Lightweight fretless bass build 30" scale

[JGTay]

The plan is for a laminated through neck of beech & mahogany (what I had to hand) which was started yesterday and the body wings will hopefully be a poplar core with walnut top and bottom. I already have the poplar left over from the dismantled piano and need to source some walnut. This will hopefully end up being the thinnest build I have done, looking at between 24-28mm, should help keep the weight down and it will have one pickup with volume & tone control.

 

This may take a while compared to my usual builds (average time has been 6 weeks start to finish). Funds are non existent, so parts will be as and when money comes in, and in the meantime it is a case of using what I have to hand. I am planning on making a pickup for this, already done a test pickup with thicker wire stock taken from an old extractor fan which only had enough for 2000 winds (completely hand wound...), it worked well but had a very low output and would require a preamp to boost it. I may well use the test pickup in a future build with a preamp, but will need to buy some wire for this one. I may even try making a humbucker.

 

The through neck pieces were cut to size, squared and glued together yesterday. Then this morning I glued on the 'ears' for the headstock (lots of squeeze out 😒), did a quick sketch of the body shape and after removing the clamps I tried it in position with the rough body shape cut out of cardboard. The shape may change, but the main purpose was to work out the upper horn positioning to end above the 12th fret location for balance. 

 

 

After giving the 'ears' enough time to dry I set about cutting the headstock angle at 9 degrees.

 

 

After that I glued the cut-off to the back of the headstock to provide enough thickness across the length and then set about working out string positions based on 17mm string spacing at the bridge and a 38mm nut so that I could do the positions of the tuners and get a basic shape sketched in for the headstock.

 

 

Will get the basic headstock shape cut tomorrow morning and see what else I can do after that.

 

 

 

 

[JGTay]

Headstock shape and body wing poplar roughly cut. 

 

 

Will shape the wings a bit more once I have the walnut, planning on having the poplar show through on the edges similar to the mockingbird build.

[JGTay]

Few updates.

 

The 42 AWG wire arrived on Saturday, had a couple of hours free over the weekend so made the first pickup bobbin and then this afternoon started the wind by hand... got to 40 winds and snap... start again... managed just over 100 winds and snap again. Realised that my skin was too rough and the wire kept snagging on it, so asked the wife for some moisturiser and started over. Success  

 

Managed to do 4000 winds before having to stop for the day, but the moisturiser is working great, getting the right amount of tension in the wire and it flows through the fingers easily. I have also been varnishing the winds at certain intervals, getting plenty on and letting it soak in and then turning the bobbin and doing the same from the other side before continuing the winds, shouldn't be any need for wax potting at the end.

 

 

 

 

 

Had a few deliveries today as well - Fretboard, double action truss rod and some walnut boards.

 

 

The walnut boards are only 100mm wide, so there will be a bit of work getting a seamless join on the wings, but I like a challenge... which is why I decided to go with Leadwood for the Fretboard. Harder than Ebony and apparently very difficult to work, sharp tools are essential 😆 

 

Pretty sure I planned on this build being lightweight, I was told Leadwood was on the heavy side... too damn right it is!!!!

 

Looking forward to this. 

[JGTay]

Finished the first coil of the humbucker this afternoon, did 7000 winds in total and then wired it up to test the output. Works well.  

 

Managed to keep it looking quite neat, very pleased.

 

 

 

 

Will make the bobbin for the second coil tomorrow and possibly get started on the winds if I have time. Managed to get a good technique going clockwise, will be strange doing a counter clockwise wind now. 😆

[Mykesbass]

If we're not careful, moisturiser could become the next holy grail for tone! 

 

In all seriousness, I'm a big admirer of these recycled, repurposed builds. Hats off to you 

[JGTay]

Finished the pickup this afternoon. Did 8000 winds on the second coil, joined the bobbins together and wired it up for testing. Very happy with the sound and output.  

North coil clockwise, south coil counter clockwise and the magnets in reverse polarity on each coil to enable the hum cancellation. 

 

 

Not too worried about how it looks as I will be making a cover/surround out of the walnut. The magnets aren't glued in place as I want to get some slightly bigger ones, either 8mm or 10mm. The main thing was getting it made so that I could pre-cut the cavity to size before gluing on the body wings.

[JGTay]

Started on the truss rod channel this afternoon. First job was getting it in the correct position and drawing round it.

 

 

Then with a straight edge clamped in place along the lines, scored it with a Stanley knife.

 

 

Then followed up with a chisel pressed in all the way around.

 

 

And out with the freshly sharpened 6mm chisel to remove the wood.

 

 

Tested the rod in place. Managed to get most of the way there, only a couple of mm to go, but had to down tools for the evening.

 

 

Should be able to get it finished tomorrow and then I can look at getting the fretboard in place.  

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

Those pickup winds look splendid!  Nice work with the hand tools

[Hellzero]

Excellent job and all by hand, congratulations!

 

If you ever need to wind more pickups, use an old turntable at the slowest speed, it works very well.

 

Back in the day, I modified an old Lenco turntable as it had the 16 and 78 rpm speeds too and used the original counter weight system (without the arm, of course) to have a kind of automatic right pressure wire appliance.

 

That said, I never heard of the leadwood (Combretum imberbe) and indeed it's a really heavy and hard wood, just a tiny bit softer than the African blackwood (Dalbergia melanoxylon) which is one of the hardest wood and really good sounding for a fretless.

 

I had a De Gier fretless with this African blackwood fingerboard and it was really singing very easily and absolutely not taking the marks of the strings, ... and soooooooo dark!

 

And for those interested, here is the top 10 of the heaviest (and hardest) woods: https://www.wood-database.com/top-ten-heaviest-woods/

 

Following this build with a lot of interest.

 

PS: I'm not showing off when naming the woods in Latin, it's only because it's the easiest way to recognise the species.

[JGTay]

37 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

Excellent job and all by hand, congratulations!

 

If you ever need to wind more pickups, use an old turntable at the slowest speed, it works very well.

Thank you. 😊

 

As it turns out, I was getting around 34 winds per minute (although a bit slower at the bobbin edges) so the 33rpm would be good. I actually enjoyed the winding by hand, had music playing and just relaxed into it. 

 

Need to make a decision on whether to keep the fretboard flat or go with a 12" radius. 🤔 

[Hellzero]

Go 12" radius. 😉

[JGTay]

When I woke up this morning and went out to the workshop/shed for my first coffee and cigarette, I sat looking at the truss rod raised out of the channel in the neck and made a mad spur of the moment decision to take a channel out of the bottom of the extremely hard fretboard.

 

Measured up, 3mm channel needed and this will allow a bit more scope for neck thickness when it comes to shaping.

 

I then decided to roughly cut the top edge of the fretboard close to size, leaving a few mm to be on the safe side. Then marked out for fret position markers along the top edge, cut them with the fret saw and then filled them with a beech sawdust and wood glue filler. Will see how they look after I start sanding the radius and if I am not happy with the result it will be the second option of using thin aluminium sheet. I have also decided to do the fretboard longer onto the body (28 frets)

 

Leadwood is hard going, even with a freshly sharpened chisel... got there in the end, not the neatest job, but level all the way along and a nice tight fit on the truss rod, no gaps between the fretboard and neck.

 

 

Next up was masking tape over the top of the truss rod and then trimmed to stop glue going in the channel.

 

 

And then glued and clamped the fretboard in place.

 

 

Really need to replace those smaller clamps, they are all bent out of shape after being over tightened too many times.

 

I am going to make some adjustments to the body shape, bring the lower horn further back to allow for the extra fret positions and may adjust the top horn joining position for the aesthetics. 

[JGTay]

A quick update of todays progress so far...

 

Removed the clamps this morning and then got started with the Shinto rasp on the sides.

 

 

Can see the fret position markers starting to show along the top edge.

 

 

Still need to sand level on the sides, slowly getting there, but I wanted to get the new body shape sketched in to give an idea of how it would look and also get the pickup position somewhere close to final location.

 

 

Hopefully you can make out the roughly shaped position of the pencil marks. Think it works... 

[JGTay]

Couple of updates. Yesterday (before the football! ) I decided to get on with the fretboard radius so that I could see how the fret position markers looked, they didn't really work as I had hoped, they were kind of camouflaged against the grain of the fretboard unless you were directly in front of them. Good decision to do the radius before working on getting the sides levelled off, I have moved on to the second fret marker option of using aluminium sheet.

 

This morning I measured up and found the best saw with the closest kerf to the sheet, did a test piece first, which worked really well and then set to work marking out then re-cutting the edge slots. Once they were all cut I then did the aluminium pieces to shape, flattened them out and then glued them in the slots. Once the glue had dried it was just a matter of levelling off the aluminium with the top and edge of the fretboard using a file and a quick sand and clean.

 

Still need to level off both edges of the fretboard.

 

 

 

Need to go over the radius again and take it up through the grades, but very pleased with how well the aluminium is looking.  

[Hellzero]

Great idea these aluminium position markers. Maybe worth putting some smaller ones on the treble side from the second octave on as it helps the in tune playing in the dusty end.

 

Like this (it's a 28 positions):

 

[JGTay]

Really like that idea, but already part way through getting the radius sanded up through the grades and I would rather not go back to the start and remove more from the fretboard. Maybe if it does bug me further down the line I could just put some small fret markers along there. 

[benh]

20 hours ago, JGTay said:

Couple of updates. Yesterday (before the football! ) I decided to get on with the fretboard radius so that I could see how the fret position markers looked, they didn't really work as I had hoped, they were kind of camouflaged against the grain of the fretboard unless you were directly in front of them. Good decision to do the radius before working on getting the sides levelled off, I have moved on to the second fret marker option of using aluminium sheet.

 

This morning I measured up and found the best saw with the closest kerf to the sheet, did a test piece first, which worked really well and then set to work marking out then re-cutting the edge slots. Once they were all cut I then did the aluminium pieces to shape, flattened them out and then glued them in the slots. Once the glue had dried it was just a matter of levelling off the aluminium with the top and edge of the fretboard using a file and a quick sand and clean.

 

Still need to level off both edges of the fretboard.

 

 

 

Need to go over the radius again and take it up through the grades, but very pleased with how well the aluminium is looking.  

Looking great - I'm planning on a similar fret marker solution in brass!

[JGTay]

35 minutes ago, benh said:

Looking great - I'm planning on a similar fret marker solution in brass!

Thanks benh.  Good luck with your project.

[JGTay]

Got on with sanding up through the grades on the radius this morning. Didn't take any pics at the time, but took some when I finished for the evening.

 

The pics don't really do it justice, sanded up to 10,000 grit and it shines! The grain is fantastic.

 

 

 

This afternoon I moved on to the neck profile and thinning out the back to the required thickness. Looking at around 18mm at the nut and 20mm at the heel... thin neck!  

 

Marked out and then on with the Shinto.

 

 

 

 

Almost to the line. Just need to level it off and then I can start doing the rounding of the profile.

[JGTay]

A lot of updates from the last few days.

 

While levelling off the back of the neck on Thursday, I found a void in the beech towards the heel end, not sure how I missed it when putting together the neck laminates, it may have had filler over it which prevented discovery, but it wasn't a very nice discovery...  Didn't take any pics, wasn't in the best of moods at that point.

After getting over the initial thoughts of binning it and starting again (which was a serious consideration at first!) I tried doing a mix of wood glue and beech sawdust, which ended up drying an orangey colour, then tried CA glue with sawdust, but again it turned orange, not quite as bad, but not good enough. So final option was to chisel out a section 3mm deep and put in a new piece.

 

Made the new piece very slightly bigger than the chiselled out section so that it had to be squeezed in place with clamps to fit, put a thin coat of wood glue in and then clamped it in place. After giving it time to dry removed the clamps and had a look.

 

 

 

I then set to work levelling it off and bringing in the profile so that I could assess the repair.

 

 

Still needs to be sanded up through the grades, but it has levelled off well. Can still see some glue where it squeezed out around the edges, hopefully when it has been fully sanded it won't be too obvious.

 

Next on the list was the walnut caps on the headstock. Cut the headstock thickness to size and drilled out the tuner holes, then sanded the front to make sure it was level across the face and then after cutting the truss rod access in the walnut, glued and clamped it in place.

 

 

After the glue had dried, it was out of the clamps, then on with shaping and re-drilling through the tuner holes from the back. Gave it a quick clean with white spirit to give an idea of the finished colour.

 

 

Then moved onto the back. Did some work on the volute first to get the shape right, then levelled off the back face, cut the shape of the volute into the walnut, then glued and clamped it in place.

 

 

After it was out of the clamps, it was shaped and the tuner holes re-drilled from the front. Quick clean up with white spirit again.

 

 

 

 

 

And final pic of the day with the neck profile cleaned.

 

 

All of it needs plenty of sanding through the grades and the heel transition needs to be sorted out, but overall I am pleased with the progress. Need to decide on final headstock shape yet, think it is close...

 

 

[JGTay]

Have been working on the headstock shape and blending in the volute today.

 

 

 

 

 

The front has a small reveal of the mahogany. Also done fingernail access for the truss rod cover, just need to put some magnets in to hold it in place.

 

 

Very pleased with how it is coming along.  

 

 

[Andyjr1515]

I like that cutaway/bevel on the headstock very much

[Hellzero]

So do I!

[JGTay]

A few more updates.

 

Went for a job interview on Thursday and 15 minutes after getting home had a phone call offering me the job, so starting on Monday.  

 

So over the past couple of days I have been getting as much done as possible on the build, missed a few photos along the way but no big loss as it was just gluing on the wings. Decided to get the poplar wings in position first and then do the walnut top/bottom afterwards.

 

I pre-cut the control cavity in the poplar before gluing and also did the same with the cavity cover in the walnut. This is after taking the clamps off from gluing the first piece of walnut in place and trimming the edges a bit, still lots of shaping to be done.

 

 

Then did a fingernail access for the cover.

 

 

Next up was the walnut piece on the other wing.

 

 

After the glue had dried did a bit of trimming.

 

 

Put an extra piece of walnut on the inside of the cavity cover to give it some extra strength. Have also glued the front piece of walnut on and put an extra piece of walnut in the cavity to give the correct thickness, just need to tidy it up a bit.

 

 

Haven't taken any pics of the front yet, had to finish up for the night and get something to eat. Will get the other piece glued on tomorrow and take some pics.  

 

 

[JGTay]

Managed to glue up the other piece of walnut last night.

 

 

A shot of the edge, down to 27mm at the moment, so should be around the 26mm mark after sanding.

 

 

It was out of the clamps this morning and on with the initial shaping.

 

 

And after getting some shape to it, gave it a quick clean with white spirit to see how it looks.

 

 

Then made a quick cover for the pickup, still needs shaping, but gives a general idea.

 

 

May slim down the wings a bit yet, looks a bit fat in the bottom section. Will have to see how I get on this week and whether I can do any in the evenings.