Christine

You wouldn't have been the first!

LOL They're not as big as they look, yes they look huge in the photo

Limped into the workshop again today for a couple of hours. I just roughed out the back of the necks to a flat D, I'll finish them off to a C either tomorrow or Tuesday. My hand is sore as well after rubbing on my crutches while I'm walking so it's causing me discomfort while using hand tools; not a happy bunny on the whole at the moment

I've never had a router table before this one and I have to say I really like having one, they make life a lot easier. That one looks like the business for sure, I bought some of their tracks for mine and they are the business, the whole top must be an impressive bit of kit

I’m all embarrassed now!

I am but I do see where you're coming from, the standard Les Paul bass leaves me cold; I've never actually seen an oversized in the flesh but I really love how these are turning out. They're not exact copies by a long shot but credit where it's due to Gibson, I think they got it right with this design aesthetically but as always when it comes to basses they stopped making them in favour of the standard again

It was a lovely day here so I hobbled out into the garden and decided to do what I could with bits on my knee, which wasn't much but still it all helps. I finish sanded the faces of both headstocks and sprayed them with nitro sanding sealer from a rattle can, I couldn't have got my spray gear out to save my life but that is fine. After a couple of coats I glued the fret boards on. Finally I pulled the tape off the second body and scraped the top of the bindings flush. I have already fully scraped the first but I couldn't do the second as I would need to have the body secured in a vice and that means standing and I can't do that., That's me now until after the weekend I suspect, we're off out on Friday until Saturday so maybe Sunday depending on how I feel

My overall impression is of how well balanced it looks visually, nothing is screaming look at me! Nice

Well yes, "Hot and dark" for a start LOL. It's a long story how I got to that decision and it's largely an uninformed decision at that! The short version is many years ago in some guitar magazine there was an article about some super dooper new boutique guitar that I liked the colour scheme of or the principle of the colour scheme at least. It was a transparent red over rippled Maple, a maple fretboard and gold hardware; the fretboard had been sprayed with a yellow tint that ridged the red and gold nicely and I thought then I can improve on that but I never got around to it. The magazine has long since been thrown out but the idea has been festering ever since, over 20 years. Since then my love of Thunderbirds has escalated to daft proportions and what I'd like are gold Tbird HBs but they aren't readily to be had. I suspect Mojo who's pups I'm using on this build might do them as they are using a standard cover that can be had in gold but I just find the way I have to order them difficult. SO! The easy option is to use black pups and gold hardware, simple I like buckers and Nordstrand have a very good reputation and I've heard some samples on Youtube which sound as if they are close to what I'm looking for sound wise but it's youtube... Mike Lull uses DC4 and DC5s so they must be quality so I won't go far wrong. I also want to use a pickup I can order on any day of the week or month without any complications, I don't mind waiting but I like to get that order in as soon as the decision is made, just a quirk of mine so I'm thinking I might use Nordstrand exclusively (perhaps) if I really like them. They can be had from Bass Direct so the annoyance of importing is avoided, I pay just once! (another pet hate of mine, you can see I'm a deeply flawed person LOL) The preamp, well here I'm out of my depth and maybe I'm being too hopeful that they will give me the chance to eat my cake and eat it? I want that dark sound but I also want a brighter bouncier sound as well especially when played with a pick and I hope (totally uninformed) that the preamps might just give me that option along with the option to run passive. My knowledge of pup preamps though is almost as bad as my knowledge of prosthetic limbs for hedgehogs. Almost totally uninformed and full of dreams but they have the reputation of being cracking so I hope I won't go far wrong and I have plenty of time to become informed and change my mind

Are you spying on me? No, I suppose we are all the same I'm pondering Nordstrand DC4 pups for my next build, I think I'm set on them but trying to decide if I should add a preamp to them too or not

An option would be or could be rather, mix epoxy with black powder paint and really bulk it up with brass or bronze dust to give it a polished metal effect. There was a furniture maker on the Scottish borders who did that on Elm burr table tops and it was sensational. Just found a video to give you an idea

Just back from the hospital with my foot, I've torn a tendon so it's feet up time for a while. Well time to start planning my next builds, a pair of non identical (I think) Thunderbirds, or should I call them FireDragons?

So that brings me up to date with the copying and pasting. I have been so impressed with Rocklite, from now on I will be using it as an ebony and rosewood replacement

Finally a video from Youtube (where would we be without it!

A final update on the Sundari, just a picture to show it and the Ebano after one wipe with oil.A bit splodgey looking as it was still wet in parts, sorry

Another quickie to show you routing the Ebano, I'm still waiting on the MOP for the Sundari to arrive but it seems to rout exactly the same It as I said yesterday is a joy to rout, like cutting butter with a sharp knife as they say. For my inlays I routed close to the line and then pared to the line with a sharp chisel, apart from one little bit shown below where I made a slight wonder over the line with the router. My excuse is there was too much dust around the cutter LOL. After that I put a bit of masking tape on the cutter to blow it away and it never happened again. Chiselling was the first time I really found a difference to real wood, I don't really know how to describe it but paring Ebony, it's a clean forceful sort of cut, the Ebano felt more like paring balsa but harder, that said it cut very cleanly, certainly good enough for me. Anyway, the inlays fitted a treat with no stress at all other than that one little incident of my own doing. It cut so cleanly I'm thinking I may get away with no real need for edge filling with glue and dust (apart from that one bit shown again with the inlay).

Today I had a play with the Rocklite boards, still impressed you'll be glad to know. The Sundari is slightly softer than the Ebano when sawing fret slots but cuts very cleanly, very similar to real Rosewood. Very strangely and this might be my imagination but the smell was very reminiscent of Indian Rosewood but fainter. I routed a small bit and it cut very smoothly, easier than real Rosewood with no resistance from the annular rings, the cut quality was first class and completely clean. I forgot to take a photo but take my word for it, it's a joy to work. I sanded a coving into the endgrain as I would on an unbound fretboard sometimes as a test for the procedure but also to show how the Rocklite would look. It sanded easily and the faux endgraid shows clearly how the Sundari is constructed. It is less reminiscent of Rosewood here but still attractive and unless you worked with Rosewood a fair bit you wouldn't know I don't think. My biggest surprise was planing it, the Ebano is harder then the Sundari from a resistance to pushing a plane through it but bot cut miles cleaner and easier than the real thing, I used a block plane that I'd been using for other things before and wasn't as keen as it should have been but I'm sure you'll agree the results are good and the grain structure of both types is clearly visible. So honestly, I can really see myself using Rocklite from now on. Time will tell how it wears but from initial experiences I think it is easier than the real things and totally convincing

I never heard anything back from Rocklite but a member @samhay on the Basschat forum gave me this link Rocklite Ltd. So I think that will be printed out if I ever sell any basses with a Rocklite Fretboard

Just heard back: Rocklite said: Hi, thanks for your very complimentary email. When we first started out trying to accurately replicate a true Rosewood, obviously we were totally consumed with this one thought. But yes you are right after we has succeeded, we quickly realised that we would have to find a way to help couriers and customs understand our products. This was especially true for couriers as they have to except some responsibility for true Dalbergia’s (rosewoods) moving across boarders without the necessary paperwork. So we developed a hidden website page especially for customs and couriers, explaining how to tell the difference and some of the tests they can run. The easiest test for fingerboards is the cellulose thinners test, whilst all true rosewoods will leach colour profusely when exposed to thinners, our products leach virtually no colour, they are also far more colour fast to light Neither getting lighter or darker when exposed to UV light. There are a number of other helpful tips on telling Rocklite Sundari from the real thing on our customs assistance page. Best regards Steve Keys. Click to expand... And my reply: Christine said: Hi Steve Many thanks for your reply, those tips sound helpful and reassuring that you are well ahead of me. I take it then as you have not included the link that all customs have been made aware of the hidden page to assist them? I assume then that it would also be a sensible precaution to include a note with an instrument to state that the fretboard etc is made from Rocklite and to advise looking at the hidden website? After that it would be the owners responsibility to keep the note with the guitar when crossing borders.

my concern is that it is so realistic, what would happen if an instrument made from this was inspected by customs? If I can't tell the difference in the raw then what chance will an unfamiliar customs person have seeing it fretted and oiled? I have emailed Rocklite to ask them how can we prove that it's a substitute for the real thing without destructive testing. I'll let you know their response as soon as I have it

This is the colour change when the Sundari is wet with water. It's actually very absorbent and looks like it will glue and take an oil finish very well. Bruce, the small detail in the grain and figure is quite frankly amazing, honestly you'd have a hard time distinguishing it from a genuine board of Rosewood

Quoting Bruce Johnson Wow, that Sundari looks amazing! The color striping is more randomly natural than I had expected. They even got those tiny fine lines in there. I'm going to have to try the Sundari. I build partially finished guitar necks for my buddy Mike Lipe. Lately we've been using roasted Pau Ferro in place of rosewood, which is quite nice. But it isn't cheap, and the Sundari may be in the same price range.

Small update, the fretboards arrived this morning. First impressions were that they both looked like the real thing even though the sanding tends to obscure the grain within the material. As you can see from the photos the Sundari looks just like Indian Rosewood, honestly from looking at it and holding it I wouldn't know what it really was. It's lighter in shade than some but darker than others, wetting it darkens it just like real wood too. The Sundari is definitely lighter in weight than the Ebano despite being slightly longer, The Ebano weighed in at 437g and the Sundari at 391g so there's a definite attempt to mimic the real properties of the individual timbers. I'm very impressed with the Sundari, I've used an awful lot of Indian Rosewood over the years as a furniture maker so I think I'm a fair judge, no they're not the most decorative boards but they're exactly the board I'd choose for a fretboard. I'll report back when I'm working on them, the builds will be concurrent so I should be able to give a fair comparison Another observation is that they have sealed the endgrain. I can only assume that because of the linear like construction they have found that it can absorb moisture easily, I can't imaging it's to control checking

If no one has used it I might try it on my next two builds and report back. I would be using Ebano headstock veneers so I should get some idea of a comparison, certainly in grain and density and maybe an indication of hardness

Quoting Bruce Johnson  I haven't tried the Sundari yet, so I don't know whether it's just a different colored version of Ebano, or if they have adjusted the formulation to make it softer. Their web site indicates that they have developed it to imitate Indian rosewood. In a hardness comparison, Ebano is about equal to Macassar ebony, and a good bit harder than Indian rosewood. So, if they are trying to closely match the properties, Sundari would need to be softer than Ebano. Has anyone else tried Sundari yet? Mike Lipe has completed four guitars now (I machined the fingerboards) with Ebano fingerboards. On one, we also put on an Ebano headstock cap. In all cases, the customers have said it's beautiful, looks and feels just like real ebony. No trace of any shrinkage or swelling or cracking. Ebano is exceptionally stable. It's the perfect wood.