Andyjr1515

Very (VERY) wise Been there. Done that. Ended in tears

So the Christmas preparations have moved from working to get everything ready and Covid secure to "how are we going to get the presents to folks who were supposed to be coming here and what are we going to do with the food and drink?" What I have found is that solving that last problem has made solving the other two seem much more straightforward. Cheersch! And it gave me a bit of time to sneak down the cellar for a 'few minutes' : The red on the bench isn't the result of my blood, sweat and tears...it's spilt dye from a previous project.

At the moment it's looking like all the presents are wrapped and no-one going to be there to give them to!

And all the frets are slotted. Don't panic, I haven't mis-measured - the 22nd fret isn't a 22nd fret. It's where the fretboard will end to fit the Superquad beauties in the remaining space The swifts were cut when I was doing @Fishman 's . They are not fitted yet - something I'll squeeze in over the day.

Looks great

Everything was a bit delayed by - well, it is the UK - the weather Hand marking a board (especially an ebony board) to within 0.1mm needs a decent amount of daylight. And over the day there was an hour where there was just enough. So accurate steel rule double-sided-taped to the board, Stewmac fret calculator printout and a very sharp steel punch to puncture the board with a series of dots along the rule : I've found that the best way to ensure that this is accurate is: - the standard engineering method of always taking measurements from a single datum (so ignoring the fret-to-fret info) to minimise any cumulative errors - once all done, check by reading off the dots and writing down their values and only then comparing with the scale printout (if you check that, say, the 25.65 slot is correct, your mind can convince you that's what you are seeing. If you simply measure cold, then you really do see the actual variances) Then onto the same mitre jig. While I use a template plate - to get a consistent slot depth - this time the little index pin has been removed so the plate can slide freely. I use the radius block as a caul to clamp the board once properly positioned. I use a pull saw, and so orientate the board so that the saw pulls it into the mitre-block side. However, the return stroke can push the board, even when it is clamped, so I use a small piece of scrap to help hold it firmly against correct side : And then it's a case of positioning the dot to the point that the saw kerf hides both sides when clamped: 16 done, 5 to go

I've found that buying direct from China is still a bit of a lottery. That said, much of it seems to be decent quality so hopefully the neck is fully useable, albeit not the colour you were expecting. But yes, supply and delivery is very unpredictable at the moment - some arrives superquick and then other stuff takes a surprising time. Good news is that most of it does arrive in the end Building a bass from parts is a great way to start to understand what matters and what you can be more liberal with for your future full builds

Nice paint job

Lovely

That's nice too. I also built one myself that I used for a few years but it wasn't nearly as accurate as the bought one. That said, I think the one you've made there is probably more accurate again - the extra size makes small lumps and bumps much less exaggerated and there is much better control with those handles of the router movement . That said, my workspace is so limited, I would never be able to fit anything of this size. Nice fretboard, that - what's the wood?

Indeed. It's been a long year....

Clearly the thread is moving too slowly And so today was start of fretboard day. First job was to square it up and cut it to the 'widest plus a bit' width. Then it was two-sided taped to the radiusing rig: The G&W rig is great. The fine lines resulting from the fact that the router bottom blades are hardly ever absolutely square but are easily sanded off with a radius block: Tomorrow's job is marking out the radiused board with fret positions for the 30" scale - it's a job where you need some decent daylight! I will be using the same fret slotting mitre jig as used on @Fishman 's Wal board, but indexed manually instead of using a frets template. With luck, I will be able to fit the two MoP swifts at the 12th before attention starts moving towards preparation for the non-Christmas Christmas - which will start with a pretty decent vacuuming of all of the ebony chips and unbelievably fine dust that has settled on most vertical horizontal surfaces. (Did I mention - if you ever sand ebony, you really must wear a proper dust mask...this is no time to end up in A&E with a respiratory condition ).

It's certainly going to be Wicked!

Ah - yes. I remember now. It looked great on his, but no, we're going with maximum figuring and minimum holes (except for the three very large ones the Superquads will occupy)

Probably not - but I can't remember which that was @SpondonBassed ...

As those who have had a custom build done will know, even in a detailed thread there's lots of PM work goes on behind the scenes. Most of it is questions from Andyjr1515 to the prospective owner, 'do you want this; do you want that; what colour of the other do you prefer...' and usually matched with responses from the prospective owner to Andyjr1515 along the lines of, 'well, LIKE I SAID THREE TIMES NOW; Oh no - you haven't cut it have you?; Oh... I think we did spec a 6 string but now you've only left enough room for three strings...' Just normal supplier/customer communications, really. Anyway, while I've been doing the stuff on @Fishman 's Wal save, this back and forth has been going on between @Jus Lukin and me and I'm now in a position to start a number of the next steps. While the fret cutting jig is out and screwed down on my bench top, I'll be fret slotting, although for this build we are going for a radiused board and, to minimise any possibility of chipping, I will do that first. Then the slots. And then we are going for a couple of swifts at the 12th too @Jus Lukin is opting for no 'f'hole with some sound logic that, because the bridge and Superquads will hide so much of the walnut figuring, it seems a pity to lose even more with a hole in the middle of what's left. But that means that I can also now glue the top to the neck And so that's broadly what I'll be doing over the next couple of days

So last photo before turning my attention back to the headless for a few days - the finished swifts:

Putting the inlays in was normal method. Started with a pencilled outline of the inlay and then my Dremel with a 1mm bit in the precision router base, plenty of light, frequent vacuuming and a very steady hand Then mixed a generous amount of collected ebony sanding dust with some Z-poxy epoxy resin and filled the chambers with the mix: Then pressed the inlays , forcing the black epoxy out, and hence gluing them in and sealing and filling any gaps at the same time: And when that's fully cured they will be sanded flat at the same time as the pre-fretting sanding of the board itself. Nickel silver fretwire is on its way and, while all the fretboard stuff is out, I'll get on with a similar process with @Jus Lukin 's headless build

I like the colour! Wiping over with a damp cloth (squeezed out - not wet) will darken the dried stain and give you a pretty good guide to what shade it will be once you've added the finish.

And here they are: I've done two pairs. I'm pretty sure that @Jus Lukin wants a completely plain board and just side dots on his headless build, but, while I had the folding table out and cutting rest clamped to it, it was almost as quick to do a second pair at the same time just in case or for another future build. Along the same efficiency drive (don't worry, I'm sure that won't last long), then while the fret-slot mitre block I've just used for @Fishman 's board is still screwed to the workbench, I will hand mark the fret positions for @Jus Lukin 's 30" scale (I don't have a template for 30") and cut the slots on his board. For this Wal project, then tomorrow morning - when I have a bit of daylight to be able to see the pencil marks on the ebony fretboard - I'll pencil round two of the inlays, rout the recesses and fit them onto the board

And all the fretslots are done The bottom right edge is the edge of the board. You can just see the pencil mark for where the nut will come to once it's been cut to final taper. It's going to have no dots on the top (just some luminlays on the side) but just a couple of mother of pearl swifts at the 12th. I'll do that while it's still on the fretting template so it doesn't move around as I'm dremel-routing for the inlays. So this afternoon, mask on, jewellers saw out and time to cut a couple of swifts

seconded thirded

There's a feature line running through the fretboard blank that @Fishman would like to incorporate in the final fretboard. Trouble is, it is quite diagonal across the blank. We looked at a number of orientations using a template from the original board and came up with this as the closest we could get for the feature being centre-ish at both the heel and the nut: With this agreed, I could then cut one of the sides of the blank to give me a 90 degree datum for the fret slots. I also thicknessed the board down to around 5.8mm. That done, I attached the blank to the G&W mitre block 34" template: And then I could start sawing the slots. Here's about half-way through. I'll finish off tomorrow.

You probably need to sand further down. Glue (or previous finish preparation residue if it's stripped) doesn't soak in a lot - but it is surprising how much you have to sand down to get rid of it. So it's a sanding block with something like 80 grit (60 is too coarse) sanded with the grain until a wipe over with a damp cloth reveals no light patches - lighter patches usually designate the areas where the dampness isn't soaking into the wood and flags probable contamination still there (because almost all woods darken when they absorb moisture). Then - after letting it dry again, sand out the sanding marks with the progression of, say, 120, 180, 240 grit before staining again. The stain should then soak into all of the wood leaving just the teeny glue line which will hardly show (other than clearly being a join line )

I think you said that the body was going to be stained, @oldslapper ? If that is the case - while I fully endorse what @Cuzzie says, and especially thinning the oil a touch for the initial sealing coats - I would make a small but important change to the sequence. What @Cuzzie describes in terms of applying the initial coats with sandpaper is exactly the best way for unstained wood. It basically creates a slurry of oil and fine sawdust that acts as a perfect grain-fill/surface preparation that will eventually lead to a wonderfully organic silky smooth satin finish and a perfect base finish if you wanted to build up to a gloss. However, for stained wood, while using sandpaper is still done (I actually use very fine wet and dry c 1000-2000 grit), it is best not to use that for those initial coats. Stains - and especially water-based stains - are surprisingly thin. They do no penetrate the wood much at all. And if the surface is slurried at this first stage, the stain will certainly be sanded off in places. So - and I emphasise this is only for a stained finish - I would just change the sequence a touch. What I do is: - apply the sealing coats. Thinning is a great suggestion to get the oil properly into the wood. - I then apply 2-3 further coats (making sure they are dry between each coat) - and then I apply the next coat using 1000+ grit wet and dry, where the wet is oil, and gently apply the coat with the paper in a smooth gentle movement - pretty much as @Cuzzie describes. The same thing happens, but now the slurry is a mixture of hardened oil mixed with fresh oil rather than oil and sawdust. I check the paper regularly to ensure that minimal stain is coming off in the oil - if it is then let it dry and put a couple more coats on before repeating this process. For unstained, I do pretty much exactly what @Cuzzie suggests