Andyjr1515

I bet you thought I'd forgotten this Well...MrsAndyjr1515 hadn't. With it still being in one piece, it's time to start tidying it up ready for return. The easy bit was giving the fretboard a bit of love and attention. Nice piece of rosewood: Then it was the glue lines. First job was getting rid of any glue and cracked finish. I have started with a single-edged razor blade: Next job - BEFORE I sanded that smooth - should have been filling any gaps with epoxy mixed with wood dust. I forgot that was the sequence in my rush to get it smooth to the touch (there's some fine sandpaper glued to the back of that ply: And why should I have filled first? Well...see that fine white varnish dust...in the cracks. Anyway, after a happy half hour with a pin and a vacuum, I then did the first epoxy/wood dust fill: Starting to look a bit better. Then the repaired scarfe and back cracks. Well the repaired cracks again is just a case of smoothing it off with the razor. For the scarfe repair, it is going to have to be properly filled and so the first job is to start chavelling away the glue and lacquer to give any filler enough depth to get decent adhesion: And, although I will need to talk to @Fishman for his view, looking at this...hmmm...you know the phrase, "If you can't hide it, then flaunt it!"?

Very splendid

I did a number of passes, ending up with a 4mm deep slot: Then, from the other side, cut the chamber as I do my pickup chambers nowadays...starting with a Forstner to part-depth: Then chiselled the periphery to act as a guide for the bearing on a top-bearing router bit: So now, and only now, when it is captive and can't go anywhere because of the bearing, out can come the horrible hand router... : ...to tidy up the sides and gradually deepen the body until breakthrough! : And, with a mm adjustment of my chisel line eventually release. And we have a grain matching, 3mm thick back cover I think the phrase, 'Well, you could knock me down with a feather!' springs to mind. I wasn't expecting that!!! Time for a cup of tea, I reckon....

It all started with this photo (which I think is a Fodera): Note the hatch? More to the point, the grain on the hatch... It's cut out of the back - you can tell by the grain. Now, I'm sure that Fodera would use a CNC to cut it so fine and accurately. Well, I haven't got a CNC. But I DO have something much more useful - a vivid imagination and a flagrant disregard of my own abilities Lots of pics here, but that's a lot easier than trying to describe it all: I used a paper template to mark out the hatch and cut around the shape of the oversize body. I put a crease in where the top would come to to ensure I wasn't too close to the edge: I then pencilled some datum marks on, lined up the template and drew the same hatch on the other side: Then got out the trusty Dremel in its precision base and a 1mm router bit...that would give me a bit of wiggle room for an eventual 1.5mm gap: I did a number of passes, ending up with a 4mm deep slot: Ooops - pressed the wrong button!

Great job

And so to chambers. In many ways, the most important chamber is the control chamber. The internal layout is going to be something along these lines. Plus, of course, the Apollo space-capsule type multi-wire loom driving the Superquad : So the hatch will be something like this: And yes - that top line IS parallel with the neck laths...it's the wide angle lens distorting So I'm going to try something I've never done before. You know when you see someone do something that you think "Wow - why didn't I think of that??" Well, with me, that's usually something that @Jabba_the_gut 's done...but just so he doesn't get too smug - this time it's Fodera. So probably won't work when I try to do it

A little bit of scraping to get rid of the glue squeeze-out and tidy some of the joins, but this is much better than before...and it's flat It's now trimmed to the final oversize before the final shaping rout that will happen once the top is glued on, using the top as the routing guide (yes, I know... ) . The fretboard overhang will be shortened and possibly shaped, depending on @Matt P 's preferences: Just got to finalise and cut the control, cable and weight-relief chambers and then the top can be glued on. Next jobs! Oh - that and ordering the 5 string Superquad...

And the purpleheart laths have been thicknessed and jointed and the first two being glued. Why the sash clamps? Well, the jointing meant that the mating faces of the two purpleheart laths were pretty perfect. Then, when I popped the glue on to glue them in position, one was like a banana! So the sash clamps are there to hold them straight for a decent lath to lath joint and the G clamps are for a good wing to lath joint. I've never come across such glue warping before with purpleheart - but it does probably explain why it warped the top when I first glued them on that! Any other builders come across this issue? Anyway, I'll do the remaining laths one at a time - and with the sash clamps for good measure - so they are always each gluing to their previously hard glued colleagues Note, by the way, the SW BassBash mug still in good use @scrumpymike ! Should be in good use again later in the year

For fitting the binding so that is it snug against the bottoms of the fret-ends, I find that the easiest way is to put the fretboard back onto the metal fret slotting template and then I know the bottom of the binding is going to be flat against the neck when it's fitted and then I shave the top of the binding until it pushes tightly under the protruding fret ends. For this little job - sanding is no good because you don't want a rounded edge - I find it easiest to put my block plane upside down into the bench vice and then draw the top of the binding along the blade: That done, titebond and plenty of spool clamps for a tight fit: And done. They will be scraped with a single edged razor blade to take the glue line off and add the continuation of the radius, which will make them pretty invisible, and the top corners will be rounded off after fitting to the neck. The bindings are around 0.5mm proud of the fret-ends: Next job is to thickness the replacement purpleheart and glue it to the neck/wings assembly. As always, many thanks for looking

And so to the fret-ends and binding preparation. As usual, folks, I'm not at all certain other builders do it this way so don't assume that it's the best way of doing it I have stuck the fretboard onto one of the fret-slotting templates - a useful flat and straight surface - with two-sided tape 1mm inset from the edge. I then could use the edge as my guide to clip the overhanging fret-ends, file them and emery them so that the edges are now straight with exactly 1mm overhang: I then used my Hoscoe crowning file to round the ends: And a combination of needle files and my Chris Alsop diamond crowning file to round the sharp corners: I will then use the crowning file as a former and use 400 through to 2000 emery to eliminate the scratch marks and bring the ends to a polish but, eventually, the binding will fit like this, giving me a 0.5 - 1.0mm overhang and instant white/black stripe demarcation line :

My favourite personal fretwire is EVO Gold. I've used it since I started full builds and for all of my own builds. I've noticed in the last couple of years more commercial boutique builders adding that as a 'feature' - so they've clearly been watching my build threads It is tougher than nickel silver and, particularly for acoustics, seems to add a distinct warmth to the tone. I reckon it's about half-way between nickel silver and stainless for hardness. It does have a light brass/gold tinge to it, though, which doesn't suit all applications. But if you don't have an issue with the colour, I would heartily recommend it.

The stainless fretwire comes in straight lengths and so I radius it a couple of inches tighter than the fretboard radius: Then my standard method of: - run lightly along the slots with a triangular needle file to take off the edges - de-tang the ends of the cut-oversize wire - thin bead of titebond - hammer left, right then centre - clamp on the radius block - move onto the next Here's the basic kit: I've double-sided-taped the board to the steel fretting template to moderate the bend a touch. Stainless is tough stuff. I had to stretch this out over a couple of sessions with some hand-resting in between. But, all done: Next job is trimming the overhang to 1mm and rounding the ends before fitting the binding. With recollections from apprenticeship days of stainless work hardening, just got to work out the best way of doing that...

Given the construction, I'm sure it would be. It's fine when the trussrod is new and working OK because, as there is so little wood around it, the truss rod box IS the neck But once the rod starts getting stiff, or is overtightened, or the glue holding it in the channel starts failing there really isn't enough wood there to stop it breaking out. Even if it had been maple, it would help, but this REALLY isn't enough wood for any meaningful strength with mahogany:

I share the hate, @HazBeen. Every time...every time...

I can't tell you just how many times I check!

And to the brace of swifts before the frets can go in. Same old same old for those who've seen any of my other threads I pencil the swifts onto the mother-of-pearl and cut them out with a jewellers saw: Then work out broadly how I'm going to position them: Then pencil round each one and use the Dremel precision router base and a 1mm bit to hand rout the chamber: Then, with luck, they fit at the right depth - and at the right fret position : So THAT'S why he keeps going on about keeping the sanding dust! Mixed with 30-minute Z-poxy: Mixed well and then filling the chambers, the inlays are pushed in with the squeeze-out filling any gaps: Then after the epoxy has hardened, sanded with the radius block. Here is the binding I'll be using too: So tomorrow, I don't think I have an excuse not to fit the frets...

..and still OK a day later. Tuning holding; neck relief holding; fixed glue joints holding. Just one buzzy fret position to file down a bit and then hiding all the new glue joints as best I can and then it will be ready to return to @Fishman And as a bass - I'm well impressed. You could easily run this unplugged - it's louder than many acoustic basses I've used in the past. And plugged in - excellent built in EQ. Very impressed.

I can't stop looking at those latest shots. Every aspect, every photo, takes my breath away*. Really. And that's completely ignoring the total McTrickery going on under the hood with those pickups and electrics. *and trust me, I am well aware that this is no time to end up in A&E with a serious respiratory complaint.

Actually, the folks at David Dyke have worked a bit of magic It was going to be tricky to get the right thickness without a lot of wastage (and with DD, you know the quality is going to be good) and so I spoke to them and they have cut some for me straight away and it will be with me tomorrow. Excellent service. In the meantime, I'm starting to get the fretboard ready for fretting. I'm going to do what I have on a few other builds - using a feature-line binding that will be attached a mm beyond the rounded fret ends. This is maple, but you get the idea: The binding is scraped to the radius and the edges rounded, but you still end up with the fret ends inset by around 0.5 - 1mm. What you also get for free is the demarcation line without the need to add veneers under the board The fretboard has been tapered at to 4mm smaller than the finished size to allow for the 2mm binding either side: The stainless steel fretwire is here but, before I start cutting and fitting the frets, I'm going to be adding a couple of swifts at the 12th - which is tomorrow's job

Well, two days under full string tension and it's still holding tune. So it's time to see if we can really break its spirit - by adjusting the neck relief 10 minutes after a required 2.5 'quarter turns' and still in one piece:

Matt and I are discussing offline the control chamber stuff and then I'll start routing some of the lightening chambers and I have some ideas what I want to do at the back. But that purpleheart is bugging me. It will be easier if I take it off and start with some new. To remove it, I did the same as if taking off a fretboard - a hot iron and lots of patience! The patches are oil coming out of it. Stinks too. Weird when the wood to work on always seems dry as a bone. Anyway, it's off...and the walnut is pretty flat again. Just got to get some more purpleheart - I'm going to try somewhere else than DD's with their leadtimes being so long at the moment...

The good news is that the mating surface of through-neck and wings are pleasingly flat And to the internal features and chambers - but to do that, I need to know, broadly at least, the external carve. And the carve to me is also an iterative process. The mathematicians amongst you will shake their heads disapprovingly and mutter, "Iterations on top of iterations...it's going to turn out like a camel..." Anyway, camel or thoroughbred, it's the only way I can work. So time to take some of the bulk away that I know needs to go before I can see what might make it look nice too... For roughing out, I ought to buy myself a proper carver's chisel, but this is what I'm starting with - including my trusty Veritas Pullshave...the one example (or maybe the ONLY example) of an impulse buy being exactly what I needed as well as what I wanted All plays havoc with the arthritis, but half an hour later: And another half-hour, a decent start-off point: Bear in mind that this body is still oversize, but just having this done helps me think where to take the back carve next. I would hate to do it CNC...there is no way I could envisage it all first!!

Had a look at the warp in the top and now understand exactly what it is and where it is - and I can put it to one side for sorting later as it may sort itself. End on - it's like this...and I'd be proud if I'd done it on purpose - it's basically the shape that @TheGreek asked me to do on his Psilos bass : This is an end-on shot looking from the tailstock towards the nut and it is the purpleheart that's doing it. It was glued under clamping, but the moisture from the glue clearly has expanded the pupleheart, the top has glued and is held by the less porous walnut, the bottom has then dried and shrunk and pulled it into a bow. The same sort of thing can happen when you are gluing veneer, but that doesn't have the strength to bend the underlying wood. Now, if I was skilled enough, I would carve the mating surface of the oak to be the same shape, because my cunning plan on reducing weight is to add a touch of this at the back - not as extreme as this (which is @Len_derby 's lightweight Swift) but more like the curve above : "And if I was skilled enough, I would carve the mating surface of the oak to be the same shape..." But I'm not Under clamping, it will flatten - but it is a huge force that I wouldn't want to be sitting in the middle of a bass over the next 20 years or so. But I will, any event, be routing out much of the purpleheart out and that will help. If it doesn't fully sort it, I can cut some stress relief slots along the length of the internal face of purpleheart that will sort is and still be fully invisible. But all of that can wait because it's onto finalising the back weight relief, control chamber, etc, etc, etc

No this is a real. Then again, I am an enigma...or am I ?? But no - if the wet and clamp doesn't flatten it then the best option is to get the purpleheart off, relieve the stresses and redo, but start with the purpleheart on the almost immovable oak.

Yes - Jon is excellent.