First time making a bass, Singlecut NT 5 string

[Jabba_the_gut]

Really nice looking choice of woods for this and unique design. Looks like this build is going along very nicely too. Be an interesting bass to see at one of the bass bashes in the future.

Cheers

[spacecowboy]

Updates!

So while it seems like my new truss rod is being sent by carrier pigeon, I've left the neck for now and moved on to the bridge.

For now I have no idea how well this will work, but If i'm designing and making my own bass I'm going to try and make my own bridge. 

I routed out the saddle shoulders and a slot for the string block? Is that what it's called? I've been referring to it as a choke.

Decided against timber saddles so will use these 3D adjustable saddles I have. Think brass / gold would look better...

Rounded the sharp edges and cut the string block / choke / tree / thing... out of Ovangkol, spent about an hour sanding it to fit and glued it in place.

Aesthetically I love it, so hopefully it works well.

Next!

Well I'm heading off on holiday today... so I'm going to have a relax! but when I get back hopefully the pigeons have made it here and left me a truss rod and I can finish the neck routing. The bridge needs slimming down the block is currently 30mm thick and will be taken down to 20mm and then drilled, the bridge will be set for string through stringing and I need 5 mounting screws under the bridge saddles to mount this on the bass. Really don't think I'll glue the bridge to the bass in case I need to repair or replace in the future. 

Thanks again guys!

[Andyjr1515]

I like that very much

 

[HazBeen]

Wow, the woods you have chosen aren't the easiest to work with but so far it just looks fantastic. I am very impressed.

[spacecowboy]

Updates! 

Back from holiday and back in the garage! 

The Truss rod and carbon rods arrived so it was time to let loose with the router. 

I Want to have my truss rod access on the body so routed out this space first, it finishes outside the fret board angle profile marked in white pencil.

Maybe the first mistake in the build, the truss rod fits really snuggly in the main channel, but I should have perhaps continued the channel with a 10mm bit so the truss rod end was also supported and not sitting free within the rounded access section, it's easy to locate the hole with the hex key but next time i'll do it differently.

After the truss rod I installed the carbon rods. 

Snug! Scariest bit done.

On to the bandsaw to cut the neck to size... which revealed mistake number 2...

...The outer wenge laminates are cut through when the neck is profiled, now this is either going to look really cool or terrible. Next time I'll double check the laminate thicknesses in relation to the neck profiles. Alot of this material is removed in the neck shaping profile so you might not see any of this but for right now... it's a bit of a disappointment.

Had time to thin down and drill the bridge. I have ferrules coming for the string holes but can't install them until the bridge is mounted to the bass body. I'll only be able to slot the tree once the bass is being setup so that'll be cut much later on.

In my opinion looks really nice on the bass, glad I decided to give it a go.

Works well with the body ash too. 

Finally got the headstock wings glued up to the neck, two nice chunks of wenge to match the body at the bridge end. 

Next!

I need to think about doing the fret board so that'll need cutting to size and then thinning down. Then there will be some CAD modelling to do, once I have the fretboard profiled I need to work out how high my bridge should be and how much of the body I need to cut away, it's currenty 42mm and this will be taken down to accommodate the bridge and the saddles so the action can be set nice and low, but this will all be modeled first before I go cutting. Before that the fretboard will need to be glued to the neck so lots of fun to be had. 

The neck laminate has bummed me out a little bit... but it could go either way it might finish really nicely.  

[spacecowboy]

Updates!

So after some thinking and umming and ahing I decided to start the neck again!

I know... I know... I worked on the neck more and started profiling the radius and I just didn't like the way it looked, no wenge at the first 5 frets looked really bad in my eyes so I stopped took stock and started the process again. 

Ta Da! This is the new neck, with smaller laminations and a much cleaner look, just Ovankol and Wenge this time around and no Zebrano bling. At this stage I've cut the stock to size, planed and thicknessed the timber, glued the laminations and then planed it all down to a roughly correct final size. 

Lubbly Jubbly! 

I prepared the scarf joint in the same way as the previous build, bandsawed the angle, and then got it on my router jig and cleaned up the faces. (Image is pre routering FYI ;))

The scarf joint is again glued up and the laminations lined up so they are consistent through the joint. 

Lovely join between the two pieces so I'm happy with that, with the jigs I've made the scarf joint can be completed in under an hour. 

I also began to shape the fingerboard and built this 20 degree radius router jig after experiencing nothing but hell with a sanding block.

It worked really well and so much quicker...

...The block has now been relegated for final sand and removing the router marks.

I have also redesigned the lower horn and worked up a new design for the double cut variant of this bass which I will hopefully make after I have completed this one. 

Next!

I get to make up for my mistakes on the previous truss rod slot I did, and fit the carbon rods, so more router fun there. With the fingerboard radius done I can look to cut the neck angles down and glue the fingerboard on! Progress is still slow as I'm still only able to get on to this after work! Booo! I should have saved some holidays. 

 

Thanks again! 

[songofthewind]

Great work!

[Andyjr1515]

Love that radius jig, @spacecowboy !

It's all looking extremely good from over here

 

[HazBeen]

19 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Love that radius jig, @spacecowboy !

It's all looking extremely good from over here

 

+1 and indeed, so much quicker than a radius block.

@spacecowboy, is there a built in stop to prevent rolling off the side? I made a similar radius jig a few years ago that I made quite wide to prevent mistakes from the router sled rolling off the side. Your is much more compact so keen to learn how you tackled it.

[spacecowboy]

4 hours ago, HazBeen said:

+1 and indeed, so much quicker than a radius block.

@spacecowboy, is there a built in stop to prevent rolling off the side? I made a similar radius jig a few years ago that I made quite wide to prevent mistakes from the router sled rolling off the side. Your is much more compact so keen to learn how you tackled it.

Yes much quicker than a radius block, don't want to use one of those to shape the fingerboard again! 

It might be easier to take photos but I'll try in words first, to stop it rolling too far, the base that the router sits on makes contact with the flat sections of the sled first, with a 10mm cutter this contact happens once the router piece has cleared the timber but before it hits the MDF the router can't go too far this way. I didn't do increments or stops as it's easy enough to see where you haven't been and quick to just go back to area's locally if need be. It's worked really well so far... it's not going to do a 7 string however...

[spacecowboy]

Updates! 

So In my sheer joy to finish work and start on the build I completely forgot to take photos of the neck routing, I was obviously too concerned with not completely ballsing it up that taking photos wasn't on my mind! 

I got the truss rod slot routed and got the carbon rods slotted in nicely. No photo's however please believe me it's true!

Once the neck was routed I cut the neck angles down to rough size and glued the fingerboard in place. 

I then took a plane to the sides of the fingerboard to level it up to the neck and planed everything flat to the desired angle.

The woods look great together in my opinion, the scarf joint and fingerboard blend nicely and the wenge looks so so nice. 

I had an idea while planing the fingerboard down that it would be nice to cover the truss rod access with an extension of the fingerboard. Now one thing I have to think about here is I want to use magnets to hold the block in place but I'm not sure how the magnets will effect the strings... 

I installed two magnets in to the neck and two in to the underside of the cover...

I 

I planed the edges down to match the fingerboard and matched the radius with my router jig and sanded flush...

Once the finishes are all matched I think it'll look just how I'd hoped...

The magnetic pull through the wenge is very minimal, it can't hold a 6 inch steel rule so I'm wondering now will these effect the strings or will it be ok... 

If the magnets are going to ruin the strings / intonation and tuning then I can easily replace with screws... but visually it wont be what I want.

From a usability point of view I'm worried that if a user was slapping they might accidentally popping the cover off! 

I cut as much of the neck thickness down as I could leaving the body blends and volute areas alone so I can shape later on, The fingerboard is 6.5mm so 20mm of neck wood, feels nice in my hands before shaping not too chunky at all.

Then the headstock wings are glued in place...

Next:

I've got to glue the wenge headstock cap on and then cut the headstock shape out and drill the tuner holes. 

I've got to start shaping the neck and start cutting the volute, I'm also thinking about routing the back of the neck flat so I can plan the curve properly, In the prototypes sometimes I blended the curve around too much and I like to have a flat on my necks, they just feel more comfortable in my hands. 

Thanks! 

[Geek99]

Use a nice rubber band to keep the TR cover in place. Make it a brown one so it’s hidden - no one will ever know

Edited August 15, 2020 by Geek99

[spacecowboy]

10 hours ago, Geek99 said:

Use a nice rubber band to keep the TR cover in place. Make it a brown one so it’s hidden - no one will ever know

I'd know 😉

[Geek99]

You could just keep quiet 

[Si600]

6 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

You could just keep quiet 

This. Just don't tell yourself, how hard can it be? 😜

[spacecowboy]

Updates! 

Slow week, been so busy with work, but have found time to start the neck carving and adding of the volute! Didn't expose the truss rod or eat up the fingerboard edge so success!

I will have to do more work on shaping the neck once I'm sure about how the body wings blend in to the bass. The upper horn travels up to the 12th fret meaning I have to leave that area flat for the join, the lower wing starts at the end of the fingerboard approx. 10mm after the 24th fret meaning I could round the lower section of the neck all the way down, means the neck is slightly asymmetrical after the 7th fret, feels very comfortable though. 

The headstock veneer has been glued in place and the headstock cut to shape. I drilled out the tuning peg holes and sanded the shape to my design.

So far the woods look brilliant. 

I spent a couple of nights designing a new bridge and tested it out on the bass, however I didn't want to commit and in the end I've order a Schaller bridge from Thomann so all I need to do now is wait for that before I can do some fine tuning to the nut and bridge heights and make the cuts to accommodate those. 

Next! 

I should have all the hardware for the bass once my Thomann order arrives so I'll take some snaps of all of that to show you what's going on and in the bass. 

I need to give this whole neck and headstock a lot of sanding with my orbital sander probably go in with a relatively high grit so I don't remove too much material or lose my shape, I used a cabinet scraper to get my final profiles so that's removed alot of the marks already.

I need to start thinking about my final body wing laminates, I don't want the swamp ash at the front of the bass as the contrast is too much so I need a top wood ordering, at the moment my heel thickness is at 35mm, so I'm thinking of a sandwich of 20mm Swamp Ash, 10mm of Wenge core, 5mm top wood. 

Then the slightly hard bit of preparing the sweeping blends on the back of the bass joining up the upper and lower wings through the neck heel.

Thanks! 

[spacecowboy]

Been browsing top woods for quite a while and decided to do some photoshops to see what would work. 

For this bass I have chosen a piece of Spalted Sycamore Maple for my top. The photoshop below shows what it will look like on the bass. Look's like a bargain for £40! 

Thanks!

[spacecowboy]

Updates!

It's starting to look like a bass!!

I've got the top body wing glued on and I've started giving the edge some shaping to soften it off, I love the wenge in the middle and I want that to be seen from the front on the curve. 

I cut the slots for the frets, that was an awfully stressful experience, I really didn't want to mess that up. 

Got the side fretboard inlays in place. 

I've got the lower body section cut and ready to sand and shape before gluing to the body. 

Got the blend between the neck and the upper body wing sorted, very happy with that. 

Still loads to do... but I'm really buzzing about the build, it's looking like a bass finally! 

Next!

I need to work on the control cavity and get the cut out neater, I have my EMG circuit and pickups ready to be installed and I've tested the electronics in the space and there's plenty of room to move, I've drilled the barrel jack hole and the pickup cable holes in the lower body section prior to gluing, so, just need to neaten up the lower body wing and then glue it to the rest of the bass. 

I need to do the fretwork on the bass... another I don't want to mess that up job, and then there is a tonne of sanding to do!

Really enjoying the build to date, thanks again for everyone giving this a read. 

B

[spacecowboy]

Updates! 

I think ...finally... I've done all my gluing and sawing. 

Now hopefully it's the detail work, nights and nights of sanding loom. 

I got the lower body wing glued to the neck, I cut the neck end and blended the body shapes and neck together. I did some light sanding around all the edges just to knock the sharps off, I don't know how curvy I'll go on the body but I'll do it with my orbital sander and feel it as I go. 

I cut out my cavity cover from Ash, this will be held in with magnets so I can snap it in place and pop it off easily. 

To help get it on and off I've carved in this little finger groove. 

After a quick brush down I was able to get the basses first on the sofa shot... it's turning out really nicely. 

Next!

Lots and lots and lots of sanding, I've got a boat load of paper from 60 up to 3000 so... let's work through the grades! 

Then frets... and then the dreaded pickup route... two jobs i'm definitely putting off!! 

[Geek99]

I don’t like single cut, but I quite like that to look at. Amazing work there, mister

[songofthewind]

Great work! Press on!

[Andyjr1515]

Lovely job

[prowla]

Ah - I wish I could do woodwork like that!

Personally I don't go for the sperm whale look, but the selection of woods makes up for it.

A question: what is the purpose of having both graphite rods and a truss rod?

[HazBeen]

This looks really really good, a thing of beauty and something to be very happy and proud of,

[spacecowboy]

3 hours ago, prowla said:

Ah - I wish I could do woodwork like that!

Personally I don't go for the sperm whale look, but the selection of woods makes up for it.

A question: what is the purpose of having both graphite rods and a truss rod?

Honestly... I have no idea, I'll use the generic "stability" answer :). With a seven laminate neck of Wenge and Ovangkol, truss rod and 2 carbon fibre rods and a Wenge fingerboard it is definitely overkill, but the neck and board have been as straight as an arrow throughout the build so if they're doing anything they're helping with that.