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New Warmoth Bubinga Behemoth - some Q's

elros

elros

Apr 24, 2004
1,901
18
48
Norway
hallgeir.no
Disclosures
Proprietor, Helland Musikk Teknologi
#1
Hello

Last year I put together a Warmoth 4-string bass which turned out very nice indeed. That one was made from Showcase stuff.

So since that one was so nice and fun to build, I decided to go again, this time for a fretless 4 entirely after my own specs. Those are: one-piece bubinga G4 body, bubinga gecko-style neck with bloodwood board, ETS piezo bridge and Nordstrand FatStack pickups.

The Warmoth bits arrived some days ago.
11020035.jpg
11020038.jpg

More photos.

Now, I am still waiting for the bridge to arrive, and I haven't even ordered the pickups yet.

Anyway, I'm posting because I have a couple of questions.

First, I am not sure of how to work the nut. The previous one came with a slotted and attached nut, but on this one I figured that I should learn how to do that stuff myself. I got a pair of GraphTech nut blanks. How do I attach them - I mean what glue should I use and stuff? Also, should I cut the string slots before or after attaching it to the neck?

Second, the wood is currently unfinished. I'm thinking I should do an oil finish. But I'm not sure if I have understood the oiling procedure correctly.
The oil I have available is boiled linseed oil, will this do?
Am I supposed to rub oil on to the wood and then sand while it is still wet? And then what - wipe off or let dry as is? Repeat with finer grit sand-paper?
Should I bother to oil the neck?

thanks!
 
#2
Nice! looking forward to pics when you're done.

re the nut- for bone nuts I just use a couple of drops of carpenter's glue, just enough to hold it in place. String pressure will do the rest. else you can try a tiny drop of superglue, again- very little will do. I cut the slots when the nut on the neck. Make sure you use nut files. try Dan Erlewine's book for a good read on the subject.

cheers
wemedge
 
#4
On the nut; I always slot mine off the neck (fewer opportunities to gouge the instrument). I cut the slots just shy of their proper depth, shape the top & edges, then install it and fine-tune the slot depths (taping off the surrounding board and headstock).

To get the slot depths, dry fit the nut and use either a caliper or feeler gauges and mark the height of the slot bottoms (they should be as high as the fretwire), then chuck the nut in a vise and cut the slots but don't cut all the way down to your mark just yet. Cut all the slots, then shape the top and knock down all the sharp edges before installing it.

After the nut is glued in, you fine-tune the slots so that you still have a little gap above fret #1 when you push the (tuned-up) string down between #2 and #3. For a bass I shoot for 0.005" (thinnest string) to 0.010" (fattest string) above #1 (this is where the feeler gauges really are necessary).
 
#7
fretless-oil.jpg


As promised, an update on the process.

I have been applying oil again and again, sanding when wet with increasingly fine sand paper. This morning I used 600 grit. Looks good.

We are still waiting for the ETS bridge though. Apparently ETS can't be reached, we haven't heard from them in a couple of months. Does anyone know what's up with them? Listerud is back to milling his own bridges, what with ABM also throwing in the towel.

And I still haven't ordered pickups. They'll be Nordstrand, but I'm still open for suggestions on wether to get the Fat Stack or the Dual Coil type.
 
#10
ETS is really really really slow... I am working with them through GH Services in Ontario, Canada, who is working with Basslab, who is working with ETS...

I have been waiting for my stuff since June or July, but I can't remember anymore... About 2 months ago they had made my bridges but in the wrong color. I heard a few weeks ago that they were ready to be chromed... But that's about it...

They moved their factory in August, and are probably slammed due to ABM's closing... My project is taking about 1 year longer than I had planned, but "good things come to those who wait" according to Heinz Ketchup...

The wait continues...
 
#13
That is a great piece of Bub, hope it's not too heavy - makes for superb bass tones.
Sorry I would not have your patience waiting 6 months for a bridge - quality is one thing but 6 months wait?! How on earth do they manage to keep a happy customer base?
"..Short delivery times, worldwide.." it says on their webaite.
My they do look pretty though :)
 
#17
Hi again,

I've been sanding and oiling when I have had the chance. It's looking quite nice now.

But now I'm wondering about how to finish the process.
Should I do a final treatment with Tru-Oil for example? I happen to have a half-full bottle sitting here.... this is what I used to finish off my previous Warmoth (which has an ash body and maple top). This tru-oil stuff seems to dry to a sort of hard finish, compared to the linseed oil I'm using now.
Then again, perhaps my Tru-Oil is too old and unusable.....
I don't know. But it seems that the Bubinga body is sort of dry and not so nice a couple of days after a linseed oil treatment. So I figure it needs to be finished with something else?
 
#18
My understanding of the ETS situation is that the company has only recently completed the move to the new location, which also involved getting some new machinery. Both ETS and ABM are fairly small companies, and the mixup on THSL's bridge color perhaps shows that ETS has a lot of orders. But I think they've responded fairly quickly on the correct ones, given their workload. Of course, this now means that I will have a number of black single-string headless tuner/bridges available, if anyone is interested...
 
#19
Well, I did the final layer with tru-oil, and rubbed and polished for a while late one night. It turned out very well, IMO. The body and the neck both look beautiful now, pretty much exactly the look I wanted. I'll see if I can take a picture or two.
 

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