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

[Jus Lukin]

I may have to check them out at some point. Half the reason of having a clamped nut rather than bouble ball-end was that if the Status Half-Rounds aren't available I could use the long-scale Elites Groundwounds!

I can see why there aren't a ton of half-rounds out there, but they seem to be the only companies which make them in standard 45-65-85-105 gauges.

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Hi Andre

It's interesting because the Bass Centre Elites (which have the problem) are actually shorter than the D'Addario (which don't have a problem).  But the Bass Centre Elites have a larger diameter and also more variable.

I assume that - even though the larger diameter of the Elites fit into the holder socket. they probably hit the slight dish at the bottom of the socket just that little bit sooner. 

 

Bass Centre Elites (Stadium Series).  These are the ones that don't fit :

Depth  =                     4.69mm - 4.72mm

Diameter=        6.35mm - 6.37mm

 

D'Addario EXL170-5TP  These fit OK

Depth =                   4.81mm - 4.83mm

Diameter =   6.03mm - 6.04mm

Yes - it's the extra diameter of the Elite ball end that's the problem (I've NO idea why I was calling it circumference earlier!).

The recess in the Nova is slightly tapered, starting at around 6.4mm but tapering down to just below 6.3 at the bottom.  So looking at it, the ball end, even the 6.35 dia one, isn't bottoming at all.  If the hole was 6.5mm I'm sure they would fit.  I have a 6.5mm metal-cutting drill bit - I can open one of them out on my little press-drill tomorrow if you like and see if it bottoms OK just with that.   

Edited December 7, 2020 by Andyjr1515

[Andre_Passini]

5 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - it's the extra diameter of the Elite ball end that's the problem (I've NO idea why I was calling it circumference earlier!).

The recess in the Nova is slightly tapered, starting at around 6.4mm but tapering down to just below 6.3 at the bottom.  So looking at it, the ball end, even the 6.35 dia one, isn't bottoming at all.  If the hole was 6.5mm I'm sure they would fit.  I have a 6.5mm metal-cutting drill bit - I can open one of them out on my little press-drill tomorrow if you like and see if it bottoms OK just with that.   

That would be great!

[SpondonBassed]

10 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - it's the extra diameter of the Elite ball end that's the problem (I've NO idea why I was calling it circumference earlier!).

[Andyjr1515]

Hi @Andre_Passini

Yes - 6.5mm worked a treat

I didn't drill any deeper than the original, I just increased the diameter to 6.5mm:

 

And here is the ball end that was originally sitting 1mm proud of the top, now fully seated and flush with the top:

 

So I did the other three and so here's the unit now with a full set of Bass Centre Elites:

 

And yes - before anyone here asks - the D'Addarios still fit fine.  Here's a D'Addario bottom B and a top G  :

 

 

 

 

[Andre_Passini]

That's great Andy, I was thinking to change to 7 mm, but it is too much, 6.50 mm is perfect, thank you so much for your effort.

Andre.

[SpondonBassed]

Development in the field.  Wow.  Beat that!

[Richard R]

There's a can-do attitude on both sides! It's a bit late, but could we get @Andyjr1515 to fix Brexit too? 

 (Not that I am suggesting @Andre_Passini's bridge is in any way like that particular shambles) 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Richard R
Any reference to any current situation is made for amusement only and not intended to start political debate or break forum rules. Although if the two sides were only 0.5mm apart it would be nice.

[Jus Lukin]

Steady on, I don't want this build thread closed before the bass is done! 😄

Nice work drilling out the string anchors, Andy. I can rest easy about the Elites now!

[Richard R]

6 minutes ago, Jus Lukin said:

Steady on, I don't want this build thread closed before the bass is done! 😄

Nice work drilling out the string anchors, Andy. I can rest easy about the Elites now!

Edited the post above to put a disclaimer on and protect the thread. Not sure it helps TBH.

 

End of thread derail - back to the magnificent Andy and his amazing 6.5mm tool and steady hands.

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Andre_Passini said:

That's great Andy, I was thinking to change to 7 mm, but it is too much, 6.50 mm is perfect, thank you so much for your effort.

Andre.

No problem Andre.  And agreed - 7mm would be getting too close to taking the sides away. 

[Andyjr1515]

52 minutes ago, Richard R said:

There's a can-do attitude on both sides! It's a bit late, but could we get @Andyjr1515 to fix Brexit too? 

I think that would need divine intervention 

[Andyjr1515]

And the basic neck blank is done. 

 

Next steps on this is to thickness it down to its final width, plane down the top face from the body join-point and then rout the slot for the top to fit into  (marked in yellow)

And then, we can start shaping the back wings.

[TheGreek]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I think that would need Devine intervention 

[Andyjr1515]

51 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

No - I don't think even HE is going to be able to sort the pending Brexit mess... 

 

[Andyjr1515]

 

Oh, goodness.  What's Andyjr1515 doing now??

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

Well - as well as mixing up my diameters with my circumferences, I clearly don't know my tops from bottoms (no, @SpondonBassed - not a word  )

Remember the nice maple constructional veneer?

Well it's even better when it's on the right side of the top! 

Still - @Jus Lukin will never have to worry about it delaminating.  It's taken me hours to get it off.  After trying jack planes, block planes, scraper planes, scrapers, rasp files, the eye-wateringly expensive Mirka with 80 grit - the only thing that would get the maple off was the teeny Ibex thumb plane (which are, by the way, things of wonder) and then the Mirka once I was basically down to the glue face.

So I'm packing in for the evening    Then tomorrow morning, I'll be maple veneering the other side to this:

 

[Oopsdabassist]

😧🤐

[SpondonBassed]

6 hours ago, Richard R said:

back to the magnificent Andy and his amazing 6.5mm tool

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I clearly don't know my tops from bottoms (no, @SpondonBassed - not a word)

 

Spoiler

Ha ha!  Made you look.

 

Edited December 8, 2020 by SpondonBassed

[Andyjr1515]

And so the veneer goes on again...and this time on the correct side! 

[Andyjr1515]

And so here we are again with the demarcation veneer positioned to be between the two components rather than on top of the two.  I know...radical to have it in between, but I think it might catch on.  Remember - you saw it first here 

 

And so now, most of the unfinished components are ready to be cut and shaped into their proper places:

 

The last through neck I did, I slightly changed my build sequence and there were some advantages, so I will repeat that on this one.  But they both have the next step as cutting the top neck angle on the neck blank and then the slot that the top will drop into.

Critical with all of this is deciding on the datum and making sure that everything is square against that datum.  And the datum is the top plane of the blank that the fretboard will glue onto.  So before putting the blank through the band saw, I squared off the perpendicular face with a hand plane and then - after triple checking the dimensions - cut the blank parallel with the angled bottom face:

 

And so - and with another triple check that all the positions are correct, I marked the neck blank where the cut out is going to be routed that will allow the top to drop down in line with 1mm above the bottom of the fretboard (I'll explain later why 1mm above) - which is the next job.  Yes, I know.  Andyjr1515 using a router :

 

Fingers counted and crossed 

[Geek99]

7 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And so here we are again with the demarcation veneer positioned to be between the two components rather than on top of the two.  I know...radical to have it in between, but I think it might catch on.  Remember - you saw it first here 

 

And so now, most of the unfinished components are ready to be cut and shaped into their proper places:

 

The last through neck I did, I slightly changed my build sequence and there were some advantages, so I will repeat that on this one.  But they both have the next step as cutting the top neck angle on the neck blank and then the slot that the top will drop into.

Critical with all of this is deciding on the datum and making sure that everything is square against that datum.  And the datum is the top plane of the blank that the fretboard will glue onto.  So before putting the blank through the band saw, I squared off the perpendicular face with a hand plane and then - after triple checking the dimensions - cut the blank parallel with the angled bottom face:

 

And so - and with another triple check that all the positions are correct, I marked the neck blank where the cut out is going to be routed that will allow the top to drop down in line with 1mm above the bottom of the fretboard (I'll explain later why 1mm above) - which is the next job.  Yes, I know.  Andyjr1515 using a router :

 

Fingers counted and crossed 

Oh god - not more amateur-ish cod carpentry that would shame a preschool woodwork class .... can’t you just go to night school and learn to do this stuff properly? [sigh]

[Jus Lukin]

It's really starting to look like a bass!

I've got to get listing more gear and measuring string spacings!

[Andyjr1515]

4 hours ago, Jus Lukin said:

I've got to get listing more gear and measuring string spacings!

Talking of which, there are a set of individual bases on order from Nova so yes, any spacing that takes your fancy

AND a bit more progress.  

Regulars on these builds will know, I DETEST ROUTERS!  But there are times, folks, when only a router will do 

And - against all odds - the cuts even match up with the pencil marks!

So, basically, the wings (which will also have a maple veneer demarcation and will be glued flush with the bottom of the slot just routed) sit either side of this - which if you remember incorporates the neck angle:

 

And the top sits on top, albeit 1mm higher than the top of the neck:

Why 1mm higher?

Because the fretboard will extend over the body by 40-50mm - and is coming in at an angle to the top.  So I will cut a tapered channel for it to come through so the end of the fretboard ends flush with the top.

Leastways, that's the theory   And it's a while yet, so plenty of time for me to think of an excuse why it didn't happen like that 

 

 

[TheGreek]

Love the colour palette - keep it going using brass/ gold finish hardware?