I'm building this for my son, we are actually working on it together. So far a great project. Here are the specs.
35" scale,
Nordstrand Big Split pickups
Aguilar OBP-3 preamp
Hipshot brass bridge (black)
Plan to run the B, and E string through the body
Hipshot ultralight tuners
Corian nut?
zero fret
Neck-thru made of Maple/Wenge stringer/Maple stringer/Rosewood/Maple stringer/Wenge stringer/Maple
Rosewood fingerboard 24 fret
Body is Ash core with Walnut Crotch top and back, all book matched
I plan on turning walnut knobs

We have most everything glued up.
Today we routed the neck for the trussrod and graphite rods.
Here's a picture to give an idea.

That's some lovely looking walnut, your son's very lucky :)

Corian nut?
zero fret


Looks good. But I wonder if the nut material makes much of a difference when you have a zero fret. I'm no luthier (nor even close), but I would just go with whatever is easiest to work with.

Asad

Nice... I like the neck and I just love every crotch walnut pieces I've seen and this is no exception to that rule!

Thanks guys.
I got the walnut tree off of a creek bank at a local farm. It has been air drying for several years now.
We used four cuts from the same crotch for the front and back.
We had a couple of nicely figured pieces that blew up in the planer. What a shame.

Does most everyone use epoxy to set graphite neck rods?
Also, I am planning to use LMI's dual adjustable truss rod. Anyone have any experience with these?

Ive used the lmii truss rods a few times, and i really like them. They seem to be well made, and they work great once installed. These are by far the best rods ive used, but ive only made a handful of basses.

sounds like you son is gonna have a slammin bass; good luck with the build.

You've got to tell me how those electronics are when you're done with this! I was just discussing with a very experienced player yesterday about what electronics I should get to achieve the tone I was describing to him, and he said Nordstrand Big Splits and an Aguilar OBP-3.

beautiful design! can't wait to see it all put together.

Thanks for the input guys. I will post some sound files when we get finished.

I will be glueing on the fretboard this weekend and after that I plan on cutting the taper of the neck.
I plan on using a 1/2 straight cutting bit in my router, with the router riding in a guide to set the taper. After which I would like to use my shaper or router table to cut the shape of the neck (at least rough cut it). I have a couple of shaper bits with different elliptical profiles that come close to fitting the profile of a neck.

Does anyone go at it this way?
If so, any suggestion of bits?

Today we got the taper routed on the neck, relief cut on the body and the fingerboard set. We had a good day!
I decided to run the taper on the neck prior to glueing the fingerboard. Then come back and route the fingerboard with a bearing guided straight cutting bit once it is set.
I also used my joiner to run the relief on the body portion of the neck, just up to the point that the fingerboard will end.

Here are a few pics of the progress.



http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Bodyrelief.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Neck.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Josephclampingfingerboard.jpg

That's a pretty good idea to slice a block of wood in the length to use as a caul when gluing the fingerboard to the neck. I'll have to steal your idea. :)

It seems to me that you havent tapper the whole neck but just from the end of the body to the nut or it is the angle at what the pic was taken?

It seems to me that you havent tapper the whole neck but just from the end of the body to the nut or it is the angle at what the pic was taken?

You are right. The taper runs to the point that the body will join the neck.
This was an oversight of mine early on. After joining the neck I didn't have enough width left to run the taper through the body.

Trimmed the fingerboard today. Things are starting to take shape. Here's a couple of pictures with the body wings set in place.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/2-23-08-2.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/2-23-08-1.jpg

lookin good man!:D

Looking good indeed.

lookin good man!:D

Thanks Dorian, I planning on installing the frets and starting the neck shaping this week. Should be fun.
Joe

We made a little progress this week. First off we shaped the belly cut and the forearm cut. Forearm cut I used a couple of different rasps and sanding blocks. The belly cut I used a spindle sander and some finish up hand work.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/forearmcut.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/bellycut.jpg

We used a drill press to drill for the tuners, 2 up and 3 down.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Drillpress.jpg

We rough shaped the neck with a band saw and ran it partially on the shaper. I have a handrail profile cutter for the shaper that will get me pretty close to the final profile. When I started to set it up I realized that the headstock profile was going to hold me off of the fence, so I'll have get a collar to go under the cutter for the neck to ride against.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/roughneckcut.jpg

Lastly, we leveled the fret board. I didn't have the steel tubing that stewmac sells so I ran a 1"x3"x20" piece of Ipe on the joiner, beveled the ends slightly and stuck adhesive sand paper to the joined edge. It worked out pretty good.

it is looking great ...cant wait to see the finished product !!!!:eek:

Using that handrail shaper is a good idea, although when reading Hiscock's book, he seemed to find it pretty dangerous.

I don't have a shaper, so I rough-profile on my bandsaw, then use a combination of microplanes and a random orbit sander.

Looking very nice, by the way!

That's looking real good! Can't wait to see the finished project.

Using that handrail shaper is a good idea, although when reading Hiscock's book, he seemed to find it pretty dangerous.

I don't have a shaper, so I rough-profile on my bandsaw, then use a combination of microplanes and a random orbit sander.

Looking very nice, by the way!

You are right, it is a pretty dangerous machine and if I can not rig up a feather board to keep the neck secure, I will be doing all of my shaping by hand.
Thanks for encouragement.:)
Joe

Here's an update on our project.:hyper:
We have the neck pretty much shaped. Still have some work to do on the heel but it is taking shape. Here are some pictures.




http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/shapedneck.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/heel.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Headstock-neck.jpg



We also cut our knobs from the same walnut that the body veneer came from, they are going to look pretty cool. I will post some pictures of them as soon as we get them sanded.

subscribed

That looks nice, good choice of wood!

hey is this bass done, ior did you stop posting pics? I subscribed btw.

Great build.

Thought I should post a few pics of our progress.
I had to take a several week break from the bass project.:( All of these other responsibilities really get in the way of the fun stuff but we are back on track now.

I had to reshape the bottom horn to allow better access to the highest frets. It changed the look a little but I really like the change.

We got the control cavity roughed in. Looks rough right now but we still have to clean up with the router.

Next we glued on the wings, shaped in the heel of the neck and blended the roundover shape from the wings to the neck-thru.

Here are a few new pics.:)



http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/bottom.jpg
[http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/top1.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/heeljoint.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/back2.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Frontfull.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Back.jpg

Subscribed!

Very cool shape and wow very cool headstock (nice head stocks are rare here)
Keep the pics coming! :)

Very cool shape and wow very cool headstock (nice head stocks are rare here)
Keep the pics coming! :)

Thanks.
The head stock did come out pretty nice. My son came up with the shape, sort of a modified Fod*** look.
We did lay it out so that the strings will align directly with the edge of the tuners.

I've got 2 words **sub scribed**

Good god, With the size of that control cavity, it almost qualifies as a semi-hollowbody ;)

also subscribed

Interesting neck joint. Were you trying to make it look like a set neck? Or covering up a boo boo? (Ive been known to do that)

Interesting neck joint. Were you trying to make it look like a set neck? Or covering up a boo boo? (Ive been known to do that)

It was not a mistake, we did this intentionally. We wanted to do something different with this joint instead of just tapering smoothly from the neck thickness to the body thickness. So we decided to let the radiused edge on the back of the body run across the neck.
I guess the shape does resemble a set neck joint.
Thanks, Joe

I think that heel looks great. You don't *need* it thinned or smoothed into the body, because the end of your fretboard is right there, it's not a big reach (and in all honesty, who rides the 24th fret all the time, anyway?)

I think that heel looks great. You don't *need* it thinned or smoothed into the body, because the end of your fretboard is right there, it's not a big reach (and in all honesty, who rides the 24th fret all the time, anyway?)

Thanks, it's not much of a reach at all to get the 24th fret. It is actually very comfortable. But you are dead on right about "riding the 24th fret".
Thanks, Joe

i really like that neck joint. im not really a huge neck thru fan, mostly because i dont like the feel of the neck joint whe i play the higher frets. yours looks like it would almost feel like a bolt on when playing.

that's gorgeous, i'd steal it if it didn't have 1 too many strings for my liking

where does that headstock shape come from, 'cuz i see it all over

EDIT: oh, i should read more carefully

very very nice

Great Father/Son project. How cool is that!?

Subscribed~Keep up the good work and post more pics!!!!

Cheers!

I wasnt trying to imply that it looked bad, I was just wondering why it was done that way. I think it looks fine, just have never seen it done that way on a neck thru.

Great Father/Son project. How cool is that!?

Subscribed~Keep up the good work and post more pics!!!!

Cheers!

Hey thanks Rudy.
I am fortunate enough to get to play some kicking praise and worship music with my son weekly and building this bass together has really been a blast.
It has been a real blessing.
Joe

I wasnt trying to imply that it looked bad, I was just wondering why it was done that way. I think it looks fine, just have never seen it done that way on a neck thru.

No problem, I didn't take that way.
I'm not a professional at this and welcome any questions, comments or help.
Joe

I've got 2 words **sub scribed**

Good god, With the size of that control cavity, it almost qualifies as a semi-hollowbody ;)

It is a large cavity. I layed out the 5 control knobs, 2 toggles, a preamp and two 9volts and I seemed to need the room.
I played around with seperating the batteries from the controls and moving the compartment to the upper wing (other side of the bridge) but I just couldn't bring myself to route out anymore of the figured walnut.
I have a consecutive cut of the walnut that is on the bottom section to use for the control cover. It should blend pretty good.
I'm going to tuck the batteries into the front of the cavity and try to come up with a good way to acess them without removing the entire cover. I'm thinking of splitting the cover and using magnets on the battery section.

I am using a piece of the crotch walnut to make the control cavity cover. The problem is that I need to run it down to about 3/16" to be flush with the back surface of the bass and the grain in this piece makes it unstable. Even if I could sand it to the needed thickness without it breaking, it is going to be very brittle.
My idea to handle this is to epoxy a piece of laminate (formica) to one side of the walnut and then thickness sand down to the 3/16". The laminate would remain on the underside of the cover.
Have any of you guys run across this and if so, how have you handled it?
Do you see any problems with my idea or have other suggestions?
Joe
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/controlcovermtrl.jpg

sounds like a good idea to me

Hey thanks Rudy.
I am fortunate enough to get to play some kicking praise and worship music with my son weekly and building this bass together has really been a blast.
It has been a real blessing.
Joe

Well, may God bless your worship team! :hyper:

May I ask what other instruments you've built? Any pics? :)

Rock on! :bassist:

Subscribed,

Great Looking Bass.

Thanks from one son who has a Dad as wonderful and inspiring as you are to your son.

God Bless R.

Well, may God bless your worship team! :hyper:

May I ask what other instruments you've built? Any pics? :)

Rock on! :bassist:

I'm a guitar player and I built one of the acoustics that I play. I did that about 14 years ago. It turned out pretty nice and I play it most every time that I get the chance to do acoustic work. I don't have any pictures of it but I will try to take a couple and get them to you.
Other experience is just dabbling with setups and some minor repairs.
I'm a carpenter by trade and my partner and I have built up a pretty nice shop for our custom millwork & cabinetry. That's where we are doing most of this work.
I may have the opportunity to build another bass for a really talented friend of mine. I think that he wants to wait and make sure that this one doesn't just turn out to be a pretty wall hanger!

My son is the bassist, I'm just a wanna be bassist. This is actually his account that I am posting this build on.

Hey, I checked out your myspace and it looks like you guys have got a great thing going with your worship! Keep it up!

Joe

My idea to handle this is to epoxy a piece of laminate (formica) to one side of the walnut and then thickness sand down to the 3/16". The laminate would remain on the underside of the cover.

Friends don't let friends add formica to a great bass!

Use a veneer to give you the stability. Personally, I would save that piece for another build and get a piece of 1/8 Maple (flame, quilt, or even straight) and then add a venner of Walnut crotch to it for the aesthetics.

You could sand that piece down and add a maple veneer to the back in place of the formica but that is a lot of machining for a little return.
Just some thoughts..

Bass wishes,
Mike

I am using a piece of the crotch walnut to make the control cavity cover. The problem is that I need to run it down to about 3/16" to be flush with the back surface of the bass and the grain in this piece makes it unstable. Even if I could sand it to the needed thickness without it breaking, it is going to be very brittle.
My idea to handle this is to epoxy a piece of laminate (formica) to one side of the walnut and then thickness sand down to the 3/16". The laminate would remain on the underside of the cover.
Have any of you guys run across this and if so, how have you handled it?
Do you see any problems with my idea or have other suggestions?
Joe
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/controlcovermtrl.jpg

You could also cut your cavity lip a little deeper and run a bit thicker cover.

My son is the bassist, I'm just a wanna be bassist. This is actually his account that I am posting this build on.

Man, I am sure you're being too modest! Cool!


Hey, I checked out your myspace and it looks like you guys have got a great thing going with your worship! Keep it up!

Joe

Gee, thanks man! To God be the glory... :hyper:

R...

...talent on loan from God. :bassist:

Nice post, Rudy. Couldn't work God in a third time?

And I always thought a basshole was where you went fishin':hyper:

Nice post, Rudy. Couldn't work God in a third time?

Hey Man, I try to make God the foundation of everything in my life and I am proud of it!
No need to disrespect someone's passion.
Go Rudy!

Nice build Joe, and a unique opportunity to do a great father/son build.

I personally eschew deities.

I was here for the bass, not the sermon...but it's your thread.

I worked out (somewhat) the instability issue of the material for the control cover. I layered a couple of plys of glass mesh in epoxy on the back of the wood. Once that dried I was able to thickness sand the wood down to the right dimension.
The cover has a slight bow in the area that will be covering the batteries so I think that I will make a cut across the cover at the base of the batteries and have a two piece cover. I'm going to fasten the main control cover with screws, sand in a finger pull on the battery cover and use magnets for easier removal.

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Controlcover.jpg


We also figured out the placement of the pickups and got the routing finished.
We made up a template, marked the top of the bass and roughed them in on the drill press. Then we applied the template and cleaned everything up with the router. Turned out pretty good.:)

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Pickupsrouted.jpg

That is amazing. Your son is definitely blessed to have you as a dad and I hope that it gets used to it's full potential for God's glory.

God Bless you two!

That is amazing. Your son is definitely blessed to have you as a dad and I hope that it gets used to it's full potential for God's glory.

God Bless you two!

^+10000 for the above quote!

:D

Yeah, you guys are doing a great job! I had a major setback in my build Friday; I was using the fingerboard as a guide to cut my neck sides out, and the collar that holds the guide bearing came loose and I destroyed my neck. Oh well. At least its up at the nut end, so I have enough left to do a neck thru, back loaded Strat, so I'll save most of it. Guess I'll have to save up a bit to get some more Fiddle back Maple and start the neck again.

Yeah, you guys are doing a great job! I had a major setback in my build Friday; I was using the fingerboard as a guide to cut my neck sides out, and the collar that holds the guide bearing came loose and I destroyed my neck. Oh well. At least its up at the nut end, so I have enough left to do a neck thru, back loaded Strat, so I'll save most of it. Guess I'll have to save up a bit to get some more Fiddle back Maple and start the neck again.


Just keep at it sir! Mistakes always happen so just use it as a learning experience so that next time you can do a better job. You should start a thread about your build as well. I love seeing people take matters into their own hands when it comes to building musical equipment.

Looks killer, dude. Looking forward to the completed pics! Subscribed.

Yeah, you guys are doing a great job! I had a major setback in my build Friday; I was using the fingerboard as a guide to cut my neck sides out, and the collar that holds the guide bearing came loose and I destroyed my neck. Oh well. At least its up at the nut end, so I have enough left to do a neck thru, back loaded Strat, so I'll save most of it. Guess I'll have to save up a bit to get some more Fiddle back Maple and start the neck again.

Thanks for the encouragement.
I'm sorry to hear about the neck mishap. How far into the neck did your router cut?
You made mention of a Strat, do you build guitars as well as basses?

My son is the guitarist. I play, but my main intrument is bass. So we do both. Keeps us talking to each other (he's 16). The first pic is when we were staining it, the other is the back with some clear on it. The wood on the back is all mahogany we got out of an old house-they used to be 2X4s!!!!!

My son is the guitarist. I play, but my main intrument is bass. So we do both. Keeps us talking to each other (he's 16). The first pic is when we were staining it, the other is the back with some clear on it. The wood on the back is all mahogany we got out of an old house-the used to be 2X4s!!!!!

Good for you! Pretty cool bond to be able to play together as well as the instrument building and communication is key especially at that age. My son is 15 so I know where you are coming from.
Looks like it's going to be a great looking guitar.
Mahogany 2x s, You can't beat that! I hope that you salvaged all that you could get your hands on.

Yeah, most of them were in pretty bad shape, but I have a few more.

Got all of the frets hammered in this evening. Did it at the house on my wife's antique table.
She's lovin this!?;)


http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Fretting2.jpg



http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/Frettedneck.jpg

Looking good.

Nice fret holder you have there. ;)

Could we get an update on this?

what happened with this build?

No kidding - this is the coolest father/son thing I've seen in a while! Post updates, man!

Sorry Guys, I've been out of pocket for a while. This bass may go down as the lenghtiest build on this forum.
We've got most everything ready to start finishing. Been fooling with some different knobs and I think that we are going to use a ash knob with walnut cap and a abalone dot inlayed. We are working on them now and I will post pics as soon as I can.
Also flipped back and forth with the inlay but finally reached a decission on that as well.

Where are you guys getting your screws and threaded inserts and set screws???? What size for control cavity and knobs?

Thanks for the help.
Joe

Supposedly, if you use a hardwood, you can just drill and tap the wood. Home depot and Lowe's have the set screws and inserts (as I'm sure any home center has), and Im using magnets for my control cavity, so I dont know

Got everything finish sanded to 600 grit then applied a transparent McFadden filler. The wood is really starting to come to life.
Here are a few pictures.......




http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1638.jpg





http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1650.jpg





http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1649.jpg





http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1648.jpg



The Walnut shows up great in these pictures but the flame in the Maple stringers didn't. They look real nice as well.
Joe

Wanted to post an update.
We rigged up a hanger from some pipe strap fastened to the garage door frame and hung the bass for spraying. Kind of simple but it works.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1682.jpg

We got a few coats of vinyl sealer sprayed yesterday then sanded everything to 600 grit. Then we sprayed four coats of nitro lacquer this morning .
I had to do some heavy sanding on the sealer, we had some very strange flashing in the finish (almost looked like oil on water). It showed up around some of the edges and the tuner holes, only on the walnut. We wound up sanding them out before I sprayed the lacquer and everything looks fine now.
Here are a few pics........
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1697.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1710.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1695.jpg

We worked out the two piece control cover for the battery access.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1689.jpg

We also got the inlay from Bryan England. They did a great job!
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1701.jpg

I plan to let it sit for a couple of days, fine sand a little further a spray about four more coats of laquer before buffing.
We will post more pictures at that time.
Joe

I want your shop.....:p

I want your shop.....:p

I thought the same thing when I saw the first pic :D

Thanks, I do enjoy the shop. The toughest thing is keeping it from becoming a storage warehouse. You can see some of the junk in the pictures.
Joe

Really nice pics...the figure in the wood is coming out nicely!!!

Im still between houses right now-boy! I hope when we find a new one I can build a shop like that and finish the stalled bass project I'm in the middle of. Great work I might add, its looking beautiful!

Thanks, and good luck with your house search. Maybe you can find one with a nice existing shop;) and save yourself some work.
My business partner and I built this shop for special millwork and small cabinetry jobs. It has been real nice, but it is a couple of miles from my house so that is a little bit of a pain in the butt for doing this type of thing.

We finally got our knobs worked out. We decided to make the shaft from swamp ash with a walnut cap (to tie in with the wood combination on the bass), a slight domed cap and an abalone dot. We countersunk the bottom of the knobs so that they will sit down nice and tight to the bass top. Here are some pictures of them after applying pore filler. We are not going to use all of these knobs, we made a couple of extras just in case;)
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1867.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1874.jpg

We also finished spraying the Nitro on the bass this past weekend. Now we are waiting to buff it all out. Here are a couple of pics prior to buffing.

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1859.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1857.jpg

I am working on the truss rod cover. I am trying to use either a light colored piece of walnut, that you can see behind the knobs in the above picture or a piece of mahogany matching the center of the neck.
I already have the mahogany thickness sanded and ready to cut but I would rather use the walnut if I can get it thin enough without it breaking. Here is a picture of the head stock without a cover.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_1885.jpg

Man, that's lookin' REALLY good... ;)

This is so freaking cool something your Son will cherish for a long time to come. I know it is going to sound good!!!

that looks unbelievable... great job on those knobs too...

Thanks guys, Joseph and I are having a great time building this. He is just ready to play the thang!

As I said before: Awesome build man. Can't wait to see and hear the finished product.

R...

I have to agree....I want your shop! And, this is a beautiful bass. I love rich hardwoods! :)

Not much to post, but we did get the knobs finished. I think that the finish turned out pretty nice. After pore filling we used a very fine 1/4" wide brush to apply several coats of nitro lacquer. Had to work quickly to keep the brush marks out. Here are a couple of pictures.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/knobfinish1.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/knobfinish2.jpg

This is stunning!!

Have to see where this ends!!

D.Don

Started the polishing process yesterday. Started off a with 600g wet sand paper on a flat, semi rigid rubber block. Leveled out all of the orange peel sanding in small circular motions. Then moved on to 800g, 1000g and 1200g wet sand on a slightly softer block.
Here are the pictures after 600g
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2096.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2085.jpg




These are after 1200g
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2105.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2116.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2111.jpg

Tonight I will go to 1600g and 2000g. After that I'll moove on to polishing compound and buffing. I'll post more pictures as the finish comes along.
Joe

In some way don't you feel sad because your project is ending?? :( I felt that way when building my bass.

In some way don't you feel sad because your project is ending?? :( I felt that way when building my bass.

Yes it is sad. On one hand I'm excited to hear the finished product but on the other we have had some really good time throughout the project and I hate to see that ending.
I have some really nice wood set aside and am kicking around the idea of a single cut and a guitar for myself. Not sure yet.

HOLY FRIJOLES! My goodness that is a sweet looking bass.

Looks very professional!

So . . . when do you start the next one? :p

That finish is unbelieveable... What nitro did you use?

An btw... I love your book collection ;)

That finish is unbelieveable... What nitro did you use?

An btw... I love your book collection ;)

I used Lawrence-McFadden nitrocellulose lacquer. I sprayed about 16 thin coats and let it cure for a few weeks prior to wet sanding. I'm very pleased with the way that this lacquer works.
Thanks for the thumbs up on the books :)
Joe

Looks very professional!

So . . . when do you start the next one? :p

Thanks, I hope to be starting another soon. I've been kicking around some ideas on a single cut!:hmm:

looking great! can't wait to see this one put together.

lots of inspirational books you have there ...what's up with that?

mmmm... Shiny!

looking great! can't wait to see this one put together.

lots of inspirational books you have there ...what's up with that?

Thanks Wilser.
My wife and I have many more inspirational books than you can see in this picture. Although my wife probably puts them to work better than I do. The way I see it, I need all of the help that I can get.;)
Joe

I used Lawrence-McFadden nitrocellulose lacquer. I sprayed about 16 thin coats and let it cure for a few weeks prior to wet sanding. I'm very pleased with the way that this lacquer works.
Thanks for the thumbs up on the books :)
Joe

you didn't buff that at all?

you didn't buff that at all?

No, I have not buffed yet. Just a lot wet sanding.
I took it to 2000g this evening and will begin buffing tomorrow.
Here is the control cover taken to 2000 grit.
Joe
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2137.jpg

Absolutely incredible. I hope my dad and my build come out this nice... (it won't... but here's to dreaming.)

Absolutely incredible. I hope my dad and my build come out this nice... (it won't... but here's to dreaming.)

Thank you, but I'm sure that you are being too modest about your build. Have you started yet?

We got the finish buffed out over the last couple of evenings. After taking it to a 2000g wet sand we used a couple of 3M automotive rubbing compounds to take it to the final luster. 3M Perfect-It II and a 3M Imperial Hand Glaze, picked up both at an O'rileys parts store. Pretty darn pleased with the final results!:D The finish polished out real nice and added great depth to the crotch walnut. Here are several pictures showing the luster of the finish and a couple that (sort of) show the depth of the wood.

Sorry for all of the pictures. Just couldn't narrow it down any further.
Joe

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2172.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2177.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2189.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2194.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2214.jpg


Hopefully these show the depth of the wood.
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2227.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2230.jpg

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2194.jpg



You can't even tell there is a bass there! That is one glossy finish.

Really beautiful and spectacular wood.

yes. the whole thing looks pretty amazing.

Man its gonna suck when somebody puts the first scratch in that bass.

Thanks guys, we are real pleased with the way that it is turning out!
Weve gotten the control cavity and the P/U routes shielded with copper. Time to start soldering in all of the controls.
I made up a wiring tinplate out of stiff cardboard to solder most all of the connections before installing the controls in the cavity.
We should get it wired up tomorrow evening and will post more pictures at that time.
Joe

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2248.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2254.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2256.jpg

Absolutely sick!

There really should be a "drooling" smiley!

I really love the zero fret and wal-nut! The bass has a sweet look to it...I can't wait to hear the "sound of music" coming out of that baby....

:D

R...

We have finished Joseph's bass.:hyper: It has been a real blast and I think that it turned out pretty nice. Sounds and plays awesome! Here are some pictures of the finished bass and a proud owner.
I will post some sound clips as soon as I figure out how to get them recorded onto the computer.
A big "thank you" to all of you guys that offered encouragement and advice! This is a GREAT forum with some real quality people using it!
Joe

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2315.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2336.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2300.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2338.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2347.jpg
http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh52/bassmanhamilton/100_2329.jpg

Great JOB! looks like you guys had fun.

looks great man!!! I'll be coming your way soon.

2 words:
gor
geous
:ninja:

Well done!

awesome build my future father in law are getting ready to start and this as an inspiration

Excellent! How does it sound?

Excellent! How does it sound?

Killer tone!!! Nice tight bottom and almost zero noise from the combination of the OBP3, Nordy Big Splits and the shielding/grounding.
Joseph played it in the praise set this morning and it sounded real good in the band mix.
I want to post some sound clips but do not have any experience doing this.
Any recomendations on this process?
Joe

Wow! How did I miss this? Nice job!

WOW!!

great job, Joe!!

you and your son have one heck of a bass there!!

really looking forward to the sound clips!

:bassist:

That is a superb looking job, and what a fantastic thing to be able to do as a Father/son.

Its things like this that I really look forward to when my little lad gets a bit older (hes only 4...!)...unless of course he ventures over to the dark side and plays another instrument..or even worse does not want to play at all....;)

Stunning work

Dave

fantastic looking bass, I don't think I ever had nitro look that glossy when I spray it, lots of elbow grease here.

side note, my father passed away 10 years ago, but we used to work on cars, and these are the fondest memories of our time together. Each time I work on my car, even doing a simple oil change, I remember him, and his advice. :)

fantastic looking bass, I don't think I ever had nitro look that glossy when I spray it, lots of elbow grease here.


side note, my father passed away 10 years ago, but we used to work on cars, and these are the fondest memories of our time together. Each time I work on my car, even doing a simple oil change, I remember him, and his advice. :)


You are correct.... Lots of elbow grease!!!!!

Thank you for sharing that. What a blessing to have memories like that to look back on. I have very similar memories of my Dad, who passed away several years ago. When I was young I used to try an help while he worked on his old clunkers. Handed him tools mostly, but I have some really good memories of that time too. He was not much of a wood worker though. He tried to build my Mom an acoustic guitar from a leaf of her dining room table. He put a ton of labor into it without any of the nessessary tools. Once he got it finished, he put it under string tension and left it over night only to discover a caved in top and warped neck the following morning. We all had a good laugh once the initial shock and crying was over.

All of that being said, I hope that I am creating the same kind of memories with my kids that you cherish with your dad.
Thanks, Joe

that is a gorgous bass, i cant believe its your first. what a top notch job. me and my brother are planning out a build and i hope it comes out even half as nice and ill be happy.

p.s. we would love some soundclips when you figure out how to do it.

Your smiles are worth a thousand words!

My prayers are that both of you continue this tradition working on projects together. It looks like lots of fun and creativity went into this instrument.

Bass strings: $60.00

Bass Amp: $500.00

Finished bass by father/son team: Priceless!

There's no MC that's gonna cover this!

:D