Interesting, I like the lines on the blue one. Thanks, definitely going to look into changing that lower horn.
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New Build - Five String single cutaway fretless
- Thread starter Jisch
- Start date
I've probably said this already elsewhere (maybe even in this thread?) but I usually draw a 1:1 rendering of the basic shape for my basses, cut the body out with a lot of extra room around the line and fine tune it in the shop. I spend some time on the drawing, but I always know it's a rough outline. I really like that creative process in the shop and going where the wood takes me, during that time I feel like I'm "in the zone" creatively. While that sounds all hippy and awesome, the reality is there are usually elements of the final design that bug me, perhaps if I go into the shop with a final design I can prevent those small issues.
This bass I'm taking a different approach and trying to do all the design beforehand. I have spent way more time on this rendering than any I've done in the past. I plan on chambering the body, which means planning is necessary. I'm lucky that my wife is patient and seems to enjoy helping me out with design stuff. I have also incorporated the feedback I've gotten here. I can see that the body shape is something I need to work on more, in retrospect I've focused on the technical skills part of building (which is important too!).
All that said, here's where I'm at with the body right now, it seems like every edit reduces the size and adds to the curves. This is going to be a small body, with the chambering it should be really light too. The lines don't represent the widths of the wood being used for the slats - most are actually much wider. I also got a piece of wenge and I'll put a few strips of that in there for contrast. That's the next design consideration - what wood goes where. We were initially thinking of a non-symmetrical layout of the woods, but now I'm thinking it will be symmetrical.
This bass I'm taking a different approach and trying to do all the design beforehand. I have spent way more time on this rendering than any I've done in the past. I plan on chambering the body, which means planning is necessary. I'm lucky that my wife is patient and seems to enjoy helping me out with design stuff. I have also incorporated the feedback I've gotten here. I can see that the body shape is something I need to work on more, in retrospect I've focused on the technical skills part of building (which is important too!).
All that said, here's where I'm at with the body right now, it seems like every edit reduces the size and adds to the curves. This is going to be a small body, with the chambering it should be really light too. The lines don't represent the widths of the wood being used for the slats - most are actually much wider. I also got a piece of wenge and I'll put a few strips of that in there for contrast. That's the next design consideration - what wood goes where. We were initially thinking of a non-symmetrical layout of the woods, but now I'm thinking it will be symmetrical.
thanks! I keep saying I appreciate the feedback, because I do!
Hopefully you guys can see some of the suggestions here on LC in the evolution of the design. I just plopped the pickups and preamp on the body to see what kind of trouble I'm in with space - it looks like I'll be fine as the Audere preamp comes with compact pots and the preamp is super thin. I can't wait to get going on this thing - stupid work!
I used the router table to get the truss rod slot cut tonight, I don't like this truss rod, I think I got it off Amazon or something. I'll get a StewMac one next time. The hex head end is too big:
I got the wenge stringers cut and I laid out the slats. I'm going to go symmetrical with the pieces of wood. I'll drill some dowel holes to line the wings up with the neck until I get it all together. I'll probably get the glue up done tomorrow.
I got the wenge stringers cut and I laid out the slats. I'm going to go symmetrical with the pieces of wood. I'll drill some dowel holes to line the wings up with the neck until I get it all together. I'll probably get the glue up done tomorrow.
Getting ready for the glue up. I had to lay everything out and figure out where I can chamber (not much!), where the dowels can go so they don't interfere and the wire channel between pickups. It turns out that one piece of walnut is just BARELY long enough. Not a big deal, but man it's close - I'm not sure how it came up so close as I had plenty of wood. No damage done, just something I'm going to have to watch carefully when I glue it up. The bottom is also very tight against the bridge, I could have given myself a lot more room, but that would have been when I was roughing in the neck. Again, not a big deal, but it's making things closer than it needs to be.
Trying a little experiment with knobs - I'm using a cutoff maple branch with some wenge glued on top. I'll try turning them in a drill press (or on the lathe). We'll see how this works out, it could be a complete waste of time.
I really wanted a light body on this one and was planning on a lot of chambering. When it came down to it there wasn't much room for chambering, this was about it, I suppose that's because the body is small anyway. At a minimum I can say the body is chambered :-D :
Alignment dowels and wiring channel:
Glued up wings:
Alignment dowels and wiring channel:
Glued up wings:
I pulled the wood out of the clamps today, glue up looks great, no lines in anywhere significant. The walnut is very close, which could have easily been avoided if I cut the slats even an inch (or half inch!) longer than I did.
I cut the headstock front and back really wide with the bandsaw, man that was tough, I don't know why it was so hard, it's really not that thick of a piece of wood. I think I need to go through that saw and see what's going on. Everything I use except the router and dremel are my dad's so I always feel a bit weird about touching his tools. You can see the "before" burns on the cutoffs. It took me forever to get it through
I cleaned it up a little with the oscillating sander - cherry smells weird when you work it, kind of sweet:
...and here the body shape is drawn on the wood with it resting on the dowels. Funny story, apparently the chambering lines up to the dowel hole, the first time I tried putting the dowel in it slipped back into the chamber. I'll get some glue in there to hold the loose dowel in place so it doesn't rattle around (even though I can't hear it moving around even when I shake it).
Really I could have cut the wings to shape today, but as I was trying to get it drawn on in the shop the template kept slipping, I got frustrated and I decided that was enough for today.
I cut the headstock front and back really wide with the bandsaw, man that was tough, I don't know why it was so hard, it's really not that thick of a piece of wood. I think I need to go through that saw and see what's going on. Everything I use except the router and dremel are my dad's so I always feel a bit weird about touching his tools. You can see the "before" burns on the cutoffs. It took me forever to get it through
I cleaned it up a little with the oscillating sander - cherry smells weird when you work it, kind of sweet:
...and here the body shape is drawn on the wood with it resting on the dowels. Funny story, apparently the chambering lines up to the dowel hole, the first time I tried putting the dowel in it slipped back into the chamber. I'll get some glue in there to hold the loose dowel in place so it doesn't rattle around (even though I can't hear it moving around even when I shake it).
Really I could have cut the wings to shape today, but as I was trying to get it drawn on in the shop the template kept slipping, I got frustrated and I decided that was enough for today.
A couple hours in the shop today.
I made a router sled of sorts to finalize the neck thickness:
It worked great, I would never have known about this except after seeing it here on LC:
I got the body cut out, but it will require much more fine tuning. Cherry is freaking HARD. Wow.
I hadn't really thought about this connection, lots of forming to be done here!
And I used the router sled method to make the back of the headstock flat (worked great again)
I need to look at this fingerboard. I like having fret lines on the neck, but I think they will detract from the nice figure on it. I think I might go with fret lines on the edge of the fretboard only. It will be challenging for me, but it's good to challenge yourself right?
I made a router sled of sorts to finalize the neck thickness:
It worked great, I would never have known about this except after seeing it here on LC:
I got the body cut out, but it will require much more fine tuning. Cherry is freaking HARD. Wow.
I hadn't really thought about this connection, lots of forming to be done here!
And I used the router sled method to make the back of the headstock flat (worked great again)
I need to look at this fingerboard. I like having fret lines on the neck, but I think they will detract from the nice figure on it. I think I might go with fret lines on the edge of the fretboard only. It will be challenging for me, but it's good to challenge yourself right?
I should probably have fastened something to the bottom of my router, the base was just a little too narrow so I had to balance it on one piece of wood as it got close to each edge.
Those pieces of angle iron were cut off of a bed frame. You can pick one of those up at a thrift store for like $10.00. Even if you buy angle iron at home depot, you're still only looking at maybe $25.00.
I looked at it on my phone at first so I couldn't see the detail, I just pulled it up on the computer, it's a very simple solution. Bed frame: great idea.
I spent some time editing the shape a bit during the week, then I went over to the shop and brought everything into the new lines with the bandsaw and the oscillating drum sander. It's not easy to get a clean line with that sander and the varying wood densities. After getting it close with the sander I finished it up with a sanding block. The test was running my finger around the body and seeing if I could feel any bumps. From past experience I know that if there are any bumps in the sides then the roundover will get messed up. I know that's obvious. In the past I convince myself that some minor issues are ok and I'll fix them when I do the final sand. The thing is you can fix it on the side and sand once, or you can fix it three times (once on top, once on bottom and once on the side), it's much easier to fix once.
Then I rounded over the body, as the wings aren't connected yet, I'll do that round over after they are glued up. I am going to need to do some hand rounding around the scroll, I could only get so deep into it with the roundover bit. That's going to take some time with the dremel, sandpaper and scrapers.
Then I rounded over the body, as the wings aren't connected yet, I'll do that round over after they are glued up. I am going to need to do some hand rounding around the scroll, I could only get so deep into it with the roundover bit. That's going to take some time with the dremel, sandpaper and scrapers.
I spent an hour or so carving the scroll. It started out looking like this:
I used a combination of a router bit in a dremel, scrapers and sandpaper. I still have a bit to go, but it's starting to get there:
I'm procrastinating working on the fretboard. If I am going to put fretlines all the way across the wood, then I really need to keep the edges on the neck blank so I have something square. I just don't know if I can play a fretless without fretlines, and I don't want to put lines across that piece of cocobolo, I think it will distract from the wave. I guess I can keep working on the body while I think about it. Next up is the body indent.
I used a combination of a router bit in a dremel, scrapers and sandpaper. I still have a bit to go, but it's starting to get there:
I'm procrastinating working on the fretboard. If I am going to put fretlines all the way across the wood, then I really need to keep the edges on the neck blank so I have something square. I just don't know if I can play a fretless without fretlines, and I don't want to put lines across that piece of cocobolo, I think it will distract from the wave. I guess I can keep working on the body while I think about it. Next up is the body indent.
