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drop tops

ehque

ehque

Jan 8, 2006
4,609
159
40
Singapore
ehque.blogspot.com
#1
if im building a bass, how do i get the top going all the way to the edge of a contoured edge? i mean, i dont really want plain-jane maple peeking around the edges of a nice spalted top when viewed from the front.

i also cannot forsee myself building a body completely out of spalted anything. it'll probably fall apart first.

anyone has any ideas on this?
 
#2
ehque said:
if im building a bass, how do i get the top going all the way to the edge of a contoured edge? i mean, i dont really want plain-jane maple peeking around the edges of a nice spalted top when viewed from the front.

i also cannot forsee myself building a body completely out of spalted anything. it'll probably fall apart first.

anyone has any ideas on this?
Click to expand...

hey, If I understand you correctly, I believe the best way to accomplish this is to have a top thick enough to withstand the amout of body contouring that you plan on doing...so if you are going to make a extremely contoured body, you would need a pretty thick top...so I guess the answer is that it depends on what you are doing...good luck with your project! :bassist:
 
#3
The way it's done is to carve the back part of the body first and then make the contour. The contour has to be flat and parallel to it's axis or this won't work. Then attach the top. Using clamps and cauls, you'll actually bend the wood over for gluing. If you can prebend with a heater blanket or steam, that would help with the grunting.
 
#4
Hambone said:
The way it's done is to carve the back part of the body first and then make the contour. The contour has to be flat and parallel to it's axis or this won't work. Then attach the top. Using clamps and cauls, you'll actually bend the wood over for gluing. If you can prebend with a heater blanket or steam, that would help with the grunting.
Click to expand...

I've never tried that way but sounds like it would work fine...although I'm sure you'd have to be pretty careful if you're doing it with spalted anything...let us know how it works out.
 
#7
actually i WAS thinking of getting a spalted top. im trying to get Larry's Wonderful Acrylic Impregnated Wood for the spalted maple, and was just wondering about the various ways of doing this.

hambone, are you saying my top only can curve in one direction? i dont get what "flat and parallel to its axis" actually means.

and im not sure about steam-bending treated wood. sigh. you guys are so lucky. i cant find instrument-grade timber anywhere in my country.
 
#9
hrmmm. we've already chopped down every last square inch of what isnt nature reserve or army training areas. bleah at the tropical climate too. wood is like, bleah. and like, if you dont turn it into a guitar once you chop it, poof, instant rot.

im sorry to circumvent larry, but im looking at local timberyards for my body woods. dont see the point of paying shipping for plain jane woods. but i think the woods stocked here are malaysian. and thats... yuck also.

plywood!
 

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