I'd lubricate the tuners threads but I'm sure the D and C strings will still be a bit hard to tighten.
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Build 4 - headless fretless chambered 6 string
- Thread starter reverendrally
- Start date
Back into it today again. Some more cutting of the nut. More work getting the bridge down to size.
To start off with I had the action a little too high.
This did allow me to see how much deflection I'd see from the body with so much leverage on the bridge.
So that's around 1.5mm. The good news is, when I brought the bridge down by about 13-15mm, it halfed the amount of pressure on the body. So it's probably about 0.6mm of deflection in the bass side wing now. I've had more of a chance to play it (without electronics). The action is still a little on the high side and the nut needs to come down a smidge too, but it's pretty good. LOTs of mwah. Lots of sustain. Even in the upper positions. I'm still getting used to the intonation, and there are no dot markers yet either. Did that on purpose this time.
Been playing with this little plane I got for my birthday from my in-laws. Lot of fun.
BTW, I'm pretty pleased I went with some graphite rods in this neck. There was a LOT of relief when I first got the strings up to tension.
To start off with I had the action a little too high.
This did allow me to see how much deflection I'd see from the body with so much leverage on the bridge.
So that's around 1.5mm. The good news is, when I brought the bridge down by about 13-15mm, it halfed the amount of pressure on the body. So it's probably about 0.6mm of deflection in the bass side wing now. I've had more of a chance to play it (without electronics). The action is still a little on the high side and the nut needs to come down a smidge too, but it's pretty good. LOTs of mwah. Lots of sustain. Even in the upper positions. I'm still getting used to the intonation, and there are no dot markers yet either. Did that on purpose this time.
Been playing with this little plane I got for my birthday from my in-laws. Lot of fun.
BTW, I'm pretty pleased I went with some graphite rods in this neck. There was a LOT of relief when I first got the strings up to tension.
More bridge work tonight. Before I cut it down a few more mm, it was almost level with the board!
Then some grooves for sneaky wires...
Then a polish up and a coat of wipe on poly.
Finished up the snappy bow tie for my neck too. Pretty pleased with the finished product, but what a lot of messing around.
Then some grooves for sneaky wires...
Then a polish up and a coat of wipe on poly.
Finished up the snappy bow tie for my neck too. Pretty pleased with the finished product, but what a lot of messing around.
Back in the shed tonight to try and get the bass playable. I spent a long time mucking about with the piezo PUs. Followed by mounting the mag PUs. Made a stupid rookie error there, but nothing serious.
When I tensioned up the strings, the action was so low, I backed the truss rod off. It's still so easy to play. Huge, but easy. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with wiring, so for a laugh, I hooked up the piezos straight to the output jack. No buffer, no dials or nothing. Plugged it into my labby and mini-stack...
Oh... maaaaaannnn.... the sound....
I've recorded a short clip. Straight into my computer. No EQing. No comp, no nothing. Just straight signal. By far the best sounding fretless I've ever built. Little if any clacky-ness from the piezos.
Excuse my intonation. There's still no dot markers. I really didn't want to put it down. I'm not sure whether it's the construction, the strings, etc, etc. But it sounds huge. Probably the best sounding bass I've ever built and it's not even running right yet. As close to an upright as anything I've built thus far. The B string is so big, the lowest note is really just fundamentals. The other thing is, unlike a lot of 6 string basses, it balances really well on my knee.
Anyway, there's a start. Lots of electronics to fiddle with yet, but it's nice to know I'm on the right track.
When I tensioned up the strings, the action was so low, I backed the truss rod off. It's still so easy to play. Huge, but easy. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with wiring, so for a laugh, I hooked up the piezos straight to the output jack. No buffer, no dials or nothing. Plugged it into my labby and mini-stack...
Oh... maaaaaannnn.... the sound....
I've recorded a short clip. Straight into my computer. No EQing. No comp, no nothing. Just straight signal. By far the best sounding fretless I've ever built. Little if any clacky-ness from the piezos.
Excuse my intonation. There's still no dot markers. I really didn't want to put it down. I'm not sure whether it's the construction, the strings, etc, etc. But it sounds huge. Probably the best sounding bass I've ever built and it's not even running right yet. As close to an upright as anything I've built thus far. The B string is so big, the lowest note is really just fundamentals. The other thing is, unlike a lot of 6 string basses, it balances really well on my knee.
Anyway, there's a start. Lots of electronics to fiddle with yet, but it's nice to know I'm on the right track.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,020
- 1
- 31,739
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
That sounds really good with just the piezo! I cant wait to hear the whole electronics. Very much of that upright vibe in the sound
So today I hung it on a strap. Like Michael (drbass), I have an aversion to putting them on the end of the instrument... and there wasn't enough timber to put a screw into down there either. (An issues that's reared it's head on a few fronts.) So I put it on the back the bass side wing.
The good news is, the bass balances really nicely on a strap. Which it pretty good, because it's like hanging and albatross around your neck. If it didn't balance, it would be a pretty big disaster. On the subject of weight, I put it on the scales this morning. Nothing too precise, but it comes in at 4kg, which is pretty great I reckon. Considering the length of the neck and a scale length of 39", that's got to be some kinda miracle.
There is one downside to all that scale length though. That is, finding a gig bag. The bass is 1265mm long. A P-bass is 1158mm. So not a lot longer, but enough to make it a bitch to find something that fits. I'm stuck with ABG cases, which is ok I guess. Not bothering with a HSC or I'd need a roofrack for the car.
This would probably work...
https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_gigbag_acousticbass_jumbo.htm
This might, but they helpfully left the overall dimensions out of it...
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Any suggestions anyone else has is good. Not looking to spend more than about $AU60-80.
The good news is, the bass balances really nicely on a strap. Which it pretty good, because it's like hanging and albatross around your neck. If it didn't balance, it would be a pretty big disaster. On the subject of weight, I put it on the scales this morning. Nothing too precise, but it comes in at 4kg, which is pretty great I reckon. Considering the length of the neck and a scale length of 39", that's got to be some kinda miracle.
There is one downside to all that scale length though. That is, finding a gig bag. The bass is 1265mm long. A P-bass is 1158mm. So not a lot longer, but enough to make it a bitch to find something that fits. I'm stuck with ABG cases, which is ok I guess. Not bothering with a HSC or I'd need a roofrack for the car.
This would probably work...
https://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_gigbag_acousticbass_jumbo.htm
This might, but they helpfully left the overall dimensions out of it...
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Any suggestions anyone else has is good. Not looking to spend more than about $AU60-80.
that sounds great, I love non-traditional builds like this. How about putting a strip of wood behind each pickup and the bridge? I think it would give it a finished look so you can't see the wires.
Some more progress. After agonizing about the depth blend pot, I discovered the top of the cavity was too thick for any of their threads to go through. So I got out the router and fixed it quick smart.
This afternoon I got the wiring finished.
Spaghetti western!
The good news is that it's all done. The bad news is, I had a few issues.
To begin with, I had nothing coming out of the bass. Absolutely zip. I managed to sort this out finally. I think the issue was a signal wiring grounding everything against some shielding. Having stopped that, I discovered another issue.
There's is an earthing problem. I'm not sure exactly why though. I have a good earth wire going to the tail piece. I've also got everything else earthed properly, still there's a sizable hum coming from the mag PUs. It could be the signal wires exposed on the back (teach me to get all clever and leave them open like that). Or it could be something else. Part of the issue is, my office is right behind the power distribution box for our house. So everything, no matter how good, can always hum in the wrong position. Strangely, the hum is worst right in the middle of the blend control. Any thoughts?
I'm also pretty sure the mag PUs need to be close to the strings. The piezo is much louder. No biggie, but another thing to fix. They sound pretty good to my ears... in between the humming.
It still needs a control cover on the back too.
This afternoon I got the wiring finished.
Spaghetti western!
The good news is that it's all done. The bad news is, I had a few issues.
To begin with, I had nothing coming out of the bass. Absolutely zip. I managed to sort this out finally. I think the issue was a signal wiring grounding everything against some shielding. Having stopped that, I discovered another issue.
There's is an earthing problem. I'm not sure exactly why though. I have a good earth wire going to the tail piece. I've also got everything else earthed properly, still there's a sizable hum coming from the mag PUs. It could be the signal wires exposed on the back (teach me to get all clever and leave them open like that). Or it could be something else. Part of the issue is, my office is right behind the power distribution box for our house. So everything, no matter how good, can always hum in the wrong position. Strangely, the hum is worst right in the middle of the blend control. Any thoughts?
I'm also pretty sure the mag PUs need to be close to the strings. The piezo is much louder. No biggie, but another thing to fix. They sound pretty good to my ears... in between the humming.
It still needs a control cover on the back too.
On my recent build the piezo output was much hotter than the mag pickup. I put a tiny potentiometer in line and attenuated the piezo down to the volume of the mag pickup. It doesn't look like you're using a buffer for the piezo, the buffer I installed has a volume pot on it, but even with it turned all the way down, it's still louder than the mag. I have a wood cover over the mag pickup, so it is probably a bit further away from the strings than it would be without the cover.
It doesn't look like you shielded the control cavity? I would do that first. I was never sure that was necessary, but one of my instruments I shielded the cavity, but I tried putting it together without grounding the shield, it definitely made a difference in hum by grounding the shielding. The wires from the pickups to the cavity are shielded, so no hum should get introduced there. The back of the pickups may introduce some hum, but inside the cavity you have unshielded wires and that's where you're going to pickup noise. You could put a thin piece of wood behind each pickup and cover it with copper foil that's grounded, just to see if that's where it's coming from (if the control cavity shielding doesn't help).
It doesn't look like you shielded the control cavity? I would do that first. I was never sure that was necessary, but one of my instruments I shielded the cavity, but I tried putting it together without grounding the shield, it definitely made a difference in hum by grounding the shielding. The wires from the pickups to the cavity are shielded, so no hum should get introduced there. The back of the pickups may introduce some hum, but inside the cavity you have unshielded wires and that's where you're going to pickup noise. You could put a thin piece of wood behind each pickup and cover it with copper foil that's grounded, just to see if that's where it's coming from (if the control cavity shielding doesn't help).
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,020
- 1
- 31,739
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Are those Nordstrands four-wire? If so, tap a screwdriver against each row (column?) of polepieces, to make sure all four coils are working. If they’re not, then they’re not humbucking, and you’ll get some hum.
And, as J says above, shielding with a solid connection toground earth. Makes a big difference.
Other than that, you might just have a noisy house/room. I certainly do!
And, as J says above, shielding with a solid connection to
Other than that, you might just have a noisy house/room. I certainly do!
Have you earthed the metal plates that connect the wings together? Any metal parts will act as an aerial and pickup interference, they then can (and usually do) transfer this to your electrics. (A very simplistic view on it but it works for me.)
Thanks guys.
The control cavity is shielded with stewmac shielding paint. I've always had success with that in the past. I have a wire going from the tail piece to earth. So it should all work right. The Nordies are 4 wire. Individually, it seems they do a good job humbucking. It's just weird that in the middle position they're buzzing.
I'll make up a back cover and see if that helps any.
The control cavity is shielded with stewmac shielding paint. I've always had success with that in the past. I have a wire going from the tail piece to earth. So it should all work right. The Nordies are 4 wire. Individually, it seems they do a good job humbucking. It's just weird that in the middle position they're buzzing.
I'll make up a back cover and see if that helps any.
Well technically speaking, in this case we are...but I'm American, I thought we were always right?
But so are those who prefer the term "earth"
