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Raykenbird 35" 5 Strings P/MM <First Build>

#21
Here i'd like to introduce you to...

1)Two pieces of beautiful red cedar that will be the ears...
2)My proudly home made press ($3US Vs $120 for three large clamps at home depot).

Hopefully tonight it will get to start looking like a bass :hyper:

press.jpg


Ray
 
#24
pilotjones said:
You got four lengths of all thread, plus wingnuts and washers, for $3? How did you manage that?
Click to expand...

That´s like 50 mexican pesos. It might be more in the US but not more than $10. still less expensive than clamps though.

Beleve me I'm more than happy to buy tools, and i love them! They are allways good things to have specially for "luthiery curious guys" like me. Just this time the clapms they have at home depot were way to expensive and caught me in a creative mood :smug: ja!

Ray
 
#25
Hey!
This is getting more and more fun... The home made press worked just fine. Now its time to more sawdust :D

This is the hole thing glued up and with templates on place. That templates were bought on eBay. Very high quality and usefull!

It´s a shame that i had to trim them a little because the core of my bass it's 5". Regular thunders are 4"

bb5f7181.jpg
 
#29
Very cool! Yes, sanding will take care of the tool marks.

The only "problem" that I see - and it's not a problem if you play like I do - is that access to the uppermost frets is limited. Do you have plans to enlarge the cutaway at all?
 
#32
ctmullins said:
Very cool! Yes, sanding will take care of the tool marks.

The only "problem" that I see - and it's not a problem if you play like I do - is that access to the uppermost frets is limited. Do you have plans to enlarge the cutaway at all?
Click to expand...

Thanks! yes i noticed that. I was a little tradeoff. I decided to push down the hole design moving the bridge to te end of the body and therefore pickups and neck to prevent neck dive. Beeing a 35" scale bass I hope this way it would have better balance. I will try to move that ear down a little but i don't want it to loose the shape of the thunder.

Ray
 
#33
Hi!
Yesterday i did some more work on the body...

Squared the edges of the cavities for the p-bass pickups with a chisel...
1e075904.jpg


And did some more cavities in the back for the pre-amp module, the battery and the les paul type switch (to go from P to MM and both)... It's very difficult to acomodate all that electronics in that little wings...

fba85b9d.jpg
 
#35
ctmullins said:
Very cool! Yes, sanding will take care of the tool marks.

The only "problem" that I see - and it's not a problem if you play like I do - is that access to the uppermost frets is limited. Do you have plans to enlarge the cutaway at all?
Click to expand...

I did it... just a little but it gave me access to 4-5 more frets. I didn't want to loose the shape too much... NOW the problem I see... is that a regular pickguard will not fit ti the new shape.. :rolleyes:
 
#37
Hi there! I just began the finish on the body. After several tryouts in scrap wood I decided not to try the sunburst effect in my head and go with a translucent finish...

Fisrt i applied walnut sealer using a credit card as a spatula (very flexible) to fill the pores...

c4a41ec6.jpg


Sanded back...

0f5e04a3.jpg


Then I used a local brand alcohol based dye. I mixed commercial red mahogany with a little red and a drop of black with 30% solvent...

e1806b47.jpg


I think it looks good! Tonight I will start with the Poly :eyebrow:

Ray
 

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