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Nomad98 build

#24
Nomad98 said:
I got them on ebay (user: burl.quilt). They were 3 sets for $25/shipping included. He put in an extra set "Free" written on it that was the worst of the lot. That is the one I used for this bass! There was one set that had a gouge in it so he sent me another set! So by the end of the deal I got 5 sets of Sitka Spruce tops for $25 bucks! I shoulda gone out to buy a Lotto ticket.

I am sure that you wouldn't want to use them on an acoustic (maybe you would) but my plan was always to use them on my semi hollow or solid body basses.

Nomad98
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I've bought some tops from him before too, I've always been happy with them. The freebies are cool too!:D
 
#25
asad137 said:
Holy crap, you're in Minneapolis! I may have to come by and give that bass a 'test drive' :)

Asad
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HOLY CRAP! YES!

Yes. Please do... I have long since lost connection to the musical community in this area and would love to have some input into the playability of what I make! Let's hook up after this one is done!


scottyd said:
I've bought some tops from him before too, I've always been happy with them. The freebies are cool too!:D
Click to expand...

I will, for sure, buy more tops from this guy... who says "nothin is free!"



~Nomad98
 
#26
Cool deal on the pickup screws too, I've been wanting to try this, but have always been afraid of how it will look with the screws in the back of the body. Looks good in my opinion!
 
#28
Neck dive is always a concern but there is a lot of purpleheart on the body side and the hollow cavities are small.

The weight may come in a 8.5 - 9 lbs? Right now (without hardware) the body side is much heavier than the neck side. The weight of the bridge, pickup and electronics will be about as much as the tuners (these are all guesstimations) so I am not too worried!

Also my last build was similar to this one and there is no dive. (my fingers are crossed).

Nomad98
 
#29
scottyd said:
Cool deal on the pickup screws too, I've been wanting to try this, but have always been afraid of how it will look with the screws in the back of the body. Looks good in my opinion!
Click to expand...

Thanks... I was more afraid of how to match the holes up from the body to the cover. I just drilled the cover holes first then stuck toothpicks into the cover holes. Then I pressed the cover into the cavity and imprinted the toothpicks into the Spanish Cedar! Vwalla! "Drill here!"

Worked out really well, plus I think the screws in the back look fine... what's two more screws when it's a bolt-on anyway.

Nomad98
 
#30
Awesome. Love the magnetic cover plate attachment design. Not to mention the semi hollow aspects. Tracking down your previous builds now... =)

As stated by another poster, those magnets can be difficult to separate. Just wondering how difficult/easy the cover is to remove? Does it require a lever such as a flat head screw driver? Or, are you just gripping it with your finger tips?

Wait, I think I see a finger hole in later pictures which answers my question - let me know if I'm wrong.
 
#31
knowledgebass said:
Awesome. Love the magnetic cover plate attachment design. Not to mention the semi hollow aspects. Tracking down your previous builds now... =)

As stated by another poster, those magnets can be difficult to separate. Just wondering how difficult/easy the cover is to remove? Does it require a lever such as a flat head screw driver? Or, are you just gripping it with your finger tips?

Wait, I think I see a finger hole in later pictures which answers my question - let me know if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Thanks... The magnets are strong, but my wife (not a body builder) can remove the cover without breaking a nail. My nails are intact too! The cover is like a toy to play with. Take it off, put it on... over and over....

Nomad98
 
#32
Nomad98 said:
HOLY CRAP! YES!

Yes. Please do... I have long since lost connection to the musical community in this area and would love to have some input into the playability of what I make! Let's hook up after this one is done!
Click to expand...

Deal! I'll send you a PM with my email address; I'll be watching the posts here, but you can email me when you're done and we can work something out.

Asad
 
#35
Well it's been a long time since I have had progress on this bass...

I had this idea to finish my bass with de-waxed shellac to seal and grain fill, then I was going to do wipe on Poly. I ended up spending a lot of time on the shellac and never got to the Poly end of the finish. The shellac just got way to gummy (I'm sure a lot of you know that) so I sanded it all off.

I then decided to go down the Tru Oil road. I have been looking for an easy finish to apply and I am cautiously thinking that I have found it. I know there are a lot of people at TB that use it so... can you all be wrong?

Here are the results so far with just a few coats of Watco Danish then a few more coats of Tru Oil. I have a lot more coats of tru oil to go but the grain is really starting to pop on the sitka spruce (although the picts may not convey that).

pic_15.jpg


pic_16.jpg


pic_17.jpg


pic_18.jpg
 
#37
Spanish cedar (cedrela) is reasonably soft... it works and feels a lot like mahogany, only is, for the most part, lighter in weight (smells nice but the dust tastes horrible... bitter). It's not really a cedar. It has many similar properties to mahogany, and it appears to have the same family (but not the same genus or species) as true mahogany.

I like it. It's easy to work, looks good, and is reasonably inexpensive.

Also, it sets off darker woods like bloodwood *very* nicely...

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#39
lightbulbjim said:
Looking sweet! Oil finishes are definitely the nicest looking IMO.

How soft is that Cedar? That would be my only concern with doing an oil finish on something like this.
Click to expand...

The spanish cedar is soft but not as soft as something like basswood... Like SDB Guitars says "reasonably soft"... that's a good way to put it. I'm hoping that it won't be a problem, but I am on this quest for an easy finish that won't stink up my house so this is what I'm trying this time.

My whole luthier/bass building thing now is experiment. Try different finishes and see what will work or not work. The old "nothing ventured nothing gained" philosophy.
 

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