5 string buckeye burl/mahogany neck through

[Rôckhewer]

I really regret agreeing to cut out the butt end of the body to match the bark on the burl... I've already done the mahogany, so I can't back out of it, but I think I'm going to try to manipulate the shape so it's not impossible to route/sand/finish.

Do you mean by "manipulate the shape" that you want to open up /carve on... the natural shape of the bark gap on the burl piece? Because if that is what you mean... You would totally lose the natural texture & really defeat the whole purpose .... you would be left with just some weird route that makes absolutely no sense.

How about, on the neck and mahogany layers...if you get the shape cut out on the neck pretty close with a jig saw/ dremel/ coping saw/ chisel..whatever...Then instead of trying to sand those smooth...
(& before you glue the top on)....
...make them look natural as well. Take a torch to 'em!
A mini torch (pen torch) would be the most controllable ... Get a little char built up, then stick a small wire brush in there & open up the charred surface a bit & to make it look kinda barkish....
Do some tests on scrap.
I think it would look way better than having bark on top & sanded layers underneath.
It will look like the inside of a lightning struck tree!

 

[lbridenstine]

Lisa-

By the looks of the shape of the gap, you could probably close it up by sanding back the edge under the B/E string area of the burl - it would probably even out the curve along the D/G string area, enabling you to square up the gap and close it.

Lonnybass

I couldn't really get it to show in the picture because of shadows, but the gap is even all the way around where the neck and top will meet. The sides are slightly wide, etc so sanding more wouldn't help. I think it was just because of routing to the pencil line when I made the template on the body template instead of slightly inside the line after I traced the fretboard end template onto the body template, if that makes sense.

I looked at my other buckeye bass and it looks like I did black epoxy on that one, but that one was only on the shaped end and not on the sides.

I tried to find a picture of it, looks like this is the most that showed in the pictures, so it doesn't look like it will stand out much.

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Do you mean by "manipulate the shape" that you want to open up /carve on... the natural shape of the bark gap on the burl piece? Because if that is what you mean... I just kinda think that would totally lose the natural texture & really defeat the whole purpose .... you would be left with just some weird route that makes absolutely no sense.

How about, on the neck and mahogany layers...if you get the shape cut out pretty close with a jig saw/ dremel/ coping saw....whatever...Then instead of trying to sand it smooth...make it look natural as well. Take a torch to it!
A mini torch (pen torch) would be the most controllable ... Get a little char built up, then stick a small wire brush in there & open up the charred surface a bit & to make it look kinda barkish....
Do some tests on scrap.
I think it would look way better than having bark on top & sanded layers underneath.

I'm not going to cut the shape of the burl other than trimming the one point that sticks out past the other side on the bookmatch line. I just want to make the mahogany and maple workable. I like your idea of making it look like bark, is a pen torch similar to one of those grill lighter things? I don't really want to go out and buy a torch for a test, but I think we have a grill lighter that I could try it with. Do you think that would work?

 

[HaMMerHeD]

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[Rôckhewer]

I don't really want to go out and by a torch for a test, but I think we have a grill lighter that I could try it with. Do you think that would work?

No, not really. Kinda risky.
A pencil torch (like the link HaMMerHeD put up) has the ability to char the wood quickly (like 2000° at the tip) and thereby creating the effect without really heating up the surrounding area too much. A bbq lighter or wood burning iron etc... is gonna heat it too slow and possibly have an adverse effect on the glue joints at the end of your neck.
I was just trying to think of a way to make the other two layers more or less match the top to make it all look natural.
But I would hate for you to screw up your beautiful instrument by following my advice. (some of my ideas tend to be a tad...unconventional?)
How about coating the other layers with something that you could ...manipulate... to get a faux bark look. Like a dark epoxy that you roughed up with a wire brush while it was almost hard but not quite cured....
Just trying to think outside of the proverbial....box.

 

[Jon Clegg]

The gap you showed really doesn't look like much more than a gap you might see around a pickguard. Based on your other one, I'd go with the black.

 

[lbridenstine]

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No, not really. Kinda risky.
A pencil torch (like the link HaMMerHeD put up) has the ability to char the wood quickly (like 2000° at the tip) and thereby creating the effect without really heating up the surrounding area too much. A bbq lighter or wood burning iron etc... is gonna heat it too slow and possibly have an adverse effect on the glue joints at the end of your neck.
I was just trying to think of a way to make the other two layers more or less match the top to make it all look natural.
But I would hate for you to screw up your beautiful instrument by following my advice. (some of my ideas tend to be a tad...unconventional?)
How about coating the other layers with something that you could ...manipulate... to get a faux bark look. Like a dark epoxy that you roughed up with a wire brush while it was almost hard but not quite cured....
Just trying to think outside of the proverbial....box.

Alright. Like I said, I don't want to go out and buy anything, even if it is less than $10, because I probably would never use it again and I'm not the one paying for the bass either. Plus, I keep doing that and I just have stuff piled up all over the place.

Glue in some tree bark? Haha. I don't know. I can't really think of anything that would make it look like bark.

I was just thinking about beveling it from the back or something. I definitely won't be able to get the roundover bit in there anyway.

The gap you showed really doesn't look like much more than a gap you might see around a pickguard. Based on your other one, I'd go with the black.

Yeah, it's really just a pencil line gap. I think black will work too. It will make it look like an extension of the veneer that's going under the burl.

 

[lbridenstine]

After the top is glued on (which I'm aiming for today), here's the rest of the plan:

-Use the body as a template for the top to route to
-Roundover the back
-Do the belly cut and contour the heel
-Do the first carved top step with the router on the front
-Roundover the front
-Do the rest of the carved top steps
-Carve the top
-Sand the body and headstock to 220 grit
-Mask off the neck and fretboard
-Fill the burl voids with turquoise powder/epoxy
-Grain fill the mahogany with epoxy
-Sand all that flat after it cures
-Apply the logo on the truss rod cover and the serial number in the control cavity
-Spread a layer of epoxy on top of all the burl and mahogany
-Sand smooth after it cures, without sanding through the epoxy
-Do the pickup routes, the route for the bridge block, and drill all the holes (I figured if I did this before the epoxy, it'd all need to be re-drilled/routed)
-Recess the pot/switch holes, add a small amount of epoxy to the burl in those spots
-Glue in the bridge block
-Unmask the fretboard and do the leveling/crowning/sanding of the frets
-Unmask the neck and re-mask the fretboard
-Apply shellac over everything except the fretboard
-Let that cure, then spray the EM6000 3 days in a row and let cure
-Unmask the fretboard, go over the frets and board with some micromesh, polish
-Dry sand, then wet sand the finish everywhere else, polish lightly by hand (semi-gloss/satin look)
-Drill the holes for the magnets for the truss rod cover and glue the magnets in (I'm saving this for the end because I always end up having to clean off the built up finish from the magnets)
-Install/wire/setup
-Photos
-Video/audio



P.S. I just put in the StewMac portion of the purchase for two guitar builds last night.

 

[lbridenstine]

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[HaMMerHeD]

Oof....T88 for pore-filling. You're a braver girl than I...er...yeah.

 

[lbridenstine]

Oof....T88 for pore-filling. You're a braver girl than I...er...yeah.

That was for gluing the top on. I'm going to use Mirror Coat for pore filling. But... when I was clamping the top down, I saw a lot of epoxy oozing up through the voids, so now I'm kind of worried that they're already going to be filled and I'm going to have to somehow pick it out in order to get the turquoise in there. :-/ Hopefully not. I'll find out in a little bit.

But yeah, the T-88 is really tacky and thick compared to Mirror Coat. I forgot about that and started spreading it on the mahogany with a paint brush, then realized that there were a bunch of bristles everywhere, so I had to pick those out. Since it was tacky and the bristles were white, they just blended in at first until the epoxy started smoothing out. I used a card scraper/glue spreader card to spread the epoxy on the burl and that worked much better.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Ah, I just meant that it is a pain in the arse to sand smooth, so I wouldn't want to use it for pore/void filling.

 

[lbridenstine]

Out of clamps and did some stuff to it.

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Roundover on both sides. I realized that I could skip a couple steps by letting the roundover bit cut the burl to the mahogany and do the first carved top step, by just setting it lower. The top ended up being thinner than I remembered, so I don't think I even need to do any more "steps" on it. I'll just put a slight carve on it as is.

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It's probably about time to replace my roundover bit. The burn marks do sand out pretty easily at least.

The ball part of the horn is too close to the neck to get the roundover on the inside, but I used the router sled to hold the router up above the fretboard so I could get the rest of the horns at least. I'm glad that this bark chunk didn't leave when it was routed over. I can put some turquoise powder around it instead of filling the whole hole.

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Unfortunately for the other voids, they go all the way through to the glue side of the top and they did end up getting filled with the squeeze out of epoxy. Looks like I get to clean those out... hooray.

I shaped the belly cut and started on the heel.

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I used my 1/4" spiral bit to clean this up some. It's not 100% smooth in there, but it's a lot better than it was. I'll have to figure out the rest...

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I need to clean up the epoxy and veneer line under the bark still too.

And, the bass comes with a free carrying handle.

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[Rôckhewer]

Looking good!!

It's probably about time to replace my roundover bit. The burn marks do sand out pretty easily at least

Or you could just get it sharpened....that could definitely save you a few bucks. Depending on whether it is a quality bit that would be somewhat expensive to replace..? I'd get it sharpened.
If it was a cheapo harbor freight throw away...?....maybe not

 

[Lonnybass]

You're doing some great stuff Lisa. Looking forward to seeing how this comes out.

Lonnybass

 

[lbridenstine]

Looking good!!


Or you could just get it sharpened....that could definitely save you a few bucks. Depending on whether it is a quality bit that would be somewhat expensive to replace..? I'd get it sharpened.
If it was a cheapo harbor freight throw away...?....maybe not

Thanks!

It's a cheapy. I'm surprised it has made it through 7 builds.

You're doing some great stuff Lisa. Looking forward to seeing how this comes out.

Lonnybass

Thank you!





I finished up the heel, sanded the back (mostly), did most of the top carving (although it doesn't show in the picture), and sanded most of that too. It's almost ready for the turquoise...

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Lbridensteine
Been lurking on your thread with my mouth shut and eyes open for months, and I gotta say how impressed I am by your work. This is art and craftsmanship combined in the best Luthiery tradition. I'm not usually a spalted wood type of guy, but this is amazing wood, and obviously a real challenge to work with. The fact that you are doing work at this level in what appears to be your living room is pretty humbling, and goes to show that it's the hand and mind creating art, not the tools. I am looking forward to seeing this completed, it's going to be killer.

 

[MrArose13]

This bass is really looking good Lisa!

You know if there's pitch build up on your router bit, it will cause burning. Maybe it just needs a good cleaning with mineral spirits and WD-40. Also you can sand the flats with some high grit wet/dry sand paper wrapped around a 6" ruler or some thing to get some of the sharpness back with out damaging the profile.

 

[Luke19Boarder]

super cool - subbed!

 

[lbridenstine]

Lbridensteine
Been lurking on your thread with my mouth shut and eyes open for months, and I gotta say how impressed I am by your work. This is art and craftsmanship combined in the best Luthiery tradition. I'm not usually a spalted wood type of guy, but this is amazing wood, and obviously a real challenge to work with. The fact that you are doing work at this level in what appears to be your living room is pretty humbling, and goes to show that it's the hand and mind creating art, not the tools. I am looking forward to seeing this completed, it's going to be killer.

No need to keep your mouth shut! I'm always interested to see who's paying attention.

I do the work in the garage, but bring the wood and parts in the basement when I'm done and take the pictures down there.

Thanks!

This bass is really looking good Lisa!

You know if there's pitch build up on your router bit, it will cause burning. Maybe it just needs a good cleaning with mineral spirits and WD-40. Also you can sand the flats with some high grit wet/dry sand paper wrapped around a 6" ruler or some thing to get some of the sharpness back with out damaging the profile.

Thanks!

There is some stuff on the bit. I tried to get it off, but didn't think about using mineral spirits or WD-40. I'll have to try that.

super cool - subbed!

Thank you!

 

[El Spearo]

Looking great! Can't wait to see what that turquoise looks like.