Recovering from a mistake

[RichterScale]

I'd say adding to the sides would be easier too,......but it looks like they already have an angle/facet cut.
I'm imagining having to cut way back into the facet and adding thick lams to the side, in order to have enough material to get the profile right.

 

[RichterScale]

Maybe it's an optical illusion.
Is that flat?

 

[grimjim]

What I would do if I were yew would be this: cut the short side back another few mm, and then cut the good side to match the short side. Then laminate on another stripe of a different, contrasting wood - or at least a veneer that contrasts and then another stripe of yew. Then you'd end up with a cool taper effect where the taper is in the two pieces of yew and the outermost strip of wood follows the edge of the fretboard.

This. Equal-Equal doesn't look like a mistake.

 

[smart51]

Maybe it's an optical illusion.
Is that flat?

Yes. The photo is the back at the head end. The back and front are flat and full thickness across the whole length. The taper on the bass side is a fraction narrower than the treble side. Camera phones have wide angle lenses so distort the perspective somewhat. It doesn't do the orange colour of the yew any favours either.

 

[Ethereal Thorn]

I'd rip it down the center and add a additional laminate of a contrasting wood like purple heart bubinga or something

 

[Flying B]

Cool woods, I've often thought about using laburnum as a fret board but never found a suitable piece.

 

[smart51]

Extra pin stripes and extra laminations added. All is now well.

 

[dwizum]

Those pinstripes are super cool!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Extra pin stripes and extra laminations added. All is now well.
View attachment 4394850

Looks schweet!!

 

[Beej]

Amazing! Looks even more delicious now.

 

[C Stone]

I'd say you made a full recovery!
Can we call it a one of those "happy little accidents"?
Seriously it looks really good.
Very nice save, well done!

 

[smart51]

Here are a couple of shots now the rough carve is done. The bottom wilo be made shorter when I know how big the tuners will be

 

[RichterScale]

Nice

 

[Flying B]

That thing is going to come alive when the finish hits it! Please tell me you're going to oil it...

 

[smart51]

First assembly to make sure everything fits.

The bridge is maxed out and the B string doesn't quite intone. The rest are fine though.

I like to call this shot "yes, I snapped two of the strings by over-tightening the head piece"

The back is a compound curve over the whole surface. Not that you can see it in the photo.

Next, I've got to take all the brass work off to polish it and see if there's a way to ease a bit more intonation length out of the B string. And finish crowning the frets. And buying some more strings, obviously.

 

[Panada]

Interested in sharing details about the bridge/tailpiece?

 

[smart51]

Interested in sharing details about the bridge/tailpiece?

I couldn't find a 5 string ToM bridge anywhere, so I bought two 4 string bridges and used the parts. The bar is 9mm x 16mm brass with holes in it. The tailpiece / tuners are pretty much what you see. The tuner sliders are 1/4" brass with an M4 hole drilled down the length. The top and tail are 1/8" brass drilled to suit.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Is the bridge recessed into the body? If not could you enlarge the holes for the mounting posts and make them slots then drill and tap the end so you could use a grub screw to set where the post sits in the slot? Something like this.

Another option might be to turn the B saddle around? I don’t know if the string would sit in the saddle correctly but I’ve done that with guitar tune-o-matics and it’s worked.

 

[smart51]

Turning the saddle round and filing a slot where it it currently round will buy me maybe 2mm. That should be enough. It's less work than soldering in some brass rod and drilling the holes with an offset. Slots and grub screws would be less work. Thanks for the idea.