Eude throws down the gauntlet

[Guest Marcoelwray]

That's weird this bridge... Maybe did you received the brass version for the price of the alloy? 😁

[Andyjr1515]

I think the bridge weight thing is pretty straightforward, to be honest:

Two bits (three really, because the saddle block is a double-decker):

versus one bit:

 

 

[eude]

Excellent @Andyjr1515, I noticed you'd drawn a newer, neater outline for the cavity, it'll be very cool with a plate held on by freakin' magnets! 😎

Eude

[Andyjr1515]

...and by the magic of two pieces of mahogany, one piece of walnut, a thicknesser, a band saw and lots and lots of clamps, we have a neck blank ready for squaring up and shaping:

 

[Andyjr1515]

Spent some time today squaring up, flattening and sizing the neck blank and adding the truss-rod slot ready for sorting the heel routing.  This will incorporate the neck angle so I won't be doing that until the body top has been glued on and the bridge chamber cut, allowing me to work out accurately the neck angle needed.  

From this photo, the neck will end up 60mm or so shorter as the neck pocket is deepened, and a corresponding notch put into the bottom of the heel, allowing the neck to move toward the back until the tenon is fully in place in the pocket.

I'm aware the above probably makes no grammatical sense at all - I'll post photos when that stage is reached and all, hopefully, will become clear.  

Clearly the neck will eventually taper to the nut but it is, nevertheless, a wide neck and I am tempted to pop a couple of carbon rods in there to keep everything straight and stable.  What do you reckon? 

[BassTool]

 Grammatical sense?

 

I can't read anyway, I just like the pictures....😍l

[Guest Marcoelwray]

Personally, I'll had some graphite rod for stability....

[eude]

That looks awesome @Andyjr1515, it's already looking like a REAL bass

With regards to carbon, I don't think I've had a 6 string bass without it, bar the one I made, I know that not everyone uses them though, your call.

Eude

[Andyjr1515]

Applying the ebony demarcation veneer.  You will hardly see it, but it makes such a difference when you look at the actual join.

Because katalox is an oily wood, I'm taking no chances and am using epoxy rather than wood glue - which doesn't work so well on oily woods.

 

When this is done, I'll be seeing how much weight I can take out of the underside of the top before gluing it on and starting to fit the neck joint...

 

[eude]

Laaaavly bit of Ebony Veneer right there @Andyjr1515

[Guest Marcoelwray]

Is it me or it looks like Wengé?

[TheGreek]

4 hours ago, Marcoelwray said:

Is it me or it looks like Wengé?

Now you mention it...

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

Now you mention it...

In the artificial light of the cellar through a Canon colour-challenged ccd it does.  In full sunlight it's unmistakeably ebony

[eude]

7 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

In the artificial light of the cellar through a Canon colour-challenged ccd it does.  In full sunlight it's unmistakeably ebony

Olympus all the way 😎

[rk7]

Hi chaps! I'm back!

Great thread, I have a similar project in the 'potential' box at the moment. Watching this one with interest.

Great work Andy, as ever!

thank you please

RK

 

[Andyjr1515]

4 hours ago, rk7 said:

Hi chaps! I'm back!

Great thread, I have a similar project in the 'potential' box at the moment. Watching this one with interest.

Great work Andy, as ever!

thank you please

RK

 

Welcome back!

Still the best avatar on the site....

[Andyjr1515]

And now my attention turns to the top.

This is one of the tricky bits - making sure the three holes for the stoptail, bridge and pickup are square, tight and in the right place.

For the pickup, I needed to make sure it line up with the previous body rout.  Back to the 'press a fingernail round on a piece of paper' trick

 

For rectangular chambers, nowadays I always start with the corners - I find it much easier to get these in exactly the right place...

 

Then, after hogging out with a forstner, I stuck some straight edges around and used a trimmer bit on the router.  To my admitted surprise, it fits!:

 

I may use the same technique for the bridge block.  For the stoptail, I'm probably going to have to cut a proper template...

 

 

[eude]

And for my next trick...  

[Andyjr1515]

49 minutes ago, eude said:

And for my next trick...  

Took the words right out of my mouth 

 

Next one - the stop tail - is a bit more tricky.  I'm out of action the next couple of days so it may need to wait until Friday.  We'll see what the next hour yields.

 

 

[eude]

Love it.
I was a little worried about the chrome hardware, being a lover of black hardware for many many years, but it's going to look exquisite!

Eude

[Guest Marcoelwray]

@Andyjr1515 Well done ! Looks like a champ!

But yes, the stoptail it's really more tricky, especially the alignement with the bridge part.... (I mean make it parallel to the rest)

[Merton]

Blimey. I’ve known about this for a few weeks and completely missed the thread. Astonishing work @Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

One of the things that I like about this forum and think is important in these threads is that the more experienced guys are never afraid to admit to whoopsies    I think you know what's coming.

The reason I think it is important is that when you start off doing this sort of stuff, all sorts of minor disasters happen and it is easy to think that you just don't have the skills to do it and that is made worse by seeing the work of the guys and gals you think have all the skills.  That is very demoralising. 

The reality is quite different.   The best builders in the world make c**k ups.  Wood is fickle and unpredictable and we are all prone to mistakes and misjudgements.  But the more experienced folks ARE often better at finding a way round it rather than scrapping the piece and starting again or just giving up

Or, in simpler terms

...it was all going SO well

For the tail stock, it has that bend in it and rounded ends.

A flash of inspiration - drill three holes the right size , then pop a couple of straight guides to router the area between them.

Like this:

 

Here you can see where I have already routed between the end hole and the middle hole.  You can see the two straight router bit guides underneath.  So just a case of moving the straight guides, then rout from the middle to the drilled hole at the other side.

 

Now in hindsight, what I SHOULD have done was thought - ah...now that material is cut...gosh, there isn't going to be much holding the brittle katalox strip while I rout it!

So this was the result

 

...and this was just before I was going away for a couple of days.

The left hand break was a very clean break.  The right hand was where the router bit pinged it off and sent shards off in very directions.  Tip - always pick up the shards and dust - it can be useful!

 

It looks dramatic but is actually quite a quick fix.  I'm back and it's already fixed.

The left hand side, which also broke off at the centre join, was just a grain-to-grain invisible glue job:

The final piece, due to the shards having come away, wasn't going to fit as easily.  So here, I mixed epoxy with some katalox sanding dust and then used some of the shards to squeeze into the two join lines.

It looks crude at this stage:

...but once the epoxy is set, sanding it exposes the wood chips and dust and you end up genuinely unable to be sure where the original break line was:

 

So - we're back on track.

Just got a bit more lightening of the top and it can be glued on

Edited October 19, 2018 by Andyjr1515

[Stylon Pilson]

Heart-stopping stuff for a moment there Andy. As you say, it's good for aspiring builders to see your mistakes and how you recovered from them. In fact, in many ways, it's even more useful for them than just watching a photo diary of everything going perfectly.

S.P.

[eude]