Lol if they approved this proyect they're crazier than you! 
good luck with it! can't wait to see it started!
good luck with it! can't wait to see it started!
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Build number 4
- Thread starter J Lund
- Start date
I've made some progress on this build already. Monday, I received some wood, so it looks like this is really going to happen! 
Joined up the body blank and sanded to thickness:
The fretboard is just barely long enough. I'll probably have to adjust the body end of the fretboard... no biggie. I got it sanded down to .285".
Got a master template made from 3/8" MDF. The smudges on the paper are just the spray adhesive - ugly, but serves its purpose.
Making a chamber/pickup template. It's taken a LOT of hand sanding. Still not quite perfect yet.
Maple neck blank. Again, just barely long enough. I will have to be very careful with this one.
I haven't received the top for this bass yet, so I am sort of at a stand-still as far as the body is concerned. I can start work on the neck today, though. Wish me luck...
Joined up the body blank and sanded to thickness:
The fretboard is just barely long enough. I'll probably have to adjust the body end of the fretboard... no biggie. I got it sanded down to .285".
Got a master template made from 3/8" MDF. The smudges on the paper are just the spray adhesive - ugly, but serves its purpose.
Making a chamber/pickup template. It's taken a LOT of hand sanding. Still not quite perfect yet.
Maple neck blank. Again, just barely long enough. I will have to be very careful with this one.
I haven't received the top for this bass yet, so I am sort of at a stand-still as far as the body is concerned. I can start work on the neck today, though. Wish me luck...
Good luck 
I'm jealous I didn't come up with that body shape! Tried several times to make a chambered double-bass-like bass body design like you did, but didn't get it right. The idea to make it a single cut is great.
I'm curious if you go with purfling, binding and / or a roundover - but it's already my favorite TB build at the moment 
I'm jealous I didn't come up with that body shape! Tried several times to make a chambered double-bass-like bass body design like you did, but didn't get it right. The idea to make it a single cut is great.
I'm curious if you go with purfling, binding and / or a roundover
- but it's already my favorite TB build at the moment Wow, Rob. That is quite the compliment. A fellow R-V student asked for a copy of my drawing but... I'm having a really hard time handing it over.
I made a bit of progress today. I created a headstock template out of MDF. Then I hand-fit several pieces onto the back of the headstock in order to create the required thickness, and I sized-up and slotted the fretboard. I will post pictures of the progress soon.
I made a bit of progress today. I created a headstock template out of MDF. Then I hand-fit several pieces onto the back of the headstock in order to create the required thickness, and I sized-up and slotted the fretboard. I will post pictures of the progress soon.
More progress on this beast. I got a bit done on the neck, and I'm feeling pretty good about it.
Because I wanted to use a 5 degree angle on the headstock (which evolved into 4), I decided against doing a scarf joint. Instead, I glued extra wood onto the headstock area while the neck blank was still flat. This wasn't as easy as it sounds because I needed the entire length of the maple neck blank, and I did not have spare maple large enough to cover the whole area (and I did not want to have to buy extra). So, I decided to use scrap maple from my other build in order to make pieces that fit the shape of the headstock. It took a lot of sanding to get them to fit in place perfectly.
First I made a template so I could properly lay out my pieces.
Then I cut and sanded (and sanded) each piece until they all fit nicely, and glued them all in place with white aliphatic resin.
Then, I got to working on to the headstock angle. At first, I was going to make a jig for the thickness sander. But as I was at the edge sander hogging off the excess wood, I found that the sides were stable enough to were I could accurately enough sand the angle flat. So I saved myself some trouble and finished the top-side angle off on the edge sander and formed a perfectly perpendicular crown point.
Then I sanded the back of the headstock in the thickness sander. I did not need a jig because the flat area was large enough that it was very stable against the table. I took the headstock down to 1.000"
So far, so good! Once I add the head cap and back, it'll be the desired thickness of 1.125", and it'll look all pretty.
I also got some work done on the fretboard. I thickness sanded it down to .285", tapered the edges to size, cut the fret slots, and formed the nut end of the board. Then I registered the fretboard to the neck, routed the truss rod slot, and I'm nearly ready for gluing. All that's left is to cut and sand the body edge of the neck flat, and then the two will be bonded.
The truss rod slot barely avoided running into the top of the headstock - phew!
Headstock layout from the back
This looks like something out of a Julia Child before/after cooking show.
As I said, I can't make any more progress with the body right now because I don't have the top wood yet. Once I receive that, then it'll get glued on, I'll have the neck tapered so I can rout the neck pocket, then cut the body shape, etc, etc, etc.
This ball is going to get rolling fast!
Because I wanted to use a 5 degree angle on the headstock (which evolved into 4), I decided against doing a scarf joint. Instead, I glued extra wood onto the headstock area while the neck blank was still flat. This wasn't as easy as it sounds because I needed the entire length of the maple neck blank, and I did not have spare maple large enough to cover the whole area (and I did not want to have to buy extra). So, I decided to use scrap maple from my other build in order to make pieces that fit the shape of the headstock. It took a lot of sanding to get them to fit in place perfectly.
First I made a template so I could properly lay out my pieces.
Then I cut and sanded (and sanded) each piece until they all fit nicely, and glued them all in place with white aliphatic resin.
Then, I got to working on to the headstock angle. At first, I was going to make a jig for the thickness sander. But as I was at the edge sander hogging off the excess wood, I found that the sides were stable enough to were I could accurately enough sand the angle flat. So I saved myself some trouble and finished the top-side angle off on the edge sander and formed a perfectly perpendicular crown point.
Then I sanded the back of the headstock in the thickness sander. I did not need a jig because the flat area was large enough that it was very stable against the table. I took the headstock down to 1.000"
So far, so good! Once I add the head cap and back, it'll be the desired thickness of 1.125", and it'll look all pretty.
I also got some work done on the fretboard. I thickness sanded it down to .285", tapered the edges to size, cut the fret slots, and formed the nut end of the board. Then I registered the fretboard to the neck, routed the truss rod slot, and I'm nearly ready for gluing. All that's left is to cut and sand the body edge of the neck flat, and then the two will be bonded.
The truss rod slot barely avoided running into the top of the headstock - phew!
Headstock layout from the back
This looks like something out of a Julia Child before/after cooking show.
As I said, I can't make any more progress with the body right now because I don't have the top wood yet. Once I receive that, then it'll get glued on, I'll have the neck tapered so I can rout the neck pocket, then cut the body shape, etc, etc, etc.
This ball is going to get rolling fast!
- Aug 15, 2011
- 571
- 171
- Disclosures
- Owner/Luthier:RoseBud Basses & Guitars LLC
Thanks for the comments, guys.
Today I made more progress. I decided to go ahead and cut out the body and rout the chambers.
I just rough cut the shape on the band saw and lined up my template using the 24th fret and the center line. Then I hogged out the majority of the wood with a large forstner bit on the drill press.
Routed to depth - the back is about 7/16" thick. Has quite a bit of tap-tone to it now (and is, needless to say, tons lighter).
The router kind of misbehaved in some areas where the alder was particularly difficult. Just a few spots of tear-out. Although it all will be covered with a 1/4" top and will never be seen again, there WILL be an F-hole, so I am going to try to practice fixing some of those spots as invisibly as I can. Suggestions?
In addition, I glued the fretboard onto the neck. Two things I did differently here than the R-V standard: I did NOT wrap the truss rod in electrical tape to prevent it from vibrating (although this was the first year they experimented with this idea, pretty much all the instructors agree the results were less than desireable). Under tension, the truss rod should not rattle at all - it has a fairly snug fit. The other thing I did not do was radius the fretboard. This was so that when I laid the neck fretboard-side down onto the router table to flush-cut the neck, I get a nice even, flat surface rather than a bunch of wobble because of the fretboard radius. I can form the radius with sanding blocks later.
Neck being glued up:
Rough cut on bandsaw and cleaned up with router table:
This is gonna be good!
Now I am REALLY ready for the top wood. Then I can get it bookmatched and seamed, glued to the top, head cap and back glued up, headstock cut out, etc etc etc. I'm definitely excited; can you tell?
Josh
Today I made more progress. I decided to go ahead and cut out the body and rout the chambers.
I just rough cut the shape on the band saw and lined up my template using the 24th fret and the center line. Then I hogged out the majority of the wood with a large forstner bit on the drill press.
Routed to depth - the back is about 7/16" thick. Has quite a bit of tap-tone to it now (and is, needless to say, tons lighter).
The router kind of misbehaved in some areas where the alder was particularly difficult. Just a few spots of tear-out. Although it all will be covered with a 1/4" top and will never be seen again, there WILL be an F-hole, so I am going to try to practice fixing some of those spots as invisibly as I can. Suggestions?
In addition, I glued the fretboard onto the neck. Two things I did differently here than the R-V standard: I did NOT wrap the truss rod in electrical tape to prevent it from vibrating (although this was the first year they experimented with this idea, pretty much all the instructors agree the results were less than desireable). Under tension, the truss rod should not rattle at all - it has a fairly snug fit. The other thing I did not do was radius the fretboard. This was so that when I laid the neck fretboard-side down onto the router table to flush-cut the neck, I get a nice even, flat surface rather than a bunch of wobble because of the fretboard radius. I can form the radius with sanding blocks later.
Neck being glued up:
Rough cut on bandsaw and cleaned up with router table:
This is gonna be good!
Now I am REALLY ready for the top wood. Then I can get it bookmatched and seamed, glued to the top, head cap and back glued up, headstock cut out, etc etc etc. I'm definitely excited; can you tell?
Josh
This looks great Josh! On seeing the last picture, I just want to hold it and play . Love the design, great execution!!
. Love the design, great execution!!
Thanks for the kind words! Good news: I got my top wood at the very closing minutes of today. I only got a peek at it, but it looks like gorgeous stuff. Pictures probably tomorrow.
In the meantime, I need your help! Please select a finish (number) and f-hole (letter) that you like best. These are NOT my only choices; they are just ideas I scribbled out in order to get an idea of the direction I should head. I really want to hear YOUR opinions, so please help me out by giving as much input as you can.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Josh
In the meantime, I need your help! Please select a finish (number) and f-hole (letter) that you like best. These are NOT my only choices; they are just ideas I scribbled out in order to get an idea of the direction I should head. I really want to hear YOUR opinions, so please help me out by giving as much input as you can.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Josh
Finish: 3
F-hole: C or F, but maybe a traditional F hole will look good, too!
Didn't quite like the F-holes in the upper "horn", I'd go only with the body F-holes.
Looking great!
PS: will the top be carved or some kind of archtop?
F-hole: C or F, but maybe a traditional F hole will look good, too!
Didn't quite like the F-holes in the upper "horn", I'd go only with the body F-holes.
Looking great!
PS: will the top be carved or some kind of archtop?
I'd like 2A best; for the sound holes definitely A, finish could be others as long as it's not 1 or 3, being either too flashy or too natural.
Personal opinion though
Personal opinion though
.
Hopkins
Commercial User
Oh, and option A, D & E makes the singlecut stand out as an acoustic instrument more, rather than a body with a solid singlecut upper horn. So I would like it if you'd put a hole in the upper horn too..
