6 String neck through singlecut progress - first bass

[jadamita]

This is my first ever bass build. I'm going to be updating this thread with ALL of my progress while building this bass. It's going to be a neck-through singlecut 6 string.

The neck is going to be a 5 peice laminated with hard maple and purpleheart. I bought all of this wood from bell forest woods. I rather rip the wood down to size, then have to spend ridiculous amounts of money on "neck blanks". But anyways, I think I went a little overboard on the woods for one neck. At least I'll have enough wood to builda second bass and to have in case of errors.

Here's my wood uncut:

Here's the neck wood ripped to size:

Here's the carbon fiber neck support rods, and truss rod:

I plan to have the neck glued and have the carbon fiber rods, and truss rod routed by the end of this week.

 

[jadamita]

Update:
I got my swamp ash body wood, along with my book matched box elder burl. Here's some pictures of the bass design and wood.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

Nice - I love that burl!

 

[Hamish MacCleod]

I'm with Michael, that burl looks awesome.
Rondo

 

[jadamita]

I'm completely swamped with college right now, It's my freshman year with 16 credit hours, then balancing that with work. I rarely get enough time to work on the bass, here's some pictures of the neck glue up, and hand sanding.

Here's the neck blank all planed, this was done with a hand electric planer. I wish i had a benchtop planer.

 

[fretless19]

Sending encouragement . Nice body shape.

 

[jadamita]

I got tons of work done on the bass, but now Im worried about the thickness. The body is swamp ash, with a a .6mm sheet of veneer, then a 1/4" of box edler burl, totaling in 2". The neck blank is 4" across and has 2 5/8" strips of purple heart, and rock maple in between. The neck is around 1" thick with a purple heart tone wood behind the neck.

1) Do you think this will be too heavy? and should i take some thickness off to lighten it up.
2) How do i determine the thickness i need in my body for the pickups and electronics? I was thinking about Bartolinis P4's, and a mike pope, pre amp.

Here's some purple heart, and my neck blank.

2

Here's another picture of the neck blank, also including my burl scrapes i can't throw away, and some misc scrapes.

 

[Jisch]

Not that it matters all that much, but the "standard" for body thickness is 1.75", so you can definitely take some thickness off and save weight. You can also chamber that swamp ash to lighten things up even more. Just take a forstner bit and take out material from the front.

 

[jadamita]

Here's pictures of the extremely rough cut. My bandsaw is a 12" sears craftman, it's pretty old and needs a couple new parts, but it works okay, that's the reasoning for the sloppy cuts. I figured i can sand them out later.

Then i used my craftsman router table with a 1/2" round over bit, to smooth the edges. I still need to carve the arm contour, and belly cut. Do you think i should round over the sides more to show the black veneer? Or strictly keep it around the sides.

Here's the top wing rounded over next to the other wing, not rounded over.

This is the top plate for my headstock. Opinions?

Junk drawer with random parts. (6x hipshot ultralite black tuners, 6 string graphite xl nut, truss rod, sandpaper, rasps and other wood tools)

The rest is miscellaneous pictures i took of the progress on the body:

 

[lbridenstine]

That top is beautiful, what kind of finish are you planning?

A bit of advice - don't do the roundover until after sanding the edges of the body smooth.

 

[jadamita]

That top is beautiful, what kind of finish are you planning?

A bit of advice - don't do the roundover until after sanding the edges of the body smooth.

I'm not 100% sure yet, but I haven't really thought about it yet. I really like the natural look, so I may go with tru oil.