SBO 2022, Big ABG scratch

[Crawforde]

Thanks,
If I can build it close to my vision, I’ll be happy. I worry about my execution, I am afraid I glued the side on poorly, it’s been a long time since I’ve bent and glued up complex bends.
Tomorrow will probably tell when I finish the day job and take clamps off, it is reversible so no permanent harm, but trying to bend, and twist to marks that I lost sight of, without enough clamps ready, made for some guesswork. A better jig would have been worth the time and work to make.

 

[Crawforde]

The maple didn’t fit.
I have a piece of mahogany, so bent it for the leg curve.

 

[Crawforde]

I had hoped to bend and glue up the rest today, but it’s about 7,033 degrees and so humid I can’t tell which way the rain is falling.
Also, my wife is out, so I’ll scrub down the granite counter.
Get out my sandpaper, diamond stone, and wet stones, and I’ll spend the day sharpening and truing planes and chisels.
If there is some dry weather I’ll fire up the bending iron later.
Edited because my thumbs are thick, my eyes are old, the paper clip demon is active today, the screen is small, and my brain is slow.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Is hoped to bend and glue up the rest today, but it’s about 7,033 degrees Alan’s so humid I can’t tell which way the rain is falling.
Also, my wife is out, so I’ll scrub down the granite counter.
Get out my sandpaper, diamond stone, and wet stones, and I’ll spend the day sharpening and truing planes and chisels.
If there is some dry weather I’ll fire up the bending iron.

Hmmm… yeah. I’m whining about the garage being hot and you’re going to work over a coal fired side bender. I guess I’ll just hush…

 

[Crawforde]

It does get hot, but I’m not too far away from a pool or a pond so heat can be dealt with.

 

[Crawforde]

No new pics, no fire, just a question.
There will be a bridge support “spring” incorporated so that the top can be built as light and mobile as possible. this part is going to be moving, is there any reason I shouldn’t make it so that part of the mechanism can also function as a supplemental internal soundboard?

 

[Crawforde]

Getting a little bit done.
I have the house to myself so I can work inside. I also took the opportunity to work inside and sharpened my planes and knives and bits …

that ugly board glued to the neck and tailblock is marked with nut and bridge locations, so not only is it a convenient handle, it is helping me determine how to determine the side heights and where to put some bits necessary to make this big thing a little more comfortable to play.

 

[Flamingo21]

@Crawforde
Can you show more of the bass here in the background? It intrigues me.

 

[Crawforde]

That would be a the good, bad, and ugly post.
It was a learning experience and is a nice on the couch at night, or needle on during this long meeting bass.
I should open it up and redo the pickup, I also drew the outline in case I decide to put in a Pickup.
There are a bunch of build photos in the
“What’s on your workbench “ thread.

 

[Crawforde]

Small update.
Did a little work on the bridge and the tailpieces. also, just to prove I’m not a complete Luddite, I made a “router” and installed a truss rod

 

[Matt Liebenau]

Wait, made a router? Is it coal fired too?

 

[Crawforde]

Lol. Nope.
Potato powered.
You can see it in the first pic to the left of the neck. it’s basically a piece of wood with a blade jammed into it.
so it’s like a spokeshave, but with a skinny little blade so it notches instead of smoooths.
I think it took about 5 minutes to make, and then during an afternoon work meeting I got the channel cut with it and a ratcheting brace and bit to make the hole at the head. Quiet tools are awesome.

 

[Crawforde]

I see a lot of builds where people put a black laminate between two other lighter woods during glue up. I like the way it looks.
This is a black walnut neck, and the fingerboard will be ebony. I am tempted to put a thin strip of maple in between. There are going to be maple accents elsewhere on the bass. What do you think? I could also lay a thin piece of mahogany there. This strip will also serve to support the fingerboard where it goes over the top so it’s purpose is not purely decorative.

 

[TFM94]

I see a lot of builds where people put a black laminate between two other lighter woods during glue up. I like the way it looks.
This is a black walnut neck, and the fingerboard will be ebony. I am tempted to put a thin strip of maple in between. There are going to be maple accents elsewhere on the bass. What do you think? I could also lay a thin piece of mahogany there. This strip will also serve to support the fingerboard where it goes over the top so it’s purpose is not purely decorative.

I love contrasting veneers, so I'd say go for it. I just recently put a maple veneer between the mahogany body and ziricote top of my SBO build and I'm very happy with the look. I suppose walnut and ebony could give even better contrast with maple.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

A nice veneer layer should look good. With two darker woods my first thought is maple.

 

[Flamingo21]

Yes.

Especially if there are maple accents already.

 

[Crawforde]

I mapped out the arching of the top and penciled in some rough guidelines. I’m trying to get the top as mobile as possible so I’ll follow my sketch which is (loosely) based on curtate cycloid arches, which use too much math to calculate, but a cheat can be done by making a wheel with a circumference the length of the arch and poking a hole in it at the projected max thickness of the top and then rolling the wheel along a line while making a line with a pencil pushed through the hole. If you make your parts out of flimsy paper and are working alone, doing this will cause the same kind of vocabulary that fixing plumbing causes. My dogs did not offer to help the way they usually do.

 

[Crawforde]

Had some time to start roughing in the arch. A sharp plane is fun and satisfying to use.

 

[Crawforde]

Some more chisel work.
I really like this stage of carving and am tempted to leave the chiseled surface as is and finish it with all the tone facets in place. this one is so weird already, it’s even more tempting.

The cuts look better in person than in the photo, but I bet if went over it again and cut in a nice spiral pattern, or a turtle shell pattern it would look cool.
I am not happy about that glue line in the center, my planing and/ or glueing were sloppy. I am tempted to separate the plates and redo it. That choice will need to be made before I hollow out the inside.

 

[Max Bogosity]

I had the same thought when I carved the scroll on my EUB. The textured surface somehow makes it easier to see the shape, at least in person. Maybe it’s because all the little surfaces each reflect the light a little differently.