3below

Back to it with brain now functional. . Neck template (headstock detail not finalised yet). Again found that no 4 hand plane is a thing of joy to use when smoothing down the bandsaw ripples. Router locking and depth stop fettled and now working which resulted in problem free routing of the truss rod channel. Camera makes channel look more 'off centre ' than it is. Despite care setting up it ended up about 1 mm off the centre line, not world ending though. Had to open the channel out at the adjuster end using a chisel. I even succeeded at my bete noire, chisel sharpening. Dabbed some lubricating wax on the truss rod screws. Covered rod with masking tape and clamped and glued the fingerboard on. Whether the glue fingerboard on then shape is a better approach than shape then glue remains to be seen. The Irwin clamp copies in the background are a waste of time, they worked well for about a year but now do not exert any real force. Should have bought the real thing in this case.

A very nice bass for someone, just bear in mind that German (long scale) can be purchased for £75 to £100 more. The quality on the RBs I have had in my hands has been excellent.

Ibanez Artcore AGB is a similar looking bass. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-bass-artcore-/252512669459?hash=item3acaed8f13:g:CXkAAOSw-itXs1fN"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ibanez-bass-artcore-/252512669459?hash=item3acaed8f13:g:CXkAAOSw-itXs1fN[/url] Disclaimer: this listing has nothing to do with me at all.

Measure the internal dimensions of the cabinet, the port slot width, height and the shelf length and post them up on here. You can then use the modelling software WinISD and see what drivers might work. You might find nice people will come along, model some speakers for you and make suggestions about drivers and suitable port sizes.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1472661121' post='3123048'] I've got a set of these for a bass that's waiting to be built, and they do feel like decent quality - they have less play in the gear than some of the generic cheapies. They look like they'd drop into the Westone without any modifications too. I'm not certain they're really made in Germany though, despite the stamp. Surely they would cost more? [/quote] My thought was that Warwick purchase them in bulk and thus get OEM pricing which is passed on to customers. The quality seems good and they work well enough on Warwick basses which is why I also have a set waiting to go in the current bass build. Now what can I call it that begins with W?

I have also just bought some cheapo £6 tuners for a friend's budget 1980s acoustic. They seem ok, nothing more, better than what it has at the moment.

Some electrical test plugs do not show an earth-neutral fault. I am also not sure if they will reveal floating earth potentials either. So although the test plug says ok (for what it can test) the reality may be different. +1 to the oft stated good advice by previous posters. Stop. Seek professional advice whilst you are still able to.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1472500366' post='3121649'] This is looking really nice, with the bevel and the pretty woods. You've got me gazing over at the plank of walnut I have leaning in the corner of the room, wondering whether it should be made into something SG shaped! [/quote] This build will be responsible for inspiring a lot of new bass builds, damage to relationships and who knows what else

"Put the spokeshave down and step away from the neck slowly Sir, with your hands where we can see them" I find I need to spend a lot of thinking time (and enjoy it). When I don't the results are usually less than impressive. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly I can forget methods, processes (and stuff I have done in the day job for 32 years...).

So are you telling me that I no longer need the 4 4x15s and the two Hiwatt 200s In all seriousness my longest playing stretch with one band (fairly successful, plenty of gigs) was done without backline. Folk / Ceilidh band, HH 100W pa with entire band through it, no monitors. How times change. I would be quite happy not using backline providing I could hear what I was playing. What are you doing about the drums karlfer?

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1472238917' post='3119778'] Ignore the neck tenon, but this is probably the kind of shade I'll be aiming for, a WIP double cut electric I'm doing for myself. It will probably look a bit darker on the SG's wood but similar tones. Bear in mind of course that cameras and monitors struggle like hell to reproduce reds properly. [/quote] Gorgeous colour and very unfair. This is where my next build is going but in the bass guise, early EB0 but with two pickups. If you were going 'brown' which colour ink would you favour?

+1 on guide bush and the scrap practice. The neck pocket will certainly have some test pieces first. If I routed cavities as big as this again, I think I would probably fabricate a larger sole plate for the router (I have thought about this when ding previous edge roundovers as well). Previous experience and methodology went West yesterday - I blame the brain fog from being ill . All good fun on the learning curve and nothing that can't be hidden. I am resisting the urge to clean the upper cavity up, it might be tempting fate and once the top is on it will never be seen (hopefully). No further progress this weekend and despite being retired start a new job on Tuesday (of my choosing and my terms).

Agree on small passes, deeper template and shorter cutting length next time which will assist this in the initial stages. Checking bit depth, own goal on my part. It has always worked before Much more attention will be paid with the neck pocket.

Ron Kirn describes using a top bearing trimmer bit with a template. Take the first cut with template. Lower the bit and then use the newly cut body as the template for second lower cut. Seems plausible to me. Could take quite small passes e.g. 1/2 inch at a time. Am I missing something obvious.

Thomann supply Warwick tuners (made in Germany so I have my suspicions). The quality is super and they are cheaper than Schallers. They even have a W for Westone on then

Which red stain are you using? Apologies if mentioned earlier.

Nothing going in the overcut area, the only 'control' will be the jack socket . I share your concern about edge routing the body, it would be b* to get a tearout at this stage. I have either 2" cut 1/2" shank template bit i.e. all in one go or 1" cut 1/4" shank i.e. two successive passes. Andy, what tactic do you use? Apart from the hardness of the oak (it just ignores 80 grit paper) hand tools are tempting. First guitar built aged 13, from elm coffin boards and coffin making scraps (aka free), all done with hand tools, seems a lifetime ago.

Some progress, however the moral of the story must be do not do stuff that requires thought when you are ill. Have been wiped out with some stomach thing since Saturday. On mend slowly. Mistake number one, body timber jointed. I had faced one edge and had planned to flip one piece over to maintain the grain direction. Grain runs same way on the jointed slab. An unintentional chamfer was the result since I forgot to flip the piece over. Fixed by a quick pass through the Wadkin 24" planer in a local joinery shop (free, would not even accept beer tokens). Second mistake results from this. Pleased that I now have the back flat and true I forgot to ask for the front to go through the planer. Needless to say it was domed. Rediscovered the pleasure of using a jack plane which quickly sorted it. I would like a planer that takes 20" timber, not cheap though. Mistake number three emerged, slight glue starvation. I think I will enlarge the groove with tenon saw and infill with a sliver of the same mahogany. Should be invisible. Body jig sawn to shape, I am using my toy jig saw (I have an industrial Italian machine awaiting commissioning aka swmbo ceases using workshop as storage). 40mm mahogany cuts like butter, 9mm 30 year old oak is a different matter. I think of one of my favourite Dr Feelgood songs - I'm a hog for you baby. Mistakes four and five next. Bad day with the router despite template. Depth stop slipped and the body has got a little thin (6-7mm) in the upper bout. Also managed to get two 'runaway' cuts in same place, I think this is tied up with router height locking slipping.. Plan is to glue some 3mm veneer in the thin section. To make matters worse the collets worked loose during routing which did not help. Next time, smaller router cut length, double collet locks and 12mm or even 15mm template. I also need to investigate the depth locks on my router, I think they are slipping. The divot in the lower bout is not my doing, the ex snooker table planks have a locking mechanism (like flat pack furniture). Weird dried resin inside the plank. You would be miffed if you planed your timber down and this appeared on an external surface. Luckily the worst blunders are internal, I just know I they are there. No progress on neck at all, I decided do 'simple' stuff since I would certainly fubar anything that needs precision at the moment. The large 'lands' are intentional. If I decide piezo pickup is not for me, the lands are positioned and sized for jazz bass pickups. Oak top just visible in background. Body with top about 4lb at moment.

Low tension flatwounds TI JF344 (they appear on bc s/h on a regular basis at good prices, I have one set running at 8 years, no issues s/h), D'Addario Chromes 45-100 or 40-95. I am sure others will be along shortly with round wound and other flatwound suggestions.

Wilkinson - chrome with brass saddles. The only issue you may find is holes not aligning. At best you will have to drill new pilt holes, at worst plug the old holes and then new pilot holes.

Inspired by the work of others ('standing on the shoulders of giants', I blame Andyjr1515 in particular) the hewing of wood has started. The bass is inspired by Rob Allen basses, an Aria PE Les Paul type bass and my trusty Gibson SG bass. Body: Chambered mahogany - the 43mm x 7" x 40" plank is air dried 30yrs plus, ex snooker table £5 - I bought more Body top slab: oak. 9 - 12mm undecided on thickness yet. Neck : white oak and mahogany stringers. Gibson SG bass profile plus a few mm depth, this will be a 'baseball bat'. Two per side small tuners, headstock string angle same as Fender type headstock h. (The oak was from a floor I removed about 25 years ago and the mahogany was also some salvage from years ago). Fingerboard: Ebony, fretless. This has planed down to 10mm. Bridge: Ebony, acoustic bass type, Acetal (aka Delrin) saddle. Pickup:: initially piezo underbridge (£6 I think). I intend to design the body chambering so that later retro fit of J tyope pickups is a possibilty if the piezo route is not to my taste. Pre-amp: I thought of design and build my own (I have a Physics / Engineering background) but then had the obvious inspiration. I have some pre-amps. I could also dis-assemble a Behringer acoustic-amp and fit it internally if so desired. To be explored. Watching the [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/289254-jack-bruce-ish-eb3-sg-bass/page__fromsearch__1"][b]Andyjr1515 EB3 build[/b][/url] develop I appreciate the advantages of a through neck, my next build will go down that route. This current one will be bolt on. The aim is to have a 30.5" scale bass, bridge as far back as possible, making the bass as compact as possible. My diagrams / plans /templates suggest I will get the equivalent of a 17 fret neck. This should prevent neck dive. The compactness suits me fine as I am somewhat vertically challenged. Body slab and neck stringers: Body outline and neck - the end of the truss rod is where the fingerboard will end, headstock to be as compact as possible. It is not a left hander, I just took the picture that way, no idea why Thoughts and advice most welcome, particularly slot routing 3mm channel for bridge saddle. So far my attempts (with jig) on scarp have been less than 100%.

Seymour Duncan neck humbucker for the unmentionable R bass will fit directly in the bridge position. It will sound ok, but no great improvement over the Gibson humbucker fitted to my SG bass. Artec also manufacture a suitable sized bridge pickup.

Looking at the pictures, the 8 ohm brass device will be the tweeter level control, the L-pad, not the actual tweeter. Good luck with the further investigations.

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1471465163' post='3113302'] IF it were mine, I'd connect the 8ohm brass unit (which is your tweeter, btw) to known working amp at almost nil volume....you need to get to where the problem lies (I'm not convinced it's with the 'new' amp, btw, but you might need a co-operative amp tech any second now). [/quote] Good advice, again you could test the 8 ohm brass unit (aka tweeter) with a multimeter. Measure its dc resistance, 0 or infinty (flashing 1 on many meters) is not good. The 250V black cylindrical thingy is a capacitor, unlikely to have gone u/s. If Chorley was somewhat closer to Mid-Wales I would offer to 'take a look'. On the plus side, the TE is 'old' technology and is thus repairable at sensible money (depending what your outcome with seller is). Worst case is the power transistors have failed, equally well it might be something as simple as a failed solder joint on one of the smoothing capacitors - hence the hum. Peavey Firebass 700 once in my possession had an intermittent on / off no sound issue. Turned out to be poor solder joint on the thermal overload thermistor, an easy diy fix.

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1471462782' post='3113277'] Personally, I find this much simpler than a bolt on or glued in neck. This particular one needs no neck angle so the notch is parallel. All of the others I've done have needed an angle but all you do is block up the tail end of the neck in the router jig by the appropriate amount. [/quote] Like it, very simple solution