Andyjr1515

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1507998570' post='3389265'] Hey Andy! Sorry for the delay, hectic couple of days at work! I had a minor breakthrough this morning with it. I got frustrated with the lack of note definition on the E string, and it was making the G string sound funny (haha) so I took the cable tie off. Then I decided to see if it would work with the tie just on the E string and not the rest. It definitely makes more of a difference, and the notes are more defined. However the string is not quite as bright now. Overall it sounds a lot better. I also lowered the poles on the pickup under that string as well, and I think the combination of the two is much better! [/quote] Sounds like you are certainly getting closer to the issues

Well, onto the neck carve. As always, folks, this is how I do it and not necessarily how it should be done First I made a plasticard template from Tim's profile measurements then got out my preferred tools: spokeshave for roughing out Cabinet scraper for the main carve: and fine micro-plne blade for the hard to get places: First task is that I get the thickness right - lots of checks to make sure there is no possibility of carving through into the truss-rod channel! Once there, I use chalk to make sure I don't inadvertently thin the spine any more: Then I basically creep up on it, checking frequently progress with the plasticard template. Because I am using the scraper, there is little chance of one overly deep cut wrecking it: The basic profile is now getting there: Tomorrow I'll spend as long again just on the heel and volute and then finish off the total length, more by feel than measurement...

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1507933885' post='3388954'] The outline reminds me of Jerry Garcia's 'Wolf' guitar: [/quote] Yes - there are some of the typical Alembic features on this (for those not in the know, Doug Irwin, who made the above Wolf and four (?) other customs for Jerry Garcia, also worked for Alembic although I don't think the Wolf was ever classed as an Alembic guitar). The actual Alembic that I've based my build on is the beauty below: Alembics - I think always? - have the through-neck showing at the top as well as the back, their oval fretmarkers are registered trademarks and they all have the very recognisable headstock. What I will be trying to do, while keeping it firmly out of clone territory, is to give a passing and respectful nod to a great brand and that very '80 s vibe while nevertheless keeping it in more modern territory in other respects. Well - that's the plan, anyway Still plenty of time and opportunity for it to end up as very fancy BBQ kindling...

After multiple checks and rechecks of angles and positions and flatness and line-ups, I've got the fretboard ready to glue: Note the positioning pins. These are essential because the board otherwise floats on the glue while clamping, making accurate positioning impossible. Presently, it is in the cellar, glued clamped up with cauls and 10 heavy-duty G clamps!

What's the balance like between the P and the J? Keep the cable tie on - it's doing something from the sound of it - and try lowering the bass side of the P pickup by a couple of mm

Another D'Addario fan here. I fit Chromes on all of my own basses and fitted a set of black tapewounds to a £35 Harley Benton deko acoustic that made it sound like a pro-job!

Trust me...it'll work with anyone

I'm still sorting the final preparation and checks before gluing Tim's fretboard on the sister build so, while the clamps are still free I finished the prep-work for gluing the top to this. Basically, routing the cable run, routing the back of the 'f-hole' chamber, darkening the inside of the chamber: And then glued, ready for bearing flush-bit trimming. Again, I'm a bit weird in that I will use the top as my routing template. Generally NOT recommended but (usually) works for me:

See how the top horn button pulls the top of the guitar in towards him? I'm talking about changing that playing angle in the direction of the arrow to make the face of the instrument pretty much vertical. When your bass is on the strap, try pushing the bass vertical with your right hand while loosely fretting with the left and just see what it does to your wrist....

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1507722618' post='3387433'] Regarding the strap button, that's interesting. I might have a mess around with some playing positions later - when I played long scale basses I used to have them quite upright, but that's mainly because I couldn't reach the lower frets otherwise haha! I've never had that issue with the shorties so play them more at a 45 degree angle. [/quote] No - I'm talking about the vertical angle of the front face of the bass. With most normal strap positions, the top edge of the bass is usually angled slightly towards the player - think how it would have to be angled for you to see the fretboard fret dots... Changing the button position can make the front face pretty much vertical. Downside is that you can only see the side of the fretboard now (thank heavens for side-dots) but you would find your wrist in a much more natural position. I'll try to do a photoshop of what I mean!

Hi Evil Undead I'm a great believer in trying the quick fixes while one of us tries to help you sort a more permanent fix. Ref the overtones/dead spots - as above or your own thoughts, it could be nut related, break angle related or 'harp' vibration. It could also be related to the harmonics in the room you're practicing in or a number of other factors. So things you could quickly and easily try are:[list] [*]Try playing it in another room. Particularly with bass guitars, the natural frequency vibrations in a small room can make a huge difference to the 'apparent' sound. If it's pretty much the same in a different room, then it is more likely to be the bass. [*]As already suggested, to stop any vibration between nut and the post, just shove a bit of foam plastic or tissue paper under the string behind the nut and see if it reduces it. 6 string electrics are notorious for this issue. My 'permanent' fix on my own is sometimes as sophisticated as a velcro cable tie : [/list] [list] [*]To see if it is break angle related , before getting a retainer fitted (which bring their own foibles with them) try a heavy duty one-way cable tie, pulled tight just behind the nut: [/list] Slacken the strings first, pull it hand tight, then tighten the strings back to pitch. If it makes no difference, then it is unlikely to be nut, stray vibrations or break angle that's the problem and just snip it off. If it does cure it, then temporarily just snip off the excess and carry on playing with it while you work out the more permanent fix. I can pop a couple of the above heavy duty ties in the post if you want to try it...just pm me The above should at least pin down if it is headstock related or not and are fully reversible and quick and easy to check. Ref the playing issue, I think Dad3353 raises an important point. As well as the tracker ball mice, there a lot of conventionally working but ergonomically designed mice that are held almost at 90 degrees to a standard one. This is one example, but there are loads coming onto the market (including smaller ones!): They make a BIG difference! To the point that I suspect they will eventually become part of the 'workstation assessment' required by EHS legislation. But from a bass point of view, there are also other things that can be done. As a sufferer of progressive and erosive arthritis in both of my hands (wrists and fingers), I've been doing a lot of experiments with bass and guitar positioning, particularly things you can achieve with simple strap button changes. This particular one has made the biggest difference to me: By simply moving the strap button to the other side of the heel (many acoustics have this arrangment), it has turned guitars that had become literally unplayble for me fully and comfortably playable again. What does it do? Depending exactly where you put the button, it does two things:[list] [*]It can make the instrument swing slightly to the player's right - effectively shortening the apparent scale length [*]Probably more importantly for wrist issues, [i]it tilts the instrument more upright[/i]. For the wrist - a bit like the ergonomic mouse - this makes an [b]enormous [/b]difference. [/list] The great thing is that you just add a button so anyone else can play it just as they normally would. I've added this to every one of my 6-string electrics and am planning to do the same with all of my basses. Hope this helps

[quote name='honza992' timestamp='1507575918' post='3386491'] Andy, rather than adopt the elegant approach that Simnett Guitars takes, I decided I would try sticking two lumps of mdf onto my radius block with double sided tape...et voila: [url="https://ibb.co/hOWVJw"][/url] Very ugly, but really made a huge difference. Just in case you haven't come across them.....on the subject of radius blocks, the one I've got is from a site called G&W ([url="https://guitarsandwoods.com/"]https://guitarsandwoods.com/[/url]). To me it looks exactly the same as the stupidly, ridulously, outrageously expensive Stewmac ones, but is a third of the price - £41.10 against £113.54. I only ever use 12" radii, so buying one wasn't too much of a problem. I highly recommend them. [/quote] Hi, honza992 Yes - G&W are good. In fact, I and 'Prostheta' from the Project Guitar forum are helping Carlos the owner with a set up and usage guide for their mitre block. Again, great price compared with Stewmac and very responsive customer service

Hi Just checked the Roland Bass Micro Cube RX manual and yes - its requirement is 9v DC at 186mA. And your PSA-230ES is also 9v DC with a decent amount of headroom of 500mA. So yes - it will be fine. Andy

Scoop for the lower horn done, which pretty much finishes the body carve:

The final shaping for the top is pretty much done. The fretboard is still unattached but is now close to fitting stage. Just got to decide what to do at the end past the 22nd fret: The figuring is already starting to show...but you should see it when the oil is still wet! I think this has to be finally finished in gloss... This is a closer shot, still in early-oil matt form: The back shaping isn't quite finished yet - I'm going to scoop out the horn cutouts for decent upper fret access. It won't change the front view at all but will make it much more comfortable to play, especially with the smooth neck heel transition I have planned. I've also managed to slice a sliver of offcut from the camphor laurel for the control chamber cover. This will end up with similar colouring to the top once it's been sanded and finished: And yes - the string block IS supposed to have that angle on it So after the final final carving and sanding of the back, the fretboard will go on - and then the neck and heel can be carved. Tim has sent me the profile drawings of his favourite player which I will replicate as close as possible. Every guitar and bass has its own feel, but the aim is to provide at least a comforting familiarity on first play

TheGreek - who has an excellent eye for such things - pm'd me a question that I'd also been pondering about ref the final carving and sanding. That is, was there intended to be any further cut through to the wenge and mahogany? I had some thoughts and Mick also put forward some useful ideas of options that might work. Having talked it through with Tim, who I'm building it for, we've gone for a subtle extension of the cut-through at the top, while retaining the more traditional round-over at the bottom. Still ahead of the final shaping and sanding, this is broadly where we're heading: Next stage is final sand and roundovers, including around the cutaways and body/neck transitions, but retaining the sharp edge of the top horn chamfer... I'm hoping that the final body shaping will be complete by the end of tomorrow...then the fretboard can get stuck on

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1507053024' post='3383066'] Coming on nicely...personally I'd take a bit more of the top veneer off to show the core woods. The top of the body where this has already been done looks really good. [/quote] I know where you're coming from, Mick, but Tim is after a particular 80's Alembic electirc vibe. Hence the more rounded straight approach in the other areas... In terms of further progress, the process of filling those natural voids and holes has started:

Jabba has spotted what might have been throwing allighatt0r's eyes squiffy....the 5th fret is a teeny bit offset Less than 1/2mm but enough. Luckily, at this stage, easy to fix... And I'm going to have to get my glasses changed for not spotting it myself

[quote name='allighatt0r' timestamp='1507029748' post='3382810'] Certainly doesn't offend! just catches the eye and makes me wonder. I'm not sure I would have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it. I think it will be even more subtle with the addition of strings. [/quote] Phew!

[quote name='allighatt0r' timestamp='1507027176' post='3382778'] Is it common to use slightly smaller dots for 1st and 3rd fret marks? I can't say it's something I've noticed before but now I can't stop seeing it on this fretboard. Why have you gone for smaller dots? I assume it's just due to the neck being thinner down at the bottom end? [/quote] Just to add a tiny bit of extra styling, which hopefully works. Fret dots on the 1st and 3rd are often seen as superfluous - I've seen guitars without any dots earlier than the 5th. Does it offend or just catch your eye and make you wonder?

[quote name='rOB' timestamp='1507019851' post='3382693'] Thanks for sharing. I really enjoy watching your builds progress. [/quote] Thanks rOB

BBC radio 4 don't think he is as at 01.08 on 2nd Oct...

Couldn't resist doing a quick mock up after they have been glued and re-sanded. The fretboard will be slimmed down a couple of mm each side, but it gives a decent idea of how it's starting to look:

[quote name='honza992' timestamp='1506938443' post='3382056'] Andy that looks amazing. Stylish but subtle. I'm sure you've seen this idea before for sanding fretboards, but adding handles looks to be a great idea. I bet it helps with applying even pressure and hand cramps! I keep on meaning to do it but never get round to it..... I stole the photo (I'll return it, honest) from the Simnett Guitars website. [/quote] Actually, even though I've seen that in the past, I'd completely forgotten about it! Great idea...I might well fit something similar on one or two of my blocks. Thanks for the reminder

And the fretboard is radiused!!! At last While the radius block is still out and everything in the workshop - including me - is covered in ebony dust, this is a good time for me to sort the fretmarkers. Tim I discussed doing some oval inlays like the original Alembics but the ovals are actually trade-marked! Anyway, we've got a better plan even than that. Remember the couple of swifts on gelfin's Mouradian tribute? Just on the 12th? It's actually easier, of course, if you inlaying shapes, to rout the fretboard while it's still flat. However, with the width of my swifts wings there is always a danger of the radiusing sanding away the tips, so I do it after radiusing. Having cut out the shapes with a jewellers' saw, I carefully routed the curved fretboard: And then added dots for the others - 5 mm for the 1st and 3rd and 6mm for the rest. These are in place before gluing and sanding: They are in place now with epoxy mixed with the ebony dust waiting to cure and have the final sand.