Finished! And now for something completely different ...

[3below]

Lovely looking wood Surely pre-slotted is cheating. As BC builds develop I would be expecting tree felling at the least, and following the example of [url="https://paulsellers.com/"]Paul Sellers[/url] (who I find inspirational about hand tools) filing your own saw blades.

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1479334958' post='3175825']
Lovely looking wood Surely pre-slotted is cheating. As BC builds develop I would be expecting tree felling at the least, and following the example of [url="https://paulsellers.com/"]Paul Sellers[/url] (who I find inspirational about hand tools) filing your own saw blades.
[/quote]
It's OK....I'll be finish sanding it with the stubble of my chin

[3below]

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1479335256' post='3175828']

It's OK....I'll be finish sanding it with the stubble of my chin
[/quote]

For a finer finish send bass to me and I will use my beard after your stubble

Edited November 16, 2016 by 3below

[Andyjr1515]

Hurrah! First piece of wood cut!



These are the two mahogany blanks I have cut lengthways from an extra-wide mahogany plank. The saw is just a prop - I'm not fit enough or mad enough to cut that by hand I used an old circular saw...and that struggled! It's good dense stuff The marks you can see are just a couple of surface stains which will disappear when I put them through the thicknesser later today.

Also today, I will rout the mating faces - essential before cutting out the shapes and, if all that goes well, cut out the basic blanks

[Andyjr1515]

I don't know if the other builders are the same, but I agonise over decisions of expensive tools and bits of equipment. None more so than when I was trying to decide whether to buy a decent thicknesser.

In the end, I did - I bought the superb Makita 2012nb. What a good gamble. Not only has a job that used to take me hours and hours of frustration turned into a 30 minute job (plus 10 mins to empty the shavings out of my extractor/vacuum), but these pieces are accurate in thickness to within 0.3mm of each other. They are nice pieces of mahogany :

[gelfin]

[URL=http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/snoopy_dancing_by_jessie4508_zpsozd1ombx.jpg.html][IMG]http://i970.photobucket.com/albums/ae181/gelfin5959/snoopy_dancing_by_jessie4508_zpsozd1ombx.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Andyjr1515]

(I think gelfin's happy) ^

Top successfully cut out (phew!)



I'll be joining this together and assembling the sections of neck before cutting the back panels so that I can use the whole assembly as the cutting template.

In the meantime, Nic and I are starting to firm up on pickups, etc., including discussing my recent dalliances with both Music Man pickups and the DiMarzio Model One - otherwise known as 'chalk and cheese' .

Edited November 18, 2016 by Andyjr1515

[allighatt0r]

The body shape somehow suggests slanted soapbars to me... a bit like the Gibson Victory basses?

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='allighatt0r' timestamp='1479483256' post='3176930']
The body shape somehow suggests slanted soapbars to me... a bit like the Gibson Victory basses?
[/quote]
Some of them did - and if you look at the upper half of Nic's, that does too.

But for this one, we're going for good old rectangular muscle. I think Nic and I have firmed up on the spec...perhaps we'll need to forewarn the National Geological Society so their seismometers don't record the event as an earthquake going on in S Wales!!!

Edited November 18, 2016 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

Bit more progress. The body top is joined:



..and after gluing the rosewood centre splice onto one half of the neck blank last night, the other half is being glued as I type.

Remember the mantra...."you can never have too many clamps!". The two workbench clamps can put on a huge pressure too


Over the weekend, I'll slim and true-up the glued blank and start sketching some thoughts of headstock shape to bounce off Nic.

Edited November 19, 2016 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

Wow - this is so much like a finished bass, it's spooky



Next job won't show much of a difference but is super-critical .... squaring-up the top surface of the neck. I'll do that by hand-plane and sanding beam and then run the back through the thicknesser to square that up too. That way, I should have perfectly square datum surfaces to do the follow-up routing operations.

[Andyjr1515]

The work on the hand-plane and thicknesser seems to have gone OK, with the neck blank square, straight and the final through-neck width:




David Dyke has done us proud with a nice bit of maple and rosewood



I draw and check the neck dimensions, etc, directly onto the blank. However, won't do any cutting or routing until Nic and I have firmed up the intended bridge - the dimensions will directly influence the necessary neck angle, which will be built into the body top cutout of the neck:

[Andyjr1515]

Nic sent the bridge with other bits and bobs which allowed me to calculate the neck angle (roundabout 1 degree).

After battling for sometime with my very cheap (and on the very edge of its capabilities) bandsaw, got the neck rough-cut in side profile:


The headstock will clearly be cut down, but at the moment, the far end is absolutely parallel to the top of the neck - useful as a datum

I will be cutting the bottom wings and attaching them to the neck before gluing the top on, but this is broadly where the top fits:

[roman_sub]

looks great so far!

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='roman_sub' timestamp='1479838031' post='3179708']
looks great so far!
[/quote]
Thanks, roman_sub

[Andyjr1515]

After a week of non-building distractions, I've been able to make a bit more progress this morning.

I've flattened the notch and brought it down so that the top sits 1.5mm proud. This is because the neck is angled and I want the fretboard end (prob after 24th fret) to be flush with the body top rather than at where the neck meets the body. The fretboard will be set into the body wood to achieve this.



By the way - a reminder. I make a lot of this stuff up as I go along. Please remember that these threads simply illustrate how I personally have tackled each of the challenges of a build...never assume that what I do is the right or best way!


With the top positioned correctly with the neck, I could then mark out the bottom panels - these will actually be glued first when I get to that stage.




With some nursing of my rickety cheap bandsaw, and some cursing of my new but surprisingly limited scroll saw (probably wrong blades for the job), I got both back wings cut out:



This afternoon I am going to experiment with the jack options with some of the mahogany offcut. Nic has been able to borrow an early prototype of SmoothHound wireless Tx. The intention is to be able to set this into a chamber at the back, but still to be able to attach a conventional lead if required.

I think, given the design and depth of the SmoothHound, there are two basic options:

Straight -


This is straightforward, but that is a long way into the body....particularly if you think of placing a conventional cable there.

Or angled - think Stratocaster or Ibanez electrics -


The depth is too great to use an actual stratocaster jackplate (in the back of the bass) at its quite steep angle, but at this angle photographed, it MIGHT fit...

Hence the experiments needed.

As always, thanks for looking

[White Cloud]

He, he, he....another great build taking shape!

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1480167099' post='3182169']
He, he, he....another great build taking shape!
[/quote]
Thanks, White Cloud



In terms of the angled approach....well, this [i]might [/i]fit....just.....

[Andyjr1515]

Getting there.

Prototype housing no.1 physically works but misses a detail from the aesthetics.

Here it is in use (view from back of bass):



Then to remove it for recharge or to put in a conventional jack, flip it up:


...and pull it out:


The workings would be covered by a piece of 1/8" mahogany.

The other side (imagine the jack is inset into the top rather than sitting flush as in this example):




I need to do prototype 2 with the recess in the proper place but, conceptually, I reckon that might work

[3below]

Some skilled fingerboard recess routing up ahead I know the feeling about the wimpy scroll saw and band saw. WRT the radio transmitter, could it fit into an internal recess combined with a second internal jack socket. The best way I can describe (without sorting a sketch to upload) is: Imagine a telecaster type control rout, wide and long enough for the radio transmitter. At the 'pickup switch' end of the cavity drill / rout a blind 12mm hole / channel for a jack socket- this is going further into the body, parallel to the body, heading towards the lower bout. Fit the jack socket to the 'blind' hole with parallel wiring to the 'regular' cable type jack socket. Cover the whole arrangement with the rear control plate. The transmitter should work through the 10~ 15 mm of front body timber, an experiment many be needed. Andy if the description makes no sense I will sketch for you.

Edited November 26, 2016 by 3below

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1480180042' post='3182327']
Some skilled fingerboard recess routing up ahead I know the feeling about the wimpy scroll saw and band saw. WRT the radio transmitter, could it fit into an internal recess combined with a second internal jack socket. The best way I can describe (without sorting a sketch to upload) is: Imagine a telecaster type control rout, wide and long enough for the radio transmitter. At the 'pickup switch' end of the cavity drill a blind 12mm hole for a jack socket- this is going further into the body, parallel to the body, heading towards the lower bout. Fit the jack socket to the 'blind' hole with parallel wiring to the 'regular' cable type jack socket. Cover the whole arrangement with the rear control plate. The transmitter should work through the 10~ 15 mm of front body timber, an experiment many be needed. Andy if the description makes no sense I will sketch for you.
[/quote]
A sketch would be great

[3below]

[quote name='Andyjr1515' timestamp='1480180460' post='3182335']
A sketch would be great
[/quote]

Winder why lol.

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1480182608' post='3182366']
Winder why lol.
[/quote]

[gelfin]

I was thinking of something like this. Forgive poor sketching.

A rout from the rear of the body (open to the rear). A Tele type socket which in this position would still be accessible for a normal jack lead.
So the SmoothHound would plug in from the edge rather than the rear surface.


[url="http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/SH%20position_zpsgc0nehoo.jpg.html"][/url]

[url="http://s970.photobucket.com/user/gelfin5959/media/SH%20p2_zpsssq7d8dn.jpg.html"][/url]

Edited November 26, 2016 by gelfin

[3below]

Gelfin, your 'sketch;'powers are better than mine. My variant was totally enclosed inside the body with a second jack socket to the outside world. Sketches have been pmd to Andy.