Andyjr1515

Well, maybe - but as most decent neck woods are quarter sawn, then I'm less sure about that. What we need is that guy in the video doing us a demo

Oh...and the grain direction of the timbers also makes a big difference. As I say - everything affects everything

Interesting video but, of course, only just touches the surface in terms of the decision making process. It's a big and fairly complicated topic because, like many things in a bass construction, everything affects everything (another way of putting my oft-quoted belief that 'guitars and basses are a series of compromises held together by hope' ) Absolutely. Two problems with going to or below 19mm: - A player issue: quite a few players will end up with hand cramp due to the position of the thumb and resulting muscle pull directions of the fingers. Some of that, of course, depends on your hand size - A practical issue: a truss rod slot is, as a rough minimum, 10mm deep at the adjuster position underneath the nut. The fretboards are usually around 6mm deep in the middle. The amount of wood underneath the trussrod for a 19mm deep is, therefore, 3mm max in the centre and less either side of the truss rod slot due to the curve of the neck profile. And just under the 1st fret is where the truss rod is applying all of its force downwards. And yes - trussrods sometimes come through the bottom of the neck... Not quite. If the laminate wasn't there, then it would be the base wood. So if it is a maple neck, then a mahogany or walnut splice will reduce the stiffness because those timbers bend more easily than rock maple. If it is a mahogany neck, then maple inserts will increase the stiffness. If it is a maple neck, then ebony inserts will increase the stiffness. Ditto the fretboard wood. And that - although how much of this is detectable to the average player (and almost always not detectable to the average audience ) is the topic of many debates - is why adding mahogany inserts to a maple neck is thought to add a touch of warmth and adding ebony inserts to a mahogany neck is thought to add a touch of mids and treble.

Never! And so am I, most of the time This is actually the first time I've worked with it so I am on a 'journey' as they say. Well - a quick look up on Google, it's clear that this type of product has been around for years and, I think, used in worktops, etc.. So you never know.

And running out of excuses to do the scary bit of cutting this to shape. Slots are deepened and the board is off the template: Oh - and a 'by the way'. I've promised @fleabag luminlays for the side dots. My small stash is running low and so I went onto the Luminlay site in Japan to order some more (they still haven't set up any distributor arrangements, as far as I can find out, in UK and Europe but the shipment from Japan is usually quick and efficient) but no...they can't ship to UK or Europe at the moment due to the flight route sanctions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine. I've spotted some on ebay shipping from the USA - I'll have to try that, costly or not.

I've learnt over the years that a stop-and-review approach is by far the best in this hobby. So before I cut the fretboard to shape - which means taking it off the fretting template - I'm going to do one additional thing. I'm going to put the board back into the mitre block and deepen the slots by a mm. The reason is that, because the Richlite is so tough, any slot that is even a smidge shallow would mean that the fret just isn't going to seat. With a wooden board, a decent enough whack with a hammer would sort minor variances (or so I'm told ) - but this would just bounce off. So that is what I'll be doing between naps today

I'd forgotten just how glorious this build is. No excuses now - we need to see this finished!

I think Richlite is, essentially, Ebonol. They are both paper based. The confusing (maybe intentional, maybe not) Rocklite Ebano is wood based. I actually own the first-in-the-world top back, sides and fretboard Rocklite Sundari guitar (the rosewood-look version) and it's very impressive. However, I've come across issues with some of the Ebano fretboards and personally hate the binding - I find the wood fibres are short and are almost impossible to bend without the fibres springing out, even on the non-taxing curves of an acoustic dreadnought. That said, Tonetech pretty much only sell that nowadays some presumably many folks find it OK. So far, though, for an ebony fretboard alternative I actually prefer this Richlite material even though it feels and looks less like wood than Rocklite. But for a rosewood alternative, the Rocklite takes some beating.

They recommend epoxy. No ironing this one off

No - he's far too busy trying to help Doncaster Rovers hold onto their position in the League

Looks nice stuff Today was a bit of experimenting. Because we are leaving a full overhang on the neck, there wasn't a lot of offcut - just the two ends I used to screw the board to the radiussing jig. Happily, I'd already radiused one of the ends when I was checking out how well the double sided tape worked. So I tried my conventional fretting technique. Started with a light file of the slot edges with a triangular needle file: Then, after detanging the ends, ran a teeny bead of titebond along the tangs followed by a whack both sides and a whack in the middle with my fretting hammer: The glue squeeze-out doubles as an indicator of whether the fret is fully seated. If not, it is a few more whacks! Then I clamp a radius block on while I (usually) move on to the next slot: Looks OK to me...

Yes - it does. And here you can play some tunes (if you excuse the pun). You can take a stiff timber species for the mains and bendier splices or vice-versa. You can add a touch of warmth or a touch of grit. Mind you, judging the best combinations takes a hefty dose of guesswork... But there's a maker I seem to remember who market this with loads of choices of mixes of timber for necks on their custom top line (is it Warwick? Can't remember. Someone here will know).

Yes - and the Pro 1 (?) had that flat wide one (which, given the above, was an 'unusual' choice) , although that seems to have been also relatively quickly dropped. You can see the plate in the thread I have just posted above of @Fishman's Wal save/rebuild a couple of years back.

Hmmm...I've just thought of someone who might still have a genuine Wal fretboard that he may not have a use for Long shot, but I'll contact him

The area of cross section isn't the key factor when it comes to stiffness. It is the depth. The neck works a bit like a steel 'I' beam - the deeper it is, the less it's going to bend As the construction of a standard neck and fretboard at normal neck depths is plenty strong enough to counteract the tension of the strings, then this means you have a huge amount of leeway of how much wood you take off the 'haunches' either side of the spine. This affects the feel (the 'chunkiness' ) and the weight...but not the stiffness. Stiffness for a timber neck will be predominately affected by: the total neck depth; the neck and fretboard timber species; the trussrod and slot; any stiffening inclusion, such as carbon 'rods' (the most effective being actually not rods but solid or hollow rectangles where, again, the depth, not the width, is the critical factor)

That's what I use

Excellent news!

Well, part of this is right. @fleabag did send me the gen and so I am aware.

That joy is yet to come. And much too soon, I suspect

In the end, I agreed a compromise with the Defibrillator Team. They agreed to standby ready as long as they could do that watching Sky Sports in our front room. Bargain!

Splendid! Newtone Strings will make any length you want

And so - how is Richlite going to behave in fret cutting compared with ebony: - Well, it's tough stuff. I reckon I might need a new tenon saw when I've done all 22 frets plus zero slots - It is very hard work...even in my prime, I don't think I could slot one in a single session. Then again, I would say the same for ebony. - But ebony grabs the blade, and early on. Richlite still grabs the blade, but much later on. Nevertheless - you can see the workbench. It is VERY heavy. And the jig is screwed to it. And the bench has moved an inch away from the wall after a dozen frets - Nice clean slots, though and no chipping! And so, 15 slots done, 8 to go: Time for another break. Besides, the local village Defibrillation Team have told me either to get rid of the smart watch or give up woodworking.

And onto fret cutting. And here we have the same issue. I use the G&W fretting mitre block. The blank sticks to a metal notched template...you guessed it...with industrial quality double sided tape. Usually, I would use one inch strip at either end and one in the middle. Here I have two lengths of it all the way down the board. And I can still easily move the board from side to side! So I am going to use the tape simply to stop the board from creeping forwards and backwards and, to stop it moving with the saw cuts, I've cut some wooden wedges that I can fit in the gap between the board and the jig sides and remove them and replace them for each fret progression, and use a sturdy bench clamp to ensure that the board cannot move, however much pull is on the saw:

OK - 20 minutes before the next nap. So...yes. Maple neck with a Richlite fretboard. First time I've used this material so should be (is already) interesting. The project started with a bag of bits from @fleabag, including the Richlite blank, truss rod, nut blank and a set of EVO gold frets. First job, after clarifying the spec (which we repeat a few times a day on account of my age - "Have you switched the kettle off? Have you switched the kettle off?? I SAID HAVE YOU SWITCHED THE KETTLE OFF!!!???" - was to be radiusing the board to the requested 20" (I checked a few times). And here was the first challenge. I use an industrial-quality double-sided tape when I'm routing to hold the blank to the jig. This stuff would hold insulation tiles onto the Space Shuttle very happily...but not Richlite... I then tried the old trick of two sides of masking tape held with CA glue...nah! In the end - I had to SCREW it to the jig! Hmmm...this is going to be fun I use the excellent G&W jig. The Richlite routed, well...just like ebony. 10 minutes or so of final sanding with a radius block to remove the router lines. It sands like, well...just like ebony : And it was done. And it looks, well...just like ebony. Except, of course, you can no longer get jet-black ebony due to sustainability measures : Next job, still ongoing, was cutting the fret slots. But I see it's already Horlicks time.

Hmm...what? Who? Gosh it's early. And what are you all doing in my bathroom? What time? 8:46?? Gosh it's late. Must be time for a nap...