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First build - 6 String Fretless

#41
How did I miss this one?!?! It's looking really nice so far, great choice of woods.

About the only thing I would have done differently is to make the outermost neck lams be the widest ones, and make the inner lams a bit thinner so that the neck taper stays within a single lam.

When you start finish-sanding (around 220-320 or so), watch out with the darker colored dust in the ash and maple pores...bloodwood dust especially. It can be avoided by using scrapers instead of fine-sandpaper, or by sealing off the light-colored woods with shellac first, then finish-sanding (may have to reapply).

I think the body shape and headstock shape go really well together. Nice job!
 
#42
people look at me so weird when i tell them that this stuff gives me boners.... i only wish they could see this. they too would have a boner. (or whatever else people who dont get boners get). This bass looks so cool and the body shape is far out. keepin my eye on this as well. (what are we supposed to do with the other eye?)
 
#43
the shape is indeed far out, a bit too far out for my taste (it reminds me of a RIM but even wilder) but other than that you are doing really well. a really clean looking build so far. especially so for a first build. I love the Mac board, must've been hard to find one that wide. can't wait to see it done.
 
#44
Thanks guys :). I've thinned the neck out a little more, as I was worried that it was too stiff for the truss rod to give me any adjustibility. I'm going to do a test stringup and see how it plays, I may need to take more off yet. So I've got the tuners and bridge on and I'm in the process of making the nut, just don't have any strings yet and it's a holiday today so that'll have to wait until tomorrow.

erikbojerik said:
About the only thing I would have done differently is to make the outermost neck lams be the widest ones, and make the inner lams a bit thinner so that the neck taper stays within a single lam.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that was something I didn't think to plan for. I'll know for next time. How it looks has grown on my though, and I actually like the red taper now :cool:.


erikbojerik said:
When you start finish-sanding (around 220-320 or so), watch out with the darker colored dust in the ash and maple pores...bloodwood dust especially. It can be avoided by using scrapers instead of fine-sandpaper, or by sealing off the light-colored woods with shellac first, then finish-sanding (may have to reapply).
Click to expand...
Good tip, thanks! I did notice a bit of smearing with the bloodwood in the ash already.

DanielM said:
the shape is indeed far out, a bit too far out for my taste (it reminds me of a RIM but even wilder) but other than that you are doing really well. a really clean looking build so far. especially so for a first build. I love the Mac board, must've been hard to find one that wide. can't wait to see it done.
Click to expand...

It actually started off fairly boring looking, so I added the Steinberger-esq cut behind the bridge and accentuated the top point. I like it, but each to his own I guess.
 
#47
All done today!

I didn't take any photos of the finishing process (not much action), but I've been tinkering away here and there.

The finish is Minwax Wipe-On Poly, gloss, with the final couple of coats satin. I then "buffed" it with 0000 steel wool, and gave it a single coat of Tung oil for feel.

Couple of little things left - the control cavity cover still needs a couple of coats of shielding paint on the inside, and I still need to sort out the case (hopefully it will arrive this week), but it's up and playing :cool:.

The pickups are both Duncan active soapbars, the neck being phase 1 and the bridge phase 2. The preamp is a Duncan STC-3a (3 band EQ). Strung with TI Jazz Flats, and sounding sweet :D. I haven't really played with the preamp much yet because it just sounds so nice with a flat EQ. The slap switch (volume knob pulls out) fattens up the tone quite a bit and actually makes it sound a lot less fretless-y. I don't plan on slapping with this thing but it's gonna come in handy when I want to shake the walls ;). There's a couple of trimpots on the preamp PCB to adjust the tone for the slap switch, but again I haven't played with them yet

Anyway, pics!

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#49
Heh, thanks man. Not for sale though :p.

The lines are handy for sure. This is my first fretless, so I didn't want to be stabbing in the dark on every note.

I must say though, 35" scale + chunky 6 string neck is going to take a little adjusting. My only other bass is a 34" 4 string. Gonna have to start stretching before I play :smug:.
 

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