kodiakblair Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 Wish the tagline applied to me,would have saved me from this latest folly 🤨 All started last year with a trip to Reid Timber in Glasgow. Alistair asked my thoughts on torrefied timbers as he had blanks of Ayous (Obeche) which while he personally wasn't convinced by our Nordic cousins seemed to like. Having no torrefied experience myself but with 1 piece blanks a good price , I bought one 🙂 Got home and did a rough cut slab body. Finding the timber to be both very light and very soft, it stayed as a rough cut for months will I thought of options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Months pass and I'm still pretty unsure as to my options. Pondered going headless, Google search had this from the Warmoth gallery. Looked pretty nifty 🙂 Our own @bagsieblue forced things along by selling a stealth Harley Benton neck. Time to source some hardware. Never having built a headless before the potential for error was high, this meant a low budget 😀 Overlord of Music headless system was bought along with sundry black hardware. Apathy then set in 🙁 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Suddenly it was mid Feb and I'd been sitting on my backside for too long. Made a start. That's commitment , it was also the last time I remembered to take a photo. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Worked moved apace, lack of photos saves my blushes from mishaps going public. Suffice to say mishaps were aplenty. The softness of the timber combined with my heavy handedness was the main issue. The guided bearing scored the grain when cutting the binding rebate while it turned to powder along the end grain. The supplied string anchor was for a 38mm nut, HB neck of course was 42mm. There was a mismatch between the bridge string spacing and the intended Bloodstone pickup, not a huge problem since I had a tighter spaced Wilkinson. The huge problem was I'd already routed out for the Bloodstone 🤬 Damn thing fought me every step of the way, and it was winning 🤕 Trial fit though showed it all lined up true. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Next the dreaded binding. Swore I'd never do binding again but I'm either stupid or have memory loss, probably both. Binding was a disaster, again 🤣 Had something looking like a bass. Grain looked great, sadly overall look was too dark ☹️ 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyTravis Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 I like that. Like the ultimate blend of old and new. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Back to the Warmoth inspired look. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 2, 2021 Author Share Posted May 2, 2021 Tips the scales at just over 6lbs. Set of La Bella double ballend tapes are on the way from Bass Direct. I do like that natural grain finish, might try this again. "Again" of course means no binding and it'll still have a peghead 😃 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted May 2, 2021 Share Posted May 2, 2021 5 hours ago, kodiakblair said: I do like that natural grain finish, might try this again. "Again" of course means no binding and it'll still have a peghead 😃 Front, rear and fretboard bound Westone Quantum in natural it is then? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 3, 2021 Share Posted May 3, 2021 Nice !...I had the desire to do a headless thing a while back, having seen yours I may well revisit the idea.. is the dramatically named overlord kit any good btw ? I fancied doing a Rickenfaker shape version, though it'd be minus the binding as I wouldn't have the patience to do that, plus I'm basically a hammer wielding thug anyway so wouldn't end well. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 12 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said: I'm basically a hammer wielding thug anyway so wouldn't end well. Funny, that... now I come to think of it, pretty much every mod I've carried out has inevitably seen me at some point or other hacking away with a chisel, muttering "get out of there you BASTID". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 Some would no doubt say "Hammer wielding thug = Bass Player" ... I'd have to confess they're probably spot on there.. ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 4, 2021 Author Share Posted May 4, 2021 19 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said: is the dramatically named overlord kit any good btw ? Seems OK though my experience of headless basses is limited to playing a Hohner B for 15 minutes at the BMF 30 years back 😀 Bridge unit needed recessed into the body, just the job for a hammer wielding thug 😁 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 I did a few (down tuned) gigs with one of those "Jack" headless basses quite a few years back, it was pretty good as I recall, somewhat different to the Rickenbacker 4001 I was slinging at that time... At the time the perverse thought occurred of doing a Rick shape headless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 4, 2021 Author Share Posted May 4, 2021 16 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said: At the time the perverse thought occurred of doing a Rick shape headless. I can see it working with that. You'd want the anchor for double ball end strings, it's slightly wider than the lock down version. Since a stock Ric bridge is quite tall you might not need to rebate the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 5 minutes ago, kodiakblair said: I can see it working with that. You'd want the anchor for double ball end strings, it's slightly wider than the lock down version. Since a stock Ric bridge is quite tall you might not need to rebate the body. I'd probably not use a rick type bridge tbh, they're bluddy expensive for one thing, this will be Budgetsville, Bodge City.!.. This "creation" I'd prob carve the body from a chunk or rather several chunks of timber, scaff board is quite a decent spec timber I believe. I've somewhere got a rick shape template I drew on a bit of brown paper for just such a purpose.... A Rick shape would work quite well for this madness as it's a skinny flat thing anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kodiakblair Posted May 4, 2021 Author Share Posted May 4, 2021 8 minutes ago, Waddo Soqable said: I'd probably not use a rick type bridge tbh I was thinking more about fretboard height being level with bridge height. If you were to copy Ric sizes it'll likely work without fine tuning. If you already have the scaffy board and the template. Get building 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 4, 2021 Share Posted May 4, 2021 Scarily prescient... I was enquiring about scaff board this very morning !! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 12 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said: Scarily prescient... I was enquiring about scaff board this very morning !! Quite a few of my builds I've used reclaimed scaff boards the only problem with them is they are very prone to tear out but its nothing a bit of sanding can't sort!...... 👍🏻 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 54 minutes ago, Jimothey said: Quite a few of my builds I've used reclaimed scaff boards the only problem with them is they are very prone to tear out but its nothing a bit of sanding can't sort!...... 👍🏻 Good to know someone else has used scaff boards, 👍 ...I've been happy with it for on numerous non musical instrument things I've knocked together and thought it might do nicely. Will be a case of being selective & find some bits that aren't cracked or otherwise dodgy ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimothey Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 9 hours ago, Waddo Soqable said: Good to know someone else has used scaff boards, 👍 ...I've been happy with it for on numerous non musical instrument things I've knocked together and thought it might do nicely. Will be a case of being selective & find some bits that aren't cracked or otherwise dodgy ! It all depends on what look your going for, I have used them on my jaguar build which was a painted finish so it needed a lot of filing and sanding and on my fenderbird build which I've embraced the knackered/rustic look..... 👍🏻 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waddo Soqable Posted May 5, 2021 Share Posted May 5, 2021 Not really sure at this "concept" stage, I rather fancy the wrecked look though, plus it would save a lot of fiddly finicky business too ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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