scrumpymike's (a) Rascal

[MoonBassAlpha]

Looks like the same axe too. Probably had six new handles and four heads, mind!

[Andyjr1515]

Well, the time has come to start pulling Mike's Rascal to pieces

The interesting thing about a Rascal is that because of the offset body, visually it really doesn't look like a 30" scale.

The Precision Lyte is 34" - and yet look how much longer the Rascal body is the longer-scale Lyte (my walnut Lyte top is 1:1 scale):


The other difference is that the Lyte neck is 22 frets and the Rascal is 21. This affects where the neck pocket needs to be.

This is basically how and where the neck will fit:


The bridge will sit well back - in a similar position to the Lyte, although the top horn will be 1/2 fret further forward. The advantage of this is that it should help to avoid any tendency to head-heaviness in spite of this being a much lighter body than the original.

Playing-wise, the new bass will sit differently to the Rascal and very much feel like a short-scale. The Rascal itself, with its quite heavy body and far rear strap button swings the whole bass to the player's left hand side, pushing the nut further away and making it feel more like the stretch of a long-scale. This will new one will sit more in the standard short-scale position.

Should be interesting

Edited November 11, 2017 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

And there it is, all stripped:


Fairly standard 'stratocaster' type pickup and electrics arrangements:




The lipsticks have a standard single-coil type back plate, wider than the protruding part of the pickup, which the fixing and height adjustment screws screw into.


While the lipstick itself appears to be bolted to that backplate, close inspection makes me think that to remove the backplate would leave a reasonable chance of knackering the pickup - so I won't be doing THAT

I'll do some careful measuring and thinking of the best way of mounting them.

In terms of the bridge, this is broadly where it will sit:


Those of you who have followed some of my other builds will know that I break one of the taboo's of guitar building - I use the top as the routing template (please note - this is emphatically NOT recommended by the sensible and conventional wisdom!)

My reasoning is, however, simple in a case such as this:

• The top here is, 'coincidentally', the same thickness as the neck pocket is deep
• I therefore just have to scribe the shape onto the walnut around the neck
• Then I can use the 'safe' tools (safe in terms of unwanted and irreversible gouges out of the wood) such as fret saw, chisels and files to cut the perfect neck pocket
• Then I will add the sapele back, cut slightly oversize, and use a bearing flush trimmer on the router, using the top as the template, to trim the back flush with the top.
  

There are times when this approach can add issues - which is why I always emphasise that I describe how I do some of these things and most definitely NOT 'this is how you should do it'. However, in this particular instance, the approach will reduce some of the cock-up potential and not increase it Edited November 11, 2017 by Andyjr1515

[scrumpymike]

That's brilliant Andy! How nice to finally be able to visualise how the 'new' bass will look. Certainly makes the headstock look bigger, although that's emphasised by the current 'green-ness'. In any event, I've always liked chunky headstocks. Your comments about the original quirky design of the Rascal are spot on. Having said that, my problem was with the weight rather than the reach. If it had been a couple of pounds lighter we wouldn't be reading this build diary. Mind you, now that Merv's walnut is part of the project, I'm really pleased we are .

[Andyjr1515]

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1510337797' post='3405792']
That's brilliant Andy! How nice to finally be able to visualise how the 'new' bass will look. Certainly makes the headstock look bigger, although that's emphasised by the current 'green-ness'. In any event, I've always liked chunky headstocks. Your comments about the original quirky design of the Rascal are spot on. Having said that, my problem was with the weight rather than the reach. If it had been a couple of pounds lighter we wouldn't be reading this build diary. Mind you, now that Merv's walnut is part of the project, I'm really pleased we are .
[/quote]
I'm going to have a go at cutting a headstock over-plate in the morning. I suspect that will make it look a lot less bulky

[Andyjr1515]

Hi

Well done ped and team

It all seems to be working...including the easy fix to re-instate pictures

So - I'm going to try to do a direct load of photos     It's to show the neck pocket and pickup cuts:

OK - that failed.  So I'll try by adding the URL

For the neck pocket, I used a scroll saw:

For the pickup slots, I drilled either end and then used the scroll saw to cut the straights:

And this is where I got to

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

So what are the thoughts I have about hiding the Rascal colour of the headstock and still making it a reversible mod?

Well....this may not work but:

I've managed to cut a 1.5mm sliver of the walnut offcut which will scrape down to 1mm:

The idea is to try to stick this on with very thin double sided tape.

But what about the bend??

 

OK ... this is why it might not work but - an acoustic guitar side is around 1.5mm thick.  And I have built a couple of acoustics and have a bending iron.  So I'm going to try to bend the walnut to shape.

I told you it might not work! 

[scrumpymike]

Cripes - that's even thinner that a 'waffer-thin mint' (but not as easy to bend)!

[Andyjr1515]

OK - so maybe we've got the chances of success a whisker ahead of evens...

It's bent.  Next test is will it stay bent once it's dried...

I knew the scraper burnishing rod would come in useful one day....

[Rikki_Sixx]

I know that headstock cover is waffer-theen and probably weighs 'naff all, but as it's at the end of the (admittedly short) neck will it give it a bit more dive? I'm sure you've thought about that!

It's really cool to see the reversible mod side of this, as well as building the body! 

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Rikki_Sixx said:

I know that headstock cover is waffer-theen and probably weighs 'naff all, but as it's at the end of the (admittedly short) neck will it give it a bit more dive? I'm sure you've thought about that!

It's really cool to see the reversible mod side of this, as well as building the body! 

Decent question but no, not at all

The plate really does, as you say, weigh naff all - but the main thing is that the Lyte top horn is longer.  This will place the strap button at about the 12.5th fret, as opposed to the Rascal which places it at the 14th fret.  This makes a big difference.

That is quite important, also, because the new body will be much lighter than the Rascal and this, if nothing else was done, would certainly give some issues.

I suppose the only slight unknown is going to be the 'sit' of the bass on the strap.  It is likely that it will sit further to the player's right than the Rascal - this will make it feel a very short scale indeed (although still longer than a 6 string electric).  Time will tell on that one

 

[Andyjr1515]

And...admittedly to my surprise...it seems to have worked.  Once this is sanded flush and stuck round the edges with thin 2-sided tape, I'm pretty sure it's going to look fine. 

The 2-sided tape will only to keep the edges secure - the plate itself will be secured by the tuner bushes and the string tree

It certainly balances the look of the bass a bit better:

 

Next job is to find the sapele that I'm sure I've got somewhere in the shed for the back

 

[Andyjr1515]

This double posted so this is just my way of deleting the duplicate!

 

Edited November 14, 2017 by Andyjr1515

[scrumpymike]

Nice work Andy!  That matched head-stock capping certainly balances the bass visually.  Re physical balance, I was wondering whether we'd need to resort to light-weight tuners after the re-body so I'm pleased that's looking unlikely.

[Andyjr1515]

And found the sapele that I was sure I had in the shed.  And it's wider than I had remembered so we have a one-piece back

I will add the wenge demarcation veneer to the sapele before I cut out the shape.  Should be able to do that later today....

[scrumpymike]

That's a nice contrast to the walnut.

[Andyjr1515]

Bit of a lull while I needed the workbench to sort some of the remaining jobs on the 6-string electric, but we're back on it.

2mm wenge demarcation veneer has been glued to the sapele for the back:

...and the sapele/wenge sandwich has been cut oversize ready  - once the internals have been sorted - for gluing the top and using that as the template for the router trimming of the back ( that's an Andyjr1515 approach - most luthiers would not recommend doing it that way so please don't assume that's the way to do it!  It's probably not ).

 

So next job - getting the internal routs and chambers sorted

[scrumpymike]

Glad you're back from 'the Dark Side' - and thanks for the update.  Every time I've followed your previous build diaries, I've wondered what it must feel like to be the lucky pink torpedo who's commissioned it; now I am that pink torpedo!

[Andyjr1515]

17 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Glad you're back from 'the Dark Side' - and thanks for the update.  Every time I've followed your previous build diaries, I've wondered what it must feel like to be the lucky pink torpedo who's commissioned it; now I am that pink torpedo!

 

And I'm the daft pink torpedo who's building it !   

[Norris]

To save any further puerile thread derailment I've created...

 

[scrumpymike]

Nice work Norris - and it's only gone and changed 'penile' to 'puerile' on your last post!

[Andyjr1515]

Tomorrow is going to be about more wood cutting...so today has been about making sure I'm going to cut in the right place!

The main thing about routing weight reduction or access voids and cutting chambers out of backs and tops is that you've always got to think 'what's on the other side?'.  Like:

• The bridge fixing
• A paunch-relief carve
• Horn cutaway carves

Although most of tomorrow's cutting and routing is going to be on the back, I mark some of these things on the back of the bass top to see where everything is going to lie and so I don't get any clashes:

The main weight relief will come from:

• A large swimming pool hole in the back from where the pickups will be inserted and which will be covered by a thin plate of sapele
• The hole that will become the control chamber, also covered with a sapele plate
• A part-depth rout in the upper rear bout, which will become a weight relief chamber and will be invisible from top or back
• The back-relief carve

I can't take any weight out by reducing the thickness, because the depth of the Fender 5-way switch actually dictates a minimum body depth of 45mm to house it - if you've ever wondered why 'traditional' guitars are as thick (and therefore often as heavy) as they were and often still are.  As a comparison, I design to 25mm depth wherever I can (and therefore don't ordinarily use Fender 5-way switches ).  That reduces, by more than a third, the body weight before you even start chambering!

The thickness also makes for a very deep heel.  I've got some thoughts on that I'll bounce off Mike when I've developed them a bit further

 

Edited November 25, 2017 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

If ever you wanted proof that wenge is porous, here it is

That's just the titebond that's squeezed through the 2mm wenge veneer.  Good job I anticipated that  and protected the clamping caul with clingfilm!

That's two of the four main weight reduction steps taken.  The swimming pool in the middle (ignore the wavy scrollsaw line that will be straightened up) will be the magnetic-hatched access to fit the lipstick pickups from the back:

There will be a similar hole cut for the control chamber in the lower main bout, once I've worked out how big and where it needs to be.  That will also take weight out.  More weight will come out from the back relief carve marked in felt tip above.

[SpondonBassed]

Layers of goodness are starting to accumulate.

[scrumpymike]

1 hour ago, SpondonBassed said:

Layers of goodness are starting to accumulate.

Couldn't have put it better myself!