Finished Pics! Single Cut 5-string Short Scale

[Andyjr1515]

8 minutes ago, Matt P said:

Andy's previous builds I know that he can produce something that is more than a match for it

Best not raise the topic of matches again. 

As I've said before, it isn't as much marvelling at the fantastic aquaducts the Romans built that are still standing...it's remembering the thousands that fell down while they were trying.

 

 

[eude]

27 minutes ago, Matt P said:

what bass is that? It's very impressive but it loks like a ightmare to glue up! 

 

I think the current plan is definitely the right one and i'm confident that @Andyjr1515 can create a beautifully sculpted and refined transition from the neck to the body, the example i sent is my 8 year old Letts 5 string and from the pictures of Andy's previous builds I know that he can produce something that is more than a match for it.

 

Matt

It's a small builder I've never heard of called Nandito Art.
I imagine the planning and glue up of that would be an absolute nightmare for any but the most experienced jigsaw enthusiasts.
I can't imagine it makes any difference to the sound, I can hear the difference in some wood combos, but as soon as it become a butchers block I expect it's all moot.

As an owner of some of @Andyjr1515's work, I think you can be very confident that the neck joint will be gorgeous, he seems to know what he's doing  

Eude

[Andyjr1515]

12 minutes ago, eude said:

As an owner of some of @Andyjr1515's work, I think you can be very confident that the neck joint will be gorgeous, he seems to know what he's doing

"...and he is doing a roaring trade in home-made Swan Vestas" 

 

[spacecowboy]

4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

It's probably the luck of the draw.  I opted for UPS and it came a day later than they said, but still actually received 5 calendar days after placing the order, which I was quite chuffed about.  There were no additional charges, although the tracking showed it did halt for a customs check (which caused the day's delay).  I suspect whether charges are made or not is related to value.  I am unclear whether the price in the first place included Portugal's VAT (which presumably it shouldn't) but maybe that's also in the equation.

It has to be said, the VAT rules and procedures change (which was slipped in as part of Brexit but actually wasn't part of it) is a right royal mess.  Have you noticed the number of overseas sellers on ebay who now advertise "Ships Worldwide (excludes UK)"?   And this is non-EU sellers as well as EU sellers... 

I think they were listening... Just had an email that it will all be arriving with me tomorrow!

[Andyjr1515]

And fret slotting started:

[Andyjr1515]

And all slotted:

[Andyjr1515]

A lot of pencil sketching, measuring and pondering to make sure I don't end up cutting into fresh air before I get the neck blank onto the bandsaw again to extend the neck thickness into the body transition

Fingers crossed

 

[Andyjr1515]

Not actually as scary as it looks...but this is why we do the 'check 14 times, cut once!' mantra 

 

And so this is how the neck blank will sit, except of course eventually the back will be profiled all the way to the heel and the side wings will be carved a bit like a bowl arena.  Or, if I a*se it up, a bowel arena

I've got some final bits to do on the blank before I go to the next major step, but that major step is usually, for me, gluing the top to the neck.  Yes - I do everything pretty much the other way round to most sensible folks. 

But, hey, I might surprise everyone and do it the more conventional way  

 

[Matt P]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Not actually as scary as it looks...but this is why we do the 'check 14 times, cut once!' mantra 

 

And so this is how the neck blank will sit, except of course eventually the back will be profiled all the way to the heel and the side wings will be carved a bit like a bowl arena.  Or, if I a*se it up, a bowel arena

I've got some final bits to do on the blank before I go to the next major step, but that major step is usually, for me, gluing the top to the neck.  Yes - I do everything pretty much the other way round to most sensible folks. 

But, hey, I might surprise everyone and do it the more conventional way  

 

just lovely! 

If i had wanted conventional i would have bought a fender! 😁

 

Matt

[TheGreek]

17 minutes ago, Matt P said:

If I had wanted conventional I would have bought a fender! 😁

Like your thinking....👍

[Andyjr1515]

Well, the bit of 'slightly more conventional than I normally do' that I'm going to venture into, is the sequence. 

I think most builders go - neck blank; add side wings; fit top

I tend to go - neckblank; fit top; add wings.

And for this one, I'm going to do wings then top.

So I will start here:

 

Then sort the cable access and weight relief chambers, then flatten it all off, and then, once that's all done, glue on the top.

I know...shocking.  And why do it this perfectly logical and well tried way rather than the white knuckle ride of an Andyjr1515 'will it work or not' sequence?

Well, because one of the targets is to keep within 7-7.5lbs.  And there are a few unknowns still in terms of the weight:

- It's a 5-er with a lot of maple in the neck blank

- The 5er Superquad is MAHOOSIVE!!!

- The back is oak

- The bridge is high-ish mass

But, weight permitting, I'd like to do something a little bit special at the back and so I may, or may not, want to add more, or different shaped, or differently positioned internal weight relief as I go along.  And getting that right is a LOT easier if the wings are already on but where the internal faces are still fully accessible.

But don't worry, there'll still be plenty of white-knuckle-on-the-very-edge-of-disaster moments to come that I'm sure will keep everyone interested 

 

[3below]

IMO your method ( neckblank; fit top; add wings.) makes considerable sense: gluing the top square onto the neck, then subsequently accurately gluing the sides onto the top and neck has much less potential for error than gluing the wings to the body first  

[MoonBassAlpha]

On 18/04/2021 at 18:30, Andyjr1515 said:

Yes - gold star smiley face

A Sei Flamboyant

Like this one

[Andyjr1515]

With the tried and tested luthier formula of:

Assembled components - weight of taper removal and profile carving of neck + 5-string Superquad + 5th tuner - difference between borrowed tuners and hipshot superlites + difference between borrowed rosewood fretboard and ebony one + residual weight of finish after full evaporation and cooling - weight of plate - flour left on kitchen scales = projected weight of finished bass...

 

...I reckon that I need to lose around 1lb 8oz of weight from this point, in addition to the wood removed by tapering and profiling the neck already in the formula.

Not impossible and will give me the excuse for the bit of styling at the back.  

I'll be doing a bit more drawing to make sure that my chambering from the top of the wings doesn't meet the carving at the back of the wings in a "France meets UK in middle of channel tunnel construction" kind of a way.

 

[Hellzero]

8 lbs 10 oz is what the scale says. 😉 

3.9122341913 kilos is not bad at all and on the light side for a fiver.

Edited April 25, 2021 by Hellzero
Sentence not finished

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

8 lbs 10 oz is what the scale says. 😉 

3.9122341913 kilos is not bad at all and on the light side for a fiver.

Ah - but we're aiming for between 7 and 7 1/2

Should be possible.

[Andyjr1515]

Well, there's only so much pondering and prevaricating a bass can take.  Time to get the glue and clamps out:

 

[ezbass]

[TheGreek]

1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Well, there's only so much pondering and prevaricating a bass can take.  Time to get the glue and clamps out:

 

...and you know what they say..."you can never have enough clamps"..👍👍

[Andyjr1515]

I clamped the above and second wing down on a sheet of toughened glass (a glass chopping board from Dunelm) before applying the sash clamps to glue the second wing to ensure that total surface is flat.  

There will be quite a bit of carving on the back:

 

There is one area I might have to revisit.  I have fitted quite a thick demarcation layer of purpleheart to the top - it is strips of fretboard inner splices - and this was, again, bonded on glass, holding it flat while it dried.  But, even though purpleheart is tough stuff - much tougher than walnut, there is, at the moment, a significant warp.  When the edges are in place:

This is where the top currently sits at the neck joint...and that's supposed to be completely flush with the top of the neck!

What I will do, it give it a medium soaking and clamp it flat overnight and see if it holds flatness.  If not, I think I will need to remove the purpleheart from the walnut, add it to the oak and then add the walnut at the very end.  There are, therefore a few options so it's fixable, but I'm surprised the purpleheart allowed or caused such a severe warp - it is one of those woods that generally 'ain't going nowhere!'.

 

 

 

 

 

[TheGreek]

You're only doing this for the suspense....or are you???

All will be revealed...stay tuned for the next gripping instalment!!!

[Andyjr1515]

50 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

You're only doing this for the suspense....or are you???

All will be revealed...stay tuned for the next gripping instalment!!!

No this is a real.

Then again, I am an enigma...or am I ??  

 

But no - if the wet and clamp doesn't flatten it then the best option is to get the purpleheart off, relieve the stresses and redo, but start with the purpleheart on the almost immovable oak.

 

[3below]

The joys of making stuff - you plan, measure, use skill and experience only for the unexpected to intervene  (often with hindsight it was obviously going to happen)  You then  get the satisfaction of 'fixing' issues whilst re-assuring yourself that I won't let that happen again.  Sadly a new event will happen next time  and the cycle goes on (at least it does for me).

 

 

Edited April 26, 2021 by 3below

[Andyjr1515]

Had a look at the warp in the top and now understand  exactly what it is and where it is - and I can put it to one side for sorting later as it may sort itself.

End on - it's like this...and I'd be proud if I'd done it on purpose - it's basically the shape that @TheGreek asked me to do on his Psilos bass  :

This is an end-on shot looking from the tailstock towards the nut and it is the purpleheart that's doing it.  It was glued under clamping, but the moisture from the glue clearly has expanded the pupleheart, the top has glued and is held by the less porous walnut, the bottom has then dried and shrunk and pulled it into a bow.  The same sort of thing can happen when you are gluing veneer, but that doesn't have the strength to bend the underlying wood.

Now, if I was skilled enough, I would carve the mating surface of the oak to be the same shape, because my cunning plan on reducing weight is to add a touch of this at the back - not as extreme as this (which is @Len_derby 's lightweight Swift) but more like the curve above       :

 

"And if I was skilled enough, I would carve the mating surface of the oak to be the same shape..."   But I'm not 

Under clamping, it will flatten - but it is a huge force that I wouldn't want to be sitting in the middle of a bass over the next 20 years or so.  But I will, any event, be routing out much of the purpleheart out and that will help.  If it doesn't fully sort it, I can cut some stress relief slots along the length of the internal face of purpleheart that will sort is and still be fully invisible.

 

But all of that can wait because it's onto finalising the back weight relief, control chamber, etc, etc, etc

 

[Andyjr1515]

The good news is that the mating surface of through-neck and wings are pleasingly flat 

And to the internal features and chambers - but to do that, I need to know, broadly at least, the external carve.  And the carve to me is also an iterative process. The mathematicians amongst you will shake their heads disapprovingly and mutter, "Iterations on top of iterations...it's going to turn out like a camel..."

Anyway, camel or thoroughbred, it's the only way I can work.

So time to take some of the bulk away that I know needs to go before I can see what might make it look nice too...

For roughing out, I ought to buy myself a proper carver's chisel, but this is what I'm starting with - including my trusty Veritas Pullshave...the one example (or maybe the ONLY example) of an impulse buy being exactly what I needed as well as what I wanted

All plays havoc with the arthritis, but half an hour later:

And another half-hour, a decent start-off point:

Bear in mind that this body is still oversize, but just having this done helps me think where to take the back carve next.  I would hate to do it CNC...there is no way I could envisage it all first!!

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by Andyjr1515