'll forgive me for saying. I wouldn't judge it on that alone however. Also, the hardware will make the whole thing gel. It's a belter! [/quote] I know exactly what you mean, John. Sometimes I don't post full bass body shots at this stage because there are times when all projects actually look positively naff! I have the advantage of knowing in my head what it's going to look like at the end of the journey

Still got to be finish-shaped, including slimming down a couple of mm at the nut, but this is broadly how the headstock will be looking:

[quote name='BassTool' timestamp='1508410285' post='3391972'] Stunning work You Sir, are a genius [/quote] And You Sir, are very kind

6lb is a very, very good weight, Jez. That diddy and ultra-slim piccolo bass of mine is about that. To achieve the same weight on this size is no mean feat. Oh...and did I mention how fabulous it looks too?

Lovely job

While I make progress on the headstock, I'm continuing to creep up on the heel carve. I need to flatten the neck depth taper at the upper frets a touch and remove the lumps, bumps and sharp edges, but this is the direction I'm heading in: Although, from the front view, there is a fairly standard cutaway on the lower horn, this extra carving at the back makes a big, big difference to the feel at the upper frets by removing the wood that normally presses against the side of your hand. Next job is adding a couple of wings to the headstock and glueing on the headstock plate

I've agreed the headstock shape with Tim. He favoured a 3-a-side configuration but wanted straight string runs. I've tried to pitch it somewhere between the two extremes of the 'long-thin-Ibanez-SR-bass' vibe and the 'short-triangular-wolfgang-EVH-electric' vibe. Forgive the skewiff placement - it won't be in real life : I also managed to cut another sliver of the camphor laurel for the headstock plate: For such holey wood, it's remarkably stable... The snout will have a carved cutout exposing the neck laminations similar to Pete's piccolo bass build:

The good thing about shaping necks the way I do is that you get a great opportunity for plenty of air-guitar playing! Once I've got to the basic dimensions and shape, I basically scrape-a-bit then play-a-bit. The heel is now starting to get there: After finalising the basic transition of neck thickness to body thickness, I will be extending the carve of the lower cutout to carve into the neck itself. Once that's done, I'll then lose the 'edge' presently still there between the body area of the neck and the heel area of the neck.