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Pair of Semi Hollow 4 strings - Fretted and Fretless


Jabba_the_gut

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Mistakes are a part of life. I used to say that the only people who don't make mistakes are those who never do anything, but never doing anything is a mistake in itself isn't it?

Sorry for getting all philosophical there for a minute. 

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So a bit backward compared to normal build threads but here's a couple of pictures of the finished bass that I'm going to dismantle!! 

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And the neck removed

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I've measured everything up and will need to make a new neck template as the new one will have a zero fret and a scarf joint on the headstock so the dimensions from my previous template are slightly different. I will also need to make a second neck template for the fretboard as this will extended to include the thumb rest.

I've also ordered a router bit for cutting the slots for the graphite neck rods (not something I've used before but we'll give them a go on these builds) as that is one of the next jobs.

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I've made both the new neck templates for this from MDF using the old template as a starting point. It's great when you have a bunch of templates from previous builds that you can use as a starting point.

 

QlrNzUO.jpg?1

 

 

The router cutter for the graphite rods has also arrived so I'll be doing a bit of experimenting to see how best to do this. I made a simple neck jig recently for slotting truss rods so I should be able to use this for the graphite rods too.

Edited by Jabba_the_gut
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1 hour ago, Hellzero said:

Simply put the link, not need to use the embedding banners.

Thanks for that! I did nothing different to what I've done before so I'm not sure why it picked up the banners - I guess that PCs for you!! Some setting changed somewhere...I'll have a dig.

 

Cheers

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Slotted both necks for the carbon rods and the truss rods. I used a couple of equal sized spacers on the router guide to give me the three different distanced from the neck edge - just adding or taking out spacers makes it easy and repeatable to cut the slots. The spacers are just two equal thickness pieces of ply. 

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Quite pleased how these have gone so far. I've not got any basses with carbon neck rods and I've never built one with them so I'll be interested to see if I notice any difference in the end. 

 

Next job is to drill the hole for the truss rod adjuster.

 

 

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  • 7 months later...

Big pause between posts - been busy sorting lots of non-bass related stuff!!

 

One main thing I've been doing is sorting my garage. I moved house a couple of years ago to a place with the luxury of some garage space I can use for a workshop. It gets cold in there, there's weren't enough sockets and it was full of boxes of stuff that needed sorting. So after lots of work I now have a warm and tidy area to work in and lots of space to move the bigger tools like my planer thicknesser around. I also converted an old Workmate into a stand for my router table and that has worked out a treat. There's still a couple of jobs to do, such as painting the walls and sorting a some tool boards, but this is where I am at:

Rq4b2uG.jpg

 

I've now got the semi hollow bass back on the bench and off we go again!! And I'm excited as it been a while and I have a few ideas that I'm going to try on this.

 

l6opdge.jpg

 

Cheers

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A lunchtime finish from work and lovely weather! 

 

I've made a start on the fretboard for the fretless bass. Someone must have done this before but I haven't seen it which means either it hasn't been done much or it's a bad idea for reasons I haven't found out (yet)!! After chatting with Frank a while back the idea of using aluminium for the lines on the fretboard came up. I tried it on a sample of ebony and it looks lovely!! There is something about how it catches the light that makes it really standout.

 

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So that's the plan for this fretless build - full length wraparound aluminium lines. Just figuring out how to that on a full board and the order in which to fit them!! In the meantime, I've slotted the fretboard and cut the required strips of aluminium.

n91Y7rT.jpg

 

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I'm really looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

 

Cheers

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26 minutes ago, Jabba_the_gut said:

After chatting with Frank a while back the idea of using aluminium for the lines on the fretboard came up. I tried it on a sample of ebony and it looks lovely!! There is something about how it catches the light that makes it really standout.

 

I am such a sucker for anything aluminium or brushed steel, especially against natural wood, there is something very 70s about it, which, in my book, is a very good thing indeed. So excited about this. As soon as I got the Jabba spalted bass home my other basses have just languished in the rack. To have matching fretted and fretless basses and the spalted as a backup... well, it's a dream! Having owned a Jabba bass for a few months now I can confirm that not only are they works of art they also play as good as they look. Man I can't wait.

Edited by Frank Blank
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17 minutes ago, wrinkleygit said:

Great to see you back up and running again, the Telebass is always on hand as my practice tool and the Fretless gets its first gig of the year in a couple of weeks, looking forward to see how Franks turns out .

Not as much as Frank is :)

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