Finished Pics! Single Cut 5-string Short Scale

[Si600]

4 hours ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And why the angled tuners?

Channeling your inner He Who Shall Not Be Named guitar converter?

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, SpondonBassed said:

The bass is looking really good.

How do you flat the inside curve?

I did it with a needle file - although, to be honest, I never use that curve so I didn't spend much time on that area.  Not even sure what you could use it for!

 

[Andyjr1515]

Volute nearly there:

 

I'll finish it off as part of the final sanding...which, incidentally, has begun  :

 

I'll put in the Luminlays before starting the finishing and so by the middle of the week the finish stages will begin - and in between each drying coat, some wooden knobs, the magnetic trussrod cover and the frame for seating the hatch cover (hopefully with it being just one Superquad loom, magnets should be fine) will all be worked on.

In the meantime, the bone nut has been ordered and I'm just about to order the strings   I think the final furlong is definitely in play.

 

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

First pass of the final sanding and another reveal coat.  Bit of glue squeezout at the top and end of the fretboard/body join:

 

Back looks OK   :

 

Edges look OK .  You can see where the pickup chamber I cut after fixing the top meets the control cable channel I cut before fixing the top.  Yes - the chamber and opening will be tidied up  :

 

Bit more sanding at the back to lose those grain chips:

Final finish, once it's ready, will be like @Jus Lukin 's headless - a light Tru-oil gloss 

 

[TheGreek]

Good work @Andyjr1515 - the wood tones really work together and the Tru Oil is really bringing out the grain.

 

[Andyjr1515]

And to the Luminlay.  Pricey but very easy to fit. 

It comes in a stick.   I drill a 3-4mm deep hole with an accurate bradpoint drill, then pop a drop of superglue gel on the end and push the Luminlay fully home:

 

Then I cut it almost flush with the razor saw before paring it fully flush with a sharp chisel:

And here they are all installed just ready for the final final sand:

And that final final sand will happen this afternoon which means that the final final finish starts tomorrow

And the other thing to try this afternoon is the knobs.  We're going for: oak; very thin purpleheart demarcation; ebony top; luminlay dot -  if I can manage that

 

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[Richard R]

48 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

And the other thing to try this afternoon is the knobs.  We're going for: oak; very thin purpleheart demarcation; ebony top; luminlay dot -  if I can manage that

More craftsmanship on display for the control knobs than many builders can manage for the entire build...

 

Edited June 8, 2021 by Richard R
And I bet the dot will be exactly the right distance off-centre to indicate the knob position and look just right..

[spacecowboy]

Fantastic work

[Andyjr1515]

I've tried making knobs a few different ways, but this is probably the most successful method of the ones I've tried.

I part-cut the bottom wood using a diamond pipe-drill:

Then create the relief for the pot nut with a 15mm Forstner:

Then the hole for the spindle insert:

 

 

And now I have all the concentric holes done, I can re-fit the pipe-drill and finish the cut:

 

Next is the hole for screwdriver access to the insert grub screw:

 

And now I can (carefully) press-fit the spindle insert, lining up the grub screw with the drilled hole:

 

Then I cut the purpleheart and ebony discs with the pipe-drill:

 

Glued and clamped:

 

Next is installing the luminlay dots:

 

And finally, using a 6mm drill in the insert as a mandrel, a quick sanding and oiling:

 

 

 

 

 

[ezbass]

I have drill envy alongside skill envy.

[SpondonBassed]

17 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I have drill envy alongside skill envy.

You could so easily have said you had knob envy.  Well done for showing some restraint.

[TheGreek]

^ = Candidate for BC Quotes

[Richard R]

9 hours ago, TheGreek said:

^ = Candidate for BC Quotes

Done

@Andyjr1515,  @SpondonBassed, @ezbass

[Andyjr1515]

Always a good sign when it's time to order the strings 

First final finish coat on.  Knobs are probably not in their final positions (no holes will be drilled until the final finish is finally finished   ).  For a tru-oil light gloss (and most other finishes, to be honest) I start in the same place - a good old 'slurry and buff':

Told you it's going to look pretty 

The bone nut has arrived.  Always a relief that I've cut the neck the right width! :

And the luminlays have sanded up nicely:

Still to do while the finish is being sorted is the truss-rod cover and the hatch rebate strips, and I have the jack/jackplate and pots to source, but there is now plenty of 'waiting for it to dry hard' time to do those sorts of things

 

 

[Matt P]

WOW! the wood is really coming to life,

 

the knob position looks pretty good where they sit now, 

 

Matt

[Andyjr1515]

1 hour ago, Matt P said:

WOW! the wood is really coming to life

By the time it has got a bit more glossy, that quilt in it will follow you round the room

 

 

[TheGreek]

...and it'll feel soooo oooh.

[Andyjr1515]

Ah - the old 'Razzle Dazzle' camouflage trick:

 

Look into my eyes   Have you ever seen a bass as beautiful as this?  No you haven't.  No You haven't.

 

[benh]

This is looking fantastic - normally I'm teetering on the fence when it comes to single cut basses, but I definitely like this!

[BassTool]

Never, ever, been a fan of single cuts either...

 

Consider me converted 😳

Lovely work as usual @Andyjr1515

 

👌🏼

[zbd1960]

Yes, of the various shapes of bass, single cut is not at the top of my preferred list... but this is a nice looking beast

[Andyjr1515]

For the top, I've done a number of re-sand, re-slurryandbuffs as I've found sanding scratches, etc, and now this is the second 'build-up' coat. 

 

The process I will then use will be a bit like I do when I slurry and buff stained wood with tru-oil - I build up enough coats to be able to slurry the tru-oil itself, but not deep enough to reach the wood.  That will give me a super-smooth satin base layer and then I will wipe on a couple of final finish coats to add back the shine.  So I reckon another three undercoats, with a full day's drying in between, and then I'll do a slurry coat, followed by a couple of very light wiped coats.

In between that I will be doing the slurry and buff coats for the neck to give me that silky-smooth organic feel.  The fretboard won't be finished until the frets have been levelled, re-crowned and polished.

[Andyjr1515]

There are now enough coats of hardened oil to be able to do a light flattening.  I use 2000grit with plenty of water on the paper and regular spray downs to prevent the sandings clogging the paper:

This gets rid of any specks, bubbles, minor dips and also prevents the build up of application ripples in the surface while sanding only the oil and getting nowhere near the wood underneath.

That done, I pop it onto a wiped down shoe box to get it away from any dusty surfaces, wipe it down with a clean microfibre cloth (I use the ones they sell for cleaning windows with), open a new bottle of tru-oil so I know there is no dust contamination and apply the first of the finish coats wiping it on with a clean lint-free soft cloth. 

This process may happen three or four times until I get a coat that looks right...and then I STOP

 

[Andyjr1515]

Yes - little by little it's getting there

Edited June 12, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[HazBeen]

Wow, that is some glow!