Andyjr1515

Some great progress this morning - although 'me poor old arthritic joints' are suffering a bit now. Lets start with the challenges. Not a huge concern, but this is a new split...: ...and the sanding dust revealed a split in the ebony. Again, I am pretty certain the neck is alright and think this will have happened when the body join failed. It does reinforce the need to put a cross-dowel in the neck heel though, just in case: But onto the progress - continued rough shaping the scallop in the back of the body: Finished the rough-shaping of the new walnut panels: Started sanding the body and neck down. Levelled the fretboard...now that's what I CALL a levelling beam!!!! Slimmed the neck to match the brass nut Mick sent to me: Not bad for a morning's work....

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1463077277' post='3048418'] Very nice to use at affordable prices. Some woodworking tools are absolutely gorgeous but ridiculously expensive. I could do with a spokeshave - what do you use for carving your necks? [/quote] Hi, Norris I use a spokeshave. For most of my builds, I used a cheapo Draper one (but with a well sharpened blade). The last couple, I've used the Veritas one...it was quite pricey at £92 but worth every penny... Andy

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1463068844' post='3048316'] Aaaah...my daily fix satisfied...thanks Andy Nice to see the progress... [/quote] Yes - I'm pleased with how it's starting to progress...

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1463072099' post='3048365'] Looking good! [/quote] Thanks, Norris! By the way - also got a Shinto....brilliant! Thanks for the tip-off

Busy domestic duties day tomorrow, so thought I'd try and get on with this as much as I could today. With a flush bearing router bit, I trimmed the walnut to shape and size: Then routed the middle down to the thinnest point for the scalloped back: I always prefer to go to hand tools pretty quickly on this sort of thing - too much can go wrong too quickly with a router - so instead of routing contours, I set about it with a block plane and this new acquisition - a curved-base pullshave (fantastic!): Not finished, but I was! I basically stopped when I was k*******d - more curve to create (will end up a smooth concave) but hopefully you see where we're going with this: Weather permitting, basic body shaping should be complete on Saturday. Then it will be neck and headstock to get straight, slimmed and tidy.

Real craftsmanship on display here. Lovely job indeed

It's just started raining again.... ....but not before I managed to rout off the other oak panel! It still has to be flattened and the joint line trued up, then glued and clamped like the right hand side one, but this is broadly what it will look like when the left hand side is in place. Both are still oversize so will be also brought down to finish outline and size.

Success - managed to get the bandsaw out on the patio and cut the blanks: ...then flattened, keyed and glued the first one (where the oak had already been removed) on. With the mantra a number of us were chanting at the Midlands Bash..... 'You can't have too many clamps!':

The weather gods were obviously still p****d off that they slipped up over the weekend and gave us a couple of days of sunshine, so it proceeded to rain all morning. Nevertheless, there was inside stuff to get on with - removing the frets. Here are the essentials: [list] [*]A hot soldering iron - to soften wood glue, if the frets have been put in with some glue, and soften the 30 years of crud under the frets that has a habit of pulling off the top of the fretboard with it [*]A sharp knife to run under the fret sides to break any remaining crud stuck bits [*]Some proper ground fret pullers...essential to prevent major damage in removal [/list] You can see where the tangs have come out (or went in) - they don't matter because they will be hidden by the new fret, but what you are trying to avoid is the bigger chips flaking off the very brittle top edges of the ebony at the fret slots. All frets are out and the damage is relatively light: In the meantime...dryness has crept into Derby. I'm going to get the outside stuff on the go before the weather gods spot their mistake...

[quote name='FuNkShUi' timestamp='1462955485' post='3047161'] Think that new back panel will look great!! Might be tempting to change the front one after seeing it..... [/quote] We've got some dastardly plans for the front panels....

I'm praying for the rain to stop - I'd like to bandsaw the new back panels and rout off the remaining oak one later today I still have to tidy up the new joint line, but this is broadly how the new panel will look: In terms of both together - bearing in mind that the bandsaw guideline outlines you see are oversize and the walnut will darken from this - this will be the visible figuring:

Three for me....and I don't really play the bass!!! I have: My own design Bubinga Fretless. Taken me a while to get it how I want it but now very happy with it. The veneered Squier VM Jaguar (per my avatar) A Harley Benton deko acoustic that, with some D'addario black nylons that cost more than the bass (which I think was all of £30), punches well above its weight

For all those not fortunate enough to get to the Midlands Bash, Jez's basses, including this one, are jaw-droppingly good. Utterly aspirational...

Good news! The tuning held true. No sign at all of movement. Tuning held overnight so I think the neck is stable. I might add a cross-dowel in the heel just to be doubly sure the neck doesn't split from the body upwards but other than that, it seems strong enough. In fact, very strong. The trussrod tightens fine but does nothing at all to the neck relief. But actually, releasing all the tension on the strings does nothing either. Basically, I think the neck is so stiff, it isn't moving at all. That might be OK. I will be taking off the frets, flattening the fretboard and refretting. As long as it never moves, it should be fine (a number of basses nowadays have carbon rods and no trussrod - same principle)...but of course there is no guarantee. As expected, the action is very high due to zero neck angle paired with a T-o-M bridge. I think the bridge (and stop tail to some extent) will need to be recessed into the body and dropped by about 5mm to get a decent action. There's enough depth to do this although it will mean that intonation adjustments would require slackening the strings to lift the bridge out of the recess to get to the adjustment screws. I don't think that is a big issue as it is very rare for basses to need intonation changes once they've been initially set. Warwick bridges and stop tails are similarly recessed so it is not such an unusual state of affairs. Mick and I are now starting to discuss the final shape, the finish and, of course, the pickup types and arrangements. One question Mick has asked is whether it was at all feasible to put a curvature to the body cross-section similar to Warwick or my own bubinga fretless? I think the answer is probably yes to a reasonable degree. The top can't be cambered any more than it is already because the control chamber is too close to the upper surface. However, it is feasible to scoop out the back by 5 or 6mm, reflecting the curvature of the top: I actually think that might be a nice thing to do. It's a chunky old thing, as the folk at the Midlands Bash saw, and scalloped out at the back might look pretty cool and also take a bit of bulk out of it....

The crucial test - the go forward or not test - is underway...and so far so good If the neck is stable under string tension, we have a live rebuild. If not, then it's back to the drawing board. Mick had sent me some nice Sperzel tuners, a brass nut and a T-o-M bridge and stop tail. For the string test, the only thing I needed to fit was the stop tail and tuners. The latter will need a bit of work, but good enough for this test - clearly a previous owner was indecisive where to fit them: Next was a rough fret flattening - the frets are coming out but they need to be flat to be able to measure the relief and truss-rod effectiveness. You can see by the levelling beam swarf that it's a bit bowed!: Next was fitting the T-o-M stop tail bushes. Mick's preferred string length is medium so the stop tail has to be a bit closer to the bridge than normal to ensure the strings are clear of the binding at the nut. This was one of those check, double-check, triple-check, double-triple check occasions: Then loose fit the nut, loose fit the bridge and string her up! And so far so good. No sign whatsoever of strain or movement on the neck, tuning holding so far. I'll leave it overnight and then do some checks of the bow, relief, effectiveness (and/or need) of the truss rod etc., before hopefully declaring an end to the first phase, that of feasibility and structural checks Andy

There was great interest in this at the Bash. Two things came out of it: Confirmation that those oak panels have got to go. They almost move before your very eyes I have seen the inspiration and aspiration....Norris's reconditioned Aria! Let's hope it survives the stringing up test....

No pics I'm afraid (I'm sure some will be arriving soon) but thoroughly enjoyable do... Special thanks to Simon for organising, Andrew (D'Addario) for the great support, advice and raffle prizes and, of course, Jo (Mrs Chris S) for the divine and sublime orange and lemon drizzle cakes. Good to catch up. Too many impressive things to remember but things that come to mind include: the sheer perfection of Jabba's (Jez) builds - aspirational; a beautiful Wal ; Norris' EUB and wonderfully restored Aria; Button's buttons and effects; a lovely Vigier; some splendid D'Addario strings; Len_Derby's (Neil) acoustic bass. Here's to the next one

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1462625365' post='3044479'] Andyjr1515 - Splendid fellow. I met him recently when he agreed to have a look at my B2A. By arrangement I took the stick to his place and we discussed what would be worth doing and what would be nice to have if time and money were of no concern. He's quite a pleasant chap to talk with and we settled on a repair/replacement of the seemingly inoperative pre-amp, a change of jack socket and a light polish on the fretboard. The pre-amp turned out to be okay when he put in the new battery that I had supplied. If memory serves, the last time I tried it and thought it had failed I had used a rechargeable battery. I read recently (elsewhere on this forum) that rechargeable batteries don't always work in B2As. He told me when he rang to update me that the amp was fine and needed no further attention. He did the job in slightly less than a week. He even dropped it off at ours and stopped for a chat. All he wanted was for his expenses to be covered. It was a relatively minor job and Andy may have a tendency to undersell his work so I made sure he could have a couple of drinks for his trouble. I am happy now that I have a crackle-free connection. The stick sounds good because I don't tense up in trying not to cause crackle. The fret board is nicely oiled and the frets twinkle when they catch the light - nice. Thank you Andy. I am happy to recommend you should anyone be looking for assistance with their guitar maintenance. [/quote] Thanks for this John! The jack socket is often the culprit - happily it was this time too. Very glad to help - hope you enjoy gigging with it

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1462547199' post='3043960'] What a shame that the Midlands Bash has had to be cancelled this weekend... Never mind, Andy can hopefully use the time to do a bit more work on my bass.. [/quote]

Thanks for this, Kert Gosh - you and Mick could make an old-git blush I'm delighted that you like the bass so much...it was a thrill to see how it ended up from those early tentative discussions. I loved doing it. Every one of these projects brings something new and that's where the satisfaction comes from. Mick's 'Alembic-esque' is still at the will-it-or-wont-it stage but it will be just as great a thrill to get that to how Mick and I have it in our heads. Great hobby this...and some great folks on this forum Andy

Well, in light of the above, it is clear that the oak is actually a major part of the problem. Some of it is that it is cross-grained, but look at this, the panel I managed to remove and which was still solidly stuck at the join line before I removed it....here it is lined up with the front horn curves: ...and this is where it is at the back: It's shrunk around 3mm since I took it off less than a week ago. Lengthways (ie along the length of the grain) it has actually GROWN by around 1.5mm. With that kind of movement - and the evidence that most of the issues have been around the two oak panels - I have to revert to a more standard 'luthier' approach....the oak has got to go. So yes - I now have to remove the one panel I spent the last 2 days fixing extremely securely, but basically they both need taking off and new panels need putting in their place that are the correct grain direction and whose properties are more compatible with the mahogany and maple. I have agreed with Mick that we will use these lovely bookmatched walnut pieces: It will look lovely with the quite deep carve of the panels... But before I do that and add the additional cost, I'm going to test the strength of the neck. Mick has sent me some machine heads and strings, and so I will now fit the TOM stop tail, the tuners and nut and get it up to playing tension to see what happens...

Thanks, Kert I'm delighted you're pleased with it. It was a very satisfying and enjoyable build. Andy

Clamps are off and the 'non-luthier' fix is holding: Glue lines are generally pretty small but - more importantly - the panels are very securely held. The manner in which this bass has delaminated has given an interesting example of differential properties in woods and the internal stresses and strains in a multi-laminate construction and the desirability to make laminates compatible. See the raised central neck splice in the above picture? It is [i]completely [/i]flat at the other side - it has simply expanded, because it could, more than the maple and mahogany either side. You see it again here. The oak back panel (cross grained) is pretty well joined at the neck splice: But overhangs by at least 1mm at the edges: In both cases, the expanded wood is oak. I suspect when I look at the Wood Database for oak, I will find that the dimensional stability of oak with changing temperature or moisture is significantly worse than maple or mahogany. This expansion and contraction can be all held together with decent glue, but can produce unexpected results if the glue holds (eg warped necks, etc) or strains on the glue joints if atmospheric conditions change, that can lead to failures of the joints, thus letting more moisture and exacerbating the movement. If I'm right, then it's no surprise that the major cracks are at oak joints... If I'm wrong....well...that would not be a surprise either

Mahogany body splice seems to be holding well. Only a thin glue line that will be pretty invisible once resanded and finished. Today, I am giving the other peeling backpanel the same treatment - it's only coming off at the horn so should hold OK, glued with the same kind of clamping pressure (trust me - it's a different picture ) Once that has cured fully, tomorrow, it will allow me to flatten and re-square up the other fully removed back panel and hopefully get that glued back too.

Hi Mel Most of the usual suspects have already been mentioned. My starting point for pickup height is usually 4mm bridge and 5.5mm neck so with the adjustment you've already made (assuming neck pup height is OK) it is unlikely to be excessive magnetic pull. The thing that makes me wonder is that the same string and fret will vary between plucks and the tuners sometimes act in reverse. That does not fit the normal pattern of tight nuts, bridge, etc.. It fits with duff strings but you've eliminated that. So a couple more things to check relating to the stability of the neck: 1. What is the neck relief like? And is it stable, that is, consistent each time you measure 2. The neck bolts may be tight, but is the neck secure and properly seated. That is, with the strings off, does the neck move in its seating? Andy