Steed basses- 1960 blonde stack knob J style bass

[wesfinn]

[quote name='Sibob' post='793838' date='Apr 1 2010, 10:54 PM']Looking awesome mate, and quick too lol!
Is this going to be the natural Jazz, or colour finish?

Si[/quote]

This will be the blonde one mate. Im getting the timber for the solid colours next week.

[wesfinn]

And with regards to it being quick, if you plan what you are going to be doing properly everything should run pretty smoothly! this bass has had about 12 hours work in total so far!

[Owen]

I have already had this discussion via pm with Wes, but does anyone else agree that there must be a market for a vintage spec 35" 19mm 5 string J or P with a "mature" finish? No out there is doing them.

[wesfinn]

Did a little bit more today...

first up heres a shot of the neck where you can see the light flame! going to look gorgeous I reckon!



After some comparisons with early 60's J images I decided to recut the belly contour and make it a bit deeper and also make the forearm more rounded as they were back then. looks a lot nicer now. I always find it good to go back to things like the next day as you see things in a different light which you might miss when youve been staring at the same piece of wood all day!





got my harness together too with some sweet reproduction caps alongside switch craft jack and CTS dual concentric solid shaft pots.



and heres some of the hardware (still awaiting the rest and the Pups). note the string mute set which will be going on this! I was going to relic this bass but I think it'll look much better as 'Factory Fresh' especially with the flame in the neck!



Here I am drilling the strap button holes to specs. note the rear buttons were not drilled on the centre line!





thats all for today.

Hope everyone has a nice Easter weekend!

Wes

[steve-soar]

Faultless.

[EBS_freak]

Nice thread.

[wesfinn]

thanks steve and ebs

so today I didn't manage to get much done apart from drum sand the fingerboards, I did go and pickup loads of wood though which includes swamp ash, alder, rock maple neck blanks, flame maple neck blanks, spalted maple and absolutely gorgeous old growth DARK indian rosewood for fingerboards! Also I have a new compressor and spray gun coming!

Im waiting on some CNC cut templates made with correct dimensions to arrive. Once they are here I will route the pickups and cavity and neck pocket etc.

tomorrow I shall do some more work on the neck and maybe make a start on a 59 P style and a 55 P style!

[cLepto-bass]

I am eagerly awaiting every installment of this thread. So far it looks an absolute beauty!!

Cant wait for more pic's.

[wesfinn]

Annoyingly I forgot to take my camera today, got a fair bit done, although I've been commisioned to make a black 62 t style g****r so was getting stuck into that more than the J today. The J neck has been robo-sanded and is looking lovvverly!

Ill take some pictures next time I'm at the workshop.

cheers

Wes

[kevin_lindsay]

Hi Wes,

it was great talking to you yesterday. I've been mulling the options over and I think I know what I'm going to go for colour wise - just need to get the OK from my other half.

Will be in touch soon
Kev

[Toasted]

Looking forward to seeing this finished

[wesfinn]

Tomorrow i'll be doing some more on the J. Have ordered the 5/32" hardened steel silver rods to make the truss rods, these will be had made and have the correct vintage threads and square block anchor (these truss rods are not available off the shelf in the correct size) I need to make some new curved Jigs for the truss rod routing, I'll make a few one for slab boards, a reverse for Maple boards and one for guitars. These need to have the correct curvature for the years and the angle for the adjustment nut drill needs to be 2 degrees to minimise the risk of the fingerboard developing a hump around the 15th fret.

untill the next lot of progress heres some pictures of the Tele I'm making. This is going to be a 62 Black with mint guard and slab brazilian rosewood board, it's also the first guitar I have ever made so it's all pretty fun and a learning curve for me! It's made from a one piece lightweight alder.





Heres some of the swamp ash and alder I picked up last week and also a lovely figured spalted maple top which is going to go on one of my custom builds, maybe a singlecut!

[wesfinn]

couple of things done today. I'm still waiting for my templates for neck pocket, pickups and control cavity which is kind of holding me up....so I decided to do it the hard way and Pencil them out and rout them completely free hand...I don't usually do this as it takes much longer and a lot more concentration. (sorry the pics arent as good quality as usual, I forgot the camera again and took them on my mac photo booth thing)
heres the control cavity after routing





and heres the neck pocket





all aligning perfectley along the center line



next up I pencil out the best section of the Brazilian Rosewood board and cut out on the bandsaw to just out side the line.



and heres a how it looks with the bridge and control plate, neck and finger board all place together....



can ya guess what it is yet??

thats all for today folks, will do the Pickup routs when the templates arrive as I;d rather not do them freehand!

thanks

Wes

Edited April 16, 2010 by wesfinn

[Clarky]

Looking really good - genuinely fascinating to watch this thread and to see the attention and care you employ Wes

[wesfinn]

Thanks Clarky! Means a lot that people are enjoying seeing my work!

[Noisyjon]

[quote name='Clarky' post='808716' date='Apr 16 2010, 06:00 PM']Looking really good - genuinely fascinating to watch this thread and to see the attention and care you employ Wes[/quote]

+1 from me. Looking good Wes

Cheers.

[Sibob]

Still loving this thread, keep up the good work!

Si

[wesfinn]

Thanks guys! I am becoming very tempted to finish this in burgundy mist now.....hmmmm......not vintage correct for the ash body but as this bass is for me..we shall see!

[AndyTravis]

Like this one Wes?

I was debating making this a stack knob...

Great minds?

Trav

[wesfinn]

Great minds indeed Andy! I just love the colour!

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='AndyTravis' post='808985' date='Apr 16 2010, 10:15 PM']Like this one Wes?

I was debating making this a stack knob...

Great minds?

Trav[/quote]
do it.

[wesfinn]

Friday is nearly over so here is another update on the J..

Bit of bad news about the build, the neck has moved a bit too much since cutting the shape so I'm going to scrap it and start again. I would try and work around it but there not enough meat left to get it back to being flat and true. This is why I leave the timber to settle after cutting. Most of the time they don't move much at all, but this was one of the blanks that did! OH well, thats the nature of wood!

So heres a little interesting thing for you, after realising the neck was going to the land of the scrap I decided to make the truss rod routing jig.



and after the first pass (note the scrap neck being my test subject!)



Works perfectly! Bang in the center and perfect depths etc!



not as exciting as the usual posts I know...I have been doing a bit of restoration work this week though which has seen most of my time!

Right I gotta make me another neck

[wesfinn]

Pickups routed



perfect tight fit with the covers, here tested with control plate and a pickguard





Pin router holes plugged with maple dowells. (I make the dowells myself too haha)



body fine sanded ready for the 50:50 sealer coat, followed by more sanding and then grain filler!





cavities initialled and dated



I'll put the body away in a plastic bag till I do the spraying.

Edited April 30, 2010 by wesfinn

[wesfinn]

After last weeks discovery that the neck had moved a bit too much for my liking I started a fresh neck today and have it to the same stage as the last one. I need to let it rest for 48 hours now to let it settle, then I will rout for the truss rod and do the nut hole and connecting hole. This neck is twice as nice as the last one too, really lovely old growth flame maple!







Perfect tight fit, no screws required




cheers for looking!

Wes

[EssentialTension]

It's looking good, Wes. Nice work.