Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 I posted the start of this project on the old bass world site but it didnt make the jump to basschat. Anyway after a work imposed lay off during the summer this is up and running again and hopefully to be done by the festive season. The plan was to make a five string fretless from ash with a pretty wood top on it. so a few historical posts of the work done earlier in the year Ash jointed and planed to thickness Spalted beach top roughly cut out close up of the figure router template in place top and body ready for gluing can never get enough clamps body ready for contouring next post will be neck construction Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 Neck construction here is the glued up and planed blank (3 bits of maple 2 of mahogany) marking out the route for the truss rod. Blank with truss rod and carbon fiber stiffeners in place getting ready to glue on the finger board more clamps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 rough shaping Getting there trying my hand at the volute shaping (I would think twice before doing that again) Threaded inserts to take the neck bolts, probably overkill but it was some thing I wanted to try Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Looking good so far! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 (edited) shaped and routed body sanded and ready for finishing which brings me onto the recent work and the joys of spraying with 'rustins plastic coating' I am new to spraying so there has been a steep learning curve to climb but all in all I am pretty pleased with the results. After a lot of coats most of which went into filling the grain of the ash, a lot of rubbing down with wet and dry which is quite therapeutic and a few cock ups, runs and other crimes against smooth and shiny (which means more rubbing down). This is what I got. front back and mocked up with the hard wear resting in position Now it is time to fit all the bits Edited November 15, 2007 by Peaty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 Shielding going in to the control cavity and home made neck plate in place. Making my own neck plate was really more trouble than it was worth, next time I will get an off the shelf neck plate and arrange the neck bolts to suit it. Ok electronics next Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Sorry I jumped the gun there in the middle of your thread. It's very interesting to see you using Rustin's Plastic Coating, I've been considering using it for my next natural wood project. Looks like you got a great finish there from the photos. How did you get on with it? Is it easy to spray? What sort of time did you have to wait between coats? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopthebass Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 [quote name='neepheid' post='88899' date='Nov 15 2007, 12:47 PM']Sorry I jumped the gun there in the middle of your thread. It's very interesting to see you using Rustin's Plastic Coating, I've been considering using it for my next natural wood project. Looks like you got a great finish there from the photos. How did you get on with it? Is it easy to spray? What sort of time did you have to wait between coats?[/quote] Nice bass design. Love spalt timber. Looks like you haven't routed the pickup cavity? I always use Rustins Plastic coating. You can spray coats at 15min intervals. And it buffs to a mirror. Plus it is so tough, its unbelievable. I normally thin the first 3 or 4 coats and brush on to let it soak in and seal the timber - particularly with spalt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 I'm incredibly impressed by anyone who can seemingly knock a bass together in their back garden out of a few bits of wood - especially when it comes to the neck shaping bit. How do you ensure you don't take too much out of the neck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 (edited) Hi Neepheid The plastic coating is pretty forgiving and I will definitely be using it again. It comes with pretty good instructions and i found spraying it easy going. I was using a cheep touch up spray gun from axminster power tools (same place as i got the plastic coating from) and i was spraying at 65 psi. is you have access to a low pressure spray system then you will need to thin down with the thinners that come in the packet as per the instructions. Try to find a good place to spray I was able to use a spray booth at work but spraying this would not have been a good idea to try at home, at the very least get a good face mask and make sure it fits. Next time around i would only be looking to spray on the last few coats, the early coats that fill up the grain and help build the depth of finish could be painted on with a good quality brush. the plastic coating flows out really well so brush marks were not so much of a problem as runs when spraying. As I had plenty of time on my hands I was giving each coat 48 hours then rubbing down with 600 then 1200 wet and dry. Do rub down between coats not only does this deal with pimples and the like but spraying or brushing onto a un-dulled surface was not good. The plastic coating comes with its own burnishing compound and it is this that gives you the final finish. it works a treat. Rustins do a little starter pack with the plastic coating, hardener, solvent (its not just the usual cellulose thinners) and rubbing/burnishing compound. If you went down that route you would need maybe 2 or three packs. I got one pack to experiment with then bought larger quantities as it is much more cost effective. I have plenty left over but shelf life does not seem to be a problem. Once you mix the hardener to the plastic coating (it is a two part finish) you have about an hour befor it is touch dry but if you store the mixed stuff in the fridge and put a lid on it it remains sprayable for much longer (in my case at least 4 hours) All in all highly recommended. Edited November 15, 2007 by Peaty Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='88924' date='Nov 15 2007, 01:28 PM']I'm incredibly impressed by anyone who can seemingly knock a bass together in their back garden out of a few bits of wood - especially when it comes to the neck shaping bit. How do you ensure you don't take too much out of the neck?[/quote] Measure and keep measuring I have a good pair of calipers and I had the neck of another 5 string that I was using as a patten handy. As I knew the starting thicknesses and the depth of the truss rod route it is all controllable, so set the spoke shave fine, dont rush and keep measuring. Also I have learnt my lesson in home build 1 where I took too much of the neck at the nut end in that case it was the end with the thick part of the truss rod and yup it popped through and I had to start all over again. I should post it on the home build wall of shame, it lives in a prominent place in my garage/workshop so the memory is there to haunt me and keep me measuring. Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 15, 2007 Author Share Posted November 15, 2007 [quote name='Chopthebass' post='88914' date='Nov 15 2007, 01:11 PM']Nice bass design. Love spalt timber. Looks like you haven't routed the pickup cavity? I always use Rustins Plastic coating. You can spray coats at 15min intervals. And it buffs to a mirror. Plus it is so tough, its unbelievable. I normally thin the first 3 or 4 coats and brush on to let it soak in and seal the timber - particularly with spalt.[/quote] Hi Chopthebass, I think you are quite right about the 15 min interval I was just being cautious as it was my first time but with a bit more experience now I would probably be able to get it done much quicker. As for the pup cavity routing yup it is there it is just a poor photo, here are a couple from earlier in the process where the routes are a bit clearer. Pup and two pice bridge routes was done from an MDF templates I made using the pup and bridge bits as a patterns, the neck route was done by carefully clamping the neck in place and then clamping batons along side the neck, then removing the neck and using the batons as the router template. The pup and neck routes are deeper so it goes a little way into the ash, but the bridge routes dont penetrate through the beach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ped Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Crikey, you obviously have a natural talent for this - fantastic. Love the avatar too ;0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Like others, I have nothing but admiration for people who can create from raw timber !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBalls Posted November 15, 2007 Share Posted November 15, 2007 Wow that is an amazing bass shape and design! You should start taking orders. What made you start building your own basses? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted November 16, 2007 Author Share Posted November 16, 2007 Thanks BassBalls I would say I would be a very long way from taking orders, maybe one one day. I have the greatest respect for those people who have made a living out of building instruments, making it work as a business looks like very hard work indeed and I have no plans to go down that road. What got me started, well, seeing great basses on some of the web sites Overwater, GB, JayDee and Shuker certainly fired my imagination. Seeing very beautiful wals and not being able to get close to owing one provided a bit of a push. Reading Melvin Hiscocks book made me feel confident I could give it a go but what I realised when I started making the first one was that making basses is every bit as enjoyable as playing them. So I was hooked. cheers Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 [quote name='Chopthebass' post='88914' date='Nov 15 2007, 01:11 PM']I always use Rustins Plastic coating. You can spray coats at 15min intervals. And it buffs to a mirror. Plus it is so tough, its unbelievable.[/quote] Chop do you think its feasible to use it to coat a fretless fingerboard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chopthebass Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 [quote name='Crazykiwi' post='89594' date='Nov 16 2007, 07:46 PM']Chop do you think its feasible to use it to coat a fretless fingerboard? [/quote] Funny you ask - its been something I intend to try! I know Pedulla use an epoxy treatment to their F/L basses, but even that marks with roundwounds. Do you like the high gloss fretless look then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ergon Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 that looks like a masterpiece in the making, i want to try to make a bass from raw timber one day with a oak body (yes nice and heavy ) but i'm scared of cocking up so i haven't really felt inthused to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdwardHimself Posted November 16, 2007 Share Posted November 16, 2007 [quote name='Peaty' post='88852' date='Nov 15 2007, 10:57 AM']Threaded inserts to take the neck bolts, probably overkill but it was some thing I wanted to try [/quote] definetly not overkill at all in my opinion, something more basses should have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peaty Posted June 26, 2008 Author Share Posted June 26, 2008 All finished at last here a some pictures of the finished bass and hopefully a link to a sound clip apologies for the crimes against muting and intonation. Lessons learnt form this build well I think I will stick with angled back headstocks from now on. Rustins plastic coating is great stuff and I intend to use it a lot more. For next time get a proper flat topped work bench, a lot of this project was done on a work mate which is not really big enough, sturdy enough or necessarily level. Pictures [url="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peatypete/3rd%20build/DSCN0631.jpg"]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peat...ld/DSCN0631.jpg[/url] [url="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peatypete/3rd%20build/DSCN0630.jpg"]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peat...ld/DSCN0630.jpg[/url] [url="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peatypete/3rd%20build/DSCN0632.jpg"]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peat...ld/DSCN0632.jpg[/url] [url="http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peatypete/3rd%20build/DSCN0635.jpg"]http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b88/Peat...ld/DSCN0635.jpg[/url] link to test sound file with bass plugged direct into garage band the quality is not great but I will post some more when I have had a chance to experiment a bit more with settings etc [url="http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=91131"]http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=91131[/url] More soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d-basser Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 very very very nice, not sure bout he control arrangement but other than that sexual bass you have constructed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ednaplate Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 A beautiful job. I've nothing but admiration for anyone who can turn a tree into something so nice. Take a bow. Incidentally, when you say you just plugged your bass into Garageband. Er.. how? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7string Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 [quote name='ednaplate' post='227628' date='Jun 26 2008, 09:42 PM']A beautiful job. I've nothing but admiration for anyone who can turn a tree into something so nice. Take a bow.[/quote] I totally agree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamster Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 I've been boarding the loft in my new house for the last few days and had to re-work several sections because of cock-ups! I must therefore prostrate myself before your woodworking magnificence - good job! Hamster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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