Andyjr1515

One of the easiest - and a big favourite for many of us builders - is Birchwood-Casey Tru-oil It's easy to apply, it is pretty non-toxic and it smells vaguely of cricket bats (it's a polymerised Linseed oil based product). You can brush it on, or wipe it on with a lintless cloth and some even just use their fingers (although personally I would recommend surgical /mechanics thin rubber gloves to do that). It is also (it does smell a bit, though) perfectly possible to do on a (covered) dining table. Generally you can do at least one whole coat in a day (I do back and sides in the morning and top and sides in the evening). The first few coats will generally soak into the timber and - as you say - seal it. Additional coats start building a thickness (although it remains pretty thin once dry) and eventually a shine. It is difficult to get a full gloss with it, but a pretty decent low-gloss is perfectly achievable. There are various tips and tricks but that's what I would recommend for starters. (Oh - and a small 3fl oz bottle is PLENTY)

Hi John What kind of final finish are you looking for? Matt, Satin, Gloss? And are you happy seeing the grain in the finish or are you aiming for new car flatness? There are lots of 'spare room' options.

Although it's a more 'flying be the seat of your pants' I personally would use thin CA (cyano/superglue). I would get a version that isn't to quick in bonding and make sure it is the water-thin type. I would test it on some scrap wood first. Gorilla tends to be too thick; Bostik (the 'normal' version, not the gel) tends to be about right for me. I would mask around the area with 3M Blue decorators masking tape from Homebase (not the cheap blue knock-off from B&Q - that is dreadful stuff) and then 'wick' the superglue into the crack. Capillary action will suck the glue deep into the crack. I would apply plenty, but not that much that it all runs out. Then I would hold the sliver tightly until the glue has fully grasped it. Rubber gloves is a must and lots of ventilation - CA fumes are EVIL (and probably not at all good for you). It's the sort of thing where I would practice it in advance so I know exactly where everything is, where and how I'm going to hold it while it's curing and even where am I going to put the bottle down before I start - even the slower stuff cures quickly and there is nothing worse than it being half-glued! I would even try with an old fashioned wooden pencil and deliberately crack it and see how the glue reacts, how well it wicks and how long I've got. Thinned PVA is not a bad solution, but it is very difficult to get the glue deep into the crack because it won't 'wick' in the same way. I have used a needle-less syringe, though, in some circumstances to force thicker glue into tight cracks - even epoxy resin. That would do a half-decent job with PVA. I use the ones folks use to get medicines down their dogs and cats throats from ebay.

I call that my 'cellar by desklight' look. I believe Dulux are interested

So I chiselled the moved piece flat so that I could properly detect any movement. I didn't want to remove it because that bridge over the trussrod end thread is useful for keeping wood glue out of the thread So basically the nylon block is supposed to be fixed. Theoretically there are two timber haunches (marked in yellow) stopping it simply moving in the direction of the arrow when the trussrod is tightened. But, clearly, it has moved at some stage. It's moved forward to leave that small gap at the back and enough for the top of the nylon to snap the timber bridge over the rod. That may have happened the very first time the trussrod was tightened - it is only about 3mm thick and the force is pushing it's weakest grain line. Or it maybe that the haunches themselves are weakened and every time force is applied, the block moves forward and loses the force applied to the rod. So now I can see right up close, I can do a live stress test. First I clamp a block along the neck - I am not applying downward pressure - but I am stopping the neck rising up from flat: And now, watching the block and split wood very closely, I start tightening the trussrod. The neck can't go anywhere so the allen key starts becoming difficult to turn. I turn it to the 'luthier's touch-point' - the point where you would normally stop because you know from experience (quite) that much more will break the rod. And it passed with flying colours. No movement, no creaking, no cracking. This will be fine in service. So the neck and rod are confirmed sound and now I can get on and start making the new fretboard. In the meantime, there's a Wall 1e pro template winging its way across to me to start thinking about the body that this will eventually be fitted to. As always, thanks for looking

Well, that might be my ploy to get the thread closed down before I chisel that bit of wood away and there's a massive *POP* and I'm left covered in graphite fibres and wood chippings

Well, this morning the 4-sticks of Luminlay arrived from Japan - and one is for this save Posted in an airmail envelope in Japan on 21st Nov; Arrived UK 22nd Nov; Customs notification 10th December; £0 duty £5.80 VAT and £8.00 Royal Mail handling charge (most of the handling on their automated system was me); received 12th December And our leader is energetically and enthusiastically heading towards a no deal, no delay Brexit?? Hmmm... 2021 is going to be a joy...

Well, that chip you can see has already moved. It is split and it is misplaced. And there is a small gap behind the nylon block. The movement I am looking out for is of the white nylon block towards the headstock as the nut is tightened. The fretboard wouldn't affect that. And, of course, without knowing the full history of this second hand neck, we don't actually know whether the neck was holding relief properly in the first place - it may have been moving and losing relief. As there has clearly been some movement of something, I need to be sure - while I can do something about it if necessary - before making a new fretboard and gluing that on. I wouldn't want to have to iron the new fretboard off too It's a quick check and easily fixable in the unlikely event that there is an issue

Decent question. The wood at the two anchor ends of a single action rod take all of the force of the rod. They stay put as the rod gets shorter and so the neck has no option but to bend. So, if that is the bit of wood holding the nylon end block in place, and it is capable of moving, then - now or later - when the screw end is tightened, the nylon block will simply move with the nut and the neck won't bend. (By chiselling the wood away, I will be able to see if there is anything else holding the block in place)

So some good news and also some bits to investigate a bit further with the neck. The link that @RichardH posted is immensely useful because I can see exactly what's going on. So my first question was whether the trussrod action was self-contained. A modern two way rod bends and the neck follows it. And therefore the two ends press down on the spine at the back of the neck and the middle presses up against the middle of the fretboard. And my question was - if this works like that, then what is going to hold the fretboard from pinging off???? But looking at the photos, it was clearly a one-way rod that was fitted. And that bends the neck by pulling against two fixed points at either end of the neck itself. And that doesn't put a force on the underside of the fretboard. But only one way of finding out - tighten the trussrod and either: - the neck was going to bend even without a fretboard attached or - there would be a soft furry *ping* and I would be covered in graphite fibres It bent fine and no *ping* So there is no need to remove the graphite as the guy on the link did. But - there was one thing I had noticed even before I did this. Was this the bit of wood that the one end of the rod relies on to hold the nylon block firmly in place? : Because, if it is, that is going to need sorting. Now, interestingly, when I tightened the rod, this sliver of cracked wood didn't move at all...and that is a good sign. And when I look at one of Richard's link photos, it looks like the block is actually held by the wood projections going down the depth of the neck: (with thanks and acknowledgement to unicornbass.se for the above photo) So tomorrow I'm going to chisel that bit of loose wood away and see if I'm right. There - I said it quickly so I don't think anyone will have noticed

I got the neck blank down close to final width, with enough wiggle room to let @Jus Lukin decide whether he prefers 17mm or 18mm spacing. Based on that I was going to be cutting the back wings oversize at this stage, I was able to do this too even though the neck isn't at its final width. And added the maple veneer so I didn't forget later So we have a bass that is weeks and weeks away from finish, but at least is starting to look like a bass:

Yes - good suggestion (and @Fishman is already in contact with Wal who are supplying a few bits and pieces (and were asked but couldn't supply a replacement body) so it's not an issue. That said, I think @RichardH 's post above completely clarifies it

Brilliant find! Yes that's the kiddy Thanks

@Matt P - the sheet steel that I'm using is 0.3mm thick. In the past, I've used one of these Irwin pull saws fairly successfully - pulled through backwards (you have to wear gloves, of course ) : The advantage is that they are pretty wide and the teeth are not kerfed. Oh - and they are dirt cheap! They are actually one of my favourite flexi saws - they cut through stuff that conventional saws struggle with. I haven't measured it, but it must be a similar thickness

I'm not sure - it might just be a flat filler plate. But clearly there for a purpose..

It's one of the many examples of how Wals are so different to most builders. They are one of the most engineered bass makes I know, in spite of their very traditional look. It's a synthetic plate - I am assuming carbon fibre. I'll take a close up photo later today. What I don't know is whether it is fixed somehow to the neck or trussrod. It's going to give me some pondering in terms of securing the new fretboard. The Wal fretboard was much thinner than I would usually fit that maybe because it needs to flex more easily. But too thin and, when you cut the fret slots, you can end up with a series of little loose squares! What I need to do is flex the rod with no fretboard on it and see if it's a fully self-contained unit. It is notable that the board was glued to this plate so maybe... Anyone know?

I'll measure it this morning, Matt

Don't worry...you won't feel a thing

Thanks. Well - the Nova system we've gone for is black and (I think I remember correctly) we're going for a predominately toggle-switch arrangement for the pickups so probably not. But you are right, it's all beginning to co-ordinate very nicely

Talking of which, there are a set of individual bases on order from Nova so yes, any spacing that takes your fancy AND a bit more progress. Regulars on these builds will know, I DETEST ROUTERS! But there are times, folks, when only a router will do And - against all odds - the cuts even match up with the pencil marks! So, basically, the wings (which will also have a maple veneer demarcation and will be glued flush with the bottom of the slot just routed) sit either side of this - which if you remember incorporates the neck angle: And the top sits on top, albeit 1mm higher than the top of the neck: Why 1mm higher? Because the fretboard will extend over the body by 40-50mm - and is coming in at an angle to the top. So I will cut a tapered channel for it to come through so the end of the fretboard ends flush with the top. Leastways, that's the theory And it's a while yet, so plenty of time for me to think of an excuse why it didn't happen like that

Yes it is slow - but then again, timber is quite an effective insulator so I suppose it's probably not that surprising. I did wonder once whether the heat gun I use for getting poly finishes could be used but decided that it would most likely burn the top surface of the wood while the lower layers remained cool. Using the iron, you can gauge how hot the top is getting and even turn the temp down if necessary to allow the heat to penetrate the 6mm or so without burning - especially if you are planning to re-use the board. Yup - this is a travel iron from Amazon. I think it was about £15. It's lighter than a full-size one but still gets hot enough. 1200W is plenty - just don't underestimate how long it takes at first. It speeds up as you go along as the fret areas further up are warming up as you approach them. I think a fretted board with the frets in actually is probably a bit quicker (but only a bit). Personally, I leave the frets in - the iron on the frets then gets heat via the tangs to pretty close to the bottom of the fretboard and the fret wire is a good conductor, so if you 'iron' 2-3 frets at a time, you are getting heat from a number of sides all at the same time

And so here we are again with the demarcation veneer positioned to be between the two components rather than on top of the two. I know...radical to have it in between, but I think it might catch on. Remember - you saw it first here And so now, most of the unfinished components are ready to be cut and shaped into their proper places: The last through neck I did, I slightly changed my build sequence and there were some advantages, so I will repeat that on this one. But they both have the next step as cutting the top neck angle on the neck blank and then the slot that the top will drop into. Critical with all of this is deciding on the datum and making sure that everything is square against that datum. And the datum is the top plane of the blank that the fretboard will glue onto. So before putting the blank through the band saw, I squared off the perpendicular face with a hand plane and then - after triple checking the dimensions - cut the blank parallel with the angled bottom face: And so - and with another triple check that all the positions are correct, I marked the neck blank where the cut out is going to be routed that will allow the top to drop down in line with 1mm above the bottom of the fretboard (I'll explain later why 1mm above) - which is the next job. Yes, I know. Andyjr1515 using a router : Fingers counted and crossed

No - no steam. I think that's just one more element that can affect things that you might not want affecting. For this one, it wouldn't actually matter because the fretboard isn't going back on, but it's interesting that it is still flat as a pancake.

More like "ffs, come off!"

So - to the fretboard. The plan (you know about "best made.." etc) is, after taking out the nut, to remove the board but, if possible keep the runout into the headstock where it is, which might be a challenge because it is actually part of the fretboard: 1st step is to protect the neck: With old necks and bodies - particularly if they have lacquer cracks and crazing, which this one does - you have to be very careful with masking tape. I use the 3M decorators tape (DON'T use the blue Dial knockoff from B&Q) because the 'tack' is lighter than some and it won't leave glue behind. But on an old neck, I also don't leave it on. Same issue - reducing the chances of lacquer coming off with the tape. The longer it's on, the tighter will be the tack. So I will be applying and taking tape off a number of times on this particular refurb. Here's 2/3rds of my kit. A travel iron (on full) and a single-edged razor: Key thing is getting the fretboard very hot and letting that heat fully penetrate down to the glue line. It's not to be rushed. After around 10 minutes of the iron just on this end few inches, I was able to do this: The razor was able to slip between the board and the neck. I worked the blade round both sides and the end until I was able to get my very thin steel sheet in between without it straining the board at all or digging in. I use the acoustic sides protector stainless sheet that I use when bending acoustic guitar sides, but folks use cake platters, etc. As long as it's steel and very thin it will work fine: And then it's a case of being patient and going an inch at a time, heating up the next section and 'walking' the steel sheet or platter up. I find it goes about 5mins per inch once the board really starts heating up. But I let it go at its own pace - rushing it usually ends badly. After around 35 minutes I'd got here: As I started getting close to the nut, I used a razor saw to cut the 1-2mm of board joining the main board to the runout: Then 5 - 10 minutes later it was all off: Phew!