Same again (but different)

[Rexel Matador]

Doctor said my blood pressure's a bit on the high side. I'm too stressed out and need to fret less. I assume this is what she was talking about.

Now that my last build is done and dusted (https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/481418-medium-scale-neck-through-build/), it's time for the next one.

I'm making another one the same, BUT... this one will be fretless. The neck will be maple and purpleheart this time, the wings will be walnut and the fingerboard will be ebony. I'm deliriously happy about being able to finish a project without even touching a piece of fretwire. I might add a J pickup too for some fun Jaco tone options.

 

Still waiting on some of the wood, so pics will have to wait sadly, but the ritual of starting this thread mentally commits me to actually doing it!

 

I like the idea of using a different hardware finish for this one (ie gold or black), but I suspect that chrome will look best with the wood choices.

I'm happy with the body shape and was hoping to keep it the same so they can be twins, but I might have to rethink it and extend the lower horn. It's will be a long time before this bass sees a stage as I have to actually learn to play fretless first, meaning I'll probably be mostly playing it seated and in it's current shape it just slips off my leg!

 

 

[Richard R]

I would have thought the stress of learning to play fretless would raise one's blood pressure.  It sure would mine!

[Rexel Matador]

I wish I had more to tell you, but I haven't had much free time. Here are some pieces of wood. The slab of walnut on the left will become the wings. One of those pieces of maple carefully resawn in half and planed might just suffice for the two outer laminates, but I'll probably end up using both to be safe, as I don't know how much I'll lose in getting them ready for gluing up. The thinner pieces I cut off can be laminates in a future neck. There's going to be some kind of arrangement of maple and walnut veneer in between as well. I was going to split the purpleheart into two thinner stripes, but I quite like the look of it running down the middle. I think it'll be ok, grain-wise.

 

Purpleheart goes a horrible colour when freshly planed, I found out today. Apparently it comes back over time.

 

And the ebony board came with a big crack in it (bottom left), so I've asked for a replacement. That said, I'm pretty sure I can just about work around it.

 

PS, sadly, that's not flame on the maple, just rough saw marks!

 

I've started the sawing and planing and the next time I get a couple of hours of garage time, hopefully the neck blank can be glued up.

Still buzzing (ironically) about not having to do frets this time. It's going to be the smoothest shiniest ebony fingerboard ever. I'm thinking of trying tapewound strings, just out of curiosity. I really wanted gold ones (flatwound or tapewound, purely for aesthetic reasons), but I can't find them in medium scale. And it would be ridiculous to fundamentally alter the design and playability of the bass just to accommodate strings chosen purely for their colour, right? In any case, black tapewounds will look (and hopefully sound) pretty cool.

Sometimes I worry my build diaries are too much diary, not enough build!

[MichaelDean]

That looks like a gorgeous combination of woods! Fingers crossed the new bit of ebony arrives safely🤞

 

Could make it a string through body and then you should be ok with the regular scale gold strings...

 

No need to worry about length of posts. I find it can help to get thoughts out. 

[Rexel Matador]

5 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

Could make it a string through body and then you should be ok with the regular scale gold strings

I'd read that that's unadvisable when using flats. Is it different for tapewounds?

[MichaelDean]

2 minutes ago, Rexel Matador said:

I'd read that that's unadvisable when using flats. Is it different for tapewounds?

I was mainly suggesting it to make the gold strings work. The JMJ Mustang comes with flats strung through the body. I haven't heard of anyone having issues with that...

[Rexel Matador]

3 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

I was mainly suggesting it to make the gold strings work. The JMJ Mustang comes with flats strung through the body. I haven't heard of anyone having issues with that...

Yeah , it might well be a viable solution. I do like a string through.

[SpondonBassed]

23 hours ago, Rexel Matador said:

Sometimes I worry my build diaries are too much diary, not enough build!

 

20 hours ago, MichaelDean said:

No need to worry about length of posts. I find it can help to get thoughts out. 

 

This.

 

It is also interesting to see how ideas originate and develop over the course of a build.

 

Fill yer boots.

[Rexel Matador]

Not a particularly exciting update but this is where I'm up to: the neck blank is being glued up and the fingerboard is shaped (but not radiused). Still looking a bit rough as you can see, but it's going to look very pretty once it's finished, I can tell.

I'm going to glue it on before radiusing and use it as a template to get the shape of the neck below it.

 

I might need to do a slight neck angle on this one. Last time it was all flat and the body was just a bit lower than the neck, but there are no frets this time, so it would need to be an even bigger step. I should be able to angle the body section and attach the wings accordingly, but it is messing mith my head a bit!

 

 

[Rexel Matador]

It's been a while, but I have made a bit of progress. The neck is profiled, the fingerboard is attached and the wings are currently being glued on. I've gone for a neck break angle this time. The last one had no angle, just a step down to accommodate the bridge height, if that make sense.

 

I glued on one wing then made a jig to match the angle with the second one.

 

I was going to do a walnut headstock veneer to match the wings, but I forgot to cut one from the body stock and the bits of walnut veneer I had didn't match. So I'm going to leave it as it is. I think it'll look quite nice with the laminates on display.