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Double Bass Grofiller Bass project

#83
Matthew Tucker said:
how deep are those ribs? Is that final width?
Click to expand...

At this stage they are at 9 5/8", they finnish just under 9" (222 cm)
The mould is not the full width of the rib, which makes the ribs appear look bigger than normal.

I spent a lot of time searching local lumber yards/mills for a 9" wide quartered sawn (straight grain) board for the ribs; not an easy find.
Since that time, I have seen a number of basses with plain sawn lumber used for the ribs, so maybe its not as critical as I thought. Aesthetically, I like looks of the straight grain.
 
#84
I have been working on the lower ribs, and completed the first violin corner. The hide glue is a challenge, we have to choreograph our clamping procedure and do a dry run before we lay out the hot glue. Its not very pretty in this picture, you can see some burns and glue drippings. My heating pipe gets gets too hot on one end and cooler on the other, thus the burns.
 
#87
I am not sure how much I can trim the corner, at this point the bottom rib runs over the c-bout rib to make a lap joint. If I trim it down more, the glue joint would be in the center of the corner, making the joint more of a miter. Would this weaken the seam?
 
#88
Started to make a scroll out of modeling clay. It seems to be a good way to get familiar with the geometry of the thing. We are going straight from the plans, no experiments this time around.
It seems very large, I will double check the measurements.
 
#89
Its a nice feeling getting the ribs together, isn't it?? :)

Just leave the corner as it is. Trim it to final size when you have the front and back done. I don't think any amoun of trimming will affect the joint strength.

Most makers seem to orientate the grain lines in the corner blocks to run out towards the point of the block. I believe this is because it makes the block easier to split and trim later. May also make for a stronger block. But your block will be fine, just be careful when you get it out of the mould and start trimming it down that it doesn't split in the wrong direction!
 
#91
I think that traditionally you would trim the lower bout rib JUST until you get to the c-bout rib, so you don't see the glue line from the edge. If you go too far, you can scrape the c-bout rib at the corner until the glue line "disappears".

I found having a heat gun to re-heat the ribs and glue if I was clumsy getting the clamps on to be indespensible. I would just take off the clamp and heat the rib right where it met the block and it would re-melt the glue and allow me a second chance at clamping without pulling it all apart.

Looking good!
 
#92
Thanks for the comments! It will be nice to get the ribs done, there is just way too much fitting at this stage. It is not too difficult to make a rib or a block but getting them all to fit together is the hard part. The neck and scroll will be a welcome change because your working with only one piece of wood; more shaping and less fitting pieces together.
 
#94
Good call. I am using cherry lumber for the ribs, neck, and back. Since it has a natural nice reddish orange color, I wont have to stain the bass.... until I get to the spruce top of course.
Cherry is not as dense as hard maple, and a bit harder than red maple (soft maple). We will see how it works for basses.
 
#95
i could smell it through the monitor... 3 yrs = soft reddish brown.7 yrs= deeper brown 10 yrs= deep illustrious brown with red undertones. the neck will darken even more since it will be handled. cherry can to be a little more brash than both maples...tool chatter etc. if you centersplit a clear flitch for the back.. leave enough to let it open up in the overlength,shouldn't take long for the wood to condition given the thickness.
good luck AND good choice.

"i cut it twice and it's still too short :eyebrow:
 
#96
ctregan said:
Good call. I am using cherry lumber for the ribs, neck, and back. Since it has a natural nice reddish orange color, I wont have to stain the bass.... until I get to the spruce top of course.
Cherry is not as dense as hard maple, and a bit harder than red maple (soft maple). We will see how it works for basses.
Click to expand...
Bob Ross has made some handsome basses from [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]. On this bass, Bob used Curly Cherry for the back and sides. However, he chose to use Curly Maple for the neck and scroll. I heard my pal Paul Warburton playing this bass and it sounded great. (Although it's hard to imagine any bass that wouldn't sound good with Paul playing it.)

Other than a yellow ground, I would avoid staining the wood for color. My experience has been that instruments always look better with the color in the varnish rather than staining the wood itself.
 
#99
Speaking of ribs, we bent one of the c-bouts using a steam box method on our kitchen stove. Thats the form and the steam box with the top/side open. A pot of boiling water was used for generating steam. Holes in the bottom allow the steam to enter the box.
 

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