SHARE YOUR WORST BUILD MISTAKES .....

[bassedsouth]

Having just routed the edges ''ON THE SIDE THAT I DID NOT INTEND TO'' I'm wondering what mistakes others have made ??

[wilser]

third time it's happened to me. I start feeding the stock to the router on a table too slowly and lightly and the router grabs it and yanks a piece of wood with it. I always manage to fix it and it's hardly been a problem. This latest time it was so bad that it literally took about 1/2" into the body from the upper horn. Thank goodness for epoxy and wood dust! Lucky for me this bass was to be painted black and was not a comissioned instrument. I wonder what that'll do to that ol' MH (mid-hump, for the uninitiated).

[Son of Magni]

Ok, sometimes I use a tape measure. When I do, I don't believe the little wiggly tab at the end is accurate so I start measuring at the 1" mark and add an inch at the other end. So once I forgot to add the inch at the other end and ended up routing for a whammy bar in the wrong place

[eleonn]

Originally Posted by bassedsouth

Having just routed the edges ''ON THE SIDE THAT I DID NOT INTEND TO'' I'm wondering what mistakes others have made ??

I know how that feels!!! When I was about to finally round the wings for may project and then glue them to the neck i thought start routing from the easiest side so I look to the low side wing and thought well that easy!!! the easiest side is the ones with no curves. Route and when I was looking how nice it was I realize that side with no curves was the one to be glued to the neck!!!!

[Jim Breece]

Aw jeez, it's hard to pick just one...ok, I drilled and mounted a bridge by centering it on the seam of the bookmatched top without checking how it matched up with the neck. It didn't, quite. Screwholes, holes for string through mounting, the whole shot, so rather than plug the holes and redrill, I "custom fabricated" a G string bridge saddle that keeps the string on the fingerboard. That took an afternoon, and I only show the bass off in dimly lit bars, at a distance.

[T2W]

yea it is hard to pick just one, not too long ago I had some weird things going on while trying to glue a Cocobolo fingerboard, the glue didnt hold at first, so then I wiped it with Acetone and glued the fb back on, with about 20 clamps, everything was going wonderfully until i saw a truss rod on the corner of the workbench...

Another time I had glued the rod in the channel and accidently glued the threads too, snapped the rod nut trying to get it to move... Im starting to get quite comfortable with an iron and a hot knife.

and just a last one, while tapering my board the other day (attached to the neck) I continued with the router and took off a good piece of the 'ear' on the headstock.

There are a bunch of other ones.... including using Liquid Hide, I think that is THE biggest mistake I have ever done.

[bassksun]

I let a guit**rist/singer use my shop for a first time build...



Forgive me. I have sinned.

[Son of Magni]

Originally Posted by bassksun

I let a guit**rist/singer use my shop for a first time build...



Forgive me. I have sinned.

c'mon, pics!

[erikbojerik]

On my last build...a multi-scale 8-string g*itar, in CAD I drew out the neck-body joint at the 15th-fret bass side, after going back & forth for a long time trying to decide between 15th and 16th.

I then made the whole neck (set neck, Gibson style mortise & tenon) and routed for the pickups assuming a 16th fret join. Imagine my surprise when I measured from the nut to the saddle witness points....

I couldn't move the bridge, it would hang over into the bridge pickup rout...the neck tenon was finished and the fretboard was already glued onto the neck. The only thing to do was to shorten the heel and tenon an amount equivalent to the distance between #15 and #16 on the bass side...shorten it by hand with a razor knife. Thank God it was black limba instead of rock maple...

Took an entire day, but actually came out fine in the end. It has a truss rod access from the neck pickup rout too...another 1/4" and I would have had to remove the fretboard.

[scottyd]

On my first bass, I did the fiber-optic side markers and forgot to include one for the third fret. Not a big deal with normal markers, but with fibers sheesh. I gig and play that thing practically every day because it’s my first and it’s sentimental to me, so I'm reminded of that particular mistake. SOOOO need less to say it'll never happen again.

My whole second build was a major mistake, neck heavy, ungodly shape and headstock and uncomfortable to play, this came from rushing and a lack of planning mostly.

Once I was routing a control cavity and didn’t realize that the bit had worked its way out of the collet until I picked up the body and shockingly saw thin wood and some daylight shining through.The body was scrapped. That was the worst mistake ever!!!

Since then I've made many more mistakes but most are easily fixed, but never forgotten

[alfredpunkjazz]

No pics = no build mistakes... And we know nobody it's perfect...

[theshadow2001]

Originally Posted by scottyd

On my first bass, I did the fiber-optic side markers and forgot to include one for the third fret. Not a big deal with normal markers, but with fibers sheesh. I gig and play that thing practically every day because it’s my first and it’s sentimental to me, so I'm reminded of that particular mistake. SOOOO need less to say it'll never happen again.

Being a guy with the skills to build and repair basses, would you not of fixed it. I know its a big job taking off the fret board and redoing the work but still if you use it a lot...

[Luke Sheridan]

Originally Posted by wilser

third time it's happened to me. I start feeding the stock to the router on a table too slowly and lightly and the router grabs it and yanks a piece of wood with it. I always manage to fix it and it's hardly been a problem. This latest time it was so bad that it literally took about 1/2" into the body from the upper horn. Thank goodness for epoxy and wood dust! Lucky for me this bass was to be painted black and was not a comissioned instrument. I wonder what that'll do to that ol' MH (mid-hump, for the uninitiated).

I've done the exact same thing, always at the horn. Never happened with a hand held router and I'm not sure why. Would using spiral bits help this problem in any way?

[scottyd]

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

Being a guy with the skills to build and repair basses, would you not of fixed it. I know its a big job taking off the fret board and redoing the work but still if you use it a lot...

One day maybe....

[MNbassist]

Originally Posted by Son of Magni

Ok, sometimes I use a tape measure. When I do, I don't believe the little wiggly tab at the end is accurate so I start measuring at the 1" mark and add an inch at the other end. So once I forgot to add the inch at the other end and ended up routing for a whammy bar in the wrong place

Do you know that if you get a good, name brand tape measure that has that wobbly end its perfectly accurate, if you're measuring the outside of something pull the wiggly thing taught. If you are measuring the inside of something push the wiggly thing all the way in. The wiggly thing is calibrated to account for the actual metal wiggly thing itself when it is pushed in...when it is pulled out the measurement starts from the inside part.

[wilser]

Originally Posted by Luke Sheridan

I've done the exact same thing, always at the horn. Never happened with a hand held router and I'm not sure why. Would using spiral bits help this problem in any way?

I'm not sure. But I think using one of those start up pins may help ...but the one time I used it it was so uncomfortable that I removed it after the first 5" or so. Also, I think starting the cut with a more definite sweep instead of the shy "is this going to work?" may help because there's no climb cut that way (my suspected reason for the grab). Are you using a start up pin? If not, you may want to try it ...but it takes a while getting used to it.

[Luke Sheridan]

My thinking is that a regular, straight bit bites its way in perpendicular to the wood. So there is a collision, so to speak. If the knives were not perpendicular, as with a spiral it should ease its way into the work and channel the energy down, rather than out.
Now, the problem is coming up with the cash for one of these bits. Very expensive. If someone can confirm this is a home run, i'd shell out the money.

[scottyd]

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

Being a guy with the skills to build and repair basses, would you not of fixed it. I know its a big job taking off the fret board and redoing the work but still if you use it a lot...

This bass has the fingerboard (bloodwood) epoxied on. So the chances of it coming off and being able to be reused are fairly slim. I did however put a normal marker there in the missing fibers spot. Once the frets need reworked I may go ahead and rebuild it, for my personal playing its really not too big a deal. Mostly a pride thing I guess.

[Hambone]

I've got a few prime examples...

- While drilling the wiring channel on a beautiful 2 piece ash body I had made, I popped the bit right through the back of the body

Reminder to oneself - remove the pup routing template before attempting to angle the bit from the pup cavity to the control cavity.

- I was making a ledge on a body for binding when I felt the bit sort of "let go" - hard to describe except I ignored it and attempted to continue the rout since I didn't have any visual idea that something was wrong. The guide bearing had come off and I proceeded to route a nice loop into the face of the body!

Note to oneself - ALWAYS check the bearings on your guided bits to make sure they are tight and secure before routing.

- When using a StewMac fret guide template and their registration system, I mistakenly used the first notch as the first fret notch - NOT!! - That notch indicates the nut and not the first fret.

Note to oneself - READ the instructions a couple more times before attempting something new.

- I use spiral bits for my work as much as I can...If they aren't tight in the collet, they will drill themselves right through a body blank and into the, now, sacrificial material you have under it - like a nice bookmatched mahogany blank! I know this is a fact so just take my word for it, OK??

[erikbojerik]

Originally Posted by Hambone

- When using a StewMac fret guide template and their registration system, I mistakenly used the first notch as the first fret notch - NOT!! - That notch indicates the nut and not the first fret.

Been there, done that...just not one of my worst...