Finished! It's a bass, Jim...

[BigRedX]

Andy, how does this grain filling work where you have very different coloured woods next to each other, as on that stripy neck? Or in practice do you not notice the darker coloured sawdust filling the lighter coloured wood grain?

[Andyjr1515]

13 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Andy, how does this grain filling work where you have very different coloured woods next to each other, as on that stripy neck? Or in practice do you not notice the darker coloured sawdust filling the lighter coloured wood grain?

Good question. 

I tend to do the final slurry and buff a little patch at a time so I don't get one area drying while I'm still working on another area. 

So, say for the maple stripes at the back, I would tend to do one mahogany side first, then finish by wiping the maple with the grain to take off any red slurry, then do the other side the same way and then do the middle maple cluster.  As long as it hasn't got dry and sticky - and as long as the wood is pretty smooth-sanded to start off with - then it is usually easy enough to wipe off any excess that is the 'wrong' colour. 

 

[BassTool]

Looking good, I agree with @SpondonBassed, this is shaping up to be up there as one of your finest builds, and...

 

 

I still want it 😖

[HazBeen]

13 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Take 100 guitar and bass builders and there will be 100 different ways of finishing - so, as normal, all I can do is outline how I personally do it. 

And for both stained and natural woods, and whether I will eventually leave it satin or go for full polyurethane gloss, I usually start at the same place - the trusted old 'Tru-Oil slurry and buff' method.

What I find is that - even if I'm going to apply a different finish in the end - it is a great way of grain filling, sealing and finish sanding all in one process.

The method is well covered in a number of builds or gun-stock finishing videos (which is what Tru-oil was originally designed for) but essentially it is:

- using wet and dry sandpaper where the 'wet' is actually tru-oil and creating a slurry with the sanding dust that fills grain and small aberations with a wood-coloured filler

- then wipe off across the grain while still wet, leaving the residue in the troughs of the grain

- then, once dry, repeat (usually 2-3 times) but this time with finer paper and not only wipe off while still wet, but buff up (by hand) to a satin finish

 

And this, below, is after just after 2 coats, the first slurry and wipe coat with 320 grit paper yesterday and then, this morning, a slurry and buff coat with 400 grit:

 

And, just for @SpondonBassed - a pseudo volute:

 

To the touch, this is all silky smooth already

 

Love it!

[Andyjr1515]

The neck will stay satiny, organic, slurry and buffed for that playing feel that few other finishes quite achieve.  But for the body, of the choice between the same, or a Tru-oil medium gloss, or a polyurethane full gloss, @Jus Lukin is opting for the tru-oil gloss. 

It's a nice finish - the gloss element brings out more of the wood figuring while retaining the 'real wood' look, but tru-oil done this way tends to settle down to a softer medium gloss after a few months - think 1960's Les Paul nitro.  It is actually great for a shape like this with a passing nod to a 70's Alembic

This is the first coat.  See what I mean about it bringing out the beauty in the wood

Edited February 2, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

Yes - that's going to work OK.  Probably a couple more coats over the next day or two and then it will harden over the next couple of weeks.  A few days after the final coat and it will be hard enough for me to start sorting out the installation of the electrics, etc..

[BassTool]

It just gets better every time..🤩👌🏼

[Andyjr1515]

For polyurethane varnish finishes, nowadays, I use an artist's watercolour fan brush.  In the case of Tru-oil, if I am going for gloss I wipe it on with a decent-quality lint-free cloth.

In both cases, the final coat is determined by when 'that's it - STOP!' rather than the number of coats.  And sometimes that's very quick and sometimes that is multiple 'flatten it, add a coat, add a final coat' cycles.

I also tend to apply the finish 'back and sides' then, when it's dry, 'top and sides'

And the second coat of 'back and sides' went on extremely well - and my experience says I should STOP on that before I try another coat...and wreck it 

Here it is:

 

 

The top, on the other hand, is getting there but still needs a few more (or many more) cycles:

But, overall, so far so good

 

 

Edited February 3, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[TheGreek]

Wow....the depth of the shine on this is immense. The grain really has come out.

Nice work Andrew...

[SpondonBassed]

That's going to look so good in sunlight or stage lighting.  It's already captivating.

[BassTool]

Love the figuring of the maple in the neck, top top work, this is gonna be a stunner.

 

 

 

 

And I still want it 🤪

Edited February 3, 2021 by BassTool

[Andyjr1515]

And............STOP

This is OK as the final coat of the top        Any more and I will wreck it and have to start the process all over again (and ask me how I know that!  )

So this will now sit somewhere safe for a week, to harden off enough for me to start installing the pickups and electrics.  And then we just have to wait for lockdown to lift enough to be able to meet @Jus Lukin halfway to pass it across    

 

So, in the best broadcasting tradition, "This time next week, pop back to see the progress with another thrilling instalment of 'It's a bass, Jim'.  And coming up over on our other channel, follow Andyjr1515's trials and tribulations in 'A Very Special Save..' where Andy is preparing to get his rags dirty!" 

 

 

[TheGreek]

Looks amazing...

22 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And then we just have to wait for lockdown to lift enough to be able to meet @Jus Lukin halfway to pass it across    

That's sounds like a Judge's sentence...."wait"???? I know I wouldn't be able to.

[Maude]

I really like the demarcation between the wings and the neck and top. A small detail but massively lifts it visually. 

The whole bass is just stunning. 🙂👍

[Kiwi]

Nice work Andy!  Loving that finish.

[Matt P]

Just beautiful in al respects, the veneer, the depth of shine, the contrasts of the different timbers. the 'stripyness' of the neck through in the back photos (and the little stripe visable at the neck join in the cutaways)

Perfection.

 

Matt

[mhoss32]

the combination of woods and that shape are just perfect! love it

 

[Jus Lukin]

Looks beautiful, Andy, thank you!

[Andyjr1515]

55 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Looks beautiful, Andy, thank you!

I think it's safe to say that Walnut was made for Tru-oil

 

[Andyjr1515]

And we're ready for the final furlong

It's difficult to describe the difference between a full poly-type gloss and a light Tru-oil gloss (you can build it up and build it up as an alternative), and even more difficult to photograph it.  But once it has fully hardened, it sinks much more into the grain which I describe as "more like an old guitar polished up than a new guitar made to look older".

It's easier to photograph that effect on the back:

Than the front:

...but the effect is the same on both sides.

The main thing, though, is that the finish is now tough enough to stand normal handling for the final stages. 

And those final stages are: a bit more work on the frets; rounding of the fretboard edges; copper shielding the control chambers (I'll check with Martin at SimS to see if he recommends the pickup chambers too); cutting the jack hole and fitting the plate; installing the switches and pots and bridge earth wire; installing the pickups; fitting the magnets to the control hatch cover; stringing up and final set up.

Talking of the bridge earth, it's something that doesn't come up very often in the build threads, but it can be one of the more challenging tasks of a build.  No matter how close the chamber is to the bridge area, the hole for the wire has to be at a very shallow angle so that you don't just drill out of the back!

This one has an added challenge - the carriers for the individual tuners are super slim (normally, the entry hole is under a 90mm x 60mm bridge plate) and I have to drill at an angle to miss the bridge screw-holes

So it calls for a long drill.  A LONG drill.  If there was such a thing as a 'medium long bradpoint drill', then for this one, it could have been maybe half that length - but I've never been able to find one:

Why only one hole?  Well, happily, the other strings will be electrically connected via the head block.  For the connection itself, I stick some copper shielding foil on the flat mating surface, soldered to the bridge wire that sits in the drill hole entrance.  That way you get a great electrical connection without the bridge plate being lifted by bare wires, problems often associated with the 'traditional' stripped wire way of earthing the bridge plate.  I'll take a photo when I do that bit.

And why didn't I drill the hole before I fitted the ebony inset?  Well, I could have done, but then I would have had to line up the bridge blocks before fitting the wood they were going to sit on.  Building basses are full of these 'neither way is ideal' decisions.  A lesson for broader life, I suppose 

 

 

 

   

 

[MPU]

For bridge ground wire I've made a"drill" out of a bicycle spoke. Tap one end flat, file it like a spade blade and drill away. Just big enough hole for ground wire. 

[Andyjr1515]

57 minutes ago, MPU said:

For bridge ground wire I've made a"drill" out of a bicycle spoke. Tap one end flat, file it like a spade blade and drill away. Just big enough hole for ground wire. 

Great tip

[Richard R]

Couldn't you do something a bit simpler with two drills rather than one at a carefully managed shallow angle?

The first is straight though the body, starting from where the strap button will go, running under the bridge and to the pickup cavity,  the second is vertically, or angled, down from the bridge to meet that hole. The first hole will be hidden by the strap button. It's still a long thin hole, but doesn't need to be so carefully angled.

[Andyjr1515]

29 minutes ago, Richard R said:

Couldn't you do something a bit simpler with two drills rather than one at a carefully managed shallow angle?

The first is straight though the body, starting from where the strap button will go, running under the bridge and to the pickup cavity,  the second is vertically, or angled, down from the bridge to meet that hole. The first hole will be hidden by the strap button. It's still a long thin hole, but doesn't need to be so carefully angled.

There are a number of ways, yes.  The challenge is usually what your options of direction are in terms of a drill being in the way and the accuracy of angle and direction - especially if you are trying to join two holes meeting in the middle.  Sometimes it's the same with cable runs.  The 'standard' way of getting a double humbucker cable run into a solid body is to drill with a long drill though the back of the neck pocket all the way through both chambers.  Again, a small amount of drift over that length can result in a large variance from where you were originally aiming.  And long drills can bend while they are drilling...  

[Andyjr1515]

41 minutes ago, Richard R said:

The first is straight though the body, starting from where the strap button will go

The jack socket hole is usually an ideal place.  Again, you need a long drill.