Andyjr1515

Well, they tend to be all pretty much different shades of mud - but yes, you can tell the difference with the different settings.

I haven't hibernated, folks. Waiting delivery of the thicker neck wood blank from David Dyke's - they are clearly still busy!

Great job. Undeniably, one on its own. Love it!

I agree - definitely sounds like it needs looking at. These things are usually relatively easily fixable. Let us know how you get on

I agree. Truss rods need to be handled with care. One more thing you could try is the D string in the A string position. You would want to use the normal D tuner, but have the saddle to nut in the A position. The slight kink at the nut shouldn't be any more strain on the string than the normal break angle of the string over the nut in its normal position. Then tune it up to D. If it buzzes in the same place, then yes - there is an issue with the fretboard. If it doesn't, it's more likely to be the string.

That is possible. The ideal relief is actually almost none! When you hold down at the 1st and the 16th, the mid point should have 'just perceptible movement' when you tap it. If it is hard against the fretboard on either the top string or bottom string, then the trussrod needs slackening off, but as long as there is air underneath both strings, that is enough relief. And yes - if you are trying to spot a high point, the fretboard should be ideally flat to start with. But, with you trying the action on that string so much higher and still getting the buzz...and only on that string, is a bit odd and I would have said, if it was caused by a high spot, that would be high enough to be able to pick up even if there was some relief there. @Dad3353 's suggestion is a good one. If raising the action significantly above the other strings (especially the E) doesn't stop the buzz, it points to something else. Experimenting with the tuning might give a clue. Tune up a tone too and see if it makes any difference. It might also be a duff string with more 'slop' than the others.

Excellent job. Good on any level but impressive as a first...

2mm is a bit low, but not ridiculously so. Have you tried a 1/4 to 1/2 turn of the saddle height screws on that string? If so, does the buzz go away? If it does, then maybe the action is a touch low for your set-up.**I've just re-read your post and see that you've already covered that** If it still buzzes, then there may be high spot. Finding (or not) lumps and bumps in specific positions on fretless fingerboards is a bit more tricky than on a fretted but the principle is the same. You use a 'rocker'. The principle is straightforward. On a fretted bass, you hold a straight-edge across three frets at a time and see if it rocks when you put vertical pressure alternating either side of the straight edge. If it rocks, then the middle fret of the three is high. If it doesn't, it isn't. And you basically go up the whole fretboard, at each string position, 3 frets at a time to the end. The further up the board you go, the closer are the three frets and so you have to use a shorter and shorter straight edge. The principle is the same for a fretless. So, you need a short straight edge, equivalent to covering three fret positions. For checking at the 7th, the long side of a credit card would be OK: - Pop the bass on the floor or on a worktop and pop some books under the neck so that it won't tip or rock if you apply gentle pressure to the headstock. - With fingers of each hand holding either side of the credit card, and with the middle of the card over the 7th fret position, hold the card against the A string with the bottom edge on the fretboard (so one end of the card is near the 6th fret position and the other end is near the 8th) - press vertically down gently on either side of the card and see if it rocks slightly - If it does, then yes, you have a localised high spot at the 7th Sometimes - particularly with a fretless - the lump is slightly longer and so you could try the same thing with a slightly longer straight edge (6" rule is ideal)

Interesting timbers! Look forward to how this develops

This maybe illustrates the point: It is unlikely that your body is heavier than a Thumbs so it gives an indication of how much weight you could take out and still not affect the balance (and remember that much of the weight comes off the neck side of the body, not the very back)

Well, certainly on the strap, you are not likely to have a problem with this. There is a 'goldilocks zone' for the position of the top horn strap button which is around the 12th/13th fret. When the button is here, then the neck would need to be massively top heavy (I've never come across one that heavy) for it not to balance OK. You can see the difference of the position with my fretless...I still get a double-take, but the two basses are exactly the same scale length and width...where the strap button is closer to the 16/17th fret (as with the Warwick Thumbs) and where the body has to be therefore very heavy to counteract the dive. Which is why Thumbs tend to be very heavy basses. I love them - but it is a fundamentally flawed design from a practicality point of view.

The leverage resulting from the length of a bass neck certainly means that you get a disproportionate advantage from removing weight at the headstock. Lightweight tuners make a big difference but yes - you can also take wood out also as long as it remains strong enough for the tuners to hold the tension of the strings with nothing breaking, moving or bending. As an example, I did a Jack Bruce Warwick Thumb 'tribute' for our bands bassist. Plays great, but as you say, always on the edge of neck dive, not helped by the very rearward top horn strap button. But loved playing his so much, I did another one for myself that has the same timbers and dimensions but different shape - and a much smaller headstock: And it balances fine

Not sure. They didn't stick with it for very long - it didn't do it any harm (still great basses and undeniably Wal) but also presumably didn't show any major advantage either and must have added cost and complexity.

Well, a bit of progress with the neck. Maple is here. Mahogany spices should be with me mid next week. And @Fishman is happy to sell me the Wal fretless fretboard I took off his Wal Pro 1e neck when I repaired the trussrod action and replaced it with an ebony fretted one a year or so as part of his Pro 1e refurbishment This is a shot back then after I'd managed to get it off in one piece: Should be with me next week By the way - ref the discussions earlier in the thread - you can see the major layer of carbon fibre on that model's neck. The really unusual thing is that this isn't fully resin encapsulated fibre which they used - underneath the surface, it's loose carbon fibres. There is a splendid video somewhere on the net of a guy trying to remove it all...what a mess!!! I did the sensible thing - I fixed the cracked carrier at the heel end to make the rod work again...and got the new fretboard on as quick as I could (and happily it worked fine )

Sorted

Got me to a T Richlite it is. What was I thinking (generally not about much)

I've just ordered another neck blank that will give me the right amount of depth to get the break angle I would feel more comfortable with (I can use the other one on another project that doesn't need the same depth)

Certainly am It looks and sounds GREAT in some of your Junkyard Dogs videos. Pretty slick playing in 'The House is Rocking' - that neck finish doing its stuff?

And...fret ends trimmed And why the clamp? Left to their own devices, the fret tangs in the slots would curve the fretboard. Normally, a small strip of double sided tape in the middle would hold the board to the beam. But, yes, this is Rocklite Richlite - and so... That said, the frets seem to be nicely held and it is very black. Just like the ebony of legend that the Vikings used to talk about around the camp fires of yore

And....all the frets are in And now work on the neck itself can start. I have a lovely piece of maple for the project but, I am going to explore the merits of getting a different piece before I start cutting. The problem is the depth. The piece is designed for a one-piece neck, which is what @fleabag is after...but those are usually cut to Fender-type proportions. And, because those have no headstock angle, the blanks tend to be relatively shallow. This is fine if you are going to use string trees/retainers - you can have a modest neck angle and the retainer provides the break angle on the longer string runs, like the one I recently did for Happy Jack's fretless: But it's not enough angle without. The above is around 3 degrees and I would be looking at around 10 degrees for one without retainers. So I need to order some more/different sized wood. That should come through pretty quickly and, in the meantime, I can be sorting the fret ends of the fretboard and the template for the 2-a-side headstock and so it should not impact on the overall timescales.

That's lovely! As you know, I'm a great fan of inks Ref unintentional staining, if you have very dark woods next to very light ones then slurry and wipe them individually, just up to the edge. But, because you are wiping the bulk off, and pretty much straight away, generally it isn't a problem.

Let's face it...it's all I deserve. That's MrsAndyjr1515's opinion, anyway

This is the general principle from the StomBoXed blog: The feed from the volume pot goes to A and the varying value capacitors are switched through one at a time, all with a common earth

The original Gibson Varitone (like on the EB-3) was a complicated little thingy electronically. I know because I built one from scratch (with a LOT of help from the clever folks round here ). Complicated and of dubious benefit for some of the switch settings (as @John Cribbin says above). But - if you want to be able to simply switch to a number of different capacitor values 'on full' with a rotary switch like the one you picture, yes - reasonably easy and relatively useful. There should be a few diagrams on Google. I'll have a peep when I get a chance if you can't find one.

By golly, this is tough stuff. I used a combination of jointer plane, block plane, micro plane, sanding block and full-length levelling beam to straighten up and narrow the sides by less than a mm each side. And it took best part of a couple of hours! There is, of course, a lot of taking it out of the bench vice and checking with the calipers (it had to be spot on - overshoot is not an option) but for an ebony board this would be a 30 minute job. And the fretting begins! A lot of builders add the frets after they glue the fretboard to the neck - and there are some advantages in doing that - but my preferred method (linked with the facilities I have and just a sequence that I find works best for me) is to fret the board first, level and bevel the edges and then glue the fretted board to the neck. And for this, I'm glad I've chosen it that way round. The amount of hammering needed is WAY heavier than for a wood board - and the stability from doing that on a flat solid surface is pretty essential. At the time of typing I'm over halfway - 10 still to do including the zero fret - but my hands are pretty comprehensively knackered so I'm going to call it a day and finish it off in the morning