Short Scale Telebass

[Jabba_the_gut]

It's a bit of a slow build this one but I've done some work on the neck for this. There have been a couple of issues but they got sorted along the way - the main one being a router bit moving when I was removing the excess in the depth of the headstock. I had to cut a slice from an old offcut from the neck and rectify this and it turned out barely visible and will be under the veneer anyway.

I thought it might please @TheGreek  so I decided the headstock would look nice with a matching veneer to the body! I've never had a bass of this shape before but it is really growing on me and I'm really looking forward to the finished bass.

I've also put a veneer between the fretboard and the neck so this follows the veneer on the headstock.

 

Next task will be to sort the template for cutting the neck pocket and control cavity. I've also cut some sycamore that I'll use for the binding. I've had a go at bending it just using the steam from the kettle and I think it should work though I'll still be trying it on a test piece first!

Edited September 2, 2020 by Jabba_the_gut

[HazBeen]

Very cool!

[Rich]

2 hours ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

I've had a go at bending it just using the steam from the kettle and I think it should work
 

Any excuse for a brew  

[Frank Blank]

I would still love to know what type of wood the two bits I gave you were.

[Rich]

Likewise. I've always assumed my stuff was mahogany but i'd love to know for sure.

[Pea Turgh]

16 hours ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

 

 

This is going to look beautiful!  I really love your work, Jabba!!!

[Rich]

[Jabba_the_gut]

Next task was to sort a neck template for this. I used the same method as usual to centre the neck on the template by using two straight pieces of wood and measured the distances to the centre line. I used an old template to cut the heel curve out of a scrap of MDF and used that to complete the template. Cut the bulk out then trimmed with a router to make a neat pocket.

After making the pocket template I them made another template for the outline of the body. This template was used to draw the outline of the body onto the wood and then to use as the routing template once the bulk was cut away using a bandsaw. The template was tacked onto the body blank using a couple of small tacks where the neck pocket will be and where the bridge will sit to stop it moving when trimming. The two tack holes will then not be visible on the finished bass. I trimmed the body in a couple of passes and this is where I'm at now:

You can see in the picture below how the body looks where it has been made from three pieces of wood. I'm really chuffed with how good the match is between the piece I had lying around and used for the centre section with the wood that makes the wings that @Frank Blank gave to me. I've no idea what the wood is though - I'll have to try and look it up.

Next job will be to cut the neck pocket and to sort the template to route the control cavity and the pickup cavity,

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

...with the wood that makes the wings that @Frank Blank gave to me.

As long as you haven’t forgotten that I want the wood back once you are finished... 😉

[Rich]

And I want the neck wood back... 

Hold on, that won't work will it..?

[Jabba_the_gut]

As it was actually a bit warmer this weekend, I've spent a bit of time in the garage and got on with this build. I have actually done a bit of work since my last post - made a template for the pickup routing, the controls, neck pocket etc., cut the neck pocket, fitted side dots on the neck and a few other things but just hadn't posted it on here!

One thing I had spent some time on was fitting some binding. That took quite a long time to do and I just wasn't happy with it so out came the router again and removed it - something you will see in the photos. That will be a task for another day - at least it is something I can do inside when the garage gets too cold!!

I had done a bit of shaping of the neck near the headstock but needed to complete the rest of the neck. I also got a set of Wilkinson tuners for the build so I dropped them in place which presented me with the problem that the backplates were a mm too big! I had tried a set of black Schallers prior to ordering the chrome Wilkinson ones and turns out the backplates are different sizes. I'm not going to redrill the holes are different centres so a different set of tuners will be required. I have mounted a set of basic ones for the time being that I might replace later with some better quality ones.

I clamped the neck to the edge of my bench and shaped each side using my Shinto rasp and a mini rasp.

I like necks to blend into bodies but I'm also trying to be a bit traditional with this build, so I shaped the heel of the neck to make the transition flow a little. This is where the mini rasp comes into its own.

The holes for the neck plate and screws were drilled and the neck attached so I could check everything lined up.

Next task is the pickup and control cavities.

 

[Jabba_the_gut]

This is something that I really enjoy - cutting cavities with a router. It doesn't take very long to cut the cavity but it can take quite a while to make an accurate template. I remove the bulk of the cavity with a Forstner bit then finish the edges with a router using a template cutter. As the cutter uses a bearing to guide it, any errors or inaccuracies n the template will just get replicated in the final piece. I wouldn't be surprised if I spent an hour making a template for a square cavity that then took less than 5 minutes to route out!!

There are a couple of templates for this build; one for the main outline and this one for all the cavities. I drilled a number of holes to just short of the final depth to clear the bulk before star

And a few minutes later this is what results

The control cavity needs to be deep enough for the switch that will be used to select between coils on the mudbucker.

When I make a body, I plan out where the cables are going to go and drill holes for them in advance. Then when you route the cavities (if you measuring was accurate: measure twice, cut once...) the holes will be in the right place making the wiring easy and not risking putting a long drill through the front of a body when trying to do if afterwards (he says from learning the hard way!!)

Next task are to radius the fretboard and sort some frets and to sort the binding out on the body.

 

 

 

[spacecowboy]

Looking really really nice!

[SpondonBassed]

3 hours ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

When I make a body, I plan out where the cables are going to go and drill holes for them in advance. Then when you route the cavities (if you measuring was accurate: measure twice, cut once...) the holes will be in the right place

Of course they will...

If you are the Big J.

It's one thing to do the measuring and cutting as described but it's another to achieve the desired effect as well as you seem capable.

Respect.

[HazBeen]

Really neat work (again)!

[Jabba_the_gut]

I've radiused the fretboard using a block and sandpaper - it's welcome exercise during these times! I started with 180 grit then worked through 320, 500 to 1000 to finish.

Next, I cut the fretwire to length. I bought 5m of Japanese nickel silver wire a while back and this is the first build I've used it - prior to this I have always used Jescar stainless steel fret wire. I will trim the tangs from the ends of the frets so I can fill the fret slots at the edge of the fretboard to keep things looking neat.

I've got a set of tang nippers that make this really easy

I've got a small arbor press that has been adapted to press the frets into place. There is a wooden cradle (not shown) that I made for this to prevent the neck getting damaged during this process. This press has made life much easier for this task!

So, I fitted the zero fret no problem (that is a slightly different size and is Jescar stainless steel wire) but the first fret just wouldn't push into the slot and stay still to allow me to apply pressure from the press. I tried a few tricks to get it started but it wasn't having any of it. I got the calipers out and measure the fret tang, 0.6mm. I then measured the Jescar fret wire and my saw 0.5mm!! Next task was to go onto the web and order some more Jescar fret wire.......

New fret wire arrived a couple of days later (great service from Touchstone again), was cut to length, the tangs removed at the end and fitted to the fretboard without any fuss!!

I used some ebony dust and superglue to fill the slot ends and sanded flush. These will be barely noticeable once lacquered.

Next tasks are to dress the frets and then to carry on with the binding on the body.

Cheers

 

 

[spacecowboy]

Great work! My next job is fretting my new build too! Very neat fret ends! Need to get myself a tang nipper, actually I'll go do that now! Looking very nice!

[Pea Turgh]

Love it.  Are you going for hard edges on the body, or rounding over?

[derreybass]

Nice work Jez

[wrinkleygit]

Looking good, when you get around to wiring for the coil tap, don’t go directly to earth. Instead go through a capacitor, the value of the cap will control the amount of treble you bleed to earth on the tapped coil, this method will leave the pickup in humbucking mode and avoids the massive drop in volume that a straight to earth tap gives. As a general guide I normally use a 22 cap on guitars and a 47 on bass, when I use this method, mainly because these are the standard values in my parts drawer, anything between 010-050 caps will work with different effect depending on the humbucker that you have. Looking forward to what happens next, keep safe, Mike.

 

[Andyjr1515]

This is a beautiful build, Jez 

 

 

[Jabba_the_gut]

It's been a few weeks since I managed to get on with any bass building but I managed to get back to this one today.

When I last put it down, I had fitted the binding but wasn't happy with it. It took a few hours to put it on but minutes to remove it again with the router!! So today I fitted some new binding using several layers of veneer using Titebond rather than superglue. This gave me enough time to get the veneer in the correct position before the glue set. Much happier with the result this time which has given e the incentive to get this finished.

The mark on the side is where I've got to drill the hole for the jack socket. I got a nice recessed plate with some parts I bought recently which will look the part on this build.

With the weather getting a bit warmer and some welcome time off work on the horizon, I'm hoping to get this complete in the near future. I need to as I've got a few builds stacking up behind this - the 27" 5 string I've already started, 25" 4 string shorty, a 5 string short scale headless and another 4 string semi hollow. It's going to get busy!!

[TheGreek]

We were starting to think you were slacking, Jez...😉😉

We need more build threads to follow..👍👍

[Jabba_the_gut]

On 31/01/2021 at 19:27, Pea Turgh said:

Love it.  Are you going for hard edges on the body, or rounding over?

I'm going to round the edges just a little. As the top is a veneer, I've only got the equivalent of the thickness of the binding for the radius of the edge to make sure I don't sand through it and expose the body wood beneath.

[Jabba_the_gut]

3 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

We were starting to think you were slacking, Jez...😉😉

We need more build threads to follow..👍👍

I know, poor show isn't it?!! I must try harder..

I've got some more timber on order so things should start happening in the next few weeks.