Build II - Paradox MJ5 - New design!

[roberthabraken]

Still waiting for parts. Got some small parts from StewMac, wood will come next week (yeah ) and for the pickups, I'll have to wait at least another week or two I guess.

Meanwhile, I finished the design of the back of the bass with a control cavity design and the shape of the neck to headstock transition:

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Next step will be to make templates for the control cavity.

I'm also making an MDF prototype body, to practice shaping the round over, belly cut and heel transition. Some work in progress on that:

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And I've made a paper grain selection template and this is how the top will come out:

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After the control cavity template I will make a new scarf joint jig and I'll hopefully receive the pickups so I can finish the pickup and neck pocket template... Then.. I'll start building :scowl:

 

[roberthabraken]

The wood's in.. but I am not really satisfied with the neck piece, so I'm looking for a new one right now. Here's some footage:

Single piece Swamp Ash body blank:

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Wenge veneer to use between top and body:

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The Macassar Ebony fingerboard blank:

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So this is where the merely-plywood-and-mdf-thread ends, becoming a real bass build thread (I hope so )

 

[dremy2006]

So this is where the merely-plywood-and-mdf-thread ends, becoming a real bass build thread (I hope so )

In the words of sylvester the pig... weeeeeeeeee...we we weeeeee

 

[jmorbita]

ok let's see some sawdust!!!! let's get it on!

 

[Ol'Bass'ead]

In the words of sylvester the pig... weeeeeeeeee...we we weeeeee

And here I always assumed that Sylvester was pining for a gaming console........

 

[roberthabraken]

Finally! Some real sawdust!

Started cutting the body, using a jigsaw (high on my wishlist: a bandsaw). The pink tape is 'sensative masking tape', reduced stickiness.. to prevent grain tear out (not likely on ash, but oh well). It's there because otherwise the feet of the jigsaw leaves some marks in the wood.

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Here it is, the rough cut body. Maybe not the greatest piece of swamp ash, but I still like the grain and it's a great body wood I think.

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Aligning and attaching the template...

And started routing. I will continue tomorrow as it's past 11 PM right now..

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And to celebrate, a great Abbey beer from Belgium: a Leffe Blond

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Cheers!

 

[whodom]

And to celebrate, a great Abbey beer from Belgium: a Leffe Blond

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Cheers!

Very cool project! Thanks for continuing/expanding the bass building / beer drinking theme in this forum.

 

[jmorbita]

Cheers!!

you'd better have a matching glass for every beer from now on!!

 

[T-34]

Subscribed!
I like this beer too

 

[adam.beauchene]

Nice! Love that beer! I have the proper glass too (thanks, Belgian Navy )

 

[Stealth]

Leffe Blond, the beer of gods. You've chosen well.

 

[Thumpin_P]

SUBBED!!!!! Lovin' this thread! Thanks for sharing!

 

[natw42]

Finally! Some real sawdust!

...

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Cheers!

PilotJones would be proud

Finally subbing to this thread now that there is some sawdust happening Really love the design.

 

[roberthabraken]

Thanks all for the nice words and subscriptions

Cheers!!

you'd better have a matching glass for every beer from now on!!

I guess that's not gonna happen.. I rather spend the money on my bass... so this was a lucky shot. But I'll post some more good beers further down this thread.

SUBBED!!!!! Lovin' this thread! Thanks for sharing!

Cool.. a Roberto-Venn attendee loves my thread

PilotJones would be proud

Finally subbing to this thread now that there is some sawdust happening Really love the design.

Thanks!! I knew people were waiting for that (as was I).

So the story continues, but things didn't went quite well. I made some mistakes routing the body and it took a while before I got the hang of it: changed to a new (sharper) bit and lowered the router speed. So finally I got it right, but then, this already happened:

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Luckily I found the piece back and it fit good, so I glued it back:

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And rasped it close to shape:

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After routing, I was happy to see this:

On the other end of the body, I encountered what I think is a worm hole:

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But some Titebond and a toothpick got that fixed too:

So, I ended up with this, which is pretty okay:

But still, the routed edge wasn't perfect.. few rough spots and some other very small tear out (sort of grain damage). I filled the very small tear out with a little glue and sawdust, and spent over two hours sanding the edges from 40 up to 180 grit. Now, I am almost satisfied and the body has got a pretty smooth edge:

I also joined the two parts of the veneer by hand: clamped the pieces under a straight hardwood neck blank, slightly protruding, and sanded them flush with a sanding block. Really easy and a very good result. I taped the two parts together with masking tape and on the other side, you can barely see the joint anymore.

So. I learned a lot this weekend!

Next up: control cavity.

 

[Thumpin_P]

Nice work, sir! I like the fixes, especially the tear-out..I wouldn't have known without an explanation! Looking forward to pics of the veneer! keep up the good work!

 

[pilotjones]

Nice work. Nice wood. Nice beer.


Funny about the router speed working that way, I got into trouble when my speed was too low. With high speed, I'm finding that the knife edge does very little work on each pass, so I got less tearout.

 

[BTL]

Looking good...I like the design a lot!

 

[roberthabraken]

Nice work, sir! I like the fixes, especially the tear-out..I wouldn't have known without an explanation! Looking forward to pics of the veneer! keep up the good work!

Thnx! I don't have pictures of the joining, since the battery of my phone died when working on that. You can see the veneer under the body in the one but last photo. I'll post pictures of the glueing and cutting of the veneer when I get to it.

Nice work. Nice wood. Nice beer.


Funny about the router speed working that way, I got into trouble when my speed was too low. With high speed, I'm finding that the knife edge does very little work on each pass, so I got less tearout.

Funny you know the beer.. I almost don't know a single beer you post, so I thought it would all be different on the other side of the ocean.. but I guess Belgian beers are world famous. Lucky for me I live less than 10 miles away from Belgium

Looking good...I like the design a lot!

Nice to hear! Thnx

 

[pushifier]

Nice build Rob!

I've just got this router bit: Shear Angle Flush Trim Router Bits
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They work very wel, much less chance on tearout; and the result is much more consistant.

 

[roberthabraken]

Nice build Rob!

I've just got this router bit: Shear Angle Flush Trim Router Bits
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They work very wel, much less chance on tearout; and the result is much more consistant.

Thanks! Great tip!