5 string fretless showcase: Habanero V

[miziomix]

O-la-la!! very nice. Such a neat build mate. kudos to you for making your own pick ups.

ps: those purple strings are classy indeed yeah yeah...and I can see you're hiding more behind the ruler eh? you, fashion addict....

 

[Musiclogic]

Someone needs a despooler, wasting copper is the fun part of winding Adam...LOL except in the pocket book(thank god for ebay). Glad you are throwing in the pickup wind, very cool. The bass is looking sweeet!!!!

 

[adam.beauchene]

Thanks again guys.

Miz- yeah you caught me...raiding my wife's stash. Her yarn collection dwarfs my woodpile, she's quite a prolific knitter, and she doesn't mess around with cheap yarn. I 'liberated' a little bit for this project, it's probably worsted unicorn mane.

JC- My despooler is an e-xact-o knife I think I got the feel for it on this first attempt, I'm pretty sure the next one will work out. Need to get new cartriges for my respirator for drilling on phenolic, though. I've started collecting parts for a proper pickup winder, too...

I'm headed down this morning to make some progress on the neck, updates later!

 

[adam.beauchene]

Lately I haven't been going down to the shop unless I'm feeling it...you guys know what I mean? Like some days you just feel like you're going to screw something up...it's best to stay out of the shop on those days. Today I was feeling some neck shaping.

Tools I use:

Bevels marked out:

First bevel carved out with Shinto rasp.

Working on the second.

Didn't photo the scraping and sanding on the neck, you've seen that before. I've found this chunk of 2" copper is great for sanding inside curves, and it helped keep the lamination edges equal when shaping the back of the headstock.

Looks and feels pretty good. More fine-tuning tomorrow.

You can see that it's not quite fair on this side, a couple minutes with the random orbit will clean that up.

Need to hit the left side a little more with the copper pipe to center it on the stringers.

Here it is with the neck set on. I have to glue on the ziricote heel block and blend it into the neck, I didn't photograph that yet. It's sitting on a piece of scrap to show how it will sit once I'm done.

You guys were wondering how big this is. It's bigger than the first Habanero-

I always loved small-bodied basses, like Curbows... this is just about perfect. It balances nicely on my knee, so I know I'm in the clear regarding neck dive once it's on a strap.

Vader approves

 

[Simo]

Small bodied basses aren't normally my thing but your design has really grown on me, it's definitely my favourite in the competition

 

[adam.beauchene]

Small bodied basses aren't normally my thing but your design has really grown on me, it's definitely my favourite in the competition

Thanks, Simo. Now if I could only build them as precisely as yours!

 

[pilotjones]

Beautiful. Two questions:
- Do you know whether your neck flame maple is hard or soft? (I think mine is soft, but I'm relying on the padauk and the construction method for additional stiffness.)
- Do I detect some tumblehome?

 

[adam.beauchene]

Beautiful. Two questions:
- Do you know whether your neck flame maple is hard or soft? (I think mine is soft, but I'm relying on the padauk and the construction method for additional stiffness.)
- Do I detect some tumblehome?

Thanks Pilot. I'm almost positive it's sugar maple, or soft maple. I think you get flame and quilt with soft maple, and birdseyes in hard maple. I'm not too worried about stability on this one, being a 5 piece. No tumblehome yet, but I left myself enough room to add it in once I put in my side dots. Loves me some tumblehome! I was planning to add side dots and fingerboard dots before shaping, would have been easier, but I was really feeling some shaping today.

 

[pilotjones]

From what I understand, birdseye is hard, quilt is soft, and either can have flame/tiger. "Sugar" maple is used for many species, both hard and soft. I figured my flame is soft based on its grayness compared to the body wood.

I guess sometimes that wood just wants to be shaped, and you have to oblige.

 

[adam.beauchene]

From what I understand, birdseye is hard, quilt is soft, and either can have flame/tiger. "Sugar" maple is used for many species, both hard and soft. I figured my flame is soft based on its grayness compared to the body wood.

I guess sometimes that wood just wants to be shaped, and you have to oblige.

Ah, good to know. I'll check my copy of 'understanding wood' and see if it explains how to tell. This is the stuff I got from Lowes, I walked by it and did a doubletake, "well, hellllooo!" Hoping stability isn't an issue, but like I said before, it's a 5-piece, it should be alright. when tapped on, this neck rings very clearly, very low, like a big bell...I hope that is a good sign.

 

[Musiclogic]

Pete, soft maple is more dense and much stronger than Mahogany, you will be fine.
Adam, judging by the color, your maple is hard maple, soft maple rarely gets that color when dry. Hard maple gets quilted, curly or birdseyes, soft maple rarely birdseyes if ever, but gets curly and some rare quilts. Also, soft maple has a more grey colour when dried. This is not an absolute, but more common than not.

 

[adam.beauchene]

Pete, soft maple is more dense and much stronger than Mahogany, you will be fine.
Adam, judging by the color, your maple is hard maple, soft maple rarely gets that color when dry. Hard maple gets quilted, curly or birdseyes, soft maple rarely birdseyes if ever, but gets curly and some rare quilts. Also, soft maple has a more grey colour when dried. This is not an absolute, but more common than not.

Thanks again JC! This is why I hang out here. I build among giants.

 

[adam.beauchene]

Epoxied on the ziricote heel block last night. Left it slightly oversized, first thing is to get it to fit the neck pocket:

Now to start shaping the transition. Got a good head start with the safe-t-planer:

On go the headphones, hit 'play' on Disintegration by The Cure, and cabinet-scraped away for well over an hour:

Little feathering with 100 grit, cleaned up with 220:

And checking the fit:

Looks OK, might tweak it a little more tomorrow, especially the sides of the neck. Doesn't quite feel right yet. I like the look though.

 

[tubby.twins]

Wow, wow, wow.

 

[Rip Topaz]

Wow. I wouldn't wanna do that with ziricote. Surprised it only took an hour!!
You're a much more patient man than I.

 

[pilotjones]

Beautiful work. I've got to get myself some scrapers.

 

[devo_stevo]

I knew I liked you. You ride bikes and listen to the Cure. I can't fault you for bad taste.

This bass is looking great by the way. Love the tapered center lamination in the neck. It's a nice touch that you don't see very often.

 

[adam.beauchene]

Wow. I wouldn't wanna do that with ziricote. Surprised it only took an hour!!

Me neither I thought seriously about doing it in maple, but I thought this would look so much better. Doing most of the excavation with the safe-t-planer really made it doable.

Beautiful work. I've got to get myself some scrapers.

Thanks! I highly recommend scrapers, you'll find they are invaluable. Get a single-cut file and steel rod for burring the edge, putting the edge on them is part of the fun.

I knew I liked you. You ride bikes and listen to the Cure. I can't fault you for bad taste.

This bass is looking great by the way. Love the tapered center lamination in the neck. It's a nice touch that you don't see very often.

Haha, yeah, bikes, basses and 80's music. That's me.

The tapered neck core is a little extra work, but I like the look, and it can't hurt keeping things flat and true.

 

[Musiclogic]

Me neither I thought seriously about doing it in maple, but I thought this would look so much better. Doing most of the excavation with the safe-t-planer really made it doable.



Thanks! I highly recommend scrapers, you'll find they are invaluable. Get a single-cut file and steel rod for burring the edge, putting the edge on them is part of the fun.



Haha, yeah, bikes, basses and 80's music. That's me.

The tapered neck core is a little extra work, but I like the look, and it can't hurt keeping things flat and true.

Is the "Cure" considered music? I thought they were a TV talk show spinoff that people played redundantly just to annoy us Metalheads???LMAO

 

[Big B.]

And JC swoops in for the kill! Digging the build. The cocobolo and ziricote seem to have hit it off quite nicely as this build goes along.