Andyjr1515

[quote name='GeeCee' timestamp='1366138772' post='2048902'] Looks like burr camphor or madrone to me. [/quote] Never thought of those two - I'll have a look when I get back to Old Blighty tonight :-)

[quote name='mike 110' timestamp='1365630728' post='2042220'] That is a thing of beauty , well done mate ! [/quote] Thanks, Mike Andy

[quote name='artisan' timestamp='1365175987' post='2036413'] My god that is beautiful you clever clever person you .) [/quote] Flattery will get you absolutely everywhere Thanks. It is being used in anger tomorrow by Pete, our old-gits-band's bassist, at his daughter's wedding where we are the evening act - no pressure, then... Andy

Well spotted and researched. Great job

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1364053367' post='2021424'] Not Burr Walnut? [/quote] No - I've done a few veneer jobs in burr walnut but that is quite different. This one was described on fleabay as 'Exotic Hardwood veneer'. Hopefully not the last slice of the last tree of the last species!

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1363973263' post='2020419'] That is a magnificent piece of work! [/quote] Why thank you, kind sir (takes a long, low bow) It is a bit of a favourite. The weird thing is that it took about 1/20th of the time of my Jack Bruce Fretless tribute (see elsewhere in Gear Porn & Build Diaries), but to my eyes, looks just as impressive. Much of it, however, is to do with the magnificent piece of veneer - which I have NEVER been able to find anything close since. I can't even find out what it is. This is its natural (varnished) colour so it is close to Amboyna - but Amboyna has a very distinctive smell which this one didn't. If anyone out there knows what it is (or has something similar) pleeeease let me know In the meantime, thanks again, Big Stu Andy

Oooooo - that looks nice

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1363118125' post='2008886'] Beautiful looking bass. I have a Warwick Thumb BO 4 lefty and was contemplating a 5 string NT fretless. Have you ever built a lefty? Is it the exact same process? [/quote] Hi Although I've never built one, the process is identical. The nut would need to be popped on the other way round and the bridge would either need to be a lefty version or a bit of careful filing, etc and a bit of imagination with the control chamber cover, but the basic construction would be identical.

[quote name='yepmop' timestamp='1363120036' post='2008929'] Top quality finish, well done, what does it play like? [/quote] I'm pleased to say it plays superbly well. In terms of the neck, I think there was lots of beginners luck involved! For the neck profile, I took templates from the customers existing favourite fretted Yamaha so it has a very similar feel. I spent a lot of time making sure the fretboard was really flat and the Warwick adjustable nut meant easy to get all four strings JUST touching the fretboard. Lots of adjustment on the bridge too - I am really impressed with the Warwick hardware and its very reasonable pricing. The pups sound great and the SD preamp gives it all tonal variations our bassist needs. Proof of the pudding is that every time our band plays, our bassist comments how nice it is to play...and usually he's a right misery :-) I'm the band's reserve bassist and, although fretless is not my forte, it feels great.

[quote name='sblueplanet' timestamp='1363119056' post='2008912'] Amazing to follow. How many hours approx was the build? [/quote]. I'm not sure but I started it in October during a weeks holiday (maybe 20hours?) then it was any spare time I had during otherwise busy (and dry) weekends finishing it in mid December. Probably around 50 hours all in - could have that completely wrong! Andy

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1362159328' post='1996652'] I look forward to your future builds, the sky would be the limit for you if you actually had a workshop...and didnt need to use a patio table as a workbench lol. Kudos! [/quote] My wife would say that the rest of the house IS my workshop A very angry lady and I have no idea what I could have possible done wrong

By the way - thanks to all for the nice feedback. The mate who I made the fretless for gave me his Yamaha entry-level fretless as a bonus. I am going to reshape the neck profile and put on a starburst burr walnut veneer . When I get round to it, I'll post the build. Veneering is the quickest and cheapest way of making a so-so bass lookFABULOUS !

Hi White Cloud Yes -for 'unconventional', read 'crazy' ! The same mate has now asked me to do my take an an SG 6 string, despite my open declaration that he could get a real Gibson SG for cheaper than I could build him one :-). The weird thing is that I reckon (it will be mahogany with.a.burl.maple.cap, stained with red calligraphy ink) that the same construction method will give a much better thru neck stability than the 'stub' method of the original...so I'm going to do it again! Funny old world... Thanks for the feedback Andy

Build Diary is finished in the other section if anyone's interested. Thanks for the nice feedback Andy

Final furlong I did a trial fit of the p/ups and hardware, and also the ebony fingerboard and headstock, to make sure everything was in the right place: The body carves were completed top and bottom. I used a combination of router, block plane, rasp file, scraper and sanding blocks to get the final shape. It was b****y hard work! The timbers started to come up nicely, though: Probably hardest of all was getting the fretboard down from c 10mm to 5mm and keep it flat and straight. I used the trust router again and then a long flat sanding beam with some 60 grit, progressing down to 400. I used a curved sanding block to get the 20" radius. The headstock plate was then marked out with paper cut-outs of my swifts moniker. I should have worked out where the strings were going to go, mind you... I used a jewellers saw to cut out the Mother of Pearl and a Dremel router attachment to route out the slots. The holes for the tuners were also drilled out. Next was the control chamber, routed to fit the Warwick easy-access control chamber cover assembly. Note the cut through into the bridge and pup chambers - made access to the wires and earthing simple! Last was the final finishing of the headstock. Note the not-perfectly positioned swifts! : Final bit was to set in some Mother of Pearl fret markers: A bit of waxing (Caretakers Beeswax) and wiring / assembly and...... .....FINISHED!!!!!! Thanks for watching and for your encouraging comments - you're all sweeties Andy

Thanks JimBob

Next job was gluing the neck - again using Original Titebond Next - while the back and top were still flat - was to do the bridge and pup routings: Finally, I was able to get to the body shaping - it has a real curve (perfect for nestling the beer belly in ). I started with a router and then just used a surform and scrapers: Thanks for looking!

[quote name='Rumple' timestamp='1360604520' post='1973205'] Started out life as a natural body with aged tint, as much as I loved the look of this I had to move it on as it was sooooo darn heavy. [attachment=127306:P1010903 low.jpg] [attachment=127307:P1010908 low.jpg] [/quote] Oooooo - that's nice....

Ibanez GSR200 before: ...and after:

Home design, home build. Back is mahogany, top is Yew. Neck is a 'restyled headstock' (OK - sawn-off ) strat 'v' profile. Bareknuckle pups with SD switch options in the Pup rings and optional mid coil through a push-push tone. Lovely to play and can sound from acoustic to hard rock. Andy

They both look pretty good to me Love the art work on the Encore! Andy

To the neck carve. So that the neck felt like our old-git's band's bassist beloved fretted Yamaha, I took some template measurements using the clever bit of plastic you can buy from most DIY stores to cut round pipes when tiling. First action was to rasp-file the headstock end. You can see the template cut out of the cover of a used writing pad: Then the same at the heel end: Can't fully remember, but I think I did all the rough carving with the rasp file and my first attempt at using a cheapo spokeshave (for which, based on the number of times it clogged, I haven't got the hang of). I think I did another accurate template filing at something like the 9th fret, then finished with files and sandpaper. Very hard work but immensely satisfying! I was very relieved not to have broken through into the truss rod slot... T

So to the neck. First job was to cut the truss rod slot. What surprised me is[b] just how close the bottom of the slot gets to breaking through the bottom of the neck . [/b]As such, it was strictly held to depth of rod and a thin hardwood strip to hold it in place. The hardwood cover strip was epoxied in and then planed and down to the neck level: After this, I could band-saw the side view of the neck: I keep losing my broadband connection so I will post now and then later today cover the neck carve. Thanks of looking Andy

Hi I had a pm asking me to explain my error (and the fix). The original looks like this: Note that the neck carve where it meets the body is 'as one'. Mine, on the other hand, isn't : The reason is, a slight misalignment between design and manufacture (caused by rushing to take advantage of some dry weather ): It was designed like this: But I forgot about the one or two inches I was going to slot the body full depth at the neck join (with the neck 2 inches hidden under the fingerboard). In my haste, so pleased that it fit in the slot so well, I cut the neck to length. Sitting on a plane on the way to Belgium, I was thinking about the carve and suddenly realised that this would happen: Had I glued and carved and strung, it would have been a happy clappy bass Because I'd already cut the neck length, I couldn't just cut the body thru slot and move it down a couple of inches. In the end, I compromised with a conventional neck heel: Ended OK: still full access to end of fretboard; our band's bassist is still delighted with it; good job I realised before carving the neck or cutting the body thru slot Andy

Hi - back from Belgium despite cancelled flights and snow-abandoned cars So - back to the neck. The way I chose to get the 100% Bubinga on the top and yet see the thru neck at the back was to slot the body and dog-leg the neck. I have fairly basic equipment so find getting absolute flatness or squareness a bit of a challenge - I tend to do it all with a router. For the neck to fit perfectly in the body slot, it had to be completely square and accurate. I did it like this - using two straight and flat laths (off an old bed!), I sandwiched the neck in my workmate between the laths, loosely tightened, then positioned them with a standard carpenters square until they were spot-on. I then used these as the rails for the router to square the neck up : As you can see, the laths were quite thick, so I could go right up to the edges, taking a sliver off the edge of the lath at the same time. Clever people would have cut a notch in the laths to start with Once I'd got the back square, I turned everything round, got everything flat on the dining room's laminate floor, then clamped it again to route the neck top and the dog-leg: If I had wanted the neck to be angled, I would have simply raised the tailstock end a few mm in the lath-sandwich. As is happens, I was aiming for zero degrees angle. However, this is where, in my haste to beat the rain, I made a c**k-up. I measured the dogleg up to the body joint and routed it - it should have been a few centimetres longer to allow enough wood remaining to carve the neck right into the body-carve . Anyway, on, on. Neck and body were ready for trial fit: Thanks for looking. Next stages will be posted probably next weekend Andy