Here’s how I do it. Side dots. With small (2mm) dots on the board under/near the G string.
Front view
Players view
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SBO 2024 - First Fretless
- Thread starter ddm0502
- Start date
Here’s how I do it. Side dots. With small (2mm) dots on the board under/near the G string.
Front view
Players view
The large dots with the smaller dots underneath are at the 3, 5, 7, 9, 12 etc positions.
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I've ruled out full lines for sure. I like the idea of edge lines. They give me the look I'm going for while still offering a point of reference. I may also just go with side dots at 3, 5, 7, ect and hope for the best when it comes to playing it. I still have a few workshop sessions before I need to make a decision.
I would stay away from the lines. Dots on the side of the neck at 1,3,5,7... is really helpful for me. I really like the look of a fretless when the audience sees only the black neck. Otherwise, just play a fretted with a chorus pedal! (Just kidding, sort of.)
Yesterday I glued on the scarf joint headstock. It slipped a bit during the glue up, so the laminates aren't perfectly aligned but I don't think its too bad given its my second scarf joint ever and my first with laminates. I could feel it slipping as I tighten the clamps but it didn't look too bad and I was worried I'd do more damage unclamping it than just leaving it be. I considered using alignment pins like I did with my body layers but was worried there wasn't enough room. Next time I'll figure out a better way to keep the alignment. Today, I cleaned up the edges, cut the truss rod slot, and glued on some ears to give a little more room for my headstock. I still need to clean up the face but figured I'd need to redo it after the ears are dry anyway, so I'll just wait and do it all at once.
The misalignment on the front will be hidden by the face plate anyway. If anyone remembers my last build, I messed up the headstock and had to glue up some scrap pieces to fix it, and ended up making it a design element. You can see it in my profile pic. I decided to do the same diagonal stripes intentionally this time as a kind if headstock signature. The face plate is made of an off cut from my body top and the stripes are neck wood offcuts.
The misalignment on the front will be hidden by the face plate anyway. If anyone remembers my last build, I messed up the headstock and had to glue up some scrap pieces to fix it, and ended up making it a design element. You can see it in my profile pic. I decided to do the same diagonal stripes intentionally this time as a kind if headstock signature. The face plate is made of an off cut from my body top and the stripes are neck wood offcuts.
I decided on my pickups and they have arrived. Here's a hardware pic since I didn't get one yet.
I went with the Seymour Duncan Steve Harris SPB4. I'm sure the fact that I've been listening to Iron Maiden while working on my build had nothing to do with my decision. Really, demos I've heard of it sound like just another flavor of a vintage P, so you can't go wrong. In the demos, I liked it just a bit more than the Duncan Vintage SPB1, but they sound very similar.
The rest of the hardware is gotoh tuners, hipshot bridge, CTS 500k pots, black metal knobs, and an orange drop cap. I have both a .47 and .22, I haven't decided which one to use yet. My current bass has a .47 which gets a bit muddy when I turn it down too far, so I might use the .22. On the other hand, another thing I'm considering is moving the pickup to more of a middle position, similar to a stingray or Ric bridge pickup. If I do that, I may want the .47, since I like what a .47 does to a bridge position pickup
I went with the Seymour Duncan Steve Harris SPB4. I'm sure the fact that I've been listening to Iron Maiden while working on my build had nothing to do with my decision. Really, demos I've heard of it sound like just another flavor of a vintage P, so you can't go wrong. In the demos, I liked it just a bit more than the Duncan Vintage SPB1, but they sound very similar.
The rest of the hardware is gotoh tuners, hipshot bridge, CTS 500k pots, black metal knobs, and an orange drop cap. I have both a .47 and .22, I haven't decided which one to use yet. My current bass has a .47 which gets a bit muddy when I turn it down too far, so I might use the .22. On the other hand, another thing I'm considering is moving the pickup to more of a middle position, similar to a stingray or Ric bridge pickup. If I do that, I may want the .47, since I like what a .47 does to a bridge position pickup
Between the heat wave and other obligations, I haven't had as much shop time as I want. Most of my shop time is gluing on veneers. And of course I do them at different angles that can't all be done at once, at least not with the clamps I have. So I haven't been updating every little glue up but this one is interesting.
I have my neck taper cut, and my center block made.
I wanted a veneer of purpleheart on the sides of the sapele. But not on the sides of the bubinga neck, so I need to glue the purpleheart to the sapele before attaching the center block to the neck. That means this glue up needs to be very precise, if it shifts at all, it won't work. So I made some more custom clamping cauls to keep it in place.
The purpleheart is ever so slightly oversized so it can be routed flush once the clamps come off. The cauls have grooves cut to allow for this oversized fit. Now the hope is the cauls did their job to prevent shifting, and the purpleheart is enough oversized that I don't sand through it getting everything flush and flat. Stay tuned to find out.
I have my neck taper cut, and my center block made.
I wanted a veneer of purpleheart on the sides of the sapele. But not on the sides of the bubinga neck, so I need to glue the purpleheart to the sapele before attaching the center block to the neck. That means this glue up needs to be very precise, if it shifts at all, it won't work. So I made some more custom clamping cauls to keep it in place.
The purpleheart is ever so slightly oversized so it can be routed flush once the clamps come off. The cauls have grooves cut to allow for this oversized fit. Now the hope is the cauls did their job to prevent shifting, and the purpleheart is enough oversized that I don't sand through it getting everything flush and flat. Stay tuned to find out.
The continuation of last episodes cliffhanger:
Turned out exactly as planned! The thickness of the veneer is about the same as the the purpleheart in other parts of the build, almost like I planned it that way. I did, but didn't expect it to turn out this good. I still need to finish sanding out the tool marks but there is plenty of thickness for that . It did tear out in one area but it is a spot that will be trimmed away when I glue on the body wings, so no harm done.
I also cut the headstock. I had a chunk tear out at the tip. I could try to fill it, or reprofile the tip a bit to cut it out, or just leave it. I'm undecided how to fix it at this point, that's a problem for later.
I had my template a hair off center when tapering the neck, and cut through the bubinga and into the maple. It looked good when placing the template, it must have shifted a bit. I might end up sanding the other side to match, it wont take much as the bubinga is thin over there. The nut is pretty wide, so taking off 1/16 to make it match won't be a problem. But thats another problem for later.
Finally, I radiused the fingerboard, by hand with a sanding block. I made a jig to hold the block straight, a lesson learned from my last build. It actually wasn't so bad doing it by hand. The worst part was when I thought I was almost done and noticed a dime sized bit of planer snipe, and knew it would take as long to sand out that tiny bit as it took to complete the whole rest of the board.
Things are going well overall. A few more sessions and I'll be ready to start carving, my favorite part. And temperatures will be down next week, only 95! You know it's hot when you're excited for 95 degree days.
Turned out exactly as planned! The thickness of the veneer is about the same as the the purpleheart in other parts of the build, almost like I planned it that way. I did, but didn't expect it to turn out this good. I still need to finish sanding out the tool marks but there is plenty of thickness for that . It did tear out in one area but it is a spot that will be trimmed away when I glue on the body wings, so no harm done.
I also cut the headstock. I had a chunk tear out at the tip. I could try to fill it, or reprofile the tip a bit to cut it out, or just leave it. I'm undecided how to fix it at this point, that's a problem for later.
I had my template a hair off center when tapering the neck, and cut through the bubinga and into the maple. It looked good when placing the template, it must have shifted a bit. I might end up sanding the other side to match, it wont take much as the bubinga is thin over there. The nut is pretty wide, so taking off 1/16 to make it match won't be a problem. But thats another problem for later.
Finally, I radiused the fingerboard, by hand with a sanding block. I made a jig to hold the block straight, a lesson learned from my last build. It actually wasn't so bad doing it by hand. The worst part was when I thought I was almost done and noticed a dime sized bit of planer snipe, and knew it would take as long to sand out that tiny bit as it took to complete the whole rest of the board.
Things are going well overall. A few more sessions and I'll be ready to start carving, my favorite part. And temperatures will be down next week, only 95! You know it's hot when you're excited for 95 degree days.
Yep! Me too. The garage has been hot enough to only be out there for a little bit at a time. That and working late most of the week. I had to head up to Bear Lake for work on Friday and even the mountains and Logan were in the upper 90’s.
Ok guys, I've looked at it, I though about it, I hate it. I'm talking about the mistake I made routing through the bubinga and into the maple neck laminate.
It's only cut through on the treble side, the bass side is bubinga all the way to the headstock. I was considering evening out the other side so it matches (hide the mistake by making it look intentional), but I don't like how it looks so I'm not going to do that. It will probably look better once the neck is shaped but I still don't like it, at best it looks not well planned out.
This mistake may actually be a benefit overall. If the template was properly centered, it would have cut in to the maple on both sides, so now at least the side facing the player looks good.
So I'm thinking of two options. One is to just leave it. It's on the treble side, so I won't see it while playing. But I will see it when it's hanging on the wall and I know it will bug me every time I look at it. The other option is to cut a thin strip of bubinga edge banding to hide it, then blend the banding into the neck. I'm sure such a fix will be noticeable from up close but not from afar.
So what do you think, would trying to fix it with edge banding work, or just look worse overall?
It's only cut through on the treble side, the bass side is bubinga all the way to the headstock. I was considering evening out the other side so it matches (hide the mistake by making it look intentional), but I don't like how it looks so I'm not going to do that. It will probably look better once the neck is shaped but I still don't like it, at best it looks not well planned out.
This mistake may actually be a benefit overall. If the template was properly centered, it would have cut in to the maple on both sides, so now at least the side facing the player looks good.
So I'm thinking of two options. One is to just leave it. It's on the treble side, so I won't see it while playing. But I will see it when it's hanging on the wall and I know it will bug me every time I look at it. The other option is to cut a thin strip of bubinga edge banding to hide it, then blend the banding into the neck. I'm sure such a fix will be noticeable from up close but not from afar.
So what do you think, would trying to fix it with edge banding work, or just look worse overall?
I'd be tempted to try the edge banding. If I was doing it, I'd take a bit more off the exposed maple (so that bubinga is there when you restore the profile), come out of that removal into the bubinga with a slight curve, then glue it in clamped tight so the bubinga strip bends in at both ends. Then when sanded, it might almost "fade" old into new, leaving a less harsh line. I've done this trick maybe seven times in various spots, and had perfect results maybe three times, better than before twice, and "oh well, sand off and try again" results twice.
It’s worth at least trying to repair. At worst, you’ve tried and end up needing to do something else.
I would work with it. Once you carve the neck, the transition will look much more natural. I've dealt with this exact problem on basses before I knew any better, and my SBO FSO project has this intentionally (it happens to be at almost exactly the same point as your bass)
If your glue up was good and you don't have a glue line to contend with (doesn't look like you do), you can make a feature out of it.
Just a few updates.
I decided to do the edge banding. If it were mote symmetrical, I might have left it but didn't like the asymmetry. It blends in so well I have a hard time finding the joint, about half way down thr neck. It still needs blending at the headstock, but I want to wait to blend that end until I do some shaping.
I also tried to drill out the truss rod access, but my drill bit isn't long enough so I needed to order a longer drill bit. I made a little jig to help keep my drill aligned with the truss rod slot, but as you can see it comes up short. Ill finish this task once my new bit arrives.
I decided to do the edge banding. If it were mote symmetrical, I might have left it but didn't like the asymmetry. It blends in so well I have a hard time finding the joint, about half way down thr neck. It still needs blending at the headstock, but I want to wait to blend that end until I do some shaping.
I also tried to drill out the truss rod access, but my drill bit isn't long enough so I needed to order a longer drill bit. I made a little jig to help keep my drill aligned with the truss rod slot, but as you can see it comes up short. Ill finish this task once my new bit arrives.
I watched a video of were Ken Parker wrapped the the neck with veneer. Looked sweet. But that's Ken doing next level weird crap. But the veneer looked easy compared the the carbon fiber and Douglas fur core.
Fingerboard glue up in progress. I mentioned on another thread that I use a combination of clamps and rubber bands.
One advantage of a neck through is I can clamp the body portion to my work bench and float the neck for easy access to all sides. Note the well placed stick to keep it from sagging under the weight of the clamps. The disadvantage of this method is it's hard to get a clear picture with all the chaos in the background.
One advantage of a neck through is I can clamp the body portion to my work bench and float the neck for easy access to all sides. Note the well placed stick to keep it from sagging under the weight of the clamps. The disadvantage of this method is it's hard to get a clear picture with all the chaos in the background.
