Andyjr1515

I'm banking on everyone having run out of films to watch on Netflix here...but think of this as more a celebration of a great musician playing rather than the rather shameless self-promotion of the builder Matt still has most of my guitars and basses. He says it's because of Covid lockdown but I suspect that MrsAndyjr1515 is probably paying him a pretty sum to keep them over in Notts. Anyway, he's just put this video up. It's just an impromptu study in A, but it's pretty. On it is the Camphor Single Cut bass I built for Kert and my own 'Swift Lite' 6 string electric. Nice to have a reminder what it looks like If you like the playing, don't forget to pop a 'Like'... I know Matt will appreciate it

Thanks, Pete. Hope all good over in Ipswich

Take 100 guitar and bass builders and there will be 100 different ways of finishing - so, as normal, all I can do is outline how I personally do it. And for both stained and natural woods, and whether I will eventually leave it satin or go for full polyurethane gloss, I usually start at the same place - the trusted old 'Tru-Oil slurry and buff' method. What I find is that - even if I'm going to apply a different finish in the end - it is a great way of grain filling, sealing and finish sanding all in one process. The method is well covered in a number of builds or gun-stock finishing videos (which is what Tru-oil was originally designed for) but essentially it is: - using wet and dry sandpaper where the 'wet' is actually tru-oil and creating a slurry with the sanding dust that fills grain and small aberations with a wood-coloured filler - then wipe off across the grain while still wet, leaving the residue in the troughs of the grain - then, once dry, repeat (usually 2-3 times) but this time with finer paper and not only wipe off while still wet, but buff up (by hand) to a satin finish And this, below, is after just after 2 coats, the first slurry and wipe coat with 320 grit paper yesterday and then, this morning, a slurry and buff coat with 400 grit: And, just for @SpondonBassed - a pseudo volute: To the touch, this is all silky smooth already

Yes - and what could possibly go wrong there! But yes, I'm inclined to agree.

The finish prep has gone well. It's a bit like decorating where all the preparation takes for ever and then the final painting goes pretty quickly. Anyway, the first of the final finish coats is on. I'll do a couple more before I take a shot or two to show how it's starting to turn out. So maybe a couple of photos tomorrow but certainly by Sunday. For the finished finish look, I need to double check with @Jus Lukin to what he prefers (eg degree of satin or gloss) but, the way I go about it, these latter stages I'm doing at the moment are common to all of my natural wood finishes.

Resigned...maybe. Given up...never

OK - so far so good. I took off the clamps and the bow has reduced considerably: This is around 1mm at the centre - yesterday it was over 5mm. I'm going to leave it 24 hours at room temperature and then check it again to see if there is a tendency for it to bow more. If so, then I think it will need a couple of carbon rods either side of the rod. But if it holds this set, then I think that is something that the new rod alone would be able to manage - it takes no effort to close the above gap to flat. In the meantime, I will order the replacement truss rod. The 6mm wide slot would suit a modern two-way rod just fine - although the bottom of the slot, curved to use with a single action rod, will need to be packed to give it a reasonably even depth. That said, because they work in a different way, I think a modern rod would put less stress on the neck (and the rod).

Ref the bridge, to be honest I think @ForbiddenWytch 's planned solution is going to be fine. Here is a typical offset with an 8 saddle system: The octave strings will be, typically, 2-3mm forward of their bass counterparts (similar to the offset between the G and the A/E on a 4 string) This is pretty much the same with a 12-string acoustic where there are octave strings on the bottom four pairs. And with these, of course, you only have the width of the bone saddle to file the difference (this is a pre-made one, but you achieve the same with a solid saddle by filing so the fulcrum for each string is towards the front or towards the back of the saddle): So putting these two concepts together, and with @ForbiddenWytch saying above that he is going to put a different saddle set on a Badass II bridge... : ...then all he will need to do is intonate the saddle to the octave string and then, with a bit of 'get close and then creep up on it' approach, just file the bass string slot of each affected pair backwards by the appropriate 2-3mm. The saddles have more than enough thickness to allow the slots to be cut back the appropriate amount. Having cut acoustic saddles on both 12-string guitars and the recent Guitar Bouzouki, I personally can't see a problem...

Wow! Quite something

To get the fretboard off, I am going to use four things: a travel iron; a single-edged razor blade; a very thin steel sheet; a LOT of patience! It can take approaching a couple of hours because, in order to avoid damaging the fretboard or neck jointing surfaces, you have to get the glue REALLY hot so it properly melts - and some glues melt more easily than others. So the iron is on hot and took around 20 minutes just sitting on this area... : ...until I could get a razor cleanly between the two parts: This first stage takes the longest. I need to ensure that the blade will go in through the whole area before I can then insert my steel sheet and move the iron on a few inches. I use the steel sheet to stop the still soft glue from simply regluing behind me as I move slowly along: Then it really is just a case of inching everything a few mm at a time along. Rushing can easily end in tears But eventually, here it is. Fretboard off and both faces and all four edges undamaged: Next is removal of the packing strip to be able to remove the truss rod: The neck is most definitely bowed - around 5mm at the centre - and the trick of just bending it back is probably just not going to be sufficient. I'm thinking maybe a couple of carbon rods either side of the replacement truss rod, but we'll see. However, the less our solution is fighting against the wood the better. So I cleaned the glue off the top face of the neck and thoroughly soaked this side: This is make this face expand and therefore temporarily start straightening the neck. But I need to make that a more permanent effect. So, with either end packed a couple of mm to add a teeny amount of back bow, it is now clamped firmly to the bench and will stay there at least overnight until it is dry. Then it will be at least flat enough to assess whether it needs more than just a replacement trussrod...

@Raslee has sent me the neck - and what a nice neck it is But yes - it does have issues. As @Raslee says above, the truss rod is broken, but as he also mentions, there is a significant bow set in the neck. And there's a bit more - the fretboard is actually coming away from the neck. You can see both the bow and the separation here: I suspect that the trussrod, trying manfully to counteract the above bow plus the extra bow from the string tension, finally started to pop the board off. So far, though, there doesn't seem to be anything unfixable. First job is therefore taking off the fretboard and having a look at what's going on under there...

Agreed. Pretty much every element is off the scale. Love it

This is mighty fine work...

While I was doing the same on @Jus Lukin headless, I mixed epoxy with ebony dust and (over)filled the fretslots: In terms of buying tools and equipment, I am sure I am in good company to say that I agonise - sometimes over years - over the more pricey stuff when, admittedly with a lot more effort, you can actually get the job done with simpler stuff. Not least with sanding - because there's not a lot you can't do with a £2 cork block and a piece of sandpaper. But I suppose this reticence pays off - because when I do invest in something better, I usually know exactly why and what improvement it is there to make and - so far - have rarely been disappointed. So enter this orbital sander: Draw-droppingly expensive against the kind of things you can get in Homebase, etc. - but do I have to say worth every penny so far I still have some corners and so on to sort, and also the final work on the cutouts and neck pocket, but it will be soon ready to start staining and finishing: So next task is find the right combination of dyes/stains for 'the look'. And I have an offcut of this ash to try them on

You're all very naughty boys!

The customer, as they say, is king. So a bit more progress. Hatch cut. Again most builders have their own ways, but I cut a paper template from the recess already cut: I cut the blank out on the bandsaw a mm or so oversize and then use the real high-tech stuff: I start with the straight run at the top and just follow the overlapped edge round with the sanding block a cm at a time. Until: ..it fits (private thought...PHEW!) With a quick sealing coat, I'm pleased that the grain is broadly in the same direction . Once it is all fully finished, it will the the same shade too. So, two more jobs to do, hopefully this afternoon: final sanding of the body cutouts and edges and the profile tweaks of the neck...and then it's the start of the finishing processes. With this part of the build process being a bit like watching paint tru-oil dry, I won't do a blow by blow - I'll do a summary of the method and show you the results when it's done Watch this space

Agreed - it doesn't look good. Happily, it is fake (well, if the US President can run a country on that basis for 4 years...). I can only take a one handed photo on the SLR with my right hand, which unfortunately is the hand I drill with. So this is held in the left hand and is not drilling. "And that, m'lud, is the reason we are not paying the insurance for the totally forseeable accident."

The original board is 5.7mm but, with the radius, reduces to around 4.5mm at the edges. This board is also 5.7mm but is flat, so it gains that extra thickness at the edges.

I've been spending a bit of time getting @Jus Lukin 's headless to the finishing stage - probably another couple of days to do - but while I was doing the Luminlay on that one, I used the same equipment (such that it is) to also add the luminlay to @Fishman 's Wal neck I won't repeat the full how to (that is covered fully in the other thread), but it basically involves: drilling an accurate hole; popping a drop of superglue on the end of the Luminlay 'stick'; inserting said stick; cutting flush to the fretboard; trimming with a sharp chisel. Couple of the above steps: And done: When I've rounded the fret-ends and filled the tang slots, I will give the edge a final sand and then add a very thin wipe-on finish to the edge, including the wood exposed when blending the new fretboard to the original Wal neck. If I get it right, it should be a durable and invisible blend With the headless soon moving into the 'add a coat of finish and then leave for 24hours' stage, the build progress on this one will accelerate over the coming week

Love the colour of the bass, btw.

Or feed the edge of a thin duster or old T-shirt under the knob and wrap it/twist it around a touch so that you are getting even tension all around then pull firmly but steadily the twisted fabric directly upwards.

Hmmm...seem to have missed this one. Thanks for posting the link

Love that double cut, by the way @WilliamV

You are right - there are no hard and fast rules, but when you are buying strings (and here there are still a decent number of exceptions) then the 'convention' drifts towards 30" being short scale; 32" being medium; 34" being long scale (and as you say, some would say is standard scale). Above 34" is usually classed as Extra Long if you are buying strings. But not always

Ooooh...I like the sound of this. I'll be watching with great interest.