Harrison inspired 4001 ric build

[Verner]

Actually, as a middle and high school music teacher, I usually bring in an example of whatever is piquing my interest that year. Build projects included. So at this point I have one or two students a year who I build an instrument with. Done a few guitars and ukuleles, and this year I am building a 51 P bass with a student (I have to update that thread). I donate all the materials, and try to upcycle as much as possible. Last year I made a few ukes with some kids, and I had pulled some really old tight grain softwood from my 1840s house. We cut it up and used it for tops, really neat project! Anyway, you never know what will spark a kid's interest. My favorite part is about halfway through the process, when they start looking at the instruments around them and admiring the work that goes into them. They tend to take much better care of their instruments as well. So this wood will make its way into a lot of instruments, maybe it will help make a luthier or two.

 

[Verner]

@Beej yes, oh man the stories she comes home with run the gamut from demoralizing to heartbreaking. It is true, it is not a job everyone could handle.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

My mom was an ER nurse at Boston City Hospital, saw some pretty hairy stuff. Most nurses I’ve met are really down to earth and no BS, they don’t have time for it, they do something that actually matters.

 

[Axstar]

My mom was an ER nurse at Boston City Hospital, saw some pretty hairy stuff.

Figuratively or literally?

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Figuratively or literally?

I'm guessing both, gunshots, stab wounds, chronic diseases left untreated until horror-movie severity, crazy naked people, homeless and delirious, you name it. She only did it for around two years before she got burned out, which is pretty typical for City ER nurses. Then she got a job in the ER at Falmouth Hospital, which was paradise by comparison. She did some work overseas with Physicians Without Borders in Bombay India. She said she ended every day there in tears, trying to tell dirt poor young Indian women NOT to bathe their babies in what amounted to open sewers. She's retired now. Count your blessings, and Thank God for Nurses!

 

[Verner]

Happy to say I finally have an update on this project. The walnut I have been working with is rough cut, about 1.5" in thickness. My power tool time is generally bursts of 10-30 minutes given my schedule and 3 young kids, and the winter weather is not helping. So I started by hand planing the rough side pieces on one side and power planing to get them even. That would use up my time, so I would set the wood aside to do the next step the following day. Each time the darn boards would warp one way or another. Went through this twice before I learned my lesson. I finally managed to free up a few solid hours and the temp was a balmy 35, so I hand planed the surfaces on one side, and using a thin kerf table saw blade, split the boards. Worked great, along with the extra high fence attachment I made up. Then over to the thickness sander to get everything uniform.

After taking off so much wood in my previous attempts, I didn't have a ton of wood to lose, but the pieces all came out over budget as far as measurement in concerned. The bookmatched faces look really cool, lots of character. Can't wait to see them brought out with some finish. They are all about .53" thick, and the maple in the middle is a bit over 1/4", so I will have plenty of room for sanding. Sander worked great, very happy with this machine.

I brought them inside and clamped them on my indoor bench (present from my wife) and clamped them in the big vise, with some other clamps along the perimeter. I will let them acclimate for a few days before I sand them with a finer grit for glue-up. I have read many conflicting things about whether a surface should be rough or smooth for gluing, but it seems a finer surface is the better option. My sander is set up with 80 grit, and I plan to sand to 220 for glue up this weekend.

All part of the fun! Pretty happy to make my own dimensioned wood, but it adds to the challenges.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

mmmmm.... walnut......
When you get the neck beam cut out and headstock roughed, might want to do a quick balance test with bridge and pups taped in place to see how it hangs. Stock Ric body thickness is 1-1/4". May be body heavy at 1-1/2" thick. I was surprised to find that my walnut Hossenfeffer II is slightly neck heavy, even though it's dimensionally identical to the HFI, which is all maple. The walnut body is just enough lighter that it made it neck heavy. Not much, but it's a pet peeve of mine. I wish I knew a better way of judging balance prior to my builds short of a full mockup. I asked once on TB and the word "Centroid" was bandied about, sounding suspiciously like MATH, which I avoid when possible. That neck is gonna look sweet with the maple stringers, keep building!

 

[ctmullins]

Mmmmm, walnut....

 

[Gilmourisgod]

CT, we are like Homer Simpson, drooling over donuts. I gotta find something else to make out of walnut... I'm stuck in Refinish P Bass Land, going into wood withdrawl.

 

[ctmullins]

Walnut, maple, and cherry are all I will ever need from here on out!

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I saw a guy at a craft fair, he makes cherry boxes and puts things like leaves, twigs, and found objects over them and sets them out in the sun, which "burns" the cherry darker everywhere except under the object. Then he finishes in UV resistant poly which "fixes" the image, like a negative. So cool, but you don't want to leave a cherry bass out in the sun!. But.. I digress...

 

[Reedt2000]

CT, we are like Homer Simpson, drooling over donuts. I gotta find something else to make out of walnut... I'm stuck in Refinish P Bass Land, going into wood withdrawl.

There are plenty of things to build. I'll take a 34" scale, chambered, 5 string (17mm spacing), headless, Ric 4001, big single in the neck position, MM pup at the bridge. Walnut body & neck, ebony board



Please

 

[Verner]

@Gilmourisgod sorry I wasn't clear in my description above, the wood I sliced was initially 1.5", and I ripped that for my bookmatched top and bottom. Right now the total thickness of the walnut and maple for the sides is roughly 1.40", which I will take down to 1.25" for the body.

 

[Verner]

@ctmullins yes, this weekend I will be making maple walnut sandwiches, and then I will essentially cut off the crusts.

 

[Verner]

I decided to buy a new tool, so this is just some foreshadowing. For every other build I would use this fretfind 2d website: ekips.org - FretFind2D. Very useful, just plug in your numbers and you can print out a fretboard. I would glue it to my board, and use a square to cut the frets with a zona saw (previous to that I had a generic dovetail saw on which I hammered the kerf flat).

That worked just fine, and I always wrestle with expensive luthier tools for this reason. In fact, I tend to gravitate towards builds that do more with less. But I also realize that at this stage in life my most precious resource is time, and I want to make the most of it. Precision tools simply save time by increasing accuracy.

I went with the lmii model rather than stewmac because it seemed like a better deal. I know some are wary in regards to the plastic rather than metal construction, or the acrylic templates vs metal templates, and I took all that into consideration. However, the lmii seems well built from a company with a good reputation, and most importantly it came with two templates of my choice. I have a fender scale and the ric scale, all came with the tool and at a very reasonable price. If I break my tool by not taking care of it that is on me, but I can't imagine that normal use will ever wear out the tool itself.

So anyway, I look forward to giving this a shot!

 

[Verner]

Made up some plywood cauls and glued down my 1/8" riser to the central beam. I clamped a square initially to make sure it lined up. Since this section will be stressed I will let it dry for 24 hours. Then I will hand plane the overhang flush. Body wings and fretboard up next.

Oh, and please excuse the mess. I tend to have a messy bench, but we just cleared this room recently after building another room for my two girls. The tools I will keep indoors are all over the floor in bins awaiting a wall storage system. I don't like the look of pegboard, but will probably use it until this summer when I will be a bit more free to build something nicer.

 

[Verner]

I also glued up one of the wing blanks, will do the same for the other side tomorrow night when I have clamps again. Normally I try to clean up my squeeze-out, but this has to be trimmed on the table saw anyway.

 

[Verner]

Wing blank, one down

 

[ctmullins]

Oh yes. This is gonna be nice.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

It’s hard to eff up walnut, though I’ve tried.... I’m gonna suggest drilling both body and neck beam for dowels if you haven’t already planned on it. That worked so well on both my Ric builds, just keeping everything flush and registered as the build progressed, and then it can’t slip as you are gluing up the sides. Keep your body shape cutoffs as cauls for the glue-up. I know Ric doesn’t do it, but they have big glue presses that align everything. Another thing I forgot last time was to drill the bridge ground wire hole BEFORE I glued the body wings on, trying to get those long aircraft style drill bits to go from bridge to control cavity was nerve wracking. On the HF1, I drilled just the neck beam, then clamped the body wing on, used the neck beam hole to guide the drill just enough to mark location on the wing, then drilled that separately, so less chance of plunging right through the back of the body (which I have done, thank god it was a painted bass!) Making nice progress here, makes me wish I was building something right now.