Finaly got round to starting this bass.

Specs are:
* 4 string
* Singlecut
* 34" scale
* Neck thru - Rippled Sycamore/ Wenge/ Cherry/ Wenge/ R Sycamore
* Fretless unlined flat Snakewood fretboard (might change this for a Birdseye Maple one)
* 2" thick chambered ash body with black sycamore accents between layers
* Spalted Birch top
* Quilted Mahogany bottom
* Audere 4 band Z preamp
* Nordstrand Fat Stacks
* Matching Spalted headstock veneer
* Hipshot Ultralite tuners
* ETS bridge (if i can get hold of one)
* Spoke style truss rod
* Custom F hole
Heres the design:

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/09012008328.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/09012008330.jpg

I will post pics of woods and stuff when i start making it on friday.
What do you guys think?

***Sorry for the bad quality pics***

That's a nice looking shape, I hope you have fun building it. Out of curiosity, what's the cross-hatching on the upper horn?

Its the chambering. It wont actually be seen. Ive just taken a photo of one of my earlier design sheets, thats why theres lots of things circled.

Heres some pics of some of the wood:


http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/09012008327.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/09012008326.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/09012008325.jpg

Those are some beautiful looking pieces of wood, can't wait to see what the look like carved and finished!

lookin good so far!

Finaly got round to getting some work done on this bass.
So far done:

Cut, glued and planed the neck
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/29022008462.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008063.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008062.jpg

Cut and glued half the body together
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008066.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008065.jpg

Photo of fretboard
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008061.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008060.jpg

Control cavity routed
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008064.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24032008069.jpg

Hope to get most of the neck done during easter

Just some constructive feedback...

I know you guys get excited to see the shape of the bass emerge but it's really counterproductive and unnecessary to cut out the wings before they are glued on. This only makes it more of a headache to glue on the wings.

Cut out the cutaways and leave the rest of the wings square. This is much easier to glue up.

Nice! I've been thinking about a single-cut fretless myself. I'll be interested to see how this one looks when done.

the woods look awsome!

Just some constructive feedback...

I know you guys get excited to see the shape of the bass emerge but it's really counterproductive and unnecessary to cut out the wings before they are glued on. This only makes it more of a headache to glue on the wings.

Cut out the cutaways and leave the rest of the wings square. This is much easier to glue up.

I use a router to cut out the wings with a template - so i can use the offcuts like cauls when im glueing the wings to the body.

Also means i don't have much chance of chipping or cutting the neck seeing as the woods for the body cost me less than $5 compared to the $75 on the neck, and i dont want to sped ages planing laminates straight again, took me 6hours of solid plaing to make sure there are no glue lines or gaps in the neck.

I can see where your coming from though, and am glad of the constructive criticism

I use a router to cut out the wings with a template - so i can use the offcuts like cauls when im glueing the wings to the body.

+1 on using the scraps as cauls, you can even do this from a bandsaw if you cut smart. Seems IMO that it's alot easier than trying to manuver your already glued up body and neck on a band saw and do a refined cut.

+1 on using the scraps as cauls, you can even do this from a bandsaw if you cut smart. Seems IMO that it's alot easier than trying to manuver your already glued up body and neck on a band saw and do a refined cut.
Ah, but once you have your "body blank" glued up to your neck you can just use a router to cut it out ;)

I can indeed :) but i'm worried about the notorius router kickback :( and because router bits are round i can only rout so close to the neck. Nothing a bit of sandpaper and files can't do though.

Glueing body blanks does have its advantages but there seems to be more chances to damage the neck or slip and have to 'unglue' the wing because of an error.

Got some more work done today.

Cut the Scarf Joint and started sanding and planing it perfectly flat. Will be gluing it back together on Sunday.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/11042008082.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/11042008084.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/11042008085.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/11042008086.jpg

Started the pickup covers, got the blanks glued up and routed out the bulk of them with a forstner bit. Forgot to take photo's though, will put them on, on Monday.

I've put a 1/2" roundover on the outer contour of the body on the back and thicknessed the body wings to the right thickness for the neck.

I will be tapering the neck on Monday and hopefully gluing the wings to the neck.

Now i have a few quick questions which i need help with:

1. Does anyone have the dimensions for a ETS MKIII four string bridge? Mines in the post at the moment but i need the dimension for the saddle height at its lowest point, so i can determine the height the fretboard needs to be off the body.

2.Whats the average thickness of a headstock? I've guessed mine at 5/8". Do you have it a uniform thickness or do you taper it, or is it just personal preferance.

3.The truss rod i have (hot rod 24" spoke wheel) if fitted with the end starting at the nut, wont reach past the end of my fretboard (24frets) i was wondering does it have to start at the nut or can i place it 3" closer to the bridge. If not i will just have to rout a small rectangle out of the fretboard and have a lip on it so i can put a cover on it held on with magnets like the control cavity plate. Any other suggestions would be helpfull

Cheers

Fil

Done a bit more work on this bass this week:

Got the truss rod routed and fitted,
Neck is tapered
Continuous control panel is fitted and attached by magnets
Pickup covers have been made
Made control knobs using plug cutter drill bit
Shaped headstock

Tommorow hopefully i will:
Rough up neck shape and volute
Drill holes for pots and switches
Glue body wings to neck and if time permits rout channels for bridge grounding, pickups, and jack imput.

Heres some photos i took today, i will put more on tommorow.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/22042008106.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/22042008107.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/22042008109.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24042008114.jpg
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/24042008115.jpg



Any feedback is welcome.

Cheers

Fil

Nice bridge. Where you get it from?

ETS hardware. Their a German company. The quality is awesome and they do custom orders such as string spacing, engraving etc. http://www.ets-hardware.com/ Prices are very reasonable as well :).

Nice.

How was it dealing with ETS? They had been having trouble filling orders on time, and this has been followed by ABM shutting down, so I'd be interested in how that worked out for you.

Pilot... ABM is still in the business.

People had been writing that they were gone... and then I saw one post that said they might be back. There were definitely posts about the probability of ETS service getting worse due to the predicted burst of new business... was this all just a rumor?

I knew about ABM going out of business from some posts at the Bass Forum. This was because the owner passed away. Those posts told that the company was closing and the inventary and machines were sold but on march I receive this email:


Enviado el: viernes, 07 de marzo de 2008 8:07
Para:
Asunto: The New ABM

Dear business partner, dear friends of ABM,
Sehr geehrter Geschäftspartner, liebe Freunde von ABM,

Good news: ABM is back!
Eine gute Nachricht: ABM is back!

You´ll find the official information within the pdf attachement.
Nähere Informationen finden Sie im beiliegenden Anschreiben.

We would be very pleased to see you on the
MUSIKMESSE in Frankfurt, Booth 4.0 D90.
Wir würden uns sehr freuen, wenn Sie uns auf der
Frankfurter MUSIKMESSE auf unserem Stand 4.0 D90
besuchen würden.

Have a nice day and with best regards,
Wir wünschen Ihnen noch einen schönen Tag,
mit den besten Grüssen,

Joachim Hildebrand, CEO
Jan Hildebrand, CEO

Well... I initially started talking to ETS early Feb, it helped that one of my friends speaks fluent German so i was sending my emails in German and English. Its taken to last week to have the bridge sitting in front of me so about 3months waiting time.

Norbert the guy i was dealing with was helpful, the only problem which seems to happen with everyone was it usually took up to a week to answer my emails, so cram each email full with info so you don't have to keep sending emails back and forth. He did say that recently they had been bogged down with lots of orders but i supose thats to be expected with all whats happening with ABM.

Their were some issues with time, ETS said my order would be shipped mid March and on the parcel it said it was shipped 17th April, but it only took the weekend to get to me so i'm not that bothered.

All in all i don't mind waiting round for ETS since i wanted specific things, i could have easily gone to Stew-Mac and for the same price bought a Hipshot A-style and could of had it in 7days but wheres the fun in that :)

Took a few photos today, got the wings glued on, will be 'gluing' the truss rod in tommorow morning and hopefuly gluing the top on.

Front
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/28042008132.jpg


Back
http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/28042008133.jpg

Will be shaping the neck tommorow night and wednesday and inserting the pickups and preamp along with the bridge wednesday night fingers crossed.

I have a few questions about finishing this bass. I've always done oil finishes mainly because they are easy and its hard to do them wrong, but i really want to do some sort of laquer or hard finish on this bass.

I can borrow a compresser and spray guns and all that equipment and have access to a spray booth.

Now i'm not really sure on what type of finish i want.
Nitro-cellulose
Polyurethane
Polyester
Or something different.

I want the finish to make the grain pop similiar if possible better than oil does. I don't mind the work involved, be it messy, time consuming.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what to use?

Cheers
Fil

Looking good... and that bridge looks awesome!

Today i'm getting the top carved, pickups and bridge will be installed and hopefully get the truss-rod and fretboard glued in.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/06052008144.jpg


Bought some Pre-Cat Nitro Cellulose Laquer to finish this bass with.

Heres the updated version of the specs:
* 4 string jazz spacing and neck size
* Chambered Singlecut
* 34" scale neck - Sycamore/ Wenge/ Cherry/ Wenge/ Sycamore laminates
* Fretless unlined flat Snakewood fretboard
* 2" thick chambered ash body with black sycamore accents between layers
* Maple top
* Quilted Mahogany bottom with contin control panel
* Audere 4 band Z preamp
* Nordstrand Fat Stacks with matching maple covers
* Matching Maple headstock veneer
* Black Hipshot Ultralite tuners
* ETS bridge MKIII
* Spoke style truss rod
* F hole
* Wooden control knobs
* Nitro cellulose finish



Fil

Got a load of work done yesterday outside in the sun.

Got the pickup cavities routed and pickups wired up and in
The bridge is on
The fretboard and truss rod are glued on (made a small removable cover for the truss rod access.
Pre-amp is installed (still have to copper line the cavity though)
The tuning pegs are on (i think i'm going to recess the top of them)

I've still got to shape the neck and volute and finish off rounding the contours and the stomach and knee bevel.

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/Birdseyeview.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/Bassfront.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j34/fil_hickman/Trussrodaccess.jpg

Only bummer is at the moment is it weighs close on 12lbs. Hopefully most of that weight will be lost when the neck is shaped.


Fil

Damn!! This bass is looking sweet!!!