First project: Folk Bass DIY upright

[NKBassman]

this interesting thread

Thanks!

This caught my attention: "Worst Case Ontario"

So is this AutoCorrect doing its devilish job, or is it some inside joke that speaks of the strenuous relationship between The West and the more populated provinces?

lol it's from a Canadian television show called Trailer Park Boys. One of the main characters is extremely stupid and mixes up idioms all the time. "Worst Case Ontario" is one of the most popular ones. "Water under the fridge" is another one of my favourites.

 

[NKBassman]

Another thing I'm thinking about, after my play test last night, is adding some side position markers. I have a set of stick-on position markers from the same place I bought the Kay scrolls from, but I'm curious if permanent position markers might be a better way to go. Where would one go to look at maple or white plastic veneer sheets, or whatever people use for fret lines on a defretted or lined fretless neck? I don't want to put lines across the whole fingerboard, just a little slot at like 45-degrees on the edge of the neck that would intersect the FB surface and edge of neck maybe 1/4" or so. Something thin, but contrasting colour to stand out in the dark.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Another thing I'm thinking about, after my play test last night, is adding some side position markers. I have a set of stick-on position markers from the same place I bought the Kay scrolls from, but I'm curious if permanent position markers might be a better way to go. Where would one go to look at maple or white plastic veneer sheets, or whatever people use for fret lines on a defretted or lined fretless neck? I don't want to put lines across the whole fingerboard, just a little slot at like 45-degrees on the edge of the neck that would intersect the FB surface and edge of neck maybe 1/4" or so.

I'll send you here on the DB side: Is it bad to mark positions?

I'd suggest seeing if you can manage with temporary markers and then trying to not look at them anyway. Particularly since anything approximating a DB-style bridge is not compensated, so "where notes are in tune" won't be a straight line across the fingerboard. And there are many good things that come from playing with your fingers and your ears and not your eyes. I did use temporary markings when I started playing upright. I've managed to resist the urge to make permanent markings.

Gollihur seems to agree in their description...

 

[NKBassman]

I'll send you here on the DB side: Is it bad to mark positions?

I'd suggest seeing if you can manage with temporary markers and then trying to not look at them anyway. Particularly since anything approximating a DB-style bridge is not compensated, so "where notes are in tune" won't be a straight line across the fingerboard. And there are many good things that come from playing with your fingers and your ears and not your eyes. I did use temporary markings when I started playing upright. I've managed to resist the urge to make permanent markings.

Thanks. That makes sense. I think one key difference here though, VS taking up upright bass as a serious endeavor, is that I don't see myself playing this thing with any real frequency to the point where I'll really get good at playing it. Position markers would make picking it up after a long period off just a little bit easier. But I think I will just go with the temporary stickers for now. I could do inlays any time down the road if I still think it's necessary.

 

[Max Bogosity]

It also happens from time to time that you can’t really hear yourself, so it can be handy to have the option of ‘playing with your eyes’

 

[Diplock]

Thanks. That makes sense. I think one key difference here though, VS taking up upright bass as a serious endeavor, is that I don't see myself playing this thing with any real frequency to the point where I'll really get good at playing it. Position markers would make picking it up after a long period off just a little bit easier. But I think I will just go with the temporary stickers for now. I could do inlays any time down the road if I still think it's necessary.

White nail polish. It's durable yet removable and you can do very small less obvious dots.

 

[NKBassman]

White nail polish. It's durable yet removable and you can do very small less obvious dots.

GREAT idea! Thank you
I bet you could even find glow in the dark nail polish.

I've also seen people put small strips of electrical tape on the back of the neck as thumb locators for various positions.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

If you want the plastic strips someplace like Hobby Lobby (not sure if that’s in Canada) or a model building or RC car place should have 0.020” styrene in various colors.

 

[Videojunkie]

I put side dots on my EUB, and as an occasional player I appreciate them, but they really are just for quick reference, if you're not listening to the notes, you'll be out of tune. Your fingers and ears need to know where those noes are... I also find that in the vertical playing position, the parallax of where you think the dots are, vs where the note really is can be pretty deceiving.

(my objective to 'not be suck' has been mostly achieved, but do I need to play it more than just a few hours a month...)

 

[NKBassman]

I put side dots on my EUB, and as an occasional player I appreciate them, but they really are just for quick reference, if you're not listening to the notes, you'll be out of tune. Your fingers and ears need to know where those noes are... I also find that in the vertical playing position, the parallax of where you think the dots are, vs where the note really is can be pretty deceiving.
View attachment 5161254
(my objective to 'not be suck' has been mostly achieved, but do I need to play it more than just a few hours a month...)

Thanks for the advice. I always do try to focus on my ears first and foremost. Visual indicators are just there for when you need them.

 

[Beej]

Thanks!


lol it's from a Canadian television show called Trailer Park Boys. One of the main characters is extremely stupid and mixes up idioms all the time. "Worst Case Ontario" is one of the most popular ones. "Water under the fridge" is another one of my favourites.

I could never pick a favorite. He has literally dozens of Rickyisms.
Rickyisms

 

[NKBassman]

Testing out two different orientations for the scrolls. Which do we like better? #1 physically fits better and will require significantly less filing to get it tight. But I kinda prefer the aesthetic on #2. I’m leaning towards #1 just to make it a bit lot easier on myself, with maybe a bit of carving into the back of the headstock to extend the swoop around the rest of the curve. I don’t know how well the final colours will match up though.


Front view. Proportions don’t look bad I think.


And a little colour test. I ebonized the business part of the neck last night and then sanded back with 220g this morning. I like the contrast between the darkening of the grain lines and the subtle orange and reds that it adds in between. I think I’m going to try to achieve a bit of a burst effect with this by sanding back to lighten the center more than the edges.
There are pros and cons to this ebonizing technique. If you sand back too much you can just slop some more on and it’ll go right back to where you started from. But open end grains really go a lot darker than closed long grain sections and it’s a bit blotchy around some of the glue joints.

 

[NKBassman]

I didn’t get as much done on this over the weekend as I wanted to... two steps forward and one step back.

The CF rods I bought showed up on Saturday. These were 3mm x 100mm (4”) long, and sold on Amazon as RC plane/drone parts. A 1/8” drill bit (3.2mm) was the perfect size. I put in two per side as deep as my 1/8 bit would allow, which was almost to the centerline of the neck and less then half the length of each rod... great because I only bought one pack of 3 rods .

Each rod was cut in half and glued in using a small tube of self-mixing epoxy. These little rods were extremely tough. I half-assed tried snapping one in half by hand and couldn't do it. I now feel confident that I'll be able to use this neck to fend off a hoard of overzealous fans, should it ever come to that.


The next day I simply cut them off and filed flush.


Then I did some more stain testing and a lot more sanding. A few weeks ago I needed to add some $$ to my cart to get free delivery from Lee Valley, so I bought two things of CA glue, one thin and one thick. I planned to use this as spot fill for the nail holes on the neck and other places. Let me tell you… the thin stuff is REALLY thin. It penetrates into the wood grain and just spreads/wicks out everywhere. Great for structurally stabilizing small cracks and defects! Bad for applying stain afterwards. After this I did more sanding and then some more sanding after that. I actually think the neck feels a bit smoother and more comfortable now after sanding and resanding and resanding, so not all bad I guess.

This actually got me thinking that this ebonizing solution might be kinda useful for someone looking to find low spots on a surfacing job, similar to scribbling pencil lines over a surface before sanding. Or maybe looking for spots after grain sealing or something, similar to the "problem" I had with the runny CA glue.

Anyway, I followed up the thin CA with the thick stuff which really stays where you put it and will blob up over the surface. Much better for hole filling.

 

[NKBassman]

I need to make a decision on this scroll thing sooner or later. Can I get some feedback on Option 1 or Option 2?

Option 1

Option 2

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Can I get some feedback on Option 1 or Option 2?

Flip a coin. (Or if you are leaning towards 1, select a die and if it doesn't come up 2, then do 1) I don't feel a huge difference either way. Either one would benefit from some additional wood so the scroll carve meets the headstock, instead of just abruptly stopping 1/8-1/4" proud of the surface with no blend or transition. That's the jarring bit in either orientation.

 

[NKBassman]

Flip a coin. I don't feel a huge difference either way. Either one would benefit from some additional wood so the scroll carve meets the headstock, instead of just abruptly stopping 1/8-1/4" proud of the surface with no blend or transition. That's the jarring bit in either orientation.

I totally agree. I'm going to transition that joint one way or another... either adding a little piece of shim or sanding back the scroll piece itself.
The other way to do it would be insetting the whole thing , but that seems hard.

As I said in my post last week, I think I actually like Option 2 better, but you can see that it doesn't fit the radius of the headstock nearly as well as Option 1. I designed and started cutting out my headstock before these came in, so wasn't really sure what I was going to be getting other than the basic dimensions. Option 1 gives me a little more wood to work with if I'm going to transition the scroll into the headstock at all.

 

[Videojunkie]

I'm going to vote for #2. I think it will be easier to feather into the headstock.

 

[buldog5151bass]

2 looks better.

 

[Beej]

I like 2 better too, but I also agree that it either needs to be inset into the headstock so that the blend up the 'ramp' naturally occurs, or the ramp needs to be blended into the headstock to hide the transition somewhat.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I like 2 better too, but I also agree that it either needs to be inset into the headstock

I thought about suggesting it be inset, and then I looked at the sides of the headstock (aka the weak part) and how they would be affected by that, and thought adding material seemed a lot safer.