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First Build - 5 String, Neck Thru, Fanned Fret

#21
Truss Rod Time........I was worried, but it was actually pretty easy. Just had to be careful and double check everything.

So I set everything up to route dead center.
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I did a small amount and inserted a thick piece of paper and marked it to make sure the depth was correct.
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Everything went in just fine! One small nick from the jerk when you turn the router off, but it wont affect anything and it's soon to be under the fret board. I've now learned to never turn the router off when it's anywhere near the wood!
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Oh and here's the cheesy thickness jig since I didn't have a band saw. This is a learning process for sure! And I'm having a blast!! My wife thinks I'm a little too obsessed, and she thinks I'm in over my head too, I'm really hoping to show her different at the end of all of this!
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#23
DigthemLows said:
My wife thinks I'm a little too obsessed, and she thinks I'm in over my head too, I'm really hoping to show her different at the end of all of this!
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yeap, this comes right before "I'm gonna leave you if you don't start touching me more than your wood!" ...hahah, but in all seriousness, this thing can be TOO addictive. Even when I'm at the grocery store I tend to go through the isles looking for something I can use on my building process! :hmm:
 
#26
Progress! and it's very true what people said, shaping the neck is really fun! It's much easier than I thought it would be, and it's very rewarding!

Here's the initial start of shaping! Still haven't totally finished the headstock.
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After a while it's really coming along. As I get closer to the thickness I'm going for I'm checking constantly that I don't go to thin, I know I have room before I hit the truss, but it's still scary.
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I also got the fretboard glued on and my trussrod access routed. Lined up perfectly!
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I also glued on a head plate before I finished with shaping the headstock. I did a rough trace on the 1/8" thick piece of walnut and used a xacto knife to cut it out. Then I used a jig saw to get closer to the shape and I'll finish with files and rasps.
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I kept sanding on the body wings too........it's starting to take shape!
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The neck isn't done yet, but here's a closer bodyshot. Fret slots are soon!
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#29
I just about glued the wings on when I realized the big side piece is quite heavy. I'm going to thin up the upper horn and carve a deep belly cut before I mount that side. Try and take some weight off. I'm thinking this bass is going to end up over 10lbs, but not by much........that's not bad considering the walnut. We'll see! I've got my template for the fret slots all ready, so that will probably be this weekend.
 
#30
I realize I'm posting a lot of updates, but I'm hoping it will help someone who's about to build see the steps I took (I'm in no way saying I'm doing it the best way, it's just working so far!).......So, another update!
I'm pretty happy with the necks rough shape, besides getting just a little more radius towards the upper register. I came to about 1.1" thick top to bottom and figure I'll lightly sand from here.
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I do still need to take some width out of the headstock but I'm debating on the best way to do it.
I also glued up and clamped the body wings (one at a time) after I reshaped the upper horn.
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The one on the left is with the upper horn thinned out. I think before it was too thick, and was especially heavy.
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Just a little more rough carving with my rasp and then it's on to sanding only. The dreaded fanned fret slots will be this weekend!
 
#33
Lots of progress this weekend!!!

First I finished shaping/sanding the heel area, I like how it turned out.
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Then I started on the dreaded fretlines........first with pencil.
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Then very carefully with a saw!
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The saw from Stewmac worked wonderfully, and I can now only hope that everything lines up, I'm sure it will since I was very careful.
Next up is pickups and control cavity. First I layed everything out and got the angle I wanted on the pickups.
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Then it's time to carefully make a template, I realized after I made the first one that you need to leave room for the router to move so I had to make a second one with extra wood to clamp onto.
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Came out pretty good, I need to do a small amount of filing to make them slightly bigger, but it should be a perfect fit.
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I then routed my 3/8" deep route for the control cavity cover, and still need to route the cavity to depth in the center, but it came out great! I did have to raise the template so I could use the bearing on my template bit. I realize I should have done the inner "deep" cavity first as it was hard to line up later in the build!
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I did most of the finish sanding after this but didn't get photos of it. There's still a little more to do, but I got anxious and decided to put the frets in! I read a bunch of different points of view and decided a drop of CA on each end and one in the middle couldn't hurt. I got them all in and need to file/dress/etc...and it went over without a hitch.
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#36
Until last night everything was sanding using 100 grit, which was feeling pretty smooth. I switched to 220 last night and cannot believe the difference............feels soooo nice! I'm thinking I'll be applying some tru-oil finish by the weekend. I have a show on January 12th that I'm hoping to be able to play this thing at. We'll see!
 

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