Andyjr1515

A small but visually important step...the f-hole is cut

Someone asked for a closer look at the quilting on the fretboard. I've certainly never seen it before and a very welcome bonus on a board I bought as standard ebony

That is flipping gorgeous!

Did the contour steps on the other wing while the router was out: In terms of weight, the total wood content is going to end up around 5lbs, assuming I don't do any more chambering. That's fairly comparable with the piccolo bass (which ended up at a touch under 6lbs total finished weight) but the hardware on this will, of course, be heavier. Just got to cut out the control chamber and the back wings can then be glued to the neck

Been working out the area needed for the control chamber. There's a lot of real-estate taken up by Tim's chosen piezo/magnetic pre-amp (Schaller 'Flagship'): Working that out has meant I could cut out the control chamber shape. Here are all the main wood components (it'll end up about 5 1/2 lbs wood content) with the back wings now ready to glue to the neck: You can just see the quilting in the ebony of the fretboard in this shot...

Next machine set-up for Tim's Alembicesque sister build is getting the scroll saw out to cut the control chamber. So while the router jigs are still out, I've done the main cutting for the main back wing of this build. This, if you remember, is going to be curved in cross section, so I needed to know just how deep I can cut the weight relief chamber at different points from the neck join. From the back, it will look something (very approximately something!) like this: The actual cutaway will be on the bottom only. The upper dotted line is just a datum. So this is how deep I can go in mm. The fact that I can only go 6mm deep near the neck illustrates just how skinny this guitar is going to be: Still got some chiselling to do, but the bulk is out: And then at the back, to save a bit of effort, I've routed some carving steps: So the router can be put away and the scroll saw brought onto the bench for both builds...

Tim's spec includes an enclosed (ie no f-hole) semi-acoustic-with-centre-block approach, trying to get it as light as possible but without compromising balance, etc.. This means a major chamber in the top half, most of which is routed into the rear mahogany wing: Note truss rod slot is also now cut. The wall thickness of the chamber thickens at the top horn to give plenty of meat for the strap button, but also thickens at the top of the lower bout to allow the 'sucked lozenge' (as Tim describes it) cut through that he has also asked for. This will be similarly done as on Kert's camphor-topped bass which many of you will have seen before: Tim has sent me his recently purchased fancy Schaller pre-amp so that I can now work out the optimum size and shape of the control chamber to sort out the lower wing cuts and routs before they are then both glued to the neck.

Sounds like one of those 'special' acquisitions, ped. Great stuff. I'm really looking forward to the progress with the GK system...

It's looking great, Jez

That looks really good. REALLY good

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1504288958' post='3363965'] Probably tears of joy... I'm liking this....even though it's a [i]geeeetar.[/i] [/quote]

Taking advantage of the equipment set up from the Alemic-esque build, I whisked the components for this one through the same processes. Here are the components: And placed in position: The notch has been routed in the neck blank, at around 2 degrees angle so that when the mahogany wings are glued flush with it, the top and body will be at the correct angle to the neck for the bridge height. Although it looks very similar to the Alemic-esque, it is in fact quite different. Here, the neck is thinner than the body sections to allow for the convex and concave carves of the top and back respectively. The neck, and thus the body at it's thickest, in the centre, is around 1". But because of the neck angle dropaway, at the tail it is closer to 3/4". Told you it was different. Could all end in tears....

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1504270369' post='3363818'] original stain ain't working [/quote] OK - was worth a try... Did you try the sharpie?

Anyway...I'm pleased to report that this is now back on track. Here are the components: That will fit together like this: The two mahogany wings will line up with the notch in the neck, giving a full-width flat surface for the top to be glued onto. The notch itself incorporates a 2 degree drop to create the correct height range for the bridge (a lovely Schaller piezo jobbee) Next task is to sort the position and sizes of the various chambers and cable runs before gluing the wings to the neck...

Hi I realise how out of date I am with this thread! Wow - what a lot of progress in such a short time!!!! There are some very sound approaches on show here. Your neck line-up approach looks positively space-engineering class . And clearly it works - getting a perfect and lined up neck fit is no easy task. Well done. Great job.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1504213235' post='3363502'] So a lot of sanding through the grades from 400 up to 2000 grit Good things - it looks pretty good Bad things - the laquer was a far bit thinner than I thought so I've rubbed through in quite a few places - bummer it's also worn the stain off - I think the solution is a Sharpie - good thing the edge is black eh? Almost like I knew this would happen! I need to polish and buff way more but then you will all get photos [/quote] Worth trying a spot of the original stain to take the whiteness out of the rub through (as it is a rub through, it should be absorbent to a certain extent), let it fully dry and then use a permanent sharpie (I use the staedtler permanent pens we used to use for overhead transparancies...nostalgia or what!) just to darken the edges and, if necessary, go over the top. This should lessen the possibility of a 'different shade of black' from the sharpie showing through.

[quote name='honza992' timestamp='1504214833' post='3363515'] Wow, now that is some fine wood. How soft is the camphor laurel? Are you going to void fill? [Edit - having read your other thread I'm guessing ebony dust?] [/quote] The only proper working on it so far I've done is true up the join line and bandsaw the outline, but it seems similar to figured walnut to me. Yes - the voids will be filled with z-poxy mixed with ebony dust (I keep a jar from all of my fretboard radius sands ). The wood so far has turned out to be significantly more stable than it looks.

[quote name='honza992' timestamp='1504215712' post='3363518'] Your zen calmness is admirable. I would have thrown the neck through the nearest window! I once cut out a body only to realise I had the template on upside down so the nice wood was at the back and the knots and worm holes were at the front. Would have been fine for a lefty, but, well I'm not......Numpty [/quote] I've got so close to doing that in the past... Thankfully, the approach of checking 38 times before cutting usually gets me by . In this case, I should have checked 39 times!

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1504202602' post='3363413'] Somebody upstairs is sending you a message..... STICK TO BUILDING BASS GUITARS!! [/quote]

OK - two steps forward and one step back on this one. Having leveled and squared up the neck beam, then thicknessed it down to the 55mm width to match the fretboard width where the body meets the neck, I was able to cut the mahogany back wings. They are oversize and will be routed later, using the camphor top as the template (yes, I know - that needs the words of caution, "Children, don't try this at home!") My method of doing thru-necks varies, but is also a little unconventional. I will be routing a notch in the neck that the mahogany wings will be glued flat with and the top will sit in, flush with the top of the neck. However, this needs to be routed at an angle to give me the required neck angle. I did the calcs on paper and then simulated the real thing: There's belt and braces for you! Trouble is, then I recklessly decided where to actually rout it The observant of you will notice something a little amiss: The body sections are in the right place in relationship to the nut. Hmmmm....but the part of the top that meets the neck notch is, hmmmm, the top cutaway. And maybe it should have been the BOTTOM cutaway? There's no option but to order more wood and redo the neck. It has to be said, I don't often make really big boo-boos like this so I reckon I'm owed a few I'll keep this neck - you never know, someone might ask me to build a 3/4 scale at some stage. In the meantime, new wood has been ordered, received and glued, ready to start all over again

Looks good. Confirms what I think about a lot of the kits on the market...they can produce good instruments....

On account of my choice of fretboard wood, I've had a change of mind over the timber for the top of this one. Instead of going for the Amboyna, I'm going for the same species of wood as the Alebic-esque electric ongoing on the other thread, that is, Camphor Laurel. These are the bookmatched pieces, glued but not yet cut - you tell this is off a tree!: So the reason for the change? It's because of the fretboard I'm going for. As this is to be a bit of a showcase build (assuming I get it right! ) I've gone the whole hog and bought a ridiculously expensive piece of Snakewood from the States. UK Customs are delighted with me.... Trouble is, Snakewood is pretty close in colour to Amboyna - hence the change to get a better contrast. Here it is with the camphor dry: And here is closer to how it will look once it's had the finish applied: Should look pretty nice when it's done

Manchester Guitar Tech here https://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/product-category/colour/page/3/ Excellent products and Steve who owns it is an excellent fella

You never disappoint, Ian This is going to look fantastic

Love the patina