3/4 Precision

[I-Am-The-Slime]

Hello my good LC peoples!

Spring is back and has brought along motivation to start something new. This build is inspired by gifts. First, I got a P-bass pickup from @moonshinegtrs a few years back during his generous santashine giveaway (haven't heard from him in a while, apparently on "vacation" from TB). Second, I got some lumber from a friend whose father passed recently (so this will be in part a tribute to a man I never met).

The plan: a 3/4 P-bass (25.5" scale, in essence a capo on the fifth fret of 34" scale)
The wood: mahogany (I believe, not sure what kind... let me know what you think!)

Here's the piece for the neck

just about quarter sawn

And the body will be cut from this

intended use was one of the legs for a desk. Slightly more than 1.5" thick. The outline drawn here is not what will be cut out, more on that later...

I have a leftover piece of teak for the fretboard, planning to ebonize it with India ink.

All together

Mingus agrees that the headstock should be reversed

The PU will also be reversed, and slanted.

The bridge will be individual-string, 15 mm spacing. 34 mm nut width. So both of those are slightly wider than a true 3/4 size and in the ballpark of the spacing you might see on some fivers.

I'm thinking of using the B E A D of a five-string set, but not set in stone, might just end up going for a P'colo

This will be my first solid body and first bolt on. Wish me luck!

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

I started last Sunday and hope to be moving along at a pace (for me )

Let's talk neck.

Pictured from the back. Using a coping saw for the curves into the nut area.

Then a pull saw to rip the neck taper.

Cleaned up with sandpaper on a level beam.

Shaped the headstock with the coping saw, rasps, and a new toy. I got myself a standing drill press with a spindle sander option (it moves up and down automatically).

More pull saw for the headstock face.

And cleaned up with a sanding block.

Lastly, brought the neck to 0.8" thickness with (you guessed it) the pull saw.

More to follow soon!

Peace, thanks for watching!

 

[smart51]

If you're doing a 3/4 scale length, are you going to make everything else 3/4 scale? One of the things I dislike about short scale Fenders is that they have a full sized headstock and body. It makes them look like toys. I did a 90% scale bass. I made the body 90% size, even 90% as thick. I used smaller tuning keys too, rather than the huge cloverleafs of a Fender.

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

If you're doing a 3/4 scale length, are you going to make everything else 3/4 scale? One of the things I dislike about short scale Fenders is that they have a full sized headstock and body. It makes them look like toys. I did a 90% scale bass. I made the body 90% size, even 90% as thick. I used smaller tuning keys too, rather than the huge cloverleafs of a Fender.

The plan is to make everything except the string spacing and the body/neck thickness 75%. I have some smaller tuners on order and the bridge will be individual-string. Kinda flying by the seat of my pants here, but should hopefully work out...

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

Oops, meant to update sooner! But I've kinda just been on a roll

I did document just about every step though. I'll break it up into a few posts. Maybe be a bit tedious to go through all the steps, but my style is kind of eccentric (aka amateur) so might be fun. In no way do I say you should do it like I do!

OK, continuing on with the neck!

The fretboard is teak. Boy, does that stuff stink (literally!), nice to work though...

Cutting the slots, used the fretcalculator to get the positions for 25.5" scale, scored with a marking knife, and cut with the fretsaw in a miter box. 21 frets

Nut slot hogged out with a dremel router bit in the drill press (worked well enough)

Next is cutting the truss rod channel. A wiser man would have done this when the neck blank was still square and used a router jig, but not this fool 1/4" router bit in the drill press, neck fixed to a floorboard, magswitches to keep it centered. Not ideal, but with shallow passes the chatter wasn't too bad, far from pretty though

The wider and deeper section for the bolt end was done with a router plane and chisel

Good thing this ugliness will be hidden under the fretboard!

 

[MynameisMe]

Cool!

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

Moving on. I plugged the end of the truss rod slot

and drilled a hole

Glued on the fretboard next

Radiused the board, 12". The board is still square at this point

Fretboard tapered with the pullsaw

And sanded flush

Fretslots cut to depth

Sanded the board up to 1200 grit. Looks pretty good to me! I changed my mind about ebonizing it, too nice as is

Happy with how things are going at this point!

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

Scalloped the fretboard-headstock transition

Tuner holes were next

Brought the headstock to approximate thickness with the old pullsaw

Frets hammered in. Brass color to match the nut

Nipped with this awesome tool (Bruce Johnson reco)

Filed flush and beveled with a little improv on a stewmac fret leveling file

Glow in the dark side dots

This is about where we are now. Neck carve is next!!

Thanks for following along

 

[rwkeating]

Brought the headstock to approximate thickness with the old pullsaw

I can't imagine the skill it takes to do that. Great job!!

 

[I-Am-The-Slime]

I can't imagine the skill it takes to do that. Great job!!

Thanks Rdubs!

I certainly don't consider myself a skilled woodworker. The pull saw is great to work with IMO. Score your lines with a marking knife and make sure you stay on the correct side of the line. I use the cross cut side. Slow and steady. Use diagonal cuts and flip your piece regularly.
|/\| if that makes sense...