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Custom 5 string for Rudy

#50
wilser said:
body wings are glued on

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Wilser,
I am at this point on my son's bass and have a couple of questions.
Did you use dowels to keep the wings aligned with the center when glueing them together?
Have you routed the control cavity yet or will you do this after all is glued up?
By the way, it is looking great!
Joe
 
#51
bassmanhamilton said:
Wilser,
I am at this point on my son's bass and have a couple of questions.
Did you use dowels to keep the wings aligned with the center when glueing them together?
Have you routed the control cavity yet or will you do this after all is glued up?
By the way, it is looking great!
Joe
Click to expand...

No dowels, I put some staples and trim them off so that only a slight metal pin sticks out. No reason not to use dowels though, this is just faster, but they still slide a bit, so you must clamp carefully.

The control cavity is rough drilled at this point. I finish routing it after everything is level. I need the rest of the body to clamp my templates, I don't have any space on the lower wing to do so before it's glued on.
 
#54
waseok said:
Sorry but i hate that ..how u can see that the neck is made out of 2 pieces of wood.
I saw that on many cheap basses =/ looks cheap
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Thank God that's only your opinion and not fact. And my basses are not expensive, BTW. Perhaps you haven't seen how many other (much more expensive) custom builders are doing the same joint. I rather love how it looks. And you can also see the same thing on many VERY expensive custom guitars from Jackson, Ibanez, BC Rich, etc.

But that's your opinion and you're entitled to it. I will gladly disagree with you and will not do a scarf joint with the headstock under the neck. Done it before and HATE the looks, I mostly put a laminate on the back of the headstock to hide it.
 
#56
asad137 said:
Maybe seeing it on an expensive bass will help change your opinion ;)

Asad
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You mean like on this $9000 Fodera?:)

fphead.jpg


IMHO Wilser's under-fingerboard scarf looks more refined and structurally sound than the Fodera butcher blockish peg head.

I'll confess, when I first learned my Ramirez (fretless 7 in progress) was going to have a scarf joint, my gut reflex was the same as waseok's.

That reaction went away pretty quick after I Googled "scraf jont neck benefits".
I learned under f-board scarfing had structural benefits as well as the material savng benefit.
 
#57
waseok said:
Hmmm let's not forget that Jackson, Ibanez, and BC Rich are "industrial" instruments (most of them). In a custom shop, would they do the same scarf joint? if yes, shame on them. That's saving up some $ on the wood, right?
Wil, no offence, i love ur work, but i dont have to like everything, and since this is a forum, i was exposing my opinion, like everybody.
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I was talking about THEIR CUSTOM SHOP instruments hand made in the US (except for maybe Ibanez) and VERY expensive. Those have the same scarf joint as their korean/japanese/chinese/whatever budget instruments. I also commented that a lot of other builders use the same scarf joint I do. Most notably Fred from Bee Basses where he actually incorporates it as a design element as much as a structural benefit. There's no wood being saved by either scarf joint method, so it's not an economic or process simplicity benefit AT ALL. Shame on YOU for deciding that your preference is superior just because it's what YOU like.

You can, of course, express your opinion and like I said before is very much appreciated. Just don't make your opinion a FACT.


waseok said:
...It's not the same. Look again
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What Bob said is that the Fodera scarf joint is under the neck, different than mine and supposedly the look you like better. I don't.
 
#58
wilser said:
There's no wood being saved by either scarf joint method, so it's not an economic or process simplicity benefit AT ALL.
Click to expand...

If I used scarf joints on my instruments I could get two necks out of each blank instead of just one. They most certainly save wood Vs. the one-piece (laminated) necks I like to build, thus many makers and manufacturers use this method.

Here, I made a quick drawing, neck blank using scarf joints on top, one piece on the bottom.

dem.jpg
 
#60
"Hmmm let's not forget that Jackson, Ibanez, and BC Rich are "industrial" instruments (most of them). In a custom shop, would they do the same scarf joint? if yes, shame on them." -Waseok

I think the words above are what's triggered the more combative reaction, waseok.

Its one thing to think the joint makes an instrument look cheap.
But here you seem to be saying it is indeed an inferior method of building, rather than an aesthetic preference.

You don't have to "love everything" a builder does.
But you implied certain builders here are taking shortcuts, making a neck of inferior construction.

So, without some facts to back that up, you're going to get some grief.

P.S Rudy, you're bass is looking pretty great!
 

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