A 3d printed headless bass ...

[SamIAm]

Interesting ... it prompted me to google some and guess what!?

 

This chap has instructions on how to get IS running on an Mk3S+ (using klipper and a Pi) with significant speed improvements!

 

https://github.com/charminULTRA/Klipper-Input-Shaping-MK3S-Upgrade?tab=readme-ov-file#readme

 

Sam x

[rwillett]

Ooooohhhh. Do you need a PI? Might have a spare one for this.

 

Looking now at link

[rwillett]

Scim read the guides. Very, very interesting.  Will pull a spare pi out now and will play over the week. I will need to pull the foam out for the calibration  but if I can upgrade one of the MK3S+ to more or less MK4 spec, that's a goer

[SamIAm]

5 minutes ago, rwillett said:

Scim read the guides. Very, very interesting.  Will pull a spare pi out now and will play over the week. I will need to pull the foam out for the calibration  but if I can upgrade one of the MK3S+ to more or less MK4 spec, that's a goer

I currently have a Pi 2w running Octoprint driving my Mk3S+ via GPIO, I'm investigating to see if I can:

a) Run both Klipper and Octoprint on it

b) If I can still use GPIO

 

Sam x

[rwillett]

Let me see what's in the stock cupboard....

[rwillett]

41 minutes ago, SamIAm said:

I currently have a Pi 2w running Octoprint driving my Mk3S+ via GPIO, I'm investigating to see if I can:

a) Run both Klipper and Octoprint on it

b) If I can still use GPIO

 

Sam x

The instructions say you can use pi2w do go for it

[SamIAm]

20 minutes ago, rwillett said:

The instructions say you can use pi2w do go for it

Cool, the GPIO might be the sticky wicket as my pi2w has one dodgy USB port.

edit: Tho if I cannot drive the Prusa from klipper over GPIO, I could still probably source power from GPIO and use the good USB port to drive the einsey ... hmmmm

Sam x

Edited June 16 by SamIAm

[Richard R]

Does anyone other than @rwillett and @SamIAm have the slightest idea what language they are talking?  

 

A truly stunning bass though - I'm looking forward to when Rob takes orders, as I have a VBASS with a GK-B hex pickup setup that I want to permanently install in a bass, and this would absolutely look the biz!

[SamIAm]

6 minutes ago, Richard R said:

Does anyone other than @rwillett and @SamIAm have the slightest idea what language they are talking?  

 

Sometimes when we are not playing bass ...

Sam x

[rwillett]

3 hours ago, SamIAm said:

Cool, the GPIO might be the sticky wicket as my pi2w has one dodgy USB port.

edit: Tho if I cannot drive the Prusa from klipper over GPIO, I could still probably source power from GPIO and use the good USB port to drive the einsey ... hmmmm

Sam x

I think you need two USB ports to do the job properly, one USB looks like it goes to the accelerometer, this apears to be mounted on the extruder head, no idea how, and the other USB to the newly flashed Klipper board. You *might* be able to drive the newly flashed Klipper board through the UART via the GPIO. One of the videos talks about that,  Can you do this? Is a UART exposed via that way? My hardware knowledge here is extremely sketchy.

 

Methinks, you're going to need another Pi.

[rwillett]

2 hours ago, SamIAm said:

Sometimes when we are not playing bass ...

Sam x

 

Nah, they're all in the same room and might actually be, just possibly, talking to each other. None of the nerds I know talk to other people... Thats just uncool.

 

Rob

[rwillett]

3 hours ago, Richard R said:

Does anyone other than @rwillett and @SamIAm have the slightest idea what language they are talking?  

 

A truly stunning bass though - I'm looking forward to when Rob takes orders, as I have a VBASS with a GK-B hex pickup setup that I want to permanently install in a bass, and this would absolutely look the biz!

 

@Richard R 

 

Now that's an interesting idea.  How wide are the hex pickups? Currently the middle channel is 115mm, you can see that below. Which is good as thats what it's designed to be   That accommodates just about all the pickups I've seen and checked, I have not looked at the Boss GK-B pickups though as they looked expensive, and TBH, I had no idea about them. Do they mount to the body or to the pickguard? The drill pattern below in the middle is for a Precision bass in the middle (split pickups) and also for a Jazz style setup either side. Its not a problem to add more or different drill patterns depending on size. The holes below are all M2.5 threaded (or they will be once I sit down and do them). Pickguard mounting systems are easier, I have designed a couple of adapters to make body fixing pickups work suspended from the pickguard.

 

 

There's nothing to stop me making that 115mm channel wider or smaller. I've changed one parameter down to 110mm and get this. There's something not quite right with my parametric design as it should "just work", but I'll find out why its 0.56mm out, but not tonight.

 

 

Also whats the size of the electronics that need to go in the guitar, if any? The chamber below can be made bigger left to right by changing the Voroni shape. It can't get much bigger top to bottom as it would look odd. The chamber is 33.8mm deep at the side closest to the bridge and 21mm deep at the bottom. These can be relatively easily changed and I suspect it's bigger than any mass production bass.

 

Thanks

Rob

 

 

[tauzero]

The Roland hex pickups can be adjusted in width to cater for different string spacings (albeit a little crudely as it's just varying the gap between the two halves) and can accommodate 4, 5, or 6 strings. I have two, both on 6 string basses.

 

Sei Flamboyant with built-in kit:

 

 

Sei pickup and controls (toggle switch does pickups/Roland/both, puchbuttons do patch up/down)

 

 

Handmade (not by my hand) 6-string with GK3B externally mounted

 

[tauzero]

14 hours ago, Richard R said:

Does anyone other than @rwillett and @SamIAm have the slightest idea what language they are talking?  

 

<raises hand hesitantly>

[tauzero]

On 16/06/2024 at 10:02, rwillett said:

Though the amount of alcohol I drank when younger should have preserved the brain in a peak state...

 

And killed off the slower, weaker brain cells, leaving only the fit, healthy ones.

[rwillett]

14 minutes ago, tauzero said:

The Roland hex pickups can be adjusted in width to cater for different string spacings (albeit a little crudely as it's just varying the gap between the two halves) and can accommodate 4, 5, or 6 strings. I have two, both on 6 string basses.

 

Sei Flamboyant with built-in kit:

 

 

Sei pickup and controls (toggle switch does pickups/Roland/both, puchbuttons do patch up/down)

 

 

Handmade (not by my hand) 6-string with GK3B externally mounted

 

So the Boss pickup is the thin thing right next to the bridge, it has two small screw holes OR double sided tape holding it down. 

 

I'll read up on how it works and what it can do. 

 

What's the depth of the cutout in the Sei Flamboyant please? Looks awfully crowded in there 😊

[tauzero]

28 minutes ago, rwillett said:

So the Boss pickup is the thin thing right next to the bridge, it has two small screw holes OR double sided tape holding it down. 

 

I'll read up on how it works and what it can do. 

 

What's the depth of the cutout in the Sei Flamboyant please? Looks awfully crowded in there 😊

 

Yes, I've mounted it with double sided tape. It also comes with shims to get it close to the strings.

 

The cavity is 30mm deep, give or take a mm.

 

https://www.roland.com/uk/products/gk-kit-bg3/ which can be used with https://www.roland.com/uk/products/gr-55/

 

[rwillett]

Thanks, thats quite deep at a time when I've just made this bass a lot thinner

 

To be honest it's no big deal, I'd change the taper on the bottom to be significantly shallower as its 32mm at the deepest down to 20mm at the shallowest. Not the worlds biggest problem, and probably less than an hours work.

 

The configurable model works.

 

Anyway, this is all hypothetical, I still need to finish off this bass.

 

1. Sort out pickguard mounting holes. Not quite as simple as it sounds. The new design makes it difficult but I have some thoughts. The original design was clunky and required you to take strings off or really loosen them to remove it. Bad design.

 

2. Work out the height of the bridge and top of neck. This is getting it right by about 0.5 or so mm. It makes setting up easier. 

 

3. Work out how to put strap mounting on. The thinner design makes it a little tricky. Again, have thoughts, but need to test (again). 

 

4. Print drill guides and make notes as to what happens where. There's a lot of tapped pickup mounting holes at M2.5 and a lot of untapped M3 holes. Some are holes to allow longer screws to fit. I have to get every single one right 😩

 

5. Work out what pickups to use and what electrics to use. The current headless has Wilkinson pickups and Amazon's cheapest control panel as it was Weds before the NW Bass bash and I ran out of time. The quality of the pots leave a lot to be desired, though the knobs are nice (though heavy).I love the idea of variety in the sound but is it really going to be much different, I note that @ossyrocks uses a single pickup precision and it seems to work well enough. Mmmm....

 

I'm printing off the six pieces now, have ordered some more aluminum plate and will spend the next week drilling and tapping

[tauzero]

4 hours ago, rwillett said:

Thanks, thats quite deep at a time when I've just made this bass a lot thinner

 

The overall thickness of the body is 37mm so it's a millimetre thinner than you're down to.

[rwillett]

The taper of the body towards the end significantly reduces the body withd from 38mm down to around 25mm, but its easy to change (I think)

[Si600]

19 hours ago, rwillett said:

 

Nah, they're all in the same room and might actually be, just possibly, talking to each other. None of the nerds I know talk to other people... Thats just uncool.

 

Rob

Are you sure they're talking to each other and not texting?

[rwillett]

Only some have phones in their hand. I suppose the ones without are desparately hoping nobody asks a question of them. 

[rwillett]

I've now printed a dummy version of the guitar to check fittings and how it assembles. None of the parts have any strength or are finished properly, but its to check how things fit and what I have missed in the design.

 

The black in the centre will be a single metal plate, this is a plastic version to check different pickups. Also to check that the hole depths are correct, that I actually have holes where they are supposed to be and none where they aren't supposed to be. For instance there are holes missing the in the black plates.

 

Whilst this can be done in Fusion 360, it's a lot easier to print it and visually check. What is clear is that the outer frame fits together well, ignore join lines, these parts are just laid down and not tightened up.

 

[MichaelDean]

2 hours ago, rwillett said:

I've now printed a dummy version of the guitar to check fittings and how it assembles. None of the parts have any strength or are finished properly, but its to check how things fit and what I have missed in the design.

 

The black in the centre will be a single metal plate, this is a plastic version to check different pickups. Also to check that the hole depths are correct, that I actually have holes where they are supposed to be and none where they aren't supposed to be. For instance there are holes missing the in the black plates.

 

Whilst this can be done in Fusion 360, it's a lot easier to print it and visually check. What is clear is that the outer frame fits together well, ignore join lines, these parts are just laid down and not tightened up.

 

That looks great! You can tell the print quality is loads better. There aren't loads of extra bits that need tidying up compared to the earlier versions.

[rwillett]

15 minutes ago, MichaelDean said:

That looks great! You can tell the print quality is loads better. There aren't loads of extra bits that need tidying up compared to the earlier versions.

Thanks

 

The quality is a lot better, thats down to the Prusa Mk4.  I can print at 0.1mm as opposed to 0.3 before as it simply took too long to print. This is all down to Input Shaping on the Prusa. Klipper also supports this.

 

As this is now my fourth guitar, I am getting better at it, well I hope I am.  There's lots of big lessons, but also small lessons, such as putting a small plastic dowel in at the edges of the guitar.  Here you can see three 4mm holes

 

The frame will be glued, but that small 4mm plastic dowel really does help it seat when clamped. The real lesson I learnt is to make all the plastioc dowel holes at 90 degrees so that it clamps easily, this is why there is a little outurn on the right hand edge. I'm sure wood workers know this sort of stuff, but I don't

 

You can also see the pickguard mount top left. I can print it butting out but as there is a slope on the bottom thats greater than 45 degrees, it will support itself. Its a bit quciker to print and reduces weight. I think I've taken out over 600g of printing weight from the last version, which is quite a lot.

 

I have printed some of the pieces at high quality and they are very good, the layer lines are almost gone. I may invest in a concrete slab underneath the printer as that may improve the quality even more.

 

Rob