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build thread - 4 string right handed Thumfinizenvette clone

dwizum

dwizum

Dec 21, 2018
6,375
14,279
#1
In the last spring fling build off, I built a bass that was loosely inspired by several Warwick basses. Here's the thread:

Special Edition Build Off: The Thumfinizenvette

I've recently built a guitar and for the last few weeks it has been on hold due to packages delayed by the USPS. So in the meantime I've started work on a bass. This bass is based on my build off bass, but with a handful of changes:

- It'll be right handed *gasp!*
- No body radius - just a normal flat body. I may do some gentle relief carving to give the feel I was chasing with the radius. As much as I like the radius on the original, it's not really 100% satisfying for me.
- Very different wood selections. The buildoff bass was pretty much 100% exotics. This bass is 100% domestic. Neck is curly maple with walnut stringers. Body is quilted cherry with a claro walnut top. Fretboard is curly maple. This one should turn out lighter.
- It'll have a plain bridge instead of the Warwick bridge. I don't want a brand-specific bridge on this one. Will probably use a Hipshot but I keep hesitating to commit and buy one.
- A handful of other small changes which I haven't really nailed down yet.

I posted this photo in the workbench thread recently. Here's where the bass was at as of yesterday. Neck glued up and rough cut, body wings rough cut. The figure in the cherry is very subtle but it actually shows OK from this angle.

IMG_20201228_104140.jpg
 
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#2
Are you having to incorporate any neck angle in? I’m waiting (and waiting.......) for USPS to deliver wood, parts, etc, just like everybody else. I know you can just raise the fingerboard off the body and have no neck angle per my Ric clone builds, but I guess I really need the bridge to determine if neck angle is needed. The whole subject is a bit of a mystery to me, trying to get it straight in my head.
 
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#3
Gilmourisgod said:
Are you having to incorporate any neck angle in? I’m waiting (and waiting.......) for USPS to deliver wood, parts, etc, just like everybody else. I know you can just raise the fingerboard off the body and have no neck angle per my Ric clone builds, but I guess I really need the bridge to determine if neck angle is needed. The whole subject is a bit of a mystery to me, trying to get it straight in my head.
Click to expand...
I build a 1 to 2 degree angle into all my instruments and the final angle depends on the bridge used. Finished off a short scale bass recently that used a post mounted bridge and tailpiece and that needed a little more tilt to the neck as that bridge sat high. I've been doing it since 1985 and I find it makes for a more comfortable instrument. My first two basses (1982 and 1984) had straight necks as they were bolt on. Now I even put a taper in the neck pocket for bolt-ons to facilitate a neck tilt.
 
#4
I think this is one of those things where there are a lot of ways to skin the cat. I generally don't build a neck angle in to my through body instruments, and instead just set the fretboard height to match up with the bridge.

Generally I find that for a typical adjustable bass bridge, with a zero angle like this, and a fretboard that's 1/4" thick at the center (and considerably less thick on the edges, once it's radiused), you need the bottom of the fretboard to be about 1/8" above the face of the body in order to get the strings in the right plane for good action.

Definitely good to mock up on a drawing first though. Hipshot has really detailed spec sheets on their bridges that show min and max actions, it's a good reference point if you're not sure.

When I make my neckthrough blanks, I glue them up 1/8" over width and 1/4" over height - the height being the total height from the back of the body to the height the fretboard needs to be at. For this bass, the body is 1.5" thick and the fretboard is 1/8" above the body. So I have a total height of 1 5/8". So I made the rough blank 1 7/8" thick. Then I cut it down on the table saw to square it up, which usually takes off 1/8" thickness. Then I put it in a router planing jig and plane the top flat, and bring it down to the final thickness. Then I plane the body portion of the blank down to it's final height. If the body laminates are to show through on the top, that means taking an extra 1/8" off the body. On this bass the top is going to cover the laminates, and the top is 1/4" thick, so I took 3/8" off. I do this step right in the router planing jig too - by clamping a stop block on the top of the jig such that when the router sled hits the block the edge of the blade is right against the spot where the fretobard "step" needs to be. This gives a nice crisp precise location to the end of the fretboard.

Then I take the blank out to the tablesaw again and saw off the back of the neck to bring it to its final thickness (a hair over 5/8" in this case). Then the headstock gets sawn off, flipped, and glued for the headstock scarf, and when the glue is dry I route the truss rod slot. Then glue on the headstock ears and the veneer on the face of the headstock.

Then the thicknessed body wings get glued on, clamped to a hardwood block to maintain the flat face across the top. I route a wiring channel in the controls side of the body first.

That's the point the bass is at now, I don't have any updated photos though. But I did take a photo of the not yet glued up walnut top. This top is bonkers! So much color. It looks like a molten chocolate volcano. The odd shaped piece missing from between the horns was where I cut out the headstock veneer.

IMG_20201229_192048__01.jpg
 
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#8
I spent most of the day today working on guitar pickups and setting up the guitar I just completed, but I did steal about 15 minutes this morning to get the fretboard glued on, and another 15 minutes right now to fine carve the neck and refine the heel carve. I think this is my most scooped out heel yet.

IMG_20210102_172829.jpg


I used the biggest roundover bit I own on the body, but I feel like it's not quite big enough, especially with the heel so scooped. I may go over the whole thing with a carving rasp and make a nice big smooth roundover.
 
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#9
Weekend was mostly focused on setting up the guitar I just finished and taking photos of it (which always takes way more effort than I expect it to). So not much bass building time.

But I did glue together a little maple box which I'll cut in half and cap with the walnut scraps from the body, to make pickup covers.

IMG_20210103_190229.jpg


I also routed out the control cavity, which took longer than it should have, because I tried to take my time and plan out the control locations and wiring in order to make sure the cavity would work. But at the end of the day, it's just going to be a matter of smushing it all in a tiny space that's limited by the size of the body after all.

I also cut the control cavity cover, using my normal process. When I sawed the cherry to thickness for the body, I saved the slice I cut off, so I can cut the cover from that and end up with a grain matched cover. But the slice was thinner than it probably should have been, and right from the original outside surface of the board. Once I got the cover cut to shape, it curled up like a potato chip. I guess there was some stress in the outside skin of the board. I laminated a piece of fiberglass to the inside surface of the cover and clamped it flat, to try to cure the curl. When I took it out of the clamps it was actually flat, but after sitting on the workbench over night it curled right back up. So I guess I have to throw it away and cut a cavity cover from a not-perfectly-matched slide of cherry. At least this time I can cut from the inside of the board instead of the original outside surface and get a piece that has no stress in it...

Next up, finish the pickup covers and finish sand the body. Then it's basically time for a holding pattern until I get the rest of the parts. I've been see sawing back and forth on hardware, I'm having a really hard time committing. I like Hipshot's bridges because of the slightly matte look to the black finish they use. I want tuners and bridge that match, but I'm not a super huge fan of their black ultralite tuners, I think the keys are too long and they stick out from my headstock design too far. On the other hand, I really like the plain old Gotoh GB707 tuners, but I don't like the Gotoh bridges as much. So I have to decide if I want the bridge I like and tuners I don't like, or tuners I like and bridge I don't like...
 
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#11
Gilmourisgod said:
That pup cover is pretty slick. How thick can the top be before it starts interfering with the magnets?
Click to expand...

Thanks! I cut the outlines of the pickups out of the top before I glued it on, and saved the cutouts, so the tops of the caps will match the top of the bass. The maple for the sides and ends are from the neck blank so that'll match too.

In terms of thickness - not really sure, to be honest. The pickups are going to be blade style with ceramic magnets, so they should be pretty good in terms of output without needing to be right up against the strings. The walnut for the tops of the covers is at 3/32 right now, the finished dimension should be closer to 1/16", I'm pretty sure I can afford that at least.
 
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#12
I glued the tops on the pickup cover box then sliced the correct depth of cover off each side.

IMG_20210105_194014.jpg


IMG_20210105_194106.jpg

Did some rough sanding to get the outside dimensions correctly matching a "real" cover. It's a little harder shape to match than I expected, there's taper from bottom to top and of course the edges are all rounded off. And of course since those walnut tops were cut from the actual bass's top there was zero room for error since the tops were pretty close to being the minimum dimension already. I approached this by making the boxes slightly oversized in outside dimensions so I could sand the taper down until I just hit the edges of the tops and got them crisp.

I haven't finish sanded anything yet but I couldn't resist laying them in place to see what they looked like. I'm really happy with this. I like the little subtle highlight of maple that shows.

IMG_20210105_194743.jpg


My shop lights don't do this walnut top justice. They're too blue/white and wash the colors out in photos. I can't wait to get some finish on it and get it upstairs in real natural light to photograph as a finished product.

I tried to test fit a pair of bobbins and magnets in the pickup shell. Didn't fit. The length and depth are dead on but the shells are about .02" too narrow side to side. I must have been off on my measurements when I cut the blocks for the ends to width. I'll have to sand out some material from the insides. Luckily the side walls are pretty thick so there's plenty of room. Or maybe I'll just sand 5 thousandths off the outside edge of each bobbin flange.
 
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#17
Still haven't bought hardware. I'm leaning towards hipshot, but now I'm stuck on finish. I would default to black without hesitation but I've got this little voice in the back of my head telling me, "you know, gold would look great on walnut..."
 

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