RK7's Overwater Chambering

[rk7]

Those of you with very long memories may recall the extensive build thread for my custom Perception neck-through 5 string build by Martin at Overwater Basses some years ago. 2013 to be precise. This was to be my 'bass for life' given that I specced the whole thing from a completely blank sheet of paper, as a once in a lifetime opportunity. This bass is the one I always reach for, despite having two other Overwaters. I also have an 07 Perception bolt-on 5 string, and a 4 string Scott Devine Jazz bass, strung BEAD. Despite this, the custom Perception gets the most use, and is plugged in for every gig I play.

The bass is Walnut, with a Ziricote facing wood, a Wedge/Walnut neck, OW pickups and Hipshot hardware. It is therefore somewhat weighty, to say the least, but has tone and grunt to spare. The sound is awesome. I am also lucky enough to have a full Vanderkley rig to play it through. Go me! And now, for your viewing pleasure, here's a picture of the bass and rig:

 

However, into every life a little rain must fall, and a few years ago I was unfortunate enough to suffer a major Heart Attack. I was whizzed into hospital, had a stent fitted, and began my recovery and rehabilitation. I have since had a further 7 (yes seven) smaller heart attacks over the intervening period, which means that my chest is permanently weakened. Initially this was apparent when moving my Vanderkley 215MNT cabinet, to the extent that I commissioned Marc to make me a pair of 115 Lightcore cabinets and I sold the 210 on to a good friend.

As time went on, I began to struggle with the weight of the bass over the course of a full gig or practice session, both around 3 hours. It got to the point where I was facing the possibility of not using this fabulous instrument any more. I also count myself very lucky in that Martin Lee at Overwater has become a great friend (and mentor/teacher) over the years. I happened to be in the OW workshop one day recently, and Martin showed me two basses in construction. Both were at the 'finished woodwork' stage, but one was standard and one was chambered. I picked up each bass separately, and the weight difference was simply astonishing!

The seed was sown, as they say, and I started to chat with Martin about getting my custom Perception chambered. This may seem fanciful, but please bear in mind that I was facing the prospect of not being able to use this bass for much longer.

Martin, however, burst my bubble rather quickly, by pointing out that the chambering process is done during construction, but had never been done on a built bass, particularly one with the price tag that mine had!

Undeterred, I began a process of grinding the poor man down, and a short while later ended up back at the workshop with the bass on the bench between us, to have a serious look at how the job could be done. This is the benefit of having a friend like Martin! Martin then took my issue to Chris and Kirstie, to get their views. Again, there was a reluctance to take on such a task, but after explaining my problem to them, Martin got their agreement to take the request further, and serious talks began. This is one of the greatest benefits of being part of the Overwater 'family', as the support available from them is without equal, long after instruments have been bought and paid for.

So this post, readers, will describe the process of chambering a completer, high value bass.

 

Thanks for reading this far! More to come

RK7

 

 

 

[rk7]

So, the Perception was taken through to the Overwater workshop in Carlisle, and left in Martins capable (culpable?) hands, heh heh. And the process began.

First, Martin stripped all the hardware and electronics from the bass, and made an MDF jig to be fastened to the front. As this is a complete bass, the fretboard prevents the bass from lying flat on the router table.

Also, upon stripping the hardware from the bass, it became obvious that the ferrules for the control cavity cover screws would need to be removed. These ferrules would make a right mess of the router bit when the back of the bass was removed. So, out they came! This is another element of the task that is not normally performed. Once there ferrules are installed, they are not intended to come out. But, Martin devised a safe way of removing them without damaging the body of the bass.

With the offending metalwork out of the way, next job was to mill 5mm off the whole of the back of the bass:

Eek! The point of no return!

Phew, job done. Its strange to be looking 'inside' the bass.

Thanks for reading

RK7

 

 

 

[BassBus]

I remember having a wee shot of this bass at Moffat many years ago. I'll watch with interest Robin. Take care of your health.

Graham

[rk7]

Martin and I had discussed options for the new Back facing for the bass following the chambering activity. Initially there were two options available. Surprisingly, Martin still had the offcuts from the neck of the bass from when it was originally made, and so suggested that he could re-construct the back of the bass with the neck-through material still visible. However, I was quite keen to have it reconstructed along the lines of the Overwater Progress bass, with a full one-piece back facing, and a maple veneer between the body and the back facing, and this was the chosen option. A piece of Walnut was duly book matched, and a piece of maple sourced:

 

[rk7]

Martin also deepened the control cavity, and the battery box hole. Whilst the bass was 'backless', this made good sense, to remove as much wood as possible.

It was then on to making the MDF template to guide the router cutter when making the chambers:

The job is progressing nicely!

[rk7]

24 minutes ago, BassBus said:

I remember having a wee shot of this bass at Moffat many years ago. I'll watch with interest Robin. Take care of your health.

Graham

Hey Graham.

Yes Moffat was a while ago wasn't it. It was great to meet you there. Hope you are well my friend!

RK

p.s. Hope you liked the bass

[TheGreek]

This is like a horror film to us Overwater owners. I actually cringed when I read 

1 hour ago, rk7 said:

next job was to mill 5mm off the whole of the back of the bass:

Lets hope this has a happy ending..

[sprocketflup]

I've often wondered if this process was possible (seriously considered taking a forstner bit to the wood underneath a very weighty P basses scratchplate) so this thread is fascinating to me

[fleabag]

Woah.  This is akin to slapping the baby Jesus round the chops

Good luck though, and it appears to be in excellent hands

[Si600]

Sorry to hear that you've been unwell, I was just wondering where you'd got to the other day.

In principle it's no worse than Andy chambering Harry's Harley Benton...

Apart from the magnitude increase in the cost of the bass in the first place and the quality of the instrument.

I'm glad that Martin agreed to take it on for you so that you can keep your favourite instrument.

All the best with your health and stay away from this pesky virus!

[rk7]

12 hours ago, TheGreek said:

This is like a horror film to us Overwater owners. I actually cringed when I read 

Lets hope this has a happy ending..

I must admit I was rather nervous throughout the whole process, but I knew the bass was in good hands. Martin is an artist/artisan.

[rk7]

12 hours ago, sprocketflup said:

I've often wondered if this process was possible (seriously considered taking a forstner bit to the wood underneath a very weighty P basses scratchplate) so this thread is fascinating to me

The Sadowsky method of chambering is probably worth a look. Thats how they do it, lots of drilling, but they do this from the back of the bass, and then glue a one piece back over the drill holes. I had originally suggested this to Martin, but he already had the chamber jig for the Perception. He had used it on one of the pair of basses I saw on that visit to the workshop that marked the start of this journey.

[rk7]

11 hours ago, Si600 said:

Sorry to hear that you've been unwell, I was just wondering where you'd got to the other day.

In principle it's no worse than Andy chambering Harry's Harley Benton...

Apart from the magnitude increase in the cost of the bass in the first place and the quality of the instrument.

I'm glad that Martin agreed to take it on for you so that you can keep your favourite instrument.

All the best with your health and stay away from this pesky virus!

Hey there!

Yes yes! RK rides again 😁

I haven't seen the post you are referring to, I must track it down and have a read. I'm a big fan of Andys work. I'm sure it will be a quality job. Yes, the cost of the bass (c.£4k) was a factor, but an unusable instrument is unfortunately just that. Martin is a legend, and he was familiar with the original construction of the bass, so it was in the right place in his hands. He us also a really good friend so was well aware of the problems I was having. Top man eh!

Thank you for your kind wishes, and yes, I am in total isolation at the moment to avoid the C-19 mayhem.

[rk7]

Then after a day on the router table, the chambers were in!

I remember Martin telling me that Chris May had looked at the potential chambering, and suggested the one down the centre line of the neck between the pickups, which is a fair chunk of wood. All suggestions gratefully received! ha ha. As the pic shows, there has been a significant amount of wood removed overall, so at this point I'm getting excited about the overall result.

[rk7]

Martin was very keen to glue the veneer and the new back on as soon as the chambering was complete, so out came the G-clamps and glue:

 

 

Cheers!

RK

[TheGreek]

To quote @Andyjr1515 "you can never have too many clamps"

Evidently Martin and Chris believe this too

Edited April 24, 2020 by TheGreek

[rk7]

Right, now that the glue has dried, and all the clamps are off, lets have a look at the new back!

And there it is! All glued up, with a bit of rounding over too!

[rk7]

Time for some more woodwork on the back, fine tuning the round-overs, and drilling for the ferrules for the individual Hipshot bridge pieces:

[rk7]

Martin then moved on to blending in the neck to the body, which involves chisels and a large hammer. I had to look away for this bit 😀:

 

And its all done, Phew!

At this point, Martin made another suggestion. When the bass was originally built, the trend at Overwater was towards a D profile on the neck. Nowadays, the preference is for a C profile. Obviously changing the profile from D to C actually removes wood, over the whole length of the neck, which ends up as a significant amount, so I immediately agreed to this change. Martin was happy with my decision as the re-profiling allowed him to use his beloved Shinto Rasp! Hah!

So now we have a C profile neck. Very current, I'd say.

[songofthewind]

Great work!

[rk7]

So after much sanding, and 'slurrying' (which fills the tiny holes and voids in the grain of the Wenge on the neck, the bass was off to Neil to have its new finish applied. Originally we had thought that the bass would only need the back re-finished, but eventually it became apparent that the whole bass, front and back, would need done. Thank you Neil, it looks amazing:

[rk7]

4 minutes ago, songofthewind said:

Great work!

Thank you. The guys at Overwater are simply awesome!

[BassBus]

I know sanding is never Martin's favourite job but another fine piece of work nevertheless.

[rk7]

Once the finish had fully dried, it was on to re-fitting the hardware. I had already been in discussion with Chris and Martin about having a new circuit fitted into the bass, as the original John East circuit was due for a change. Whilst the chambering work was being done I had been noodling around with my first Overwater, the Bolt-On Perception. I was struck by how good the tone of this bass is, using a standard Overwater circuit. I was also impressed by how straightforward this circuit is to use, which is handy when gigging. Therefore I asked Chris to fit a new Overwater circuit and controls, and the fancy new Overwater 'top hat' control knobs:

Martin had also finished the extensive shielding that goes into each OW bass, taking account of the changes due to the chambering, in particular around the pickups. 

Edited April 24, 2020 by rk7

[rk7]

And so, dear readers, all that remains is to fit the hardware and strings:

The Hipshot Ultralight Tuners

Final wiring, bridge pieces, and pickups. Oooooh, nearly there now!

Yessssss! Its finished! Just a full set-up to go, and re-fitting the strap lock buttons. Time to get in the car and slowly drive to Carlisle to the workshop!

(Oh, and those swanky new control knobs look fabulous)