Andyjr1515

I might even have mine back from Matt Mariott by then!! Hmmm...pro-musician...hard times.... No, that's alright - I was forgetting, they're both my own designs. Happily, they will be worthless to the discerning buyer

Well. there's a rumour that there might be an interesting bass project on the horizon

Well....there's nothing quite like a transparent red stain....

Looks absolutely first class. Great looking bass on any terms...but as a first build it's astounding!

Anyway, you know the answer when the conversation starts wandering off into technical areas I don't fully understand - just throw in a few gratuitous arty-f**ty photos : P picks it up at the weekend

Easiest to consider a violin where the bridge is so much higher. The string wants to be straight between the tuners and the tailpiece. Then you stick a 2" high bridge in the middle. The downward force on that bridge is enormous. The question is probably more whether my statement that an acoustic bridge is being pulled upwards is correct. Theoretically, it is being pulled sideways. But in actual measurable practical terms, the top is lifting under tension. And an old acoustic will sometimes lose the stiffness and lift more, resulting in the need of a neck reset. Where's a Finite Element Analysis when you need one

Me too...Earl Grey in my case

I used to have those problems all the time, especially with routing pickup chambers. In the end, I realised that you can get really short top bearing cutters. Axminster used to do a diddy one but Wealden certainly do: https://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Template_Trim_279.html

Thanks - you are very kind Yes - that was in P's original spec. As far as I can gather, the majority (though not all) of guitar bouzouki's have this arrangement, probably from the initial concept of 'I wonder if you could fit a bouzouki neck to an acoustic guitar?' It is interesting, though. With a tailstock and bridge, like a mandolin, the pressure is downwards on the bridge and the top. I'd never thought about it before, but on an acoustic - and likewise on this - the string tensioning is lifting the top. If it didn't mean taking another three months to build one, it would be interesting to build an identical one with a tailstock/bridge combination and see what the tone difference would be.

And...pretty much finished I say pretty much because I still have to replace the test saddle with the final one, replace the 'working strings' with some new ones and polish it, but none of that will change the basic look. I'll do some arty-farty photos when the light is right, but here it is: To my ear, it sounds lovely and it is very easy on the playing hand...even with my progressing arthritis (which has pretty much stopped my 6-string playing) I am SO tempted to build myself one. And through the Pure Mini played through my little Vox valve amp set clean with neutral EQ, it is exactly the same sound as played acoustically but simply louder And P picks it up next weekend!

Looks lovely

Very, very nice

Looking good

Great job

Lovely job

Those who have seen my previous builds know that, with the way I apply gloss finish - polyurethane varnish brushed on - I add and sand back coats until I judge I am unlikely to be able to do another one any better. I can't replicate top pro finishes, but do try to get something that is fit for purpose and 'looks OK'. So when I get a coat that I think will achieve that after final polishing (done after a week or so of hardening) then I STOP...because I know that further coats are more likely to be worse rather than better. And I'm stopping here. There are bits where the finish has sunk into previously invisible hollows, there are bits where the grain ripples are a little more pronounced, but I don't think I can do any better than this however more sand backs and coats I do: So it will now sit for a week to harden and then will be polished up (and should polish up nicely) and reassembled

The common alternative is GDAE for the Irish bouzouki, which I think is the same as a mandolin and violin? But GDAD is another regular tuning. And then there is the Greek Bouzouki which, I gather, is different again. Fascinating stuff....

Thanks! As always with acoustics, it's best heard through headphones but it certainly has a pleasing richness and complexity of overtones in real life...even when I'm playing it It's tuned to GDAD Final varnish coats are going well so far - back and sides have both had their final coats. The top will be ready for one last super-light coat that will go on tomorrow

OK - just one more thing I had a try at playing it before disassembling it. This is recorded on my little Zoom mic recorder. I was going to call it "A Tune To Play If You Are Playing Something You Don't Know How To Play" but it wouldn't fit in the Soundcloud title box. So instead, I've called it "Ignorance is Bliss" :

Thanks! I had some in my bits drawer for this, but usually I buy it through their website so it comes direct from Japan. I haven't checked recently but I don't think they have any distributors in UK and maybe not in Europe in general. It comes through pretty quickly, all the same.

There's going to be a whole load of nothingness to see over the next week while the final coats are applied, dry and harden. So final shot for a bit...this is broadly the colour the neck will end up as: Yes - that's all for now but thanks for looking anyway

OK - definitely into the final furlong Trussrod cover cut and fitted with magnetic catches, heel carve and headstock carves are finished, frets levelled and recrowned, action height sorted, intonation sorted and template saddle cut. Here's what it looks like now. Fully playable but final finish not on the body yet and finish also not yet on the neck: So tomorrow will be disassembly and final varnish coats started for the body and the satin finish started for the neck. And then it's...well, done

Mid range from a decent supplier will usually be fine. While Hipshot are good, it is very much a law of diminishing returns. Real cheap ones tend to have fixing screws that snap when you are fixing them. A £55 Gotoh set will work fine. Axesrus also have some splendid licenced-by- hipshot lightweight ones. Northwest Guitars also have a decent range, including Wilkinson whose mid range ones are decent.

This week is in between two sessions of family commitments so I am trying to get it to final finish stages so that it can be hardening off ready for final polishing while I'm distracted again next week. Spent a fair bit of time sorting the neck angle to get the action right. This included a number of email discussions with P as I'm not familiar with the string tensions on a bouzouki which affects both the pull on the neck but also on the bridge. I also have experimented a bit with a set of phosphor bronze strings - which I would usually fit to an acoustic - and a set of nickel wound strings which P usually fits to his other bouzouki - and both have different tensions which then changes that pull. It's another clamber up the learning curve on this build! But it's close - it has a decent action, everything appears to be stable and sounds great. I'll finalise everything when I've levelled and re-crowned the frets over the next couple of days. I also fitted the side dots. I've fitted Luminlay dots - not because P necessarily needs their soft glow-in-the-dark ability, but because their black-sleeved dots really set things off - especially when you have that black/white/black demarcation line. Here's one going in: And here they are after trimming and a quick scrape. See what I mean about that black surround? : And lastly for today, I got two of the strings moved across to correct my calculation error in terms of the gaps between two of the pairs of strings. This entailed plugging two of the holes with a pair of bridge pins with their tops taken off and then re-drilling 1.2mm further over and re-tapering: So tomorrow is finishing the heel carve, fitting the heel cap and final neck sanding. If I get time, I'll also level and re-crown the frets and sort a truss-rod cover. Then the neck finishing can start

That'll do nicely Sounds great!