Andyjr1515

[quote name='rubis' timestamp='1444408431' post='2883090'] Lovely job, and a right riveting read, what kind of wood is the body made from? [/quote] I'm not sure. Tom may know. I think it's the same wood that they make some of the traditional African drums from.

Just a post-script...got some great feedback from Tom on this bass. When he's finished a season with it, Tom will do a full review but to keep the thread live, he's happy for me to post a couple of shots he's forwarded to me and some first impressions. I've clearly missed out the bits that ask me never to darken his door again and so on, but the following are the selected bits I particularly like from his emails :- [i]"I have used the Afro bass on a couple of things recently and had to write and tell you. I love it! I used the bass last week for some recording at the Institute of Contemporary Art in London for part of an exhibition. I should be able to send you audio recording of this at some point, it was myself with the percussionist from Gambia who helped organise the body being carved and the Tanzanian musician we play in a trio with. Also, last night I had a rehearsal with the same Tanzanian musician for a show coming up - this Saturday we are playing 12-1pm at Trafalgar Square! It's his full band (2 guitars, me on bass, drums, a vocalist and the main artist who plays guitar/thumb piano + other traditional instruments and vocals..) It sounded FABULOUS at the rehearsal. Really inspiring me and, in a moment of clarity I really felt like my playing and sound for that whole genre (which I feel very at home in anyway) really progressed several leaps. Bass in most African music is so much about the FEEL - the sound, the timing, the interaction against the other parts. I've played all kinds of basses with this group, 4/5/6str and fretted/fretless, normal/shortscale. Often I have combined a fretless with a fretted for different songs on the same gig (fretless is great and to some extent essential for the 'traditional instrument' songs where the tuning is "funky" vs concert pitch, whereas fretted sometimes works better on the more guitar led tracks where in amongst 3 other guitars I don't want the bass to sound too 'wide' and I want to blend more with those other parts). The bass you created was taking all these elements in its stride - beaming smiles from my bandmates, and I should also say every time I have played it in public it gets new comments."[/i] OK...selected highlights or not, that is VERY satisfying feedback Here is Tom at (I think) Oxford with it, just before a gig: ...and at Brixton (also, I think...) in action: When it has a lull period between major gigs, I will even finish the neck for him ! To elaborate, we were originally planning to final-shape the neck as part of the 'final fitting' on the day he picked it up, but Tom opted to play it for a while first in its unfinished (playable but not fettled to his optimum) state. As we both thought, he has confirmed that a couple of mm needs to come off the thickness and I am also suggesting we take some meat off the haunches...I had left it almost D shape at the first fitting on the basis that you can always take material off the neck but can't put back on. However, even with a relatively wide neck, a shape closer to a C will, I think, feel much more comfortable to play. For slimmer necks, I usually go one stage further and head towards 'V' profiles, but with wider necks, they can feel a bit odd. Can't wait to hear the full review...including more about the sonic characteristics of the straight-through pickup in that body configuration. It would be also interesting to try it with alternative strings...it still has on it the acoustic strings off a deko Thomann Harley Benton acoustic! Thanks, Tom. for the feedback so far and can't wait to actually properly finish that neck!!!! Andy

Yeah.....lovely

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1444331081' post='2882376'] This one? [URL=http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/FairfaxAikman/media/Alembic%20copy/Alembiccopy3_zps22c97905.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q639/FairfaxAikman/Alembic%20copy/Alembiccopy3_zps22c97905.jpg[/IMG][/URL] or this? [URL=http://s1167.photobucket.com/user/FairfaxAikman/media/Alembic%20copy/Alembiccopy2_zps961b4f93.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1167.photobucket.com/albums/q639/FairfaxAikman/Alembic%20copy/Alembiccopy2_zps961b4f93.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/quote] Yup...both. I like that very much...

I spotted the 3/4 view on the photobucket link...it is a very fancy and well shaped and constructed body when you see it side on. Might be worth posting that shot...very distinctive and something someone might recognise...

Nice to see it all put together Looks very good...

Thanks, Mick...really pleased it worked out how you wanted it

That is a cracking looking neck, Grangur. No reason at all why this shouldn't turn out to be a giant killer....

Looks a nice piece of wood

I rebodied a Curbow recently but, to be honest, the original was pretty good to start with. I rate Cort very highly for both their basses and their six strings. Huge bang for their buck....

Happy Birthday, Paul

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1443472305' post='2875104'] What about getting really thin super glue to wick into the crack? [/quote] My thoughts too. If that doesn't work, then based on it able to physically move, then maybe a pin after all

Is the split right through, Grangur? As paulnb57 says, it is cosmetic rather than structural. Not even sure it needs a pin or dowel...

Chris S has had a jolly good thrash on the bass and given me some very valuable feedback. Based on Chris's feedback. I've swopped the cup washers on the back covers for standard countersunk screws and I've taken a couple of mm off the neck...to me it feels a lot better. There's a couple of aesthetic items just to tidy up when I get round to it, but it's now joining the ranks of my gigging instruments You may already have seen the arty-farty shots in the Bass Guitars section but, just to bore the pants off you, here's the finished article:

[quote name='Norris' timestamp='1443005568' post='2871309'] Cracking job Andy Could the same veneering technique be used when there is a bit more curvature up to the nut e.g. on a telecaster guitar? Or would you not spray water on the back where you want it curved? There again it would curve with the grain rather than across it? [/quote] As long as it is a simple curve (on one axis) it will generally bend quite sharply...it does depend a bit on the type of wood the veneer is made from, though.

Thanks, folks...it should be safely back with its owner tomorrow

Great progress, Ian. Looks great

Interesting stuff, Pete1967 Andy

Looks lovely....a real retro vibe to it. Looks beautifully made and finished too

Just a bit of detail on the varnishing - as I said above, I use standard poly varnish (Ronseal Hardglaze or Rustins Clear Gloss Varnish) for most of my gloss finished guitars and basses, because:[list] [*]It's tough [*]It's readily available [*]It covers pretty much anything without nasty reactions [*]It can be wiped on [*]It can be done (if like me you don't have a workshop or the patience to wait for a dry and windless day) inside. [/list] The key to wiping on is:[list] [*]Using microfibre cloths...cheap is fine...because they really are lint free [*]Thinning the varnish down adding between 30% and 50% with white spirit [*]Multiple thin coats, flattened after an overnight cure every 3rd coat [*]Doing a final flattening with very fine wet and dry (1000 grit) once the varnish has properly hardened, then one or two final coats of the thinned varnish [*]NOT buffing as you would with a nitro finish! [/list] Here's the stuff I use (plus the wet and dry): ...the jam jar is what I mix the varnish and white spirit in! Anyway, back to the headstock, part of this game is knowing when to stop. If it looks right, I generally stop! Too many times I've thought 'I'll just smooth that little bit out a bit more...' and ended up buggering it up and having to start it again. This one is, in my view, done. And I'm pleased with it. Close inspection will not hide that it has been veneered, but, particularly when the tuners and badge are back on, I think most people would not notice that this hasn't been there for the past 30 years It is certainly a bit better than it started out BEFORE: AFTER: I'll let the varnish cure for a few days before shipping it back to it's owner, who might (hint, hint) post a shot of the finished and reassembled bass sometime soon? Thanks for looking and for your ever encouraging feedback Andy

Some nice pieces of wood there, blablas I look forward to another great thread and result

Watching with interest and waiting impatiently for next great shots By the way - just re read the whole thread and....stripping it over the gas stove! There's an innovative man after my own heart Great Victorian floor too....

Hi, Mike I think you have two choices if you are wanting to strip down to natural but keep a serial number and 'made in Japan'...and neither includes trying to lift the logos . I'm not saying it couldn't be done, but I know that I couldn't do it.... First option - ie, retaining original logos[list] [*]As you say, you would need to strip down to a neat boundary around the present logos. [*]Not easy, but with care and patience it can be done. I would use a single-edged razor (or a Stanley knife blade out of its handle) used like a scraper: [*] [/list] As you may have gathered, it's also what I use to refurbish fretboards![list] [*]I would avoid scoring a line with a blade around the logo because it will always show...this is the method someone had previously used with Bryan's Westone... [/list] Second Method: For a natural headstock, make a new decal, black printing on clear: [list] [*]Nowadays, I don't use the waterslide ones - I use this (think I got them in Staples): [/list] [list] [*]They do white background too, but these are clear. Print with a standard inkjet, cut them out, they are self stick and certainly over varnish OK with my favoured Ronseal/Rustins poly varnish...not sure with nitro (but I think I am right in saying you can coat it first in shellac, and then overspray with the nitro? Best to trial it first!) [/list]

Thanks, fellas The varnishing is going well. I wiped on a couple of coats of the wood dye and let it dry, and then started with the Ronseal Hardglaze (actually this time I used Rustins polyurethane gloss varnish as the local B&Q has stopped doing the small tins of Hardglaze). There is, inevitably, a tone difference between the new and the old so I have added a small amount of brown wood dye (with a 'Very High' VOC content to avoid compatibility problems) to the varnish to tint it slightly. Here it is after the third coat: In some of the grain, you will see that I let the dye sit a little to try to make sure it doesn't look TOO pristine for a 30 year old neck! There are, however, also a couple of fine splits down from the D string that the dye has absorbed more (and there's also one at the bass side of the nut that you can't really see in this shot. The veneer is completely sound and, again because I think it enhances the aged look, I have recommended we leave be rather than trying to hide them. This probably only needs one more coat before leaving it a week to harden, then final flattening and final skim coat