Andyjr1515

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

Ah - solved the mystery maker @Andre_Passini: They are Bass Centre Elites, Stadium Series, Extra Light (30 to 90 gauge). I've never bought Bass Centre strings before or since so can't be sure whether these are their standard ball-ends. Anyone here on the forum know?

OK - before I get those strings out with my calipers to see if they are, indeed, the real odd-balls (accidental pun, honest) then let's start cutting and gluing wood A final check of the side view, neck angle and thicknesses: Then I was able to cut out the card template for the neck blanks and lay them out on the first inner neck splice: I had planed and checked the straightness of the edges of all of the splices first because, as you can see, the top edge will be my fretboard datum - so as long as I glue all of the splices upside down on a flat board, that will remain flat and square for the gluing, eventually, of the fretboard. You can also see above the extra width of the blank needed on a neck through due to the angle of the body. But I am still - just - able to get the second one out of the same blank: And after a morning on the bandsaw, I have 5 of the 9 (and there's a puzzle there for the more observant of you)! And then, using the outer mahogany blanks as clamping cauls, I glue the first three together:

No - not Rotosound. You are quite right that some do have that red binding, but all the ball ends I can see are the 'standard' smaller brass ones, which would fit fine. I've a feeling it is a real obscure make. I did get a set years ago of super-super light gauge from a string maker I'd never heard of and have never seen since. I'll check the gauges in the morning.

Ah...maybe. Like you, I generally don't use them but maybe it came off a re-string. I'll check so that I can update Andre if they are. Thanks

Didn't quite get to actual cutting of the neck laminates, but I have done all of the calcs to be able to do that first thing in the morning With all of the info I verified yesterday with bridge heights, etc, I was able to draw full scale the whole of the neck and bridge geometry including: fretboard depth; fret height; nut rise with the string tension and a couple of 'from (bitter) experience' tweaks to come up with the : - neck angle (2.5 degrees) which gives me the - neck blank minimum depth and shape I double checked this against the Sims routing depth requirement for the SuperQuads and that means that I can make the template to cut the neck blanks in the morning and start the process of laminating the 9 sections together. I doesn't look much but spending the time to do this drawing saves days of remedial work further down the line

I don't know if this helps. Bear in mind that the neck has no option but to follow the same shape as the truss rod. It sounds like your trussrod started like this. This is with the nut turned anticlockwise: Now, turning the nut clockwise until it feels loose, it's like this: And if you keep turning clockwise, you will feed the nut tighten again and it will start to bend the other way:

The truss rod has been actively bending the neck the wrong way ('wrong' being that it has been bending it the same way as the strings bend it, adding to the curve rather than counteracting it). So yes, as you loosened it, then the relief has reduced as the neck started straightening. So if, under full string tension, the relief is now at the 'business card or less' range, you wouldn't necessarily need to turn it anymore - except to carry on turning clockwise until you start to feel the resistance. This wouldn't bend the neck anymore but would tense the rod inside the slot and stop it rattling around (remember that the rod is, essentially loose inside there when it is fully straight). But if the relief is still too much, then carry on turning and the rod will then start bending the neck the other way, creating the slight back-bow that will counteract the forward bow effect of the strings. And yes you are right - there is no point in adjusting the saddles until the relief is correct.

This one has a wire clasp incorporated into the Ground tab, but the principle is the same on all of them. Basically the stereo barrel jack socket, just like the standard clip-type stereo jack socket, has three tabs: One is clearly on the outside of the barrel and then there are two more coming through the insulated disc: one is short and one is longer. On this pic, the outside one (with in my case the cable grip) is on the left, the shorter one is in the middle and the longer insulated one is on the right. The one on the outside (left in pic) is the Ground The short one through the insulation (middle in pic) is the Tip The longer one through the insulation (right in pic) is the Ring So if you were wanting to use a stereo jack for a stereo output, then one hot signal would go to the tip, the second hot signal would go to the ring and the ground would complete the circuit. The red triangles here are the spring clips that make the contact with the jack: But if you put a mono cable - like a bass amp cable into the socket, then the shaft of the jack shorts the ring to ground: So the folks much cleverer than me have mused, "Hmmm...we could use that to turn off the preamp when the cable's not plugged in. So basically, you wire the black lead from the battery holder to the ring and so when you push the jack in, it connects the -ve battery to ground and therefore makes the connection to turn on the power to the preamp, and when you pull the jack out, it breaks the connection and switches the preamp off. Which is why you never leave a pre-amp'd bass plugged in when you are not using it Clever stuff.

Hi There's a bit of confusion of terminologies and assumptions here so, just so we're starting in the same place: - Relief is about the straightness of the neck - Action is about the height of the strings above the neck - The relief can affect the action, but it must never be used as the primary way of adjusting the action. You set the neck relief so that the neck is relatively straight under string tension and then adjust the saddle heights to get the action height you want. - Ibanez basses can be fitted with single-action or dual action trussrods - You do indeed feel a resistance to the trussrod nut turning as it starts bending the neck - Generally when folks refer to loosening and tightening the trussrod nut, they are referring to the 'Lefty Loosey (anticlockwise looking at the nut); Righty Tighty (clockwise looking at the nut)' direction, and not necessarily the actual feel. - Easiest way of checking the relief is: With the strings tuned to pitch, hold down at the 1st fret and 17th fret; tap down the string at the mid point 8th fret. There should be just perceptible movement. A gap (relief) more than a business card means the neck bow from the string tension is too great and the neck needs straightening (slacken the strings, turn trussrod nut 1/4 turn clockwise, retune, check and repeat if necessary). If, however, there is no gap and the string at the 8th is hard against the fret, then the neck is 'back bowed' (slacken the strings, turn trussrod nut 1/4 turn anti-clockwise, retune, check and repeat if necessary) So, @alyctes from what I understand - the relief, measured as above, is too great and you have been turning the nut clockwise and you have reached a point where the nut seems surprisingly easy to turn? I agree with @Chiliwailer It tells me that you have a two-way truss rod fitted and, as he says, you should keep turning (possibibly up to a full turn) and then you should start feeling the tension start building on the nut, but in the opposite direction. Basically, a two-way trussrod sits loose in a narrow slot, held in place by the neck wood at the bottom of the slot and by the fretboard at the top of the slot. And, depending which way you turn the knob, the rod will bend either way. So if has been tightened the 'wrong' way - where the truss rod is actually increasing the relief and not reducing it - and you now turn it clockwise to correct that then you will reach a point where the rod is straight. At this point it isn't trying to bend the neck at all and so the nut feels very loose. As you keep turning it, then the rod now starts bending the opposite 'correct' way, trying to bend the neck into a backbow to counteract the bow effect of the string tension. And because the rod is now bending the neck again, albeit in the opposite direction, the tension on the nut increases too. So once you are bending the neck the 'correct' way, follow the above tips and you should be able to safely achieve the 'just perceptible' relief gap and then be able to adjust your action. And the golden rule - just like you have done with this post - if you're not sure and it doesn't seem to be doing what you expect, stop and ask again here

I think it's a standard stereo barrel jack. If I remember (I've got to that age ) I'll take a photo tomorrow and mark up the terminals.