• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Build II - Paradox MJ5 - New design!

#401
Prostheta said:
No problem Rob. I've never encountered problems with this before, which I guess is the point I was trying to make. For obvious reasons I tend to overthink things all the time so I can't exactly disagree with your looking into any potential problems of course! If such a problem was common, this is why I would use something like one of my PCB drilling bits to make a tiny hole which the spur of a drill bit would happily locate in. Running the lip and spur bit backwards to further locate itself centrally to the hole would maintain the accuracy.

To be fair (this is where I have learnt to let the clockspring of my thinking unwind) I think it will be a case of diminishing returns. How confident are you in the depth of nacre on your dots? If you have a spare one, file it down until it looks less-than-satisfactory so you know how far you can push them, I guess. They look a little thinner than the ones I have hanging around judging by the photo.

Meh, I'm starting to think too much.
Click to expand...

Yeah.. I do tend to overthink everything a lot... :rolleyes: But letting the spur locate into the locating hole sounds as a very good tip, especially running it backwards to locate itself centrally to the hole! Thanks!

The dots are exactly 1.5 mm thick. On a 16" radiused board, the difference between the lowest and the highest part would be somewhat over 1.8 mm (outer edge), so I'm not sure.. I might just drop them in 0.5 to 1 mm below the surface.
 
#403
Today I made the second cut for the nut and I've routed the fingerboard ending towards the headstock. Then, I spent some time to perfectly align the board to the neck and made a fixture to hold the neck for drilling the alignment holes. I solved the problem of not having the right drill bit for the size of nails I have by simply drilling the hole with a nail. It works like a charm, wouldn't have thought it would, but it does :smug:. I used 1.2 mm nails through the nut area and the 24th fret. Then I covered up the truss rod (which is just sitting in without any glue, kit or tape, except the plastic tube around the rod that came with the TR) and put some Titebond on the neck. I removed the tape and put the fingerboard on, aligning it with the nails. I'm very pleased and happy using this method, because there's absolutely no moving around. Here's the neck and fingerboard with some clamps on it:

211-glueing-the-fingerboard.jpg


After about one hour, I remove the clamps and clean everything up. At this stage, the glue has set, but the excess is still easy to remove. I also removed the nails at this point. Here's before removing them:

Link Removed

And after I removed them you can see the result of the fingerboard end at the nut, with the TR slightly protruding. I'm satisfied with this result. The little holes will be gone after putting in the nut:

213-nails-removed-fb-end-at-nut.jpg


I also put tape around the neck before glueing, so I can easily remove excess glue afterwards. A great tip I've got a long time ago and I always use it. I hate sanding of excess glue if I don't have to:

214-removing-tape-with-glue-remnants.jpg


And after I've cleaned everything up, I put it back into the clamps so the glue can cure completely over night. I had a slight forward warp in the neck, so I made sure I clamped the sandwich (first time also) to a flat part of my workbench. As far as I could see it already helped a bit. So with the clamps back on, I can get some sleep now :smug:

Link Removed
 
#406
P_Randolph said:
That is a REALLY nice design. The horn isn't too big to me, but hey, I regularly play a Conklin GT-4 as my main bass. I can't wait to see it all done!
Click to expand...

PDGood said:
The head design is excellent!
Click to expand...

Thanks!! :smug:

Not so much progress last week, but I did buy a new fret slotting saw: a Japanese fret saw! It's the best upgrade ever! From a small saw that had a lot of binding, which made fret slotting a nightmare, to a saw that easily slides through Ebony. I wish I bought it in the first place:

Link Removed

The reason I bought the Japanese saw, is that I couldn't get deep enough with my original fret slotting saw. So tonight I redid all the fret slots and cut them to the required depth, also taking into account the inteded radius:

Link Removed

Next steps are routing for the binding and installing the pearl position marker dots.

Question: would you first radius the board and then glue in the binding? Or first install the (plastic) binding and then radius the fingerboard?
 
#410
Ol'Bass'ead said:
Where'd you get the saw? And what did you have to give for it?
Click to expand...

Dave Higham said:
Invalid Link Removed
Click to expand...

Yes indeed, that's the one.


Thumpin_P said:
I would radius first, then, re-radius the binding into the fretboard. That's how we did it.
Click to expand...

Thanks! So I will do the following:
  • route the binding channel
  • install the pearl dots (what type of glue would be best?)
  • radius the fingerboard
  • glue on the binding
  • re-radius the binding to the fingerboard

Any comments on that would be greatly appreciated!
 
#411
Had a chance to work on the bass for an hour today and managed to do a few minor things.

Routed the binding channel around the fingerboard, a little bit hard to see, but here's a close up:

Link Removed

Routed the recess for the nut with my Dremel:

220-routing-nut-recess.jpg


And the finished recess for the nut:

221-finished-nut-recess.jpg


:smug:
 
#418
Had some very busy weeks, so not much happened with the bass... but today I drilled the holes for the position marker dots and glued them in with CA. I didn't take pics because my phone ran out of power, but I'll prob shoot some tomorrow. The result is okay - it's very, very hard to get everything perfectly aligned when drilling by hand (even with a drill press), but I guess I'm satisfied with the result. Only one is a few tenth of a mm off.

Today I also received the 16" radiusing block. So next step will be radiusing. Then, I'll recut fret slots if necessary and do the binding, followed by the side markers. Apart from fretting, neck profiling and installing machine heads, the neck will then be done and I'll move to the body to touch up the pickup routes and neck pocket. So we're approaching the finish line, but at a very slow pace.. :rolleyes:
 
#420
Jacsipmac said:
This is awesome. The bass is absolutely stunning. I'm planning my first build now and seeing your work in such detail is invaluable. I'll probably build your scarf joint jig this afternoon.

Thank you, and good luck on the rest of the build.
Click to expand...

Thanks, and good luck with your build too!


As promised, some pictures of the inlayed dots (you can still see some glue around the dots, but I hope that disappears when sanding in the radius):

Link Removed

Link Removed

And oh, one more thing.. this morning I was in for an unpleasant surprise: the sanding block is only 7 cm wide and my neck is 7.5+ cm at it's widest point... :scowl:
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back