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Cepheid 5: Ripthorn Builds a Bass

#141
Ripthorn said:
That's the idea. My idea is to have the top and bottom pieces be threaded so that you would just put on your chosen materials and thread them together. Use thread locker or epoxy to keep them together, and then it's CUSTOM KNOBS FOR THE MASSES! If I had the entrepreneurial spirit, I would probably have at it, but seeing as I don't really, I can just dream :)

EDIT: Just think about it, titanium with bloodwood, or ebony, maple, and MOP, or whatever!
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You could even mix and match metal types for each of the 3 sections, if it fit your fancy. Brass or copper middle section could be a neat contrast between a darker inlay material.
 
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#145
TerribleTim68 said:
Awesome job. I was a bit shocked that they are just epoxied together, rather than threaded somehow. I guess they hold, since the lathe didn't fling any of it out. Just caught me off guard on that one.

P.S. - I really wish I had a lathe.
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Ideally they would be threaded, but these won't see high torque. If they do come apart,I guess I will have learned my lesson.

I'm really intrigued by the idea of a mix and match knob system. I think it could be incredibly cool. It's possible I looked at a lot of different stuff related to it, including brainstorming the threaded mechanism.
 
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#148
Yesterday I spent some quality time with the sandpaper doing all the finish sanding of the body. I went up to 320 since it will be an oil finish. Then, I used some pinstriping tape to mask off the maple so that I could apply a couple coats of oil to the cherry. This is so that there is a little protection before I dye the top. Here it is after a coat of oil. That cherry has a gorgeous color already, but it will get even deeper with some time:

49839950066_ce8a5e3ce3_o.jpg


While the oil was drying, I did another thing:

49839950361_60051a02f2_o.jpg


After that picture was taken, I flushed up the ends, flooded in some CA (a tiny bit of which needed to be cleaned off the fretboard next to a couple frets), beveled them, and masked for the level/crown/polish.We're hitting the home stretch now...
 
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#151
The body back and sides oiled, it was time to dye the top. I was a little nervous, because it's such a gorgeous top. I mixed up my dye as blue Transtint in DNA (more one why later), 1:10 ratio. I did a total of three coats, which brought me up to this:

49843859186_8bf12260a0_o.jpg


I really love it. I'm colorblind and blue is one of just a couple colors I can see. While I was at it, I had to make the headstock match:

49843859411_2624ea363c_o.jpg


The masking tape did a really good job, for the most part. There were one or two spots that I needed to clean up. This is where using alcohol instead of water came in super handy. I used Q-tips with alcohol on them to clean up any seepage and it didn't interact with the oil on the back and sides at all. This means I didn't have to sand out any dye or sand off any oil finish already on there. The pictures above have 2 or 3 light coats of oil, about ready for de-nibbing and more oil on the whole thing. I'm really quite happy with it!
 
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#153
Ripthorn said:
The body back and sides oiled, it was time to dye the top. I was a little nervous, because it's such a gorgeous top. I mixed up my dye as blue Transtint in DNA (more one why later), 1:10 ratio. I did a total of three coats, which brought me up to this:

View attachment 3813628

I really love it. I'm colorblind and blue is one of just a couple colors I can see. While I was at it, I had to make the headstock match:

View attachment 3813629

The masking tape did a really good job, for the most part. There were one or two spots that I needed to clean up. This is where using alcohol instead of water came in super handy. I used Q-tips with alcohol on them to clean up any seepage and it didn't interact with the oil on the back and sides at all. This means I didn't have to sand out any dye or sand off any oil finish already on there. The pictures above have 2 or 3 light coats of oil, about ready for de-nibbing and more oil on the whole thing. I'm really quite happy with it!
Click to expand...
That's beautiful!
 
#159
I got the fret job done today. Extremely little leveling/crowing to be done. One fret had a bit of a janky slot that resulted in a high fret, but got him sorted in short order. After a 320 grit crowning file, it was 400 grit paper followed by maroon then gray scotch brite. After getting the masking off, I had to do a mockup. I mean, look at this:

49860548816_6865d1c7a7_o.jpg


Then I got to work on the "nut". Since there is a zero fret, this guy will just act as a string spacer/guide, so the slots are supposed to be a little deep. Because of the slant, I cut a couple of guide blocks, put it in the mill, and roughed in the slots with end mills (1/8", 1/16", and 1/32"):

49860728633_8150bb9cec_o.jpg


Then a little file work in a small vise inside of a bigger vise:

49861572587_ff980183c8_o.jpg


I also ordered the tuners: licensed Hipshot Ultralites in satin chrome. I still need to wind the pickups and buy pots. And keep oiling the body. I'm going to go with Tru Oil to get some nice sheen on it, since the figure pops amazingly.
 
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