33" Reverse P/J Jazz bass, blocks & binding (FINISHED PICS)

[Jabba_the_gut]

In my opinion for a one-off, I don't know what you would gain by using machine tools. There is nothing to stop you making a template and filing the brass back to that to keep the accuracy or curved lines you are looking for. I found just using fine files and wet and paper you can get perfectly good, smooth and flowing edges. In some respects, filing the brass was easier than working with wood as the workpiece doesn't reduce in size quite so quickly......

Look forward to seeing what you do.

Cheers

[honza992]

So, I'm guessing you don't all love the idea then😋

 

I guess part of my issue (apart from being lazy🙄) is that I have no metal working tools at all - files, drill bits, countersinks, saws etc etc.  I'm reluctant to spend yet more money on tools.....no, hold on, who am I kidding.  I'm reluctant to spend money on clothes, or the bus....I'm joyful to spend money on tools 😀......though on my tool wish list, metal working tools come below woodworking.....

 

I'll have another think....

 

[SpondonBassed]

1 minute ago, honza992 said:

So, I'm guessing you don't all love the idea then😋

 

I guess part of my issue (apart from being lazy🙄) is that I have no metal working tools at all - files, drill bits, countersinks, saws etc etc.  I'm reluctant to spend yet more money on tools.....no, hold on, who am I kidding.  I'm reluctant to spend money on clothes, or the bus....I'm joyful to spend money on tools 😀......though on my tool wish list, metal working tools come below woodworking.....

 

I'll have another think....

 

If you can get it to Spondon and back I can do it for you quite easily.  PM me if it's of any use.

[honza992]

1 minute ago, SpondonBassed said:

If you can get it to Spondon and back I can do it for you quite easily.  PM me if it's of any use.

Wow, that's an incredibly kind officer and a gentlemen. You're but a mere hop skip and jump away.  I may very well be getting back to you....Thanks again. 

[Norris]

15 hours ago, honza992 said:

So, I'm guessing you don't all love the idea then😋

 

I guess part of my issue (apart from being lazy🙄) is that I have no metal working tools at all - files, drill bits, countersinks, saws etc etc.  I'm reluctant to spend yet more money on tools.....no, hold on, who am I kidding.  I'm reluctant to spend money on clothes, or the bus....I'm joyful to spend money on tools 😀......though on my tool wish list, metal working tools come below woodworking.....

 

I'll have another think....

 

A hacksaw, a half round metal file and wet & dry paper are all you need really. You'll want to scribe the outline, and you could sharpen the tip of a large nail to do that (using your half round file)

You'll need a couple of drill bits too, as you'll need holes for your pots & switches, and for the fixing holes. Use your largest drill bit as a countersink for the fixing holes. Again you can use your sharpened nail as a centre punch before drilling to stop the drill bit wandering

Those tools would probably cost less than £20

[honza992]

A quick update on the neck. 

The blocks are in, glued and the neck radiused.  It's.....ok.  Not great, but for a first effort it's acceptable (the fill around the blocks is a bit too obvious for my liking), but I learned loads and next time it will be one hell of a lot better. A quick shot hiding the imperfections...

Next time I will do the gluing a little bit better, because I think the way I did it this time contributed to a slightly sloppy job.  This time I used epoxy and sanding dust to glue the blocks in, and in my head I had imagined the epoxy oozing up around the block, filling the gaps around it at the same time as gluing.  And that is what happened, at least to begin with.  What happened next though, was that the expoxy then sank down again, I think as the blocks rose up a little bit.  So next time I will divide the gluing and the filling into two completely seperate stages.  First I will glue the blocks in with a small amount of medium CA glue, using only enough to cover the bottom of the channel but no more.  Then, once dry I'll use either epoxy or medium CA glue with sanding dust to do the gap fill. Oh, and the other thing I need to work on is my chisel technique, both use and sharpening☹️  But all in all, ok for a first effort. 

[honza992]

More of an issue is this....

All the blocks are white, apart from the one at the fifth fret (block 3) which is blue.  What the...?!%@%!  I didn't notice before because they were only rough sanded, but once glued in and starting to sand it was obvious that it didn't match at all.  This is the first time I've used MOP and as a natural material I'm sure there is some variation in hue, but that is ....well, a bit much.  Very disappointing. I guess I have two options:

1. Grab my router, and zap that little bugger.  Hope I can get it out relatively neatly and re-rout the channel. Get the retailer to send me one that is the correct colour, re-glue, re-radius and put it all down to experience. 

2.  Relax.  It is at least at fret 5, so I can pretend that it's a design feature.  And no one will notice apart from me anyway. 

Anyone with any opinions?

(Oh and also I'll email the supplier and ask whether that blue is in fact within the accepted range of 'white'....🙄)

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, honza992 said:

More of an issue is this....

All the blocks are white, apart from the one at the fifth fret (block 3) which is blue.  What the...?!%@%!  I didn't notice before because they were only rough sanded, but once glued in and starting to sand it was obvious that it didn't match at all.  This is the first time I've used MOP and as a natural material I'm sure there is some variation in hue, but that is ....well, a bit much.  Very disappointing. I guess I have two options:

1. Grab my router, and zap that little bugger.  Hope I can get it out relatively neatly and re-rout the channel. Get the retailer to send me one that is the correct colour, re-glue, re-radius and put it all down to experience. 

2.  Relax.  It is at least at fret 5, so I can pretend that it's a design feature.  And no one will notice apart from me anyway. 

Anyone with any opinions?

(Oh and also I'll email the supplier and ask whether that blue is in fact within the accepted range of 'white'....🙄)

Option 2

Mother of Pearl is a natural product and natural products vary...otherwise they don't look natural.

Those blocks look perfect

[Jimothey]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Option 2

Mother of Pearl is a natural product and natural products vary...otherwise they don't look natural.

Those blocks look perfect

Option 2, I'm with Andy and your right it looks like a design statement if you have anymore that have the blue hue to it add something to your headstock proper style it out 😀

[SpondonBassed]

I agree.  Much better to leave it.

If you remove one of the blocks there is little chance of the supplier sending you a good match for the ones that are left anyway.  You might as well remove all of them and replace with a properly matched set.

Ibanez put oval abalone dots on my fretboard and one of them is similarly at odds with the rest.  They are a lot smaller than yours but I still had to get used to it.  I now think of it as a unique characteristic and - isn't that why we use organic materials anyway?  To have something that is taken from nature because it can't be uniform and manufactured?

Like your infill, it is likely that you are the only one who will be aware of the difference once the instrument is strung.  The instrument as a whole isn't going to suffer, IMHO.

[songofthewind]

A bit late to this, but here's a thought: what about those curved fender style plates that Sandberg use on their new Jazz style thing?

Their bodies are a new shape and require a curved plate. Might solve your positioning problem without all that metal work.

Secondly, the blocks look absolutely fine. When your bass is strung up and in the wild, i bet you don't notice.

[SpondonBassed]

50 minutes ago, songofthewind said:

all that metal work

Huh?

It's not that much, really.

[songofthewind]

Agreed, but on a quick glance, seemed to cause a bit of discussion. I just like the look of the Sandberg bodies with that nice curved plate, and thought it might be helpful to mention it.

[SpondonBassed]

8 minutes ago, songofthewind said:

Agreed, but on a quick glance, seemed to cause a bit of discussion. I just like the look of the Sandberg bodies with that nice curved plate, and thought it might be helpful to mention it.

Fair enough but you did make it sound like a challenge.

It really isn't.  Our friend Honza has drawn a line between ownership of wood working tools and metalwork tools, that's all.

Your suggestion is not a bad one.  It's just that the words "all that" in your phrase "all that metalwork" might be misleading to readers.

[Andyjr1515]

Back to blocks - I had a gig practice with Pete last night and noticed the MoP blocks on the SG-ish I built for him a few years ago:

Well - I've never noticed it before, but the block on the first fret is quite a different colour to the rest:

You don't really see it in this photo but in normal daylight it is quite blue, whereas the rest are whiter.    And now I look at it in the photo - look at the three swifts!  The larger one is different to the other two - all cut from the same 40mmx40mm piece of shell.

Pete's never noticed and wouldn't worry if he did.  And I never noticed until last night - and I've seen this guitar up close at least 200 times, let alone when I was building it!!!

 

[honza992]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Back to blocks - I had a gig practice with Pete last night and noticed the MoP blocks on the SG-ish I built for him a few years ago:

Well - I've never noticed it before, but the block on the first fret is quite a different colour to the rest:

You don't really see it in this photo but in normal daylight it is quite blue, whereas the rest are whiter.    And now I look at it in the photo - look at the three swifts!  The larger one is different to the other two - all cut from the same 40mmx40mm piece of shell.

Pete's never noticed and wouldn't worry if he did.  And I never noticed until last night - and I've seen this guitar up close at least 200 times, let alone when I was building it!!!

 

Oh my oh my oh my.  That's some lovely shiny shimmering lovelyness right there!

(And I'm leaving my MOP as is.  Actually I designed it that way from the beginning.....😁)

[honza992]

The body is now nearly finished.  The arm/belly contours are done.  I filled in the old pickup rout, and re-did it for a reverse P.  I spent ages cutting out paper control plates of different shapes (including the Sandberg style suggested by @songofthewind , which  look great) but just couldn't get anything I was happy with.  Because of it's location (nearer the bridge) there wasn't much contour to it, which meant it just ended up mostly looking like a not-very-happy penis.  And I'm not sure that's exactly the look I was after 😕.  So in the end I  simply decided to re-shape the body so that it followed the shape of the control plate, rather than the other way round.  I think it's ended up looking pretty good. 

I also did drilled the holes for the pickup and bridge ground wires.  Because the bass is going to be painted, the easiest way to do the bridge ground was just to drill through the side of the bass.  I don't have a bit anywhere long enough to drill all the way through from the bridge pocket.  One thing I forgot is that those long bits drop, so by the time it came out into the control cavity it was worryingly near the bottom.  Luckily there were  a few mm to spare, and I may fill the bottom with a bit of epoxy just to make sure it remains strong enough. 

Tomorrow, fretting and doing the roundovers on the body.....
 

[songofthewind]

On 18/09/2018 at 08:51, SpondonBassed said:

Fair enough but you did make it sound like a challenge.

It really isn't.  Our friend Honza has drawn a line between ownership of wood working tools and metalwork tools, that's all.

Your suggestion is not a bad one.  It's just that the words "all that" in your phrase "all that metalwork" might be misleading to readers.

Ah, me, communication via text is inherently limiting. We can't hear tone of voice and emphasis (prosody), and thus misunderstanding abounds. My apologies for not being clear, I was firing from the hip in a spirit of helpfulness, plus I totally dig those curved plates on the Sandbergs. Good luck to Honza with his excellent project, and respect to all those who chip in with their expertise.

[SpondonBassed]

7 hours ago, songofthewind said:

Ah, me, communication via text is inherently limiting. We can't hear tone of voice and emphasis (prosody), and thus misunderstanding abounds. My apologies for not being clear, I was firing from the hip in a spirit of helpfulness, plus I totally dig those curved plates on the Sandbergs. Good luck to Honza with his excellent project, and respect to all those who chip in with their expertise.

Limits aside, it's a good discussion - all points of view being considered in the context of the whole.

I especially like how Mr Honza has now side-stepped it all by modifying the body shape of his bass to suit the pick guard he likes best.  Class.

 

[songofthewind]

Ah, I now see the bit about reshaping the body. Good idea. 

[honza992]

Sometimes I really despair.  Last week when I was lying on my (2 yr old) daughters floor as she held my finger to go to sleep, I specifically remember thinking to myself, Honza don't forget to check that the fret slots are deep enough before you glue the binding and start fretting.  Well...I didn't, and they weren't.  Even more annoyingly (and for the first time ever, what was I thinking) I started fretting from the nut end rather than the heel end.  Which meant the first dozen or so went in perfectly before they started bottoming out.  So to cut a long story short I had to take them all out....

Pulled 'em out with this...

There was virtually no tearout, apart from one small chip near the end.  I used a feeler guage and some baking paper as a dam to stop the CA medium glue getting into the fret slot.  Ended up being virtually invisible. 

Then I deepened the slots using this teeny tiny saw. 

All in all it went pretty smoothly, but I wasn't expecting to have to do a re-fret quite so soon🙄.  I'm going to have a whiteboard surgically attached to my forehead so when I have these thoughts in the middle of the night, I don't immediately forget them in the excitement and impatience of building....

I've re-sanded the fretboard and it looks pretty good.  I just need to put on a few layers of finish then I can re-fret. 

But can someone please remind me to remember the things I have forgotten.  Thanks. 

Edited September 26, 2018 by honza992

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, honza992 said:

Sometimes I really despair.  Last week when I was lying on my (2 yr old) daughters floor as she held my finger to go to sleep, I specifically remember thinking to myself, Honza don't forget to check that the fret slots are deep enough before you glue the binding and start fretting.  Well...I didn't, and they weren't.  Even more annoyingly (and for the first time ever, what was I thinking) I started fretting from the nut end rather than the heel end.  Which meant the first dozen or so went in perfectly before they started bottoming out.  So to cut a long story short I had to take them all out....

Pulled 'em out with this...

There was virtually no tearout, apart from one small chip near the end.  I used a feeler guage and some baking paper as a dam to stop the CA medium glue getting into the fret slot.  Ended up being virtually invisible. 

Then I deepened the slots using this teeny tiny saw. 

All in all it went pretty smoothly, but I wasn't expecting to have to do a re-fret quite so soon🙄.  I'm going to have a whiteboard surgically attached to my forehead so when I have these thoughts in the middle of the night, I don't immediately forget them in the excitement and impatience of building....

I've re-sanded the fretboard and it looks pretty good.  I just need to put on a few layers of finish then I can re-fret. 

But can someone please remind me to remember the things I have forgotten.  Thanks. 

Oh... that's a bummer!  Mind you, good save from the look of it

I can't remember what the issue was, but I do remember the result of a similar oversight - which resulted in defretting AND having to take the fretboard off too.  It made me feel sick when I realised the error I'd made - the trauma of which has wiped the memory of actually what I'd done wrong

[Jabba_the_gut]

I think that is always interesting when things wrong and you need to fix (and learn not to do it again!!). I've made several mistakes on builds and had to repair or redo something ( normally as the result of an angry router..) but it has been quite pleasing when you make a near invisible repair.  And your fix definitely goes into the invisible category!

Lovely build!

[honza992]

Sounds strange, but in some ways I think making the pickguard is the most difficult thing about building an electric.  Unlike wood, plastic is completely unforgiving, and there's something about it that means you really have to be accurate for it to look good.  It has to follow exactly the curve of the body, fit exactly round the neck pocket and have exact placement of the pickups and control plate.  I've finally got a process that I'm pretty happy with,  but it's taken me a long time to develop it, and it still takes a long time to do. 

Of course, if you're doing a standard size P or J bass then you can simply pick one off the shelf, or use a pre-made template like I've got in the first photo.  Everything I do is custom size, so no such luxury for me.

First up I do a drawing on some baking parchment (one of the most useful things in the 'shop).  I use this to rough cut some 12mm mdf to size. 

Next I rout the pickup hole into it.  At this point the rest of the pickguard template is just rough cut. 

Having got the pickup rout done, I mount the pickups and make sure that I'm happy with their positioning.  Then without moving anything, I use a guided bit running along the edge of the body itself to do the lower horn (where the pickguard runs parallel with the body).  At the same time I also rout the neck pocket, using the pocket itself as a guide.  This means that the fit of the pickguard is perfect. 

I then use a guided router bit with different size bearings to rebate into the pickguard template along the lower horn.  This results in a template that is smaller than the lower horn, but runs parallel to it.  

Finally, I cut out the 'V' shape where the pickguard meets the control plate. 

And that's it!  Several hours work.  My last insurance policy is that I don't drill the holes for the control plate till after finishing and I'm fitting the plastic pickguard itself.  The positioning of the control plate has a couple of mm wiggle room, so if the thickness of the finish, or who knows what else has moved everthing by a mm or so, I can absorb that by moving the control plate slightly, and everthing still fits together perfectly.  

I told you it was the hardest bit of making a guitar!

[honza992]

Into the grunt work. 

I re-did the frets.  Cursing as I went 🙄.  Though to be fair, all went smoothly.  I then filed them level with the edge of the neck, then added the bevel, taking it down slightly into the binding so there isn't too sharp an edge.  

I then did the neck taper, going from 20mm at the first to 22mm at the 12th.  Slim, but not too slim.  

It's then on to the neck carve.  I use the facet method, which makes for a lovely photo!

Oh, and the body needs sanding.  Lots and lots of sanding.  But is at least looking more or less bass shaped.