* TacticalYour word salad is missing a few favourites:
- Heritage
- Heirloom
- Patina
- Organic
- Emission-free
- Carbon-neutral
- Disruptive
- Unicorn
- and many more
* Crypto
* Enterprise
* Luxury
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
SBO 2022 - The Tailgate Trifecta
- Thread starter AK4570
- Start date
* Crypto
* Enterprise
* Luxury
This one almost slipped by.Just call it "rustic matched" and you can charge boutique prices.
I'm deducting 1 internet for use of the B word.
An update of sorts follows. I've gotten another 3 days of work done on these but am just now getting around to reporting on same.
The neck glue-ups went well, but the scarf in the neck for the 5-string needed a couple prosthetics added to fill out the shoulders.
I set that aside to dry and pulled out a couple more pieces of the ash I’ve been squirreling away, then started flattening them to begin the body of the Bass VI.
I'm going to need a new router planing bit soon... this one is getting worn, chipped, and ugly.
Additionally, as I scraped away the various layers of chainsaw cuts, I realized I might not need to cap this body with a contrasting wood. Once I was at a clear(ish) depth, the final thickness was right around 1 3/8. I might need to replace the 3-way switch I’ve got on hand, but I think this might work!
The concept:
I threw a couple of walnut offcuts and a stick of maple in here just to get an idea of what I was looking at. Ultimately, I’m planning to go with a couple of pieces of wenge to match the fingerboard on either side of a central piece of maple.
The neck glue-ups went well, but the scarf in the neck for the 5-string needed a couple prosthetics added to fill out the shoulders.
I set that aside to dry and pulled out a couple more pieces of the ash I’ve been squirreling away, then started flattening them to begin the body of the Bass VI.
I'm going to need a new router planing bit soon... this one is getting worn, chipped, and ugly.
Additionally, as I scraped away the various layers of chainsaw cuts, I realized I might not need to cap this body with a contrasting wood. Once I was at a clear(ish) depth, the final thickness was right around 1 3/8. I might need to replace the 3-way switch I’ve got on hand, but I think this might work!
The concept:
I threw a couple of walnut offcuts and a stick of maple in here just to get an idea of what I was looking at. Ultimately, I’m planning to go with a couple of pieces of wenge to match the fingerboard on either side of a central piece of maple.
The next morning (3pm for us mid-shift folks), I pulled the clamps off of the 5-string neck and trimmed up the prosthetics with the trusty handsaws.
The oversized chunks I added in were trimmed up with a handplane…
…before clamping the whole business into the neck-routing jig and lowering everything to an even plane. (do your best to ignore the router crash in the upper, left-hand corner... some moderately strong language was employed before the situation was rectified to the audience's satisfaction)
There we go. Isn't that better?
This neck (for the 5-string) is going to have a walnut cap added to the headstock once I pick out an appropriate piece (backburner task number 7391984658498289374.73)
Those of you that have been following along have no doubt observed my penchant for salvage wood (also known as “cheapness”). My bride and I were lucky enough to make a dump run early last winter right after one of the local contractors had dumped the entirety of a kitchen they have just finished tearing out. We were able to salvage enough maple to build a dining room table with a bunch left over. I’ve already dipped into it for the headstocks on these 2 necks, and now this doubled ¾” piece that appears to have been the edge of a counter is sacrificing itself to become fingerboard radius blocks. My current plan is to affix some 60grit sandpaper to one of my 100lb propane tanks and sand in an approximately 20” radius… we’ll see if I’ve got the energy required for that particular task! Hmmm... maybe I could bribe one of my kids to do it.
These blocks are 12" long x 1 1/2" thick x 2 3/4" wide. And just so you're aware, the partial inclusion of the biscuits is going to be all the new rage in radius blocks. No, really. I meant them to be there. Yeah...
The oversized chunks I added in were trimmed up with a handplane…
…before clamping the whole business into the neck-routing jig and lowering everything to an even plane. (do your best to ignore the router crash in the upper, left-hand corner... some moderately strong language was employed before the situation was rectified to the audience's satisfaction)
There we go. Isn't that better?
This neck (for the 5-string) is going to have a walnut cap added to the headstock once I pick out an appropriate piece (backburner task number 7391984658498289374.73)
Those of you that have been following along have no doubt observed my penchant for salvage wood (also known as “cheapness”). My bride and I were lucky enough to make a dump run early last winter right after one of the local contractors had dumped the entirety of a kitchen they have just finished tearing out. We were able to salvage enough maple to build a dining room table with a bunch left over. I’ve already dipped into it for the headstocks on these 2 necks, and now this doubled ¾” piece that appears to have been the edge of a counter is sacrificing itself to become fingerboard radius blocks. My current plan is to affix some 60grit sandpaper to one of my 100lb propane tanks and sand in an approximately 20” radius… we’ll see if I’ve got the energy required for that particular task! Hmmm... maybe I could bribe one of my kids to do it.
These blocks are 12" long x 1 1/2" thick x 2 3/4" wide. And just so you're aware, the partial inclusion of the biscuits is going to be all the new rage in radius blocks. No, really. I meant them to be there. Yeah...
I spent a little time finalizing headstock designs (There truly is nothing quite like designing after the build has already begun).
Full disclosure here; I had never seen the headstock of an Ibanez BTB until the recent thread on 6-string spacing… which leads me to the following conclusion: The designers of the BTB are absolutely brilliant to have stolen the headstock design I drew up last year. Well done, Ibanez. Unfortunately, that headstock design is my intellectual property, so you can anticipate a call from my lawyers shortly. I think we’ll be able to settle out of court, but it all depends on how much you’re willing to pay me for my admittedly glorious design.
Yeah, right.
In reality, there is a rapidly diminishing supply of truly original shapes for the headstock of a bass and, while this may not be the most original shape ever whittled, it is at least not entirely displeasing.
Also, I’m aware that the forwardmost tuner on the Bass VI is incorrectly spaced… it was fixed subsequent to this picture. And so, with those “mea culpa’s” out of the way, I went ahead and glued them to a piece of MDF to make templates.
I’ve recently spent quite a bit of time playing a Harley Benton Bass VI which they imaginatively call the “guitarbass,” and my number 1 complaint is the rather light-duty guitar tuners they chose to employ. Since I’ve got almost total control of the design process (unless overruled by the art department… AKA, my wife and daughters), I’m using Gotoh 707’s across the board (no pun intended).
Next, I pulled a poorly resawn wenge drop-top out of the pile and ripped off a couple of pieces, one of which will be the Bass VI fingerboard, the other for some body stringers.
The poor fellow who resawed this particular piece (not me… really, it wasn’t) must have been having a bad day. Either that or the wrong blade/setup on the saw. When I started flattening, the thicker parts of the board were around 7/16”… by the time I was done, it was at a consistent ¼”. Almost too pretty to slap on edge inside a body blank but I’m going to! For consolation, however, the fingerboard should pop nicely as well.
Full disclosure here; I had never seen the headstock of an Ibanez BTB until the recent thread on 6-string spacing… which leads me to the following conclusion: The designers of the BTB are absolutely brilliant to have stolen the headstock design I drew up last year. Well done, Ibanez. Unfortunately, that headstock design is my intellectual property, so you can anticipate a call from my lawyers shortly. I think we’ll be able to settle out of court, but it all depends on how much you’re willing to pay me for my admittedly glorious design.
Yeah, right.
In reality, there is a rapidly diminishing supply of truly original shapes for the headstock of a bass and, while this may not be the most original shape ever whittled, it is at least not entirely displeasing.
Also, I’m aware that the forwardmost tuner on the Bass VI is incorrectly spaced… it was fixed subsequent to this picture. And so, with those “mea culpa’s” out of the way, I went ahead and glued them to a piece of MDF to make templates.
I’ve recently spent quite a bit of time playing a Harley Benton Bass VI which they imaginatively call the “guitarbass,” and my number 1 complaint is the rather light-duty guitar tuners they chose to employ. Since I’ve got almost total control of the design process (unless overruled by the art department… AKA, my wife and daughters), I’m using Gotoh 707’s across the board (no pun intended).
Next, I pulled a poorly resawn wenge drop-top out of the pile and ripped off a couple of pieces, one of which will be the Bass VI fingerboard, the other for some body stringers.
The poor fellow who resawed this particular piece (not me… really, it wasn’t) must have been having a bad day. Either that or the wrong blade/setup on the saw. When I started flattening, the thicker parts of the board were around 7/16”… by the time I was done, it was at a consistent ¼”. Almost too pretty to slap on edge inside a body blank but I’m going to! For consolation, however, the fingerboard should pop nicely as well.
I started today by cutting out headstock templates…
Then pulled out the neck-planing jig and ran a metric butt load (official measurement) of pieces through it starting with body blank pieces…
Followed by a headstock plate (mmm, tasty walnut)…
…and finishing with a wenge fingerboard for the Bass VI
Wrapped up the afternoon by doweling the body parts…
… gluing them together
…and affixing the headplate to the headstock
Then pulled out the neck-planing jig and ran a metric butt load (official measurement) of pieces through it starting with body blank pieces…
Followed by a headstock plate (mmm, tasty walnut)…
…and finishing with a wenge fingerboard for the Bass VI
Wrapped up the afternoon by doweling the body parts…
… gluing them together
…and affixing the headplate to the headstock
Last edited:
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,007
- 1
- 31,705
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
I say 5/8”. 1/2” is the absolute minimum, so a bit thicker than that.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,007
- 1
- 31,705
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Bilingual, bimeasurable.Silly Canadians, can’t decide which side of the measuring stick they like to be on….
You know, Montana is awfully close to Canada….
(or would that be bimensural? would it be a latin or greek root? Lingua is latin, so mensural? 
)Montana is physically close, but definitely not existentially close.
- Apr 18, 2008
- 16,007
- 1
- 31,705
- Disclosures
- I'm highly opinionated and extremely self-assured
Full disclosure: I've been American all my life, and I've never gotten used to sixty-fourths of an inch, or thousandths of an inch, or pints or cups or fluid ounces versus regular ounces. It's all nonsense to me!
My rational brain readily embraces the logical base ten nature of the metric system. I remember in elementary school, being promised that the US was going to switch to metric soon, and we all therefore had to learn it in class. Never happened; wish it had....
My rational brain readily embraces the logical base ten nature of the metric system. I remember in elementary school, being promised that the US was going to switch to metric soon, and we all therefore had to learn it in class. Never happened; wish it had....
