Andyjr1515

One of the things I have learned over the builds is to always physically draw the side view in full scale: I don't do it in huge detail, but to absolutely confirm:[list] [*]Body depth [*]Bridge height [*]Pickup height [*]Fretboard and fret height [*]...leading to Neck angle and [*]Headstock angle [/list] This one has come out as a bit of a pleasant surprise....no neck angle required! What's more, I can [i]just [/i]get my minimum comfortable headstock angle (I use 9 degrees as a personal OK minimum) with a single fully thicknessed neck beam: That will make the thickessing and routing of the through neck SO much easier (and it's a first on any of my builds). Here's the thicknessed neck: The reason that all of this helps so much is that I am going to do this a more conventional way than normal -[list] [*]I normally attach the back to the top, slot the channel for the neck, then set the neck into the complete body assembly. This generally sends decent builders into a state of apoplexy [*]But the above relies on the top being flat and stable. The figured mahogany on this build is moving all over the place and I need a stable flat base to clamp it onto when it's gluing [*]So I am going to glue the squared-up back wings onto the thicknessed and slimmed neck, rout the weight-relief and cable routing chambers, then glue the top onto that flat and prepared surface. [/list] Next jobs are to use the thicknesser again to slim down the neck blank, then band-saw the neck profile ready for the wings to be glued on The thicknesser, by the way, was my one 'big' spend when I started doing full builds and I'm pleased I made that decision. There was nothing in the reviews and specs that gave any indication of how fine an increment the Makita 2012NB could maintain. Well, I'm sure it varies but here I thicknessed down 1mm per pass until I was sub 1mm away, and then eased it down to final thickness +/- 0.1mm !!!! It is, of course, just a thicknesser so you don't get over the problem of 'banana in, banana out', but generally I can find a way of creating a decent datum to work from.

It's going to be another corker I love the arm relief cut through to the back wood. You probably said earlier, but what veneer have you used for demarcation?

[quote name='Bastav' timestamp='1471171527' post='3110934'] says the guy who routed out a control cavity cover from this thing [/quote] That's why I know it's scary!!

Wow, that's some careful and scary routing on the neck heel!

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1471100305' post='3110545'] Sorry I'm at it again. The orientation of the top is just right this time Andy. It's one of the little characters from the film 'batteries not included' and she's much happier than the horned Devil was. [/quote] Well, I confess that of all the things I could see in the figuring, that wasn't one of them

Top is now cut and the sides sanded (top not yet finish sanded): The wenge demarcation veneer can be seen at the bottom here. I'm hoping the end grain pattern of the mahogany bodes well for when I cut the chamfer! : The neck has been sanded with my large levelling beam (although to be honest, it didn't need it - two superb quarter grain and beautifully planed mahogany neck splices supplied by David Dyke! Thanks, David ) and the walnut centre splice glued, offset by 11mm to form the channel for the truss rod: ...and with that clamped and set, the second outer splice glued and clamped: It's not often I've made such a lot of progress in one morning - the provision of a small workspace and proper workbench hasn't half made a difference!

[quote name='paulnb57' timestamp='1471020091' post='3110074'] Great stuff Andy! Another awesome build! [/quote] Thanks, Paul

Hi, folks. Yup - the second one is my favourite. I like the fluidity of it in the playing position: And, ref the earlier discussions, when it's on its stand, you will see the flames licking round his horns :

Well, cutting wood at last With my slightly unconventional approach, I finish shape the top - first by band saw and then with hand tools - and then use that as the routing template to finish rout the above back wings. Many other builders do it the other way round, finish routing the top using the back as the guide for the bearing flush trimmer bits. However, I always fear the points of horns of the figured top going 'ping' as the router bit goes round. Later this evening I will rough cut the top - once the wenge demarcation veneer glue has hardened enough... Horrible stuff, wenge...great results, though

Excellent progress, Bastav I was working with wenge veneer today. Hate the bloody stuff but I can't get away from that it does produce an excellent result!

[quote name='6v6' timestamp='1470997810' post='3109854'] For me it's the first one, I really like the way the figuring looks on the lower bouts of the body. One question for you - what sort of router bit do you use with the thicknessing jig? I've tried a similar thing with large-ish straight bits and got fairly poor results, e.g not that smooth because the edges of each pass are visible so need post-routing sanding to fully flatten (to be fair, it could also be that my jig isn't quite rigid enough). [/quote] Yes - it does that with mine too. But it is usually just the grain pushed one way a bit like the stripes on a lawn so doesn't affect the dimensional accuracy. As you say, a quick sand will usually sort it. You can see the stripes here: I just use a straight-forward 1/2" (or metric equivalent). This one was a bit blunt, to be honest...I'd only got one that was long enough and that has been knocking around for some time The key seems to be to apply small increments of depth and no more than 1/2 of the bit's diameter travel on each pass.

Well, the top gluing seems pretty sound and the panels - at the moment - are staying largely flat. For those who haven't used figured woods before and intend to, there's an important tip related to the fact that the best of the bookmatching is usually along the join....which is where most of the hardware goes. Added to that, there are features that, again, can often be covered or routed out by hardware or pickups. So the tip is to ALWAYS pop a mask over the wood, dampened to see the grain, and place on some hardware paper templates or the actual bits if you've got them. Here, the fretboard and bridge pickup are not intended for this bass - but they are in approx the right places. I haven't put any sample knobs on, but can envisage where they will be, including the big settings plate of the varitone. I have a choice - this way round: ...or this way round I think I know my own preference. Which one grabs you?

The thicknessing with a router worked fine with the back slabs of mahogany but less successful with the top. As mentioned, the grain pattern encouraged a longitudinal bow. I straightened them by soaking on one side and clamping overnight, but as soon as I started thicknessing with the router, the bow broke the two sided tape bond, then panels rose and the router started digging in. In the end, I just used my Makita thicknesser - they will still be banana, but at least with a surface capable of being dead flat! So, that done, time to glue the two halves of the top : The two halves are being clamped very securely by the vice at the same time as the levelling beam acting as a caul to keep the two halves flat against the bench, which itself is protected from the glue squeeze-out by a layer of cling film. Tomorrow should see some progress on cutting the top shape / back wings and, if I don't get landed with too many domestic duties, gluing the neck splices together

The mahogany I am using is far from straight and planed. I spent quite a bit of time making a much more substantial router jig to level and thickness the back panels. I have a thicknesser, but it is the renowned 'banana in, banana out' syndrome when you are dealing with uneven surfaces on both sides! This is the rig I built out of some very stiff and perfectly flat IKEA shelves we no longer use!: ...and this is one of the back halves after initial thicknessing: These are how the two halves will sit, with the neck splices in the middle: All marked out - with any luck I'll be able to band-saw these this evening: The 'devil's top' is going to take some thinking about. Probably because of the grain direction (basically what gives it such a stunning figuring) the panels are VERY bowed. I may have to - it had to happen sometime - build the thing conventionally! That is, add the back wings to the neck, then clamp the top panels onto the flat surface. For those who follow my other threads, you will know I usually do it the other way round, which freaks out many a decent builder . Anyway, to try to avoid such a shameful thing as convention, I am seeing if they will flatten. I have thoroughly soaked the concave side, clamped it straight and will leave overnight to thoroughly dry....mmmmm, we'll see

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1470822380' post='3108678'] Cheers Andy, It's all matching ....... bass front, headstock and cover. [/quote] Yup - [i]very [/i]classy

[quote name='scojack' timestamp='1470584486' post='3106899'] Seen the day when I would attack that with a hand plane Norris ! The gentle (ahem) hum of an electric planer is just as good for the sole. at my age anyway [/quote] Amen to that! It's looking very good, Ian. I particularly like the contrasts and grains of the back and cover. The finished bass is going to be superb

[quote name='6feet7' timestamp='1470774516' post='3108415'] I know absolutely nothing about building basses but something I've done to pretty much every bass I've had since I owned a couple of 1980's Ibanez RB850's (which had this) is move the strap button from directly behind the bridge to 2 or so inches up. That way the body hangs a bit lower and neck comes up, stopping neck dive. Works for me [/quote] Yes - I do this too when I have a problem. I don't expect to have a problem with this one, but it's in the arsenal just in case

[quote name='ColinB' timestamp='1470725863' post='3107877'] Surely weight reduction chambers in the body is going to encourage neck dive, especially on an SG shape... unless you intend to fill one of the chambers with lead? [/quote] Yes - it's a judgement call on all these factors. Basically, what will be pushing the c of g forward is: * long neck * short body and upper horn of SG shape * reduction of weight in body What I will be doing to counter this, is: * pulling bridge further back to the tail, thus shortening the neck * putting the front strap button on the horn, not at the neck heel, thus moving it further forward * moving the top horn, and therefore the strap button further forward than standard * fitting ultralight tuners ...and keep a weather eye on commodity lead prices

What I do, once the bass is close to finish, is to pop the tail button on, and attach the strap and then try the other end of the strap, often using a simple string sling,in various positions to see where the balance and 'sit' lies before deciding the best place for the button. A button at the back of the top horn in standard SG configuration is almost bound to result in neck heavy, hence my modded shape to get the button closer in line with the 13th fret. I look forward to seeing a build thread, 3below!

[quote name='Bassmonkey' timestamp='1470668749' post='3107494'] The step button position is a pain. Its on the back of the neck heel and therefore the guitar leans forward and neck dives too. Would have preferred it on the upper body horn personally Andy [/quote] Yes - been there, done that. What I will do is put the button at the back of the horn so that it doesn't detract from the look rather than the tip. On my own guitars, I often put both on and use whichever, depending how the mood takes me - the sit and feel is subtly different even though they are so close:

OK - this works from a functional point of view. Even when weight relieved and long-scale, it should balance on the strap with the strap button somewhere around the 13th/14th fret. There should also be decent access up to and including the 22nd fret. The upper bout to lower bout length difference is greater than a standard SG but I think visually it will look close enough for an 'in the style of' (as there is a size difference on the real ones), particularly once the bevels have been carved. Anyway, no point in building something Pete can't play so I think this is the shape and layout I'll go for. Now I can work out the controls and weight-relief chamber positions and, hopefully soon, start cutting some wood

Now this is the part where you think you are going nowhere, but if you skimp on it, most likely you're going nowhere....it's the planning stage. The number of times I've routed out a weight relief chamber, and then gone to fit the bridge bushes and...ahhhh, now then, never thought of THAT The main issue here is about balance, weight distribution and scale reach. Although the original EB3 was short scale (although they did do a few long scale ones later), Pete wants 34". He also wants it weight-relieved. Alarm bells then start ringing:[list] [*]If you join the neck where the original was joined, you will struggle to reach the first fret and it will be neck heavy like there is no tomorrow. This is exacerbated by the short upper horn of the SG design - compare this: [/list] ...to this: [list] [*]If you bring the bridge rearward to shorten the apparent scale length, you won't be able to reach the upper frets, due to the relatively small cut-out of the lower horn [/list] So I have spent a lot of time this morning checking the maximum I can afford to bring the bridge back with where that logically means the fretboard needs to meet the body and what the maximum reach from the lower cutout to the 22nd fret would be (it will have 24 frets but I reckon Pete will only be able to comfortably reach 22 of them) With a tiny tweak of the lower horn to deepen the cutout (and maybe a very small extension to the upper horn) I reckon I can get it to work. Visually, I think it still looks like an SG:

[quote name='JPJ' timestamp='1470601803' post='3107065'] Mother fetch the gun, the boy has gone near that red stain...... :-) [/quote] As everybody knows, my name is Bert and I live in Spalding and I'm young and tall and can sing like a lark...you can't miss me

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1470602214' post='3107067'] The figured timber is stunning. Will it have the 666 model number engraved on the truss rod cover? [/quote] Now there's a thought...

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1470640931' post='3107198'] Not a lot as I have had a relative staying for the last few weeks, I did manage to get another coat of paint on and drill the hole from the battery compartment to the control cavity. [/quote] Every little helps - 'every step is a step closer'