EUB --Blondie

[scojack]

New EUB ...
38" scale length
Neck - Maple
Body Core - Scottish Sycamore
Body Facings - Scottish Spalted Rippled Sycamore
Fingerboard - Goncalo Alves

This will have Piezo type Pups only.

Same basic shape as the last build ........but a few inches shorter and a bit thinner.

I wanted a light coloured FB on this to go with the spalted top so went for some very light Goncalo Alves, its not like GA i have seen before but its bloody hard.
Got a hold of some lovely local Sycamore too which i am pretty happy with.

Facings ..

CoreSycamore / Neck Maple

Goncalo Alvez

Which i have planed into ..

Comments / Questions welcomed

Ian

 

[thatbasskid597]

Nice!

 

[mikeyswood]

Good Lord, Ian! Your EUBs are like porn. What radius are you making that fingerboard?

 

[jordan_frerichs]

are they harder to make then a regular solid/chambered bass?

 

[scojack]

Good Lord, Ian! Your EUBs are like porn. What radius are you making that fingerboard?

Lol ..thanks Big Boy
Think its about 5.5" at the bottom ( Hmmm ), its different at the nut but not sure of the radius, i copied it from my fav FB from another bass. Was hard going with a hand plane i can tell you. I've been in two minds whether to use it, wasnt sure about the color ( I did this a while back ) but when i saw that spalted sycamore i thought it may look better than an ebony job.

 

[scojack]

are they harder to make then a regular solid/chambered bass?

Yes.. the way i do 'em.
I'd say that if you can knock out a nice bass then an EUB would be well within your capabilities, certainly an NS type or something similar.
Cant do a scroll with a router though so you obviously need a little skill with a chisel for this other than that perfectly do-able id say.

 

[jworrellbass]

Looks great as always Ian, I love the sycamore, I don't know why it doesn't get used more by builders. I just have a hard time finding any around here.

 

[BassCycle]

I've been wanting to do one of these myself. I'll be watching and learning.

 

[scojack]

It may be more common over here.
Nice alternative to Imported Maple for me.

Looks great as always Ian, I love the sycamore, I don't know why it doesn't get used more by builders. I just have a hard time finding any around here.

 

[scojack]

Had the day to myself so i started on carving the scroll.
Hard work with the Maple though its not as easy to work than my usual mahogany.

I make the scroll by glueing up multi layers of wood. I do this entirely for reasons of cost. I have no wastage using this method and its about a fifth of the cost,i did a more 'traditional' scroll on my first bass... cost me a fortune.

Turns into ...

I have to bring the scroll forward in order to keep the neck wood running all the way through the scroll, i feel this adds a little structural integrity.


I have rough cut the shape out on the bandsaw. I only have a wide blade at the moment so i can only cut str8 lines no matter, just attack it with a chisel ...

Nearly there ..

Hogging out the sides ...
Bandsaw was protesting too much trying to cope with 4" of maple, so had to resort to the hard way... tenon saw and chisels.

The idea here is just to rough out waste material, finer detail comes later when a lot of stuff is removed ...

You can see all the wood that needs hogging out next ..

IanM

 

[scojack]

Just continuing with the same method, getting rid of waste material with a hammer and chisel ...

Mark out, then use the tenon saw to cut to the required depth, chisel out...

Round the corner ...

I'll leave it at that, and finish off the last bit with a craftknife later.

Now same again on the other side.

Im off to rest my aching back

 

[BassCycle]

Awesome! I carved a scroll on my 1st bass build back in hs shop class. Used a cello as a model. You are inspiring me to try another for an eub of my own.

 

[Musiclogic]

Yes.. the way i do 'em.
Cant do a scroll with a router though so you obviously need a little skill with a chisel for this other than that perfectly do-able id say.

Actually you can do a scroll with a router, if I get time in the near future, (after I get caught up) I'll post a neat little jig that takes 1/2 the time out of doing a scroll.

Very nice work Scojack

 

[RedsFan75]

Watching this one, I so want an EUB.... been thinking of building one for a year or too... Guess I'm still in the planning stage..

 

[scojack]

Awesome! I carved a scroll on my 1st bass build back in hs shop class. Used a cello as a model. You are inspiring me to try another for an eub of my own.

Cheers BassCycle ..Go for it!

 

[scojack]

Actually you can do a scroll with a router, if I get time in the near future, (after I get caught up) I'll post a neat little jig that takes 1/2 the time out of doing a scroll.

Very nice work Scojack

Jings, i dunno Musiclogic...that would take a lot of the fun out of it. Useful if you intend to crank them out though.

 

[scojack]

Got the same done on the other side , starting to look like something now..

 

[Musiclogic]

Jings, i dunno Musiclogic...that would take a lot of the fun out of it. Useful if you intend to crank them out though.

Well my friend, when you have a bad tendancy to send a gouge or skew into the side of your hand or index finger repetitively, you find a safer way, and I made a stepped plate jig that helps me avoid in shop stitching and has cut down on my butterfly costs completely...LMAO

BTW I love that Goncalo Alves board...very cool

 

[scojack]

lolol
Best thing is...see those specs where the pegbox is .....bloodstains
No sutures required (this time).
Glad you like the GA i was really in two minds about it.
Now i have some positive feedback i dont feel so bad about buying 2 big boards of the stuff !

 

[Musiclogic]

I have a bunch of it, I only use it for select things, as it is very dense and heavy, but I am seriously thinking about doing a GA facing on my next cello.

That is definately going to look cool. Also, what string spacing are you using at the nut and bridge, good info to include.