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Build II - Paradox MJ5 - New design!

I want to see RED!!! :D

:D

Prostheta said:
I love the idea of the wire as a gauge! Remember that you have sanding to do yet...days n days n days of it!

Nope, I have little sanding elves for that. And good quality sandpaper also helps minimizing the time needed ;)

:hiding:

N.B.: as you may have noticed, I sand every piece to about 320 grit or more before I move on to the next. So the whole bass (except the back of the neck) is almost ready for finish sanding already.
 
Very handsome looking guitar

Me neither :smug:



Thanks!! Btw, mind that it's an international forum, I think it's better to stick to English, so everyone's able to follow the discussion.


About the build: progress came to a halt again, being ill for over a week and working very hard too for my daily job. And you cannot imagine howmuch I want to finish it, being so close :rollno:

What I did do is decide the neck contour is too flat, not round enough, especially near the heel area. So I have drawn some shapes and printed them for the 1st, 6th and 12th fret as a guide:

303-neck-profile.jpg


..and I've heard a great tip (thanks Daan!) if you do not have a contour gauge: just use some stiff electric wire and bend it around the neck. Kind off a McGuiver contour gauge :D.

So if I'm feeling better again and I do have some time to spend on the build again, I'll rush to the shop and use this tip to compare my progress with the intended contours, so I can shape the neck further to perfection. Only then, I'll start assembling..

And because I understand I keep you all waiting for such a long time, I have a sneak preview to make up for the long wait; first time the (almost finished) neck and body together, but without pickguard and pickups and such, felt great I must say (sorry for the fuzzy pic):

Link Removed
 
Thanks guys!

No pics today, as they weren't good enough or wouldn't add anything new anyway, but I reshaped the neck a bit tonight. I made the part between the 8th fret to the heel more round and in line with the rest of the neck (starting with the rasp again) and finally I improved the shape along the complete length of the neck with a shave. It's a lot better now, maybe still not there, but close. It's a flat regular D shape all along right now.
 
Good to see you at full throttle again Rob.
Yeah, shaping the neck seems like it´ll never going to end.
But you´re almost done, great!
BTW: What are the intended thickness @ 1st fret and where it joins the body?

Thanks. The current thickness (and intended thickness as well) is 21.5 mm @ 1st fret. Around the 12th fret it should be about 24.4 mm and the maximum neck thickness is about 25.5 I guess, but I'm not really sure about that actually..
 
The fifth one looks extraneous and crowded. I would say four. More than enough mechanically (you're using bolts and threaded inserts rather than nasty screws, right?) plus it is a relatively small area. If it were deeper I would say six, but five doesn't gel here. I think.

I'm using nasty screws... couldn't source those inserts over here, don't even know how they're called in Dutch. But it worked perfectly for my first bass and it works perfectly for Fender for many years now, so...

The count of five is to match the string count, just harmony. It's a bit crowded, but I like the crowded look of Ritter Basses for example and it wouldn't do any harm, right?
 

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