benh Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hellzero said: Maybe don't put the Superquad so close to the bridge. Use the good old Leo 70's Jazz Bass position for the single coil placement or use the MusicMan Stingray placement. Think about purpleheart for the fingerboard as it will age the same way as the padauk, I mean that reddish browny. I really like the body shape. Thanks Tony - agreed regarding the pickup positioning - looks better too in the Stingray position. Amended photo below. Good shout for purpleheart, I hadn't considered that... decisions, decisions! Regarding the body shape, first of all, thanks! Edit - I've altered the lower horn as @TheGreek and @Jabba_the_gut suggested, thank you. I'm sure I've subconsciously plagiarised something, I'm just not sure what 😅 Edited March 11, 2021 by benh Changed image 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 9 hours ago, mhoss32 said: Love the look of this already, that wood combinbation is going to be a stunner. padauk and wenge are a cracking combo colour wise id say. beyond pickups any idea on electronics/controls? looking forward to seeing this come together! and +1 on working on the dining table/a workmate, a proper workshop only makes things faster, not easier do you think there's a woodworkers WAG's forum somewhere where they all meet up to complain? There is, I’ve just been lurking there. You don’t even want to know what they were saying about some “moss” geezer, whoever the fairy-cake he is 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 3 hours ago, BassTool said: That's classed as a standard workshop on here 😁 you are in good company 👍🏼 and will never be short of brilliant advice or opinion 👌🏼 He will, he will be asking us so will get a random mixture of conceited bias, conjecture and downright misinformation - best ask someone else really 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 11, 2021 Author Share Posted March 11, 2021 3 minutes ago, Geek99 said: He will, he will be asking us so will get a random mixture of conceited bias, conjecture and downright misinformation - best ask someone else really I'll bear that in mind! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted March 11, 2021 Share Posted March 11, 2021 33 minutes ago, benh said: I'm sure I've subconsciously plagiarised something, I'm just not sure what 😅 It doesn’t matter - it’s not like they’re going to spy through your window and issue you with a cease-and-desist notice for making a one-off... unless it looked a bit like a Rickenba.., 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 (edited) 21 hours ago, benh said: Quote I'm sure I've subconsciously plagiarised something, I'm just not sure what 😅 This?? or this Edited March 12, 2021 by TheGreek Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 Another thought re: fretboard material... could look rather splendid, although maybe a bit much 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 Headstock idea... input welcome. Again I feel I'm being incredibly derivative of something, I just don't know what. Although I guess there are only so many shapes a headstock can be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted March 12, 2021 Share Posted March 12, 2021 As you say, nice piece of wood but sometimes it works better with a more limited number of colours. A more plain pattern might also work well as there’s a lot happening with the spalted top. Having said that, sometimes it’s hard to tell until you put them next to each other as to whether it will work or not. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 39 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said: As you say, nice piece of wood but sometimes it works better with a more limited number of colours. A more plain pattern might also work well as there’s a lot happening with the spalted top. Having said that, sometimes it’s hard to tell until you put them next to each other as to whether it will work or not. Yeah, I wondered if it might be a bit busy. I think I'm going to stick to what I originally planned, wenge for the board. Relatively understated but nice grain. Hopefully will contrast nicely with the padauk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 12, 2021 Author Share Posted March 12, 2021 Question for the luthiers among us - does this look substantial enough for the neck pocket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jabba_the_gut Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, benh said: Question for the luthiers among us - does this look substantial enough for the neck pocket? Just for reference, a Fender type bass neck pocket for a 4 string is typically around 95mm x 64mm (give or take a couple of mm) so using that as a benchmark, you are a fair bit shorter than that at 68mm. Consider also how you are going to bolt the neck on (neck plate of individual ferrules) and how are you going to finish the edges. By that I mean are you going to round over the edges a little or a lot? If you were going for quite round edges (say a 12mm radius) then the line up to where you can put the ferrules or neck plate moves back into the body by that amount so they don't overhang the curve. Then have a look at where the mounting holes would be as you might find them to be quite close together. Hope this makes sense! If it was me, I would extend the pocket into the body by another 20mm or so. This would give more contact between the two, give you more room for mounting screws and also give a bit more fretboard on the body side of the 24th fret - there's a risk at the moment that the bottom left hand corner of the fretboard on your drawing might chip off when you press the fret in (I've done that before!). Cheers Jez Edited March 13, 2021 by Jabba_the_gut 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 I agree with @Jabba_the_gut. If the pickup was destined to be right up against your fretboard end, then I would have said that this is probably OK. But in that you have the room, I would - in any case - have more fretboard beyond the 24th fret and also to give you a bit more distance between the two fixing bolts on that side with the correspondingly longer pocket. The resulting 10-20mm extension look fine too. I like how the design is evolving and (on these things he always is) @TheGreek was spot on with that small tweak to the lower cutaway and horn. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 +2 to the above. It is shorter than I would make it in any case. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Thanks guys - I'll amend it when I get some time this eve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 What a great bunch of guys we have here, they’re so giving with their knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 Just to put some oil on the fire... A bolt-on neck only needs two fixture points (in fact one would be enough, but the neck would be able to move on it's own axis). The fixture points towards the bridge are useless as they are in compression mode. All the tension is on the fixture points towards the headstock. It's a reverse Archimedes lever principle. You can see the action of this principle on old Fender's 4 points fixture where the heel very end of the fretboard (all the neck in fact) has been uprising (and the shim doesn't help in this case). Now I'll throw some water on the oil, just for fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 3 hours ago, Hellzero said: Just to put some oil on the fire... A bolt-on neck only needs two fixture points (in fact one would be enough, but the neck would be able to move on it's own axis). The fixture points towards the bridge are useless as they are in compression mode. All the tension is on the fixture points towards the headstock. It's a reverse Archimedes lever principle. You can see the action of this principle on old Fender's 4 points fixture where the heel very end of the fretboard (all the neck in fact) has been uprising (and the shim doesn't help in this case). Now I'll throw some water on the oil, just for fun. So..... providing you never needed the bit between 17th snd 18th fret, and it didn't protrude above the top of the fret to either side, you could hold the neck on with a jubilee clip... I may try that one day, but it would need to be a proper rat bass style over the rest of it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 (edited) Suggestion: Here's a starting point for your headstock shape. Edited March 13, 2021 by TheGreek 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 3 hours ago, Hellzero said: A bolt-on neck only needs two fixture points (in fact one would be enough, but the neck would be able to move on it's own axis). The fixture points towards the bridge are useless as they are in compression mode. All the tension is on the fixture points towards the headstock. It's a reverse Archimedes lever principle. @Hellzero is quite right. As long as the neck heel is fitted to be properly against the back of the pocket it's the 'lift' you need to bolt against. Do you remember this one - I fitted a neck to one of @eude 's schooldays (?) projects. It was the shortest pocket I ever did (by necessity) - and it was a 6 string bass! The pocket was even shorter than @benh 's present one: For that, because I had no idea really what extra pull forces might be on a sixer, and the floor of the pocket itself wasn't all that thick, I went belt and braces and fitted an unglued dry biscuit joint into the front join area: It held fine and, to be honest, I think it would have been OK with just the bolts: So, @benh - best to extend the fretboard a touch in any case, as much for the 24th fret security as anything, and the resulting neck pocket should be perfectly adequate 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 Many thanks for the advice - I'll play it safe and add some length, but glad to know it's not likely to snap in half at the neck joint! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Andyjr1515 said: @Hellzero is quite right. As long as the neck heel is fitted to be properly against the back of the pocket it's the 'lift' you need to bolt against. Yes, but the shorter the distance of the pocket, the shorter the distance between front and back screws and the less surface area to spread the load of the strings. But regardless, everyone is agreeing it makes sense to extend the pocket. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benh Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 (edited) Thanks guys. Regarding hardware, I've already decided on (and ordered) a set of Wilkinson WJB750 tuners. Used them before and they're solid for the money. Questioning my bridge options though - I really like the look/design of Sandberg bridges, and they're very reasonable in terms of cost. Anyone with experience with the Sandberg bridges? Edited March 13, 2021 by benh Image added for clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazBeen Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 1 hour ago, benh said: Thanks guys. Regarding hardware, I've already decided on (and ordered) a set of Wilkinson WJB750 tuners. Used them before and they're solid for the money. Questioning my bridge options though - I really like the look/design of Sandberg bridges, and they're very reasonable in terms of cost. Anyone with experience with the Sandberg bridges? Perfectly fine bridge solution. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreek Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 I like the look of the Babicz bridges... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.