SBO 2022, Big ABG scratch

[Crawforde]

with a sharp chisel each facet seems to be slick and reflective. I really like the effect.
I remember regretting it when I planed the guitar top smooth.
I think I’ll look for an off-cut, carve its surface up, and put a finish on it to see how it goes. If I can finish that surface nicely, it may stay. I could work a pattern from around the sound hole to the top of the arch, and then do something similar on the scroll.
If this works, no sanding, at least on the top. That’s a nice bonus.

 

[Crawforde]

Ok.
The gap between the boards got irritating.
It was tight and almost invisible on the inside, where it would be carved away, but thicker on top of the arch. That was scary so, I put together a rip saw and cut it in half.

 

[Crawforde]

It’s glued up now. tomorrow I’ll go back to arching.
if I can get some time tonight after work maybe I’ll do some carving on the neck and scroll.

 

[Crawforde]

Long, long meeting today about stuff that really isn’t my job, and a project that I’m not very involved in, but I have to attend because of some overlap and the potential for bad things to happen if nonsense in the overlap zone is overlooked. So, while stuck sitting down in the air conditioning (I needed this yesterday was a long day in the brutal heat), listening and looking at the occasional slide, answering a question every 15 minutes or so, I figure that’s an excellent time to sharpen some tools.

The basket with the bins is great. I don’t think it was meant to go together. I have about 6 bins. 2 fit perfectly in the basket. I keep my sharpening stuff in one. When I’m ready to sharpen I unwrap, or unbox the stones, fill the bin with water, and then go do other stuff. When I’m ready, the stones usually are too.
I can get it all done, stones set out to dry and then put away before my wife sees I was working in the house.

 

[Crawforde]

Not much progress on the bass, but the workbench is coming along and I am ready to drill the holes for my bench dogs. I also have a change of plans regarding my fingerboard.
the neck has a distinct tone change from one side to the other. That white oak off-cut from the vice boards has a similar change in tone on one side. so, I will save my ebony fingerboard for my next build and use the oak for this. Now it’s all North American wood, and I can arch the board enough to make arco play possible, if I knew how and if I had a bow…. New project on the horizon.
Any of you who have ammonia fumed white oak, did all the wood darken equally or did sapwood/ heartwood remain in contrast?

 

[Crawforde]

The final contour lines are sketched on, along with a little inspiration from the natural world while I carve. I still need to brace the back, hollow the arch out, and put it all together. I doubt I will finish in time, home ownership is a bear, I just pulled out the toilet from the master bathroom so fixing that room up will take priority

 

[RichterScale]

I think that shell needs to become half of an instrument body.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

You’re picking functional indoor plumbing over finishing the new bass? Really?!?

Seriously, I’m looking forward to seeing this one done.

 

[TerribleTim68]

Is that Sauron's eye?!?!?!

 

[Crawforde]

NO!
But now that you mention it…
In the end this thing will probably look more entish or elvish.
Or even like a hobbit bass with the body being almost round.

 

[Crawforde]

You’re picking functional indoor plumbing over finishing the new bass? Really?!?

Seriously, I’m looking forward to seeing this one done.

Yea
My wife just really doesn’t understand that my workbench and build are more important than silly newfangled indoor plumbing stuff.

 

[Crawforde]

Another bit of shame to go with not finishing on time. I’m not happy with the chiseled texture. It looks good on one side, the other has a lot of grain runout and it’s hard to cut a pretty pattern smoothly so I think I’m going to smooth it down and make this slightly conventional. I’ll definitely keep the idea in mind for the right piece of wood.
the guitar made to go with it is getting finished now and will hopefully Be completely done soon. It’s getting delivered on Oct 11 so time is getting short. I suppose I’d better finish the bathroom before I leave too.

 

[Crawforde]

Break in the storm and we have power. my outdoor shop is flooded, but I got in the garage for a bit and redid the outer surface.
I also drilled my reference points and started arching the interior.

 

[Max Bogosity]

Looks good. How are you carving out the concave side?

 

[Crawforde]

I Started that by drilling holes with my little drill press to within 5mm -6mm of the top where it could reach. Then I measured the thickness in the center and put tape around a drill bit and drilled holes in the center down to 6-8mm from the top. Then I chiseled channels between the drill marks, and then the chiseled out the space in between. then I went at it with my little planes until the drill marks started to disappear. I have two little Japanese planes that are perfect for this work. That’s where I am now. All of that is similar to a violin/ viola carve. now because this thing is big, and weird I have to make it up as I go along. Normally now would be the time to fine- tune the arching and mount a bass bar or bracing if it was a guitar. So this is a strange shape. Where the sound hole it, there is a solid piece of wood to give the hole some depth. I used a speaker box app to estimate the size and depth of the port. Then instead of round I stretched it out into a more interesting shape. I did that for three reasons.
1. I read an F-hole study that made sense to me and indicated that the length of the perimeter was important for optimizing frequency response and power. Invalid Link Removed
2. It looks better.
3. It’s easier.
So

 

[Crawforde]

Yes. So. lost power. Will try again to finish that later.

 

[2groggy]

South Florida?!? Shouldn't you be running for the hills? Keep safe!

 

[Crawforde]

Luckily I’m on the east side so get a break this time. It’s wet and windy but luckily I’m closer to the east coast than the west. Once this is past There will be ridiculous amounts of work to do cleaning up and repairing the damage.

 

[Crawforde]

Did a little bit today preparing to glue the top on my late Summer Scratch build/ early winter nerd assembly build.

 

[Crawforde]

It’s been a while since I had time to play. But it’s actually starting to look kind of similar to what I had planned when this started. Maybe some of the weirdness visible in the glue-up shot is starting to make sense now.