HowieBass Posted August 1, 2014 Posted August 1, 2014 Have you chosen the fingerboard yet? I'm wondered what maple would look like. Quote
blablas Posted August 1, 2014 Author Posted August 1, 2014 (edited) Yes, it's going to be padauk. Edited September 15, 2014 by blablas Quote
blablas Posted August 2, 2014 Author Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) And some daylight pictures. There are a few funny marks in the plywood, they are really in the wood, you can see them but you don't feel them. It's a pity but I'm not going to do anything about them. The belly cut. I need the refine the transition to the upper horn a little bit but that's something I'll do once I'm going to sand the complete body. Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
sblueplanet Posted August 2, 2014 Posted August 2, 2014 Is this one going to be fretted or fretless? Quote
blablas Posted August 2, 2014 Author Posted August 2, 2014 Fretted, I assume 12 strings will already be difficult enough to handle. Quote
blablas Posted August 2, 2014 Author Posted August 2, 2014 (edited) That transition kept bothering me, I could not resist the urge to fix it now. It's not yet fully 100% perfect but now I can simply correct it while sanding the rest of the body. Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
HowieBass Posted August 2, 2014 Posted August 2, 2014 Looking good, I can see why you went with the rosewood for the contrast. Very nice work! Quote
blablas Posted August 3, 2014 Author Posted August 3, 2014 (edited) Today I've spent a couple of hours of quality time at my workshop (at work). Milled the cavities for the pickups. And the cavities for the battery box and the controls. Once the neck is finished I'll do the neck pocket. Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
HowieBass Posted August 3, 2014 Posted August 3, 2014 The routing is soooo clean and tidy! How's the work progressing on that university project you showed us? Quote
blablas Posted August 3, 2014 Author Posted August 3, 2014 (edited) This kind of routing I'm always doing with this little handy tool. A milling machine. The University project part I showed is finished and will be built-in in the setup somewhere halfway September. Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
rubis Posted August 18, 2014 Posted August 18, 2014 This is great to see, such careful work, more posts and details please Quote
blablas Posted September 9, 2014 Author Posted September 9, 2014 (edited) No real progress to report on this build, a few weeks ago my server computer crashed on me and since that time I've been busy with tuning and filling a new main computer, and after that setting up my old main computer as the new server computer. Everything is working as I want now and no data was lost during this accident, the build will resume soon. Last week I've been busy with fabricating some new pickguards for several of my basses. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/vlDMzUT.jpg[/IMG] For my F(ake)ender Jazz V. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/IT8vfvR.jpg[/IMG] For my OLP MM2. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/qyz2gHR.jpg[/IMG] And one for my Squier Precision. A detail shot of the last one. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/jcGnHOb.jpg[/IMG] Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
HowieBass Posted September 9, 2014 Posted September 9, 2014 I like those patterned pickguards - a nice alternative to the traditional tort patterns. Quote
blablas Posted September 15, 2014 Author Posted September 15, 2014 (edited) Done the rough sawing of all the wood for the neck. Top of the picture will be the neck itself: wenge - 3 ply birch - padauk - 3 ply birch - wenge. Middle, the fingerboard: padauk. Bottom, headstock: Merbau with a rosewood top (the top is a leftover from the top of the body). Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
Lucien Posted September 15, 2014 Posted September 15, 2014 Congratulations, this is impressive! Quote
gelfin Posted September 16, 2014 Posted September 16, 2014 May be a bit late with this suggestion but you could consider decluttering the headstock by taking a leaf out of Kramers 8 string book the XL8 has the lighter string tuners at the opposite end of the bass. [URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/20140910_131249_zpsdbec3f05.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/20140910_131249_zpsdbec3f05.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Quote
blablas Posted September 16, 2014 Author Posted September 16, 2014 I prefer the look of the cluttered headstock over this "oh, we need more tuners" solution. I've given it some thought if I could use headless bridge tuners but that still meant I needed to anchor the strings at the headstock side. I like the headstock as I designed it now. Quote
BigRedX Posted September 17, 2014 Posted September 17, 2014 How about [url=http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Tuning_Machines/Guitar_and_Solid_Peghead/Steinberger_Gearless_Tuners.html]these tuners[/url] for the octave strings? Might cut down the weight and clutter at the headstock. Quote
blablas Posted September 17, 2014 Author Posted September 17, 2014 (edited) These only give less clutter at the side of the headstock and more on the top and back. Like I said before I'm fine with what I already designed. Edited September 17, 2014 by blablas Quote
sblueplanet Posted September 17, 2014 Posted September 17, 2014 @blablas Do you have any sound samples of each of the basses you have built? Quote
blablas Posted September 17, 2014 Author Posted September 17, 2014 Not yet, I'm to lazy and it takes too much time before I'm happy with the result, maybe someday but not for the time being. At the moment I only build them for myself not for an audience or a customer so why would I really bother with spending all that time on making a demo. Quote
sblueplanet Posted September 17, 2014 Posted September 17, 2014 (edited) Fair enough. Edited September 17, 2014 by sblueplanet Quote
blablas Posted September 18, 2014 Author Posted September 18, 2014 (edited) In between my normal work I made myself a small handy fret wire bender today. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AktKTfK.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AqyhNQw.jpg[/IMG] Since I'm going to use stainless steel fret wire for this current build, which is lot more difficult to work on than the standard copper-nickel alloy, I decided it would be nice to have the fret wire already in the right shape before hammering them in. The better the shape is beforehand, the easier it will be during leveling and crowning. Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
blablas Posted October 10, 2014 Author Posted October 10, 2014 (edited) Minimal progress. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/AZJz0Em.jpg[/IMG] Glued the wood for the neck and made half of the scarf joint. Haven't been in the mood to do much work on this project the last couple of weeks, partly due to this little in-between project. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/LGUwNRY.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/DmQqbeN.jpg[/IMG] A new maple-fingerboard neck for my G&L L-2000 Tribute, needed work on the fret ends, also did some crowning and polishing on the frets and now it's oiled with Danish oil. Edited August 6, 2017 by blablas Quote
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