I'd call it an "airfoil" sound hole.
Looks good. Are you going to put an amber tint on the finish?
Looks good. Are you going to put an amber tint on the finish?
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.
Four-string fretless semi-hollow half-build
- Thread starter ctmullins
- Start date
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,015
- 1
- 31,728
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Thanks for all the kind words, folks - it's nice to have such an excellent group of craftsmen to learn from and be inspired by!
I know I said that progress would be slow, but I can't help it; I'm excited by this puppy right now! I got the cavities for the Nordstrands routed:
And I got the neck attachment bolt recesses drilled, and the "neck heel" shaped. I love my new Shinto rasp; every one of you should go out and buy one right now!
At this point I was able to test-mount my neck. I ran some yarn through the E and G string nut slots down to the bridge area to check my neck alignment. Turns out the whole thing is ever so slightly shifted towards the treble side of the instrument. Ordinarily this wouldn't bother me, but the bookmatched maple cap gives a vislble centerline of its own, which doesn't quite line up with the string centerline. It's only 1mm or so, so it won't be noticeable by others (probably), but I'll always see it. I'm telling myself it'll be a reminder of the "homemadeness" of this instrument.
Today I drilled for my "integrated tailpiece". Even using my portable drill press, one of the holes isn't quite lined up right. Oh well...
I went ahead and installed the string ferrules, because I'm a little impatient, and I want to go ahead and string it up once just to see how it sounds so far!
Next up is a whole lot of tedious finish sanding, and shaping the floating bridge. I'm not going to tint it, as much as I do like a tint on quilted maple. I'm just going to apply a decent number of coats of Formby's Tung Oil, which apparently also includes some varnish for protection. I'm going for a "natural" vibe with this one.
I'm really enjoying working with the sapele. It's hard enough to be durable, but not so hard as to make progress difficult. And it has such a nice ribbon figure!
I know I said that progress would be slow, but I can't help it; I'm excited by this puppy right now! I got the cavities for the Nordstrands routed:
And I got the neck attachment bolt recesses drilled, and the "neck heel" shaped. I love my new Shinto rasp; every one of you should go out and buy one right now!
At this point I was able to test-mount my neck. I ran some yarn through the E and G string nut slots down to the bridge area to check my neck alignment. Turns out the whole thing is ever so slightly shifted towards the treble side of the instrument. Ordinarily this wouldn't bother me, but the bookmatched maple cap gives a vislble centerline of its own, which doesn't quite line up with the string centerline. It's only 1mm or so, so it won't be noticeable by others (probably), but I'll always see it. I'm telling myself it'll be a reminder of the "homemadeness" of this instrument.
Today I drilled for my "integrated tailpiece". Even using my portable drill press, one of the holes isn't quite lined up right. Oh well...
I went ahead and installed the string ferrules, because I'm a little impatient, and I want to go ahead and string it up once just to see how it sounds so far!
Next up is a whole lot of tedious finish sanding, and shaping the floating bridge. I'm not going to tint it, as much as I do like a tint on quilted maple. I'm just going to apply a decent number of coats of Formby's Tung Oil, which apparently also includes some varnish for protection. I'm going for a "natural" vibe with this one.
I'm really enjoying working with the sapele. It's hard enough to be durable, but not so hard as to make progress difficult. And it has such a nice ribbon figure!
Last edited:
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,015
- 1
- 31,728
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Well, it's taken a week, but I have my bridge shaped. It started as a 1x1x5 billet of macassar ebony (purchased in a set of four from eBay, listed as "turning blanks", for something like ten bucks). Got to spend some more quality time with the Shinto:
And finished up with something rather attractive, if I do say so myself:
I still have some final shaping to do, to get the action where I want it. And I still need to route a small channel in the underside for the piezo cable.
Did you know that macassar ebony, when heated by working, smells like pepperoni?
Also completed my finish sanding of the body, and applied the first coat of tung oil. This is such a treat, seeing the oil bring out the figuring in the wood!
Next comes some buffing and additional coats of oil.
And finished up with something rather attractive, if I do say so myself:
I still have some final shaping to do, to get the action where I want it. And I still need to route a small channel in the underside for the piezo cable.
Did you know that macassar ebony, when heated by working, smells like pepperoni?
Also completed my finish sanding of the body, and applied the first coat of tung oil. This is such a treat, seeing the oil bring out the figuring in the wood!
Next comes some buffing and additional coats of oil.
Last edited:
Haha, you learn something new every day!
How are you fixing the bridge to the body? Just gluing it down?
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,015
- 1
- 31,728
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Got three good coats of tung oil on the body, buffed to a nice shine. The oil brought out some faint shadows of milling marks on the sapele, so I had to re-sand the back, then re-apply the oil. The quilted maple looks really beautiful, and the ribbon figure in the sapele is just yummy!
Moving on to the electronics. Installed the Nordstrand pups last night, but I think I need longer screws or longer springs or something, because I can't raise them to the proper height right now.
The bridge will remain unattached, which (I think) is what makes a floating bridge floating. I'm relying on the pressure of the strings to keep the bridge in place. This will at least provide some ability to adjust for intonation in the future. Once I check the intonation with my current strings (TI Jazz Flats - can't imagine using anything else), then I'll mark the position of the bridge with painter's tape, and drill for the piezo.
This photo doesn't show the full beauty of the quilting:
And the lovely sapele:
Moving on to the electronics. Installed the Nordstrand pups last night, but I think I need longer screws or longer springs or something, because I can't raise them to the proper height right now.
The bridge will remain unattached, which (I think) is what makes a floating bridge floating. I'm relying on the pressure of the strings to keep the bridge in place. This will at least provide some ability to adjust for intonation in the future. Once I check the intonation with my current strings (TI Jazz Flats - can't imagine using anything else), then I'll mark the position of the bridge with painter's tape, and drill for the piezo.
This photo doesn't show the full beauty of the quilting:
And the lovely sapele:
Last edited:
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,015
- 1
- 31,728
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Aesthetic question - should the wood visible through the soundhole be finished the same as the exterior of the instrument?
very very nice lookin. some Ric inspiration goin on here. i never really liked the looks of rics, but i love this.
I think that's personal preference, I would say no, but that's my perspective.
On another note, maybe its an artefact of the flash in the photo, but it appears that the pickup route is larger than the pickup, is this the case?
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,015
- 1
- 31,728
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Thanks. Yeah, the pickup cavities are slightly larger than they need to be. The pickups also aren't quite centered in their cavities - I'll work on that later.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,015
- 1
- 31,728
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Took the day off work today. Had every intention of finishing my interior installation in my MGB, but I woke up with this on my mind instead.
Installed the under-bridge piezo this morning. Drilling the hole through the top was a piece of cake, after carefully marking where it should go. Routing the channel under the bridge was another matter, however. The obvious way to go about this is with a small router bit. I don't have a bit nearly small enough for this, however. What I settled on was a two-step process: step one was to cut the actual channel with my circular saw (a tool not typically used in luthiery, I'd wager!), and shaping it to the correct width with a sanding drum in my hand drill. So I used various bits of scrap wood and clamps to securely hold the relatively tiny bridge piece, clamped an edge guide for the saw, and set the blade depth accordingly. Held my breath, and began cutting. Worked out just fine, turns out.
With the bridge still securely clamped, the sanding drum proved to be a good way to finish the shaping, allowing plenty of control and removing wood slowly enough to get it just right.
The piezo cable I'm using is one I purchased a few years ago from a fellow online. He was making them and selling them as a way of making a living for himself, and I remember that they were pretty cheap. It's about six inches of piezo soldered to a foot of cable, terminating in a 1/8" jack.
So once I routed the piezo through the hole and under the bridge, I was able to use an adapter to plug the 1/8" jack directly into my amp, just to see how it sounds. Turns out it sounds pretty good, though fairly low volume and lacking in low frequencies. But it pretty faithfully reproduces the unamplified personality of the instrument at this point.
The next task was to break out the soldering iron and start wiring up my pots. My plan is for each of the Nordstrands to have its own 500k volume control, but I'm not exactly sure how the piezo will end up wired. I strongly prefer good quality passive wiring, and so I will first try the piezo wired in parallel with the mags, just like another pickup. I half expect this to not work out too well, but it will at least provide a baseline for further experimentation.
I broke out my brand-new pots, and popped them through the holes. Turns out my quilted maple top is just a wee bit too thick for the nut to catch the threads. I had realized this may happen early on, but had more or less forgotten about it today, in my excitement to put the wiring together and plug in for real. What to do?
Recess the knobs, that's what. This is something that's done sometimes on other boutique instruments, and it's an aesthetic that I've always admired, but I didn't plan on doing that with this bass. Turns out I'm going to have to! But you can't just slap your Forstner bit into an already-drilled hole; it'll wander. So it's off to the hardware store for a 5/16" dowel; this provides the pilot of the Forstner something to bite into to keep the bit centered.
Of course, this now means that I'll have to sand and oil this freshly-cut wood, which means I'm going to have to wait a few more days to install my electronics...
Installed the under-bridge piezo this morning. Drilling the hole through the top was a piece of cake, after carefully marking where it should go. Routing the channel under the bridge was another matter, however. The obvious way to go about this is with a small router bit. I don't have a bit nearly small enough for this, however. What I settled on was a two-step process: step one was to cut the actual channel with my circular saw (a tool not typically used in luthiery, I'd wager!), and shaping it to the correct width with a sanding drum in my hand drill. So I used various bits of scrap wood and clamps to securely hold the relatively tiny bridge piece, clamped an edge guide for the saw, and set the blade depth accordingly. Held my breath, and began cutting. Worked out just fine, turns out.
With the bridge still securely clamped, the sanding drum proved to be a good way to finish the shaping, allowing plenty of control and removing wood slowly enough to get it just right.
The piezo cable I'm using is one I purchased a few years ago from a fellow online. He was making them and selling them as a way of making a living for himself, and I remember that they were pretty cheap. It's about six inches of piezo soldered to a foot of cable, terminating in a 1/8" jack.
So once I routed the piezo through the hole and under the bridge, I was able to use an adapter to plug the 1/8" jack directly into my amp, just to see how it sounds. Turns out it sounds pretty good, though fairly low volume and lacking in low frequencies. But it pretty faithfully reproduces the unamplified personality of the instrument at this point.
The next task was to break out the soldering iron and start wiring up my pots. My plan is for each of the Nordstrands to have its own 500k volume control, but I'm not exactly sure how the piezo will end up wired. I strongly prefer good quality passive wiring, and so I will first try the piezo wired in parallel with the mags, just like another pickup. I half expect this to not work out too well, but it will at least provide a baseline for further experimentation.
I broke out my brand-new pots, and popped them through the holes. Turns out my quilted maple top is just a wee bit too thick for the nut to catch the threads. I had realized this may happen early on, but had more or less forgotten about it today, in my excitement to put the wiring together and plug in for real. What to do?
Recess the knobs, that's what. This is something that's done sometimes on other boutique instruments, and it's an aesthetic that I've always admired, but I didn't plan on doing that with this bass. Turns out I'm going to have to! But you can't just slap your Forstner bit into an already-drilled hole; it'll wander. So it's off to the hardware store for a 5/16" dowel; this provides the pilot of the Forstner something to bite into to keep the bit centered.
Of course, this now means that I'll have to sand and oil this freshly-cut wood, which means I'm going to have to wait a few more days to install my electronics...
Last edited:
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,015
- 1
- 31,728
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
A month since an update - it's been tough finding time to work on this lately. And what work I have done has been rather time-consuming:
I've been making pickup covers. Since the cavities I routed for the Nordstrands were a little big, and since my neck pocket was routed ever-so-slightly off-center, I decided to make some wooden pickup covers out of the same woods as the body. An added benefit is that they look better than the black plastic ones!
So I cut chunks of sapele and quilted maple, glued them, routed a large cavity out of them, and shaped them to fit the body cavities. Gave them a couple coats of the same tung oil I used for the body, and I think they look pretty good:
The pickups (after carefully filing the bobbins) are a press-fit into the covers, and the covers (after lots of tedious sanding) are a press-fit into the body cavities. This means they won't be adjustable, but I'm okay with that. A small curved recess in the bottom edge provides clearance for the wires:
I like these much better - I think they help emphasize the "woodiness" of this bass!
Now I can break out the soldering iron!
I've been making pickup covers. Since the cavities I routed for the Nordstrands were a little big, and since my neck pocket was routed ever-so-slightly off-center, I decided to make some wooden pickup covers out of the same woods as the body. An added benefit is that they look better than the black plastic ones!
So I cut chunks of sapele and quilted maple, glued them, routed a large cavity out of them, and shaped them to fit the body cavities. Gave them a couple coats of the same tung oil I used for the body, and I think they look pretty good:
The pickups (after carefully filing the bobbins) are a press-fit into the covers, and the covers (after lots of tedious sanding) are a press-fit into the body cavities. This means they won't be adjustable, but I'm okay with that. A small curved recess in the bottom edge provides clearance for the wires:
I like these much better - I think they help emphasize the "woodiness" of this bass!
Now I can break out the soldering iron!
Last edited:
Thanks so much for the details on how you anchored the strings in the butt of the body! I've been busting my brain trying to figure out how to do something like that, and now it seems rather obvious!
Beautiful instrument, by the way!
Beautiful instrument, by the way!
Very nice. Quite Ric-ish, but I love Rics, so that's cool. Sound clips when you finish are a must.
