I usually have trouble because the only time it gets emptied is when I come out, so it's usually overflowing.
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First Commission Build - Is A Super-Tele A Thing?
- Thread starter TerribleTim68
- Start date
That makes sense. He wants to make sure you can find it,.....so you can empty itI usually have trouble because the only time it gets emptied is when I come out, so it's usually overflowing.
Here We Goooooooo!!!!!
So I spent the extended weekend at the wood shed, which will mark the official kickoff to this build. Up to this point we've just been playing in AutoCAD and gathering materials. But, we actually started doing things now!
Oh yeah, since I'll be documenting this one on the 'Tubes, had to get everything set up....
A GoPro on a stick and a ring light.
So here's a wood pile shot, for those who didn't watch the previous video where I discussed wood selections -
First Things First -
So the first thing we need to do is start milling up some of the bigger pieces of wood to get some laminates ready for the neck blank. Sadly, since I was busy filming, I did not take many pictures. But the process is straight forward. These pieces of wood were all S2S or S3S (surfaced 2 sides, surfaced 3 sides). So the first thing to do is take the S2S pieces to the jointer and get a straight edge on them. I went ahead and ran the S3S piece over the jointer too, just to make sure.
For those who don't recall, this is the same jointer that took my boss's pointer finger off at the knuckle. It has since sat, covered up with blood stains on the cover ever since (probably a good 15 years, maybe more). I went ahead and uncovered it, cleaned it up a bit, checked the blades for nicks, reset the fence to assure square and gave it a go. It worked flawlessly. I have a healthy fear of jointers, so I'm pretty self aware whenever it is running. My wife did not appreciate my humor about "once they taste blood..." but suffice it to say, I still have all my digits.
After running them over the jointer I now have a straight, square edge that I can reference on the table saw fence. The boss has a very nice Powermatic cabinet saw with a huge outfeed table and an extended side so you can pretty much rip full size sheet goods. I don't need a saw this big, but for milling large lumber, it sure is nice to have the extra horsepower. After ripping some laminates on the table saw, we move to the drum sander, an old Supermax dual drum sander that I set up with a coarse grit on the front drum and a medium grit on the rear drum so basically it hogs off on the first drum and then cleans up on the second one to leave you with a very smooth finish coming out the other side. This also gave me the ability to make sure my laminates were the same thickness.
From there we're ready to glue something up! So....in the clamps! -
The Next Day -
We give that a day to sit and dry and then we pull it out of the clamps. My purpleheart wasn't as tall as my maple, so we need to run it through the planer to get it brought down to a decent thickness. I used the planer to get it "close", then moved to the drum sander to finish it up. However, when I flipped the switch on the drum sander a big spark came out of the switch and it would no longer run. Great....just what I need. Okay, let's break out the trusty No.7 hand plane and go old school. This is why I brought it with me, right? After some really beautiful shavings -
We've got a neck blank ready to go -
Yeah man, that's pretty. I dig it. It actually came out exactly like I pictured it in my head.
To Top It Off -
I also did some resawing while I was there, because the band saw at the wood shed has a bigger capacity than mine by a solid 1-1/2". So I went ahead and resawed the Morado blank for the fretboard. I'm pretty sure I can get two guitar fretboards out of it and one bass fretboard, but we'll see. For now I just resawed it and we'll get to it when I need it. More importantly, I resawed the crazy burly maple chunk I plan to use for top, and was left with this -
Yeah, that's gonna look cool. It's got some flame in it, not much, but some. But that burl area is gonna look sa-weet! I'll joint the edge with the hand plane when I'm ready and we'll go from there. For now, it can chill on the shelf.
I also went ahead and cut that poplar blank into body sized sections, no pics of that, it's poplar. I just wanted it milled into smaller sections while I was at the big table saw. I'll come back to it later as well.
At that point we're done with this step. I've got my major milling done, we can let this neck blank chill for a little bit and see if it wants to move any, then we'll come back to it.
While I was there, I also glued up this neck blank -
This one is bass neck length. I was not able to pull enough of the quilted maple out of my longer billet (due to a hidden knot inside it that revealed itself after I cut into it) to make this one the same as the other, so this one is basically "opposite" of that, being purpleheart with two maple stripes. It's actually still in the clamps because I didn't glue it up until Monday morning. I can deal with the rest at home so I brought it home still clamped up, thus no shots of it cleaned up yet. And again, not sure what I will do with it, but I'll have a pretty cool bass neck blank chillin' on the shelf for "later". Since I'm still undecided on the finish for the Bird, I don't know that it'll end up in that build. If I do decide to paint the Bird, there's no way I'm wasting this neck on a painted build. So we'll see, for now it can hang out.
So I spent the extended weekend at the wood shed, which will mark the official kickoff to this build. Up to this point we've just been playing in AutoCAD and gathering materials. But, we actually started doing things now!
Oh yeah, since I'll be documenting this one on the 'Tubes, had to get everything set up....
A GoPro on a stick and a ring light.
So here's a wood pile shot, for those who didn't watch the previous video where I discussed wood selections -
First Things First -
So the first thing we need to do is start milling up some of the bigger pieces of wood to get some laminates ready for the neck blank. Sadly, since I was busy filming, I did not take many pictures. But the process is straight forward. These pieces of wood were all S2S or S3S (surfaced 2 sides, surfaced 3 sides). So the first thing to do is take the S2S pieces to the jointer and get a straight edge on them. I went ahead and ran the S3S piece over the jointer too, just to make sure.
For those who don't recall, this is the same jointer that took my boss's pointer finger off at the knuckle. It has since sat, covered up with blood stains on the cover ever since (probably a good 15 years, maybe more). I went ahead and uncovered it, cleaned it up a bit, checked the blades for nicks, reset the fence to assure square and gave it a go. It worked flawlessly. I have a healthy fear of jointers, so I'm pretty self aware whenever it is running. My wife did not appreciate my humor about "once they taste blood..." but suffice it to say, I still have all my digits.
After running them over the jointer I now have a straight, square edge that I can reference on the table saw fence. The boss has a very nice Powermatic cabinet saw with a huge outfeed table and an extended side so you can pretty much rip full size sheet goods. I don't need a saw this big, but for milling large lumber, it sure is nice to have the extra horsepower. After ripping some laminates on the table saw, we move to the drum sander, an old Supermax dual drum sander that I set up with a coarse grit on the front drum and a medium grit on the rear drum so basically it hogs off on the first drum and then cleans up on the second one to leave you with a very smooth finish coming out the other side. This also gave me the ability to make sure my laminates were the same thickness.
From there we're ready to glue something up! So....in the clamps! -
The Next Day -
We give that a day to sit and dry and then we pull it out of the clamps. My purpleheart wasn't as tall as my maple, so we need to run it through the planer to get it brought down to a decent thickness. I used the planer to get it "close", then moved to the drum sander to finish it up. However, when I flipped the switch on the drum sander a big spark came out of the switch and it would no longer run. Great....just what I need. Okay, let's break out the trusty No.7 hand plane and go old school. This is why I brought it with me, right? After some really beautiful shavings -
We've got a neck blank ready to go -
Yeah man, that's pretty. I dig it. It actually came out exactly like I pictured it in my head.
To Top It Off -
I also did some resawing while I was there, because the band saw at the wood shed has a bigger capacity than mine by a solid 1-1/2". So I went ahead and resawed the Morado blank for the fretboard. I'm pretty sure I can get two guitar fretboards out of it and one bass fretboard, but we'll see. For now I just resawed it and we'll get to it when I need it. More importantly, I resawed the crazy burly maple chunk I plan to use for top, and was left with this -
Yeah, that's gonna look cool. It's got some flame in it, not much, but some. But that burl area is gonna look sa-weet! I'll joint the edge with the hand plane when I'm ready and we'll go from there. For now, it can chill on the shelf.
I also went ahead and cut that poplar blank into body sized sections, no pics of that, it's poplar. I just wanted it milled into smaller sections while I was at the big table saw. I'll come back to it later as well.
At that point we're done with this step. I've got my major milling done, we can let this neck blank chill for a little bit and see if it wants to move any, then we'll come back to it.
While I was there, I also glued up this neck blank -
This one is bass neck length. I was not able to pull enough of the quilted maple out of my longer billet (due to a hidden knot inside it that revealed itself after I cut into it) to make this one the same as the other, so this one is basically "opposite" of that, being purpleheart with two maple stripes. It's actually still in the clamps because I didn't glue it up until Monday morning. I can deal with the rest at home so I brought it home still clamped up, thus no shots of it cleaned up yet. And again, not sure what I will do with it, but I'll have a pretty cool bass neck blank chillin' on the shelf for "later". Since I'm still undecided on the finish for the Bird, I don't know that it'll end up in that build. If I do decide to paint the Bird, there's no way I'm wasting this neck on a painted build. So we'll see, for now it can hang out.
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That looks amazing. Is that dyed poplar veneer in there? What thickness?
Yes sir! I got it from the Ebay vendor some other TB'ers recommended, "JSO WoodProducts". It is 1/42" thick. I've seen others using it and I really feel like the way it defines that edge between colors is absolutely stunning, especially when using purpleheart. I REALLY wish I had known about this trick before building my first two builds, because it's just not as cool without it. On the purpleheart/wenge sammich I would have used an un-dyed poplar or something light colored to do the same thing. It's just awesome looking...to me anyways. It's like when you paint a picture 9or color with crayons, either way) and then outline it with a sharpie to define the edges. There's just something that it does that really brings it to life, makes it pop.
I also plan on putting a layer of it underneath that top too, which should look stunning when I carve the arm bevel and the edge round-overs.
I know a lot of people hate Ebay, and I totally get that. But I'll vouch for this guy, he was super easy to deal with, very communicative and even helped me when I clicked "place order" before realizing that my mailing address hadn't been updated after I moved three years ago (shows how much I don't use Ebay). He got it shipped to the right address after a couple messages back and forth, and again, was just super great to work with. It's a small operation, probably just himself, and I would not hesitate to order from him again.
As an eBay Associate, TalkBass may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
For those of you who enjoyed Post 163, I present to you, the video version. In all honesty, this is part of why I failed to get many pictures on this one, because I was too busy setting up camera angles, filming, moving, resetting camera angles, all that fun stuff! So hopefully you all enjoy this. -
Be sure to subscribe if you're not already. Share it with your friends. All that jazz.
Be sure to subscribe if you're not already. Share it with your friends. All that jazz.
For those of you who enjoyed Post 163, I present to you, the video version. In all honesty, this is part of why I failed to get many pictures on this one, because I was too busy setting up camera angles, filming, moving, resetting camera angles, all that fun stuff! So hopefully you all enjoy this. -
Be sure to subscribe if you're not already. Share it with your friends. All that jazz.
Hey Tim, finally got around to watching your recent YT vid!Thoroughly enjoyable; hopefully the next one is not too far off...
The build is looking good, too!
Thanks Bishop! I do need to get back to it, next up should be some work on the fretboard, then we move into truss rod slot and gluing said fretboard to neck blank. I need to order a truss rod tho.
Sooo.....just a small update on this one. Nothing earth shattering, since I haven't really touched it in a very long time now. But....
I sent the client a couple screenshots with some thoughts and asked for his input. I presented this as "Option 1" and stated "The gap between first and last name sits at the 12th fret" -
And presented this as "Option 2" and stated "This centers the whole thing between the low E and high E strings, but it cuts off the tail on the g" -
I also asked him to tell me if he likes this font or if I should reboot and try again, and told him "This is the Fender font, I thought it would be a fun play on that given we're building a Telecaster here. Alternatively, if you don't like this font at all, we can try something else."
His response was basically "Holy crap, option 1 is perfect! I love it!"
So it looks like I'll be moving forward with that. Now all I gotta do is learn how to do custom inlays!
I mean, I understand the process. I even think I have the tools to make it happen. But I've just never done it before. On the other hand, I had also never built a 5-string multi-scale neck-thru bass either and I did that.
Now I just need to decide what I'm gonna use for inlay material, get that, and get back to work! In the mean time, a question for the hivemind -
My previous builds I slotted my fretboard off the neck, then glued it on the neck, then radiused it, then installed frets, then carved the neck profile. But I didn't do any inlays on it. At what step would you guys do the inlays? Would you -
Slot fretboard, glue fretboard on neck, do inlays, then radius, then fret?
Or -
Slot fretboard, glue fretboard to neck, radius, then inlays?
I'm just not sure if I should do the inlays with the fretboard still flat or not. Part of me thinks it would be easier to do it flat. Part of me is worried about the depth of said inlay once I start radiusing the board.
I sent the client a couple screenshots with some thoughts and asked for his input. I presented this as "Option 1" and stated "The gap between first and last name sits at the 12th fret" -
And presented this as "Option 2" and stated "This centers the whole thing between the low E and high E strings, but it cuts off the tail on the g" -
I also asked him to tell me if he likes this font or if I should reboot and try again, and told him "This is the Fender font, I thought it would be a fun play on that given we're building a Telecaster here. Alternatively, if you don't like this font at all, we can try something else."
His response was basically "Holy crap, option 1 is perfect! I love it!"
So it looks like I'll be moving forward with that. Now all I gotta do is learn how to do custom inlays!
I mean, I understand the process. I even think I have the tools to make it happen. But I've just never done it before. On the other hand, I had also never built a 5-string multi-scale neck-thru bass either and I did that.
Now I just need to decide what I'm gonna use for inlay material, get that, and get back to work! In the mean time, a question for the hivemind -
My previous builds I slotted my fretboard off the neck, then glued it on the neck, then radiused it, then installed frets, then carved the neck profile. But I didn't do any inlays on it. At what step would you guys do the inlays? Would you -
Slot fretboard, glue fretboard on neck, do inlays, then radius, then fret?
Or -
Slot fretboard, glue fretboard to neck, radius, then inlays?
I'm just not sure if I should do the inlays with the fretboard still flat or not. Part of me thinks it would be easier to do it flat. Part of me is worried about the depth of said inlay once I start radiusing the board.
From what I can tell, flat would be easier. But I've only spent a few hours down that particular rabbit hole, for something I'm working on.
So my input is probly wrong.
So my input is probly wrong.
Sooo.....just a small update on this one. Nothing earth shattering, since I haven't really touched it in a very long time now. But....
I sent the client a couple screenshots with some thoughts and asked for his input. I presented this as "Option 1" and stated "The gap between first and last name sits at the 12th fret" -
View attachment 4756092
And presented this as "Option 2" and stated "This centers the whole thing between the low E and high E strings, but it cuts off the tail on the g" -
View attachment 4756093
I also asked him to tell me if he likes this font or if I should reboot and try again, and told him "This is the Fender font, I thought it would be a fun play on that given we're building a Telecaster here. Alternatively, if you don't like this font at all, we can try something else."
His response was basically "Holy crap, option 1 is perfect! I love it!"
So it looks like I'll be moving forward with that. Now all I gotta do is learn how to do custom inlays!
I mean, I understand the process. I even think I have the tools to make it happen. But I've just never done it before. On the other hand, I had also never built a 5-string multi-scale neck-thru bass either and I did that.
Now I just need to decide what I'm gonna use for inlay material, get that, and get back to work! In the mean time, a question for the hivemind -
My previous builds I slotted my fretboard off the neck, then glued it on the neck, then radiused it, then installed frets, then carved the neck profile. But I didn't do any inlays on it. At what step would you guys do the inlays? Would you -
Slot fretboard, glue fretboard on neck, do inlays, then radius, then fret?
Or -
Slot fretboard, glue fretboard to neck, radius, then inlays?
I'm just not sure if I should do the inlays with the fretboard still flat or not. Part of me thinks it would be easier to do it flat. Part of me is worried about the depth of said inlay once I start radiusing the board.
If you are doing the inlay by hand, I would definitely do when the board is flat. That will allow the radius-ing process to clean up any messes on the surface of the board.
Also, FWIW, my order-of-operations for necks is the same as yours, except I shape the neck before fretting.
Just between you and me, there is no "wrong" input. Just different input.
I appreciate the comment. I'm kind of leaning that way. I think it would be easier to ride the little Dremel router base on a flat surface. But I'm just not sure about assuring the depth once you start radiusing it.The last thing I want is to find I didn't go deep enough and radiusing the board ends up cutting off the tops and bottoms of letters. "NoImSayin"?
This is gonna require some math.But I'm just not sure about assuring the depth once you start radiusing it.The last thing I want is to find I didn't go deep enough and radiusing the board ends up cutting off the tops and bottoms of letters. "NoImSayin"?
I'm out.
Yeah, I think I fretted before carving the profile just because I was concerned about the frets actually introducing a back bow if the neck was too "flexy" when whacking it with a hammer.
Yeah, and he wants a 9.5" radius, like a typical Fender kind of thing. That's a lot of radius! My bass builds were 20", much flatter!
Ooof...! I hope you have a router jig for the fret board radius or you are going to be sanding for a loooong time!Yeah, and he wants a 9.5" radius, like a typical Fender kind of thing. That's a lot of radius! My bass builds were 20", much flatter!
Or, I guess you could use old No. 7 to take off the bulk before sanding.
As a CAD user, you should be able to make a drawing to get the depth needed for inlays and let CAD do the math for you, right?
Yeah, I had thought about using the hand plane to knock the edges off, at least get it started. I'm hesitant to run a router over it in a jig with whatever inlay in it.
Yup, I should probably draw a section in CAD. Ugh, more drawing!
Depending on inlay material, of course, any wood or soft metals would be fine. I don't know about MOP, never tried it.
I'd rather draw a section than do the math without a drawing!
My own workflow is to:
1. slot the board
2. trace and cut the inlays on the full-width slotted board
3. re-slot any slots that need recutting through inlays
4. glue board to neck
5. radius board
6. cut neck taper
If the board will be bound as well as inlaid, I will either cut the board's taper and then install the binding, or do it after step 6 above. Depends on the complexity of the binding layup.
1. slot the board
2. trace and cut the inlays on the full-width slotted board
3. re-slot any slots that need recutting through inlays
4. glue board to neck
5. radius board
6. cut neck taper
If the board will be bound as well as inlaid, I will either cut the board's taper and then install the binding, or do it after step 6 above. Depends on the complexity of the binding layup.
