HazBeen

Love this solution! I went the easy option and bought a brass nut, but this is a really neat and clever solution.

Poor poor soul, I really feel for you 😂 Well done so far!

I know, what a horrible example of inept home building. It should be forbidden.

Sneak pic after 6 coats

Doing 6 coats for this one, 4 on the neck. Coat 2 went on this am, am doing 3 tonight. Then 4 and 5 Thursday and 6 Friday am. Then will leave to cure, with a final coat of lemon oil going on Sunday. Will then wax, assemble and do the pre-requisite tinkering next weekend. No further pics until then

First layer of finishing oil on!

I’d say Sire, Yamaha, Ibanez or LTD all give you great bang for the buck.

Scratchplate material, sanded down to wood level.

🤐

You missed it.... It actually is function dictating form. The body (where the neck meets body) is angled to ensure better access to the 21st fret (line). By making the neck cavity and neck heel follow that angle, ensures that both sides of the neck heel have the same length and can accommodate 3 bolts either side. Impossible if neck heel and cavity were “Fender straight”.

Inlay cavity done.... I am not unhappy with it at all. Was afraid of messing up, but whilst I will obviously need to fill with some sawdust I got it pretty close.

Wenge....

Needs Wenge

I have found that I have significantly fewer router mishaps if I drill out most of the wood first and then just route the edges and last few mm depth. It is as simple as that. I know that many just us a router, but this works for me and thus have had no reason to change the approach.

Little progress to report.... I think the cavity cover will be Wenge, but I had a little 3 ply left so made a quick plastic cover too.

Not really mate. As it is still more forward than the single Bart humbucker I have in the other fretless I built or the bridge pickup on a jazz and no issues there. I went with the 5 mm back to get a bit more crisp attack, but the placement will ensure enough warm roundness too.

More decisions made, going with the 1 MM pickup, 5mm further towards bridge compared to the classic Stringray position. Cavity for pickup all done, control cavity getting there but needs further work.

Hi all, Having been bitting by the building bug again I am already dreading finishing my current fretless 5 build (ETA end of next week). After that I only have some modifications to do on my Streamer and Bogart and really do not need anything else myself. Oh no......! So, does anybody need something built? Small or large? A bass, just a body, neck, finger ramp, custom pick guard, anything goes really. I am a hobby builder without any commercial interest, I just like building and/or modding basses and I have invested in a decent workshop to scratch the itch. So in case you want to give it a go...... I will charge materials and parts at documented cost (upfront) and a pre-agreed fixed fee (after completion) dependent on what I am building just to cover workshop cost, tools, food and drink and such whilst I am building for you. PM me if you want to give it a go.

Appreciate the comment.

The great thing about this phase of a build is that you can see progress very clearly. - Neck now flush with body - Neck thread insert installed - Ferrules for neck bolts installed - Neck bolted on to test it Weight, with cavity for battery, pickups and controls still to be done, a tad above 3800 grams. I think since I am installing a few bits as well, weight will end up at 3850. Not bad.

Leaning that way too!

Got it out, crisis averted 😁