$100 Bass Challenge - Marceline's Axe Bass

[mapleglo]

I assume you haven't glued the wings on yet, that will make life a little easier. Doing one side should be really easy, when you flip the board over to do the other side you are going to have to build some sort of cradle for the curve to sit in so it can lay flat.

Right, the wings are not yet glued on. I hadn't thought about doing the taper before gluing the wings on, but now that you mention it, it may be easier. Though gluing them on after the radius might be a little more trouble some. And then there's the jig to hold the wing flat to consider.

I originally thought I'd do them after glue up, leave the neck through portion flat, and just raise the jig so that it wouldn't hit the center. Then there'd be that center flat portion to keep the body/neck level and true during clamping.

More thought is warranted on this.

 

[Hopkins]

Right, the wings are not yet glued on. I hadn't thought about doing the taper before gluing the wings on, but now that you mention it, it may be easier. Though gluing them on after the radius might be a little more trouble some. And then there's the jig to hold the wing flat to consider.

I originally thought I'd do them after glue up, leave the neck through portion flat, and just raise the jig so that it wouldn't hit the center. Then there'd be that center flat portion to keep the body/neck level and true during clamping.

More thought is warranted on this.

You are absolutely right about being able to clamp the neck down to your bench if you did the radius after gluing, I haven't thought of that. One think I would definitely do would be to rout your control cavity before doing your radius, while the board is still flat. Also, to get the edge of the Axe blade the same width all the way across, its going to take some hand carving, because with a radiused router jig its going to leave it a thicker on the edges than in the center, because of the curve. That should be an easy fix with a rasp and orbital sander though.

 

[mapleglo]

You are absolutely right about being able to clamp the neck down to your bench if you did the radius after gluing, I haven't thought of that. One think I would definitely do would be to rout your control cavity before doing your radius, while the board is still flat. Also, to get the edge of the Axe blade the same width all the way across, its going to take some hand carving, because with a radiused router jig its going to leave it a thicker on the edges than in the center, because of the curve. That should be an easy fix with a rasp and orbital sander though.

Yes, control cavity and pickup routs prior to radiusing. There will be a further taper after the initial taper on the wings, to simulate the blade edge. At least that's the way the "real" one is. Maybe I'll blend that into the radius. These complex curves are making my head hurt.

It's giving me a splitting headache

(couldn't resist)

 

[mapleglo]

Any computer guru's out there? I started up Illustrator to make some adjustments, and got this:

It was just working yesterday. It wouldn't let me register saying:

There's something to be said about paper and pencils.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Paper and pencil good (honestly, I have yet to find a program that is remotely intuitively like it, nor a display that's remotely like having an E-sized drawing.)

I'm not sure where you'd go from Illustrator, but I have been moving people from PhotoShop to GIMP because I find Adobe really annoying to deal with...possibly https://inkscape.org/en/ (but I have not actually used it, so that's an avenue to investigate, not a recommendation per se.)

http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/global/error-licensing-stopped-mac-os.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-licensing-stopped-windows.html
http://helpx.adobe.com/creative-suite/kb/error-license-expired-cs3.html

 

[mapleglo]

Thanks, reboot seems to have fixed it.

So something like the above for the edge. That part also gets the darker red paint.

 

[mapleglo]

So it's been cold, cloudy, and rainy here in Phoenix the last 3 days, and they promised me a warmer sunny day today. I was quite disappointed to wake up to this:

This was taken at about 11:30 AM, and I was getting more and more upset that the promised nicer weather wasn't here yet.

Then a half hour later, like the parting of the red sea, the sun arrived.

The super bowl attendees should be pleased, as am I.

In any event, I took the opportunity to try this dye that was graciously donated by @michaelwayneharwood

I think I'll let that dry and put on another coat.

 

[mapleglo]

Just another status shot, with rough positioning of wings and bridge. I'd like to get that bridge as far back on the body as possible. The truss rod ends just about where the fingerboard ends. I think the neck pickup would be just about at 24", and the bridge pickup just about at 28".

 

[vmabus]

That part also gets the darker red paint.

...with blood drips

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

possibly https://inkscape.org/en/ (but I have not actually used it, so that's an avenue to investigate, not a recommendation per se.)

Inkscape is what I use, but I could not tell you whether it's worth pursuing coming from Illustrator.

I think I'll let that dry and put on another coat.

May I ask what your intended use for those strips are? Bear in mind that the dye does not penetrate terribly deep into the wood and sanding will remove the color. Based on your picture it looks like you started with the black dye - it has that bluish hue that I have seen when using the black with certain woods. I have found that adding a little brown will help with that.

 

[mapleglo]

Inkscape is what I use, but I could not tell you whether it's worth pursuing coming from Illustrator.


May I ask what your intended use for those strips are? Bear in mind that the dye does not penetrate terribly deep into the wood and sanding will remove the color. Based on your picture it looks like you started with the black dye - it has that bluish hue that I have seen when using the black with certain woods. I have found that adding a little brown will help with that.

These will be the fret markers for the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th, etc frets. I just soaked them in the dye for the third time. I don't think the maple will absorb any more dye. Once they're dry, I'll cut one of them length-wise, to see how deep the dye soaked. If it didn't soak through, I'll try some of the mahogany strips I have, which seems more porous.

They actually seemed pretty gray at first, but are looking darker now.

Another possibility is to use a black magic marker. "I've got a black magic marker..." (sung to the theme from Black Magic Woman) "Don't draw a line on me baby..."

 

[HaMMerHeD]

I think it'd be easier to carve the blades after gluing to the neck beam, and it'd be easier to glue them up when they're still square.

 

[mapleglo]

Well, I had hoped that the dye would soak through the maple laminate, but it didn't, somewhat expectedly.

Sorry about the blurry picture - I don't think my camera has a closeup function.

Looks like I'll be slicing off some mahogany strips for the fret markers.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Well, I had hoped that the dye would soak through the maple laminate, but it didn't, somewhat expectedly.

Looks like I'll be slicing off some mahogany strips for the fret markers.

Here's hoping you get good results for the red fingerboard!

 

[mapleglo]

Here's hoping you get good results for the red fingerboard!

Thanks!

Speaking of the fingerboard, I keep going round and round for the next few steps. I imagine that I'll want to glue the fingerboard to the neck before I rough shape the back of the neck so I can clamp it good. And I imagine that I'll want to rough shape the back of the neck before I cut the taper the neck (and fingerboard?). That way when I run it through the bandsaw or jig saw, I have a flat and parallel surface on which to work. On the other hand, wouldn't I want to cut the taper on the fingerboard first, and then use that taper to cut the taper on the neck with the router? Which means I rough cut the back of the neck first. But then, clamping the fingerboard to the neck during glue up, the neck won't be parallel to the worktable.

Argh!

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Thanks!

Speaking of the fingerboard, I keep going round and round for the next few steps. I imagine that I'll want to glue the fingerboard to the neck before I rough shape the back of the neck so I can clamp it good. And I imagine that I'll want to rough shape the back of the neck before I cut the taper the neck (and fingerboard?). That way when I run it through the bandsaw or jig saw, I have a flat and parallel surface on which to work. On the other hand, wouldn't I want to cut the taper on the fingerboard first, and then use that taper to cut the taper on the neck with the router? Which means I rough cut the back of the neck first. But then, clamping the fingerboard to the neck during glue up, the neck won't be parallel to the worktable.

Argh!

My workflow currently looks like the following:

1. Prepare neck blank to 3/4" thickness and install neck reinforcement
2. Glue fingerboard on
3. Slot fingerboard
4. Taper neck and fingerboard
5. Profile back of neck

 

[ctmullins]

Lots of ways to do this; my current method is:

1. Rough-taper neck blank, route for and install truss rod
2. Taper fretboard to final dimensions using table saw sled
3. Glue fretboard to neck
4. Final taper neck using a pattern bit, bearing on the fretboard
4.5. Inlay fretboard (I've been skipping this lately)
5. Radius fretboard (I buy them pre-slotted)
6. Install frets
7. Carve neck

Carving happens last, so I have a flat neck for all of the prior steps.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Woodcraft sells black dyed veneer packs. It's dyed under pressure, so it's black all the way through. They also have some other colors.

 

[mapleglo]

My workflow currently looks like the following:

1. Prepare neck blank to 3/4" thickness and install neck reinforcement
2. Glue fingerboard on
3. Slot fingerboard
4. Taper neck and fingerboard
5. Profile back of neck

Lots of ways to do this; my current method is:

1. Rough-taper neck blank, route for and install truss rod
2. Taper fretboard to final dimensions using table saw sled
3. Glue fretboard to neck
4. Final taper neck using a pattern bit, bearing on the fretboard
4.5. Inlay fretboard (I've been skipping this lately)
5. Radius fretboard (I buy them pre-slotted)
6. Install frets
7. Carve neck

Carving happens last, so I have a flat neck for all of the prior steps.

Woodcraft sells black dyed veneer packs. It's dyed under pressure, so it's black all the way through. They also have some other colors.

All very helpful, thanks! The Woodcraft website is having trouble this morning, I'll have to try that later.

 

[mapleglo]

Woodcraft sells black dyed veneer packs. It's dyed under pressure, so it's black all the way through. They also have some other colors.

Turned out that there's a Woodcraft a few blocks away from work. So I stopped there on the way home.

They had the black dyed veneer, and some other stuff I "needed". The pack was about $20.00, I'll use like a half of one of the sheets, so that's about $1.00 worth of veneer.

So the first thing I did was put a straight edge on that piece of maple using my, well, straight edge.

Then I used the maple straight edge as a guide to cut the tapers on the fingerboard.

The router works really well for this.

Then I glued it up to the neck.

I actually had enough clamps

Thanks to all for the advice and helpful tips. I was freaking out a little trying to figure some of these things out.

Oh, and thinking more about the taper on the body, it might actually be better to rout the control panel cavity and drill the pot holes after the body taper, as then I can make them both parallel to the new tapered surface. If I cut those before, they will skew with the taper. I imagine I would want them as square as possible to the taper.