Andyjr1515

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!

And so the veneer goes on again...and this time on the correct side!

Well - as well as mixing up my diameters with my circumferences, I clearly don't know my tops from bottoms (no, @SpondonBassed - not a word ) Remember the nice maple constructional veneer? Well it's even better when it's on the right side of the top! Still - @Jus Lukin will never have to worry about it delaminating. It's taken me hours to get it off. After trying jack planes, block planes, scraper planes, scrapers, rasp files, the eye-wateringly expensive Mirka with 80 grit - the only thing that would get the maple off was the teeny Ibex thumb plane (which are, by the way, things of wonder) and then the Mirka once I was basically down to the glue face. So I'm packing in for the evening Then tomorrow morning, I'll be maple veneering the other side to this:

Oh, goodness. What's Andyjr1515 doing now??

No - I don't think even HE is going to be able to sort the pending Brexit mess...

And the basic neck blank is done. Next steps on this is to thickness it down to its final width, plane down the top face from the body join-point and then rout the slot for the top to fit into (marked in yellow) And then, we can start shaping the back wings.

I think that would need divine intervention

No problem Andre. And agreed - 7mm would be getting too close to taking the sides away.

Me too - every time The trusty iron

Hi @Andre_Passini Yes - 6.5mm worked a treat I didn't drill any deeper than the original, I just increased the diameter to 6.5mm: And here is the ball end that was originally sitting 1mm proud of the top, now fully seated and flush with the top: So I did the other three and so here's the unit now with a full set of Bass Centre Elites: And yes - before anyone here asks - the D'Addarios still fit fine. Here's a D'Addario bottom B and a top G :

Yes - it's the extra diameter of the Elite ball end that's the problem (I've NO idea why I was calling it circumference earlier!). The recess in the Nova is slightly tapered, starting at around 6.4mm but tapering down to just below 6.3 at the bottom. So looking at it, the ball end, even the 6.35 dia one, isn't bottoming at all. If the hole was 6.5mm I'm sure they would fit. I have a 6.5mm metal-cutting drill bit - I can open one of them out on my little press-drill tomorrow if you like and see if it bottoms OK just with that.

And that is the first scary job on the project...later this week

Yes - as @Fishman says, we are going for the same body shape. It's a very traditional 60's/70's bass shape that was, I am sure, borrowed a bit from other makes at the time it was designed so I don't think we're treading on any toes. And, even though the neck and fretboard are actually genuine Wal, I think taking off the fretboard and replacing it with something very obviously not Wal is a good enough way of ensuring that everyone, now or in the future, can see it's a tribute.

Well - they seem to still have an active website with a huge range - but I have to say they are not a string I come across very often...

The solution to the puzzle is that there are more maple slices in the photo than in the diagram I put up It's an iterative process is a custom build. The splices from DD were a mm above spec which, normally, isn't a problem. But when you have a lot of splices, it adds up a lot! And the central core doesn't want to be exposed at the 40mm nut-end of the neck. So I've pushed my band saw to the limits and taken slices off both the maple and the mahogany, then abandoned the walnut, to come up with this (the 3 core splices are glued in this pic but everything else is loose): Aesthetically it works and the central core remains within the mahogany outers (which will be narrowed down in any case) all the way down to the nut. So another two splices are now being glued - I do them a pair at a time because trying to clamp 8 floating sections in one go is the road to unhappiness This is showing the other way up - maintaining this square and flat surface is helpful because 2/3rds of that length is going to be the base for the fretboard. So two more gluing sessions after this one, and we should have a blank ready to thickness to final width

Hi Andre It's interesting because the Bass Centre Elites (which have the problem) are actually shorter than the D'Addario (which don't have a problem). But the Bass Centre Elites have a larger circumference* diameter and also more variable. I assume that - even though the larger circumference* diameterof the Elites fit into the holder socket. they probably hit the slight dish at the bottom of the socket just that little bit sooner. Bass Centre Elites (Stadium Series). These are the ones that don't fit : Depth = 4.69mm - 4.72mm Circumference* Diameter= 6.35mm - 6.37mm D'Addario EXL170-5TP These fit OK Depth = 4.81mm - 4.83mm Circumference* Diameter = 6.03mm - 6.04mm **Apols for the mixup of diameter and circumference. Clearly brain not in gear. Now back to that 30cm scale bass