Andyjr1515

The headstock is designed to accommodate the 5 ultralights, keep the string runs straight and, most importantly fit in the electric guitar hardcase that's ready and waiting! A double check that the tuners will fit in the right places also gives me how much room there will be to pop a couple of swifts onto the headstock plate: For those who have seen this many times, feel free to skip the next few photos - the inlays They are marked out on the mother of pearl: Cut out with a jeweller's saw: Positioned and a pencil outline drawn round them: Then out comes the Dremel with a precision router base and 1mm bit: One done, one to go! And then glued in with epoxy mixed with walnut dust which will secure them and the squeeze-out will fill any gaps with walnut-coloured filler: And after lunch I can sand them down and we should have a couple of finished inlays

Sometimes opportunities arise. There were only a couple of small offcuts of the top walnut left, but I realised that it was enough to do a bookmatched headstock plate if Matt preferred that to the ebony - and yes, that's the way we are going to go. I thicknessed and joined it last night and cut it out this morning. Clearly the glue line in the middle will fully sand away but this is broadly how it will look Couple more swifts to cut out sometime during the day

Big step and tough job but you certainly have the skills

Good job

The key is getting a square edge in the first place. I'll take a few photos in the morning of a simple way of reburnishing rectangular ones and goosenecks. It's one of those things where you don't need a lot of equipment and it's pretty easy once you know how...but the knowing how is the critical bit

No problem. Is it specifically the goose neck or re-burnishing cabinet scrapers generally? And, based on it taking me about 6 years to re-burnish one that works well, I don't think there's much wisdom involved...but maybe there is impressive persistence

And it's got to the 'reveal coat' stage. I find that popping a quick coat of Tru-oil is a great way of finding all of the rough areas (visible as dark blotches), chisel marks and lumps and bumps. But, while all of this will be sanded off, this is also a decent approximation of what the colours will end up as. It's still at the post-carve and pre-sanding stage but I think it's broadly the shape it will be: The darkening at the volute and heel area will clean up with the sanding process. Here you see some glue overspill that will sand off and the bandsaw lumps and bumps that will be all removed with the final sanding: I think it's going to look quite nice when the sanding is done and the proper finish is on it This afternoon's job will be cutting the ebony headstock plate

With the neck profile just about there, it's now about adding a few more soft curves while also taking out weight. Note the essential cup of tea: Multiple checks of the thicknesses and references to the cavity reference essential at this stage! : While I do find the Crimson videos a bit...er...'long-winded', they nevertheless do do some decent and useful stuff that not many others do. This thickness gauge is a godsend for this kind of thing. Then a bit of smoothing out with the goose-neck scraper. I have FINALLY sussed how to re-burnish these wonderful bits of steel. Burnished properly, they should work like simple planes producing shavings, not dust : The back is getting close. Weight at the moment is around 7lbs 4oz with the major components included so around 7 1/2lbs still looks achievable.

My favourite tools for neck carving starts with a spokeshave to take some of the bulk away. Always satisfying when you get a shaving the length of the neck : I then move onto a micro-plane. I draw it along the neck with both hands (when I'm not holding the camera!) like a spokeshave. Because the cut is lighter, it is a safer option once you are getting closer to the shape: Then my favourite - and sometimes this is the only tool I use - the trusty cabinet scraper. Again, when I'm not holding a camera, I draw this down the length of the neck with both hands: For the trough, I will rough out with a mini plane and then use a gooseneck scraper: The whole process is one of do a bit, walk away, come back, measure, do a bit more. But it is at least starting to look like a neck now : There will be a bit of iteration - the neck carve affects what looks good with the body carve and vice versa - another reason why it's best to do it in stages

With some of the family stuff done, the rest of this week will be devoted to trying to finish the build and start the finish, if that makes sense Where possible, I try to achieve a 'familiarity of feel' of the necks. While every bass has its own feel, I try to get at least into the general spectrum of the shape of the future owner's favourite bass. So I got @Matt P to send me some measurements of the thickness at the 1st and 12th of his favourite bass and, using a profile gauge, the shape at the 1st, 7th and 12th of his favourite player. Armed with that, the first job is getting the thickness right at the neck spine - and then if I carve towards the spine and not into it, the thickness will end up where it should. To do that accurately meant getting the dreaded router out again, and my home-made thickness jig: These are my datum cuts with around 0.5mm oversize for scraping and final sand: The neck will be carved in full length sweeps of spokeshave, micro-plane and cabinet scraper and so it is helpful if the volute edges are carved out of the way. Then a scrape with the cabinet scrapers to get rid of the router levels and get it down to around 0.2mm oversize at the spine: And then, finally, the templates cut from Matt's profile drawings: And neck carve can commence!

Kingwood is a very hard, dense (and lovely) wood that is of a similar hardness and durability to ebony - so for protection from the strings shouldn't need any covering.

Yes - exactly what ^ he said

I found the half-hour or so to finish the slotting and they are all done: From the absence of white lines, there's half a chance they're in the right place too As it's easier to put down the main finish before fretting and then a quick re-finish after, I've done a sealing slurry and buff of Tru-oil. Brings out the colour nicely and will be silky smooth to the touch as well as being sweat and muck resistant: Got some domestic duties over the next few days and then a burst of progress early next week on @Matt P 's single cut (that is pretty close now to moving on to starting the finishing processes) so it will be mid next week before the frets go in . And we're going for EVO Golds that will match @AndyTravis 's dastardly plans on hardware for the bass itself

I think so.

Now this is definitely something not to be rushed, whether fitted in between other stuff or not. Cutting the fret slots. I am using a radius block as my positioning guide and to keep the saw blade completely vertical: I use a spatula marked with the tang depth to ensure that the slot is deep enough across its whole length: 6 done and 15 to go. I'll do a few more tomorrow if I get a spare half hour:

Yes - pretty unusual too. With the exception of the Fender varnished maple (and even that is a pretty light coat), most fretboards I've come across are just oiled

This is one of those ideal small jobs for 'in between the bigger stuff' jobs. Well, mainly I say 'mainly' because I ended up spending most of this morning getting the finish off the fretboard!! Yes, you live and learn! Most builders will tell you that stripping finish off a modern bass body can be a nightmare - but necks and fretboards are straightforward. That's because, on a body, many modern makers put a viciously hard undercoat under their poly finishes and you would go mad if you tried to sand it off. Generally industrial-grade heat guns are the only way! On the other hand, necks are always lightly finished and hand sanding is a breeze. And even more so for fretboards where generally they are not finished in the first place. Or so I thought before today... Because Yamaha clearly don't play to the same rules. This fretboard had the viciously hard undercoat - and you can't risk dig-ins and burns on a fretboard from the fairly brutal heatgun and decorators scraper approach, so it has to be basically sanded. One hour in: One and a half hours in, realised it was going to need some help with the help of a razor used like a scraper: Two hours in...there's some wood showing! (but only at the edges so far) : Two and three quarter hours later - we're down to wood : And a quick damp cloth check to make sure that there's no residual in there: So that's the easy bit done, then

And, in my view, Alan at ACG is pretty much at the top of the 'luthier's luthier' list...

Not this one - just wrapped in jiffy foam sheet Good for packing bits, though

Not at all sure what could possibly be in that box that's just arrived: Well - you could blow me down with a feather! :

Yes - that'll do nicely Using the binding to create the demarcation stripe has its own challenges, but it does mean that you only have to worry about one gap-free joint and not three, as you would if you were creating the effect with full width veneers: So in terms of the actual timber part of the build, we are heading towards the final stages. In broad sequence, it will be : - design headstock shape, adding wings if necessary - add a couple of swifts to the ebony headstock plate and attach - temp fix the tuners to align and drill the bridge fixing holes - complete the body carve - carve the neck profile, being able to 'feel' it towards final shape with plenty of air-bass And then the finishing can start

And the fretboard's on - and no gaps The next job is filing the neck overhang flush with the board, and in the background, preparations are afoot to start on the neck profile

I fitted the trussrod, checked the flatness of the neck face, including the run off to the body and worked out my positioning datum points for the fretboard: I kept the offcut when I cut the curve of the heel on the neck blank- exceptionally useful when it comes to clamping because G clamps really only work when the faces are parallel... : And, using fretboard radius blocks as my clamping cauls, it is gluing as I type: And yes - that blue one is bending! They are useful because they are longer reach...but bendy clamps aren't a good thing to have. Looks like I know what's going to be on this year's birthday list

Just a wipe with a damp cloth. It's a very quick and easy way of seeing what colour it will be when the actual finish goes on