Andyjr1515

The other thing I should say, is that it would have been MUCH more difficult if the neck pocket was already cut. All I had to do was get all four holes in line with each other top and bottom. To do that and in line with tight fitting pocket sides too is where it is usually easier to plug the old holes and redrill/insert

As Matt Hancock would say, "That's such a good question. Thank you for asking it." My answer is, best laid plans and all that.... I did, in fact, make a scrap-ply template as originally planned. But once I'd got it, I judged I was more likely to introduce errors with it than eliminate them. With the paper template and an accurate metal rule, I could see from the impression in the paper exactly where the centre of the stud was. I judged that this was more accurate than drilling four holes in a 5mm piece of ply and then trying to position that and accurately push a drill in each of the holes to make the pin-prick mark without at least one nudging out of position.

Yes - indeed. That said, it's not difficult...it just needs a bit of planning and misty recollection from school maths and physics lessons of how to avoid cumulative errors. The measure the diagonals trick-of-the-trade is one I learnt in the window's joinery business. Makes absolute sense when you think about it but it's something I had to see someone do for real for the penny to drop Oh - and with a 43mm (edited - I'd typo'd 33) or so body blank, it needs a drill-press that has minimal run-out (the movement in the spindle that can let a drill wander out of verticality). The Proxxon is a lightweight for many 'proper engineering' tasks but the accuracy of the spindle is first class - no wandering of the bit at all.

They do - but getting hold of Wal plates is pretty much impossible. As an alternative, @Fishman has opted for conical washer inserts which will look good too.

Superb! I love that. Great vibe...

It's a fine judgement. If you think of the bottom of the valleys in those ribs as forming another smaller diameter, this this smaller diameter must be no bigger than the holes in the headstock. Then, the ribs basically cut through the wood and you have a tight fit but one that has simply cut grooves in the wood and not cracked the headstock that might happen if the holes in the headstock are smaller than that inner diameter of the bush. Hope that makes some sense...

While @Jus Lukin 's lower back wing is drying, and since receiving the No 10 UNF bolts and confirming they fit - it's time to bite the bullet and start on the neck pocket This really is - of all of the tasks - a 'measure multiple times and drill once'. There is so little room for error - positionally or in terms of angle - with machine screws, it basically has to be right. I started with a paper template, pressing down with my thumb to find the insert depressions and then using a taper punch to find the exact centre of the insert itself: After drawing the centre line on the body back, I used a template of the pickguard to make sure that the neck pocket template was going to be in the correct position. Then I used a sharp ended punch to transfer the pattern on the back of the neck pocket with a teeny dint, where I would subsequently drill using a good quality brad-point drill. You can't see them in this photo because they are tiny, but they are there. I checked all of the dimensions, including the diagonals to ensure that the dots were in exactly the right positions (the Wal's inserts are 0.25mm out of square ) : I started with a 12mm Forstner to drill the recesses at the back that the screw inserts will go into: I then used a 5mm bradpoint, using the forstner spike hole as my bullseye and drilled two holes right through - a diagonal. Then turned the body over and used the template to put the drill dots in the other two positions - again checking the diagonal dimensions to make sure I was replicating the 0.25mm out of square of the original and also that I had marked it out of square the right way round (ask me why I know that checking THIS is important )!! I then did the through-body trick of drilling 1/2way through, then turning the body round to drill from the other side and meet in the middle - this should mean that the exit holes are accurate for getting the machine screws in the inserts and the entry hole are accurate for the aesthetics of the screw heads and inserts. Testing time. Would the temporary machine screws fit?: ...and none more surprised than me! So now I could bolt the neck fully against the top of the body and first check that it still lined up with the pickguard within the 'wiggle-room' oversize: ...and then draw round the neck heel for the next step, cutting the pocket itself...which will be tomorrow Time for a cup of tea As always, thanks for looking.

Well - you know what I think about routers. But there are times when only a router will do. What I do try to do, though, is always be working with a 'captive' bearing bit. I forgot to take the shots, but I started like the weight relief - hogged out the chambers with a forster bit with the edges straightened up with a chisel. Then the bottom-bearing flush bit couldn't go anywhere but follow the chiselled line: I've included the provision for in-chamber battery for both general layout options (although I think @Jus Lukin is going for the straight-row toggle option), with the non-used chamber useful for coping with the excess loom wire. We could even go battery box if @Jus Lukin preferred and then use both battery chambers to cope with the excess wire In the photo above there is the rebate bit - again, it can't go anywhere - for the hatch. Here is the rebate with the battery in one of the recesses: And here is the healthy channel to feed three looms with their multi-wire connectors to the pickups, with the battery in the second recess: As usual, I will leave it until the morning before I glue this wing on...just in case I've forgotten something, and while the glue is setting, start on my cunning neck pocket plan on @Fishman 's Wal save Who says that men can't multi -oh sorry-just got distracted task

Building a bass is sometimes like doing a logic puzzle! I'm working on the chamber size and position and the cable channels (remembering I have to feed those large loom connectors to each of the pickups) before I glue the lower back wing on. So what are my limitations? Actually, ironically it's about how much offcut of the back wood I have. Because I will be using an offcut from the waist cuts of the back panels to make my chamber hatch. And, if possible, I want the grain to be in the same direction. So the hatch has to fit within this area, minus the 8mm rebate all round for the hatch and (hopefully) magnets to fit: And, ideally, it needs to be able to accommodate the battery. Yes - I could fit a battery box, but it would be neater not to have to. And that leaves me the area cut out of paper here - and actually, a couple of options would fit in that area. In both cases the battery could be slotted into a pre-made semi-chamber carved into the side of the chamber: I will add the battery cutouts both sides so that @Jus Lukin can decide at his leisure which type of layout or variation of these he prefers. But in both cases they share the same external chamber size and position so that can be cut on the scroll saw now:

Yes - just that. 3 Sims toggles, 3 on/off toggles, Master tone, Master Volume.

Probably not on this one, Mick, but always useful knowing what parts of potential interest are around

I've always been stunned by just how good those detuners are and how easy they are to set up and adjust. One's fitted on 'Kert's' Camphor Singlecut. It works a treat.

Well, bolt-world on ebay did me a cracking job and the UNC bolts to check the sizes and put the cunning plan into action arrived this morning! And they are the right size...but the wrong thread But that means we now know they must be size 10 UNF and so tomorrow morning, a set of those should now be arriving in the post And then, assuming they fit OK, I can not only put my 8-Point-for-not-c**king-up-the-neck-pocket Plan into action but will be also able to place a Made-to-order for the black ones that will be used on the finished bass. And, in the meantime, @Fishman has just sent me a nice Hipshot bridge to fit onto it

While waiting for the Superquads I did a couple of small jobs, including adding the 0.6mm maple veneer to the back of the fretboard. The tang slots will be filled with epoxy mixed with ebony dust before the board is finally glued on (a little way off yet): And then, this morning, the Superquads arrived : For those who have never seen them, they are 4-coil passive pickups: The three way toggle gives each pickup the option of 'P' ; Single ; Humbucker: There is a battery connection, but that is purely to power the LED that shines red for 'P' ; green for Single; blue for Humbucker. The pickups are not affected by the battery being connected or not. And - although this set up with three pickups is, we think, a World First and will have some quirky things we need to work through - they are ridiculously easy to wire up. The PCB on each switch has a ground, a 9v for the LED and a hot out. Performance-wise, they are superb - worth watching the Bassbash clip at the beginning of this thread with Nick Smith's demo of a Sims fitted bass and @TheGreek 's Silk bass. I suppose my only less-positive observation is that the cases (GRP/carbon?) have a rough surface and show the manufacturing ejector marks - exactly the same pattern on these as on Mick's a good few years ago. But, once the LEDs are all traffic lighting up, who's looking at that! And here is broadly how they will fit: Now I have the looms in hand, I can work out how big the chambers and the cable runs need to be in the lower back wing

That looks very good. Great job. What did you use to trim the veneer? Because the the tendency for a split to follow the grain, I found that the trickiest bit - and maple veneer is tough stuff!

Well...there's a funny story here As the saying goes (well, it does now), "The best laid 8-Point-for-not-c**king-up-the-neck-pocket Plan's of mice and men..." Because in checking the machine screws I have in my bits box I realised - and should have thought - that the inserts in the neck are imperial. This is an old bass. They are definitely 10- (3/16") but it has been so long since I used imperial machine screws, I can't be sure that my guess at UNC is right - they might be UNF. Yes - I can source them in the right sizes and in black ( @Fishman 's preference) from Accu.co.uk - a supplier of good quality Stainless fastenings - but, as they are made to order in this size and spec they will take a couple of weeks to come through so I thought I'd better check I'd got the right thread first In the meantime, these beautiful Schaller lightweight machine heads have come through - drop in fit, including the rear pegs:

Another 'Phew!' It looks OK: Still waiting on Superquads which should arrive later today - then I can work out how much space I need to leave for the three plug-in wiring looms

That's great - thanks for posting.

Oh, I so do... Yes - I took the cup of tea as an optional, rather than a full, step in the 8 point plan

The upper wing doesn't need any cable channels or control chamber provision building in and so can be weight-relieved and glued on first. Normal stuff, I hog out the weight-relief chamber with a Forstner bit: Then tidy out the edges with a sharp chisel so the edges act as the guide surface for the diddy flush bit (Axminster - I use this SUCH a lot) that is used then to deepen the chamber to final dimension: And now this can be glued to the neck/top assembly. I use side clamps to ensure the laminations with the neck are tight and then the spool clamps to make sure the top to back joint is gap free. I'll know whether it is all gap free in the morning once the clamps can come off. Fingers crossed!

Well - no pictures, but I think I've worked out the sequence to do things. - Trying to create a pocket to fit a neck that already has screw holes is always a challenge. - Fitting necks with machine-screws is also always a challenge, because they have to be absolutely spot on, both in dimensional and angular terms. - Creating a pocket to fit a neck that already has machine-screw inserts fitted is therefore (a challenge)2 .... So it needs a plan. And this is my plan: * From the neck, I will take a paper template, using the 'thumb pressed to make an impression' trick. ** From the template, I will mark the 4 screw-hole positions on a piece of plywood *** I will drill the 4 holes with the drill press and check the fit with some short machine screws **** I will then temporarily attach the plywood template to the neck and line up the neck on the body, intended bridge position and pickguard position. I will mark the position of the template. *****I will probably have a cup of tea, before... ****** ...taking the plywood template off the neck and lining it up with the positional marks made on the body and mark the 4 screw hole positions ******* I will then drill the four holes through the body on the drill press using a good quality brad-point drill bit ********Next, I will screw the neck to the top of the body and mark the outline of the neck pocket *********Finally, I will cut the neck pocket and then everything else relating to the final carve of the body (which has a few mm wiggle room) can then use the neck and neck pocket as the datum I call it my '8 Point for not c**king up the neck pocket Plan' Or, in short: I'm going to try to drill the fixing holes in the right place first. Oh...and I might have to buy some longer screws first, so don't hold your breath

I've just heard from @Jus Lukin that there are a trio of Superquads on their way to me - which is VERY exciting In the meantime, I've started getting my head round pre-glue internal carves of the two mahogany wings. I'll wait for the Superquads before I sort the bottom wing - to be honest, as much for the challenge at accommodating the wiring looms as the switches themselves - but the weight relief of the top wing is more straightforward as there are no cable runs or anything to worry about: So this afternoon, I will be getting my little (but super) Proxxon drill press out and hog some mahog out with one of my larger Forstner bits. Which is useful, because the first job on @Fishman 's Wal save will use the same drill . If only I had done this much 'in-cycle efficiency' when I had a proper job With the back wings trimmed now to within a couple of mm of final size, I couldn't help a quick mockup: I have a good feeling about this...I think it's going to be a delightful little thing (of course, with the Superquads, a delightful little thing fully capable of knocking a house down)

I could tell he was tempted by my suggestion of plain maple veneer stained a muddy brown....

And today, with the bandsaw still out from cutting @Jus Lukin 's tailstock relief (photo in the morning once it's light) I got to work on the great big - but surprisingly light - lump of swamp ash: I've left around a mm or so wiggle-room larger than the paper template @Fishman sent me. Looking at the above, this is why I wasn't overly troubled by the sensitivities of re-bodying a classic - the shape is, I think you will agree, 'maybe, itself, influenced by the styles of the era in which it was built'

That's a very nice paint job. Black is notoriously difficult to get right