Andyjr1515

I'd forgotten how much easier it is to cut fret slots in rosewood than ebony! The latter is more like a workout. This was a simple pleasure All 20 done. And yes - sunny in Derbyshire...who'd have thought...

Ahah! You live and learn

Fretboard blank is now radiused. It gets 90% there using the G&W router jig (this is after I'd hoovered up the sahara's worth of dust ) : Then some sanding with a standard radius block to remove the router lines: Note the all important collection of sanding dust! This is going to make a nice fretboard:

Oh - that's a b****r. I wonder what those are designed for then? Great link - didn't realise they did non-standard diameter ones. Thanks

OK - the rosewood is here. Lovely piece of AAA grade from David Dyke: And @funkle and I have decided to go for wheel adjustment trussrod cut into the neck heel itself so that he doesn't have to modify bodies or pickguards if he moves the neck to other bass bodies: And most importantly, @fleabag's neck is at the 'coat and wait to dry' stage; an exciting potential project for @Happy Jack is still at the early 'sketches and thinking' stages - and so there should be nothing stopping me from getting my lazy a*** (***=ndy) off the sofa and back down into the cellar. Which is also an idea that MrsAndyjr1515 fully supports. Next jobs, radiusing the board and cutting the fret slots

Generally, 30ml will easily do a bass

Yes - that is good too (probably technically better but the Quink, for black, is absolutely fine). When it comes to reds, though, I do tend to use calligraphy ink. With the standard fountain pen inks, it depends on the maker, but the purples tend to be the least colour-fast. The good thing is that there are fountain pen fanatics who do very comprehensive colour fastness tests of scores of available ink makes and colours. If it fades on paper, it is likely to fade on timber. The Quink range is actually very limited for colours - their black is good, but I use Diamine for the general colours, mainly because of the vast range of colours. Because the colour and type of timber significantly affects the finished colour, having such a wide range can help get exactly the right colour or mix of colours (and they are easy to mix ).

Well, there are two phrases that come to mind: "Stick with what you know!" But if you do that, you will never progress and "Nothing ventured, nothing gained!" So I'm pleased I tried the Fiebings, and can see why folks would like it for certain jobs...but it's not quite the straightforward spirit stain that I thought it was. There's another element in there and that, for this particular job (or yes maybe, @Fishman , the wood), is what gave me the issues. This is after just the first coat of the Quink. And I know that I can add as many more coats as I like - and it will fully dry. And I know it will take varnish just as well as unstained wood. Result!

Was that also done in with Fiebings? I'd like it to work, but it was the extra coats that seemed to be the Achilles Heel. The first coat soaked in nicely and seemed to dry just fine. The second coat just sat on top and would mark your hands days later. Anyway - interesting stuff coming up...

Hmmm...but there might be a Plan C I've started the removal. Using single-bladed razor blades as scrapers - and then a proper cabinet scraper - to remove the goop of the main part of the neck allowed me to start sanding without the paper clogging up within seconds. After an hour of sanding, I'm down to 'largely wood' where the black is from the first coat of Fiebings that was properly absorbed into the freshly sanded wood. But to get to fully clean wood will need a fair bit of wood removal. Which is fine - except for the heel where I don't want to lose any of the width. And that got me thinking. Long-term followers of my threads will know that my favourite stain is permanent fountain pen ink. Well, that was discounted on this project because it is generally not thought to be the 'blacker than black' that @fleabag is after. But...well, at least for the heel, worth a try? So here's what Quink does: Looks pretty black to me! And it's fully dry. And it has fully absorbed into the timber even though there is the residual Fiebings there. And I KNOW that polyurethane has no adverse reaction at all to it. For the sake of an afternoon lost if I'm wrong, I'm up for trying it all over...

And.... (drumroll) ...actually, the drummer can go and get a cup of tea. Actually, the drummer can probably go for a short away-break We've found the fatal flaw with Fiebings. When I did the sanding for the extra coats, I did wonder. I was expecting black and dusty on the sandpaper. Instead, it was black and lacquery blobs gumming up the paper almost immediately. More like a coating than a stain. And sure enough - I think that it is, used like this, much more of a coating than a stain. And add polyurethane varnish, it fully softens. And two days later it is still the consistency of warm tar - black and sticky and no sign whatsoever of curing. And for a neck - even if it started to harden - that's no good. It was worth a try, because that was blacker than any 'normal' black stain. But not suitable for this job. So we are back to Plan A, which is that @fleabag will get it sprayed. So, just got to get three coats of warm tar off** and we're away! **Hmmm... better tell the drummer to make his short away-break not that short...

Lovely!

@funkle and I have been PM'ing and come to a mutual conclusion - we're not going to use the Wal fretboard after all! On its own, the heel end being a bit narrower than a standard 'Fenderish' neck pocket isn't a big issue. But when we added up the other factors, it clearly wasn't going to be the best route: - I calipered it and actually it is 4mm narrower. Under a pickguard that is not a problem...but the donor body @funkle is using is probably temporary. And the body he will probably move to won't have a pickguard. - Added to that, the width at the nut of the Wal board is wider than @funkle's ideal. Oh - and at 4mm slimmer at the heel end, it would need to be a narrow-spaced bridge. - And the fretless board, of course is going to need to be fretted anyway. - And..and..and......and so it became quite clear, quite quickly that, actually, a new rosewood board was a better option. So there will be a short delay while I get hold of a blank - but then we'll get steaming ahead again!

Very much so. It's a common problem which is why they sell the specific washers that fit

Yes - you should find that it unscrews completely. You then pop one or two washers over the threaded end and screw it back on.

Those look right to me. Odd description but it is the small outside diameter that is key - much smaller than a standard M5 washer.

I think it has the type of truss rod with a brass nut? There are a number of things that may have happened, but it maybe that the nut has bottomed on the thread of the rod. If so, Fender sell spacer washers (the inside and outside dia's are a bit unusual which is why standard washers are no good. It says something, though, that Fender sell them...) that you pop under the nut to give it a few more turns before bottoming. Worth a try...

That is looking splendid, @benh Great job

I've just exchanged pm's with @bass_dinger about the process and potential issues with trussrods and how I might be able to help. It might be of general interest, so I've copied and pasted some of that here below and with a few extra points for a more general answer to the topic Making and modding guitars and basses is my hobby and over the years I've managed to rescue a number of necks and seized, ineffective or broken truss rods. Depending on what type of rod it is and what specifically is the problem determines the options open to try. A 'traditional' one-way rod with removeable nut, for instance, that has run out of adjustment, can often be sorted with a spacer-washer added to allow the rod to bend a little further. Sometimes that's enough (although it is a symptom or something else that has moved, dried, warped that resulted it in bottoming on the trussrod thread in the first place). In the case of a modern two-way rod with a welded adjuster, though, it is quite often the case that the fretboard needs to be removed, the rod replaced and the fretboard reglued. To remove the fretboard involves heating it up to soften the glue and progressively ease a thin steel sheet under the board gently easing the board away from the neck. There are risks. Sometimes, depending on the way the fretboard has been made, the fretboard breaks. Also, it depends on the glue used. Some makers (not Washburn IMHO) use epoxy and those boards have to be planed off and a new fretboard made. Both of these possibilities, however, are rare and the neck can generally still be saved by cutting and fitting a new fretboard. And, it sometimes turns out that the truss rod problem is the effect rather than the cause and that the neck itself has an irresolvable issue. But again, that is pretty rare. Often, once the fretboard has been removed, then the root cause can be fixed - a set bend can often be planed flat; a split in the wood can often be secured; a broken rod can usually be replaced Removal of the fretboard sounds scary! Well - there are risks as mentioned, but generally it is relatively straightforward. This is a Gillett Contour where Gillett Guitars asked me if I could remove a fretted fretboard and make them a replacement fretless fretboard for a customer - it's the same process. Here I am ironing off the fretted fretboard - takes around an hour taking it nice and steady, heating a fret's worth at a time and walking the thin steel sheet up progressively. Celluloid dots will generally need to be replaced but MoP or clay dots generally are 'untroubled' : Here it is off. In the case of a trussrod replacement, the rod cap would now be taken off, truss rod replaced, cap replaced and then the fretboard reglued. In the event that the neck has a set curve in it, I would plane it back flat at this stage: And then the fretboard re-glued (in this case it was the ebony fretless board I'd made for it): It then depends on the neck finish, but with luck, there is very little impact on the neck itself - masking the neck when the board is glued back on, it is usually just a case of carefully scraping off the glue squeeze-out flush and wiping along fretboard edge with a cloth moistened with the an appropriate finish (gloss, matt or oil)

Probably. These things are usually fixable although there are risks to the fretboard. But, all going well, it should be around a tenth of the cost you've been quoted. I'll pm you in the morning.

M4 is plenty. Remember that the 'standard' woodscrews have only a 3mm core and the stainless steel machine screws (I use A2) are much stronger per mm than woodscrews. I saw an Auster light aircraft tubular mainframe once. I reckon that the holes in the engine lugs were around 5mm...and just four of those held the engine on!

A bit more progress on the neck. The spoked-wheel trussrod should be with me early next week. I know the dimensions and so it was out with the router table again to add the trussrod slot (end-of-heel access): Next, using a larger bit, taking around 5mm off the top of the headstock for a 'Fenderish' zero-angle-with-string-trees arrangement. Safety first on this kind of task, keeping hands WELL away from that bit (Tip: Before you take ANY action, ask yourself, "What could go wrong?" and "If it did go wrong, would I be in the wrong place?" While you can't always prevent stuff going wrong, nevertheless you can usually make sure no part of you or anyone else is going to be in the wrong place if it does... ) Next, onto the bandsaw: And why have I left the excess at the heel? Well - @funkle and I will be discussing the dimensions of the pocket on the body he is planning to use - and if it is a standard Fender dimension pocket, that is larger than the Wal. So there will be the choice of modifying the pocket or having the heel of the neck wider than the fretboard. Either way, a generous excess at this stage is probably prudent - it's easy to take stuff off, but it's more difficult to put it back

And so fully dried overnight and then this morning a decent sanding of 240 up to 500 grit to sort the risen grain and another coat. This needs to full dry, but may well be the last coat needed: Very close to being finished!

They say there are no certainties in life But I'm certain about that one.

Well...I don't think @fleabag and I are going to need the cunning plan for the staining. That's what I call black! One coat only so far... Mind you, I might need a cunning plan to find the luminlay dots again for @fleabag to wave his magic wand at!