Andyjr1515

With the Schaller spacers due on Monday, I got the frets levelled, crowned and polished and scraped and oiled the fretboard: I also had a look at that crack in the headstock plate. One thing I love about working on old guitars and basses is that you can see the history. E.g., way back when, the then owner loses little screw holding the trussrod cover on, finds a screw in his toolbox, screws it into the rockhard maple, said screw is bigger than the old one and snaps, in the process, the larger diameter has forced the headstock plate apart, taking some of the logo with it. Just a guess, of course... : The whole logo, even the 'mother of pearl' BC Rich logo is actually a decal. This is why the bit of the H is missing above. Having established that the crack is only in the top veneer, I suggested we just tidied the headstack up rather than go for full filling and levelling, which would risk all of the decal being lost. What I have tried to do, therefore, is just deceive the eye. I.e.:[list] [*]darken the crack where it's on rosewood [*]paint some lighter fill where the crack is over the mock MOP [*]Stipple some light fill to trick the eye that the H is actually still complete [*]Fill the crack with clear sealer [*]wipe of tru-oil over the top to smooth out the irregularities without losing the mojo [/list] Here's the bit of stippling: Here's how it looks. It's far from perfect but, once the tuners and strings are on, it should cease to become the attention-seeking magnet it once was :

I like the rig, Kert! It's infinitely better than mine...I don't have the garage bit I'm not sure what others do, but I don't worry too much about taping the holes. Any that get too clogged up, I just run through with the right sized drill and things like pickguard holes, I just let the screws re-cut their threads in the paint. Can't wait to see the glitter bit

I've been racking my brains as to who it was who first put me onto Melamine - and I've just remembered...it was our very own scojack . [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/282086-2016-build-season-fretlessfretted-5/page__st__30"]I've just found the thread here where he mentions it[/url] - and got SUCH a great result Thanks for the lead, Ian. I may be PM'ing you soon to find out just how many coats....and just how much sanding....and just how much buffing It's tough old stuff!!!!

I don't know if the other builders are the same, but I agonise over decisions of expensive tools and bits of equipment. None more so than when I was trying to decide whether to buy a decent thicknesser. In the end, I did - I bought the superb Makita 2012nb. What a good gamble. Not only has a job that used to take me hours and hours of frustration turned into a 30 minute job (plus 10 mins to empty the shavings out of my extractor/vacuum), but these pieces are accurate in thickness to within 0.3mm of each other. They are nice pieces of mahogany :

Thanks, folks This has had about 6 thin coats of wiped on clear. You can see the difference already. I reckon it will end up with about twenty coats, sanded down from time to time. Quilt maple is remarkable stuff...

Hurrah! First piece of wood cut! These are the two mahogany blanks I have cut lengthways from an extra-wide mahogany plank. The saw is just a prop - I'm not fit enough or mad enough to cut that by hand I used an old circular saw...and that struggled! It's good dense stuff The marks you can see are just a couple of surface stains which will disappear when I put them through the thicknesser later today. Also today, I will rout the mating faces - essential before cutting out the shapes and, if all that goes well, cut out the basic blanks

[quote name='niceguyhomer' timestamp='1479364222' post='3175925'] I don't understand this truss rod but I think it works OK. I've ignored the fact that it tightens as you turn it counter clockwise and after about half a turn, I've now got more relief in the neck which is what I was trying to achieve. I guess you live and learn. Thanks for your help fellas. [/quote] Great stuff I think the string pull probably wasn't enough to bow the neck enough for you when the truss rod was at its loose mid point, and as you carried on turning, the truss rod is now simply giving the string pull a helping hand, albeit in the opposite direction to "normal". Whatever, it's working

If it's a dual action, it's probably just at the middle point. If you carry on turning clockwise, does it then start getting tighter again? If so, then what is happening when it feels tight on the anti-clockwise is that the truss rod will be starting to form a back bow in the neck.

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1479334958' post='3175825'] Lovely looking wood Surely pre-slotted is cheating. As BC builds develop I would be expecting tree felling at the least, and following the example of [url="https://paulsellers.com/"]Paul Sellers[/url] (who I find inspirational about hand tools) filing your own saw blades. [/quote] It's OK....I'll be finish sanding it with the stubble of my chin

OK - I haven't actually started cutting any [i]wood [/i]yet....but I have cut some paper These are the paper templates for cutting the mahogany over the next couple of days. I will be cutting it oversize by a few mm and then file and sand down to final size by hand. The other thing that has arrived is the neck and fretboard wood: Not a great photo but David Dyke has once more supplied some excellent timber. Matched maple outers, rosewood inner splice and a lighter toned AAA rosewood fretboard. I got David to slot it too...just £10 to remove all the worry of c*****g it up. Bargain! By the end of the weekend, we should have a joined neck blank and the body sections thicknessed, flattened and cut out.

If you buy DPDT switch, dual pole dual throw, you basically have two switches in one. Each humbu ker will use one side of the switch wher the middle pole is where the joined leads from the humbu ker goes and the top or bottom goes to earth depending whether you want up to split the coil or down. These switches are on-on, though rather than on-off- on

Thanks folks All this means a huge amount...

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1479247642' post='3175115'] Doesn't it look posh in the write up! Gorgeous [/quote] My first reaction was, "Is that really the one I built??? Surely there must be some mistake!"

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1479208029' post='3174710'] Annnnnnnd finally we have worldwide recognition [url="http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2016/06/20/bass-of-the-week-ajr-guitars-singlecut-bass/"]http://www.notreble....singlecut-bass/[/url] [/quote] This came as a complete surprise. Still haven't wiped the silly grin off my face! Many, many thanks to Kert for putting this forward

I'm trying a different finish...with the environmentally-led formulation change, the Ronseal polyurethane varnish gave me some issues last time. Having seen someone's fabulous build (was it here? Can't remember who...) who used Chestnut Melamine, I thought I'd give it a whirl. This CANNOT be used in my cellar workshop, even with mask and extraction, but is very quick and so far very impressive. This is after one sanding sealer coat and one top coat:

[quote name='martthebass' timestamp='1479149062' post='3174360'] Now that's just taunting! The bass is currently in Advanced Guitar Solutions in Sheffield having phase one of its beautification treatment....the horrible black gunky varnish is being stripped and the headstock sprayed over. The rear of the neck is having a vintage gloss tint applied. Not cheap, hopefully it will be worth it. Phase 2 will be removal of the 'cinnamon artex' that passes for paint on the body. I expect final cost will be more than if I'd bought a full fat Sterling but the sub is basically a 3 band stingray with the pup in series - a much better sound (to my ears) that the stock US Sterling. [/quote] Interesting stuff . Did you see my Sterling 5 thread for Paul_S? Just fitted a P pickup and put that to passive with a standard 3 way switch. Interestingly, to balance the volumes of the two p/ups, I rewired that also to series. To my ears it sounds great.

[quote name='martthebass' timestamp='1479144399' post='3174303'] Watching with interest Andy. I Think you could really help turn my ugly duckling MM usa Sterling sub into a swan. [/quote] Sounds interesting

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1479140221' post='3174252'] How about a thread dedicated to Andy's work? [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/295232-andyjr1515s-custom-builds/page__pid__3174264#entry3174264"]http://basschat.co.u...64#entry3174264[/url] [/quote] You do know that flattery will get you absolutely anywhere, don't you

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1479141472' post='3174268'] So this is being done for one of my fellow Hatfielders - looks like I'll have to sneak round to Charlie's to have a closer look when it's done. Charlie's actually a very accomplished drummer.. [/quote] Ahah....the mystery solved

Thanks, folks Still some bits of PVA there - I've added a quick wipe of cellulose sanding sealer and that REALLY brings it out as yellow: But, the general look of the stained ply is, to my eyes, not bad at all ! : The sealer has probably left it at its final depth of colour, but the varnish top coats will give it its texture. Here's how the colour is beginning to look (prob more orange than the photo shows): ...and here's the rear cutout. Again, not bad for ply :

[quote name='allighatt0r' timestamp='1479130405' post='3174134'] That quilt is lovely! Quite like the colour! [/quote] Thanks, Bryan As the final finish goes on, it will darken a touch too...I think it's going to look quite something

[quote name='W1_Pro' timestamp='1479094228' post='3173877'] Looks lovely Andy. As usual.... [/quote] Thanks, Stuart While W1_Pro's bits are coming over the Channel from Schaller and gelfin's wood trundles its way from David Dyke, I should be able to get this to the point where I can start the final varnishing on this veneer job. That is good news because final finishing involves 2% time doing stuff and 98% time waiting for said stuff to dry I did the edge sanding of the veneer. Two main objectives, sanding ALONG the join line:[list] [*]getting a nice clean, smooth feathering of the edge join [*]getting rid of all the PVA - which does not and will not accept stain [/list] Finished result should be something like this: Then started the staining. The owner wants orange with the ply sides flaunted Well - that looks pretty orange to me : Nowadays, I do a cursory look for stray PVA (or, in the case of the sides, where there is still some original undercoat I've missed) but let the first coat of stain find the rest. You can see what the PVA does here - the patches on the join line is PVA and the light patches where I've started to stain the wood in the cutout is original undercoat: It's easily fixed - which is why I use the stain to find the patches! I just let it dry and then resand and restain For unstained, I just wipe with a damp cloth - the PVA still shows through. The quilt is starting to show nicely Bling or not, it will be stunning when the varnish is on!

[quote name='tommorichards' timestamp='1479081633' post='3173842'] excellent stuff Andy. [/quote] Thanks!

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1479065747' post='3173682'] Hocus Pocus...Andy performing more of his magic...lovely job mate...just what we've come to expect from you.. [/quote] Thanks, Mick Just found out I may have you to thank for the lead on this one I'll PM you

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1479064815' post='3173669'] Watching this one as I may be a future customer to have a veneer job done. Think that's one of the veneers you emailed me pics of Andy. [/quote] ....and I've held back a couple of sheets 'just in case' for you Mind you, PRS have blinged the quilt maple look quite a bit...I think a walnut burst or similar could be maybe less cliché'd... It'll be interesting how this comes out, though. Quilt is, PRS or not, a spectacular figuring. It's impossible to look at it in the flesh and convince yourself it's not actually rippling. I ironed this two or three times more than I needed to simply because I was convinced it was lifting...which, of course, it wasn't.