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Build II - Paradox MJ5 - New design!

#501
Remember to bevel those slots ;-) Difficult to do after you've bound if you are going for the hidden tang approach.

You've spoilt us by doing the pickup reveal before the build is nearing completion....I've been GASing for a double J and single J combination with the big exposed poles for a build I need to complete so I'm itchy here as it is.

You're right though. I would rather see little solid progress posts (with beer) every week rather than constant posts including errors and half-measures. Your patience is your best tool.
 
#502
Prostheta said:
Remember to bevel those slots ;-) Difficult to do after you've bound if you are going for the hidden tang approach.

You've spoilt us by doing the pickup reveal before the build is nearing completion....I've been GASing for a double J and single J combination with the big exposed poles for a build I need to complete so I'm itchy here as it is.

You're right though. I would rather see little solid progress posts (with beer) every week rather than constant posts including errors and half-measures. Your patience is your best tool.
Click to expand...

What does beveling the fret slots do?
 
#503
The inside corner where the tang meets the underside face of the fretwire is not a sharp 90° transition. The slight radius there requires the easing the fret slots slightly with a bevel. Not doing this runs the risk of frets not seating or having to be mashed in to get them to seat flush with the fingerboard. At worst they don't seat flush in the first place leaving a gap. It can also help prevent chipout if you need to pull a fret, but that is just a minor benefit. I think that the problems this prevents is not seen in most woods as the edge of the fret slot gets "mashed" down. Some people get away with not doing this, but it is good preventative practice in my opinion.

It is difficult to see in this photo, but these slots were bevelled with the end of a triangular file. It is easier to see it on the 24th fret:
Link Removed

Sorry Rob.

edit:

This page shows the process really well. http://soundsalon.com/Bevel_Fret_Slots.html
 
#504
Prostheta said:
The inside corner where the tang meets the underside face of the fretwire is not a sharp 90° transition. The slight radius there requires the easing the fret slots slightly with a bevel. Not doing this runs the risk of frets not seating or having to be mashed in to get them to seat flush with the fingerboard. At worst they don't seat flush in the first place leaving a gap. It can also help prevent chipout if you need to pull a fret, but that is just a minor benefit. I think that the problems this prevents is not seen in most woods as the edge of the fret slot gets "mashed" down. Some people get away with not doing this, but it is good preventative practice in my opinion.

It is difficult to see in this photo, but these slots were bevelled with the end of a triangular file. It is easier to see it on the 24th fret:
Link Removed

Sorry Rob.

edit:

This page shows the process really well. http://soundsalon.com/Bevel_Fret_Slots.html
Click to expand...

That makes sense. I guess I got lucky with my ebony board, my frets hammered in with no problems.
 
#505
Tonight I made some good progress again, working on the neck.

First of all, I need a fret tang nipper because I will bind the fingerboard. I looked at guitar parts shops and found out they'll cost you over 60 dollars incl. shipping.. that's ridiculous! So I Googled some more and found a great tip: I bought a regular nibbling cutter at a hardware store for about 10 bugs and modified it.

This is the cutter I've bought:

236-nibbling-cutter.jpg


Then, I used my Dremel to grind a notch, or a groove if you like, right beneath the actual cutter, to accomodate half of the fretwire's crown. It's a bit hard to see on this picture, but this is what I got:

Link Removed

It's my first ever metal work and completely freehanded, so not perfect, but it seemed okay. So, I did a test cut and this is the first result it produced:

Link Removed

I was amazed by the smoothness of the cut and the fact that it worked right away! There was only one small problem: a scratch at the side of the crown that went in the grinded groove. So I filed the groove smooth, or as smooth as my patience allowed, and made another undercut. This time, it was perfect: :smug:

Link Removed

So, time for the final touch: :bassist:

240-modified-package.jpg


Onto the neck itself again. I decided to do a dry run on the binding. I started with binding tape and some white binding from StewMac, nice stuff! I did not use lots of tape, because it's only a test:

241-binding-dry-run.jpg


Also, this dry run was meant to shape the corners of the binding around the fingerboard. They're pretty sharp, but not sharp enough to use separate pieces. I took out my wife's hair dryer and heated the corners, bending them slowly. Not sure if this makes sense, but it worked for me:

242-shaped-corners.jpg


This is going to look very sexy, don't you think?

243-dry-binded-fingerboard.jpg


And another overview of the result:

244-binding-overview.jpg


I also practiced glueing a piece of binding with binding cement to a fingerboard test piece. No rocket science, but I want to try everything I haven't done before...

Lastly, I checked the depth of the fret slots after the radiusing, but unfortunately I need to recut some slots, as they're not deep enough, especially on the bass side (I probably didn't hold my saw parallel to the working table). But that's a job for next time!

:smug:
 
#509
#513
Looking seriously sexy Rob :)

I have missed the last few updates and just read through the fingerboard radius section, so I'm kinda late on this. But it might be useful for the future.

It's a good idea to mark your fingerboard with a white pencil - all over it, edge to edge, top to bottom. That will tell you whether you're sanding too much, too sideways, too little... When the pencil marks are all gone, it means that the sandpaper is evenly touching the whole FB. So you mark it again and carry on until you're done.

About the direction and whether is it better to sand with forward, backward motion or both. To me the key is in the pressure being applied, which should be constant across the board. That's a bit tricky because with forward motion one tends to apply more pressure than with backward motion. I turn the FB around every once in a while so the FB gets the same amount of forward and backward across its length. Sand at a constant, not too fast speed, so you can control pressure, direction ect.

That also helps overcoming another little problem. That is, the fingerboard end that is closer to the body tends to get sanded less because one feels that he's getting to the end of the FB and reduces pressure. Or so it used to happen to me... LOL

I use two fences for the sanding block. I see why you use only one. But the block getting stuck into the edges could be IMO a sign that the strokes are not as straight as they should. When you get that right, you can easily use two fences which makes the whole process easier and more precise. To me, at the very least ;)

With ebony I go up to 1500 grit at the least. But I really like going all the way to 12,000 grit. The surface looks really sexy. Give it a try on a scrap if you like - especially with Macassar.

Hope this helps. Looking forward to the next update :)
 
#515
Hopkins said:
Ahh I must have missed it.
Click to expand...

np ;)

Sharknose79 said:
It's sexy.

(...and that's one hell of an understatement.)
Click to expand...

Plantfood said:
Amazing job so far Rob! Once again I can't wait to see this Bass finished!
Click to expand...

Thanks guys!

miziomix said:
Looking seriously sexy Rob :)

I have missed the last few updates and just read through the fingerboard radius section, so I'm kinda late on this. But it might be useful for the future.

It's a good idea to mark your fingerboard with a white pencil - all over it, edge to edge, top to bottom. That will tell you whether you're sanding too much, too sideways, too little... When the pencil marks are all gone, it means that the sandpaper is evenly touching the whole FB. So you mark it again and carry on until you're done.

About the direction and whether is it better to sand with forward, backward motion or both. To me the key is in the pressure being applied, which should be constant across the board. That's a bit tricky because with forward motion one tends to apply more pressure than with backward motion. I turn the FB around every once in a while so the FB gets the same amount of forward and backward across its length. Sand at a constant, not too fast speed, so you can control pressure, direction ect.

That also helps overcoming another little problem. That is, the fingerboard end that is closer to the body tends to get sanded less because one feels that he's getting to the end of the FB and reduces pressure. Or so it used to happen to me... LOL

I use two fences for the sanding block. I see why you use only one. But the block getting stuck into the edges could be IMO a sign that the strokes are not as straight as they should. When you get that right, you can easily use two fences which makes the whole process easier and more precise. To me, at the very least ;)

With ebony I go up to 1500 grit at the least. But I really like going all the way to 12,000 grit. The surface looks really sexy. Give it a try on a scrap if you like - especially with Macassar.

Hope this helps. Looking forward to the next update :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the instructions. I did not use the pencil, because I could easily see what happened based on the dust and the scratches on the surface with a light source placed in a shallow angle to the fb. I also switched position myself (instead of turning around the fb). I do noticed I sanded less at the body end of the fingerboard, you're right on that. Not sure if I'm going all the way up to that high grades of sandpaper... I do like a kind of natural feel to the wood, not polishing out every little grain it has. We'll see.

Prostheta said:
Agreed about the level of grit to work up to. Using micromesh after 2000 grit is a transcendent difference. A good idea to invest in some lower tack masking tape too.
Click to expand...

I have lower tack masking tape. Why do you mention? The tape you see above is binding tape and has other properties than low tack tape. It shouldn't stretch and tack well. However, this quality tape doesn't leave marks or doesn't rip out grain. Then there's another thing: I especially do the binding now, before continueing to higher grades of sanding, so marks that may occur will be sanded out anyway. Further down the process I use low tacking tape (as I did with other parts of the body before, you can check out, it's pink tape).
 
#519
Prostheta said:
I've heard nothing but positive comments on the Stewmac binding tape, but I would like to try and find an alternative source this side of the pond. I haven't seen those nibblers around either at that excellent price. Does that store do mail order?

Oh, about the "sexy" question....

Yes. Yes it is.
Click to expand...

Thanks :D

Yeah, that would be ideal, but StewMac is cheaper with some stuff than local stores and you wouldn't believe that in this case (I ordered for about 100 dollars, all small parts) that it was actually cheaper to buy everything at StewMac and ship to The Netherlands from the USA, than if I would have bought it locally...

And yes, that store does do mail order, but I guess it doesn't ship to Finland (Invalid Link Removed). But I guess a local hardware store should sell them in your place too. Funny thing, but if it doesn't say 'guitar part', it's cheaper most of the time. :smug:
 
#520
Nothing new about that Rob. If I were to market a "health beer" I would certainly charge 3x the price for the prestige and snob factor. Most of the time, Stewmacs tools are repurposed common tools rebranded and given the marketing spit n' polish. The nibblers I bought from them exploded when I told them to do stainless steels. Weaklings.

Sintoms in Belarus make (or repurpose) those nibblers too. Not sure on the cost as it varies from seller to seller. Invalid Link Removed

I tried to add those nibblers to my cart from your link and it just kicked me out. Bleh. I'll have a look around because I'm sure that if I bought a pair, the next day I would find a store on my doorstep.
 

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