Off with their Heads! Moonshine Headless Builds incl. Sub Short Scale Travel Basses

[moonshinegtrs]

Today turned out to be wet sanding day but I did get the tops completed.

Next week I have two basses to get out the door as well reworking my shop area (not to mention Memorial Day weekend!), I'm not sure if I will get any work done on these but I will be back on them soon. I am also waiting n the newest version of the headphone amp.


Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

Man, time flies... Two basses turned into 4, I have a side project building a cool short scale headless bass for a TB member, went from no gigs to 2 bands plus sideman gigs, ran into a bad finish problem which ended in a guitar arriving to a customer with the finish damaged (I'm stripping and refinishing it now), I'm (finally) in the middle of relicing a long overdue bass build... Which has reinforced my decision to no longer offer a "relic" option... as for the shop redesign, I haven't got near as much accomplished as I had hoped to by now.

Speaking of overdue...

The first travel bass (now named SlimBass) has already been sold and I am working on getting it completed. Becuase it is the first, I have made it a deluxe model. Actually the first three of these are upgraded with Honduran Mahogany backs and sides and a bookmatched, flame maple top with a rosewood veneer laminated between the two woods.

I also decided to build a multi laminated neck for the first one (I will build 1 piece necks of figured maple for the other two). I have a 5 piece neck blank made of flamed maple and purpleheart that's been laying around for several years, I was able to build to necks out of it; one 25 1/2" scale neck for the first bass and one 27 5/8" scale headless neck for a custom travel bass project ( it will be my own personal bass but it will also be for exhibitions).

Lot's of pictures...

Preparing for glue up.

Here's the rosewood veneer; years ago I had the chance to purchase a large amount of acoustic guitar back and sides that were seconds or damaged, mostly mahogany but also rosewood, flamed maple and some walnut. They are perfect for this.

Top. Note the dowel holes which allow me to align the pieces and hold them in place.

Glue up:

Here you can see where I started cutting the sides down with my pin router (template has been removed in this pic).

Next I used another template to route out the area for the tuners.

I routed out the back of the body where the cavities were and I ran into a problem; I had planned on using inlaid covers on the back for the two cavities but I realized that with the thickness of the sides being thin I didn't allow room for the roundover that goes around the rim.

I decide to route off the back where the cavities are and blend the covers into the body itself (I am going to remove the back from future builds so I can cut the covers out of the actual back material... I used mahogany from the same blank as the body for these covers, they match fairly well...)

Here the neck blank has been routed for the truss rod and I am getting ready to attach the fretboard. To hold the board in place I drill a small hole near the truss rod route at each end of the fretboard, then I cut down a small brad and insert it in the hole with the point up so it is slightly above the surface of the neck blank so that will hold the boars in place while being glued.

I also rounded over the heel end of the neck blank:

Gluing the fretboard.

All for now, I have more to post...



Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

More neck construction pics:

As I mentioned previously I already had the multi laminated neck blank from a few years back (it was a cast off of an bass neck build), it was just under 1 5/8" thick so I was able to carefully cut it so that I got two neck blanks from it...

After running them through the thickness sander, I routed out the truss rod channel. I made a new jig for doing this but I am still getting it fine tuned

I normally fret the board after gluing it to the neck blank but I've had this fretted board (25 1/2" scale) laying around forever. It has small vintage frets, I may change them out later. I'm using an unfretted board for the 27 5/8" scale neck.

After marking off the heel and volute at the nut I roughed out the shape with a stationary belt sander (and a 60 grit belt... A.K.A. rocks glued to a belt) then I used a shinto rasp to help smooth it out; I barely used it... those things cam remove a lot of wood! The rest of the shaping came down to various rasps and files.

I shaped the neck enough to be able to mount it into the body...

Here is the 27 5/8" scale neck ready to shape.

Contouring the body is next.


Moonshine

 

[T_Bone_TL]

ran into a bad finish problem which ended in a guitar arriving to a customer with the finish damaged (I'm stripping and refinishing it now), I'm (finally) in the middle of relicing a long overdue bass build... Which has reinforced my decision to no longer offer a "relic" option...

This seems like the perfect opportunity to save work on relicing by using the problem finish and letting {some shipping service I won't pick at random from a hat} handle the hard work of banging the heck out of it.

 

[moonshinegtrs]

On to contouring the body...

I did an 1/8" roundover on the body (front and back) and a very slight bevel on the top edge where one's forearm rests. next was to mark off where I wanted to angle the heel (I am using ferrules for the neck screws).

I started by removing material with my stationary belt sander. I got a little happy and had to redraw my contour line. I used the Shinto rasp to smooth it out (somewhat)...

Then rasp and clean up with a sanding block.

Did the same with the cutaway on the top...

I need to take care of a couple details then it will be time for final sanding.



Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

A couple of details before final sanding...

Threaded inserts for the cavity covers.

I wanted an onboard tuner, I looked at the few that were around before I found these; they're inexpensive but they work really good. Here I am routing out the rim.

Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

Fitting the tuners...

Rear view (I ended up cutting 1/8" more on each side of the outer tuner buttons for more room).

Let the final sanding commence!

Finally got to apply the stain...

Moonshine

 

[pudge]

ohhhhhh

 

[charlie monroe]

The homestretch is coming up!

Looking sweet

 

[moonshinegtrs]

The type of finish I use for these is one of my favorites; no sealer, stain then several coats of nitrocellulose lacquer with a semi gloss topcoat. It gives you a beautiful finish that allows you to feel the grain of the wood.

The stain is something that I mixed up.

Here is the body with three coats of lacquer.

Rear cavity covers.

Working on the Headpiece now, then I will complete the shaping and sanding of the neck.

Getting close, I just sold the second Deluxe this weekend (I have a third Deluxe already under construction), it is due at the end of this month. Time to step it up!

I am also starting a batch of six standard models, I will post build pics here.


Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

The end is near... Kind of.

Making the head piece.

Final shaping of the neck.

Installing side dots. I like using 3/32" mother of pearl dots, they're nice & big and light up nicely under stage lights.

Next is rounding over the edges of the fretboard then finish sanding. The neck will get a coat of light amber, then three coats of semi gloss nitrocellulose lacquer.


Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

I've had this flamed redwood for over 15 years. The first three deluxe models have flamed maple tops. The next run will have redwood.

(Note ... this is the back side of this bookmatched board. It has not been run through the thickness sander yet and for the photo, the back side was cleaner than the front. It is bookmatched on the other side)

Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

Applying finish to the neck...

Moonshine

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Mmmmm... the Altoids and Diet Coke finish. I like it. You'll have to post a tutorial.

 

[Jon Clegg]

Mmmmm... the Altoids and Diet Coke finish. I like it. You'll have to post a tutorial.

It's low calorie and minty fresh

 

[moonshinegtrs]

Mmmmm... the Altoids and Diet Coke finish. I like it. You'll have to post a tutorial.

We all have our dirty little secrets...

It's low calorie and minty fresh

Mmmmm... Minty.


I haven't assembled SlimBass #1 mostly due to I am trying to complete the second one by the end of the month. I am going to be cutting it close but it is still possible, if the pickups arrive in time... and I take advantage of the fact that my wife is going to be gone on a week long cruise (with her 90 year old Mum). Here's to spending seven days living in the shop, just like the good old days.

The customer that ordered the second Deuxe SlimBass is a TalkBass member so I wanted to keep this thread going with build pics of this one as well. The first build involved working out the bugs that come with the inaugural build. I am satisfied that said bugs are worked out. I guess we are about to see...

The Customer lives abroad so he requested a pau ferro fretboard as opposed to the Indian rosewood that comes standard.

Also pictured is the flame maple neck blanks that will be used for Slimbass numbers 2 & 3 (the Deluxe models feature a one piece figured maple neck). #3 will use a rosewood fretboard; the scale length will be 27 5/8".

I used a rosewood veneer on SlimBass #1 but I will be using this black veneer I purchased from Luthier's Mercantile for these builds.

On a solid body I would just glue the veneer between the top and body but since this body is hollow I decided to cut the veneer to fit the rim of the body (and interior portions).

More labor is involved doing it this way but since I would have to route out the cavities anyway (making the top thin enough for the controls to fit through) cutting it this way will allow me to use the veneer for more instruments.

I use tape to help hold the veneer in place so I can clamp it.

I decided to apply shielding paint to the interior of the bass before gluing the top on. I use Stew Mac's shielding paint; per the directions I apply three coats, letting each coat dry for 24 hours... Slow going but I have had excellent results using this product.

(I realized that after I had applied the shielding to bottom of the cavities that these areas will be sanded after I remove the back off of the body... as explained later in this thread)

For shielding the inside of the top I used the jig that I route out the interior of the body to mark the area that will need shielding.

The top with the shielding applied to the underside; I will have to touch it up a little but this will ensure that the instrument is totally shielded.

Top glued and clamped.

Clamps off...

Using my bandsaw to remove excess material.

Both bodies cut to shape.

More to pics coming soon!



Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

After the first Deluxe build I decided to remove 1/4" of the back of the body so that I can make control cavities out of the back material...

I think any repair guy (girl, person...) can attest to the fact that there are some things that are some jobs that the customer doesn't need to see happen. This really relates to any profession; last year I had both of my knees replaced (everything went amazingly well... the old fat guy has the knees of a 20 year old now!). Later I was invited to watch a video of actual knee replacement surgery... Holy Crap!

When it comes to guitar repair the first thing that comes to mind is a neck reset; no customer wants to see what it takes to remove a neck out of their pre war Martin...

The removal of the backs of these two SlimBasses fit in this category; I have a kit on hand to raise the depth of cut on my bandsaw from 6 1/4" to 12" (I also have a 2 HP motor to go with it). The problem with I haven't installed it yet...

With these two basses I decided to use my table saw to rip cut the backs; obviously the blade didn't cut all the way through, I ended up using a handsaw to finish the cut. It basically kicked my butt.

After thickness sanding here's what it looks like:

After marking off the control cavities, I used my scroll saw to cut them out.

Then I glued the backs (sans covers) onto the bodies...

Next came the fitting of the cavity covers; in my opinion it is small details such as this that makes the difference in owning a custom build as opposed to a factory instrument (to an extent);

More to come on the Deluxe SlimBass models...

I have also started two Standard SlimBass models. These are solid body instruments that will have thinner bodies to save weight.

I'm using the same body template as used for the Deluxe model.

More pics to come...


Moonshine

 

[RBS_Johnson]

Looking good! Was it a tough call to slice them back open again?

You say that the standard models will have a thinner body, how thin are you planning?

I'm planning on playing around with how thin I can reasonably make a bass. I always had a soft spot for the old MIJ guitars and basses with their thin, light bodies.

-Jake

 

[moonshinegtrs]

Looking good! Was it a tough call to slice them back open again?

You say that the standard models will have a thinner body, how thin are you planning?

I'm planning on playing around with how thin I can reasonably make a bass. I always had a soft spot for the old MIJ guitars and basses with their thin, light bodies.

-Jake

No, it was my plan to remove the back in initially. I just wish I had added the riser block to my bandsaw (and added the larger motor) so the it would of been easier to do so.

The Standard models will have an a thickness of 1 1/2"; this is due to the weight of the wood (Northern Ash), if I use a lighter wood for a run, say Spanish Cedar, I would most likely keep the body thickness at 1 3/4".

You can make the body as thin as you want (within reason)... The late Greg Curbow built bodies (and necks) out of Rockwood a synthetic material built from thin veneers of wood injected with phenolic resin under heat and pressure. The only problem was it was extremely dense and heavy. His answer was to build his petite series witth a extremely small (and thin) body.

The only limits would be hardware (pickup and depth of screws) and electronics (room for pots, batteres, etc...).

If I am correct, a Gibson SG is only 1 1/2" thick.


Moonshine

 

[moonshinegtrs]

More pics...

Next I used my template and a router table to clean up the outline of the body:

Time now to route the rear cutaway for the tuners:
First marked the area

Removed the wood from the cover first so there would be less chance of a tear out.

Used a forstner bit to remove the majority of material.

End result (no pun intended ):

Yes, I need a new router bit.

The Nordstrand Big Blades came in; deciding where they will be placed now (with customer's input).

Working on the neck now. Pics on the way...


Moonshine