Another Swift Lite Bass

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, Si600 said:

Someone remind me when an 'f'hole becomes a Norissole?

Could have been worse.  If I'd invented it rather than nicked it, I suppose it would be an AR'sole… or is that me for nicking it  

[Andyjr1515]

Anyway, quickly before the tone of the whole thread deteriorates rapidly, all checked and 'you can never have too many clamps when you are gluing a top on' 

[fleabag]

Is there a preferred glue for bonding caps to bodies ?

[Andyjr1515]

9 minutes ago, fleabag said:

Is there a preferred glue for bonding caps to bodies ?

Unless it's a particularly oily wood (such as cocobolo), I use titebond.  For very oily woods I use Z-poxy

[fleabag]

Cheers Andy

I've heard various solutions elsewhere on the net and people praise one glue and others completely disagree, as is the way of the world.

Titebond was praised, Titebond was shot down. Same with Hide glue, which seems it's meant to be used hot.  These yays and nays came from guitar builders, of all people

[Andyjr1515]

To be honest, I've never heard anyone knock titebond, other than it has a finite shelf life, especially once opened.  I would be surprised if its not the product by most used by guitar builders. Needs to be the original one, though...some of the variants aren't as suitable.

[fleabag]

Berlimey - never knew Titebond had a shelf life, either opened or not. I've had some for a couple of years, though i dont build basses. It's for mundane household glueing.

EDIT

Ok, i did use it when i built my 1x15 cab, but it's also screwed as well as glued.

Edited November 5, 2018 by fleabag

[Andyjr1515]

15 hours ago, fleabag said:

Berlimey - never knew Titebond had a shelf life, either opened or not. I've had some for a couple of years, though i dont build basses. It's for mundane household glueing.

 

I think it depends on how stable the temperatures are and how much is left in the bottle.  Older opened product is definitely stiffer than out of a new bottle - which can catch you out if you are trying to spread it on a large area.

[Bridgehouse]

13 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I think it depends on how stable the temperatures are and how much is left in the bottle.  Older opened product is definitely stiffer than out of a new bottle - which can catch you out if you are trying to spread it on a large area.

Older seems to take longer to dry properly I find - or even that it doesn’t quite dry as strongly or properly. That’s just my limited experience of it though!

[Andyjr1515]

OK - we have a securely and tightly fitted top, the back overlap has been trimmed and the carve has started

 

Here it is rough-carved.  Quite a bit more bulk to come off it to get a smooth curve that roughly matches the back but it's a start:

 

You wouldn't think that the walnut demarcation is just 0.6mm thick!  This is what I first saw on Jez's ( @Jabba_the_gut ) lovely builds at one of the bassbashes.  Up to then I was generally using thicker 2mm constructional veneers, but to just add that look of completeness the standard veneers work great!

 

This will shift a little bit onto the back burner while I finish the carve (I find it best to do a bit, walk away, come back, re-assess and do a bit more) and make some more progress on @eude 's beauty

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

Not yet sanded, but the basic top carve is pretty much there.  As usual, I put an early coat of oil on to see better any planing marks or lumps and bumps.  The back has still got a few sharp corners to round off and then I can start sorting the neck.  The wood is quite figured!

 

[Jakester]

😳🤪👍

[scrumpymike]

That's going to be a real beauty Andy!!

[Andyjr1515]

For the fretting, I am going to try a different way of trying to avoid the possibility of scratchy fret-ends.

It's going to be a bound fretboard but this time, I'm going to add the binding after finishing the fret ends.  I must start a thread for us builders to compare how we do fret ends!  It's not generally one of the greatest features of my builds!

First, the frets were installed using my normal method of 'tiny bead of titebond, hammer in, clamp a radius block on top' method.  The frets were tang nipped before fitting:

Then I trimmed the edges to an overhang around the thickness of the binding:

Next was filing down the fret ends on my levelling beam until they were about 0.5mm shorter than the binding and chamfering them.  Then I rounded the fret ends with a diamond crowning file:

 

So the theory - if I've got it right - is that the fret ends will not only already have the sharp edges removed but, once the binding is fitted, will be separated from the players hand by a touch under 0.5mm of (rolled, eventually) binding.  It's different to the Gibson technique but hopefully will have a similar result:

 

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

And here we have the first side of binding being glued.

I'm sure there was a little bit of advice about the number of clamps but I'm darned if I can remember it 

[Pea Turgh]

3 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And here we have the first side of binding being glued.

I'm sure there was a little bit of advice about the number of clamps but I'm darned if I can remember it 

How do you ensure a perfect transition from the face of the fret board to the corresponding fret face of the binding without sanding (because the frets are now in the way)?

Love the idea though - will look/feel ace with the rolling not being broken by the fret ends.

[Andyjr1515]

16 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

How do you ensure a perfect transition from the face of the fret board to the corresponding fret face of the binding without sanding (because the frets are now in the way)?

Love the idea though - will look/feel ace with the rolling not being broken by the fret ends.

For plain binding, I would have given the top a slight chamfer to match the angle of the fret ends and glued it flush to the fret ends and then scraped the excess binding off the bottom of the fretboard. 

However, because I am using the feature stripes on the binding to give me the demarcation line, I had to do it the other way round.  So I clamped the fretboard onto a flat board, then pressed the binding, also flat against the board, against the protruding fret ends.  That gave me a line of indentations that I planed off, clamping my trusty block plane upside down in the bench vice and pulling the binding over the blade until it reached the marks: 

 

Quick chamfer on the top and then just added glue and clipped it into place under the fret-ends with the clamps to hold it tight.  Once I've levelled and crowned the frets, I'll just run a single edged razor blade, scraper style, between each pair of frets to clean up any glue smears and to 'lose' the binding joint line.  Don't know if that makes any sense....

[Jabba_the_gut]

On 06/11/2018 at 12:22, Andyjr1515 said:

OK - we have a securely and tightly fitted top, the back overlap has been trimmed and the carve has started

 

Here it is rough-carved.  Quite a bit more bulk to come off it to get a smooth curve that roughly matches the back but it's a start:

 

You wouldn't think that the walnut demarcation is just 0.6mm thick!  This is what I first saw on Jez's ( @Jabba_the_gut ) lovely builds at one of the bassbashes.  Up to then I was generally using thicker 2mm constructional veneers, but to just add that look of completeness the standard veneers work great!

 

This will shift a little bit onto the back burner while I finish the carve (I find it best to do a bit, walk away, come back, re-assess and do a bit more) and make some more progress on @eude 's beauty

 

 

That top looks lovely! Will you have  handed this over to the owner before the Bass Bash next year?

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

That top looks lovely! Will you have  handed this over to the owner before the Bass Bash next year?

Yes - I'm afraid so.  Mind you, it's a clone, bar some small tweaks, of @Len_derby 's so hopefully you'll be able to see that one

[Len_derby]

6 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - I'm afraid so.  Mind you, it's a clone, bar some small tweaks, of @Len_derby 's so hopefully you'll be able to see that one

Yes indeed. I shall be taking the beauty along.

[Andyjr1515]

I think the binding is going to work well.

Once the fingerboard has been scraped and finished and the binding corner rounded off, it should look pretty integral and - more to the point - it should work well from a playing perspective.  I think this may well become my preferred method:

Next task will be to cut the pickup chambers but that will probably be at the weekend earliest

 

[songofthewind]

Future owner must have a big belly...

[Bridgehouse]

I’ve never really got on with Gibson’s method of binding - especially the “nibs” - it all seems a bit of a faff that doesn’t really seem to help playability. I’m really liking your solution though - I love the feel of an old board where the frets are worn away from the edges so you can’t really feel them at all.

[Pea Turgh]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I think the binding is going to work well.

Once the fingerboard has been scraped and finished and the binding corner rounded off, it should look pretty integral and - more to the point - it should work well from a playing perspective.  I think this may well become my preferred method:

Next task will be to cut the pickup chambers but that will probably be at the weekend earliest

 

That looks great!  Can you do one in roasted flamed maple?!?  Mmm, roasted maple...

 

[BassTool]

On 13/11/2018 at 09:49, Andyjr1515 said:

I think the binding is going to work well.

Once the fingerboard has been scraped and finished and the binding corner rounded off, it should look pretty integral and - more to the point - it should work well from a playing perspective.  I think this may well become my preferred method:

Next task will be to cut the pickup chambers but that will probably be at the weekend earliest

 

Absolutely awesome that binding Andy, love the way that finished fretboard looks 😍