First Multiple Bass Build... Lots of Pics!!!!

[MWBass]

Hello All,

I actually came on here about two weeks ago and started a thread about my first multiple bass production, but I only show pictures of the final product. To my dismay, I broke the rules of the CUP. I honestly had no idea.

I was given some time to fix the thread and update it with process pics, but unfortunately, I was so busy the last two weeks, I could only poke in maybe once. So the thread was closed. This was fair since I was given a good deal of time to fix it.

So, I finally had some time today to sit down and make a new thread that was appropriate. I unfortunately do not have any pictures prior to body completion, nor do I have picks of jigs and tools. I do however have pics of the basses from body completion on at each stage. I will talk my way through the process.

I hope this thread is more appropriate for this forum.

So, on with it...

BACKGROUND...

I have been playing bass for the last eight years. I have also owned on the upper hand of 25 instruments. The last three years, I got into designing basses. Chris Stambaugh, an excellent builder and all around great guy, that I am sure most of you know, build my designs and brought them to life for me. For this I cannot thank him enough. After 3 or 4 custom basses... I finally got the idea in my head to try a build on my own.
I started in my girlfriends parents basement. Simple tools... hand saw, sandpaper, router, and a few clamps. It took me 2 months to build a neck. Then a friend told me that his housemate has been building for 12 years or so and would probably take me in and teach me the ropes. So, I took him up on the offer.
Well, what a difference. Now I had, table saws, band saws, pin routers, table routers, jointers, planers, drum sanders, spindle sanders, drill presses, etc. at my disposal. So, I began my first real build. It was a neck through 4 string Single cut. Wenge neck, Wenge board, Solid myrtle burl body, etc. I work on the bass for 4 months, from the end of april through mid august. I got it up to the point of finishing.

At this point I should say that I am a high school MAth teacher, so during the school year, I can only put in about 12-16 hours a week.

So, when I got to this point, my building mentor and friend, BRyan Jeppson, told me that he had always wanted to get a table at the Great American Guitar Show. He said that my work had come along tremendously and that I had motivated him to go for it now. So, he said the show is in November and that I should have a few basses ready for the table. So, I went back to the drawing board, designed a more refined classier version of the bass I was working on and decided to go for four at once. This time, the time period was only 2 and a half months. I thought I was crazy but I figured what the heck...

Hence, this is where this thread begins...

THE MULTIPLE BASS BUILD...

Before I start with the pictures, I will get you cought up to where they start...

1.) I built 4 2 piece Sapele bodies and glued them together. Afterwards, I sanded them in the drum sander so that they were perfectly flat. Finally, I taped the body template to them and used a fluch routing bit to get the bodies all identical.

2.) At this point I was enamoured by brians hollow bodies and figured that I should hollow two of them. I used a pin router and made templates for the cavities. I basically hollowed out both sides of the body leaving a 4.5" solid runner down the middle. My hope was to reduce weight, but keep the basses as solid body sounding as possible.

3.) Next, I glued the veneers in place, top and a back... This was a pain in the butt since I do not have a large scale press... So I basically used a flat board and more clamps then I care to ever mention. hehe...

4.) I then cut and glued the two piece body tops and backs together. (All of them flamed maple, 5/16") once they were glued together and sanded flat, I glued the tops and the backs to each body in the same fashion as the veneers. Finally, using the body core's edge as a template, i was able to fluch route the tops and veneers to the same shape as the body.

5.) Next came edge routing. The initial plan was to have a 1/2" beveled edge on the tops and a 1/2" roundover on the back. Which I did. Later I went back and did a 3/4" roundover on the back, because I feel that a rounded back is more comfortable. All of this was followed by using a large sander to contour the backs of all 4 and the tops of the solid bodies.

6.) finally, Inspired by Ken Lawrences C-BRase, I came up with some holes that would follow the body shape on the chambered basses. I decided after a while to do a lower horn hole as well, just to give it a different/ staggered look. It was a pretty big success, I think.

So, on with the pics...

[MWBass]

Here is a pic of the completed bodies...




And a close up to see some of the chambering and the lamination work...





After the bodies were finished I went back to finish up the necks. I never actually talked about the neck process...

NECKS...

I started by designing a laminated neck that really was eye catching. I came up with a 13 piece Hard Maple, Sapele, Hard Flamed MAple design with multiple laminate lines. I cut the MAples and the sapele to size, Quartersawn 1.5" for the sides, 1/8" for the sapele, and 1/2" for the HArd Flame MAple center. I then glued them together in this order... HArd MAple, Black veneer lam, maple veneer lam, sapele, maple veneer lam, black veneer lam, hard flamed maple, black veneer lam, maple veneer lam, sapele, maple veneer lam, black veneer lam, and hard maple. This gluing process was tough, since you had to do it as fast as possible to get the clamps in place before the glue strated drying. It was a pain, but I got the nag of it. Then a few passes in the planer and the beauty popped out.

Here is the final look after finish...





So, then I took the necks and used what I refer to a mimicing router table to route the neck shapes off of template necks. I will try to get some pics of this set up. Then I shapped the headstock depth, glued the headstock laminates in a similar fashion as the bodies, template cut the headstocks, routed for the truss rods and steel support rods, cut the boards, glued them up and placed the frets in what I would guess is a standard fashion.

The only great thing here is that we have a table saw set up so that we can tape a fret spacing template to the boards and table saw the slots to appropriate depth. It takes all of 3 minutes which is a great time saver and much more accurate.

Here is a pic of the baby valute on the back of the neck when I was finishing final shaping...





Ok, moving right along and back to the bodies...

I neck placed the necks in position, laid out some straight edges for the pocket cutting and routed the pockets. Check to make sure that the pockets for the set necks were tight and straight. The set neck runs straight to the neck pickup pocket, giving myself room for error. The only requirement was that I cap the neck past the end of the board with the same wood as the body tops to get an invisible look.

Here are some pics of the necks in place after the pockets were cut...

[MWBass]

So, after I was satisfied with the pockets, I glued the set necks in place. I then proceeded to even out the tops, clean up the pockets, and route the pickup cavities knob recesses, and the bridge recess...

The basses I build have a very low board. What I mean is that the hieght above the body is just the height of the fretboard. So, the bridges needed to be recessed. So, I recessed the bridges a little over an eight of an inch, and routed and carved out behind them so that string loading access was easy. A little bit of a pain, but the final look was great...

Here is a pick of the pockets after gluing and shaping...





Here is a pic of the top cap after gluing and sanding. gives a fairly nice invisble look. You can also see the Chechen fretboard and MOP inlays...





Finally, Here is a shot after routing for pickups, knob recesses, and the sunken bridge cut out...

[MWBass]

At this point I was about 1 and a half weeks out from the show, and I hadn't even started finishing. So, I had to put in a lot of extra hours and get it done...

FINISHING...

I chose to do hand rubbed stain for the finish. So, I taped off the sides up to the laminate. This is where the black laminate was super helpful. I decided to have all of the basses start out as black at the edge and blend into the main color. So, the black lam served as a nice straight line for the stains edge.

I started by applying black or dark brown stain and sanding back. Just to get the grain to pop. Then I darkened the edges and the bridge pocket to as black as I could get. I followed by staining the middle the chosen colors: BLues, Browns, and I left one natural.

Once i was happy and all 4 locations (Body Front, BAck, HEadstock Front, Back) were finished, I tapped up the neck and applyed shelec ( I will not try to spell it right!) from a spray gun.

Well, the shellac definately made some color changes. The blues went to bluish greens and the browns got more reddish brown, but the looks were really nice.

Except for on the natural. You will see in some of the following pics that the natural, got very yellow. I ended up sanding all of the shellac off and just applying a tru oil sealer. Looked way better.

So here are a few pics...

First, Black to brown body and headstock, before spraying...
You can see my building mentor Bryan's holding the bass...








Then the blue green after shellac was applied...





Next, I applied a coat of the Sealer / Filler and then followed with about 4 to 5 coats of Tru Oil...

Here are some pics of the basses in the drying process...





Here you can see just how yellow the natural one got...





And one more...

[MWBass]

After some wet sanding in between coats, I wanted to get a very natural oil look. So, the final process was a wet sand with a 1500 grit aberlon pad, followed by a Quad zero steel wool rub, then a wax polish and buff...


Once the instruments were finished, it was time to begin putting them together.

Here is one half way through the brown bass, and one of the blue/green when it was finished.








Well, the last night before the show, I worked for about 24 hours straight, I ended up falling short. Everything was done except the nuts. So, to make the basses palyable for the show, I placed a zero fret in place and cut some faux slots in the end of the fretboard for string spacing.

It turned out, they played great. I had a huge amount of positive feedback and a ton of interest.

Here is a shot of our full table. My basses on the left and
Bryan's on the right...





Then a few of my basses at the show, and one with me in it for good measure...

[jworrellbass]

Those do look good! How many can you build at a time and how big is your shop area? Have you sold any yet, if not you must have some deep pockets to build that many at one time.
John

[QuantumP7]

Awesome-looking basses! Are you gonna sell them?

[MWBass]

So that was it.

After the show, I took a long break and started fitting the basses with there nuts, so they were finally completed. Here is the first fully complete model...

[MWBass]

After thanksgiving, I decided it was time to start building a bass for myself. It is an extremely special project that I have been designing for almost 2 years. I am more than half way done now and getting more excited each day. I will be updateing with a thread on that bass soon.

All I can say is two unique body inlays that follow the body shape and contour, and a whole lot of wenge, but not as much weight as you would think!!!!

[jonas_oxide]

beautiful work. If I could afford one I woule totally buy a chambered singlecut. can you post sound clips?

[UncleBalsamic]

Wow, they're beautiful. Fantastic work!

[grifff]

I really like the black/brown one and the way you painted the back of the headstock but left the back of the neck visible. Great work!

[Yerf Dog]

I don't think you're a math teacher anymore. You're a bass builder! Very cool!

[MWBass]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all of the great comments. I have to admit that I agree. I am teaching because it pays my bills and keeps me and my girlfriend supported. Plus the benefits are great. However, my dream is to build full time and start a full scale production. I just need to hone everything in and get locked into a smooth process. I obviously also have to market and get some pieces out there in the public. Well, time will tell on that one, but I have no plans of stopping any time soon.

jworrellbass - John, Unfortunately I have not sold any yet. I literally finished the first one completely about 2 weeks ago. And no, my pockets aren't that deep... I basically sold the last of my instruments off and some speakers to fund the wood and hardware and my building partner hooked me up with the electronics and the pups... a loan of course. Luckily we have a deal with audere so the preamps were a little cheaper than normal. So, basically, I am a bass player with no bass, haha... but I am in the building mode now...

I did want to tell you that I am going to let you know when i make my next thread. I am currently building a bass for myself that is teaming with Wenge, ( One piece quartersawn wenge neck, 2 piece chambered wenge body, wenge fretboard, burl maple top and back, and the real treat, a very unique body inlay set that shall remain nameless until the time is right... I'll let you know.

quantump7 - I am selling them all. This set is all for sale. I would love to keep one for myself, but a project that i have been throwing around in my head for the last two years has finally come to fruition, so that will be my personal / signature model hehe...

I don't however want to talk any more about sales here... I'll save that for the sales forum.

Feel free to pm me though. I'd be glad to talk to you there...

jonas_oxide... maybe you could afford one... just pm me... you never know... I will definitly post sound clips as soon as I can get my cubase to run again...

griff - the back of the headstock is actually veneered just like the front . I then stained it in the same fashion that I did the body. Thanks for noticing. The back of the headstock veneer does not show up that often, and I think it gives a complete look to the back of the bass... And yes, the black to brown is my personal favorite finish, love that look... I think i may do a 6 string fretless for myself with that finish. I am excited in the next round to start doing some exotic tops. I just wanted to get the stain finish technique down, since it is a bit harder than the naturals...


Good comments guys. Keep them comin...

[jordan_frerichs]

I wish my basses and the build process could come out that clean. VERY classy looking.

[scojack]

Lovely work..good luck selling them ........im sure they will sell no problem ;-)
IanM

[Lonnybass]

Masterful, really sweet stuff you've got there. I have been giving some thought to doing multiples simultaneously (mini-mass production) rather than one at a time like I'm doing now. Can you talk about your shop efficiencies and time spent/saved on doing the four together, versus doing them one at a time?

Lonnybass

[MWBass]

Thanks again for the comps... I appreciate it.

As for mini mass production... there are ups and downs.
First off, wood purchasing was easier. I was able to buy 10/4 boards and get 2 to 3 bodies from each and the big one was tops. Since I was using flamed maple, I was able to buy 7/8" maple boards and get 3 to for sets out of a single board.

As for in the shop, efficiency occured in repetition. Make neck lumber, template routing bodies, making fretboards, etc... was nice when you do multiples because you get in a groove and can get the work done faster. This held true for routing pickup pocket, and electronics cavities. Your set up already so moving from one to the next is great.

I would say the downside is two things. One, clamping. If you are a clamp nut like me and place one every one to 1.5 inches, you need a ton of clamps. I couldn't clamp more than two things at once. and after tightening that many clamps, my hands would be raw. The second is finishing. We all know that final sanding can be very tedious. It really messes with your head when you do a bunch. I felt better once I found some type of relaxation and meditation in the process.

So, thats what I have for now.

Thanks again.

[RobertPaulson]

Very good looking basses. Awesome job.

[cosmicevan]

WOW...the one listed on ebay blew me away.