SBO22 Scratch Build - Building a Bass Is Easy!

[ardgedee]

Oh interesting - I don't think I have seen silicone between the truss rod and fretboard recommended.
Stew Mac says to do epoxy down the sides and bottom of the channel, Project Guitar says just a small bead of silicone in two spots (maybe 1/4 way down the page, step 2), The Art of Lutherie likes Stew Macs instructions but recommends silicone in the middle of the slot as well as in between the rods. Seems the further I read into this the more opinions I find

If you don't know what to do, you can probably do worse than start with the manufacturer's own recommendations since they're going to be on the hook for giving you the right information.

In most crafts there are usually multiple right ways to do a thing. If you haven't done it at all, pick one way that has been successful for other people and try it first. Worry about optimizing it on your second project.

 

[NKBassman]

Honestly, same but it's the same in almost every hobby field. I recently got back into vinyl and have been ripping my records that can't be found digitally. I needed some advice on where to spend time and money to get the most out of my rig, but try finding two self professed audiophiles who agree on damn near anything. Generally, I would prefer to find one level headed person who seems to know what they are talking about and message them privately then just take their advice and disregard the rest until I know better, but in this case I don't think that would be in the spirit of the build off, so I'll post questions publicly and try to make sense of it all if there are differing opinions.

At a certain point, you have to just jump in or you'll be in decision paralysis forever. I'm in my early 30s and have been wanting to do this since I was maybe fifteen or so but have never got past the dreaming phase for one reason or another.


You're probably right. So which one do you recommend for someone with zero preference or experience?

From one person with zero experience to another, probably a few blobs of silicone. It's easier to undo than epoxy, if it comes to that.

 

[NKBassman]

start with the manufacturer's own recommendations

Also this.

 

[BishopJP]

I doubt any work will get done till next week - waiting on a couple shipments to arrive. One had an estimated delivery of yesterday but still hasn't been picked up by FedEx, so unless a scan was just missed or something, it'll be a slow weekend.
Maybe I'll do some body shaping? Dropped off the body and neck blanks to be thickness planed yesterday, so assuming thats done today I could theoretically do some shaping. I see everybody recommending doing your routing first though and I'm not entirely sure why. My body blank is just big enough for the shape, so chopping a bit away shouldn't affect things all that much I wouldn't think, but obviously I don't know much here so maybe I'm missing something... The shipment that was supposed to arrive yesterday was my neck pocket and pickup templates, so routing will be on hold till they show up.

Maybe a silly/basic question but one I'm not seeing an answer to - can any truss rod be installed at either end, or do they make different truss rods for each orientation? I think I saw Stew Mac rods specifically say that they can go either way but most rods don't specify. I'd like to go body side - more annoying for adjustments, but I prefer the look. Hopefully my neck turns out great and never needs to be adjusted (hah!)

Continuing on truss rod installation - I'm seeing a whole lot of differing opinions on how to install them. Wrap in teflon tape first or don't wrap, put a tiny bead of silicone under each side only or put a line of epoxy under the whole thing before install or install and epoxy after... what are you guys doing? Any general consensus of the "best" way to do things?

This is the truss rod on order. Looks to me it's already wrapped, so I assume wrapping it in teflon tape is only for rods that are bare metal, but the adhesive question remains.

Your truss rod can be installed to adjust from either end and you do not need to wrap it, it is already wrapped in the blue plastic. Just make sure the round side is down and flat side up.

Putting a blob of silicone in the slot may prevent the truss rod from rattling (IDK, never tried it) but it isn't necessary.

Have you checked out the build threads from the Winter Build-Off to see what others in the LC have done?

 

[ARandGenUsrName]

Your truss rod can be installed to adjust from either end and you do not need to wrap it, it is already wrapped in the blue plastic. Just make sure the round side is down and flat side up.

Putting a blob of silicone in the slot may prevent the truss rod from rattling (IDK, never tried it) but it isn't necessary.

Have you checked out the build threads from the Winter Build-Off to see what others in the LC have done?

Thanks, thats helpful!
I will do a bit of a deeper dive through past builds. I have looked at a handful and have seen lots of jigs for routing channels, but most people seem to gloss over what they actually do between routing the channel and gluing the fretboard. Maybe its just a trivial thing with a bunch of different approaches and I'm over thinking it because I haven't done it before and don't want to mess up

 

[Beej]

The silicone blob thing is just to prevent the rod from rattling. The few times I've built a neck without it the darn thing has rattled, so in my own experience, it's important if a bit trivial. I put three blobs down in the slot and then place the rod into position. The blobs are roughly centre, and about 1.5" inboard from each end. Those that I've done this with have not rattled, including old builds. I use plain clear silicone sealant as it always stays rubbery and squishy, but in a pinch I've used regular old white latex/silicone Dap caulking and it also seems to work. Dap hardens more than silicone sealant and I like the idea of the blob staying soft and squishy, so I prefer silicone. I've got no hard evidence either way.

Bruce and Jeremy are cheaters and build necks with highly engineered fully custom double-acting, single rod compression-tension truss rods, so there's no real comparison.

 

[BishopJP]

While we are on the topic...

@Beej do you think the silicone is what made the difference? I have a couple necks that I built (for practice, never used) early on that rattle; all the necks I have made since do not rattle, even when there is no tension on the truss rod.
I may be drawing conclusions but I assumed it was because I got a better fit with the truss rod channel with later builds.

 

[Gary_M]

I've never used any blobs of silicone to prevent TRR (truss rod rattle )... but every time I hear this discussed I can't help but wonder if the blobs of silicone would prevent future adjustment of the rod? I mean, surely it comes into contact with the round rod that is supposed to be able to move, right? I keep envisioning turning the rod only to have it snap back to neutral due to the silicone.

I've had one guitar that I built end up with TRR. But this was because the neck relief was fine with no adjustment needed (the truss rod was slack). The problem was eliminated by just slightly snugging up the rod to put a little tension on it.

 

[ARandGenUsrName]

I've never used any blobs of silicone to prevent TRR (truss rod rattle )... but every time I hear this discussed I can't help but wonder if the blobs of silicone would prevent future adjustment of the rod? I mean, surely it comes into contact with the round rod that is supposed to be able to move, right? I keep envisioning turning the rod only to have it snap back to neutral due to the silicone.

Thats what I would think with epoxy, but Stew Mac is legit, I can't imagine they would recommend doing it if it would end up working against you, so I kept that thought to myself hah

 

[Beej]

While we are on the topic...

@Beej do you think the silicone is what made the difference? I have a couple necks that I built (for practice, never used) early on that rattle; all the necks I have made since do not rattle, even when there is no tension on the truss rod.
I may be drawing conclusions but I assumed it was because I got a better fit with the truss rod channel with later builds.

It could just be coincidence, I don't know for certain. In one guitar that I built that rattled, I could not get away from it entirely by snugging the TR, but it's not happened with a siliconed neck, so I have made the association mentally.

 

[BishopJP]

It could just be coincidence, I don't know for certain. In one guitar that I built that rattled, I could not get away from it entirely by snugging the TR, but it's not happened with a siliconed neck, so I have made the association mentally.

Fair enough! Also, it couldn't hurt... Food for thought...

 

[MPU]

You have to wax the truss rod and it's threads if you use epoxy to prevent jamming the truss rod adjustability. I prefer epoxy as it makes the neck one solid piece of structure with no loose parts in it.

 

[ARandGenUsrName]

You have to wax the truss rod and it's threads if you use epoxy to prevent jamming the truss rod adjustability. I prefer epoxy as it makes the neck one solid piece of structure with no loose parts in it.

Good to know, thanks!

 

[ardgedee]

I am guessing (with no experience whatsoever, hoping knowledgeable people will set me straight) that a thin coat of wax or lithium lube on the threads would be a good idea in principle, to prevent seizing some time in the future.

 

[ARandGenUsrName]

No progress update yet, unfortunately, but two shipments just arrived!

Still waiting on my templates to show up. Called yesterday as it was still sitting as shipping label created and awaiting pickup, and turns out due to their sale last week they are a bit behind on templates. Mine should go out in the next day or so, but my hopes of getting some good work done over the long weekend have been dashed.

Oh well - pretty sure I will spend a million years trying to make a router jig for the truss rod anyway.

 

[NKBassman]

No progress update yet, unfortunately, but two shipments just arrived!

Still waiting on my templates to show up. Called yesterday as it was still sitting as shipping label created and awaiting pickup, and turns out due to their sale last week they are a bit behind on templates. Mine should go out in the next day or so, but my hopes of getting some good work done over the long weekend have been dashed.

Oh well - pretty sure I will spend a million years trying to make a router jig for the truss rod anyway.

That'll make a beautiful fingerboard!

 

[ARandGenUsrName]

That'll make a beautiful fingerboard!

Yeah, in really happy with it!
It was listed as "2nd grade" and was the cheapest Macassar ebony blank they had, so I thought it was going to be a bit of a gamble visually but I think it looks great.

 

[G Giroir]

I am titling my SBO22 entry "Building a Bass Is Easy" for a simple reason - I have never build an instrument, I have next to no woodworking skills, this is all extremely new to me, I am expecting many questions, mistakes, general frustrations, plan changes, and I might not even complete it... so maybe starting out with some positivity will put me in the right mindset.

The plan and specs:

* Non-reverse Thunderbird-inspired Jaguar body - rear routed Jaguar shape, with t-bird inspired pickguard, with pots and jack in a horizontal line, finished in Pelham blue automotive rattle cans
* Neck made of canarywood and padauk, finish TBD. 1.75" nut width, probably a tele-bass style headstock
* Fretless ebony board, pre-radiused from LMII (think I went 9.5")
* Pickups TBD, most likely these from Pegcity Pickups
* Passive electronics, controls TBD but probably a vol/vol stack and single tone, but maybe two stacks. Output jack will probably be on the front of the bass, but if I am feeling adventurous I might try a side jack with an electrosocket plate
* Other hardware TBD - I have a box of junk kicking around, for sure with a through body bridge and some grover machine heads that have seen better days. It'll come down to budget, but most likely I'll toss on whatever I have and replace later

Goals/what I want to get out of this:

Honestly, at the end of this if I have a bass that plays and makes sound, I'll be stoked. I know nothing, don't even do my own setups if I can avoid it, so this is all learning. I have done two refinishes with "good enough" results, and am just starting to learn my way around a router.

Potential hangups and issues:

Lack of knowledge, lack of tools. I have wanted to do this forever but lack of tools has been the big kicker for me. Last week I found out that there is a local wood shop I can use, just have to take a safety course which runs once a month, then can do drop-ins and use the full shop. That was all I needed to see! Incredibly excited, I started planning and buying wood. Then their next safety course that was supposed to be in a couple weeks got cancelled, and they are shut down for all of August, so earliest I will be able to get into the shop is mid to late September. I am still going to go ahead with the build, but it will be far less ideal than I was hoping. I found somebody about an hour drive away who has a thickness planer I can toss my neck through once its glued up, then after that it'll be a table saw, jig saw, router, random orbital sander, and some random hand tools.

I'm sure I will have a bunch of questions along the way, and this has potential to go horribly wrong, so follow along if you enjoy being helpful or are the kind of person who can't look away from a car crash! ... or maybe if you want to watch an inspiring underdog-overcomes-all-odds-and-succeeds-despite-the-man-trying-to-keep-him-down story.

Now that this has all been typed up, I have to run out to meet somebody at a job site, so I will edit this post with my wood pic in about an hour or so.

Can't wait to see it!

 

[ARandGenUsrName]

I'm alive! Hopefully should have some actual progress right away!

I've been a bit grumpy with Solo Music - don't want to poopie talk too much, but long story short I ordered a jazz bass body template so that I could get the neck pocket and pickups done right without over thinking it, it said they were in stock, I got a tracking number but it said it was awaiting pickup. After a good while of waiting, I gave a call last week to see if there was an issue and was told that the templates weren't actually in stock and the guy who makes them was running behind due to an overwhelming amount of orders. Alright, well, seeing as they haven't shipped yet I decided to throw a bit more cash at them and get the neck template as well, just to make life a bit easier again.
Another week and a half goes by with nothing, so on Friday (I think) I emailed asking for a refund if it wasn't going out same day so I could order elsewhere. If it didn't go out then, it would be over three weeks since I ordered an "in stock" item and it hadn't shipped yet, also with no communication. Honestly, that's just unacceptable in my opinion. I'm not in a rush here, so if at any point they would have emailed saying "sorry - we oversold here and it's going to be a week or two" I wouldn't have cared at all, but leaving me in the dark made me pretty salty. Well, they managed to get my order out that same day and also gave me a partial refund for the inconvenience. My templates are out for delivery now, so I can get moving with the project!
Still a bit pissy about the whole thing, but options in Canada are pretty limited for the stuff they sell, so it probably won't end up keeping me away from them.

Anyways, moving on from that. I've been stressing over the truss rod channel and making a jig to get it perfect. Have read a tonne here about making a jig, and also watched a bunch of videos. Then I saw someones build thread (I'll edit this with a link if I find it) where they just...put the neck up next to the fence on their table saw and used that for a guide. This seems like such an obvious solution, but with almost everyone making jigs I guess I just thought it was a necessary tool to get the job done right. I gave it a go myself and found I couldn't control the router perfectly using just the one fence as a guide, but simply clamping a scrap piece of wood on the other side makes this a very easy job. I've done a couple tests on scrap and don't see any reason why I need to make this any more complicated than this.

*Edit:* Found the post - wasn't even using a table saw fence, just a clamped level - SBO-2022 30-inch Short Scale Single Cutaway

 

[Flamingo21]

Yes, I too remember someone using the fence for a router guide. I'd say it was probably in this year's Winter Build Off. That leaves you with only several dozens of threads to sort through so I'm being very helpful here.