Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
I'm sorry I missed some of you post, but I'm all caught up now and your bass is indeed looking like it's going to be beautiful
. I'm glad you shared the disaster with the top with us. My post usually start with "I screwed this up..." because it would all be pretty boring with no drama. Confessing our F-ups builds the camaraderie!
I know that most people that do veneer gluing use vacuum clamps and special low moisture glue. I don't have a vacuum clamp and I've never been successful veneering anything except small stuff like a pickup cover I made a few years ago. I don't know how people veneered large pieces in the past before vacuum clamps were invented. Probably a lot of clamps were thrown and expensive firewood was made.
Regarding the thickness of the fingerboard, I think it's hard to figure out how much excess to leave to be trimmed away later on many of these task. I learned on mine not to cut too much away too soon. Plus - If you screw it up, you'll have another story to tell...
Also - Good luck with the clamp gods, but your bass is in good hands. No point in my praying on your behalf. I've learned the clamp gods never listen to atheist anyway
.
Steve
. I'm glad you shared the disaster with the top with us. My post usually start with "I screwed this up..." because it would all be pretty boring with no drama. Confessing our F-ups builds the camaraderie!I know that most people that do veneer gluing use vacuum clamps and special low moisture glue. I don't have a vacuum clamp and I've never been successful veneering anything except small stuff like a pickup cover I made a few years ago. I don't know how people veneered large pieces in the past before vacuum clamps were invented. Probably a lot of clamps were thrown and expensive firewood was made.
Regarding the thickness of the fingerboard, I think it's hard to figure out how much excess to leave to be trimmed away later on many of these task. I learned on mine not to cut too much away too soon. Plus - If you screw it up, you'll have another story to tell...
Also - Good luck with the clamp gods, but your bass is in good hands. No point in my praying on your behalf. I've learned the clamp gods never listen to atheist anyway
.Steve
Thanks for all the support Glad that you enjoy reading my posts, I do my best to archive everything so it can help (or entertain) others. At least in not making the same mistakes! I have to find out almost everything from trial and error and building diaries that others keep are always incredibly helpful and inspiring, so I feel like I should return the favour. Secondly I find this community thing going on here very motivating! Trying to deal with the time difference 
Maybe we cursed the clamp gods one time too many...
Got a small sneak peek
Everything got out of the clamps fine, will post an update soon...
Glad that you enjoy reading my posts, I do my best to archive everything so it can help (or entertain) others. At least in not making the same mistakes! I have to find out almost everything from trial and error and building diaries that others keep are always incredibly helpful and inspiring, so I feel like I should return the favour. Secondly I find this community thing going on here very motivating! Trying to deal with the time difference Maybe we cursed the clamp gods one time too many...
Got a small sneak peek
Everything got out of the clamps fine, will post an update soon...Attachments
Last edited:
So, party people, long time no update but I did make some substantial progress! I finished the channel and squared the neck at the body section again and made them fit like puzzle pieces. It was tedious work, getting this done, but it was insanely rewarding. I made a nifty little fixture for gluing (I came up with so many wild constructions I was surprised about this one being so easy), a tray of some sorts pressing the body and neck together in exactly the right spots. At the same time it presses the neck inward so the body 'wings' bend towards eachother. It took a year off of my life but I was thrilled to see it came out absolutely perfect. Neck and body are now one and I even got the miniscule neck angle right.
Then: carving. I thought I had left enough material on the neck but I actually should have taken into account that it would be such a steep angle here and left a bit more beef on. But I'm happy with how it turned out and I really like how everything feels. It ways only 3,5 kg by the way, it surprised me! F'ed up the finish on the fretboard by putting it upside down on the table, apparently some sandpaper particles escaped my cleaning and well, you can guess what happened. Drilled holes for the knobs, for the jack, did some not-so-tidy routing on the back and some routing on the front for the pickup. I ALMOST screwed this up by not routing deep enough so the ball bearing was higher than the template. I touched the edges but luckily within boundaries for cleanup - phew. I did the sharp corners with a dremel routing bit, need to clean up those a bit as well. It's a press fit until the screws come in.
Ah I'd almost forget, of course I pressed in the cavity plate a bit too soon and it was completely stuck. I panicked (lol) and drilled a hole to pull it out with a screw. That worked, disaster avoided.
Then: carving. I thought I had left enough material on the neck but I actually should have taken into account that it would be such a steep angle here and left a bit more beef on. But I'm happy with how it turned out and I really like how everything feels. It ways only 3,5 kg by the way, it surprised me! F'ed up the finish on the fretboard by putting it upside down on the table, apparently some sandpaper particles escaped my cleaning and well, you can guess what happened. Drilled holes for the knobs, for the jack, did some not-so-tidy routing on the back and some routing on the front for the pickup. I ALMOST screwed this up by not routing deep enough so the ball bearing was higher than the template. I touched the edges but luckily within boundaries for cleanup - phew. I did the sharp corners with a dremel routing bit, need to clean up those a bit as well. It's a press fit until the screws come in.
Ah I'd almost forget, of course I pressed in the cavity plate a bit too soon and it was completely stuck. I panicked (lol) and drilled a hole to pull it out with a screw. That worked, disaster avoided.
The bass now has its own place in the livingroom where I can constantly watch and touch it :')
Thanks for watching!
Last edited:
At the risk of being innapropriate, that thing is sensual, which is a good thing in a bass! Amazing job on the heel carve! I can honestly say this is the first single-cut I really like, you got the proportions and flow of parts so right. I love everything about this bass, can't wait to see it finished! I have a walnut/maple bass build in the planning stages, assuming i ever finish the Hossenfeffer.
Looks great! I really like the carve on the back of the upper bout; just made me realize I did not consider that in relation to the chambering I did on my single-cut 
D'oh well...
Have you thought about the channel for the bridge ground wire? Perhaps there may have been an easier way to get that arranged with the neck and body still separate? I've seen it done on solid bodies with a long drill bit...
D'oh well...Have you thought about the channel for the bridge ground wire? Perhaps there may have been an easier way to get that arranged with the neck and body still separate? I've seen it done on solid bodies with a long drill bit...
Along with everyone else I really like how you carved the neck joint and flowed it into the upper bout. Very artistic. When you said you where real comfortable carving with chisels I suspected that this was going to be good. Bravo!
Thanks a lot for your wonderful replies... it adds greatly to how happy I already am that this turned out so well! It is my first serious woodworking project and in retrospect I was way too sure of myself when I started 
Glad I could make a couple of saves on nasty mini-disasters, it could have worked out a lot different, I can tell you that.
Indeed about the chambering, I just replied to your thread! I think you can manage to make some nice flowing curves as long as you leave enough wood in the back of the neck (you don't need so much space for your thumb). I even considered gluing a small block on when I noticed my mistake of cutting it off too short, but eventually I liked the lines.
I did think about the ground wire but the body was made in one part and the pickup is wider than the neck, so there was no real advantage of doing it in advance. I just ordered some insanely long drill bits and I should be able to do it... Bit scared though, every invasive action in something so close to finishing is nerve-racking.
I always wanted to have a set of chisels and gouges but I never found a good excuse to invest in them... so in a way this bass build is one big fat excuse to buy more tools!
Glad I could make a couple of saves on nasty mini-disasters, it could have worked out a lot different, I can tell you that. Indeed about the chambering, I just replied to your thread! I think you can manage to make some nice flowing curves as long as you leave enough wood in the back of the neck (you don't need so much space for your thumb). I even considered gluing a small block on when I noticed my mistake of cutting it off too short, but eventually I liked the lines.
I did think about the ground wire but the body was made in one part and the pickup is wider than the neck, so there was no real advantage of doing it in advance. I just ordered some insanely long drill bits and I should be able to do it... Bit scared though, every invasive action in something so close to finishing is nerve-racking.
I always wanted to have a set of chisels and gouges but I never found a good excuse to invest in them... so in a way this bass build is one big fat excuse to buy more tools!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,587
- 221,958
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Drilling the bridge ground wire is tricky but doable with a nice long bit. First drill mostly straight in to establish purchase and then tilt to the correct angle. And even in the event (and it won't happen for you because all of our fingers will be crossed - and that's a lot of fingers!) you break through the back... it's not the worst thing in the world to happen. It's happened to me and many others regardless of our best intentions! I've also been successful doing a 2 angle channel - one from under the bridge and the other from the control cavity. (2 paths converging - picture a crimped line)
It's worth drawing up a section of the body with cavities accurately located and then figuring out what angle the drill has to be at. I did that on my first build, and cut a wedge of scrap at the correct angle as a guide. Worked perfectly first time. Or wing it! I'm a little OCD, so winging it was not an option. The bridge wire is usually pretty short, not so much with pup wire channels,
Last edited:
A small update as I haven't had much time. The long drill bits came in so it was time for something I wasn't exactly looking forward to. Despite all your wonderful hints I was in a bold mood and just went for it. PU wire channel was easy, it came out in the perfect spot in the cavity. For the ground wire I dug a small hole with my dremel tool to have some starting point for the drill bit and trusted my intuition for the rest. I can gladly say the result is exactly what I hoped it would be. I only found the biggest drill bit rigid enough, the smaller ones really flexed too much, so the bridge wire channel is a bit too big for my liking. I did a lot of fine sanding, drilled holes for the straplocks (dunlop flush type). I also painted the cavities with copper paint - got a feeling it won't be enough but it's a nice experiment.
So far so good! Now trying to come up with a cunning plan to get this thing lacquered... Going for aerosols, skipping the grain fill step as I want to leave the pores of the wood visible. I ordered a cheap shelving unit that I plan to adjust and cover with some plastic, so I can wait for some good weather and work on my balcony.
So far so good! Now trying to come up with a cunning plan to get this thing lacquered... Going for aerosols, skipping the grain fill step as I want to leave the pores of the wood visible. I ordered a cheap shelving unit that I plan to adjust and cover with some plastic, so I can wait for some good weather and work on my balcony.
This part doesn't really need an explanation, does it I built my $30 spray booth and waited for a day with the proper wind direction, it is really quite strong here at times and I don't want my booth flying around bass and all (this is a realistic scenario). I put a brick inside for a bit more stability (this brick has a wonderful story of its own, but that is for another time).
I sprayed on nitrocellulose in 3 coats with 2,5 hours in between and no sanding. When this is hardened sufficiently, I'm guessing 30 hours will do, I will carefully sand with 600 and do another coat with this stuff. Will repeat untill I find it smooth enough, I don't mind some of the grain to come through but at this point it's way too much. I plan to do ~10 more coats with a glossy nitrocellulose that is somewhat thinner, then leave it for a month (*sigh*) before final finishing and polishing.
Glad I did this outside, the fumes are quite intense. Got a new set of mask filters and they are just amazing. Not so amazing are the aerosols, but I didn't expect it to be different.
So excited!
I built my $30 spray booth and waited for a day with the proper wind direction, it is really quite strong here at times and I don't want my booth flying around bass and all (this is a realistic scenario). I put a brick inside for a bit more stability (this brick has a wonderful story of its own, but that is for another time).I sprayed on nitrocellulose in 3 coats with 2,5 hours in between and no sanding. When this is hardened sufficiently, I'm guessing 30 hours will do, I will carefully sand with 600 and do another coat with this stuff. Will repeat untill I find it smooth enough, I don't mind some of the grain to come through but at this point it's way too much. I plan to do ~10 more coats with a glossy nitrocellulose that is somewhat thinner, then leave it for a month (*sigh*) before final finishing and polishing.
Glad I did this outside, the fumes are quite intense. Got a new set of mask filters and they are just amazing. Not so amazing are the aerosols, but I didn't expect it to be different.
So excited!
