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

[Andyjr1515]

10 minutes ago, BassTool said:

Are you planning on a particular finish on the fretboard @Andyjr1515  maybe wax or teak oil etc?

🤔

When I've finished the fret levelling, etc, I will scrape in between each of the fret pairs with a single-edged razor and then see how the ebony looks.

With some pieces you can get to an excellent shine just with going up the grades of microweb up to around 12000 grit.

Some benefit, though, with a light tru-oil or linseed oil & buff.  I'll see when we get there.

[Andyjr1515]

I've just heard from @Jus Lukin that there are a trio of Superquads on their way to me - which is VERY exciting

In the meantime, I've started getting my head round pre-glue internal carves of the two mahogany wings.  I'll wait for the Superquads before I sort the bottom wing - to be honest, as much for the challenge at accommodating the wiring looms as the switches themselves - but the weight relief of the top wing is more straightforward as there are no cable runs or anything to worry about:

So this afternoon, I will be getting my little (but super) Proxxon drill press out and hog some mahog out with one of my larger Forstner bits.  Which is useful, because the first job on @Fishman 's Wal save will use the same drill .  If only I had done this much 'in-cycle efficiency' when I had a proper job 

With the back wings trimmed now to within a couple of mm of final size, I couldn't help a quick mockup:

I have a good feeling about this...I think it's going to be a delightful little thing (of course, with the Superquads, a delightful little thing fully capable of knocking a house down)

 

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

The upper wing doesn't need any cable channels or control chamber provision building in and so can be weight-relieved and glued on first.

Normal stuff, I hog out the weight-relief chamber with a Forstner bit:

Then tidy out the edges with a sharp chisel so the edges act as the guide surface for the diddy flush bit (Axminster - I use this SUCH a lot) that is used then to deepen the chamber to final dimension:

And now this can be glued to the neck/top assembly.  I use side clamps to ensure the laminations with the neck are tight and then the spool clamps to make sure the top to back joint is gap free. 

I'll know whether it is all gap free in the morning once the clamps can come off.  Fingers crossed!

 

[Andyjr1515]

Another 'Phew!'

It looks OK:

 

Still waiting on Superquads which should arrive later today - then I can work out how much space I need to leave for the three plug-in wiring looms

 

[Andyjr1515]

While waiting for the Superquads I did a couple of small jobs,  including adding the 0.6mm maple veneer to the back of the fretboard.  The tang slots will be filled with epoxy mixed with ebony dust before the board is finally glued on (a little way off yet):

 

 

And then, this morning, the Superquads arrived  :

 

For those who have never seen them, they are 4-coil passive pickups:

The three way toggle gives each pickup the option of 'P' ; Single ; Humbucker:

There is a battery connection, but that is purely to power the LED that shines red for 'P' ; green for Single; blue for Humbucker.  The pickups are not affected by the battery being connected or not.

And - although this set up with three pickups is, we think, a World First and will have some quirky things we need to work through - they are ridiculously easy to wire up.  The PCB on each switch has a ground, a 9v for the LED and a hot out.

Performance-wise, they are superb - worth watching the Bassbash clip at the beginning of this thread with Nick Smith's demo of a Sims fitted bass and @TheGreek 's Silk bass.  I suppose my only less-positive observation is that the cases (GRP/carbon?) have a rough surface and show the manufacturing ejector marks - exactly the same pattern on these as on Mick's a good few years ago.  But, once the LEDs are all traffic lighting up, who's looking at that! 

And here is broadly how they will fit:

Now I have the looms in hand, I can work out how big the chambers and the cable runs need to be in the lower back wing

 

 

 

[Swaff]

That is already looking like a truly stunning bass, amazing work!

[Richard R]

I don't know if this bass will have a name, but one look at that and I thought "Thor's Hammer!"

So I suggest Mjölnir

[TheGreek]

How about "The Envy Bass" - that's what many of us will have...

[Jabba_the_gut]

The front pickup is quite close to the fretboard so it's not for slappers. How about the 'Virtuous' bass then?....

I'll get my coat.....

[PaulThePlug]

Penguin.... with that amount of P... P... P... Pickups...

[Jabba_the_gut]

Out of interest, what are the plans for controls on this. From earlier posts it was the 3 way SIMS switch and an on/off for each pickup (so six switches total). What about about volume/tone controls - will everything else remain passive? 

I'm guessing the pickups combinations will provide enough different tones!!

[Maude]

5 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Out of interest, what are the plans for controls on this. From earlier posts it was the 3 way SIMS switch and an on/off for each pickup (so six switches total). What about about volume/tone controls - will everything else remain passive? 

I'm guessing the pickups combinations will provide enough different tones!!

No real need for many controls. Set it to P on the centre pickup, volume on full, then get on with it. 

😉

[Andyjr1515]

8 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

Out of interest, what are the plans for controls on this. From earlier posts it was the 3 way SIMS switch and an on/off for each pickup (so six switches total). What about about volume/tone controls - will everything else remain passive? 

I'm guessing the pickups combinations will provide enough different tones!!

Yes - just that.  3 Sims toggles, 3 on/off toggles, Master tone, Master Volume.

[Maude]

Whilst browsing for mini humbuckers for my Hofner project I came across these quad rails on the Warman website, and have since been wondering what to try one, or two, in. 

https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/?s=Quad+rail

Obviously nothing like the Sims Quad, but being four wire can be wired to give two separate humbuckers, or both together in series or parallel, and a pair of pickups would give those options on both, plus both pickups in series or parallell. For very little outlay it could create something monstrous. 

Sorry for the slight derail. 

[TheGreek]

If you're looking for something similar I believe Martin Herrick makes similar pups. 

Martin made the (invisible) pick up in my Psilos bass.

[Maude]

10 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

If you're looking for something similar I believe Martin Herrick makes similar pups. 

Martin made the (invisible) pick up in my Psilos bass.

I wasn't looking for anything like that, but then I saw them, and the output figures, and a little devil appeared on my shoulder, whispering in my ear, "Buy one and put it in something, it'll be mad". 

No angel has appeared on the other shoulder yet, and at £25 it hard to disagree with the old devil. 😁

[TheGreek]

Buy it, buy it

[Daz39]

9 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

While waiting for the Superquads I did a couple of small jobs,  including adding the 0.6mm maple veneer to the back of the fretboard.  The tang slots will be filled with epoxy mixed with ebony dust before the board is finally glued on (a little way off yet):

 

 

And then, this morning, the Superquads arrived  :

 

For those who have never seen them, they are 4-coil passive pickups:

The three way toggle gives each pickup the option of 'P' ; Single ; Humbucker:

There is a battery connection, but that is purely to power the LED that shines red for 'P' ; green for Single; blue for Humbucker.  The pickups are not affected by the battery being connected or not.

And - although this set up with three pickups is, we think, a World First and will have some quirky things we need to work through - they are ridiculously easy to wire up.  The PCB on each switch has a ground, a 9v for the LED and a hot out.

Performance-wise, they are superb - worth watching the Bassbash clip at the beginning of this thread with Nick Smith's demo of a Sims fitted bass and @TheGreek 's Silk bass.  I suppose my only less-positive observation is that the cases (GRP/carbon?) have a rough surface and show the manufacturing ejector marks - exactly the same pattern on these as on Mick's a good few years ago.  But, once the LEDs are all traffic lighting up, who's looking at that! 

And here is broadly how they will fit:

Now I have the looms in hand, I can work out how big the chambers and the cable runs need to be in the lower back wing

 

 

 

It looks like it means business (the same way the triple pickup Dingwalls do.)

Of course what it really also needs is a button that  switches the pickups between the 3 settings in a wave pattern (like the Source Audio EQ1) - maybe with colour-matching flames coming out of the head.

(It's snowed too much here today, I'm losing my marbles...)

[Andyjr1515]

Building a bass is sometimes like doing a logic puzzle!

I'm working on the chamber size and position and the cable channels (remembering I have to feed those large loom connectors to each of the pickups) before I glue the lower back wing on.

So what are my limitations?

Actually, ironically it's about how much offcut of the back wood I have.  Because I will be using an offcut from the waist cuts of the back panels to make my chamber hatch.  And, if possible, I want the grain to be in the same direction.  So the hatch has to fit within this area, minus the 8mm rebate all round for the hatch and (hopefully) magnets to fit:

And, ideally, it needs to be able to accommodate the battery.  Yes - I could fit a battery box, but it would be neater not to have to.

And that leaves me the area cut out of paper here - and actually, a couple of options would fit in that area.  In both cases the battery could be slotted into a pre-made semi-chamber carved into the side of the chamber:

 

 

I will add the battery cutouts both sides so that @Jus Lukin can decide at his leisure which type of layout or variation of these he prefers.  But in both cases they share the same external chamber size and position so that can be cut on the scroll saw now:

Edited January 9, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[Hellzero]

19 hours ago, TheGreek said:

How about "The Envy Bass" - that's what many of us will have...

As long as it's not becoming The Anvil Bass... 😁

[Jus Lukin]

2 hours ago, Hellzero said:

As long as it's not becoming The Anvil Bass... 😁

Well, there's more than a little Spinal Tap about it...

[Andyjr1515]

Well - you know what I think about routers.

But there are times when only a router will do.  What I do try to do, though, is always be working with a 'captive' bearing bit.  I forgot to take the shots, but I started like the weight relief - hogged out the chambers with a forster bit with the edges straightened up with a chisel.  Then the bottom-bearing flush bit couldn't go anywhere but follow the chiselled line:

I've included the provision for in-chamber battery for both general layout options (although I think @Jus Lukin is going for the straight-row toggle option), with the non-used chamber useful for coping with the excess loom wire.  We could even go battery box if @Jus Lukin preferred and then use both battery chambers to cope with the excess wire 

In the photo above there is the rebate bit - again, it can't go anywhere - for the hatch.  Here is the rebate with the battery in one of the recesses:

And here is the healthy channel to feed three looms with their multi-wire connectors to the pickups, with the battery in the second recess:

 

As usual, I will leave it until the morning before I glue this wing on...just in case I've forgotten something, and while the glue is setting, start on my cunning neck pocket plan on @Fishman 's Wal save

Who says that men can't multi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-oh sorry-just got distracted

task

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[Andyjr1515]

The back is glued:

Now it's REALLY starting to look like a bass

I've now been able to take the clamps off and had a look at the joints.  They look good

I'll be trimming the sides flush with the top in the morning - I'll take a photo in the daylight when that's done.

And then...it's pickup chambers....

[HazBeen]

Fantastic progress. I learn so much from these threads.

[Jus Lukin]

On 08/01/2021 at 20:10, Jabba_the_gut said:

The front pickup is quite close to the fretboard so it's not for slappers. How about the 'Virtuous' bass then?....

I'll get my coat.....

I only just got this, three days later! 😄