Andyjr1515

...OK. Definitely the last shots for a short while. The headstock will be radiused to match the fretboard and body and will be rounded along the edges, but this is the basic outline shape of the headstock we have firmed up on: The shape reflects the main shape of the body (you weren't so far off the mark, Simon! ) and is made from the same sycamore but has a symmetrical inset of maple to reflect the fretboard. This itself reflects the shape of the truss rod cover that has been cut out of the plate and will be fixed with a magnet: Once it has been radiused and edges curved over, it should compliment the body nicely....at least that's the hope

Oh...shhh....listen.....is that the sound of MrsAndyjr1515 gnashing her teeth?

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1496366844' post='3310880'] . Badly finished glossy necks become tacky under play, which gets worse the long you play as the finish picks up sweat. Les Pauls are dreadful for this. [/quote] ^This In my own experience I've found Fender glossy necks generally OK and Gibson generally sh*te. I ended up selling an otherwise beautiful Les Paul because I just couldn't cope with the drag (and I'm a rhythm player, not a shredder) - and I tried all the normal wire wool stuff, etc.. Then when you google it you find statements from Les Paul enthusiasts cheerfully saying that with regular wire wooling to keep exposing the lower levels then you will find that it fully cures hard and drag free after, well, certainly after a year or so if not earlier! But occasionally, you do come across a bad one... I may have made the last bit up, but that's the gist of it

I'm going to be off air for just over a week from the end of tomorrow so this may have to keep everyone who's following the thread going for a bit. But the good news is that things are usually getting a bit closer once I start cutting swifts...

[quote name='deksawyer' timestamp='1496318085' post='3310437'] On the subject of the neck carve on a single cut, my old ACG had this. Not sure if yours is similar. The build is looking impressive though. [/quote] Nice bass The debate is whether the part of the neck from the centre line to the upper horn body join (to the left in this photo) is flat or profiled downwards slightly...it's crazy but it's almost impossible to see in most photos This is a great photo though - it looks flat to me based on the carve you see just forward of the top horn...

Hi, Twincam Thanks for the kind words I did look at the roller pots and sliders, but they both have as many disadvantages as advantages. The roller pots especially.... Time will tell, but I think it's going to be pretty easy to adjust, even on the fly (although do we bass players tend to adjust on the fly much?). When you sit the bass in the playing position, you are presented with two knobs that are actually orientated like roller knobs. The main thing will be to make sure that the jack socket is at the very bottom of the chamber to give a decent gap from the two knobs. The bigger challenge is going to get the cover sorted...but that would be the case whatever

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1496261123' post='3310076'] Over 24 hours and no new post from Andy....abducted by Aliens?? Secret Agent for the FBI?? All I know is his services are much in demand [/quote] Abducted by Mrs Andyjr1515 for a few household tasks, actually But I have done a bit more this evening

As Trueno says, use a soldering iron and hold it on the stub until it's decently hot. It will expand with the heat and largen the hole slightly. Then let it fully cool. The screw will now be smaller the the hole. Grab the stub with some small needle nosed pliers and it should screw out fairly easily. This is the standard guitar and bass tech's method. If that fails, if it was mine I would leave it be. I certainly wouldn't use a screw extractor - much too much damage to the wood itself.

[quote name='Mottlefeeder' timestamp='1496139267' post='3308998'] I've only recently found this thread, so apologies for revisiting an earlier part of the design. I'm using the same bridge and nut arrangement on a headless bass kit, and I have a problem with it - where the string is bent at 90 degrees to be clamped, you need to ensure that there is no outer winding on the E string, otherwise it breaks when you bend it. On the headless bass kit, the strings just happen to be have the correct length of overwinding, but when I tried to upgrade, I ended up unwinding overwindings to get the string to fit - flatwould strings are not an option. Inevitably, manufacturers do not specify ball-end to end-of-overwinding lengths, so you may find that your design limits the choice of string you can use. A string clamp that will cope with the full string diameter would be more versatile. David [/quote] Hi David Yes - it's far from a perfect design. Then again, the full set is probably no more than the cost of a Steinberger spare knob! I have the advantage of using it at 90 degrees to the norm so it goes into the holes first and then the clamps second. As such the angle of bend doesn't need to be quite as acute. If I was using it conventionally, I would be tempted to use a double ball head end.

[quote name='Matt P' timestamp='1496086044' post='3308693'] i'd go a little further than that, Andy is a genius with very exacting standards. Andy, feel free not to say but what is/was your profession? your working methods hint at something technical with complex methodologies. Matt [/quote] Flattery will, of course, get you anywhere you like, Matt Ref career (now gratefully retired) nothing so exciting. It was logistics and manufacturing management in various forms and various places. Now admittedly I did qualify as a Mechanical Engineer...but I was RUBBISH! Never, never, never walk over a bridge that I have designed....

A lot of the design elements have come as an evolution - verified and developed further with each build - from Tom's (wwcringe) African Build. What I like about the 'scoop from the back' and the 'as long as the neck is straight and strong, you can do pretty much whatever with the body' approach is two things: 1. The neck transition to the body can be so much slimmer than for a standard body: And 2. The Weight. This approach is MUCH more effective at taking weight out than chambering. The complete body and trussrod is now 5lb 12oz. I think we are in the territory of the finished large-bodied single cut bass being 7lbs ...

[quote name='Matt P' timestamp='1496050585' post='3308333'] i thought that my Letts singlecut had a groove on the bass side but I just had a look and it's flat at neck depth all the way to 24th fret low B then curves out to full body depth, it's not bothered me as it's got a really flat squarish profile (that I love) Matt [/quote] Yes, Matt - it's this that I'm talking about. It isn't a big issue - and for a good player it is probably irrelevant. Just like a properly trained classical guitarist, a good player's thumb will NEVER stray either side of the centre of the neck. So the fact that the neck is flat the other side of the centre line really isn't a problem. Trouble is I, for one, am a sloppy player ...and often my thumb is half wrapped round straying towards the bass side. Normally that isn't a problem because by the time your thumb hits the body, you are already at the 21st fret or higher. However, because on a long-top-horned single-cut your thumb gets to the body as early as the 13th or 14th fret, then - if you are a sloppy player like me - you have to twist your hand slightly in the middle of your riff each time you are on notes above, say, the 15th. With my approach of carrying on the neck profile beyond the centre line over the length from 14th fret onwards, it shouldn't feel any different to a double cut bass. I've just tried it...and it doesn't It is subtle though. There is more shaping to do, particularly at the body / neck join, but this already has 75% of that feature carved into it - and you would be hard-pressed to see it: For completeness, although to most it will look pretty much the same as it did before (just some of the edges rounder and smoother), here it is at present from the front: ...and the neck profile coming up nicely. This is the neck matched against the template of Mick's favourite player: All basses have their own 'feel', but hopefully this will have a pleasing familiarity for Mick when he finally gets to play it Thanks for the input and ongoing encouragement, folks

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1496015201' post='3308148'] I've got a vague recollection of seeing an ACG like that, but could be mistaken. It can be hard to discern 3d carves from only 2d images. [/quote] I'll see if I can find some more pics. Mick has sent me photos of the backs of a variety of single cut basses (including an ACG) and, as you say, it's quite difficult to see exactly what's going on... but they all looked flat to me on the bass side of the neck itself. But maybe not. Dunno. Anyway, it's of no great consequence....it would be nice, though, to have a 'new' feature - at least for a while before everyone copies it I'm very pleased with how the carve is coming along. Probably no point in posting many shots now until it's all done and properly rounded but it's starting to look like the image I had in my head I'm out of action building-wise next week, but am hoping for all the main body and neck carve to be completed this week.

I think I've confused everyone, but Mick has given me the go ahead to do what I wanted to do Now - I'm going at this very, very slowly so that I can see clearly when it's just right. The profiles, taken form Mick's favourite playing bass will eventually be this: BUT single cuts have an issue. That is, what do you do for the stretch from where the top horn joins the body to where the bottom cutaway joins the body. If we take this shot: 10th fret is easy. From the left hand side:[list] [*]Profile curves from the left hand fretboard edge towards the highest (mid) point then curves back down the other side towards the righthand fretboard edge [/list] But at, say the 18th...pretty much ALL single cut basses I've seen go:[list] [*]Profile curves from the left hand side towards the highest (mid) point, then stay flat until it smacks into the body. Some builders then just have a ridge. Others curve the transition to the full body depth [/list] Mine (and in this shot you can JUST see the curve starting to form) goes:[list] [*]Profile curves from the left hand fretboard edge towards the highest (mid) point then curves back down the other side enough to feel like a normal neck and then the body carve gently takes over back the other way [/list] Now, I may be completely wrong, but I think that is 100% Andyjr1515. I'm sure someone will tell me if it isn't

That's enough hard work for today. The width and depth is to finished dimensions and some of the bulk from the haunches removed. Time to sharpen the tools and cut out some profile templates from Mick's measurements and have a beer before the footer. For this build, it will be simply what Mick prefers, but for my future reference - to all you experienced single cut players....I will be putting to Mick that, instead of merging the neck into the full body thickness here: ...that I increase the top horn concavity a touch and do a semi-neck profile as far as the lower neck/body join point. Bit like this: Does any other single-cut manufacturer do that? I can't say I've ever seen anyone do it... Also, do you reckon it would enhance the playing experience?

I've been keeping a tab on the weight, by the way. Presently, including the fretboard and trussrod, it's sitting at 6lb 1oz. The headless tuner block is 1 lb 1oz and the magnetic coils are 3 oz. With there being still a fair bit of neck to shave off, but the headstock to be added to, I reckon it will finish at touch under 7 1/2lbs Not bad for a solid-body....

Hi again Not sure from the above if you've fully sorted the standard intonation / bridge position yet? If not, you need to remember that everything affects everything and that any stringed instrument is a collection of compromises held together by enthusiasm and hope! Put simply, as the others say, no note is going to ring right if the bridge isn't properly positioned - so get this right first if it isn't already. The nut will not create a flattened note, however badly it might have been cut...

This is probably where Mick has to look away.... And before you ask - yes, spokeshaving rock maple and ebony is VERY hard work! I normally knock off a neck carve in a day, but this will take longer. Single-cuts also have some especially interesting foibles....

Great - everything appears to be in the right place: LOADS of shaping still to do on the body - especially some of the edges that Mick wants softer radii on. But the key thing is that neck carving can commence very soon. I got Mick to send me some profile impressions from his favourite playing bass so that I can at least replicate the 'type' of feel to it. The contrasting veneer (I think Jabba_the_gut does this one some of his) between the neck and the fretboard should add a little extra quality to the look of the finished neck: It's going to start looking like a proper bass soon

[quote name='Ghost_Bass' timestamp='1495805683' post='3306765'] Wouldn't it be easier to fret the FB before attaching it to the body? Better support laying on a table for you to hammer on and easier to move around. [/quote] I've tried it both ways. The trouble is, that if the frets are in - due to the HUGE forces you end up putting onto the fretboard to clamp it to the neck, it is very easy to distort and loosen the fitted frets. On balance, my preference is to fret last. With a profiled and padded neck support (Crimson do a decent one) it is fairly straightforward. The other change I'm thinking about is pressing the frets in this time. I'll have a ponder on that. Anyway - a bit academic on this one, because, having thought, etc, etc, there was nothing left to do except glue and clamp the fretboard: I have 3/4" marine ply cauls at the back and am using radius blocks as cauls on the top all the way down. Where the neck will be fretted, the radius blocks are tighter radius (10" to 14") than the fretboard which should apply more pressure to the edges, where I need a completely gap-free result. There are literally tonnes of pressure on this clamping, hence my reservation about fretting first.... This glue-job is critical - the clamps will stay there until the morning

[quote name='stoo' timestamp='1495789420' post='3306555'] If the difference between the impedance of each adjacent coil is the same across all of them, wouldn't you still get full humbucking if the centre two were polarised one way and the outer two polarised the other? [/quote] Happily, I can trust that Martin will have done whatever necessary for the intended result. Which is another way of saying, I have absolutely no idea (but I'm sure BigRedX and Martin do) What I do know a bit more about, though, is cutting the holes for the 'it's all magic to me' electrics. My experiments in the very early design phase of this project - taking my fretless bass and doing VERY odd things to the height of the pickups and slugs led me to the conclusion that the slugs have to be close enough to the strings, but to be honest, the coils need to be too. As such, knowing I've got 3-4mm gap between the string and top of the fretboard here, I knew that an added 5-7mm of fretboard was going to be too much. So from the start, it was planned to do something like this: The change from a standard pickup to the individual coils has made this op less scary....but scary it is nevertheless I have created coil chambers in the fretboard of 3 to 4mm - and then an additional slug chamber, to allow adjustment to balance the strings, of a further 2mm: So now I'm going to sit and think and look and think and measure and think and look again and think.....because I [i]think[/i] this is now the time to be attaching the fretboard. And all of that pause for thought is because, to paraphrase the supermarket cliche, "Once it's on... it's on!"

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1495733472' post='3306251'] If all the coils are different impedances in order to balance the string volume will it be completely humbucking? [/quote] No - but it's only a tweak

[quote name='roman_sub' timestamp='1495726306' post='3306176'] how will the coils be wired - series or parallel? [/quote] series with opposite magnet poles on two of them (bit like a deconstructed humbucker)

This is the black fretboard demarcation veneer. 2m length arrived in a box 17cm square cross section all rolled up - and it's 0.6mm thick and real wood. Amazing stuff is veneer! Take off the tape holding the bundle rolled up and here you go: and here is a length of it, between two full length cauls, being glued to the back of the fretboard. I know it's only 0.6mm thick, but remember the mantra, folks "You can never have too many clamps!!!!!" 12 heavy ones, in this case:

Truss rod and cap fitted