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First Build: SC5 Headless

#124
Pics of two more fretboard options.

Jatoba
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Wenge
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#129
roberthabraken said:
Imo ebony makes the top stand out, so ebony...
Click to expand...

barnaclebeau said:
I like the ebony.
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LowEndMan2112 said:
Ebony! Ziricote looks nice, but I agree with it looking a bit busy. Not a huge fan of the bloodwood on this bass, IMO.
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Omnipharious said:
With how wild the Chechen top is, the ziricote makes it kinda busy. I think the ebony on that one (if it turns out to be the fretless one), and the bloodwood for the fretted version.
Click to expand...

Looks like it's going to be Ebony!
The fretted twin might get Wenge unless I decide to make them both fretless ...
 
#130
Two necks are tapered. Here are a few pics to explain the process I used.
Here is the Taper Jig (0.2 degree taper).
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And here are the results after quick cleanup with some 100 grit and a scrapper.
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I was worried that the transition was too long and it would look funny because it would have gone pretty far down the back of the necks. I was quite shocked to see how much shorter the transition got after tapering. I set the depth of the router to take off as little as I could to try and leave the blanks a little thick. Using a 1/4" cutter would have left more of the transition, but it would have taken a lot longer to cut. You can see the screw holes that were used to secure the transitions in place during the glue up. Now I'm wondering if they are going to be a little short!

I was also surprised to see how ragged the end of the transition is. I was hoping for a much cleaner line. I'm starting to wonder how difficult it's going to be to clean up that area to make it look proper. I hope the shaping process cleans up a lot of it. Is this similar to how the big boys do this (Fodera, Nordstrand, ...)? Or do they actually inlay their transition to get such a clean and defined line?
 
#131
I forgot that I was going to post pics for my new bridge, pickup and neck pocket templates. Here they are. The templates consist of two pieces. The first is basically just the outline of the body. It's cut to the exact size so that it's a snug fit. If for some reason there is a little play, I can shim the body with paper to eliminate any movement. There is some extra room around the end (for the tuner cutout) and the neck pocket to match the other parts of the template.
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The template needs to be thick enough that when the top surface sits flush with the top of the bass, the bottom surface sits lower than whatever kind of edge profile your bass has. In this case I have a 1/2" chamfer on the bass and the template is 3/4" thick.
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Using the four guide holes in the corners, I line up the top part of the template. With this in place, I can cut the recess for the bridge, the bridge pickup route and the neck pocket.
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Then I have another top template that I line up the same way so that I can cut the cutout at the bridge for the tuners and the neck pickup. I can use the bridge pickup route as a guide to ensure that everything is lined up properly.
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#133
roberthabraken said:
Great idea! I thought of this too, but got tired of making templates (I already have seven of them for one bass). One day I'll order CNC cut templates and I'll order me one of those too, so I don't have to spend time on aligning the templates anymore.
Click to expand...

Depending on your needs, it might not be worth it. This type of template is great for making the same think over and over. Any variation (# of strings, bridge spacing, pickup location, pickup shape) would require a new template.
 
#134
fretless_guy said:
Depending on your needs, it might not be worth it. This type of template is great for making the same think over and over. Any variation (# of strings, bridge spacing, pickup location, pickup shape) would require a new template.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's true indeed. But if ordered via CNC, this wouldn't be a problem to build up template stock for combinations for different neck pocket and pickup routes. As aligning those elements is crucial and time consuming, it would be worth the extra investment. Makes building instruments yourself more affordable in the end.
 
#135
I went in to see my local wood supplier to find an inexpensive piece that I could practice shaping and use to make sure my neck template is right. I had two pieces of maple in my hand, but then I happened to walk by a small pile of 4/4 Roasted Ash. I've seen Roasted Maple before, but not Ash. At $3.00/bf it was a little cheaper than the Maple so I bought a piece. So for $7.06 I now have enough Roasted Ash to make two necks. It looks really cool!
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#136
My truss rods came in yesterday, so I got to work on a neck. The first step was to mark everything out on the neck blank so I could see where the truss rod and fingerboard were going to fit. Then I set up a solid guide on my workbench and used double sided tape to hold the neck blank the right distance from the guide (see pic).
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I thought everything was set up but after my first pass with the router I noticed that I wasn't exactly in the middle of the center laminate. It will work, but I'll have to be more precise in my setup next time around. It took quite a few passes as I didn't want't take too big a cut and risk tearing wood out or having the router wander.
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This morning I cleaned the fretboard and neck blank with mineral spirits before taping off the truss rod and any other surface I didn't want to get glue on. I also trimmed the end of the fretboard so that it's straight and (hopefully!) square to the center line of the neck once it's all trimmed.
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And now I'm waiting for this to finish curing!
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#137
The neck is out of the clamps and got rough cut. Tonight I should be able to tape it to my neck template and get it down to it's final dimensions. My template is a snug fit in the neck, but I'm going to put a thin piece of tape around the template to try and make the neck just a little bigger to offset the tendency of my router to cut things just a little under size.

This bass is going to be heavy in relation to it's size. I was a little shocked at how heavy the neck was after trimming. The 1-1/8" Jatoba neck laminate and 7mm Ebony board (flat) are to blame. I wouldn't be surprised if this turned out to be similar in weight to a standard sized 4-string bass when I'm done.
 

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