Love that Ambrosia Maple. I have some picked out for a future project myself. Strong work.
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Fretless five competition: Mad scientist edition
- Thread starter Big B.
- Start date
Love that Ambrosia Maple. I have some picked out for a future project myself. Strong work.
Lab Journal #23: After a week of orchestra shows I finally got to put my lab coat on and get back to business. I have decided to use SGD Lutherie pickups in this bass. I have not used them in the pass but they get great reviews here on TB and after contacting David he seems like a nice guy with a lot of knowledge. Fortunately his pickups fit EMG openings so I have a template and can proceed with the pickup route.
First thing is to establish where the bridge will be. Once the front of the bridge is marked the placement of the pickups can be determined. The spacing on this bass is slightly closer to the bridge than I usually do but with the extended fingerboard it allows for enough room to pop under the G string.
Since the template is for my usual placement the bridge pickup is located properly but the template will have to be moved to route the neck pickup. Once the lines are marked the template is clamped in place and the routing proceeds as scheduled.
I like to route the inside of the pattern and then remove the waste left against the outside edge. With so little material left to remove there is a much lower chance of gouging or moving the template with the router.
First slot looks good...
The template is moved to the next pickup spot.
Rinse and repeat and we have the finished pickup routes.
I always feel better after this is completed because a bad pickup route is not an easy mistake to fix. Its back on the road again tonight for a show (with Joan Rivers, how cool?) but my bridge should come in the mail today and the lab will be in full functioning mode this weekend. Thanks for stopping by the Big B. World Domination Network, tune in next time for more thrills and chills...
First thing is to establish where the bridge will be. Once the front of the bridge is marked the placement of the pickups can be determined. The spacing on this bass is slightly closer to the bridge than I usually do but with the extended fingerboard it allows for enough room to pop under the G string.
Since the template is for my usual placement the bridge pickup is located properly but the template will have to be moved to route the neck pickup. Once the lines are marked the template is clamped in place and the routing proceeds as scheduled.
I like to route the inside of the pattern and then remove the waste left against the outside edge. With so little material left to remove there is a much lower chance of gouging or moving the template with the router.
First slot looks good...
The template is moved to the next pickup spot.
Rinse and repeat and we have the finished pickup routes.
I always feel better after this is completed because a bad pickup route is not an easy mistake to fix. Its back on the road again tonight for a show (with Joan Rivers, how cool?) but my bridge should come in the mail today and the lab will be in full functioning mode this weekend. Thanks for stopping by the Big B. World Domination Network, tune in next time for more thrills and chills...
Dude!!!! Love your work! I have been salivating, waiting for your next post! It's like the old cliffhanger movies! Keep up the excellent work!
Musiclogic
Commercial User
- Aug 6, 2005
- 6,505
- 73
- 60
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder: HJC Customs USA, The Cool Lute, C G O
Brandon, you will love Daves pick-ups, I have a set of the series 3 sidewinders, and they have a jazz bass meets Smooth rickenbacker sound, almost like a Villex soapy but not as harsh, and David is quite the cool cat.
not to sound like im bad-mouthing anyone, cuz im not; but i see your planning on using SGD pickups, i ordered them myself because of what ive heard and the samples David has on the site, and he is quite a nice guy, but a heads up since theres is a deadline on finishing this bass, im still waiting for my orders from the start of November, as he had an influx of orders to meet for NAMM, im in the wave of catch-up orders, so you might want to explain your timeline and make sure he's able to meet it; even tho it would give everyone else a chance to compete if you were unable to finish LOL!!!
lookin good btw
grant
lookin good btw
grant
Musiclogic
Commercial User
- Aug 6, 2005
- 6,505
- 73
- 60
- Disclosures
- Owner/Builder: HJC Customs USA, The Cool Lute, C G O
If mine were a 5 string set, I'd put em up for barter...LOL. There is a set for sale in the accessories page of the classifieds here on TB as an addendM
Drake Custom
Commercial User
- Aug 24, 2010
- 440
- 1,082
- Disclosures
- Builder/Owner:Drake Custom Bass Guitars
B, I am blown away with the design and execution of this build. I may as well pull out of the comp now but I will keep going with mine. I love the way the body woods blend into the neck woods so smoothly. I never could have got that to work. Can't wait to see it completed.
Rickett Customs
Commercial User
Grant Bass said:
Grant, I don't want to sound like that either, but ive been waiting for over a year from sgd (december of 09) (pickups and a custom circuit), so since november is not so bad, especially since ive seen orders going out to folks, ordering way after me. Just sayin'... Getting sort of irritated (the bass it goes to, has been hanging for a year and customer has bailed) so your could be in the same boat as I, but I hope your have better luck than I ... but enough of my derailing.
You can not be serious!?!
he sure had no problem taking my money when i told him im i needed them within the 10 weeks;
but ya sorry bout the de-railment, not the place nor time; :scowl:
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
Lab Journal #24: Okay, so I lied. No work got done this weekend because I was busy playing with the burlesque group I work with. I play my bass and they take their clothes off, what can I say? 
I am not interested in getting into the SGD debate but I can say that I ordered my bridge from David and it came on time and for less than I could find elsewhere. As far as pickups go I had a secret weapon, the TB classifieds. After speaking to David I figured that time could be an issue for this build so I scoured the classifieds and found some SGD NEO soapbars and grabbed them. Musiclogic almost outed me too early (
)so I had to get them in the bag before I said anything.
Speaking of the bridge I placed and installed it today. I think the satin hardware will be sharp against the ziricote top.
As far as the finish goes for this bass I have yet to decide. Generally I prefer nitro for several reasons.
#1: I think it has the deepest luster and grain when cured and buffed correctly.
#2: Since it melts into the previous coats it is easier to touch up and repair.
#3: As a professional woodworker I have spent the vast majority of my finishing time spraying lacquer and I am most comfortable with it.
For this bass I am concerned that an oil based finish may darken the top too much for my taste. The raw top has a lot of nice blackline figure and subtle color variations. When I wet the top to see how the finish will look it is so dark that some of the variations get lost. Here are some pics to show what I mean.
Raw pic:
Wet pics:
Am I the only person who sees the difference?
It is possible that a waterbased finish would not darken the wood so much but I have NEVER seen a waterbased finish that I cared for. I say that after having reps from all the major finishing companies coming to our shop to try and sell us their new waterbased finishing products. All of these products were perfectly usable on their own but just didnt stand up in beauty or ease of application with the comparable oil based products.
One on One even the salesmen would admit the same.
I am not trying to start an oil based/water based argument, I am just searching for alternate options. Perhaps I am searching for something that doesnt exist and if so I will just go with the nitro. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Anywho, this bass is surprisingly close to being done now. All that is left for the body is final carving/sanding, drilling the tuner holes and radiusing the fingerboard. After that it will be a quick setup on the unfinished bass to double check everything and then it will be spray time. Until next time, keep those test tubes bubbling...
I am not interested in getting into the SGD debate but I can say that I ordered my bridge from David and it came on time and for less than I could find elsewhere. As far as pickups go I had a secret weapon, the TB classifieds. After speaking to David I figured that time could be an issue for this build so I scoured the classifieds and found some SGD NEO soapbars and grabbed them. Musiclogic almost outed me too early (
)so I had to get them in the bag before I said anything.Speaking of the bridge I placed and installed it today. I think the satin hardware will be sharp against the ziricote top.
As far as the finish goes for this bass I have yet to decide. Generally I prefer nitro for several reasons.
#1: I think it has the deepest luster and grain when cured and buffed correctly.
#2: Since it melts into the previous coats it is easier to touch up and repair.
#3: As a professional woodworker I have spent the vast majority of my finishing time spraying lacquer and I am most comfortable with it.
For this bass I am concerned that an oil based finish may darken the top too much for my taste. The raw top has a lot of nice blackline figure and subtle color variations. When I wet the top to see how the finish will look it is so dark that some of the variations get lost. Here are some pics to show what I mean.
Raw pic:
Wet pics:
Am I the only person who sees the difference?
It is possible that a waterbased finish would not darken the wood so much but I have NEVER seen a waterbased finish that I cared for. I say that after having reps from all the major finishing companies coming to our shop to try and sell us their new waterbased finishing products. All of these products were perfectly usable on their own but just didnt stand up in beauty or ease of application with the comparable oil based products.
One on One even the salesmen would admit the same.
I am not trying to start an oil based/water based argument, I am just searching for alternate options. Perhaps I am searching for something that doesnt exist and if so I will just go with the nitro. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Anywho, this bass is surprisingly close to being done now. All that is left for the body is final carving/sanding, drilling the tuner holes and radiusing the fingerboard. After that it will be a quick setup on the unfinished bass to double check everything and then it will be spray time. Until next time, keep those test tubes bubbling...
Jazzdogg
Less barking, more wagging!
Your assessment matches my experience.
You probably know most of what follows, but some other TBers may not:
In your situation, I'm inclined to seal the project with dewaxed shallac, over which I can apply almost any conceivable clear coat.
A shellac barrier coat keeps oil-based finishes from permeating the wood like the wet example in your photos. Shellac is a "hot" finish like nitrocellulose, and applying nitrocellulose over shellac is easy.
When clarity is important, I apply a gloss clear coat because when flattening agents are added to reduce the sheen level, the finish can look somewhat opaque or cloudy. If I want the final sheen level to be semi-gloss or satin, I use gloss and rub out the finish to a lower sheen level after it's cured completely.
Some of the catalyzed varnishes are extremely durable, and multiple coats burn into one another, like lacquer, when applied in rapid succession. But, they aren't nearly as easy as shellac or lacquer to touch up and repair.
You probably know most of what follows, but some other TBers may not:
In your situation, I'm inclined to seal the project with dewaxed shallac, over which I can apply almost any conceivable clear coat.
A shellac barrier coat keeps oil-based finishes from permeating the wood like the wet example in your photos. Shellac is a "hot" finish like nitrocellulose, and applying nitrocellulose over shellac is easy.
When clarity is important, I apply a gloss clear coat because when flattening agents are added to reduce the sheen level, the finish can look somewhat opaque or cloudy. If I want the final sheen level to be semi-gloss or satin, I use gloss and rub out the finish to a lower sheen level after it's cured completely.
Some of the catalyzed varnishes are extremely durable, and multiple coats burn into one another, like lacquer, when applied in rapid succession. But, they aren't nearly as easy as shellac or lacquer to touch up and repair.
Great advice. My first thought was some sort of sealer coat and shellac came to mind. I have rarely used shellac in the past but now is as good a time to start as any. I keep all my ziricote drops so I have plenty of pieces to test it on.
I also agree on the gloss finish. So far my favorite finish is the old faithful Mcfadden Gloss lacquer.I know a lot of folks talk bad about nitro but I have not used any finish that sprays more evenly or smoothly. I usually go for a high gloss finish but I am thinking this bass may look nice rubbed out to a satin finish.
I really like the satin chrome hardware, I think it always adds a classy touch to an instrument.
- Aug 21, 2008
- 10,386
- 252
- 68
- Disclosures
- Owner, SGD Music Products
Hi Jason. Just to be clear, the hold up was not with your pickups, but with a custom preamp with a varitone control. You need to point that out. Your pickups have been done for a while now. I agree that is too long to wait. I'll have the whole thing to you shortly. I apologize again for the delay.
And so that everyone knows the situation, I've very behind on orders because of some technical situations that happened at the second half of last year. I had a very large OEM order that had issues because of some bad epoxy I had purchased. This also affected my regular orders. This required me to remake about a dozen pickups. I also have to replace pickups I made last June which are oozing uncured epoxy. I'm a small operation; it's just me. This situation has cost me money I don't have, and a lot of time to rectify. It's been a real headache.
Grant, I'm working on your pickups currently, along with a lot of others. I'm about a third of the way out of the back log, so I just ask that everyone, please hold tight while I get this fixed. I'm getting about 5 sets done a week, so it wont be long.
I'm truly sorry for any delays and after this things will be running much more smoothly and orders wont take more than a week to process.
David
Rickett Customs
Commercial User
Yes you're right, It was the electronics, sorry I didn't clarify.
Brandon, my apologies for posting in your thread like this, i'll be quiet
