Super ambitious First Build, no woodworking experience..!!

[jaxstarke]

new idea: pickups on a sliding rail from bridge to neck with a way to lock/unlock them in place wherever you want. |====|

[packhowitzer]

Originally Posted by jaxstarke

new idea: pickups on a sliding rail from bridge to neck with a way to lock/unlock them in place wherever you want. |====|

http://www.bfoc.co.za/BB-7.htm

not exactly a "new" idea, but i don't know that it's ever been perfected.

Maybe this build could be the first time.

[Marcury]

Originally Posted by jaxstarke

new idea: pickups on a sliding rail from bridge to neck with a way to lock/unlock them in place wherever you want. |====|

http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/grabber.php

[HaMMerHeD]

Moving pickups have always been such aesthetically disastrous contraptions. I think it is indeed time that a decent solution is developed.

[darren1970]

I like the tone of sample 1 - a nice punchy tone, but I also like the deeper timbre of the 2nd sample too.

[jaxstarke]

Originally Posted by packhowitzer

http://www.bfoc.co.za/BB-7.htm

not exactly a "new" idea, but i don't know that it's ever been perfected.

Maybe this build could be the first time.

Funny, that's almost exactly how i pictured it in my head. I was half-asleep and half joking when I thought I thought of it.

[suraj]

Originally Posted by rebelscum

Thank you for sharing this fantastic journey with us. I have been lurking for weeks and have to say that this is looking amazing. What impresses me most is your drive to work with what you have or what you can fashion on your own.
Reminds me a lot of the beginning scenes of the 1st Iron Man movie ...



I can't wait to see this finished!

Cheers!

Thank you rebelscum for watching the thread. I'm glad you like it me like the iron man reference

Originally Posted by Stealth

I haven't looked at the thread for a while. The jig is ingenious, and I dig positions 2 and 3 the most.

I don't remember if and where I've seen this idea, but I definitely have, so I can't take credit for it. Quite a simple jig anyway for anyone to come up with, one that doest seem boring to assemble/make

Originally Posted by jaxstarke

new idea: pickups on a sliding rail from bridge to neck with a way to lock/unlock them in place wherever you want. |====|

While the idea is not new I have always wanted to do this, but designing a system to accomplish that and have it look good and be simple to use is a project in itself. At this point i'm not very inclined towards this idea for this project, but if in life I do plan to build guitars and sell, I will definitely try and design such a system.

After all, I feel pickup placement makes most of a guitar or basses tonal character, so it makes sense for it to be movable. Maybe not so much for a bass one plays live a lot and has one tone he/she likes, but for a studio instrument it would shine.

Originally Posted by packhowitzer

http://www.bfoc.co.za/BB-7.htm

not exactly a "new" idea, but i don't know that it's ever been perfected.

Maybe this build could be the first time.

Thanks for the link maybe another time ...but when I do, I will share my work right here..

Originally Posted by Marcury

http://www.flyguitars.com/gibson/bass/grabber.php

Thanks for the link. Two very different slider designs. one from the previous link, and one from this.

Originally Posted by darren1970

I like the tone of sample 1 - a nice punchy tone, but I also like the deeper timbre of the 2nd sample too.

Thanks for watching the thread I'm glad people like at least one of the samples

[suraj]

Got a little time today. I worked primarily on the battery cavity route in the bass wing. Wasn't happy with how it was initially.

So here it goes-



As you can see, the routes are not very clean. Reasons for that are - my router sucks, I suck, and i'm too lazy to make templates. Most of that was done free hand. The rest was done with a chisel.

In the picture above you can see that there are two recessed regions. What looks like a white mess in a corner is the ash peaking through the wenge, I will correct that later.












The battery boxes -





So now the batteries sit in a recessed region. I was planning to accommodate the flange of the battery cover into the wooden cavity cover plate. But my cavity plates are a bit thin, so I went ahead and did this. Luckily, based on my calculations, I didn't route through into the forearm contour.














The second recess in the cavity is this -



This was done to remove the magnetic cover with a press down action. This just gives the covers a cleaner look without the need of any thumb lift point or a coin pop off point. This recess was done freehand upto the line of the cavity ledge wall. Very easy to go wrong here.

The lifting off of the cavity covers goes like this -










And similarly for the main control cavity -

Again done freehand to the line











I'm making slow progress as life is getting in the way, but we'll get through this wont we

Until next time.

[octaedro7]

Clearly you're not just a pretty face suraj
Cleverly thought!
Just wonder if when pressing the instrument against your body covers could pop out (I'm thinking mostly when playing it standing)

[suraj]

Lol

No, the covers pressing against my body won't undo, I tried very hard to pop them off with my waist, didn't happen

My thumb measured at about 12mm pressing diameter, So I made a 15mm wide recess.. Only when you press within that 15mm band, and quite firmly, will the cover undo. The neodymium magnets are strong, but also due to the fulcrum being very close to where I press, I need to press firmly.

[iamlowsound]

That recess idea is brilliant, I am going to borrow it.

lowsound

[HaMMerHeD]

That is quite a good feature.

[wraub]

That idea for the covers is indeed ingenious.

wraub

[suraj]

Originally Posted by iamlowsound

That recess idea is brilliant, I am going to borrow it.

lowsound

Thank you
Go right ahead..i'm glad to contribute back to the TB community.

if your gonna use this idea, I would recommend you make the recess along one edge of the cover itself, not on the instrument. And you should slightly round off the resulting edge of the recess. I wish I did it like this, but its a good enough excuse to build another instrument So many ideas float in my head, but once the router is fired up, the freshest idea prevails not the sensible one.

Originally Posted by HaMMerHeD

That is quite a good feature.

Originally Posted by wraub

That idea for the covers is indeed ingenious.

wraub

Thanks guys i'm glad you like it.




Onto a useless update -

So I've been working on the battery compartment as you guys know This is what it used to look like -



This wasn't a very wise design as the partitions were cross grained and very weak. Everytime I used a chisel, a part of it would break. So I routed out the partitions as I showed in the last post, but that led to two problems -

1. That gaps between the battery boxes would look straight to the bottom of the cavity.

2. The cavity was quite large with very little wood left from the front of the bass.





So I made partitions, out of deodar wood (Indian Pine) and glued them in. Before I glued them, I had already routed a wiring channel for the wires to pass through the partitions.









Now the gap between the battery boxes shows a white line of wood. Looks much better now, also the thin bottom of the cavity would structurally benefit with the added partitions.

[Evil Undead]

Originally Posted by suraj

I tried very hard to pop them off with my waist, didn't happen

Haha, I'd love to have seen that

[suraj]

Originally Posted by Evil Undead

Haha, I'd love to have seen that

LOL, i'm glad no1 took a picture

[Grant Bass]

am blown away by this 'outside thinking' being displayed; there should be more inexperienced builders out there; comin up with original ideas lol!

Q?- is there any clearance issues you had with these teeter totter covers? meaning, did you have to bevel the edges or anything to keep the bottom edge from rubbing the inside of the recess?

thanks looks great; and btw, tottally stealing that...you have full credit

[MrArose13]

suraj, Absolutely wonderful build, I've been watching and finally got a chance to type something. This is a great bass, I love how the wenge pops out at you... the cavity covers... smart, A+ ..

[suraj]

Originally Posted by Grant Bass

am blown away by this 'outside thinking' being displayed; there should be more inexperienced builders out there; comin up with original ideas lol!

Q?- is there any clearance issues you had with these teeter totter covers? meaning, did you have to bevel the edges or anything to keep the bottom edge from rubbing the inside of the recess?

thanks looks great; and btw, tottally stealing that...you have full credit

haha thank you , i guess its only possible to be original when your not filled with too many standardized ideas its like you have to first empty your cup.

I have no clearance issue as of now as my covers are not a very tight fit. There's 1mm of gap all around. So I will be binding it all around with 0.6mm thick wenge veneer. I may then have to do slight edge beveling. A quick CAD section drawing tells me that if my cover was an absolutely theoretical gapless fit, then I would need about 0.6mm of beveling only on the press down side of the cover. That amount of gap I think i may end up by default, so no beveling may be required. Of course this calculation is considering my covers are 5mm thick and my recess is 2mm deep. A deeper recess, and or a thicker cover will increase the amount of bevel required.

Originally Posted by MrArose13

suraj, Absolutely wonderful build, I've been watching and finally got a chance to type something. This is a great bass, I love how the wenge pops out at you... the cavity covers... smart, A+ ..

Thank you MrArose..!! I'm glad you like it It's great because i've been admiring your work too






Do you guys think I should patent this cavity cover idea ? Like how warwick has they're patented easy to open cavity covers.. Something stating that the design involves magnets to hold a cover on any product, and any kind of a recess whether in the cover or the product makes it removable with a press down action.

[Grant Bass]

patents are expensive and some major hoop jumping, if you were a large company like warwick, i would say definatly; your best bet is to make it as well known as you can, that this is 'yours' and ask anyone wanting to use it, that you get some sort of credit/kudos;
maybe something like TM it, or somthing official that doesnt cost thousands of dollars; but this is out of my scope of knowledge, but im sure someone on this interweb has some cents to throw in