Finished! A Very Special Save

[Maude]

8 minutes ago, BassBod said:

That’s a very methodical way of approaching it.  I’d always just assumed that they used a Fender style neck plate, as it was available  and did the job...and that could be used to locate matching holes. 

I suppose it's much easier when joining a new neck and body as you could just clamp the neck in the pocket and drill straight through the body into the neck, giving you the correct angle and location in the neck. 

Trying to match fresh body holes to existing threaded inserts in the neck must be far more difficult. 

[Andyjr1515]

17 minutes ago, BassBod said:

That’s a very methodical way of approaching it.  I’d always just assumed that they used a Fender style neck plate, as it was available  and did the job...and that could be used to locate matching holes.

They do - but getting hold of Wal plates is pretty much impossible.  As an alternative, @Fishman has opted for conical washer inserts which will look good too.

[BigRedX]

Brave stuff.

I thought you were going to do a test run on some scrap wood first before drilling the new body?

[Andyjr1515]

54 minutes ago, Maude said:

I suppose it's much easier when joining a new neck and body as you could just clamp the neck in the pocket and drill straight through the body into the neck, giving you the correct angle and location in the neck. 

Trying to match fresh body holes to existing threaded inserts in the neck must be far more difficult. 

Yes - indeed.  That said, it's not difficult...it just needs a bit of planning and misty recollection from school maths and physics lessons of how to avoid cumulative errors.  The measure the diagonals trick-of-the-trade is one I learnt in the window's joinery business.  Makes absolute sense when you think about it but it's something I had to see someone do for real for the penny to drop 

Oh - and with a 43mm (edited - I'd typo'd 33) or so body blank, it needs a drill-press that has minimal run-out (the movement in the spindle that can let a drill wander out of verticality).  The Proxxon is a lightweight for many 'proper engineering' tasks but the accuracy of the spindle is first class - no wandering of the bit at all.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[ezbass]

34 minutes ago, Maude said:

Why am I on edge reading this? I'm not drilling it. 😬 😁

Great work as always Andy. 👍

Not just me then.

[Andyjr1515]

Just now, BigRedX said:

Brave stuff.

I thought you were going to do a test run on some scrap wood first before drilling the new body?

As Matt Hancock would say, "That's such a good question.  Thank you for asking it." 

My answer is, best laid plans and all that.... 

I did, in fact, make a scrap-ply template as originally planned.  But once I'd got it, I judged I was more likely to introduce errors with it than eliminate them.  With the paper template and an accurate metal rule, I could see from the impression in the paper exactly where the centre of the stud was.  I judged that this was more accurate than drilling four holes in a 5mm piece of ply and then trying to position that and accurately push a drill in each of the holes to make the pin-prick mark without at least one nudging out of position. 

 

[Andyjr1515]

9 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I suppose it's much easier when joining a new neck and body as you could just clamp the neck in the pocket and drill straight through the body into the neck, giving you the correct angle and location in the neck.

The other thing I should say, is that it would have been MUCH more difficult if the neck pocket was already cut.  All I had to do was get all four holes in line with each other top and bottom.  To do that and in line with tight fitting pocket sides too is where it is usually easier to plug the old holes and redrill/insert

[Fishman]

bloody hell, that was tense! 😓 Well done Andy!

[BigRedX]

31 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

As Matt Hancock would say, "That's such a good question.  Thank you for asking it." 

My answer is, best laid plans and all that.... 

I did, in fact, make a scrap-ply template as originally planned.  But once I'd got it, I judged I was more likely to introduce errors with it than eliminate them.  With the paper template and an accurate metal rule, I could see from the impression in the paper exactly where the centre of the stud was.  I judged that this was more accurate than drilling four holes in a 5mm piece of ply and then trying to position that and accurately push a drill in each of the holes to make the pin-prick mark without at least one nudging out of position. 

Solid reasoning.

If this had been me, my biggest fear would have been the slight possibility that one or more of the holes in the neck had not been drilled perfectly vertically, and the problems trying to match that in the neck pocket of the new body...

[Richard R]

On 08/01/2021 at 12:41, Fishman said:

Seeing the wrench in your photo @TrevorR , it reminded me of this – slight thread derailment, but hey, it's my bass! 😉

 

The purr-fect QC Checks at 3:20 and 13:08 made me laugh.

Edited January 10, 2021 by Richard R

[Andyjr1515]

17 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Solid reasoning.

If this had been me, my biggest fear would have been the slight possibility that one or more of the holes in the neck had not been drilled perfectly vertically, and the problems trying to match that in the neck pocket of the new body...

It's the main reason you do the 'drill halfway from one side, then drill halfway from the other side'.  Also, my comment about having a drill press with minimum run-out (wander) is essential - and you couldn't do this sort of stuff without a drill press or similar.

The final thing that helps is that the blank at the moment is straight sided - and bandsaw cut to a true right angle.  As such, the datum is reliable either way up.  If the blank had, say, already had the sides rounded, or if I'd used a jig saw to cut it out with a potentially wandering blade, it would have been a lot more difficult.

[BigRedX]

15 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

It's the main reason you do the 'drill halfway from one side, then drill halfway from the other side'.  Also, my comment about having a drill press with minimum run-out (wander) is essential - and you couldn't do this sort of stuff without a drill press or similar.

The final thing that helps is that the blank at the moment is straight sided - and bandsaw cut to a true right angle.  As such, the datum is reliable either way up.  If the blank had, say, already had the sides rounded, or if I'd used a jig saw to cut it out with a potentially wandering blade, it would have been a lot more difficult.

I get that. However, I would have been worried that the inserts in the neck which had already been done might not be sufficiently vertical. Then you would have had to match the angle when drilling the body.

[Andyjr1515]

6 hours ago, BigRedX said:

I get that. However, I would have been worried that the inserts in the neck which had already been done might not be sufficiently vertical. Then you would have had to match the angle when drilling the body.

Yes - there is a potential issue depending on at which stage Wal fitted the inserts - before or after adding the neck angle shim they glue to the heel.  But actually, if they didn't fit the shim first and then drill with absolutely vertical drills (vertical to the body top and neck heel but, therefore, at an angle to the fretboard), they would have the same problem as well.  So as long as my holes are 90 degrees to the body top, then they will align to the inserts.

If I get time, for them's that have no idea what we're talking about, I'll draw a diagram

 

Anyway - the next scary bit is done.  The neck pocket.  As all of the chambering, both on this build (for the scratchplate componentry and pickup) and the pickup chambers on @Jus Lukin 's headless, will be using this same method, I'll go into it in a bit more detail.  Over the years, I personally have found this absolutely the most accurate and safest way of cutting chambers.  Most of my fellow builders use templates and to great effect - but to me, templates usually spell problems.  If I was doing repeat builds, then templates would clearly be the way to go, but for 'one-off chambers' - which most of mine are, this is the way I do it:

Having marked out the line accurately, I use a forstner bit in my little drill press to hog out around 2/3rds of the depth, with the forstner just short of the chamber outline:

I then sharpen my chisels because I need to chisel some seriously accurate edges!:

So here, I'm chiselling away the forstner wave residue and then taking the cut, ensuring it is vertical and as accurately as possible, along the inside edge of my outline to a minimum of 10mm depth:

I double check with the neck that the fit is spot-on.  I also check that the bolts (which are, of course, now too long)  still fit in the inserts!

 

  If it is and they do, I have an accurate 10mm vertical band that will guide the router bearing to tidy up the chamber sides and deepen it as necessary.  I am using a router table here but a hand router (preferably with a decently large base for stability) would work just as well.  The bottom-bearing'd router bit simply cannot now dig in anywhere it shouldn't:

So the bit tidies up the sides and makes them exactly the same as my chiselled band and I increase the depth a couple of mm at a time to the final depth:

Then final checks - first that the neck fits snugly and fully bottoms in the chamber:

And a final check that it still all lines up:

Which - to everyone's surprise and especially my own - it does 

So I won't go through the blow by blow, but this is how I will also rout the chambers for the truss rod access, the pickup and the electronic circuitry under the pickguard...and @Jus Lukin 's pickup chambers that will be next

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[Fishman]

Mods: we need a like emoticon for 'scared' 😟

[Si600]

Is The Chiseled Band the sequel to The Speckled Band by A.C. Doyle?

[NickA]

You know what? Pete Stevens never took such care. 😆

[Andyjr1515]

And the next challenge - getting the chamber cut for the electronics when the screwholes are going to be so close to the edge.

The process was basically to cut it undersize, and then fit it bit by bit a bit like when you are making a tight-fitting control chamber cover.  The tools were the same as the neck pocket - hog out with forstner, bring to line with a chisel and to depth with a router.

Here it is hogged out and edges being tidied up with a chisel proir to the trial-and-error fitting:

And here with the battery box also cut, the chambers deepened on the router and the cutaway for the truss rod access next:

And fitted, ready for a repeat of the process to fit the mighty Wal pickup  :

[eude]

3 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Proper Old School.

Loving it.

[BassTool]

Brilliant 👏🏼👏🏼

[paul_5]

Wow, that’s a really good job!!

[Tony Tabasco]

Hi Andy,

I love how you do this - I am a Walnut and have a background in woodworking but hardly ever get to do anything anymore. My fingers are itching to pick up that chisel!

Grtz,
Tony Tabasco

[Andyjr1515]

Todays tasks are about doing the final main features on the body blank before doing the final tidy up of the edges and then the round-overs (always last otherwise you lose the edges that you might want to use with a bottom bearing flush router bit).

First was a repeat of my preferred 'chamber method' to fit the pickup:

Next were the two cutaways.  For the forearm relief I used a hand-plane:

For the back waist scoop, I hogged out with my trusty Veritas Pull-shave and then finished off with a microplane, minus the handle and just held between two gloved hands and finally tidied up with some emery wrapped round the micro-plane.  The whole job could have been done just with the micro-plane blade and emery, just with a bit more effort:

[Si600]

That's a very 'V' shaped scoop.

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Si600 said:

That's a very 'V' shaped scoop.

Yes.  There's a bit of final tweaking still to do at the final sanding stage which will widen it a touch (a la 'you can take more stuff away but you can't easily put it back' ), but it is quite a tight and deep scoop:

The V in the grain pattern makes it look a little tighter than it actually is.  If it ends up too deep, I'll be encouraging @Fishman to drink a few more pints of beer 

[Si600]

8 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

I'll be encouraging @Fishman to drink a few more pints of beer 

How we suffer for our art 🤣