Build #2: Fretless Headless 5

[pilotjones]

so he's making it out of titanium. I didn't know until he had called me yesterday, that stuff is obviously hard to cut (he said it takes 1 minute to cut a 1/2"). Maybe in the future, i'll have him make all the hardware completely out of titanium.

He'd better be a good friend!

 

[Rickett Customs]

He'd better be a good friend!

Yeah well all he can do is say no (or hell no).

I think he enjoys to contribute to the build.

 

[Bocete]

Hey man, this is one of the finest I've seen, good job

I see it with a nice glossy birdseye maple fingerboard, though. Too bad it's fretless

 

[Rickett Customs]

Hey man, this is one of the finest I've seen, good job

I see it with a nice glossy birdseye maple fingerboard, though. Too bad it's fretless

Thanks,
birdseye huh?, you might be on to something, too bad I have ebony....

 

[Rickett Customs]

Ok, feel better now, got the upper and lower horns carved out:

Decided to do a wider roundover, so that when you look at it straight on, you can see the black from all sides (mostly):

Also, we all have boo-boos So, I added a piece of 3/8" teak at the end of the neck. That way, I can do a zero fret in between that space and not screw up the scale (35").

I'm debating on ordering another piece of veneer (1mm or 1/2mm) under the fingerboard. The way I see it, the lowest setting on the bridge is a hair over 3mm. I'd like to get it closer, so I don't have to countersink the bridge.

Started marking out the positions for the tail, bridge and so forth.

 

[Sardine]

Stunning. This build continues to blow my mind. The curly looks even better than the quilted, to me anyway. Keep it up!

 

[jordan_frerichs]

what happened to the special arm contour?

 

[Rickett Customs]

what happened to the special arm contour?

Still got a little more to go on that, same goes for the rest of the roundover from the top to the sides.

 

[Rickett Customs]

I cut the tail piece in at an angle and hacked the back up some (still deciding how much of a curve to do on both sides):

 

[Rickett Customs]

Did some minor work (no pics of that.)


But,

I did brush up on my dying some. Figured out how to bring the figuring out more.

Red:

Blue:

Natural:

Newer process vs original process (just oil, beneath.)

 

[renniw]

I don't wanna be in your shoes, I can't decide wich one is better....

I would go for red (in case you want to know my opinion....)

 

[vbasscustom]

yeah, i like the red too. its not such a vibrant red that its hard on the eyes, but its nice. it almost looks like the wood is that color to begin with

 

[tdogg]

i have a feeling that the lighting in your shop is making the blue seem shallow. the red looks cool though.

 

[jordan_frerichs]

Did some minor work (no pics of that.)


But,

I did brush up on my dying some. Figured out how to bring the figuring out more.

Red:

Blue:

Natural:

Newer process vs original process (just oil, beneath.)

go with the first one. btw, i am really interested in how you brought out the flaming

 

[eleonn]

Cant decide between the red and blue pieces. Can you take a couple of pics outside under sunlight?

 

[Rickett Customs]

Cant decide between the red and blue pieces. Can you take a couple of pics outside under sunlight?

You just may change your mind on that, I did

Gave a shot at doing a 2-tone... my personal favorite at this point, until I do a 3 tone (yellow,orange and red)

Started to angle the back, where the tail part is, added a piece of veneer at the back too.

Put more finish on the pieces that were previously done.

 

[jordan_frerichs]

DO THAT FUNKY GREEN BURST!!! still gotta know you secret on bringing out figuring!

oh, and i website that really helped me make my special arm contour. thought you may want to look at the examples too http://www.gwbasses.com/gallery/index.shtml . i just did one on my hollowbody, basing it off those images. took roughly 5 hours, cause i though it help improve my skills to do it 100% with hand tools.

 

[Rickett Customs]

DO THAT FUNKY GREEN BURST!!! still gotta know you secret on bringing out figuring!

oh, and i website that really helped me make my special arm contour. thought you may want to look at the examples too http://www.gwbasses.com/gallery/index.shtml . i just did one on my hollowbody, basing it off those images. took roughly 5 hours, cause i though it help improve my skills to do it 100% with hand tools.

No secret. I took what I found on the subject from the net.

You can do this with either water based, Alcohol based or Mek based dyes.

There are 2 ways to bring the figuring out,

1) With a dark dye.

2) With a dark stain.

Sand from low grit to high grit, get any sand lines out (The stain or dye marks will show in the sand lines if you don't. End with 0000 steel wool). Wet the surface with water, so that the grain raises (This will keep stain or dye from going too deep, or scarring into the grain). Gently sand the stain or dye, once it's set for about 20 minutes, starting at about 320, on up to 0000 sw, until you get your desired darker figuring to your liking (you can even keep some darkness on the light grain too, if you want some tint to the colors). Then just decide if you're going with shellac, poly or any other finish. The finish is the key to the appearance. This is what I generally did, at least.

 

[Rickett Customs]

Set the truss rods and glued the veneers and the ebony:

I decided to curve the edges in some more:

Jordan, this is a sample piece i used to dye (figure is not the greatest). Use a wet paper towel to raise the grain and here I used "ebony" wood stain. 80 grit sandpaper in the vibrating sander.

Here it is sanded down, also used 000 and 0000 steel wool:

I like the alcohol dye (Primary colors, pictured), opposed to the water based, UV is less likely to affect it. i'll be trying to do a 3 tone this time (yellow, orange and red):

Didn't get the fade completely right, but you get the idea.

 

[DanSwain]

Sorry I've not commented on this thread before! I've been following it since you started work on this Bass, Jason. It looks amazing, and the 3-tone colour is going to look fantastic!