JPJ Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='619028' date='Oct 6 2009, 09:12 PM']Hi JPJ - did you ever get to finish this or did the top still give you grief?![/quote] Well, after leaving this at the back of the cupboard for a while, I've restarted work on it. I had trouble with both the top and the join line between the maple and the swamp ash which was really caused by me being a bit of a numpt and trying to take the solid black over the radius of the maple. Having tried that unsuccesfully a couple of times, I've now gone with having the joint between the stain and the solid colour on the join line of the maple and swamp ash and I'm really pleased with the result. The top isnt perfect, but then again, I was probably trying for a level of perfection higher than the piece of maple would allow. It seemed like everytime I sanded one set of defects out, another set would appear, to the point where what started as a 6mm cap is now down to about 4.5mm! Yesterday I sprayed the top with lacquer to seal it so that I could wet sand the back and sides this week and even though this is just the first of many coats of lacquer, the result is really pleasing. I may even post a picture or two later So the project is back on again, and its my intention to finish the body this week so that the lacquer can have a good four weeks to harden before I assemble her whilst on holiday in August. I'm so pleased with the finish so far, I might just build another project bass........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Glad to see this resurrected, looking forward to the results. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 12, 2010 Share Posted July 12, 2010 Yay!!! Pics, pics, pics!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 12, 2010 Author Share Posted July 12, 2010 Just a couple of camera phone shots for tonight She's actually much darker in the flesh And the troublesome edge! Didn't get to do any work on her tonight so I'll hopefully start cutting back tomorrow night Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budget bassist Posted July 13, 2010 Share Posted July 13, 2010 Nice one! I really want to see this finished, looks like a lovely bass! looking forward to the finished product Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 15, 2010 Author Share Posted July 15, 2010 Well after a week of foul weather, the sun finally shone tonight and I've had a very pleasant hour in the workshop flatting the lacquer on the front and the japanning lacquer on the back and sides and loosing the tape line between the two. No sand throughs to repair so I'm well chuffed. She is now ready for the first all over coat of finish lacquer which, weather permitting, will go on tomorrow night. Nothing much to photograph at this stage I'm afraid, but this is starting to look really good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 18, 2010 Author Share Posted July 18, 2010 Well a weekend of lacquering and cutting back has left me with this That's eight coats of lacquer, and I recon another four coats will be needed to get the depth of gloss I'm after but this is really looking good in the flesh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilmour Posted July 18, 2010 Share Posted July 18, 2010 That's gonna look real good when it's finished. I've enjoyed this build diary. Keep up the good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 thumbs up! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted July 19, 2010 Share Posted July 19, 2010 Looking good, I'm really looking forward to the finished article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted August 4, 2010 Share Posted August 4, 2010 Any news? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTool Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 (edited) Wow!! That is looking megga so far JPJ! Keep up the good work, I'm dying to see the finished result! Edited August 10, 2010 by BassTool Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted August 19, 2010 Author Share Posted August 19, 2010 Just a quick "no photos" update. The body is now going through the several (i.e. 12'ish) coats of lacquer to build up the shine. I'm now down to wirewool between coats and I'm really pleased with the finish I'm getting. I'm not going to give an estimate of when I'll finish as work keeps getting in the way of progress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 [quote name='JPJ' post='929541' date='Aug 19 2010, 11:04 AM']Just a quick "no photos" update. The body is now going through the several (i.e. 12'ish) coats of lacquer to build up the shine. I'm now down to wirewool between coats and I'm really pleased with the finish I'm getting. I'm not going to give an estimate of when I'll finish as work keeps getting in the way of progress [/quote] Bloomin' work getting in the way of updates... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted August 31, 2010 Author Share Posted August 31, 2010 [quote name='EBS_freak' post='941058' date='Aug 31 2010, 03:42 PM']Bloomin' work getting in the way of updates...[/quote] Nope, more problems with that bloody top Foolishly, when finishing the woodwork phase, I routed the back of the top to leave it 2.5mm thick at the three-way switch. With all the sanding I've done to get the top in decent condition, that had reduced to a little under 1.25mm. Whilst sanding back the eighth lacquer coat, I noticed that the top had split from both mounting holes for the three-way and was about to collapse! So i've had to make a Dutchman to go in the control cavity, stick this in place, then machine a round edged groove where the switch slot was, so that the switch now sits slightly recessed into the top. It's actually turned out quiet well and I'm pleased with the result but this has put the finishing back a bit as I've had to stain and finish the new groove to match the rest of the top. I'm away at the present, but will post some pictures of my solution at the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 Well after another protracted period of thinking about this project whilst doing other domestic projects, a similar build thread on a local forum spurred me to return to this project. The problems with the three-way switch continue in that the dutchman when fitted, left the three-way switch sticking out of the back of the body. A quick check with the calipers revealed that in my haste, I'd ended up with a body that was only 39mm thick instead of the more musicman-like 45mm hence why the three-way was too deep for the body! The only solution was to a) remove the dutchman and laminate another piece of swamp ash onto the back of the body to give me the correct finished depth. First step was to order some 18mm thick swamp ash to laminate to the back and then to machine off around 10-12mm of the existing body in readiness for the lamination: That done, I routed out the defective area around the three-way switch in the front: Then I made an insert to go into the new 'hole': Then sanded this smooth: Finally, having laminated the new swamp ash onto the back of the body, I rough cut the shape with a laminate trimming bit and then thinned the body to 46mm total in readiness for final sanding. As I've also been able to source some black grain filler, my plan is now to finish the back in a trans-black finish with only the solid japaning lacquer on the edges. Tonight will be spent finishing shaping the back of the body including the belly area and rounding over the edges. As I now have a large non-matching dutchman in the face of the bass, I'm not going to be as particular with the finishing. If the bass works as well as I hope, then I'll make another body (using the lessons learned). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted June 29, 2011 Author Share Posted June 29, 2011 Progress has slowed again due to work commitments. I did get the back of the body rounded over and the 'belly' contour roughed in: Since taking this photo, I've refined the joint line across the belly contour removing the last of the black lacquer at the same time. I'm now spending time sanding around the edge to eliminate the joint line. I've also stripped the front of the bass (again) and now that the body is the right thickness (you know when something feels right) my optimism for how this bass may turn out has risen again. The only possible drawback was going to be that big "dutchman" in the front. So to get around that problem, I've ordered some quilt maple 0.6mm thick veneer to apply over the front of the bass (overkill given that the front is already quilted maple). There should be enough veneer for 4 bass fronts so I may decide to veneer the flat surface of the back as well and only have the japaning lacquer on the edge/belly contour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Heeley Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 WOW! Fab bubbly quilty maple veneer. What a nice looking build Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 4, 2011 Author Share Posted July 4, 2011 This weekend I've finished stripping the last of the black lacquer off the edges, tidied up the joint line, opened out the control cavity and battery box openings and rebated both. Next job comes from the perfectionist in me ;D Because of the re-thicknessing, the jack socket hole wasnt central and too near the face of the bass. Now being a bit of a hoarder, I still had the off cuts from the blank the body was made from. So I decided to make a plug to fill the jack socket hole so that I could re-drill it on the new centre. So I set about routing out the old hole. Sunday morning was spent finishing off the jack socket relocation. First, I finished routing out the old hole. Then I shaped a piece of the original body blank to fit, trying to line up the grain as best I could (anal I know ). Then I glued the block in place Finally, once the glue had set, I sanded the block to the body shape and re-drilled for the jack socket (I'm using a neutrik locking jack). The project is now pretty much on hold waiting for the veneer to arrive as there is no point doing any of the finishing until all the wood butchery is completed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andydye Posted July 4, 2011 Share Posted July 4, 2011 Wow what a thread but it's been beautiful looking before in your 'imperfect' stages so am really looking forward to the finished and perfect article!! Good luck matey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 29, 2011 Author Share Posted July 29, 2011 (edited) So the veneer arrived As I'm trying to achieve a very organic feel to this bass with no sharp edges, I'd already rounded over the edges of the top which left me with a few dilemmas when it came to applying the veneer. If I veneered up to the face side of the radius on the body edge, how could I be sure to get a clean glue line so that the top stain would penetrate properly, or could I 'bend' the veneer over the body edge radius so that the glue line was on the edge of the bass where the finish will be solid black lacquer? For my first attempt I tried the 'flat on the front' approach which was an unmitigated disaster. Having glued the veneer down and allowed it to dry, I started sanding out the edge. Unfortunately, I had'nt clamped the veneer preferring to rely on masking tape, and the result was as I sanded I kept hitting unglued 'voids' which then chipped and teared as I sanded. So as has been the tradition with this project, I sanded off the entire veneer (yes, I do now have a right arm like a Russian shot putter ) Having failed with the first attempt, I reapplied a new piece of veneer to half of the bass using: a) lots of glue; and lots of clamping force, and bending the veneer over the edge of the body. The result was immediately better. Following Andyjr1515 advice, I then trimmed the openings before adding the second piece of veneer here shown with some of the clamps/tape in place. Once the glue had fully cured and having then trimmed off the excess veneer, I ended up with this. The veneer wrapped over the edge with very little encouragement other than the moisture from the glue. I did apply glue to both the veneer and the body but being a fully fledged wood butcher I couldn't bring myself to allow this to go off before mating the surfaces as Andy does and besides, I don't think Mrs JPJ would appreciate her iron dissappearing down to the workshop (shed) I'm now sanding the edges (one of [url="http://www.axminster.co.uk/flap-wheels-prod834123/"]these[/url] in the drill press makes this an easy task) ready for grain filling and lacquering. I have had one or two smallish glue voids but having learned from previous mistakes, I've been carefully repairing these as they arise. Hopefully, this weekend will see the first of the final 'final' finishes going on Edited July 29, 2011 by JPJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezbass Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Ooh that veneer is pure maple porn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted July 29, 2011 Share Posted July 29, 2011 Hi JPJ With hols, etc, I'd completely missed this thread until you mentioned it with your kind words about my fretless. WOW Absolutely jaw dropping. With your workmanship, I am flattered that ANY of my tips could be useful... I look forward very much indeed to seeing the next shots Andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTool Posted July 31, 2011 Share Posted July 31, 2011 [quote name='ezbass' post='1320367' date='Jul 29 2011, 12:53 PM']Ooh that veneer is pure maple porn [/quote] Agree!! Looks lush that! Keep going!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPJ Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 Well as you might have gathered from the lack of updates, the veneer didn't work out well at all. Too many air voids meant it was no where near what I wanted and given the relative cost of the graphite neck, pickup, circuit etc. this went off to the great scrap bin in the sky However, after almost three years and a whole lot of other projects, I decided I would get on with this again. So a body blank (tulipwood) was sourced along with a new maple cap. The body has been roughed out for a while and sitting around in my man cave, but this week I have cracked on with gluing on the maple cap. Learning from my previous efforts, I fixed one half of the top in place yesterday, then after cleaning up the glue along the joint line, today I have glued on the other half. Once this has fully dried, I will wet (soak) the maple and bend this over the forearm chamfer. Doing this way means less variables during the gluing process as trying to glue both halves of the top and bend the top over the forearm contour in a single operation was a little stressful Oh and I've ordered the finishing materials too, so the intention is to crack on with this now and have a finished bass by the end of August. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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