Well as I said in the title of the thread this is not what is supposed to be the oficial threat of my first project but just a preview. Why I post just a preview with almost no information? That is because I want to have some feedback before start to buy things like wood.

Any comment or suggestion will be highly appreciated so please guys feel free to write down any feeling you have about this.

THANKSSSSSS!!!!

EDIT: Pups and bridge sizes are not in scale, the bass is.

You need a strong material for the body, with that narrow upper horn. The body looks balanced, though, could turn out really nice.

The peghead is enormous to that skinny 4-string neck. Both length and width is too much, so it would be rather easy to just scale it down to what you need.

You are right about the neck. When I start to drawing this a few weeks ago I made the neck 6.2mm at the 24th fret and 3.1mm at the nut. Then I realize that this measure at the nut was not enough and thought to change it later but I just remember that I never did it. I have to remember this before cut any wood!!!

About the upper horn... good point!!! I am looking for peruvian walnut (if I found somebody who want to sell to me a blank of 20"x13" and not enough wood to build a house) or mahogany and any fo both are known as strong wood. I think I'll make a few changes at the internal part of that horn.

Another thing is that in this draw the headstock looks pointy. I doesn't looks like that in the paper template but I will try to round this a bit before any cut on the wood.

The peghead is enormous to that skinny 4-string neck. Just like a Fender or even Rickenbacker! :)

Just like a Fender or even Rickenbacker! :)
Yuck!:spit: :D

Ok after a two months on which I worked a little bit on the skinny neck issue (there's a few things to do there yet), then stopped to read, bought wood and re-read (again) some threads here I start finally my first building!!! :hyper:

Here is what I came with (as you can see is the same pic as the one above but the neck at nut looks better now (not perfect but more changes will be done at wood itself).

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/BassProjectMedium.jpg

Specifications so far:

- 4 string, fretted, neckthru.
- Cavity cover: Continuos
- Wings: peruvian walnut core with moena back and top. I was going to use just a top but this piece of walnut doesn´t look too pretty so I decide to use some moena on the back too.
- Neck: Laminated. Pumaquiro/purpleheart/walnut.
- Fretboard: Quinilla. 17 3/8" radiused. I will keep looking for some Estoraque or Bálsamo though. The ****ing rain on the rain forest left me without some wood choices and about 3000 people homeless!!

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3539Small.jpg

Some info about the local (exotic for most of you) woods:

Moena (Aniba ssp\Aniba Amazonica): Janka 1470 and specific gravity 0.6. BTW I had to buy a 3m piece and will use about 1m so if any of you want some of it just PM me :).

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3563Small.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3561Small.jpg

Pumaquiro (Aspidosperma macrocarpon): Known as peruvian maple somewhere over internet. Janka 1500 and specific gravity 0.67.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3587Medium.jpg

Quinilla (Manilkara bidentata): Known as bullet wood or peruvian cherry. Janka 3190 and specific gravity 0.85. Hard enough to be used as a fretless. The grain looks much more pretty as it looks in live ..maybe with some sanding it will look like in the pic.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3589Medium.jpg

I've worked on the neck but there is no pic of it yet because it's not finished. I hope to have it done soon.

I worked a bit on the wings too.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3558Small.jpg

The wings next to the top blank. I'll take the top and back blank to be cut tomorrow afternoon.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3578Medium.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3575Medium.jpg

Not sure yet about ussing some sap wood as it can be seen on the pics or not. What do you say?

Pics of the top and back lined and ready to be cut. Take a look at the wing shapes with some sapwood on them.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3580Medium.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3579Medium.jpg

I have a ton of doubts here and I will post them here when the time comes.

Any comment or suggestion will be apreciated.

This is turning out really nice so far. I can't wait to see more progress.

Fantastic mate, great work, very insightful for me and probably for the rest of the starting outluthier sout there.

Any plans for pickups/inlays and all that as of yet?

Damn, I can't believe that that is cheap wood for you!

Looking great.

Really nice!

Hmm... I really like that you've given yourself an extra 1/4" past your lines to cut. I learned that the hard way. Leave excess, and belt sand down to the line. Far more accurate.

And that top for this project is gonna look gorgeous. I can't even imagine how cool it would look in different colors. Like bright orange or golden or maybe deep purple.

I'll need to start another bass project just as an excuse to buy your excess wood from you! LOL

Hmm... I really like that you've given yourself an extra 1/4" past your lines to cut. I learned that the hard way. Leave excess, and belt sand down to the line. Far more accurate.

The only problem with it is that I have no belt sander so I have to buy some more sandpaper!!!

And that top for this project is gonna look gorgeous. I can't even imagine how cool it would look in different colors. Like bright orange or golden or maybe deep purple.

I'll need to start another bass project just as an excuse to buy your excess wood from you! LOL

It'd look just great ...actually if I were you I would buy a piece of it RIGHT NOW just to be sure I won't run out that wood!!! :smug: :D

What about the sap wood?? First I thought It would be nice to have some sap wood at each side but now (about an hour to take the blank to be cut) I'm not that sure.

60:00
59:59
59:58
.
.
.

Ok here is a tip for when cutting a rare as hell top (read carefully and have it always in mind):

If you are sure about the measures you have take and have taken two or three times...

...it doesn't matter ...DO IT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! :mad: :bawl:

Well having two weeks which were real nightmares, this weekend finally got some time to work with my project (I had to choose between it or the beach and believe me it wasn't easy to choose one of them). I finally glued all the lams of the neck. The pumaquiro blanks didn't were thick enough so I got to glue some (why all wood must cutted using standard sizes???)rails on the side of the body but some parts are going to disappear when the neck get tapered. Here you have a pics of this.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3645.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/101_0122Medium.jpg

There is some planning to do yet on the neck but this just a little thing. A problem I saw is that there are a few gaps in the neck and the rails and on one purpleheart lam. Here are the pics (sorry for the crappy pics). If you want I'll try to get a few better ones.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3648Medium.jpg
This is about 3mm long and about 1mm wide

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3647Medium.jpg
This is about 10mm!!! long and less than a 1mm wide

Those gaps are really really thin so I'm not sure about how to get some glue and wood dust in them. A needle is not going to be able to get into it. Any suggestion?

Some other doubts are regarding some measures and the order of steps doing the tapering, planned to the proper thick and finger joint. What I'm planning to do is:

1. Get the neck 100% planned at the top and back sides.
2. Cut the finger joint at 15° and get planned it to 1.5cm thick (is this Ok?).
3. Taper the neck (4cm at the nut and 8 cm at the bridge).
4. Cut the neck to 2.5cm at the fretboard side and at 4.2cm at the body side. Enough wood is left at the body side so I can get a nice transition from the fretboard side to the body side.
5. Planned the finger joint parts.
6. Get glued the finger joint.

I worked a bit with the wings too and find out that I'm working with the wings in the long way. I mean I should glued the core, the back and top and the veneer first the then cut the shape. This would be fast. Made it in the other way and cut first the core, then the top and then the back and after that I glued the veneers to the core and then glue the top and then the back. I guess that this is a learning process!! I got some wood left so for my next project I will have this in mind. Good thing about my next project is that I don't have to buy almost no wood at all :hyper:. Bad things: It will be a g**t*r (not enough for a bass :hmm: ...as I said before nobody is perfect!!!) and yeah yeah I know!!! I got that bass building illness too!!!!! :rollno: :smug:

Here are the pics of this. I'm using the first blank of pumaquiro I bought and some pice of moena that left from the piece I messed up(!!!) to clamp the wing.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3643Medium.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/101_0114Medium.jpg

You can see that the high side wing it is not glued yet. Why? Because I have some doubts with the control cavity. The electronics are not here yet and I want to take off as few wood as I could so I'm not sure how much wood I have to take off. Another question is how thick (or thin) the top side of the control cavity must be?

I've thinking about the pickup wires too so what I'm going to do is to route a line on the high side of the neck (before gluing it to the wing) from neck pup to the bridge and the same on the wing so when the neck and the wing get glued I will have access to the neck and do the wire work. The same process used Melvyn Hiscock. So let's see how this work out with me. I have to do a lot of practice with the router first (bought it and haven't even take it off from its box).

As always any comment or suggestion is welcome!!

PD: Does any of you know why all that $%&”# sawdust can’t fall in just one spot of the floor instead of having it flying around you or around the whole room or around all rooms????:mad:

Gaps in the glue joints... will they be carved away once you radius the neck? Will they be cut away once you install the graphite rods?

The body cavities... I assume you're gonna cut the body wood out for the electronics pocket, rout a perfect canal to the pickup pockets, and THEN glue everything, right? I'd definitely wait for the electronics. What kind are you getting? Are you getting individual pots and jacks and electronics, or will it come pre-soldered and laid out like a Bartolini assembled kit? Cuz I'd recommend using a piece of paperboard like the back of a notepad, cut it to the profile of your body, draw a minimum of 3/4" from the edge, and start punching holes for your volume and tone pots. Then, wiggle in the electronics, and draw your pickup wire paths. Once you've got it all laid out and the pots mounted to the cardboard, then you can draw your cavity silhouette. Pull everything off the cardboard, trace the silhouette, and there ya go!

Heh heh. Sawdust. That stuff obeys Murphy's Law, Section 3 Article 12: Dust and fine particulates will always find their way into the most inconvenient crevices, whether or not airflow over that surface permits dust to settle there.

Gaps in the glue joints... will they be carved away once you radius the neck? Will they be cut away once you install the graphite rods?

Nope. Those are going to stay there and the problem is that even if they are not big, I know they are there and they will keep shouting at me ...HEYYY ...LOOK AT ME!!! YES... RIGHT HERE!!!. I'm not worried about the purpleheart gap but about the pumaquiros one. I'm not using the original blanks I posted but some flame ones I found and the piece I got was big enough for a whole new neck so I guess that I'm going to cut those edges close to the neck and sand them down and then use this extra blank I have left (I'm still have the original one so I can use it in other neck). I'll will send the neck and this blank to get planned close to perfection and see what happens. I'll do that this week unless any of you have a better idea!!!!

The body cavities... I assume you're gonna cut the body wood out for the electronics pocket, rout a perfect canal to the pickup pockets, and THEN glue everything, right? I'd definitely wait for the electronics. What kind are you getting? Are you getting individual pots and jacks and electronics, or will it come pre-soldered and laid out like a Bartolini assembled kit? Cuz I'd recommend using a piece of paperboard like the back of a notepad, cut it to the profile of your body, draw a minimum of 3/4" from the edge, and start punching holes for your volume and tone pots. Then, wiggle in the electronics, and draw your pickup wire paths. Once you've got it all laid out and the pots mounted to the cardboard, then you can draw your cavity silhouette. Pull everything off the cardboard, trace the silhouette, and there ya go!

Sounds easy ...so it will be the way to go. Thanks.

BTW, I'm getting a kit from Bartolini. 5.2 I guess it is. The one with hi-mid-low/3way mid selector/vol/blend/pull-push on the vol knob for active-passive. A friend of mine will buy it before coming back to Peru.

Haven't post any update lately because there wasn´t nothing interesting and finally found sometime to work in my project in this ...how it is called in English?? ...holly week as in spanish??? ...well ...in this holydays and here are the pics.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/101_0189.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/101_0187.jpg

I slotted the fretboard and I think I $&@!# it up. I made the slot for the nut and then the slots for the frets. Took measures and everything seems to be Ok. When I take a look at the FB already slotte I realize that there was too little space between the nut slot and the zero fret slot. It's about a little bit more than 2.5mm.

So please tell what can I do?? :(

The pics of that

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/101_0193.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/101_0192.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/101_0190.jpg

EDIT: sorry for the big pics.

I think you have three options:

- Make a new fingerboard

- Use this one and glue in the nut before tapping in the zero fret. This would kind of mean you can never replace the nut without risking the zero fret cracking off that thin bit of wood.

- Don't use a zero fret, cut the end off and mount your nut at the end of the fingerboard.

I thought about gluing some scrap in the nut slot and the re slot the slot about 4.5 mm from the zero fret (and not just 2.5mm) but Im not sure if there is going to be any problem with glued scrap at the moment of routing that slot again.

Edit: I planned to use the same wood from the FB at the nut so basicly a can glue the nut ...then tap put the zero fret and when the time came to change the nut I just can sand it off ...right??? Can I do that???

Edit2: The wood is quinilla. I guess is called bulletwood in english.

Actually either way you mention will work fine, and if you match the wood well then it shouldn't be too noticeable.

Great!! Thanks.

that top is fabulous. love it to bits. is it hard to work with? looks like a mix of Zebrano and Spalted Maple, two of my fav. top woods. :D

I'd like to see how this all progresses.

As long as you put something into the nut slot before pressing the fret, there would be little problem. Something like....the nut! Premade! Whoooooo!:D

Yes, done right, it works. F***** does it all the time, but without the fret.

What hispanics call 'holy week' americans call spring break :D not so religious!

just kidding. holy week = easter. celebrates the same thing.

btw, your fret slots seem a bit shallow, they should be deeper. make sure you have your frets on hand and allow about 1mm extra depth.

I workedn the fretboard yesterday. Cut a 7mm piece from the edges sand it down to 6mm. Fitted perfectly and then glued it. After doing this I took one of the two prints I got from fretfind. Any of those prints were printed on differents printers. When I start measure my slots against the print I took I realize that some slots just don't match the printed lines. Some of them are perfect, some alittle bit to one side and some just dont much. In two cases the lines are next to the slots. Obviously my thought was: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!!! I took the other print and everything was Ok. Both prints don't match a 100%!!!!!!! I measure the space between each lines on both prints and I found that the one that is close to the number I got from Fretfind and Mr. Hiscock book is the one that don't match to my slots :( (F****G printer!!!). I will have to buy another blank for my fretboard :(

I will ask this even when I guess I know the answer. How close to the given numbers (fretfind, books or other) the slots have to be???

...In two cases the lines are next to the slots. Obviously my thought was: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!!! ...

I will ask this even when I guess I know the answer. How close to the given numbers (fretfind, books or other) the slots have to be???If you go to the site with fretfind, then up a level maybe, there are links to "other useful calculations" or something like that. One of the items available is a calculator for, given a specific fret misplacement, how far will the intonation of the note be off.

Ahaaa!! I will take a look at it even when I have already decide to get another blank. I know that at last it will be the better choice. Just want to know how exactly it must be the slot.

Waiting for some stuff to arrive from US I decide to do something useful yesterday. I decide to try a knob. Actually did 3 of them.You can see the first and third ones. The second which was the best was destroy (never ever put something that rolls close to an american bulldog!!!!!)

The three knobs were made from pumaquiro and walnut. This is the first one
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3704.jpg

The second was just like this one but much more well done but I post this sh*tty knob so you can get the idea about how the second one looked like

This is the third

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_3707.jpg

I'll try to do one or two more mixing maybe pumaquiro and bulletwood.

I read the wooden knobs How to and I'm not sure which looks better the ones from with made with the end grain at the top or the ones with the side grains at the top. What do you guys think???

After almost 3 months having my project in the closet because my family was back in Perú on vacations I finally had sometime to work on it last week and here are the updates.

The first problem I had was that the table I was using as a workbench passed the way (kids!!!! :() so I had to "make" one. I'm using the " " because all I did was to get a table my father don't use anymore and took two pieces of wood of 1.5m x 0.45m from my parents old bed. I'm still not sure if those wood are a local wood called tornillo or a spanish cedar!!!!

The second problem I'm having is that the guy that supposed to bring pups, brigde and tuners from US in two weeks is not coming back. He decided to stay as illegal in US ...with my money!!!. He supposed to send it back to me this week.

Well here are the pics.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4113Medium.jpg

This is the trussrod channel. As you can see the router moved a little bit!!! but don't worry this is a test neck I did. I wanted to practice a little bit with the trussrod channel and the necks carving on the same wood of the real neck. The channel in the real neck went fine but that test neck showed me how fast you can f*ck up a project with power tools. One second everything is great and the next PAAAA!!!! you have a lot of wood chips that supposed to be your project!!!

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4101Medium.jpg

This is a pic of the test neck and the real neck both already carved. For those of you who say that this is the best part of a project... you guys are 500% right!!!!

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4100Medium.jpg

As you can see here the wood moved when gluing!!! I should done this first on the test neck. Still thinking about put some veneer over there. I still have a piece that left from the neck sO maybe I'll plane and sand it really thin and then glue on it!!!

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4096Medium.jpg

And finally a view from the back

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4119Medium.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4102Medium.jpg

The next step is fretwork. I think I'll play a little bit with a bridge like T2Ws looking for the next project. Mario BTW have you try to use wood for the saddles instead of aluminium.

I have to do a the nut too. It will be a wood nut but I have a question for you... when doing a wood nut do I have to have in mind the grain of the wood?

Thats looking fantastic dude !! really nice work, I really, really love that neck, the tiny veneers alongside the purpleheart makes all the difference. I really dig that volute too, nice job Eleonn !

Now that you mention it... no I didnt think about using wood as saddles, I wanted to use aluminum for the Bass im building now, but hey I might consider using wood, ill dig through my pile of scraps and might find something strong enough to do the job. I got the base of the bridge done, its Cocobolo this time, maybe I can use Cumaru for the saddles...:smug:
Peace and good luck with finishing your Bass !
-Mario-

Looking awesome Eleonn!

It seems like T2W has started a trend with his bridge. (I'm also having a go)
I'm playing with adding height adjustment by adding ramps under the saddles. I'll be able to explain better when I take some pictures when I have another attempt.

Very nice stuff! I suggest you glue some veneer on the back of the headstock. It'll hide that slip up.

Nice, very good design. :eek:

very nice i really like the woods and the neck is stunning!!!

Love the wood choice's Eleonn!

Thanks for all your comments.

Wilser I was thinking about the veneer too but all the veneer I have is really thin so I think I get some scrap I have around of moena and plan and sand it down to 1mm or 2.

What about the wood nut? Does the grain should be parallel to the strings or it doesn't matter? I'm thinking about make it from the first piece of quinilla I bought for the fretboard which is darker than the piece I'm using or maybe I should use a piece of pumaquiro for contrast but this is not as hard as quinilla.

the wooden nuts I've made had the grain perpendicular to the strings.

I started a trend? ok... cool. Im looking for those set screws this week, the one I am building now will be adjustable in height. It has to be.

Hey Wilser, Where is Greg? I heard you guys were talking quite a bit before, you have any idea where he is?

Nice bass!

I'm doing the fretting work and I'm having some problems here so I have a few questions.

Do I have to bend the frets before hammering into my dead flat fretboard? I did and I have several frets that stayed bended and didn't placed well over the fretboard. They look like this ( instead of |. I noticed this after putting a drop of CA on each side of the fretboard. The frets cavities is deep enough. What I'm doing to put the frets is to clamp them using a flat scarp from the fretboard. I will have to take those frets out and here comes my second question.

Is there a way or things to check out to get those frets outs without ripping the sides of the fretboard out (remember the CA drops)?

:help: :help: :help: :help: :help: :help:

...
Hey Wilser, Where is Greg? I heard you guys were talking quite a bit before, you have any idea where he is?

He used to IM me a lot ...but now that you mention it, it's been since I've even seen him online.

Here is an update. It's not much but...

The fretjob is done. I had to take a few frets and put new ones. Its not the best work ever but for my first time I guess it's Ok. I'll have to look into Stewmac Fret products soon!!

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4147Small.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4143Small.jpg

I worked on the back of the headstock too. I had some scrap from neck which made it cut to 2mm wide and then sand it to less than 1mm. I was worried about how it's going to look the headstock from the side so I decide to put some walnut veneer in case some glue line shows up. The pic...

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4139Small.jpg

After the headstock work I had some free time yesterday so I took a piece of wood that left from my places floor and looks at T2W bridge hows to. I have to work a little bit with the measures but here it is the result

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4138Small.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4132Small.jpg

This is shaping up rather nicely. Good job!

Can't wait to see the bridge when you finish it

Thanks Shawn but the bridge is actually just a try of T2W's bridge method and it will go to the trash today. I will recheck some measurements and make another one with the real measurements for example this is just 1cm high. I didn't care too much about some measures because this was just a test. I like how it turned out though and the woods grain looks really nice too.

hihihihi... you should see my smile right now, some guy in Peru is building a bridge with my recipe. Thats quite amazing. Good Job on the Bass Eleonn, fretting is hard... I sure need more practice. I really really like that neck, its just f***** sweet as all hell !! keep it up.

Thanks a lot Mario!!! ...and thanks for the recipe too!!! :)

i must say, that bass looks damn hot, wow, that bridge design is very popular (i can see why, for i will be using it soon) you should patent it t2w!

Any updates.
Se mira bien chido!! I'm planing a build for next year (around July), I need to do a lot reading!! :p

Well... ehhh... hummm... no!! :hiding:

Didn't have the time to put my hands over my project but this weekend I will!!!

Ok a little update. I´ve been playing with some scrap wood and this is what I've have.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4300.jpg

The thing is this: I got some Varathane water based poly which it 's supposed to be the clear semi gloss version. What you are seeing here is two coats on friday night, sanding with 220, 320 and 600 (didn't find any 400 grit sand paper) yesterday and then another two coats. Haven't do anything today but it doesn´t looks like semi gloss to me. Actually is this the semi gloss version, the gloss one would left blind to anyone!!! and it is not that I don't like it but I don't want this baby to be a glossy one. So I'll put 2 or 3 more coats and I'll go with 220, 320, 600, 800 and 0000 steel wood to see how this goes.

As always I have a few questions.

Another thing that can be seen in the pics is that there are some bubbles in the finish which goes away when I do some sanding. I haven't shake the can as it's been said but still there are some bubbles. Is this normal?

How many coats do I have to put on per day? Do I have to sand between each coat? How much do I have to wait between each coat? The finish feels hard to the touch in about 40 minutes and when I sand then or after a night I don't get much dust, its more little things like what you get when erase some pencil lines with those white rubber erasers. Not sure if this is Ok.

With the varithane, I would sand between every 2 coats or so, and be careful of sanding through to previous coats, as it will leave what is called a "witness line", or a white ring or line where you sanded through to the previous coat. Varithane is a very tough, durable coating, and makes a fine instrument finish if you want a thick (often shiny) coat. However, it is not as "hard" as some other finishes. I once tried finishing varithane over lacquer sanding sealer (a mistake) and the finish ended up peeling off in flexible chunks. What *didn't* peel off nearly wore out my random orbit sander trying to get through it and back into the wood. I've not used it since, as for satin finishes, wipe on poly or lacquer seemed easier to finish in the long run, and most of my customers want oil finishes lately, andway.

If you are getting rolls or curls of finish when sanding, my guess would be that the finish hasn't cured hard enough yet.

You can always *make* it satin by only sanding up to a certain point (say, 1500 grit or so), and not polishing it out to a shine.

With waterbased stuff you must wait AT LEAST 1 hour between coats in warm weather. It is VERY advisable to wait 2 hours, though, and that's what I do. If you don't the underlying layers will never fully cure and remain gummy, which will make the finish very flexible and easy to dent and scratch. Wait 2 hours between coats, apply at least 10 coats (waterbased builds much quicker than solvent based) and wait a week before buffing and polishing. There's no need to sand between coats unless you make mistakes like apply too thickly and get runs or sags ...or dust/insects that settle in the finish ...or if you're using the finish to fill the pores, which means you must sand back after each coat, but I don't recommend that method because it's slow and wasteful.

Wilser and Shawn... thanks. Any idea about the bubbles?

The bubbles are probably from applying the finish too heavily. This finish is out of a spray can, yes? If you apply it too heavily, you will see bubbles

***EDIT***

Looking at your picture of the finish, it does indeed appear to be semi-gloss... you are probably thinking more along the lines of a satin finish, or onw with no real shine to it. If *that* is what you want, I'd recommend a wipe-on poly, as it is not only easier to apply (paper towels work well), but you don't contend with bubbles, finish ripples, etc.

***EDIT AGAIN!!!***

Brushing on that finish may apply it too heavily for your application, or it may be too thick for what you need to do. Not entirely sure now you'd thin that...

Nope. The one I bought is not a spray can. I'm applying it with a brush.

What you need to do is give it a light pass with the brush with no finish on right BEFORE it becomes tacky. You use the tip of the brush just touching the surface and keep it perpendicular to the surface. This is from the Flexner book on wood finishing and it works great ...I don't apply the finish with a brush, but I do apply the grain filler and epoxy with them.

WILSER (C)

The bubbles are probably from applying the finish too heavily. This finish is out of a spray can, yes? If you apply it too heavily, you will see bubbles

***EDIT***

Looking at your picture of the finish, it does indeed appear to be semi-gloss... you are probably thinking more along the lines of a satin finish, or onw with no real shine to it. If *that* is what you want, I'd recommend a wipe-on poly, as it is not only easier to apply (paper towels work well), but you don't contend with bubbles, finish ripples, etc.

***EDIT AGAIN!!!***

Brushing on that finish may apply it too heavily for your application, or it may be too thick for what you need to do. Not entirely sure now you'd thin that...

The problem is that no wipeon poly product is sell here in Peru. I´ve being said that in summer (sometime between january and february) Watco wipeon poly will be available but this is not 100% for sure and I don't want to wait that much :hmm:

I've being said in another thread not to thin Varathane products and use just as it is supplied and follow what the can says, so that's what I did.

yeah, I recall now that the water based Varathane doesn't thin well...

The white stuff? ... if you can thin it at all....

I've never seen white varathane... it's always been clear. We talking about the same stuff? Flecto Varathane Poly varnish?

Well this one actually looks like a milky liquid. The product is this one

http://www.rust-oleum.com/cbgimages/products/VADpDpQtL.jpg

http://www.rust-oleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=70

EDIT: As it cures it becomes clear.

Exactly, its milky. I tried putting some mineral spirits in the spray gun with some of this white varnish crap. Clogged up the gun for some reason and I ended up applying it with a brush.

I'm "TRYING" to do this with a brush.

Ok a little update.

The headstock is done and the pickup routings are done. I will have to secess the brigde a bit into the body (yeah yeah I know... didn't thought about that when planning).

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/100_4317Medium.jpg

Being working with the knobs with a hand drill, a piece of PVC tube and sand paper. This is going to be tricky to get it right and this are the moments when I would love to have a drill press. I ve been look for one the the only ones I foud or are way too big for what I have in mind or are too small and look like thay have had 3 or 4 owners already even when they are new!! Here you have what I have done. So Tb'ers help me with this:

Which one you like the most or which combination of wood you wuold think it would be better??

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/100_4319Medium.jpg

Hummm Maybe I should post a pic of the whole body so you can see the which one looks better.

After filling, sanding and filling pores for a time I thought it would be FOREVER with the finish itself ( I swear... never again!!!) I give you here a little update. The bass have 4 coats and I will do a little sand for levelling out when I get back from the beach at night. Hope you like and as always if you have any comment recommendation it would be great.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4360.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4361.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4362.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4363.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4364.jpg

That's looking great, I love the neck and the back of the body is stunning :eek:

For a first build you've done very very well so far, You should be PROUD!! Its gonna be one sweet bass when its completed! I like the knob to the left, I also like the top edge square instead of rounded, thats something I did on my last set of knobs that made the whole process somewhat easier.

Enrique you just made my day. Ive been waiting for a while to see some pics ! however... stop goin to the beach and finish your bass !! hahahaha... no I would do the same. beach and girls is pretty sweet. Its a nice freakin bass dude, I really like it. Keep it up buddy !

One very beautiful build, I'm looking forward to seeing this one complete.

thats pretty sweet. Do they make an MIM that I can afford =P

Just returned from the beach... to late to sanding so that will wait for tomorrow!!! Thank you very much guys for all your comments!!

OK. I just realized that I'm about to finish this project and I haven't made the hole for the strap button at the horn. The thing is that I'm a bit worried about it because it ends up in this little curve which is no big enough for the strap button as you can see in the pic so I will have to make a recess on the tip of the horn for it but not sure how. I think that the obvius tool would be a drill with a fortsner bit but the only one I've found in the whole country was a 15mm one an the base of the strap button is only 11mm plus Im worry that the hand drill can move and do something unfixable (does that word exist?). So what does all you suggest me to do?

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4367Small.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4365Small.jpg

Very impressive. You've done a great job with that bass!

Have you considered putting the strap button on the back of the horn instead of at the top, like i've seen on some Elricks?

Yes but the tip of the horn is just too thin and it could split in two pieces plus Id have to make a recess too to get the starpbutton well place. If I want to put it in the back and don't do any recess I would to place it at the 15th fret.

Thanks for you comment :)

wooo. damn buddy... I would suggest you start by drilling a hole a bit smaller than the size of your screw. This should be easy to do and shouldnt slip... even better would be to punch in a small hole with a nail or something to guide the drill bit. Then you can use that hole as a guide for a 1/2" drill bit. Otherwise... Id do it all by hand with a small hole, some small chisels and tiny files to clean it all up.

In order to drill straight and steady on the tip of the horn, you may have to make a jig. It could consist of two or four pieces that can be clamped to surround the horn without damaging it, and extending out past the horn. Into the open box created past the horn, you insert the drill guide(s), which could be blocks of hard wood pre-drilled to the proper bit diameters.

If you're worried about the screw cracking the horn, you might consider oversize drilling the pilot hole, and epoxying in the screw.

Enrique, your bass is looking very nice! I can't believe this is your first!

thats one amazing bass you've built there.... made me want to buckle down and get my act together with my own ideas

Thank you guys for your comments.

Pilot today Ill try to start with the jig. My biggest concern is the recess. The tip of the horn it's not wide enough to keep the strap button safely and thats why the recess. I'm a bit worried about its look too because the side of the horn will look like this (sorry for the ASCii "drawing")


____ ____
| | | |
| |____| |
| |
| |

EDIT: The ASCii drawing is not being shown in the right way. Forget the ASCii... change it a few time but it just appears in a wrong way.

Thank you guys for your comments.

Pilot today Ill try to start with the jig. My biggest concern is the recess. The tip of the horn it's not wide enough to keep the strap button safely and thats why the recess. I'm a bit worried about its look too because the side of the horn will look like this (sorry for the ASCii "drawing")


____ ____
| | | |
| |____| |
| |
| |

EDIT: The ASCii drawing is not being shown in the right way. Forget the ASCii... change it a few time but it just appears in a wrong way.
To get the ASCII to appear the right way, surround that section with code tags (looks like: [ code ] [ /code ] minus the extra spaces).

Lets see...


____ ____
| | | |
| |___| |
| |
| |


This is how it would look the horn from the side with the recess because it shouldnt be more than 1.5 cm at the tip and the strap button would be placed there. Not sure about this but I guess I have no other option. As Mario (T2W) said the trick is make the errors looks like it were made on purpose!!!

EDIT: Pilot thanks for the tip.

You're welcome.

What do you think of this idea: making it look the same from the front, but provide a large flat area for the button, and then curve off to the back (screw hole also shown):

__
F / \ B
R | \_______ A
O | | | \ C
N | | | | K
T | V |

Ok after thinking about Pilots suggestion and what I first though to do I decide to go my way because I will change only 2 from the 4 sides of the horn. Its not top work but I couldnt do more with my cheap half sharped chisels. The pics of what I did.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4372Small.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4371Small.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4368Small.jpg

Sorry for the crapy pics but its too late and I'm too lazy right now to get better ones.

After 21 one coats and the wet sanding with 400, 600, 800 and 1000 grits I guess the finish film its a bit thin. I planned to put a last 22th coat but I guess that Ill go with 3 more and then do the final sanding. Still wanting to find 1500 and 2000 grit sanding paper for the last sanding. I read somewhere here about the sanding(??) with that brown paper bags. Could anybody talk to me something about it please? Can I replace 1500/2000 grit sand paper with it or something?

One thing I have to tell you all is that this: I swear that I HATE brushed finishes.

If everything goes Ok I'll be able to put my pic in the First Projects thread :hyper:

Looking good!

Looks like a great job!

great work i love that top and headstock, i hope mine turns out at least half as good as yours

So guys I have a few more questions. The first question is about grounding. I want to put the next steps so you can tell me if it is Ok or if I missing something.

1. Control cavity cover, control cavity and pickups cavities are already cover with copper foil. About this, does anybody have used Stewmacs? I did and I thought it wouldnt be that thick. I was a bit tricky to cover some parts.

2. Soldering cables for grounding the foil at both pups cavities. Do I have to solder both to earth at the jack?

3. Solder earth cables from both pups to the blend pot. All the pots are already solded to each other and that to the jack.

4. Finally ground cable from the bridge tot he foil at the control cavity and that to the jack. About this point, anybody has read Donald Brosnacs book Guitar Electronics for Musicians? It is recommended a couple of times not to ground the bridge.

So, am I missing something here?

The next points are actually two with the preamp and pickups. The preamp is a NTMB 5.1. The pickups are a bart 9J1 (neck) and a bart BC4CBC (bridge). THe first problem is this:

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4394Small.jpg

Can you see the two yellow cables? What happens there is that the guy who brought me the preamp put it on his bag with no protection at all and 4 cables broke. The first two are already soldered to its pots. The other two are the yellow ones. In the paper behind you can see a yellow cable going from the preamp to the blend pot. The problem here is that Im not sure if both yellow cables at the preamp is the ONE cable you see at the pic. It seems to me pretty rare that the cable would be broke at the middle but following the pic this is the only yellow cable that goes to the blend pot and there is no cable going from there to anywhere. So if there is any of you there with this preamp, maybe you can confirm this to me.

The second problem is this:

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4397Small.jpg

At the bottom you can see the blend pot. The whitish cable that comes from the bottom is the neck pup cable. I put it on its placed for the pic. The cables that runs around it (earth) will be solder to the washer that can be seen on the pot. There is one lug free at the pot for the bridge pot. The problem here is that from the right side of the pic comes the bridge cables and you can see 5 cables the red and white (cames soldered), the green and plated (cames soldered) and the black one. The black is the called hot one. The green I think goes to earth but, what do I do with the red one?

So TBers please enlight me one more time.

The problem with the preamp wires is already fixed. Now just need some help with the shielding procedure and with the pup... come on guys... help me.

what's your problem specifically with the copper foil? I used it a couple of times and it was pretty easy to apply, though I prefer conductive paint for a cleaner look.

Well... I think this thread is officially over. This lady is finally finished. Here you have a few pictures.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4406Small.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4400Small.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4407Small.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4402Small.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4416Small.jpg

FANTASTIC!

That is a beautiful build, congratulations!

Thank you very much guys.

Enrique it's beautiful!!!! looks like you did a top job with the finish as well! 100 times better than my first!

Do you have means to record a clip? I'd love to hear how it sounds.

Wilser actually Im not too happy with the finish but having in mind that this is my first finish job and was done with a brush... well I guess it came out fine. I just had to chose the right angles and pictures!! hahaaa... I'll try to record a clip but so far I like it much more than my LTD F254. Maybe the next job will be change pup and electronics to it. Thanks for your kind words.

Very very nice.

Beautiful design, congratulations and keep on building!

i'm a bit late coming into this thread, but damn that's nice. it's seriously your first build?

Very nice job indeed!

All the best

Yikes! That is just waaay too nice. Good job.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4407Small.jpg


dont mean to be a negative nancy lol but should there be a fret near the nut like that?

That's called a zero fret. It stands where the nut goes on most guitars, with a "nut" behind it acting as only a string spacer. More info, try a search on "zero fret."

Me, I'm waiting the to see the truss rod cover. ;)

Amazing... that looks far beyond what I could even imagine doing on my first build!

Bravo! :)

That's called a zero fret. It stands where the nut goes on most guitars, with a "nut" behind it acting as only a string spacer. More info, try a search on "zero fret."

Me, I'm waiting the to see the truss rod cover. ;)

that would finish it off quite nicely:bassist:

Thanks a lot guys and yes is my first build. This was my first time in a lot of thing cause I never did, touch or use any of the tools I used for this so I pleased that this finished Ok. There are a few things that could be done in a better way but this is all about learning.

Pilot, El Bob... you were talking about this...

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o207/eleonn/Proyecto/100_4432Small.jpg

The problem here is that the screw holes were made using the tuner screws but I dont find such tiny screws here. Ill have to go to a certain place to see if they have them.

looks great eleonn! can't wait to see what your other builds are going to be like.

Beautiful!!
Love the way the knobs look on the body.

I dig that recessed bridge!