Andyjr1515

That, of course, is my secret. That, plus troll's spit

I bet you all thought I'd forgotten about this one I've been a bit heads down to try to get the ebony guitar build finished - on track with that and so thought I'd better give @Happy Jack 's neck a bit of love (in a manner of speaking ) The plan is - as far as possible - both necks to feel very similar. On that basis, I have measured the Lull neck depth to include the fret thickness. On a 'measure 14 times and cut once' basis, I first took the bulk off on the band saw and then moved onto my trusty spokeshave: Clearly the volute will be much, much smaller than this below but this now has the 1st to 10th frets to within 0.2mm of the depth, including the fret depth, of the Lull. At the moment, the neck thickens a little early from the 11th fret towards the heel, but I will leave it there for the moment and straighten it up a touch when I start the neck carve proper: You can see how even this small headstock angle gives me a helping hand with the break angle and the ability to use Hipshot/Sandberg type string retainers. I think I've said before, but there will be an extension to the fretboard the other side of the nut, carved to meet the scoop of the headstock. Next job is the neck carve which, with luck, will start tomorrow. But first I'll have to sharpen the spokeshave blade...rock maple is tough stuff!

Main job over the weekend was fret ends/level/recrown/polish. For levelling I use a box section of aluminium with emery cloth double-side-taped to one side and use it as both the level gauge and leveller: For the fret ends and recrowning, I find the Chris Alsop crowning files just right...clearly designed by someone who's done the job himself... In this shot I'm just holding it for the camera - in use it fits nicely in your palm giving great control, but is short and so it much easier to use as you get to the over-body section than the longer types of files. I rough crown it using the diamond edge itself and then run through 400/800 emery and then 4000/6000/8000/12000 micro-mesh cloths using the Chris Alsop file as the former: And - you'll have to forgive the appalling winter/full cloud cover light - done: For the back and sides, I've been doing the initial Tru-oil slurry and buff stages as I've been going along, which has given me the drying time while I've been able to be do other stuff on the finish list. But on Sunday I was able to give it its final slurry with 2000 grit emery. A break in the cloud gave me a rare bit of winter sunshine: I've hand polished the fretboard and headstock ebony (again, using the micro-mesh, running progressively through the grades of 3200 to 12000) and will do a final buff later today. For the main ebony panels, they need a final Mirka sand and then the same treatment. All going well, both jobs will be able to be done by the close of play this evening. I'm pretty sure that gets me to the stage of progressively positioning and fitting some of the hardware.

And before, I only had Workshop Envy!!!!

It's been a bit 'head down and battle on' with this one. Added some luminlay side dots and top MoP dots to the fretboard: Made some knobs: Fixed the magnets to the control hatch and the flush-fit truss rod cover: I'll be staining the spruce under the thumbnail cutaway so it blends in better: Note the headstock swifts also added. The positioning was thought up by Jack and his good lady. I think it's great And that's the basic build done Still to do is the final finishing, the fret ends/levelling/etc and then just the installation of the hardware and electrics And so, just a couple of gratuitous mockups and then, sometime back end of next week, I should be able to show the completed guitar

That looks VERY nice. Worth posting again

By the way, you can do all of the above a bit at a time - it doesn't all need to be done in one go.

Thanks @Maude for flagging this Welcome, @Cubinston ! What you have described is perfect for the alternative way of applying Tru-oil - the 'slurry and buff' method. It gives you a satin, silky smooth but organic finish. It lightly grain fills at the same time but leaves most of the grain features still showing. It's also VERY easy to do: - wipe on a coat of the Tru-oil and let it dry overnight - wipe on a second coat of Tru-oil and let it dry overnight - take a small piece of (best to wear latex/nitrile gloves - it's a messy step) c 240 grit sandpaper / wet and dry and sand it along the grain using the Tru-oil as the wet bit. This will create a slurry of oil and wood dust. After no more than 10 minutes, wipe this off, across the grain, with a lint-free cloth. Leave it to harden overnight - repeat the last step above, this time, wiping ALL of the slurry off, sanding and wiping with the grain. Let it dry. - repeat but this time with fine sandpaper/emery (500 grit or finer) sanding and wiping with the grain. Take a second lint free cloth and buff the surface with the grain. Let it dry - repeat the last step once more. Buff vigorously with the grain. Let it fully dry - couple of days - then buff it again, dry. Done This is my Bubinga bass done that way. Four years later, it still looks like this: It feels like wood but is silky smooth. I do ALL of my necks this way, even if the rest of the guitar or bass is gloss...

I haven't discounted that yet

Yes - they will be on the fretline... but, based on the previous discussion, where is that? (which is a tongue in cheek question that doesn't probably need an answer )

To be honest, everybody's right (after all, it's Christmas) - @Hellzero is right that, if they are totally different types of strings (especially major differences in tension), then the intonation is going to be different - @Happy Jack is right that, for a fretless, intonation tends to be a little more 'flexible' . Remembering that violins, cellos and double-basses don't have any individual intonation change capability to start with other than angle-ing the thin, high bridge and therefore everything is an approximation anyway) - @Andyjr1515 is also right - because it's his thread Actually, I hadn't really thought about string type change and therefore my explanation of getting that nut in exactly the same position turns out to be a bit of builder's blarney But (because I can blarney with the best) actually, even if I'd thought about that, I would have still measured it the same way. Why? Because the general rule for both guitars and basses is that the top string usually intonates within 1mm of the scale length and the thicker strings are (usually, but not always, progressively) further back. So I still need the nut in pretty much the same place. The interesting thing might be...where should I put the 'at the fret position' side dots? I'll get my coat before the mods close the thread

I used a variety of tools for adding the angle and thicknessing the headstock, but the coolest is the spokeshave so that's the pic you're going to get So I still have a slight 'Fender' scoop but shallower than normal due to the benefit of the modest headstock angle. There will be an ebony fillet fitted the other side of the nut: Next, the two-way trussrod fitted: And, with a thin strip of masking tape stopping the glue filling the trussrod slot, the gluing commences:

Sounds like a plan. With a bass, it is likely that the intonation will be pretty consistent across the two types. That said, if you have a thought of the flats you might use, you could send me a set and I can build that into the final heel-height tweaking.

Good point about the strings but that's my understanding (I'm sure @Happy Jack will let me know if not ) And yes - the fretless will have a bar or Wal-type retainer. Jack has also asked me to investigate if it is possible to change the Lull retainers for something similar, although the steep drop of a Fender-type headstock from the nut does make that a little more difficult.

Yes - against all the odds, it is in the plan It is one of the reasons that fixing the depth (and possibly angle) of the heel will be one of the last things I do, which is a bit...er...how shall I put it... 'unconventional'

The nice thing about really long steel rules is that they are easier to find amongst the inevitable guitar-making detritus With the nut position measured, I am able to position the fretless board nut edge in exactly the same place, slim the maple to fit and triple check that the centre line and outer string runs are going to be where they should be: And so - goes Andyjr1515's logic - as long as the action can be made the same - the bass should intonate the same whichever neck is fitted. Well...that's the theory One more job before I can fit the truss-rod and glue the board on - planing that moderate headstock angle. All being well, I should be able to have the board gluing before the end of the day

Yes, @Maude - @briansbrew is right, that is beautiful.

This job is a little bit like the modern masterchef trend of 'deconstructed dishes'. Basically, the sequence that I need to do things is quite different to a 'normal' build. The challenge is that, ideally, we are trying to get a solution where @Happy Jack can unscrew the fretted neck, screw on the fretless and everything (intonation, saddle heights, etc) is pretty much unchanged. And so the sequence of what I do when has to be pretty specific. And the next job in that sequence is sort the neck pocket sides, even though the neck heel depth hasn't yet been calculated or cut. It's fine work because it not only has to fit well, it has to be also pointing in the right direction. Slow, but a job for my little disk sander that will keep the sides absolutely square as I edge close to the fitting line: I'm sure it wouldn't get me entry to any Master Builder society, but probably 'close enough for jazz' : ...and, according to the middle string, at least it's straight: Next is going to be to fix the screw holes. I use a brad-bit drill as a punch to give me accurate drilling holes and I fix two of the screws on the diagonal, check the straightness and then mark the centres for the other two screws : And all four in. The screws' positions won't be affected when I finally reduce the neck heel thickness to the correct level further down the sequence as long as I keep everything square and flat. And so the next job is going to be to determine the exact position that the nut-end of the fretboard needs to be at to intonate with the same bridge saddle positions as on the fretted neck and that will let me plane the fretboard down to its final taper and then glue it to the neck. But before gluing that, I will have to get that small angle planed on the headstock. And then (at last) I will be able to work out how deep the heel needs to be. Told you it was an unusual sequence.. And, because that means putting the fretted neck back on to measure it, that's a job for tomorrow

Hmmm...I know that I veneer anything that stands still for more than a few seconds... ...but I'm with @Maude on this one. To me, the joy of these basses is the visible neck-through. And, as @briansbrew says, the body finish is original. Personally, I think it would be nice to find a solution that retains those elements.

Not necessarily This afternoon was Buxton's (relatively close to home) sterling effort to get to the next round of the FA Cup (they didn't ) Those who've seen my previous builds will know that I detest routers. But - there are some jobs where, really, only a router will do. And one of those is the truss rod slot. And done: So next will be planing a small angle for the headstock and then doing a Fender-style carve on it. The billet isn't deep enough to be able to do a proper angled stock and dispense with the break angle compromise of the Fender design but it will probably give me a couple of degrees of help which might mean that I can more easily fit a Wal type or bar type of string retainer rather than the button type fitted on the fretted neck. Visually, it will pretty much look the same as the Lull. And then hand-fitting the heel end to the body neck pocket, after which I will fit the fretboard and start the neck carve.

It is well recognised in guitar and bass building circles that hand radiussing ebony fretboards is: - the quickest way to insanity (takes days but insanity is assured) - likely to result in a tapered or skewed profile down the board however hard you try I built myself a router rig a few years ago - better but not perfect - then invested in the excellent G&W router jig a year or so ago. It's b****y wonderful After about 25 minutes, I'd got the shape roughed out over two passes Then another 15 minutes with a radius block to just remove the router cutter lines: And done

Two things have happened that should speed things up a bit. First is that the main build that is running alongside this job has got to the "apply finish and wait for it to dry" stage (isn't self-promotion a wonderful thing ). The second is that the truss rod has (eventually!) arrived and I can now cut the slot: It is a modern two-way rod and will be fitted with the hex adjuster at the rear in the same position as the fretted neck. A note for the observant, by the way - the rod when fitted will be the other way up, with the steel plate side uppermost otherwise there is a frequently suffered scenario of tighten rod, hmmm...still too much relief...tighten more...hmmm...doesn't seem any better...tighten...BANG (as the rod energetically bursts its way through the fretboard ). I say this because - for the same reason that I've photo'd it this way up as it won't balance on its correct side - many of the sales web sites (including much respected ones) show the rod the wrong way up and almost none provide fitting instructions...so often new builders fit them the wrong way round, at which point 'righty-tighty' becomes 'righty-CRIKEY!' The fretboard blank has been cut and planed to size... ...and next job is the radiussing. We are going for 12", the same as the fretted. The dastardly plan is that both the slot cut and the radiussing will be done before the footer comes on

Splendid

Thanks! That said, it's not for the faint-hearted

Well...for a mere king's ransom.... Thanks, Paul