Finally revisiting a fretless project

[Dark Horse]

Those Jorgenson clamps are a lifetime tool investment. I bought about 50 of them back in the early '90's, different lengths. I've used them many thousands of times, and none of them has ever broken or failed. Other cheaper brand clamps have failed.

Store them in a neat rack, keep the glue cleaned off of them, and don't overload them. They'll last longer than you.

got em racked You can see them in the left hand corner of the shop. I’ll probably buy more, but sixteen was all I could currently afford. Very nice clamps!

thanks for the advice, will do !!!-

 

[BishopJP]

got em racked You can see them in the left hand corner of the shop. I’ll probably buy more, but sixteen was all I could currently afford. Very nice clamps!

thanks for the advice, will do !!!-

View attachment 5243559

I grabbed a couple of those clamps this weekend. There were only two left! I'll have to check other stores in my area.

 

[Dark Horse]

I’m up in Indiana visiting my parents, so I thought I’d go to a few flea markets/antique malls while I’m here. I decided that I wanted to do a little display of some cool old hand tools in my workshop… just because I thought it would be fun. So I picked up a few things to bring back with me… a Stanley #220 plane, an old Fulton plane that I believe was made by Millers Falls Co, a wood/brass level made by National Level Mfg Co, and a cool brass and wood marking gauge.

The star of the show is the marking gauge. It was buried in a case with a bunch of other stuff, and when I dug it out I knew I had to have it. I think it was craftsman made (no company markings), and the brass is super cool… but the neatest thing about it is the wood that it’s made of… I’m almost positive it’s Brazilian Rosewood !

I’m including some pics after a very minor/fast wipe down with some Howard’s Citrus Oil Cleaner. I’m going to do a full cleaning of all these tools when I get back to Austin with Brass-O and Linseed Oil, but even with a fast wipe, this marking gauge looks beautiful !

Anyway, along with all my other projects, I now have some restoration projects as well

 

[Mickey666]

Very nice, I've seen similar things but they're usually made of all or mostly brass.

 

[Beej]

Nice score - I've got a couple of those old brass/rosewood marking gauges somewhere in my box of forgotten goodies

 

[Dark Horse]

I made some big decisions over the week regarding this bass. What i decided was that I’m going to finish it up as a fretted bass and give it to my nephew for Christmas. I’ll make a fretless version for myself later, it’s more important to give him a cool gift.

So, with that said, i took the partially done fretted p bass neck i have here and started working on it. It’s a nice flame maple with rosewood board. The first thing i needed to do was mark it for the inlays. Then i drilled for the side dots……

after that i glued the side dot material in place….

next up was drilling for the 6mm face dots….

and then gluing them in place…..

After a little bit of basic sanding …..

 

[Dark Horse]

I also routed for the neck … PERFECT fit !!!

 

[Dark Horse]

And then , as the last thing for the evening, i routed for the pickups…. Nice and clean !

Heres a little mockup of it so far….

 

[GKon]

That looks gorgeous! And, you're an awesome uncle!

 

[Dark Horse]

That looks gorgeous! And, you're an awesome uncle!

thanks !

 

[coy garcia]

I had some cool uncles but never That cool!!!
It's going to be a great looking and sounding bass for a young player.

 

[Dark Horse]

I had some cool uncles but never That cool!!!
It's going to be a great looking and sounding bass for a young player.

He loves playing bass, so i think he will like it !!

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Nice score - I've got a couple of those old brass/rosewood marking gauges somewhere in my box of forgotten goodies

I've got a fancy one and a rather simpler one in a less fancy wood in "tools I use on a regular basis." And in many cases when you clean the crud off the plane totes will be cocobolo or something similarly nice, except on the really low end ones.

 

[Dark Horse]

Controls drilled….. Control cavity routed (mostly, see question next post)….control cavity cover made.

still some refining to do, but making progress…

 

[Dark Horse]

QUESTION FOR THE HIVE MIND:

On the control cavity, i thought of two options…..

1) just continue routing deeper in the back cavity and make it a normal rear route , like this:

The other option would be routing in from the front so that the knobs are “recessed ” a little bit….. hopefully you can use your imagination with the picture below….

(no, there would be bo plate in top either way)

either way, since it’s soft wood i need to make an aluminum plate to reinforce the cavity from the INSIDE. But I’m kind of torn on whether to make out a normal rear route or do the inset knobs… either way could be cool


Thoughts and opinions???

 

[Mickey666]

My vote would be for the traditional rear rout...
That top is too nice to be sticking extra plates in the middle of it
I know, it's not really the middle but you see my point right?

 

[burgerdj]

QUESTION FOR THE HIVE MIND:

On the control cavity, i thought of two options…..

1) just continue routing deeper in the back cavity and make it a normal rear route , like this:

View attachment 5262808


The other option would be routing in from the front so that the knobs are “inset” a little bit….. hopefully you can use your imagination with the picture below….


View attachment 5262814


either way, since it’s soft wood i need to make an aluminum plate to reinforce the cavity from the inside. But I’m kind of torn on winter to make out a normal rear route or do the inset knobs… either way could be cool


Thoughts and opinions???

That is such a beautiful top that would be a shame to cover any of it up with a control plate. My vote is for a rear route and some fancy knobs.

 

[Dark Horse]

My vote would be for the traditional rear rout...
That top is too nice to be sticking extra plates in the middle of it
I know, it's not really the middle but you see my point right?

There wouldn’t be a plate there, it would be routed so the wood was recessed where the knobs were, kind of like this except not doing the knobs individually….

 

[Dark Horse]

That is such a beautiful top that would be a shame to cover any of it up with a control plate. My vote is for a rear route and some fancy knobs.

see above post…

no plate at all on the outside of the bass

 

[boxerrider]

I vote full rear-route without the recesses in the front.
I like recessed knobs but feel it would take away from the grain figuring and spalting in this case.