Fretless 5 string Jazz

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Here's another one I started back in 2019. Got the body done then the world stopped

Started on the neck some time last year

Specs:
Alder body
Maple 3 piece neck
Bubinga fretless board
35 inch
Probably nordstrand DCs but I have a few Barts that will fit
Preamp maybe
Colour seafoam green with tort guard
Babicz bridge and hipshot tuners

 

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Headstock shaped and channel routed out for the truss rod

 

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Starting to catch up, these pics are from about a month ago.

Chose to use a piece of bubinga for the fretless board on the day. Originally I was thinking fretted maple but I have a few necks needing frets and all that fretwork at once might take the fun out of it.
Also I thought the bubinga would look good with seafoam green and tort.
Though it would probably look good with a few colour schemes ie white/parchment or white/annodized gold

I can't recall if bubinga has a good or bad smell when sanding like rosewood or wenge

What I do remember, is it took about thirty to forty minutes to do 5 fret (marker) slots. I took breaks after every 5 frets so it took quite a while.
I haven't played much fretless so I wanted markers.
If I had of known it would be such a pain I would have just done side dots for each fret marker.

 

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Apart from yesterday, these pics catch me all the way up.

Truss rod cover

Bit more double sided tape to hold it still for the router. I think there's at least as much tape as timber goes into a bass by the end of a build

Bit of routing

not too loose, not too tight, into the neck pocket just right.

Glued the fretboard and clamped onto the neck

 

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Here's a couple of pics from last week

Filing and sanding the fretboard flush with the neck

The file took a bit too much. Luckily I was able to find the peice on the floor

I marked out the fret dots, glued it the missing piece back in and called it a day on the fretless

These pics are from friday just gone

Got the fret dots in

More to come. Im having trouble adding more pics.

 

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Here's the more pics.

Cutting and glueing in the fret lines.
the curve is to make sure I hit the bottom of the slot at both side of the fret board. If its not cut 100% flat, or a bit of stubborn saw dust is stuck in there, a straight peice would be lifted.

All caught up.

 

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I got a few hours in the workshop yesterday.

clipped the ends and shaved the tops off the fret lines

Sanded them down. Some of the glue marks took forever

Machined the neck down as much as possible...

...because a file is hard work

Still more to come off but heading in the right direction.

 

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A few more pics from yesterday

Here come the bastards....
Did my best at getting the neck carve straight by eye

Sanded the back of the headstock with the linisher

Fixed this up

...to look like this. Also used a straight edge to get the carve properly straight

Then glued a veneer over the truss route

Had to leave it there while the glue dried, so I switched over to some work on the Stangray

 

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Here's a couple of weeks worth of pics. I'm slow, building two basses, and don't spend all that much time in the workshop each session so it isn't tonnes of progress.

Shaving back the face plate

Smoothing down any bumps from the neck carve

That flame should come up nice with a bit of clear coat

Side dots

managed to stuff up and put a pilot in the centre line of the 12th fret

Not sure if I'll put a third dot (maybe a different colour), or try to patch it up. So I've left it be for the minute.

Shaping out the end of the fret board. It seems really easy till I start the other side and try to make it symmetrical.