Andyjr1515

Decent progress today. It's safer to start from scratch in terms of the tuner positioning to ensure that the string runs from the nut to the tuners are going to be straight. After doing the geometry, always a good idea to physically position the tuners to make sure that is 'looks right' and also that nothing is going to clash between each unit: Then - to replicate the recess that Lull put in for the tuner washers, that's the first size of Forstner bit to use: Then simply line up the central prong of the smaller bit to drill the through-holes: Also, the first rough cut for the fretboard ebony extension to at least give me initial string clearance for my first trial fit of the neck: And this allowed me to fit the Licenced tuners: And finally, a slice off the heel to get it to broadly the right thickness. I was pleased with the accuracy of the cut as, for hard maple, this is at about the limit for my hobby-grade bandsaw: And taking that slice off allowed me to - in made-to-measure suit terminology - do the 'first fit'. It's actually pretty close for a first fit Tomorrow I will cut the nut (more of a spacer than a full nut on a fretless - the slots will take the strings to within a gnat's of the surface of the fretboard) and then I can bring the strings to tension and see how much I need to tweak the angle of the heel so that the action is correct under tension whichever neck is on without having to adjust the saddle heights (even though, as discussed earlier, the intonation probably will need to be tweaked due to the different strings that will be fitted).

Christmas/family stuff all sorted and so it's back to the important stuff So that Jack doesn't have to keep changing the tuners round, we agreed that I should get a set of tuners for the fretless neck. Problem is that - like most things guitar/bass build related - the prices of stuff is going through the roof. The Hipshot Ultralites fitted to the Lull are now £40 EACH! That's £200 just for the tuners!!! Happily, Hipshot have started allowing 'Licensed' tuners to be sold - and even happier is that Bass Direct have quite a few models in stock...and they arrived today. Hipshot USA at the back, Hipshot Licenced at the front: The licenced ones are about 10% heavier (still very light) but 60% cheaper. And very nicely made. That'll do. And so there's not much stopping me from getting on and finishing this...

It's going to look great

I like the fit of that top Happy Christmas, by the way !

No, the board was plenty long enough. Unless you go for a zero fret, then the board has to be either slotted to fit the nut, or split there, assuming an extension beyond the nut is required. In this instance, it was easier and neater to split it

Done that now (twice) and even more fascinated! That was me It was a neck repair/mod and rebody for @Fishman 's Pro 1e neck/plate and pickup. The thread is here: https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/443139-finished-a-very-special-save It's a bit of a tortuous thread (all of mine are ) so you will be relieved to know that the bit where I take the fretboard off is on the first page And yes - all components (including the player's finger-end hardness) make a contribution to the sound, but the lion's share on a Wal is, in my own experience, influenced by the pickup(s) and EQ. I'm loving this thread

Well, the basic carve is done, ready for final sanding: This is why I like the cabinet scraper - you wouldn't think that this hasn't been sanded at all yet. And so in terms of what's been progressed: The headstock is now at finished thickness - a really nice bit of maple, this. The heel is still presently deeper than the fretted neck, but the neck depth from the spine to the top of the fretboard is now the same, as is the overhang: A volute on a P Bass?? Heresy! (But @SpondonBassed might want to treat it as a Christmas present ) And an offcut of the radiussed fretboard is ready to be cut-and-carved and then added the other side of the nut: I don't know how much extra will be done before family duties for Christmas start taking over, but the next jobs will include cutting the nut/fitting the fretboard extension and drilling the tuner holes so that I can temporarily fit them to allow me to cut the heel to the final depth and angle.

True. It's also a doddle to achieve straight string runs whatever shape you want the headstock to be

Thanks They are Steinbergers and were designed as a replacement for the banjo tuners that were fitted to the original Gibson Firebirds, etc.. They are - even though at one point they were fitted as standard to the low cost Epiphone versions of the Firebird - the best guitar tuners I've ever used. Exceptionally easy to restring, fully locking and really nice and controllable tuning. They went off the accessories market for a while but are now available again through Stewmac (although like hen's teeth in Covid times). This was a set that I fitted to our band's bassist's genuine 1964 fake Firebird: The top T shape is actually the string clamp and the tuning knobs actually raise and lower the cylinder it sits on into and out of the tuner body. To string up, you: - turn the tuner until the cylinder is fully extended. The exposes the string hole drilled through the cylinder. - attach the ball end of the string to the tailstock and thread the string though the hole - pull it tight - clamp it - turn the tuning knob to draw the cylinder/clamp unit into the tuner body - this tautens the string up to pitch A complete re-think of a tuner

No - grows very well but no flowers

Dark or not - that's flippin' gorgeous

There's still stuff to do, but visually this is pretty much there so I'll do the 'finished shots' Photographing this, with or without total cloud cover, is...er...challenging. Anyway, here's a few arty ones: And two or three in the great outdoors:

Like @owen , somehow only just found this thread. Absolutely fascinating. A lot of info - I'll set some time aside and read through it all again tomorrow

You can get teeny dots...I think from stationers like Ryman's - maybe even WH Smith - which are pretty discreet. Around 2mm diameter.

...and so were all of those

And that, of course, was also a special one

The stick on glow in the dark ones work pretty well. Not so great for gigging because with heavy use they can start moving out of position, but for practice, etc, they work fine

Thanks, folks. I'm pleased with any build I do that actually makes it to the owner in half decent form, @Paul S ... but this has, indeed, been a rather special one

And so to the humble cabinet scraper. Even though they are very cheap, the cabinet/card scraper is one of the tools that would be on my 'if you only had one hand tool' list. The burr that is along the edge turns it from a dust generator to a wood plane and, from quite early on for a neck carve, I move to this for the controllability (because, let's face it, you don't want to take too much off on a neck carve! ) Here you can see that what is coming off is a proper shaving: But yes - it's slow, and particularly with a timber as hard as rock maple. But nevertheless, after an hour it's starting to get there: It's not often you get the chance to do a side by side profile comparison - this is at the 1st and you can see that the shape of the curve is starting to get there (The one on the right is the Lull) : But, for example, at the 10th you can see that the new one is still a little flat-topped and steep sided on the one side. Doesn't look a lot, but that represents a lot more scraping still to go

Thank you for your kind words, @Hellzero Much appreciated!

Dreadful light today so no good doing the 'finished pics' but, cosmetically, it's done. Still got all the set up stuff to do and I need a tweak (or the OK to do it myself) from Marc at Mojo to get the phasing right for the 'both' pickups (they are braided earth, single conductor and so not as simple as swopping the wires round...it needs one of the magnets flipping). Individually, by the way, the pickups sound GREAT!!! So we'll have to wait for a 'not having to have all the house lights on in the middle of the day' break in the cloud before the arty farty shots but here's a couple of poor light shots to be going on with :

Spent some time working out how to secure the pickups and achieve decent height adjustment. I'm direct fixing them to the pocket bases with firm sponge underneath - a bit like bass guitar pickups tend to be done. For the positioning of the bridge, I have strung it up with a 'proper' set of electric strings and packed up the top of the roller bridge to get it to the correct action height. That way, I am able to position the optimum position and angle of the bridge, given the adjustment range of the saddles, giving plenty of further intonation adjustment for alternative string gauges or tunings. With a 6mm bradpoint through the two bridge adjuster holes, I have then marked the centre point for the bushes drill holes (11mm...that's meant a 24hr hour Amazon jobee for an 11mm bradpoint which should arrive later today) And while I'm waiting for the bradpoint for the bridge bushes, on to one of the other last scary bits - drilling holes in the top for the controls! It will be fiddly enough as it is...but thank goodness for that hatch at the back!

Excellent

Proper woodworkers can sharpen chisel and plane blades without a jig... I need a jig I use the Veritas sharpening jig and then just a couple of diamond stones and finish on a small leather strop. This is the spokeshave blade in the jig: There is actually very little time spent with the spokeshave because it takes wood off at a considerable rate - this is after only around 15 minutes. The squiggly pencil line is the measured spine depth that I work towards but don't cut into : You can tell if the blade is sharp by the chippings - each one here is unbroken for the whole length of the neck: Over too quick but very satisfying. And yes, I know what you're all thinking - just like a small bag of Maltesers. And then I move onto a razor plane without the handle, used two handed when I'm hot holding a camera - very effective and very controllable. And yes, I should be wearing gloves: I check the shape as I go along with a joiners profile gauge. You can see here that I already am starting to get the nice 'C' shape of the Lull but at the moment it's a bit asymmetrical: So this is where I am at the moment: Tomorrow I will finish the rough carve and then move to cabinet scrapers to creep up to the shape of the fretted neck.

And a little bit closer. With a through-neck, there is a lot that has to be basically right so that everything lines up and the string geometry is in the right place. And pretty much the only way of checking that in the end is to fit a set of strings to see if it does, indeed, line up. So back on went the tuners and on went the vibrato working bits (I'll leave the nickel cover until I've finished messing about). And, with a packer to lift the bridge temporarily to a clearance height, on went a 'sacrificial' set of strings (actually oddments of acoustic sets from my bits drawer). And it lines up pretty well. PHEW! The other thing I've done is prepare an offcut of the body ebony to the same sanding stage and tried one side with Lord Sheraton beeswax balsam and the other side with a decent food-grade mineral oil (preferred to, say, lemon oil, due to the lack of acidity and other additives). Both work fine and give the same satin hue. Both feel great. Bit of a toss of a coin, but I'm going with the mineral oil. I'll apply it this evening and so tomorrow's photos should give a decent idea how it will turn out. The other thing I can do with some strings on is work out - given the whammy bar - the accessibility of the knobs in the planned positions. Still stuff to do - but it is looking like a guitar now