Yamaha BB350F to BB1999 (or something)

[Andyjr1515]

11 done, 10 to go =  over halfway

 

[Andyjr1515]

And all in

Here it is, waiting for the glue in the final 3 to 4 that I've put in to cure enough to allow me to clip all the ends flush with the sides of the board:

 

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[AndyTravis]

Me…currently (this is my “I’m very excited” pose).

Thanks for doing this @Andyjr1515 when I know you’re mad busy xxx

[Andyjr1515]

It's been a bit of a bitty day today so in between 'normal life' stuff, I was able to do some more bits with this - particularly some specific bits I needed to remember.

One of those is that it was previously fretless...with rounded fretboard edges.  And that's different to how you make a fretted board. 

With the latter, you fit the frets to a radiussed, square-edged, fretboard so the frets follow the radius to the very ends.  You then round the wood edges in between the frets. 

But with a fretless, there are no frets and so you round the whole length of the edges.  So when you fret a fretless, you have a rounded board at the ends of each fret.  Blurred photo, but can you see the resulting gaps here where the fretboard radius tightens at the edges? :

Well - even though the tang slots will be filled with rosewood-coloured epoxy and could fill the edges, you will still end up with sharp fret-ends, either from the start or after some playing.  

But I can't just whack the ends because that will loosen the frets!  And so out comes the radius block again and, with that clamped to the frets to keep them fully secure -  and inset the right amount so you don't affect the radius where the strings are going to be - then you can whack them with a hammer 

So you end up with this:

And now you can happily clip the overhang:

 

And, after sanding the ends flush, this is ready now for the tang-slot filling and the proper fret-end rounding.  You can see here just how big that gap would have been if I hadn't taken that extra step:

 

And here's the board ready for the next step...probably get back to it middle of the coming week:

 

 

 

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[PatrickJ]

Fascinating to watch the process, thanks @Andyjr1515 for the detailed explanation of the work you do as you go!

[AndyTravis]

I’ve just ripped me pants…

🥰🥰🥰🥰

[Si600]

I didn't realise Maserati made radius blocks.

[AndyTravis]

25 minutes ago, Si600 said:

I didn't realise Maserati made radius blocks.

This absolutely radius’s my block…

[Guest]

Are we back to giving you metallic greens to tempt you with? I thought purple had been declared the winner

[AndyTravis]

Poipul…

[bassfan]

1 minute ago, AndyTravis said:

Poipul…

Noiiice😍

[TheGreek]

Hope the neck pocket on your bass is tighter than that on the door on the Cobra (copy)

[AndyTravis]

1 hour ago, TheGreek said:

Hope the neck pocket on your bass is tighter than that on the door on the Cobra (copy)

I think that’s a scale model to be fair

[Andyjr1515]

Bet you all thought I'd forgotten about this! 

Next job is filling the tang slots and any remaining gaps between the fret-ends and the board edge. 

I use Z-poxy mixed with rosewood sanding dust.  The epoxy is squeezed into the end slot and then overfilled to allow for any sinkage.  Should look and feel OK once it's sanded flush and clean of the wood:

After this, it's just a case of levelling, recrowning and polishing the frets and it can be shipped back to Andy.  Should be all done by the end of this week 

 

  

[Andyjr1515]

Tang slots filled and fret ends rounded.  Just the levelling, recrowning, polishing and final tidying up left to do

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Andyjr1515

[TheGreek]

@AndyTravis will suddenly get sick and have to take a day off work later this week...

[AndyTravis]

1 minute ago, TheGreek said:

@AndyTravis will suddenly get sick and have to take a day off work later this week...

After the day I’ve had 😂

[Andyjr1515]

For levelling, these are the main things I use.

First I adjust the truss rod (it works!) to flatten the neck and then use the Crimson rocker (you can use a snipped credit card but I find this durable and better in avoiding mis-readings) at 4 points along each triplet of frets and note the high spots for each of the frets up the board.

The levelling beam is just a length of aluminium box section with emery cloth stuck to one side.  It acts as my straight edge as well as sanding beam.  It's always gratifying when the sanding beam filings correspond with the previously measured high spots!  

I then use the two diamond sharpening stones for more localised work - if you have one or two particularly high high-spots, you can end up inadvertently sanding frets that don't need it while you are taking down those particular high spots.  It's better to file the high spot down and then level out the minor variances.

Double checked with the rocker and next job is recrowning the tops of the frets that have been affected.

[Andyjr1515]

And neck done.  While @Matt P 's final whisper coats of Tru-oil were drying I go back to this.

The brass nut needed slimming down and thinning down:

 

Then the fret recrowning and polishing:

And finally a last tidy up of the rosewood:

 

So all ready to return to @AndyTravis 

 

 

[AndyTravis]

Wow

[AndyTravis]

Well the neck is back - somewhat predictably, @Andyjr1515 has done an amazing job.

I’m now totally at a loss where to go.

The lust for purple has faded. 
 

So, just mulling over what to do.

I have enough chrome hardware, and more or less enough gold hardware…

[LukeFRC]

Some ideas here for you (borrowing an old photo from @phsycoandy, sans frets...)  

[AndyTravis]

Wow 

[LukeFRC]

9 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Wow 

and not a perfect match, but get whoever is spraying it to match MINI British racing green iV or close enough... 

Edited June 29, 2021 by LukeFRC

[AndyTravis]

To be fair a lot of those look ace…