SBO 2022 - Minimalist Medium Scale - Scratch Build

[BishopJP]

As the title may suggest, this build will be relatively "simple"; solid body, bolt on neck, minimal frills and I will only be using black limba and wenge.

The design is based on this build from the 2020 WBO but altered to make it a 32" scale, instead of 34". And not semi-hollow.

This piece of 4/4 wenge has very straight and and nearly-vertical grain; I will make a one piece neck from this slab, instead of my usual multi-lam necks.

For the fretboard, I'll use this bit of wenge with a little more interesting grain pattern.

Not the nicest black limba, but the grain should be interesting and the color is light enough to contrast with the neck wood.

This is all 8/4 planks approx 6" wide so I will need to add a filler strip in the middle of the body blank to get the required width. Not sure which chunk will be the body, yet.


Here we go!

 

[Mickey666]

My vote goes to the slab on the left

Sub'd

 

[Crawforde]

This should be pretty.

 

[TFM94]

Wenge and Limba sounds like an excellent combination. I hope you get through it without too many splinters

 

[Reedt2000]

Nice! Sub'd

 

[BishopJP]

Wenge and Limba sounds like an excellent combination. I hope you get through it without too many splinters

Yeah, I've had a couple wenge splinters...

They kinda suck, but I loooove a wenge neck!

 

[smart51]

limba and wenge

You've won already!

 

[Jeff Siddall]

I will only be using black limba and wenge.

Those are probably my two favorite woods. This should be awesome!

 

[BishopJP]

This weekend's task was mostly milling lumber to the right size and shape. I know I could've done this before the official start, but I didn't, so...

Seeing double...

I decided to build, or at least start building, two identical basses. I may abandon one of them (to be finished at a later date) so there will only be one up for voting, but the progress pics will show two instruments being built.

The black limba boards were thicker than 8/4 and my target thickness is 1-5/8" so I needed to cut them down a bit. Additionally, the boards are approx 6" (I need approx 13") wide so I took some off the back, ripped it into strips and used that for filler strips down the center, with the ubiquitous black veneer for a touch of class!

I also saved a piece from each board that I could use for a grain-matched rear cavity cover...

I milled some fretboards...

I decided to try something new with my neck blanks...
The way I make my necks (at this point) references off the center line, so I do not need parallel reference edges. So...

...I cut out the blanks, to the size and taper I need, using my track saw!

Two neck blanks...

...ready to have "ears" glued on. I will clean up the edges a little before gluing on the ears, but the track saw has a finish blade so the edges are pretty clean already!

Pretty happy with the grain orientation!

Hopefully, I will be ready for gluing soon...

 

[BishopJP]

Have not updated this thread in a bit, but the build is progressing...

Over the long weekend, I out a few hours into the builds, mostly working on the necks.

First, glued the "ears" onto the headstock...

got the blanks cleaned up, then routed for the carbon fiber back-strap using a guide bushing on the router base and a template...

results...

layed a few stands of carbon fiber in the routed channel...

pour in some epoxy, tap in a filler strip and clamp it up...!

Little too much epoxy, got a little messy...

neck blanks get cleaned up again, made flat and brought down to final thickness of 7/8"...

then they get routed for truss rods...

Unfortunately, I screwed up the one on the left. I was tired and working beyond the point I should have quit for the day, grabbed the router bit I thought was correct without verifying; so now I have a 1/2" wide recess at the end of the truss rod channel, instead of 3/8".

Dammit.

Not sure how I'm going to fix that.

Also got body blanks glued up, no pics yet.

 

[Crawforde]

That’s a multipurpose feature, not a mistake, think of it as an oversized access port and a tone/ resonance chamber.

 

[BishopJP]

That’s a multipurpose feature, not a mistake, think of it as an oversized access port and a tone/ resonance chamber.

Ah, "resonance chamber"; I like it! I think that would be an up-charge.

 

[Crawforde]

Or you could fill it with more carbon and epoxy and it could be the ultra-durable extra stiffness feature.
Or something.
I make the occasional extra special feature of originality respectfully acknowledging and utilizing the power of chaos and…

 

[BishopJP]

Or you could fill it with more carbon and epoxy and it could be the ultra-durable extra stiffness feature.
Or something.
I make the occasional extra special feature of originality respectfully acknowledging and utilizing the power of chaos and…

As do I, maybe more than "occasionally" though. I don't think I've mad an instrument yet, without a "special feature".

 

[AK4570]

Or, epoxy an appropriately sized off-cut of wenge back into your “resonance chamber”, and route again!

Making boo-boos in my projects is my superpower; covering them up with glue and wood and calling them a “feature” is a necessarily learned art.

This is a walnut “toneplug” covering up an errant drill hole in the back of a P-style body… yep, drilled the ground wire hole right out the back!

 

[BishopJP]

Or, epoxy an appropriately sized off-cut of wenge back into your “resonance chamber”, and route again!

Making boo-boos in my projects is my superpower; covering them up with glue and wood and calling them a “feature” is a necessarily learned art.

This is a walnut “toneplug” covering up an errant drill hole in the back of a P-style body… yep, drilled the ground wire hole right out the back!

View attachment 4741727

That looks intentional! Nicely done!

This is how I fixed a similar issue, previously. Likely be the solution here as well.

 

[BishopJP]

Here are the two body blanks, glued up, flattened and planed down to just proud of 1-1/2" thick.

This one I used filler stripes down the center, to get the total width I needed...

This one got filler strips at the edges of the lower bout...

Kinda like this one better!

We will see how it turns out, though.

 

[BishopJP]

Ok, question for anyone who has made "bolt-on" bass necks...

My body blanks are 1-1/2" thick and my neck blanks are 1-1/8" at the heel. To get the top of the fretboard at the correct height relative to the top of the body, I need to make the neck pocket 3/4" deep. This leaves 3/4" of body wood to bolt through to attach the neck. I also planned to use recessed ferrules on the back, which removes an additional 3/16" +/-. We are pretty close to 1/2" of wood remaining to support the neck.

Will this be a problem? Should I thin down my neck blank?

 

[Flamingo21]

This is how I fixed a similar issue, previously.

Looks the part!

 

[TerribleTim68]

Ok, question for anyone who has made "bolt-on" bass necks...

My body blanks are 1-1/2" thick and my neck blanks are 1-1/8" at the heel. To get the top of the fretboard at the correct height relative to the top of the body, I need to make the neck pocket 3/4" deep. This leaves 3/4" of body wood to bolt through to attach the neck. I also planned to use recessed ferrules on the back, which removes an additional 3/16" +/-. We are pretty close to 1/2" of wood remaining to support the neck.

Will this be a problem? Should I thin down my neck blank?

I think you could infer some info from a traditional 7ender Stratocaster. The traditional body dimensions are 1-3/4" thick, and they rout the neck pocket .594" +/-.020. So, doing some mathz, 1.75" - .594" (with a .020 variance) gives you just over 1" remaining under the neck. Keep in mind, that is also using a neck plate without recessed screws AND that's just what Leo did, doesn't mean it's gospel. Plenty of people will tell you that 7ender bodies have chunky, uncomfortable heels too, AND there's plenty of other guitars out there, including 7ender, who use an angled heel to shave off some bulk too.
All that to say, I'd be removing some material from the neck, 1/2" of body left might be okay, but it gives me pause. Hopefully someone like Bruce, someone much smarter than me, will be along in a bit.

I hope that helps.