Well, friday I got the Black limba body blank from Larry at gallery hardwoods. I glued the two pices of the blank together friday night, was busy all weekend, and look at what it turned in to:

http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/body_f_small.jpg

http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/body_b_small.jpg

I asked larry for a nicely striped piece of the Black limba, and the piece that he sent me had some spalting on the edges in addition to the heavy striping, which I was worried about at first, but now I see that it worked very well in to the body design. You can see this by the back of the upper horn, and the heel cut, and down by where the knobs will be. I stood the bass on a piece of scrap so that you can see the color before oiling, and also the amount of material removed from the blank to allow it to become my bass body(it was pretty thick).

The body as you can see is a bit warwick-esque, and I loosely designed it as a cross between a thumb and corvette. There are certain things I like and dislike about each, but neither makes me completely happy- this is an attempt at that. I also have never owned a fretless, and have absolutely enjoyed every time I've gotten to pick one up. I seem to have a knack for intonation, but I wouldn't say I can play one well yet. I can't afford another warwick in the stable, so I just figured I had no choice but to make one:)

The whole body is hand sanded because I didn't have fifty bucks to pop on a router bit to do the radiusing. I think it came out quite natural considering.... although I did use the mill to rough cut the body thickness down and save a good amount of time.

Check back in a few days and I'll be posting a picture series of me using the CNC mill at my shop to do the body routing. Let me know what you think!

edit: Why is it every bass I come in contact with has a cooler looking back than front?:mad:

Looks great ! Keep the pics coming...


D

I'm digging it! Definitely keep the pics coming!

Aside, why'd you oil it now? Just to see how it'd look?

Great wood choice! You'll love it!
What will the neck be made of?

Waiting for the CNC action pics :D

Peace,JP

I'll fess up- I couldn't wait to see how it looked oiled. It also will help protect it in case the CNC decides to drip any oil on it while machining the pockets.

JP, I think I am going to go ahead and go with the wenge/macassar ebony combo. Wenge just seems to me the correct wood for a fretless neck for some reason. I really have loved the warwick fretlesses that I've played on. After seeing the fretless you did with this same combo, I think that the Black Limba/Macassar/Wenge work really great together for a fretless, or for a fretted.
If I like this bass when it is done, I may make a fretted twin. This is my first bass project so I'll have to see how the neck goes first:)

CNC pics coming as soon as my pickups(EMG) come in-

great job!

I oiled the first bass i put together. Now I have a booth that I will use to spray lacquer...

Yeah, I was thinking of lacquer but it's my first bass, I'm lazy, trying to go for the warwick vibe, etc. The limba would have looked great with a gloss laquer though from what I saw when I first applied the oil and it was still wet and glossy. I suppose there will be other basses, and other finishes for me to play with in the future.

Originally posted by Ian Hall
The whole body is hand sanded because I didn't have fifty bucks to pop on a router bit to do the radiusing. I think it came out quite natural considering.... although I did use the mill to rough cut the body thickness down and save a good amount of time.Man, hand sanded?!!?!
Ever heard of rasp and files? Or knives, even!

Gosh, I wouldn't stand all the dust!! Shaving chips, shure, rasp dust, OK, file dust, well...but sanding dust is dreadful! And it takes so much time to produce it...:hmm:

Ian,

That's a great pair of pictures - as well as having woodworking skills, it looks like you've got an eye for photography.

I particularly like the idea of standing it on a cutout from the body blank - I don't think I've seen that done before. Maybe you should stop right there and see if you can sell it to an art gallery to finance future projects ;)

Wulf

I used a high HP belt sander with an eighty grit belt to do the roughing, and a flap wheel to do the intermediate sanding, and hand sanded to final finish. I just meant that I didn't use any kind of a bit or anything for shaping the curves and such. There was a ridiculous amount of dust though:)

CNC pics will be posted today at lunch.

wow...that looks really cool. i like the shape, and man, that's some pretty stock you got there from larry. can't wait to see the routed body.

The pics are a bit blurry because my camera was dying so I had to switch it on and snap one and turn it back off quickly, so I didn't have time to do as nice a job as I would have like on the pictures.

Here they are:

Setting part position
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/19_s.jpg


Second pass on electronics cavity
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/20_s.jpg


Mill and Lathe(and trusty shop-vac)
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/21_s.jpg

All done!
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/23_s.jpg


Starting rough cut on bridge pup
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/24_s.jpg


Pup routing done
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/25_s.jpg


Turning blank for knobs
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/26_s.jpg

man...that is sweet...how difficult is it to get access to that type of gear? and...are you routing for the neck pocket as well? or are you going to wait until the neck is finished?

First bass, huh??? Real nice work!!! That's an impressive shop you've got there too. I've never been a big fan of the Warwicks, but yours looks nice. Beautiful wood too.

Keep up the good work.

I work at a optical coating system manufacturing company in the fab shop. I guess I call it my shop because I work back there by myself all day. I'm the only one at the company who knows how to run any of it so the owner lets me have the key and door opener and free use of the shop and materials in exchange for me working for less pay than I'm worth(decent amount, but not as much as I'd like). I do pretty well on side jobs in my spare time with that CNC laying around open for use. We also have a really nice miller TIG machine, and being that I am certified fairly well in TIG and get a lot of practice at work, I do pretty well with that also for extra cash. Anyways, I am paying for this bass out of side jobs so it is really gentle on my wallet.... Major plus!

I guess I really have an advantage in the contouring department since I also do quite a bit of work with fiberglass and carbon fiber, so I have a bit of a headstart on the average do-it-your-selfer building a bass with little shop knowledge. I kinda have more respect for those type of first timers because I'm sorta cheatin' with this fancy equipment and all:)

I figured you guys may want to see the cutters I used to rout the body. They are made for machining metals and plastics and such but seemed to work pretty well for the wood:


http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/cutter.jpg

From left(pencil for scale):

-1.25" Dia x 2"L 6 flute High speed steel
This was used to rough the body to the correct thickness. I took half inch passes at a pretty high rate of speed with no problem.

-1/2" Dia x 2" L 2 flute high speed steel
Used for the electronics cavity- I needed something able to cut deep and plunge cut well. The six fluter wouldn't have plunge cut very cleanly, so I used this one instead.

-1/4" Dia x 3/4" cut Length 3 flute Carbide
This was used for the pup routing- I needed a small corner radius for the slots.

Should be getting more stuff in later next week, so I'm probably at a stand still for a few days at least. Check back for more pictures soon though.

edit: Oh yeah, and I am going to cut the neck pocket after I finish the neck for saftey puposes.

Bits intended for metal are usually superb for working hardwood. The cut surface is very good, many times sanding is not necessary. Sometimes, sanding roughs up the surface and you can see a lot of work pile up in front of you...:bawl:

Good thinking about the neck pocket!

Drool.

Wait, wait, wait. I'm new to this, so at the risk of asking a stupid question: Did you say that you thinned out the block of wood with the large bit in the pickture above instead of a planer? And then didn't have to sand it?

If so, that's pretty incredible!

If not, then I didn't get it.

so, are you taking orders yet, man?

Wow Ian that is Beautiful! If your's turns out nice you think you could make another one, I would pay well!!! Anywho, my step-dad worked operating and programing CNC Mills at Z&L Machinery for 16 years. We have an old Milwuakee manual Mill and two wood lathes, and one metal lathe, all of which are very old(30's or 40's). But I know my way around them, but I don't think I could do any of what your doing by hand, I have only messed with CNC very little at school marking the coordinates and cut depths and stuff on minor projects like jewelry boxes and stuff. But yes, you are making a beautiful bass man, and when thats done, if you want you could make some extra money, just email me at bigdoggtiny75@hotmail.com if your interested.
peace
-Ben

i was looking closely at the elctronics cavity and it looks like the holes you drilled for the controls are really close to the edge of the cavity. is there enough room for a pot in there? still looks smokin' though

Yeah, the control cavity leaves .050" clearance from the side of the pots without the terminals. It's quite close, but on purpose. I wanted to leave as much room inside as I could, since I may decide to install led's in the side of the fretboard, and run the electronics 18V, I need room for possibly three batteries :eek:

The large cutter was used to trim the body thickness and left very little sanding to be done after the cutting. I maybe spent five minutes or so on it.

I have been thinking about maybe starting to make basses as a hobby and business but I want to see how this one holds up after a month or two of playing- I'd hate to sell a bass to someone and have it fail due to some mistake I didn't realize I was making. Once I get the hang of this I will strongly consider it though... I could use a little extra cash for sure, and I enjoy the work.

We have an old 40's craftsman lathe that my grandpa used to make bushings and stuff- still functional and pretty cool too.

I'm making my own bridge this weekend- check back for pics.

edit: never mind- I think my boss threw away the scrap brass blank that I was going to use for the bridge by accident... Looks Like I'm buyin' one.:mad:

Yeah, I'm really intrested in being a machinist actually, maybe tool and di. The guy down the road is big into custom motor cycles, he casts his own heads in the foundry and machines all his parts, its really cool, big manual mills, it's amazing to watch. Anywho, that cnc mill, how piece tool pallet doest it have????
peace
-Ben

The CNC doesn't have a tool loader, I load it by hand with a pneumatic draw bar setup(sucks the tool up in to the spindle head and secures it) I can store up to a hundred different tool heights though, so I've got plenty of options....

I may make a bridge after all- I was thinking brass but now I may switch to aluminum after doing a little reading here on TB- I'll keep you guys posted.

Ian

Serious GAS! Awesome looking work you're doing there! Keep the pictures rolling in.

Man, I wish I worked as fast as you do !;)

Unique stabilized birdseye maple with heartwood from gallery hardwoods:
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/1.jpg


Close up of figure
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/2.jpg


I set the FB on the body so you can see how it will look- also, the pups and knob and bridge are test mounted.
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/3.jpg


The birdeye maple piece that Larry sent me looks great- the stabilized wood is very nice to work with and polishes out with tripoli and a cotton buff wheel quickly to a nice shine that nearly resembles a clear finish. The figure is also made quite visible. I rough cut the FB and did the radiusing and polishing to allow me to get it trimmed with the heartwood division running down the center. I would have trimmed it after gluing to the neck but I wanted to be able to place the grain break accurately after radiusing.

Neck rough cut w/headstock attached and rough sanded(note matching spalted black limba veneer)... just finished cutting truss rod channel.
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/4.jpg

Why buy a truss rod when you can make your own?
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/6.jpg

I ordered a special teflon heat shrink tubing from my supply catalog and covered the rods with it instead of standard heat shrink- nearly no turning friction when adjusting and glue won't stick to it when the FB is attached. The bushing is brass and everything else is 304SS. The rod snugly fits in a 1/4" channel.
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/5.jpg

Truss rod in place.
http://www.eddyco.com/ian_hall/7.jpg


So far so good. Almost done!!! Just waiting for tuners and input jack. Will glue up FB tonight and carve neck over weekend.

man, that thing is really coming together nicely...can't wait to see the finished bass...homebrew, indeed :rolleyes: :D

Can I ask where you ordered the tubing from and maybe a part number? I'm close to the same stage with my homebrew and I'm looking to use a different rod case than rubber tubing...

-robert

P.S. Lovely bass BTW :D

Ian, that looks great !

NIce work. Keep up the great work!

What a gorgeous fingerboard. I love that it's not symmetrically figured. Adds a lot of character.

Can't wait to see the carved neck!

The teflon tubing is in McMaster-Carr supply catalog, and is listed under heat shrink tubing. The threaded rod and SS stock for the end nuts were also purchased through MCM. If you do a search you can find their website.

I just finished the neck and got the shop cleaned up about an hour ago and I will be getting the tuners on tues. so I should have the bass complete and post some pics wed. or thurs.

Hey Ian, thanks for the info! I'll be ordering some through work then... really appreciate it!

-robert

Did you ever get your bass done?? I'm a big fan of what I've seen, and would like to see the finished product!! :)

--Matthew

Looks so nice dude!

Damn!

Congrats Ian!.. It seems to be going excellent... The body looks pretty sweet..