Si600

Fück. I've just realised I've made a mistake. The big stretcher has to come off. Maybe. I've not left enough space vertically for the nut on the screw. I can cut a triangle out of it to fit, or I can move it. Vote Now! *Edit* That's not coming off, at least not without making more of a mess. Small notch out of the stretcher then.

Both "halves" of the front leg are finished. A long not quite a mortice for the St. Peter's cross and two housing dados. One housing dado I'm happy with, and one I'm very happy with. Bearing in mind I've only made about ten in my entire life! Checking the screw fits the dados before gluing. You can see the full width of five pieces in this test. And glue stops play for the day. I'm not going to glue all the bits in at once, getting the stretchers (?) square was hard enough as they slid around under clamping pressure.

How do I know if the truss rod needs adjusting?

Now I've broken the B string

That didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped, the ball end winding on the B string is too big for the hole in the bridge, either top loaded or through strung. I had to cut it off. They do sound nice though. It's settling at the moment, retune and more play later.

A few days of despondency and general meh. Really hacked off by this: This where I'd got to when I was moaning: To make me feel better, my shopping turned up, this is the screw and handle. Just going on a hypothetical box between the jaw edges, the screw location and the opening, that box is going to be 220mm x 220mm x 140mm when it's finished. I decided that I'd change approach on chopping this section out. The chisel probably could be sharper, but it's mostly poor technique that was the problem, as any fule kno. One finished: The view from the bench as it were:

I have up to a point. I don't have a wet grinder so I've got a honing guide. My waterstone fell off the bench and smashed the corner off whilst I was whaling away with the chisel earlier. Not happy about that.

It's also spruce, fir, pine, whatever. Is that a particularly brutal wood for cutting edges?

Stopped for coffee. I'm in danger of making a mistake at the moment, I can't seem to get the chisel sharp, or to stay sharp. Maybe I'm expecting too much but the first couple of taps seem to bite nice and deeply, but after that it just seems to be a struggle. I'm about to just whack the thing, which means I'll probably split the baulk, so I've stopped for a bit.

I've stared at it long enough, and although the screw hasn't arrived yet, and being a twerp I forgot to order the handle with it I've committed to the design and started cutting one edge of what will become a mortice when it's all clued together. I feel I'm making heavy weather of it, and wondering whether there's a better way than how I'm doing it. No machine tools are available before you suggest that

Not Skiffle?

Mine won't look nearly so nice! If the chop was wide enough to get the blank past the screw then possibly. But I really don't know.

@Richard R a leg vice is one of these: The bench I have is an ex Red Bull GP one from MK and came with a mismatched pair of metal legs. Because of where I want the vice I have to replace the old one as I can't cut through the metal without causing major structural failure. You also don't get Record type vice carcasses over here so I'd either have to buy new or get one from eBay.co.uk and have it posted, which will probably cost a fortune.

I'm building the legs up out of 18mm block board. They're going to have 5 layers with the middle layer being the stretchers. At the moment I've only glued the solid parts together so I have two two part laminations. Which my sense of 'humour' turns into four fifths of a leg.

It's a joke between Dad1138 and I. I suggested that Build Diaries could have a sub page so people like me who are mucking around with non musical projects could be quarantined from the genuinely talented builders. We decided that Build Diaries encompasses everything, as long as it's reasonably related to BC, so no Model A hotrods. Hence the name. Like all good in jokes, no-one understands it and the intended recipient hasn't, AFAIK, noticed. I'd like to have the desire to do a hotrod, rather than just own one, but I don't!

No further visible progress, but I've ordered a lead screw and I'm pretty sure I've finalised the locations of everything. At least until tomorrow. As you may have gathered I'm faking the joinery by making the mortice holes as gaps in laminated legs. As well as gluing the stretchers in, would you screw or dowel them as well?

I'm putting flats on my P-Bass, in fact the first flats on any bass I've owned this weekend. Are there any things I need to do/change or is it the same as changing like for like? D'addario Chrome's if that helps.

Released from captivity and planed the two (four) fifths of the front leg. I'm very happy with these, they're square on the long sides, parallel and a smidge oversized, 100.5 or something. Admittedly I've got fed up with cutting the other board into 70mm strips, and I've still got the vice chop to make. I'm now at the staring at it stage, trying to decide where the screw should go and the mortice for the cross mechanism.

I'll stop hijacking now 😉

Then you sir, are a seer or clairvoyant. I have only a vague idea of what my projects are going to look like, knowing is beyond me. Who wins the 3.30 at Kempston please?

Does that end into the pickup cavity or is it just perspective? What does it look like if you push it out of the headstock?

OK... So. Release the four fifths of the back leg and set them up in the workmate for finishing. I thought I'd taken more pictures, but you get the idea. Because I've changed my mind and I'm now fitting a leg vice, I had to buy some more timber. I got the cutting service in the shop to cut the board into 100mm widths. Glue up four fifths of the front leg. Spend an hour sharpening two chisels and a plane iron. Hopefully once I get good at it I'll just need a couple of strokes on the coarse and then fine grit. I don't sharpen enough because I'm rubbish at it, so I always need to do more when I do. Realise that I've made a mistake. Two of the front leg boards are supposed to have the mortice for the St. Peter's Cross to go into. Spend a few moments cursing and considering forcing them apart. Decide not too, it just makes the mortice slightly harder, for me, not a professional like the rest of you. Plane the back leg components with the freshly sharpened plane. They're about a mm under 70mm, close to square and parallel but I've only got a single bulb in the middle of the workshop, which must be the next thing on the list.

I'm assuming that you're doing the PVA ironing method of veneering? How will you stop the demarcation veneer glue from softening and moving when you put the top on?

Purchased a pair of Bart soapbars and a 5 string bridge from M. Fair price, fair packaging and great updates throughout.